by D. B. Anderson
Copyright ©
2005 D.B. Anderson All rights reserved
Detective Bruno Clew was
spending a quiet Monday morning in his office located on
"Detective Clew?"
he enquired, gazing very judgmentally at Bruno's attire and the eclectic
furnishings of his office.
"Yes, please
enter," Bruno spoke, with a slight grin at his visitor's obvious snobbish
demeanor. "Beastly cold out
there."
"I am Jonathan Hortense,
private secretary to Mr. Morton Fletcher, owner of The Fletcher Coal Boat
Company." He handed Bruno an
envelope. "I have a personal
message for you from Mr. Fletcher."
Bruno retrieved a letter
opener from his desk drawer and slit the envelope open, removing a piece of
folded, very high-quality white linen letter paper.
Detective Clew,
Your detective agency was
mentioned by the boys at our
poker club some time back as being an exceptionally reliable
and very confidential source of investigation.
I currently require your
service.
Please meet me at my home,
this afternoon.
Morton Fletcher
Bruno nodded affirmatively to
the messenger. "Please do notify
Mr. Fletcher that I will be present at his home at one this afternoon."
The elderly secretary again
scrutinized Bruno, Bruno's miniscule office, and then smugly removed his
prescience from the now chuckling Bruno's view.
The Fletcher mansion was less
than a mile from Bruno's office, and although the winds of winter were
necessarily cold, they were not intolerable for his aged circulating system,
and the noonday sun was now fully ignited actually making the journey quite
invigorating. Bruno tapped the brass knocker
up and down on the black enameled front door of the medium-size,
gothic-revival, gray-stoned edifice, and was surprised to find the door swing
open almost immediately. A very tall and
thin middle-aged man with graying hair, wearing a servant's apron, anxiously
scrutinized Bruno's well-tailored woolen, dark brown winter overcoat, brown
derby, glistening brown polished ankle boots, and the silver bear head walking
cane clutched in his right hand.
"I am Detective Bruno
Clew. I have a
The servant's eyes lit with
relief. "Yes, indeed. Do step in.
Mr. Fletcher is waiting for you."
The butler helped Bruno remove his overcoat, and hung it in the
vestibule closet along with Bruno's bowler and scarf. He then reached for Bruno's silver bear head
walking cane.
"The cane stays with me
at all times," Bruno ordered.
The servant grunted, and then
led Bruno through the vestibule, down a mahogany wainscoted hallway, and into
the mansion library.
A short-stature, thin,
elderly man arose from an overstuffed, brown leather chair located behind an
oversized dark mahogany desk. His gaunt
face was masked in despair.
"Mr. Fletcher, I am
Detective Bruno Clew of The Society Detective Agency."
"Excellent. Thank you for your promptness. Please be seated." Mr. Fletcher then shook his head in despair
and shrugged his shoulders, as he paced back and forth behind his desk. "I'm afraid I have a bit of a to-do
here. My library wall safe has been
broken into during the night time hours and a very valuable diamond I am
holding in trust for an investment consortium is missing." He then pointed to the opened door of the
safe on the far wall. A painting of an
elk, which normally covered the safe, sat on the floor beneath the safe.
Bruno moved to the safe and investigated
the door and key lock for damage but found none. He then moved to the French doors located on
the same wall, very near the safe, and found the latch lock on the doors
untouched. "A thief would usually
enter through the French doors to carry on his activities."
"All of the doors and
windows on the first floor are secure, Detective Clew. I checked them myself," Mr. Fletcher
added.
"I would have returned
with your secretary earlier if I had known the matter was of this urgency. No mention of a robbery was related to me by
your secretary."
"Detective Clew, I
simply needed some time to sit and digest all of this. It is an immense personal tragedy for
me."
"Obviously you have not
notified the police. I see no evidence
of their prescience round and about."
"No, and I wish to keep
this confidential. That is why I
requested your service." Mr.
Fletcher then gazed somewhat sheepishly at Bruno. "I was holding the diamond worth
$600,000 as security for $500,000 ready cash I and fellow investors placed in
the hands of Mr. Adonis Surrey to purchase resort land for us. He is the owner of the Northland Lakes Land
Investment Company."
