BEBE’S BAUBLES

“Oh! Who…what are you…”

“Give me the key to your jewel case and keep moving—towards the bathroom,” ordered the grim-faced young man who had silently entered the hotel suite of movie starlet Bebe Bedeaux.

“But…but…” spluttered the terrified Bebe.

“I wouldn’t like to smash your pretty nose with this rod,” said the gunman, “but unless you hand me that key I’ll ruin your future before it starts! Thanks—now into the bathroom!”

* * * *

“So, of course I went in,” Bebe told Professor Fordney. “Just before I did so another man entered the suite. He wore a hat, and a handkerchief over his face. I was locked in the bathroom. When the maid let me out an hour later, my jewels were gone. Please, please get them back for me.”

Studying the hotel registrations and questioning employees, the criminologist narrowed down the suspects to Burton Chance, Dick Lyon and Peter Drake. Further investigation revealed that one of the three was the gunman who herded Bebe into the bathroom; one had been this man’s partner in crime for many years; the third was a hotel employee. By chance Fordney discovered that it was the hotel employee who suggested the theft to the two crooks though he did not know they were professional jewel thieves. The only other information Fordney could immediately secure was the following:

1. Burton Chance had registered from Lima, Peru.

2. Dick Lyon and the gunman, both of whom were blond, had served time in London for jewel thievery and blackmail.

3. This was the hotel employee’s first criminal venture.

Who was the gunman? Turn page for solution.