Chapter 3 third chapter

Lester Leith opened his wallet and counted five fifty-dollar bills.As the bills fell on the desk of the woman who ran the theater employment agency, Winnie Gale said softly, "I haven't seen so many since Mama Is a Lady at the Pellman Theater." money." Gilbert, the owner of the Gilbert Fur Company, looked at Lester Leith coldly and cautiously. "You see it is like this." Lester Leith pointed to the photographer and explained respectfully. The photographer stands to his left with a large studio camera in a suitcase and a tripod slung over his shoulder. "I brought my photographer and took some pictures—" He pointed to Winnie Gale again. "I brought my people. Of course, I will buy this silver fox at retail price." A leather shawl." Winnie Gale looked honored in a refurbished, slightly shabby dress.

Gilbert shook his head. "Of course," Lester Leith went on humbly, "Miss Gale is an actress. Don't let it spread, she's trying to make a splash out of it, and as far as you—well, let Jill It doesn't hurt that Burt's Fur Company gets some press coverage." Through the glasses, Gilbert could be seen frowning: "You're not a reporter, are you?" "no." "A propagandist?" "Oh, in a sense, yes. I'm very concerned about Miss Gale's popularity." Gilbert looked at Miss Gale meaningfully: "I'm not sure the kind of popularity this store wants."

Leith shrugged. "As you hoped," he said. "Of course, I'll buy a silver fox-fur cape." Gilbert said, "Wait a minute, I'm going to talk to my advertising manager. I'll be right back." He went into his private office and called the police headquarters. "A man named Lester Leith," he said, "claimed to be a feature writer. He brought an actress here, and she wanted to throw another silver fox-fur shawl out the window, and at the same time Let Miss Fanny Gilmeyer, the clerk who called the police yesterday, repeat yesterday's actions. I kick him downstairs, do you object?"

The clerk said, "Stay on the phone, I put you on the phone with Sergeant Ackley." After a while, Officer Ackley's voice came over, and Gilbert explained the matter in detail. Ackley's voice was urgent: "No? Listen, don't make him change his mind. Hold him for fifteen minutes, that's all I ask for—fifteen minutes." "I'll be fine after this?" Gilbert asked dubiously. "Absolutely all right!" cried Inspector Ackley. "If you let this opportunity slip through your fingers, I'll—I'll—I'll shut down your business for dealing in stolen goods!"

Gilbert went back to the outside office. "Okay," he said, "if you want Miss Gilmeyer to serve you in person, you'll have to wait a few minutes because she's busy and has a customer. But I wonder if you can put your camera, rehearsal?" Lester Leith took charge of the job with a meticulous attention to detail that rivals some of the highest paid directors in film and television. "You know," Leith explained, "yesterday the fox fur shawl fell on a sign stand and didn't hit the pavement, but that was just chance. Today there's no doubt the shawl will be on the pavement. Hmmm , so what will happen? Will someone pick it up and run away, or will the person who found it be honest and return it? Either way, we want to capture everything that happened."

The photographer set up his studio camera, a quick camera in an easily accessible spot on the floor.He also set up a quick camera on a small tripod. "Hey, listen," he said to Leith, "as soon as it starts, I've got to work fast and make sure no one gets in my way." Lester Leith nodded. Gilbert looked at his watch, then motioned to the young woman standing nearby. "Well, Miss Gilmyer," he said, "this way. You may begin now," he said to Lester Leith. But it was ten minutes before Leith signaled that he was ready. Then suddenly he said, "Okay, here we go."

Winnie Gale walked towards the window, hesitated for a moment, and then threw out a silver fox fur shawl.Fanny Gilmeyer stuck her head out of the window and called the police.The pedestrians on the street below looked up, their faces full of curiosity.The office workers in the Rust commercial building across the street also stopped their work, wanting to see what happened.The cameraman sprints from camera to camera, then grabs the instant camera, leans out of the window, and starts shooting like crazy... At Police Headquarters, Sergeant Ackley sat in a meeting with Sergeant Carmichael.There are a bunch of photos on the table.

