Octavus Roy Cohen

“ An’ as for you cashing in, you never will. You're playing a lone hand, Arthur, but I ain’t. Real detectives never do. I’ve got the police of the country helpin' me on this thing, an’ every stool pigeon we’ve got is watching for them jools. They’re going to keep on watching. An’”—Jim Hanvey leaned forward earnestly—“you ain’t gonna cash in on this deal, Arthur, because there ain’t a livin' human bein’ who'd buy them jools offen you. Not a single living soul.”
Sherwood laughed shortly. ”

“ We're just naturally bound to get you. I'd be doubtful if there was any person in the world you could sell them jools to, but there ain’t. Not a one. We’ve taken care of that. An’ the comp’ny has told me the sky’s the limit. Besides, Arthur, there ain’t so bloomin' many places you could of hid them jools. All the time you're waitin' we're workin'. You can’t get away with it. The minute I was sure it was you I knew it was just a question of time before I landed you with the dope. Now if you was willin' to make a clean breast of it——”
Sherwood threw back his head and laughed. “Jim Hanvey! ”

“ Haley starts out from Chicago about a month ago in her private car, headed for Palm Beach by way of Memphis an’ N'Yawlins. She carries with her a maid an’ a chef an’ a butler. Also she carries with her about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of joolry which she plans to wear all at one time, just to prove that she's a lady. An’ about the time she makes her plans a certain Mr. Arthur Sherwood, who is playin' the races down in N'Yawlins, gets wind of it and decides to make a play for them stones. ”

“ You can’t sell 'em, an’ there ain't no other way of realizin’ on your investment of time and effort.” Sherwood knew that he must hold on for a long, long while. It was awkward, but necessary. He was too clever a performer to worry about financial stringency. Jim was after him now as keenly as he was after the jewels, even more so. Of course he had never intended turning the jewels over to Hanvey; had quizzed him solely for the purpose of finding out whether it was the man or the jewels they were seeking. ”

“ Now, frankly, I don't expect to cash in on this little deal for four or five years, and——”
“You ain't ever going to cash in on it, Arthur.”
The narrow, rather ascetic face of the criminal broke into a broad grin. “Trying to make me apprehensive?”
“No; just talkin' sense. You know the gang I’m working for. It ain’t so much the hundred thou’ insurance money they’ve shelled out as it is the principle of the thing. They’re just butt-headed enough to be willin' to spend money an’ time to get you.” ”

“ Haley had personally cashed her check for fifty thousand dollars.
Jim received the report with a nod. He was lolling comfortably in a taxicab owned by the police department and driven by one of his own operatives. “Yeh! I knew somethin’ was about to break. I follered her down to the bank an’ seen her when she went in. She's in yonder now”—he nodded in the general direction of the gingerbready apartment house—“an’ she'll be comin’ out directly. Beat it, Henry.”
Henry beat it. The purple limousine appeared. So, too, did Mrs. Haley. Twenty minutes later she entered a modest downtown hotel. ”

“ He was impressed, and tried not to show it.
“We know every fence who'd handle a deal of that size, Arthur. Every one of them. An’ they're all bein’ watched. The little jools don’t matter, but the minute one of them big ones shows up—we're on a hot trail. An’ then Mr. Sherwood does a stretch—worse luck.” ”

“ Haley ain't strong on polish, but she's got the old ambish by the tail on a downhill pull. Far as her appearance is concerned—she ain’t got any. She's sort of the same upholstery style that I am. An’ the only thing she craves in this world is society; none of your pikin' Society, either, but the genuine stuff; the kind that even twenty millions can’t buy. For seven years she's been trying to jimmy into the real crowd, an’ meetin’ with about as much success as an oyster in a hurdle race.” He paused briefly. “I’ve got it pretty straight so far, haven't I, Arthur?” ”

“ And now—“You’re working for the insurance company aren't you, Jim?”
“Yeh.” Hanvey was very open about it. “We’ve already paid the money, but we're interested now in gettin' the jools back an' puttin' you in stir. That's why I come to see you.”
Sherwood smiled. “You’re not going to arrest me, Jim.”
“Why not?”
“Because you can’t prove a thing.”
Jim grinned. “Maybe not just yet. I’ve talked to Mrs. Haley. Bein’ a social climber she ain't any too keen to let it be known publicly that she was imposed on by a faker. That'd make folks laugh at her. ”

“ She was horribly frightened.
“They won’t. You're the last person on earth they'd think of in connection with those jewels. You buy them. They can search all they please and they can’t get the goods on me. They won’t even arrest me because there’ll be no evidence to convict. And you will be fifty thousand dollars to the good.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“Well, I won't.”
A steely light crept into his eyes. “You will! You must!” ”

“ I'll take my chances.”
“Ain’t gonna get you nowhere. You can't sell them jools; there ain't a soul in the world would buy 'em offen you.”
“Maybe not.” Sherwood opened the door invitingly. “Sorry you have to be going, Jim.”
“I’m sorry myself, Arthur.” He turned at the door way. “I’m kinder cute yet, ain't I?”
“I hope not, Jim,” was the answer.
It did not take Sherwood long to realize that he was nearing the end of his rope. He might have known that Jim Hanvey was going to trap him. That had been a clever trick of Jim's, and it promised definite and fairly immediate results. Hanvey was right ”

“ Of course I know the box is in a Manhattan bank, because you got back too quick to have gone to Brooklyn or even Jersey City. Jerry Naschbaum, chief of the headquarters identification force, will let me have a few good men to help. In one week, two weeks mebbe three, we'll check up on everybody who entered a bank box between 3:45 and 4:30 today. An' when we’ve done that, Arthur, we'll have you. See?”
Arthur saw. “I wish some one else was on this case, Jim. You're too blamed painstaking.” ”

“ You don’t mind my callin' myself clever, do you, Arthur? I really do think it was an awful good stunt I pulled.”
“Just what was it, Jim.”
Hanvey glanced at his enormous watch. “Just this: At some time between 3:45 and 4:30 this afternoon you went to your bank box. You signed your card—under an alias, of course. An’ tomorrow mornin' I start out inspectin’ the vault cards of every bank in New York. I’ll get help from headquarters, an' eventually we'll check up on every man, woman an' child who entered a bank box in that three-quarters of an hour.” ”

“ Finally she went to sleep. When that happened you grabbed the jools an’ hopped the car. Mrs. Haley didn’t wake up until she was on her way to Jacksonville. It was a couple hours later that she found out the jools was gone—an' you too. The old gal nearly went nuts until she remembered her insurance, then she figured she was sittin' on Easy Street. An’ it may interest you to know that the insurance money has already been paid to her; one hundred thousand dollars.”
Sherwood sat motionless, staring admiringly at the portly detective. ”

“ The old dame had started out to prove she could drive—an’ she proved it. I reckon she must have busted sixty sev’ral times comin’ into the city. Ol' gal was just naturally havin' a helluva time. That is, she was until you got 'most home. ”