Blood on the Stars

Chapter Six

Celia Dustin opened the door of the hotel suite for Michael Shayne. Beyond her he saw Peter Painter and Walter Voorland conferring together. Mark Dustin reclined on a couch, his right cheek and hand heavily bandaged.

Celia’s eyes widened when she saw the tall, redheaded detective. “You’re Mr. Shayne,” she said.

“That’s right, Mrs. Dustin. I heard about the robbery. Is your husband badly injured?”

“Mark’s so impetuous. He didn’t have a chance against all three of them-and they had guns.” She stood aside to let him enter.

Voorland looked up, worried and disturbed, and gave Shayne a friendly nod of greeting. Painter strutted forward like a fighting cock and stopped in front of Shayne with his small feet planted widely apart, his hands clasped behind his back. “All right, Shayne,” he snapped. “What do you know about this?”

“Damned little,” Shayne confessed. He looked over the detective chief’s head at the jeweler.

Voorland wasn’t chewing gum and he looked grave as he met the question in Shayne’s gray eyes. “It’s bad, Mike. First time Mrs. Dustin wore her new bracelet, and it’s gone-like that.” He snapped his fleshy fingers resoundingly.

“A perfectly planned and beautifully executed job,” Painter put in aggressively. “By someone who knew exactly what he wanted and where it was going to be at a certain time.”

Shayne disregarded him and continued to look over his head at Voorland. “I’m surprised that you were able to deliver the bracelet today,” he said. “Not much time for a check to have cleared through a Denver Bank.”

Voorland nodded in response to the unspoken question in the detective’s voice. “My bank rushed it through by airmail. The full purchase price was paid before the bracelet left my store.”

Shayne shrugged and moved around Painter to ask Dustin, “Mind telling me how it happened?”

“See here,” Painter exploded, following Shayne across the carpeted floor. “You’re here to answer questions, not to ask them. I’d like to know-”

“You’d always like to know lots of things,” Shayne said over his shoulder. “Looks like they really cracked you up, Dustin.”

The westerner nodded. “I went crazy mad and stuck my neck out a mile. Your boys down here play for keeps.”

“Now look here, Shayne.” Painter moved around in front of him again. “That bracelet was delivered to Mr. Dustin late this evening. No one else knew the value of it or that his wife planned to wear it tonight except you and that girl-”

Shayne put the palm of his hand in Painter’s face and pushed. Painter rocked back on his heels and swung up a furious hand to knock Shayne’s palm aside. “By God, I’ll-”

“You’ll keep your damned yap shut,” Shayne told him with cold anger, “if you expect any help from me.”

“But you certainly can’t deny-”

“I’m not going to waste time denying anything,” Shayne broke in harshly. “How did it happen, Dustin?”

Painter stepped back, bristling with fury, while Mark Dustin gave the detective a brief account of the robbery. “I didn’t see the license number nor any of their faces,” he ended helplessly.

“There were three of them, you say.”

“I’m not even certain whether a fourth man stayed in the car behind the wheel or not. But they knew exactly what they wanted. They told Celia to stick her arm out the very first thing.”

“But they did take your money, too,” Shayne pointed out. “That looks as though they were just out for anything they could pick up.”

Dustin picked up a highball in his left hand. “You cops are the ones to figure things out. You know the way your mobs work down here better than I.”

“I’ve been trying to tell Painter,” said Voorland, “how unique this particular bracelet is. The sort of jewel mobs who operate in a resort city like Miami necessarily employ finger men who are experts in their line. One glance at those star rubies would have been enough to send them after the bracelet in a hurry.”

“But I still maintain it is preposterous,” said Painter angrily, “to presume that a gang would be waiting right here at the hotel on the mere chance that a finger man would see something of value. Remember, Mrs. Dustin insists she didn’t show the bracelet in public except when she walked across the hotel lobby to the door.”

“That still doesn’t rule out coincidence,” Shayne argued. “Lots of wealthy people wander out of this hotel every night wearing stuff worth grabbing. A smart mob might easily be hanging around waiting for just such a tip-off as they got when Mrs. Dustin flashed her new bracelet. Had the insurance on it gone through?” he asked Voorland.

“Yes. That is, temporary coverage has been issued pending receipt of the approved policy from New York. Earl Randolph handled it for me, and I’ve phoned him to come over here at once.”

“Mark!” cried Celia. “Do you suppose there’ll be any trouble about the insurance? You haven’t paid the premium or anything, have you?”

“I’ve been waiting for someone to mention that,” said Dustin. “I don’t know what the legal position will be. I understood from Mr. Voorland that it was all arranged.”

“Don’t worry about legal quibbling,” Voorland said with assurance. “International Indemnity is zealous of its reputation for paying every valid claim promptly. Your temporary coverage is every bit as good as a formal policy, even though you haven’t paid a cent on it. Of course,” he added, “the first premium will be deducted from the full amount when settlement is made.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about a cash settlement,” said Shayne. “The very uniqueness of the stones in the bracelet makes it a practical certainty that the thieves will be glad to make a deal as soon as they find out what they’ve got.”

“That sounds like prior knowledge, Shayne.” Painter pounced upon his statement. “Could it be you who is planning to make a deal?”

Shayne disregarded him. “Isn’t that right?” he asked the jeweler.

“Exactly,” Voorland agreed. “It will be impossible to sell rubies like that as they are. I have photographs and exact measurements by which they can be positively identified.”

“But they could be cut up,” Painter interjected.

“That is exactly what they cannot be,” Voorland explained to him. “Star rubies would lose nine-tenths of their value cut up into pieces. Any cutting that destroys the asterism destroys the value of the stone. Shayne is right. They’ll be offered by the thieves-at a price.”

