John Creasey - Inspector West At Home

“Good man,” said Roger.

“That tickled Malone,” Dixon said. “He laughed as if it was the best joke in the world, Guv’nor — but I had the laugh on him, because he didn’t know you was really after the dame.”

“And is that the lot?” asked Roger.

“Seems plenty to me,” said Dixon. “If I don’t get some shut-eye soon I. shall drop dead, that’s what I shall do.”

“We’ll get you home,” Roger said.

“Guv’nor, if you’ve got a bed here, I’ll be asleep in a couple of jiffs.”

“Yes, of course.” Roger left Mark and Tennant to put the man to bed, smiled at the thought of Janet’s homecoming, then drove in his own car to the Yard. There seemed nothing to do but detain Mrs Cartier and Oliphant and hope that one or the other would make a true statement. The woman might break down. Some things continued to puzzle him. If Malone had known that the woman was implicated when Dixon had arrived, he must have known later that evening, yet there had been nothing phoney about the way he had assaulted her.

“To make me jump to the wrong conclusion,” Roger mused. “It couldn’t mean anything else.”

He reached the Yard and immediately gave instructions for Mrs Cartier and Oliphant to be shadowed. He learned from Eddie Day that Abbott had put a man on Oliphant after all; so Abbott was still capable of being two-faced. Until he saw Abbott, he thought that Mrs Cartier had no watcher, but he was wrong. The Superintendent was apologetic; Chatworth had ordered him to have Oliphant watched, as well as Mrs Cartier; the AC had not been prepared to leave it to Roger. And :

“I think he was right, West.”

“So do I, by hindsight,” admitted Roger. “Any sign of Pickerell?”

“No.”

“Have you heard about Malone?”

“I’ve just come from him,” said Abbott. “He will not talk — but then, he is hardly in a condition to talk, he will be in hospital for several days. Who dealt with him? Was it Cornish ?”

Roger smiled. “No. There was a bit of a scrap. I can’t say who hit who.”

He expected to be pressed on the point, but a buzzer rang on Abbott’s desk and the Superintendent stood up quickly.

“That will be Sir Guy. I told him you had arrived and he promised to ring for us as soon as he was ready.” Abbott led the way up to Chatworth’s office and they went in immediately.

“You’re having quite a week, aren’t you, West?” The question was almost aggressive.

Roger grimaced. “Yes, aren’t I ?”

“It looks as if the worst is over,” said Chatworth. “Abbott’s told you that we’re watching everyone?” Roger nodded. “All the people whom the Randall girl named have been interviewed except Oliphant,” Chatworth went on. “We’ve been very busy all through the night.”

Roger smiled with relief. He should have realised that the Yard would act swiftly and thoroughly. He had not yet got it out of his system that he was working this case on his own.

“And we have a very remarkable story,” Chatworth said. “You haven’t told him, Abbott, have you?”

“No, sir.”

Roger stared. “What is it, sir?” he asked.

“It is a combination of things. First, many of the stolen jewels have not been disposed of. Pickerell sold others to some of the people to whom Miss Randall took the packages — she actually took the stolen goods. The proceeds of many jewel thefts, here and on the Continent, passed through the hands of Pickerell and Lois Randall. Pickerell was the fence, always working from Welbeck Street.”

“Yes?” said Roger. Chatworth’s manner told him there was more to come.

Chatworth gave an almost smug smile.

“And then there was the real purpose of the Society of European Relief, West! Relief!” He threw back his head and uttered a short laugh. “Oh, it had its genuine side, but the chief angle was very clever indeed. Jewels were brought in from the Continent, sometimes by refugees, who owned them, others by thieves posing as refugees, and more — the largest proportion — jewels hidden away during the last war, and discovered. There’s been a lot of smuggling, we’ve known that for some time. Jewels flooded the Society from all sources and they were all handled at Welbeck Street.”

Roger thought: “Smuggled sparklers, so that’s it.” He felt annoyed with himself for being disappointed.

“Most of them came from Germany and Italy,” Chatworth said, gently.

Roger stared : “Germany?”

“You’ve heard of the fortunes which Goering, Goebbels, Himmler and the rest of them are supposed to have wafted away?” asked Chatworth. “Of course you have! But other well-placed Nazi officials and German business men weren’t able to do it. They wanted to save something from the wreckage, so they put their money in jewels — many of them pillaged from the occupied countries — and they sent them over here. The Society of European Relief became an organization” — Chatworth laboured over the words — “which relieved a great many people of their jewels, took jewels from others for services never fully rendered, and was a gigantic world-wide sales organisation. Some of its members, posing as refugees, travelled abroad and sold stolen jewels. Follow that, West? The Society of European Relief did all that.”

Roger said gruffly : “So it was as big as that.”

“Oh, yes,” said Chatworth. “And think how clever it was. They actually had a genuine organisation ready for distributing the jewels, which were never allowed to remain in one country for long. For every genuine applicant for relief there was one who was a party to this scheme. There were people with friends behind the Iron Curtain prepared to help when Mrs Cartier persuaded them — men who wouldn’t touch the jewels for themselves, but were prepared to hold them. I don’t know what precious argument the woman puts up — she probably told a lot of them that they were jewels belonging to refugees from Russia, Poland — all of Eastern Europe. There are some very big names on the list of patrons of the Society — oh, it will prove quite a scandal! Beginning to understand how important it was that you should not connect the murder of the woman Cox with this?”

Roger said : “I certainly do. But it’s doubtful whether I ever would have done.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Chatworth. “I think Oliphant must have been afraid that you had seen something. I’ve heard from some of the people concerned that they have been afraid of a raid for several months. They had the wind-up all right and” — he laughed —”Friday the 13th worried .someone !”

Roger said : “Ye-es. It couldn’t have been that alone. You’ve enough on Mrs Cartier and Oliphant to arrest them, I suppose ?”

“We can pick them up whenever we want to,” said Chatworth. “It is now established that Oliphant has been to see Malone on several occasions. Also — he was at Cox’s house with Malone just before you arrived on December 13th.”

Roger caught his breath.

“They assumed you’d seen or heard them together, and one day you were bound to realise the significance,” Chatworth went on. “Well — I’ve left Oliphant and Mrs Cartier to you ! It’s your job to charge them.”

Roger sat back in his chair and said after a pause:

“Thank you, sir. I wonder if we would be wise to defer arresting Mrs Cartier.”

“Now, West!”

“I see it this way,” said Roger. “She came to see me and first awoke my interest in the Society. If she hadn’t pretended that she wanted my wife’s help, I would probably never have gone to Welbeck Street. We might have traced Malone to Bonnock House, but even that’s doubtful. After a long time we might have realised that the Society was a cover for crime, but I’m not sure. But for Mrs Cartier we wouldn’t have been able to make a move and — I would still be under suspension.”