"He doesn't know how you got these pictures?" Carmichael asked. Officer Ackley shook his head. "I put pressure on the photographer." Sheriff Carmichael picked up the photo and pondered it carefully.He opened a drawer of his desk, took out a magnifying glass, and moved over a photograph. "Interesting," he said. "What did you find?" Officer Ackley asked eagerly, walking around behind Sergeant Carmichael and looking over his shoulder. The sheriff tapped part of the picture. "Note," he said, "you can actually make out the people standing by the windows of the Precision Instruments offices. You can even see what's going on inside those offices. Standing by the door of the safe is a woman .”

"That's someone we put in on our own," said Officer Ackley. "Trust me, she's doing her job. When the alarm was heard, she didn't even look at what was going on. She went straight to the safe and stood there guarding it. That's Ann Sherman, and they didn't play any tricks on her." Sheriff Carmichael scratched the top of his head thoughtfully. "I was wondering," he said thoughtfully, "if that was something that broke Leith." "What do you mean?" "He didn't take into account that the woman who replaced Bernice Lamen was sent from Central. Perhaps he wished the safe was unguarded, as it was at that moment yesterday."

"But the blueprint has been stolen," said Inspector Ackley, "and what's the use of giving someone a chance to steal it?" Sheriff Carmichael pursed his lips, puffed his cheeks, and puffed, thinking.Slowly he frowned strangely. "Officer," he said, "that's exactly what he meant. Ann Sherman stood there in the way of his plan. Damn it, we should have thought of that!" "Don't you understand? Whoever stole the blueprints never managed to get them out of the building. They're still there, hidden somewhere. The thief remembered them well, and knew the true secret of the apparatus. Now, he wants to return them to the safe."