"I am vaguely familiar
with the gentleman's name, but have never met him.”
"Adonis has vast real
estate holdings in Northern Wisconsin of land cleared of timber by the logging
companies."
"Impressive, but I seem
to remember reading in the newspaper that the Northern timber land is now
virtually worthless, due to the fact that thousands upon thousands of tree
stumps have to be removed from those lands before they can be tilled for
farming, and even then the soil and climate that far north is not conducive to
growing money crops as wheat and corn."
Mr. Fletcher nodded his head in
agreement. "Quite so. Adonis Surrey is a land speculator, and is
only buying select land abutting lakes, plus the lakes themselves, in the
Northern Wisconsin area for use as country homes and resort and health retreats
for the wealthy families from Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin, and
hopefully all points beyond."
Bruno shook his head in
wonder. "What an absolutely
brilliant concept. Resort homes in the
North Country; hunting, fishing, swimming, boating..." He then paused and
raised his steel-gray eyes to Mr. Fletcher's troubled expression. "And he entrusted you personally with
the $600,000 diamond to secure the $500,000 in cash your investment group
advanced him to buy the lake property and build resorts in your names?"
"Absolutely
correct. Mr. Surrey approached me with
his intent to buy the land and build the lake resorts. He was quite forward about the matter. Since he admitted it is land speculation we
were to invest in, he offered us the gem to hold in trust to show his faith in
the ultimate success of the deal."
Mr. Fletcher's face then flushed and he averted his eyes. "I fear, Detective Clew, I also dealt in
some chicanery with Mr. Surrey as he also gave me an extra $10,000 cash as a
client finder's fee for his project."
Bruno paused in thought,
suppressing a grin. "I see,"
he responded. "One wonders why he
did not sell his gem to buy the lands on his own and reap all of the rewards
for himself?"
"We asked him that very
question and he stated it is a gem from his family estate, and would never sell
it.”
Bruno nodded his head in
agreement. "Excellent security, I
must say. Yet, now the diamond is gone,
and your investment club paid him the necessary money for the deal, and you received
the $10,000 finder's fee in cash from him, and now he must be repaid for his
purloined gem worth $600,000. So in
actuality your investment club will be paying him $1,100,000 for the land deal;
the $500,000 original investment and $600,000 for the purloined diamond."
Mr. Fletcher's face became
somewhat pale. "Quite so, and I
have yet to notify the investors of the theft."
"The lake-resort areas
may be fantastically successful," Bruno assured Mr. Fletcher. “Perhaps in time it will make a very
excellent profit for all involved."
Mr. Fletcher lowered his head
into his hands on the desktop. "It
is a total loss of business acumen on my part.
I have failed them. I'll also be
forced to relate the $10,000 I took on the sly." He glanced away in shame. "That is not at all like me. I am a very honest person."
"I'm sure you are,
sir," Bruno responded with little sympathy. "Did the cracksman steal any other items
from your wall safe, or did the theft appear geared only for the gem?"
"I merely keep personal documents in
the wall safe; marriage certificate, birth records, and so forth."
“It almost sounds as if the
thief knew the diamond was in the safe.
Did you tell the members of your land investment group where you
sequestered the diamond?”
“No,” Mr. Fletcher responded,
and then paused in thought. “Actually,
Mr. Surrey and I completed the transaction here in my home office, and I did
place the diamond in my wall safe in his presence.” Mr. Fletcher’s eyes then lit in revelation. “Yet, I would certainly not suspect a
gentleman of his standing to be involved in robbery.”
"Weren't your wife and
children about?"
"I am separated from my
wife, and my two sons are at Yale University."
"Did you take anyone
else into your confidence as to where you had sequestered the diamond? Such as the participants in your investment
group, or perhaps your servants?”
“No.” Mr. Fletcher then stared somewhat timidly at
Bruno. "I must admit I was
fascinated with the gem. I enjoyed
viewing the incredibly beautiful stone, holding it in the palm of my hand. The diamond belonged to three royal families
in Europe from time to time. It is
rumored that no less than four deaths are mysteriously entwined within its
brilliant effervescence."
