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.Wendel told me.They've got both sides of the buildingcovered.Look out the windows if you don't believe me.""I believe you," she said slowly."But-why?""Because Wendel means to catch somebody with the goods on them."It was only an involuntary and static reaction, the whitening of her knuckleson the hand that held her purse; but it was all he needed.He said: "You hadthe imitation necklace today.You pulled the switch tonight.You made a deal,but you kept your fingers crossed.""No," she said.Now there were heavy feet stumping methodically up the stairway outside."You were followed every inch of the way back.They know you haven't ditchedthe stuff.They know it has to be here.And they know you can't get it out.What are you going to do- throw it out of a window? There's a man watching onboth sides.Hide it? They may have to tear the joint to shreds, but they'llfind it.They've got you cold.""No," she said, and her face was haggard with guilt.A fist pounded on the door."All right, darling," said the Saint."You had your chance.Give me your bag.""No."The fist pounded again."You fool," he said savagely, in a voice that reached no further than herears."What do you think that skin we love to touch would be like after tenyears in the pen?"He took the purse from her hand and said: "Open the door." Then he went intothe kitchen.Lieutenant Wendel made his entrance with the ponderous elaboration of a manwho knew that he had the last ounce of authority behind him and nothing onearth to hurry for.Certainty smoothed down the buzz-saw edges of his voiceand in vested him with the steam-roller impermeability of an entire governmentbureau on two feet."I'm from the Police Department, Miss Roger.I'm sure Mr Templar has told youabout me.I've come to trouble you for Lady Offchurch's pearl necklace.""I don't know what you're talking about." she said."Of course not." His confidence was almost paternal."How ever, it hasn't gonePage 54 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlout by the front since you came in, and I don't think it's gone out by theback.We'll just make sure."He crossed the room heavily, opened a window, and whistled.This was the moment that Simon Templar chose to come back."Why, hullo, Lieutenant," he murmured genially."What are you doing-rehearsingRomeo and Juliet for the Police Follies?"Wendel waved to the night and turned back from the window."Ah, there you are, Mr Templar.I knew you were here, of course." His eyesfastened on the purse that swung negligently in Simon's hand."This may saveus a lot of trouble-excuse me."He grabbed the bag away, sprung the catch, and spilled the contents clatteringon the dining table.After a few seconds the Saint said: "Would anyone mind telling me what this isall about?""All right," Wendel said grimly."Where is it?""Where is what?""You know what I'm talking about.The necklace.""The last time I saw it," Jeannine Roger said, "it was on Lady Offchurch'sneck."The detective set his jaw."I work regular hours, Miss Roger, and I don't want to be kept up all night.Imay as well tell you that I talked to Lady Offchurch before you met her thisevening.I arranged for her to give one of my men a signal if you had beensuspiciously anxious to handle the necklace at any time while you weretogether.She gave that signal when she said good night to you.That gives megrounds to believe that while you were handling the necklace you exchanged itfor a substitute.I think the original is in this apartment now, and if it is,we'll find it.Now if one of you hands it over and saves me a lot of trouble,I mightn't feel quite so tough as if I had to work for it.""Meaning," said the Saint, "that we mightn't have to spend quite so much ofour youth on the rock pile?""Maybe."The Saint took his time over lighting a cigarette."All my life," he said, "I've been allergic to hard labor.And it's especiallybad"-he glanced at the girl-"for what the radio calls those soft, white,romantic hands.In fact, I can't think of any pearls that would be worthit-particularly when you don't even get to keep the pearls.So-I'm afraidthere ain't going to be no poils.""You're nuts!" Wendel exploded."Don't you know when you're licked?""Not till you show me," said the Saint peaceably."Let's ex amine the facts.Miss Roger handled the necklace.Tomorrow a jeweler may say that the stringPage 55 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthat Lady Offchurch still has is a phony.Well, Lady Offchurch can't possiblyswear that no body else ever touched that rope of oyster fruit.Well, thesubstitution might have been made anywhere, any time, by any one-even by achiseling maharajah.What's the only proof you could use against Jeannine?Nothing short of finding a string of genuine pink pearls in her possession.And that's something you can never do.""No?" Wendel barked."Well, if I have to put this whole building through asieve, and the two of you with it-""You'll never find a pearl," Simon stated.He made the statement with such relaxed confidence that a clammy hand began tocaress the detective's spine, neutralizing logic with its weird massage, andpoking skeletal fingers into hypersensitive nerves."No?" Wendel repeated, but his voice had a frightful uncertainty.Simon picked up a bottle and modestly replenished his glass."The trouble with you," he said, "is that you never learned to listen.Lastnight at dinner, if you remember, we discoursed on various subjects, all ofwhich I'm sure you had heard before, and yet all you could think of was that Iwas full of a lot of highfalutin folderol, while I was trying to tell you thatin our business a man couldn't afford to not know anything.And when I toldyou this afternoon that Jeannine and I were cooking up oxtails, you onlythought I was trying to be funny, instead of remembering among other thingsthat oxtails are cooked in wine."The detective lifted his head, and his nostrils dilated with suddenapperception."So when you came in here," said the Saint, "you'd have remembered those othersilly quotes I mentioned-about Cleopatra dissolving pearls in wine forCaesar-""Simon-no!" The girl's voice was almost a scream."I'm afraid, yes," said the Saint sadly."What Cleopatra could do, I could dobetter-for a face that shouldn't be used for launching ships."Lieutenant Wendel moved at last, rather like a wounded carabao struggling fromits wallow; and the sound that came from his throat was not unlike the crythat might have been wrung from the vocal cords of the same stricken animal.He plunged into the kitchen and jerked open the oven door.After burning hisfingers twice, he took pot holders to pull out the dish and spill its contentsinto the stoppered sink.Simon watched him, with more exquisite pain, while he ran cold water and pawedfrantically through the debris.After all, it would have been a dish fit for aqueen; but all Wendel came up with a loop of thread, about two feet long."How careless of the butcher," said the Saint, "to leave that in."Lieutenant Wendel did not take the apartment apart.He would have liked to,but not for investigative reasons.For a routine search he had no heart atall.The whole picture was too completely historically founded and cohesive togive him any naive optimism about his prospects of upsetting it.Page 56 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"I hate to suggest such a thing to a respectable officer," said the Saintinsinuatingly, "but maybe you shouldn't even let Lady Offchurch think that hernecklace was switched
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