"I don't see the point in that." Sergeant Carmichael said patiently: "Because after Jason Bellevier contacted you, the police immediately searched every corner of the office. Our first step was not ideal. Tell Jason Bellevier to report to Burr Nice Lamen apologized, reinstated her, and let Lester Leith go about it." "Let it go, what does that mean?" "As the name suggests, have you ever heard of the Chinese way of fishing, officer?" Inspector Ackley sarcastically said: "That's one more thing I've overlooked about this case, and I've completely neglected to use a microscope to look at the hair of the last Egyptian mummy." Sheriff Carmichael flushed. "Don't be so angry," he roared, "and don't be so ignorant. I'll tell you that the Eastern way of catching fish is to tie a rope around the neck of the fish-eating bird so that it can't swallow it. This kind of The bird dived into the water and picked up some fish. It couldn't swallow, so it had to come back to the surface. In this way, the cunning Chinese got some nice live fish, and without much trouble." Officer Ackley's eyes lit up. "What's the name of that bird?" he asked. Sheriff Carmichael frowned. "I think they call it a cormorant." Sergeant Ackley said, "My God, I want one of those birds to take to that lake where I spend my summers! The fish don't bite—" "We're talking about drawings," interrupted Sergeant Carmichael. "Lester Leith will be our cormorant. He'll recover the loot for us and then have to spit it out." "What the hell does that cormorant look like?" Sergeant Ackley asked. Inspector Carmichael said vaguely, "It's kind of like a gannet." Sergeant Ackley moved his chair back. "Oh, I get it all. We're going to make this guy Leith a gannet." Officer Carmichael made a final reminder: "Absolutely make sure you have a rope around its neck. That's the most critical part of Chinese fishing, otherwise these birds will swallow all they catch." Sergeant Ackley said confidently, "Leave it to me, Sheriff," and left the house.But after a few seconds, he ran back again: "Hey, sheriff, don't think I'm stupid, where can I buy a bird like a gannet?" Sergeant Carmichael stared at him sternly. "In China," he said. Lester Leith pressed the button for Apartment 7-B.On the card opposite the button were two names: Bernice Lamen, Jason Bellevier's confidential secretary, and Millicent Foster. A moment later the electric bell rang, and Lester Leith went up two flights of stairs to the door of the apartment he was looking for.He knocked on the door, and out came a young woman, cold, calm, and very guarded. "What do you want?" she asked. "I want to speak to Miss Bernice Lamen." "Miss Bernice Lamen is not here." Lester Leith's eyes softened, and he blinked at the stern young woman standing on the threshold. "Are you," he asked, "Miss Foster?" "Exactly." "Maybe I can talk to you." She looked at him carefully for a while, then she calmed down a bit, and asked again: "What do you want to do?" "I thought, since you and Miss Lamen live in the same apartment, you must have a good relationship?" "Yes. We're friends—old friends for many years." Leith said, "I'm a writer." There was some surprise in her voice: "Reporter?" "No, no! I'm just a novice. Just my interest." "I see." She said skeptically. "Your friend is in a very bad place," said Leith, courteously. "how to say?" "If I were her, I would go and prove my innocence." "how to prove?" There was surprise in Lisi's voice: "Oh, of course the criminals were brought to justice." The woman at the door hesitated for a long time, then her face softened and she smiled. "Oh, come in," she said impulsively, "I'm Bernice Lamen. This is Miss Millicent Foster at the window, and this gentleman is—what did you say your name was?" " "Leith, Lester Leith." "Oh, come in and sit down." Leith sat comfortably in the chair she pointed to, and she looked at his expensive custom-made suit and said, "You don't look like one of those poor writers?" "Yes," said Leith, "I'm a very good writer." Millicent said hastily: "Bernes means you don't look like a down-and-out—" Bernice interrupted, "Never mind, he was joking." She smiled at Lester Leith, "You don't look like any writer, good, bad, or mediocre. What are you doing now?" ?” "Find out who stole those blueprints." "I know someone threw another fur shawl through the window this afternoon," Millicent said. "My masterpiece," Leith declared calmly. "You did it!" cried Bernice. Lisi smiled disapprovingly: "Of course, this is just a matter of course." Bernice glanced at Millicent, then leaned forward and looked at Lester Leith from under his straight brows. A fur shawl thrown out the window?" "Oh, I didn't do it myself," Leith said. "I hired a young woman to do it, a very talented actress. You know, I wanted her to do my interview alone and tell me that I would What it feels like to throw an expensive fur shawl through a window on the 4th floor." The two young women exchanged glances again."Oh, I'm afraid I can't help you," said Bernice Lamen, her tone noticeably colder. Leith opened the little suitcase he was carrying, pulled out some pictures, and said, "Here's a series of pictures we took, and the whole situation is in there. Very interesting, don't you think?" After hesitating for a while, the two women moved closer to look at the photo.Leith took a magnifying glass out of his pocket and said, "You can see a lot of detail. Look at this photo, there are a lot of people leaning out of the window of Precision Instrument Design and Installation Company. I dare say you can recognize it." Miss your colleagues, Miss Lamen?" "I should say I can, even if I don't have a magnifying glass. Hey, here's—" Leith interrupted her, pointing to a window with the tip of a pencil. "Is this," he asked, "the window of M. Bellevier's private office?" "yes." "I see what appears to be the back of a young woman standing here. Is that near the safe?" "Yes, the safe is there." "This man, I think, is Jason Bellevue?" "right." Leith said, "Here's a man with a broom." She looked at the photo, then burst out laughing: "That's not a broom, it's a gun." "Rifle?" Leith asked. "No," she said with a smile, "it's a shotgun. The hero man is Frank Paxon, editor of our in-house publication, the Pidico News. He likes to shoot multi-darts. Last weekend He went hunting in the country and came back on Monday morning too late to get back to his apartment, so he took the gun to the office and put it there, which is what happens every now and then." "That's what it is," said Lester Leith. "I see him in the picture as a watchful eye for burglars, isn't he?" "I think so. He was doing really well yesterday, and as soon as he heard someone calling the police from across the street, he grabbed his gun and rushed into the hallway where he said he saw first the inventor and then the Monsieur Bellevue, no one but the two of them has been found. That is a good indication that the theft of the blueprints was the work of a house thief, and—and "Go on," said Leith.