Gypsy by J. Robert Janes Read Free Book Online Page A

expression grew pained. ‘At just before closing.’
    â€˜And were there any other customers?’
    â€˜Seven. We’re short-handed. I …’
    A breath was taken and held in anticipation of further questions not long in coming.
    â€˜Do you mean to say you left him alone while you served others? You took your eyes from him?’ demanded the Sûreté accusingly.
    â€˜Inspector, how was I to know he was looking the place over? He was in uniform. He asked if he might use the telephone so as to get the inscription correct.’
    Kohler gave his partner a nudge. ‘The burglar alarm, Louis. The bastard recircuited the wires so that the alarm remained off but the light came on when the switch was thrown.’
    The control box was in the office, on a wall. ‘Entry?’ asked St-Cyr of his partner.
    â€˜A rear door. A tradesman’s entrance – grilled, but no problem. Forced with an iron bar, muffled with a horse blanket.’
    â€˜And the safes out front?’
    â€˜All drilled and punched. Bang on each time, Louis. First the hole to locate and expose the cam of the locking bolt, then the hammer and chisel.’
    â€˜He came equipped but did he come alone?’
    â€˜Apparently, but he couldn’t have carried the tools in that attaché case he walked into the Ritz with.’
    â€˜Then did he knock this place off first, Hermann, before leaving his little surprise at the Ritz, or vice versa?’
    â€˜He would have had to come back here to open the front door for the flics to find.’
    There was a nod. ‘Then he did the Ritz job first, and while we were brushing the dust off ourselves, he took his time with this, having prepared the way well beforehand.’
    Clément Laviolette was sous-directeur, a far different person from his sales clerk. Clearly he didn’t want the Kripo and the Sûreté asking too many questions. ‘Inspectors, it’s nothing – nothing , I assure you. Those little safes we have out front are merely for show. Our vault in the cellars is inviolable. Please … a few trinkets are missing. Mere baubles.’
    He was positively beaming, and when he sat down in an Empire fauteuil to benevolently fold his hands in his lap, he said, ‘Two millions at most when he could have had thirty. The rectangular, chain-linked diamond necklace with matching bracelets. Two rings with step-cut, rectangular, blanc exceptionnel stones of 31.98 and 19.53 carats respectively. A wider diamond bracelet than the others – stronger, yes. More distinctive, more of a statement. The latent pugiliste in the female perhaps? A pair of ear-rings – single droplets those – he could have had the proper ones to go with the chain-links but passed them up. A ruby pendant, a diamond brooch, an epidote-and-diamond necklace which was exquisite for the delicacy of its platinum lacework and for the warm and enticing combination of its soft green and pale yellow tints.’
    He sucked in a breath, never letting his eyes leave them. ‘But it is as if this perceur de coffre-fort was searching for something he had had in mind for a long time yet couldn’t quite make up his mind when presented with the confiserie of our establishment.’
    The bonbon shop, ah yes. ‘Seven years between sheet metal in Oslo, Louis, the sentence commuted by our friends in Berlin for all we know, but time enough to dream. Then one empty safe and a fortune left behind.’
    â€˜One empty safe …? Ah! messieurs, the vault in the cellars was not touched, as I have only just informed you.’
    Kohler let him have it – St-Cyr knew he would. ‘Then why weren’t the little safes out front emptied and their contents locked away below? Isn’t that the normal procedure at the close of each day?’
    There wasn’t a ruffle of discomposure. ‘The pressures of business. The shortages of suitable staff. It’s understandable,