'That was not what I had in mind.'
'Well. You know I'm not a goldsmith.'
'I know.'
'I see,' said Toddy. 'Who's your present supplier?'
'Really, Mr. Kent.' Alvarado laughed. 'But I do not condemn your curiosity. It would be a splendid thing to know, would it not?'
'That's the spot you're planning for me?'
Alvarado shrugged. 'For large rewards, Mr. Kent, one must expect to take certain chances. Your history indicates a willingness to do so.'
'Up to a point,' Toddy qualified. 'There's one thing I don't understand. How can you get enough scrap gold to keep this racket running?'
'Another secret. You will understand when it is necessary for you to.'
'I-' Toddy spread his hands helplessly. 'I just don't see much point in discussing it, Mr. Alvarado. It sounds like a good proposition- -one I'd jump at, ordinarily-but I can't take it now.'
'No?'
'No! My wife was murdered tonight. I'm the logical suspect. I can't show myself anywhere. If I could, I'd be hunting down the murderer.'
Alvarado started to smile again. 'Ah, yes. Your wife… the watch. Perhaps you had better give me the watch now, Mr. Kent.'
'Dammit!' Toddy snapped. 'I just got through telling you that-'
'You want to keep it, of course,' Alvarado nodded, understandingly. 'You would be unintelligent if you did not try to. I do not blame you in the least, but it is impossible.'
'But I haven't-'
'It is a sort of pattern, a template, you see. Without it, our work here would be seriously delayed. So,'- Alvarado's eyes glinted fire- 'the watch, Mr. Kent.'
Toddy got to his feet, carefully holding his arms out from his sides. The dog rose also, turning an inquiring eye toward the chinless man.
'Go ahead and search me,' said Toddy hoarsely. 'I can't give you something I haven't got.'
'Since you are willing to be searched, you obviously do not have it with you. You will please tell me immediately where it is.'
'I told you! I don't know-it was stolen!' He moved back a step as Alvarado rose. 'Good God, do you think I'd make up a yarn like that? I thought you'd killed her. That's why I tried to get away from the girl. I-'
'What you thought, Mr. Kent, was that I was a fool. I am afraid you still think so… Did you dispose of it to that loan shark you visited-that petty racketeer? Or to that watch shop where you sell your gold? Carefully, now! I can discover the truth of your answer quickly enough.'
'I've told you the truth,' said Toddy simply. 'I can't tell you anything more.'
Alvarado's hand dipped into the inside pocket of his coat and emerged with a snub-nosed automatic. He held it pointing squarely at Toddy's stomach.
'This is embarrassing,' he sighed, 'as well as vastly annoying. Before telling me that your wife had been murdered, you should have made sure that I could not prove the contrary.'
'Prove?'
'Now you will accompany me to the hotel and extricate the watch from wherever you have hidden it.'
'The hell I will!' Toddy shook his head.
'Really, Mr. Kent,' Alvarado grimaced. 'You must know you are being preposterous.'
'I know I'm not going to walk into a roomful of cops,' snapped Toddy. 'Not if I had a dozen popguns like that pointing at me.'
The talking dog whined softly and looked up at them, then padded away unnoticed in the tension of the moment. Ever so little, the chinless man's eyes wavered. He moved back a step or two until he was no longer standing on the rug. He stamped his foot on the floor.
A door opened and clicked shut. There was a gasp and then the girl swept into the room.
'Alvarado! You promised me that-'
'Silence!' The word cracked like a whip. 'I have not broken that promise yet. I would much prefer not to. Tell me… Where did you pick up Mr. Kent's trail tonight?'
'Why, I-I-' The girl looked at Toddy. 'Didn't he tell you?'
'Answer me! Quickly, truthfully, and in complete detail!'
'I picked him up-him and the other man I told you of-about three blocks from the hotel. They were going south on Spring Street. As I told you, I had to circle a number of blocks, driving up and down before-'
Alvarado's hand jerked sidewise. The gun barrel whipped across the girl's breasts and back again.
'You were listening at the door, eh? You would remove Mr. Kent from the difficult position in which his stupidity has placed him? I will give you one more chance. Why was it, when you were given Mr. Kent's address, you were forced to pick him up several blocks away?'
'Because… he got away from me.'
'Yes?'
'I… it was as I told you. He was leaving the hotel when I first saw him; that was at about six o'clock. I followed him from there to the watch shop, then back again. In my haste to park, I passed through a red light. A police officer saw me. He insisted on giving me a lecture, then on trying to arrange a later meeting…'
A rosy flush spread under the cream-colored skin, and her eyes lowered for a moment. 'I do not know exactly how long it was before I got away. Perhaps twenty minutes. Perhaps a total time of thirty minutes elapsed before I parked the car and got up to Mr. Kent's room…'
'Go on. You knocked on the door. You tried it and found it unlocked. See? I save you the repetition of tiresome details.'
'I went in. Mr. Kent was not there…'
'But the room was in great disarray, eh? You were shocked by its condition.'
The girl shook her head.
'No,' she said dully. 'There was no disarray. The room was in quite good order.'
'Now wait a minute!' Toddy exclaimed. 'I left that room just-'
'Quiet, Mr. Kent. You will have ample opportunity to talk in a moment. I shall even assist you.' Alvarado grinned at him fiercely, then nodded to the girl. 'You say the room was in reasonably good order, Dolores? Surely, you are overlooking one very important item. Only a few minutes before-or so he tells me-the body of Mr. Kent's wife was in that room. Brutally murdered. Strangled with her own stockings. Killed and robbed of the watch which Mr. Kent had hidden in a dresser drawer… You recollect it now, eh? You remember this shocking sight now that I have refreshed your memory? The body of Mr. Kent's wife was in the room, yes? Answer me!'
Poised at the front door, the Doberman turned his great head and stared at them thoughtfully. Then he bellied down at the threshold, moved his muzzle back and forth across the lintel. A quiet, waiting purr ebbed up from deep in his throat.
'Well? We are waiting, Dolores.'
The girl hesitated a moment longer, her lip caught between her small white teeth.
Then she looked up. She spoke staring straight into Toddy's eyes.
'No,' she said. 'There was no body.'
12
