Let Me Call You Sweetheart

79

The tips continued to filter in to the FBI from people who had been guests at one or more of the various burglarized homes. They now had twelve potential leads, but Si Morgan thought he had struck gold when on Monday afternoon his chief suspect, Sheldon Landi, admitted that his public relations firm was a coverup for his real activity.

Landi had been invited in for questioning, and for a brief moment Si thought he was about to hear a confession. Then Landi, perspiration on his brow, his hands twisting together whispered, “Have you ever read Tell All?”

“That’s a supermarket tabloid, isn’t it?” Si asked.

“Yes. One of the biggest. Four million circulation a week.” For an instant there was a bragging note in Landi’s tone. Then his voice dropped almost to the point of being inaudible as he said, “This must not go beyond this room, but I’m Tell All’s chief writer. If it ever gets out, I’ll be dropped by all my friends.”

So much for that, Si thought, after Landi left. That little sneak is just a gossipmonger; he wouldn’t have the guts to pull off any of those jobs.

At quarter of four, one of his investigators came in. “Si, there’s someone on the Hamilton case confidential line I think you should talk to. Her name is Grace Hoover. Her husband is New Jersey State Senator Hoover, and she thinks she saw the guy we’re looking for the other night. It’s one of the birds whose name has come up before, Jason Arnott.”

“Arnott!” Si grabbed the phone. “Mrs. Hoover, I’m Si Morgan.

Thank you for calling.”

As he listened, he decided that Grace Hoover was the kind of witness lawmen pray to find. She was logical in her reasoning, clear in her presentation and articulate in explaining how, looking up from her wheelchair, her eyes were probably at the same angle as the lens of the surveillance camera in the Hamilton house.

“Looking straight at Mr. Arnott you would think his face was fuller than it appears when you’re looking up at him,” she explained. “Also when I asked him if we knew each other, his lips pursed together very tightly. I think it may be a habit he has when he’s concentrating. Notice how they’re scrunched in your picture. My feeling is that when the camera caught him, he was concentrating very much on that statuette. I would guess he was deciding whether or not it was genuine. My friend tells me he’s quite an expert on antiques.”

“Yes, he is.” Si Morgan was excited. At last he had struck gold! “Mrs. Hoover, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this call. You do know that if this leads to a conviction, there’s a substantial reward, over one hundred thousand dollars.”

“Oh, I don’t care about that,” Grace Hoover said. “I’ll simply send it on to a charity.”

When Si hung up he thought of the tuition bills that were sitting on his desk at home for the spring semester at his sons’ colleges. Shaking his head he turned on the intercom and sent for the three investigators who were working on the Hamilton case.

He told them that he wanted Arnott followed round the clock. Judging from the investigation they had made of him two years ago, if he was the thief, he had done an excellent job of concealing his tracks. It would be better to trail him for a while. He might just lead them to where he was keeping stolen property.

“If this isn’t another red herring, and we can get proof he’s committed the burglaries,” Si said, “our next job will be to nail the Peale murder on him. The boss wants that one solved big time. The president’s mother used to play bridge with Mrs. Peale.”