"Gems can be
hypnotic," Bruno agreed. "I
have worked on several jewelry store and personal gems heists during my tenure
on the police force, and I too was always fascinated with their
allure." Bruno then gazed coldly
into Mr. Fletcher’s confused, deep-set, brown eyes. "Did your servants know of the diamond's
existence?"
"William? No, not at all. Not until the robbery occurred."
"But he is aware of the
existence of the wall safe?"
"Certainly. He does do the house cleaning."
Bruno nodded his head. "I will immediately begin an
investigation of the purloined diamond.
I would like to start by having a tour of your magnificent mansion. Would your servant be available to show me
about? I will then also have a chance to
interview him."
"William has been in my
service for twenty years. I trust him
implicitly"
"I'll be polite with
him."
"But why search my
house? The cracksman obviously entered
through the French doors by picking the lock, and being a professional had
skeleton keys to enter my safe. When he
departed he must have relocked the French door."
"It is a matter of
procedure, sir; my past police training, and such.” Bruno then tapped the silver bear head atop
his cane under his chin in contemplation.
“It is time to search for clues.
I prefer to call them mistakes,
which even the cleverest of crooks are apt to leave on the crime scene."
"As you wish," Mr.
Fletcher reluctantly agreed. He then
grasped a small hand bell from his desktop and shook it. His servant immediately appeared in the
doorway from the hall. "William,
give Detective Clew a tour of the mansion and answer any questions he might
have."
"Certainly, sir,"
William obeyed, stepping aside from the doorway as Bruno made his way into the
hallway.
"Let's start in the
basement, William,” Bruno suggested, “and then work our way up to the
attic."
William was a kindly old
manservant, answering all of Bruno's somewhat prying questions of the
deportments of Mr. Fletcher's relatives, and the private life of Mr.
Fletcher. Bruno found the basement
windows securely locked and not damaged.
He then carefully checked the windows and French doors on the first and
second floors and found them all locked.
William them lit an oil hurricane lamp and led him up the very narrow
stairway into the attic. The attic was
windowless, but there was a four-foot by four-foot firetrap door situated on
the ceiling of the Mansard attic apparently opening to the roof itself. The only item in the attic was an old chair,
placed just below the fire trap door, obviously there to access the roof as
required. Bruno noticed two small size
footprints outlined on the dust of the seat of the chair. Bruno then smiled as a name burst into his
mind like a ray of sunshine.
"Ladybug," he mumbled.
Bruno returned to the
distressed Mr. Fletcher in the library.
"I will be tracking down some leads now of second story thieves I
have met in the past. I should return by
this evening."
Mr. Fletcher, now seated
behind his desk was sipping on a rather large Brandy. “Please stay in constant contact no matter
what the time. I don’t believe I’ll be
getting much sleep tonight.”
Bruno immediately repaired to
the sleeping room of Sammy ‘The Mole" Plankowski at the Fourth Street
Rooming House. Bruno fully expected him
to answer the door unshaven and smelling of gin, but instead found a
clean-shaven, sober, smiling Sammy.
"Sammy, you look
absolutely civil."
Sammy glanced away. "I go to the library almost every day
now. A high-class lady shows up there
every Tuesday and Thursday and is teaching a few of us guys to read
better."
Bruno at first was going to
tease Sammy, but then noticed two hardcover books on his dining table and quickly
got down to business of the diamond theft.
"Ladybug, the second story spider woman. Any news of her?"
Sammy lowered his head in
thought. "She hasn't been too
active lately. Some say they even think
she might have quit the business."
"Do you think she
has? There was a robbery at a
mansion. A spider burglar crawled up one
of its walls all the way to the roof and entered the mansion through the fire
trap door. I found small size footprints
in the dust on a chair located just under the trap door."
"She is up to that, but
I don't think she would go through all of that trouble to get into a
mansion. She knows how to pick door and
window locks."
"Good point. A valuable gem was heisted. The wall safe was wide open in the mansion library
and it appears the French doors and windows in the building were locked
tight."
"Leave me get out the
word on this. I'm afraid I will need
some advance money to loosen tongues out on the streets."
Bruno reached into his
overcoat vest pocket and slid out his wallet.
"Forty dollars enough?"
"If not I will let you
know," Sammy replied, retrieving the cash from Bruno.