The door buzzer sounded. Celia Dustin went to the door and admitted a portly man with a round, shining face and a broad smile that displayed two gold teeth beneath a neatly trimmed mustache.

He said, “I’m Mr. Randolph. Mrs. Dustin?”

She said, “Yes,” and offered her hand. Voorland came across to meet Randolph, his eyes grave and intent.

“This is bad business, Earl,” said the jeweler. “We were just discussing International’s liability if the jewels are not recovered.”

“We’ve done business together for twenty years,” Randolph reminded him. “Has any company I ever represented tried to avoid a valid commitment?”

“Just what I’ve been telling Mr. Dustin. You know Shayne and Chief Painter. And this is your client whom I believe you have not met.”

Randolph nodded to the others and went over to Dustin. He said, solemnly, “I didn’t realize you’d been injured. In the robbery?”

“That’s right,” said Dustin glumly. “If I’d been sure about the insurance I might not have tried to save the bracelet.”

“Mr. Voorland has been trying to tell us,” Painter put in, “that the gems in the bracelet are a kind that can’t be cut up and resold readily.”

“Star rubies? Only an idiot would even consider cutting one up,” Randolph confirmed. “How are you in on this, Mike?”

“Offering a reward?” Shayne countered with a slow grin.

“I haven’t had time to think about that phase,” Randolph said slowly, “but I presume-”

“Wait a minute, Randolph.” Painter spoke up swiftly and emphatically. “You know the law about stolen property. There’ll be no deals with thieves while I’m chief of detectives on the Beach.”

Earl Randolph smiled blandly and asked, “Are you intimating that Mike Shayne is a thief? It’s perfectly legal to offer a reward for the return of stolen property, and you know it.”

“But it isn’t legal to offer immunity along with it.”

“Who said anything about offering immunity? If Shayne can recover the stuff, I won’t ask him how he did it,”

“It’s a positive encouragement to lawlessness,” Painter declared angrily. “You know as well as I do how such deals are arranged, and I’m determined to stamp out the practice on the Beach.”

“Just how are such deals arranged?” Shayne asked coldly.

“All the organized mobs have someone set up as a go-between-someone with the protective coloration of legality-like a private eye. Through this go-between, a deal is arranged with the insurance company for the return of stolen articles at a price, and no questions asked. I’ve no doubt that you and Randolph have arranged many such affairs in the past.” The detective chief whirled and took a sharp turn about the room, came back and stopped before them, adding angrily, “I’m sick of such flaunting of legal authorities here on the Beach and I warn you both I won’t countenance it.”

Shayne exchanged an amused glance with Randolph and said, “Painter has just got through accusing me of arranging the hold-up tonight.”

“You seem very sure you can put your hands on the bracelet as soon as a suitable reward is offered,” snapped Painter.

Shayne laughed indulgently. “That’s because I keep the right sort of company. Some day, Painter, you’re going to shed your diapers and learn that you can’t solve cases by sitting on your pratt and drawing a salary from the taxpayers.” He turned his back on the infuriated man and said to Randolph, “I’ll see you tomorrow and talk this over.”

“I promise you, Shayne,” said Painter, “that if those jewels are returned through your efforts I’ll slap you in jail as an accessory both before and after the fact and keep you there till you rot.”

“I don’t understand what all the argument is about,” said Mark Dustin, his forehead knitted. “If an insurance company wants to offer a reward, why isn’t it legal for anyone to collect it who can return the bracelet?”

“Simply because it constitutes collusion with criminals, and that’s a felony,” Painter shouted. “I tell you I suspect Shayne knows where your bracelet is cached this very minute, and he’ll keep possession of it until a large enough reward is offered. You don’t realize it, Mr. Dustin, but this sort of thing has become a regular racket here in Miami and on the Beach. Men like Shayne take advantage of insurance companies faced with a large loss and eager to settle for less than the face value of the policy.”

“If it’s illegal for you to collect a reward from the insurance company,” said Dustin to Shayne, “perhaps the chief won’t object if I hire you to recover my property. Would that be collusion, too?”

“Better ask Painter,” Shayne said with a shrug. “He’s the lad with all the answers.”

“It’s practically the same situation,” Painter snapped. “It amounts to putting a premium on successful thievery. There are duly constituted authorities to enforce the law.”

“It sounds to me,” Dustin told Shayne, “as though it’s practically illegal for you to earn a fee. How does a private dick earn a living in Miami?”

“I get along,” Shayne answered.

The telephone rang and Celia Dustin answered it. She hung up and told her husband. “The ambulance is here to take you to the hospital, dear.”

Dustin finished his highball and winced with pain as he came slowly to his feet. “I wish you’d call me tomorrow, Shayne. I’d like to keep in touch with things.” His back was turned to Painter, and his left eyelid dropped in a wink as he made the suggestion.

Shayne said, “Glad to, Dustin. Good luck with that hand.”

Celia touched her husband’s left coatsleeve lightly as they went to the door. The others followed them into the corridor.

Peter Painter edged up to Shayne and said, “I want you to understand that I’m not at all sure you didn’t engineer the hold-up tonight. I intend to check every movement you’ve made and every person you’ve contacted since you witnessed the purchase of that ruby bracelet last Monday. If it turns up in your hands, I’m going to know how it got there.”

Again Shayne ignored him, and said to Voorland, “I’ll drop in your store in the morning, Walter, and get all the dope you can give me on the bracelet. I’ve an idea there’s going to be some money in this, somehow, for me.”