He lost me then, talking a mile a minute without making much sense. I needed to calm him down. I opened the bottom drawer of my desk where I kept the fixings for gin and tonic. Joshua Tucker looked like he needed one, and it would have been inhospitable to make him drink alone.
“Let’s back up,” I said when we’d held conference with our glasses for a minute. “I want to make sure I’m getting this straight. Last night you opened every jewelry box in your safe and one of those boxes was empty.”
“Yeah.”
“This morning you opened them all again. They all contained jewelry.”
“Yeah.”
“How do—?”
“We keep a list of what goes in and out, see. Last night the cases in the safe matched the ones on the list. This morning I counted again. Same number of boxes. All of ’em full.”
The guy was on his toes, I’d give him that. Questions popped into my head faster than I could think. I pictured jewelry boxes I’d seen in stores. In the places where I shopped, they’d hold a nice watch or a strand of pearls, not the rarefied valuables he had described. My guess was the outside would look almost the same, though.
“The boxes you’re talking about are black velvet, right?”
“Most. A couple are dark blue.”
“Then how can you be certain the box that was empty last night was in there this morning?”
For the first time since he’d started telling me about the jewelry, a small smile returned to his face. He edged forward with eagerness.
“That’s easy. It’s got a little place near the back corner where the color’s bleached out. Owner probably handled it right after she’d dabbed on perfume, had some residue on her fingers. Or it could be that some kind of makeup left a smudge and her maid tried to clean it off with something she shouldn’t.”
It was possible my would-be client had spotted something from dumb luck. Or it could be an explanation worked out in advance. But why? Why would he make up a story like this? Why would he offer to pay me good money?
Tucker had tipped his head to the side. He was watching me closely.
“So, these questions mean you’re gonna help me?”
It still sounded like a matter for the police. It was also as far removed from the sort of case I normally handled as the office where we sat sipping gin was from China. There was something else, too. That instinctive warning of something amiss that Tucker had mentioned didn’t occur unless you were already half expecting trouble, or doing something you shouldn’t be.
“What else made you look in the safe last night?” I asked, leaning forward.
The question startled him. He tugged at an earlobe.
“Nothing. I don’t think. Unless....” He shook his head as if to clear it of an unwanted thought. “Five or six days ago, when I opened the safe for the first time that day, the dial was a little off too. Not as much as last night, though, so I didn’t even think.... That must have been somewhere in my brain when I noticed last night.”
“You keep saying the dial wasn’t where it should be. You don’t leave it on the last number after you open it, do you?”
“Never. We spin it a couple of times, then set it on the number of the day. That changes. Only it’s never on the number exactly. One day it’s just off the number, the next day a quarter off, next day it’s halfway to the next number. Then that part repeats.”
Not a bad little system.
“Who besides you knows the combination? The whole procedure?”
“William, our manager. Been with us from the beginning. And of course my wife. I’d trust either of them with my life.”
“So someone could have been in the safe after you. Apart from our presumed thief.”
“But they weren’t. Like I told you, we keep a log. Besides, nobody checked any jewelry out last night. Only things in or out yesterday were Count Szarenski getting his passport and bringing it back several hours later, and right before I went upstairs for the night, a new arrival putting two cases in.”
My thoughts had stumbled to a halt when I heard the word ‘Count.’ I stared at the round little man in front of me. I wondered if I should revise my initial assessment of him, and whether his establishment bore any resemblance to the picture taking shape in my mind.
“How do you know the cases the new arrival put in weren’t empty?” I managed to ask.
“They were the dark blue I told you about. The one that was empty last night was black.” He edged forward again on his chair. “Look, I’ve got to get back. Have I told you enough? Will you find out what’s going on?”
“Mr. Tucker, I still think you might be better off going to the police—”
“And I already told you, that’s not an option. Our reputation ... if guests get even a hint of something wrong....” Unable to finish, he spread his hands. “And some of them, the last thing they need to see right now is police. That Polish count and his family have been through plenty. Jump at the least noise. And a cable just came, pretty garbled, but I think we’re supposed to expect a woman whose husband got killed when the Nazis took Paris.”
Until now, tanks in Poland, and even the bombs that had started to fall on London two weeks ago had been only newspaper headlines. Now a war half a world away was casting its shadow clear into Ohio.
“You gotta help.” Tucker kneaded his thumbs. “We’ve got insurance, but it might not be enough, and if jewelry got stolen, the scandal would ruin us. We’d — we’d lose the hotel. We’ve put everything we have into it. Ourselves into it. Losing it would just about kill my wife.”
He owned a fancy hotel. I rented a rundown office where one of the window shades wouldn’t go up. I’d never tackled a case like the one he was outlining, and there were things about his story that bothered me, but I knew what it was to pour your entire being into a dream.
“I’ll have a look around,” I said. “One day, maybe two. Until I get a feel for the problem, that’s all I can promise.”
He bounced to his feet, happy as a kid.
“Thanks. Thanks more than I can tell you.” He flourished his billfold. “You haven’t told me your rate yet. How’s fifty sound for a starter? Plus all your expenses.”
“Extremely generous, Mr. Tucker.”
“Joshua.”
“Joshua.”
“Here’s what we’ll do then. You’ll check in like the rest of the guests. No charge for the room, of course—”
I held up a hand.
“Joshua. You just told me you’ve got a count staying there. Rich people. People traveling with pieces of jewelry worth more than I’ll earn in my lifetime.”
“Okay?” He looked puzzled.
“My dad was a cop. My only nice jewelry is a strand of pearls I got for high school graduation. You can’t honestly think you’ll pass me off as one of your guests.”
His shoulders gave a crestfallen slump.
“If you just come in asking questions and they learn you’re a gumshoe, it’s going to upset them as much as the cops.”
“They won’t know I’m a detective. I’ll be somebody working for you.”
“Doing what?”
“I’m not sure yet. I need to see your setup first, get a better sense of the problem. What time can I come by tomorrow?”
“I thought you were going to drop everything.”
“Those were your words. This is the best I can do.”
I nudged his retainer forward, inviting him to reclaim it.
“Half-past eight in the morning. Have breakfast with Frances and me in our suite.”
“It’s better if you and I are the only ones who know what I’m really doing.”
For the first time since I’d met him, Tucker glared.
“I don’t have any secrets from my wife.”
I stood at the window and watched him leave and wondered what was bothering me. What was wrong with earning a fat fee on a case which, as an extra enticement, didn’t sound likely to result in cracked ribs or stitches?