Bruno opened his office at
nine the next morning, and at ten after nine Sammy slightly opened the door,
peeking his head playfully around its edge.
"Anybody 'ta home?" he whimsically asked.
"Sammy, old chap. I hope you have some delicious news for me
regarding the diamond heist."
"I brought a guest with
me,"
Another head than poked
around the edge of the door; a diminutive, beautiful, black haired, blue-eyed
woman was grinning from ear to ear.
"Morning, Darling."
Bruno burst into surprised
laughter. "Ladybug! How delightful! Please enter."
She and Sammy sat in front of
Bruno's desk. "You look extremely
fit and virile," she purred.
Sammy glanced away and
snickered. "Perhaps I should return
later."
Bruno paid no attention to
him and reached across his desktop to hold Ladybug's right hand. "You are exquisite."
"Bear, I did not purloin
that safe. As a matter of fact I think I have quit the business for
good. I have opened a millenary shop
next to the Europa Hotel."
"Excellent address, and
ladies haberdashery. It is very self
fulfilling to have ones own business."
She slid her hand from Bruno's hand. "Word on the street has it you are
seeing, on a regular basis, a society lady.
I am jealous."
"That news is actually
on the streets! I escorted her to the
opera just once.”
Ladybug then chuckled. “Just teasing, darling, I picked up the news
as gossip from my haberdashery store.”
Bruno wished to immediately
change the conversation. "Did Sammy
explain my situation; about my finding the chair in the attic of the Fletcher
mansion. Two footprints about your size
were imprinted in the dust on the chair located just below the roof fire trap
door."
“Bruno, darling, I’m afraid I
have some disagreeable news for you.
I’ve met with this Mr. Fletcher person of yours. I was contacted through channels to meet a
man, real name unknown, to discuss a possible heist. We met in the dining room bar of the Lake
Hotel. He was somewhat intoxicated and
very edgy. He explained he wished to
hire me for a possible gem heist of a family jewel. I turned him down. He just didn't seem right to me. He was far too edgy; uncertain of
himself. The type that would fall apart
if ever questioned by the police."
She turned here eyes away. “And
as I said I am basically retired now.”
“He contacted a thief!” Bruno exclaimed, and then paused and smiled
apologetically. “Albeit a very lovely
thief and tops in her trade.”
Ladybug’s lips curled into a
snicker. “Thanks for qualifying that.”
“Incredible,” Bruno mumbled
in disbelief. “He is obviously in some
desperate monetary situation. One can
only surmise after you turned him down he robbed his own safe and hired me to
show his investment group that an investigation is in full swing.” Bruno could feel his face flushing with
anger. “And he then thought to blame you
by outlining your small footprints in the dust on the attic chair.”
Ladybug's Irish temper then
flared full flame. "I believe I’ll
stop by his mansion and have an Irish chat with him.”
"Not to worry. I will see that he gets his just
desert." Bruno then grinned while
becoming adrift in Ladybug's softening blue eyes. "Dinner tonight at eight?"
"Certainly," she
grinned back.
"What about me?"
Sammy chortled.
Bruno reached in his jacket
pocket and removed a five-dollar bill.
"Buy yourself a limburger cheese sandwich."
That evening at six Bruno met
Mr. Fletcher at his mansion. As they sat
in his office, Bruno lit a cigar and casually blew the smoke into the air,
quietly studying the swirls of gray clouds.
"Mr. Fletcher, I no longer wish to continue this charade."
Mr. Fletcher nervously
grinned. "I don't understand."
"Ladybug, Mr.
Fletcher."
His eyes lit with
astonishment. "You are making
absolutely no sense, sir."
"Mr. Fletcher, you
attempted to hire Ladybug to rob your safe." Bruno paused, pointing his right index finger
at Mr. Fletcher. "You still possess
the Surrey diamond; keeping it for yourself.
I fear the diamond’s seductive lure has made a thief of you, and I rid
myself of this case!" Bruno arose
and moved to the library door. "I
suggest you return the diamond to your wall safe, and return to the relative
honesty of everyday commerce." He
then paused. "I will post you my
bill for detection services rendered in the morning mail. My bill will be for $500.00" He then
waived his silver bear head walking cane in the air. "Have a lovely evening."
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