Arthur Somers Roche

“ Mr. Minturn alighted from the car, bade a cheery good night to his chauffeur, opened the outer door with one latchkey, entered and a moment later opened with a second key the door to a snug apartment on the second floor.
He awoke at 9 the following morning. rang a bell, and in fifteen minutes, bathed and shaved and attired in a dressing gown, was attacking breakfast and the morning paper simultaneously. Glaring headlines leaped at him from the front page.
Dayless had consented to receive newspaper men shortly after the police had been summoned to his house. ”

“ THE DAYLESS DIAMONDS
BY ARTHUR SOMERS ROCHE
The Gray Ghost is the most daring and accomplished big scale thief of the time. He has so far outwitted Pelham and Tryon, detectives. Every big crime is attributed automatically by the Public to the Gray Ghost.
PELHAM slipped his key into the lock, but before he could turn it the door was opened from within. Slim Dickenson stared at his master. "This is one deuce of a time to come home, Mr. Pelham," said the ex-guide severely. "You may picture yourself a gay young buck, but you look eighty-five!" ”

“ Although the clerk, entering an automobile near Park Row, dodged and doubled and retraced his course, when at last he entered an apartment house in West End avenue, Minturn was close enough to note the number. He was then driven to Union Square. There he dismissed the taxi man, and walked rapidly toward the apartment which he had left a couple of hours earlier. Ho was whistling as he unlocked the door of his apartment. But the whisle died away as he entered the room.
For three men awaited him and were upon him. One of them was the Tyron operative who had conversed with him the previous night. ”

“ Minturn smiled again. "But you aren't going to press it," he retorted confidently.
"Get to the point," snapped Lewis.
"These are the Dayless diamonds; you know that without my telling you. If you deliver me to the police, you may get ten thousand dollars as a reward. If you buy them from me, your profit should be a quarter of a million. You don't look like a fool."
"Do I look like a thief?" said Lewis.
"Do I?" continued Minturn. "I can't see that our appearances matter particularly. Do we do business?" He carefully rewrapped the necklace and placed it in his pocket. "Well?" ”

“ It's just that you didn't give due credit to our men. You see, I'd issued orders, after all that publicity, that if Dayless was robbed I'd fire the whole staff. And so every man in our employ was combing the city. It happened that a taxi man had seen the number of the car that waited for you in Central Park. The driver of that car told of leaving you outside a hotel. The starter happened to notice you. Oh, the boys had luck, but even so it was slick work. If only you'd told me that you were doing—why didn't you telephone me the minute you saw where Lewis' clerk went? ”

“ Minturn," said one of the men.
Minturn held out his hands.
"Take these blasted things off," he ordered. "I'm Pelham."
One of the men ran his hands over his clothing and brought to light the Dayless necklace. "Sure you ain't the King of Spain?" he laughed.
Their prisoner gave up protest. "All right, rush me down to headquarters as fast as you can; I won't argue with you."
"Sensible man," said his acquaintance of the night before.
Now, detectives are ordinary human beings ”

“ Lewis motioned to the clerk, who promptly stepped across the threshold and closed the door.
"What do you want?" asked Lewis. His weapon was ready, and his small black eyes stared at his visitor.
"I am going to put my hand in my pocket, but I'm not going to produce a gun," smiled Minturn.
Lewis shrugged. "You won't if you're wise," he stated. . His visitor took the words as permission to go ahead. From the inner pocket of his coat he produced the tissue paper parcel that he had taken the night before from the Dayless safe. He placed it upon the table and opened it. Lewis glanced at it ”

“ On Friday you play thirty-six holes. By Saturday you ought to be able to lick your weight in wildcats. So you stay up until 9 o'clock." He raised his hand warningly. "Wait a minute; I'm not through yet. ”