Half-Closed DOOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 702, 29 June 1929, Page 26

Half-Closed DOOR

J. 3Jiams-3 urland

CHAPTER VII (Continued) “Don’t be a fool!” snapped Peter. “That'd come to the same tiling so far as Susie is concerned. Suspicion would fall on lier when she broke off her engagement to Fatty Blindon. Fire away, Susie, and let us know just where we stand.” Susie Croad smiled. She was wearing one of her most attractive frocks, and she knew that every man in the room admired her. Personal S attraction and charm of manner were | the secrets of her power over these ! three scoundrels. “It is quite impossible to break open the safe at night,” she said. “The blinds are left up and the electric lights turned on. A policeman and two watchmen continually pass the windows, and if the blinds were drawn down or the lights turned out, the alarm would be given instantly. This is a day job, and it's got to be carried out during working hours.” She paused, to let these facts sink into their minds.

“Don't like day jobs,” muttered Peter, “never did like them.” “Sir William and his son,” she continued, “are frequently away from the office at the same time. But the clerk is always there. There is an automatic pistol ready to his hand, and by merely touching a button on his desk he can summon the hall porter. The lower parts of the windows are wide open at this time of the year, and there is a constant stream of passersby along the alley.” “The diamonds sound as safe as the Crown Jewels in the Tower,” said Sam. “Look here, we don’t want to be copped again. We’ve had quite enough prison to last us for a.bit.”

“During most of the day,” Susie Croad went on, “the blinds are drawn to keep out the sun, or else to prevent people from looking into the offices. The blinds are white, and do not keep out the light. Of course you have got to choose a time when there are no callers.” “Jolly that.” grumbled Peter. And what about the clerk, eh?” “That is the difficulty. Unfortunately the clerk is an old friend of ours —The Boy.” The three men laughed heartily. “Well, that makes it easy enough,” said Peter. "We've got a grip on him. He’ll just have to stand aside, or we’ll put the police on to him over the Bextable affair.” Susie Croad shook her head. “He wouldn’t listen to you,” she replied, “and if you gave him any hint of your plans, he’d give the show away.”

“Not lie,” saicl Sam. “He owes us too much.” ! “Well, he’d stop you anyway. He’s made good in the war—done no end 'of line things. He’s an officer and a | gentleman now.” | “Aye,” blurted out Jimmie, “and a j friend of Sanderson’s. I shouldn’t j wonder if lie didn’t let us down over ! that other job.” | “Nonsense, Jimmie! Sanderson was in his platoon. He’s told me all about his meeting with Sanderson. The Boy is not going to be a help to us. He’s an obstacle we’ve got to get rid of. You see, he knows your faces well enough. And he’d get the best of you if you tried to .knock him out. I’ll get rid of him.” “Get rid of him?” growled Jimmie. “We’ll get rid of him.” “He’s looking for a new job,” Susie continued, “and if Charles Blindon dismisses him he’ll go. I suggest that you should take his place, Peter.” “And you’ll give me a testimonial, eh?” “No, you’ll stand on your merits. But I'll see that you’re the first to make the application.” “Thank you,” said Peter, “and -when the stuff is removed, and the police are called in, they’ll find me sitting there in the office —an old friend of theirs.” “Peter's right,” said Sam. “Thai won’t do at all. But if you can’t get the Boy to work with us, you’d better get rid of him. We'd rather deal with a stranger, if the Boy’s as straight ! as you make out.” Sam made a new suggestion. Wouldn’t it be possible for Mrs. Croad to induce the Boy to leave his post?” “He wouldn’t go for me,” laughed Mrs. Croad bitterly. “He’s married — J just married.” “Has he got money?” asked Peter, j “No. He’s very poor. But I don’t j think you could bribe him. And I j don’t want him mixed up in this. I’d j rather he was out of the place. You see, even if he didn’t help us, he’d be ; suspected, and then the police might | take his fingerprints.” There was an ominous silence, and | Susie Croad realised that she had j i made a mistake in bringing Dick Pel- ! | ling into the matter at all. She ought j ! to have persuaded Charles Blindon to I ! dismiss Pelling, and have said noth- i j ing about him to her companions. ! “Seems to me,” said Peter, after a pause, “that having the Boy there, is | like a gift from Providence, and we ought to take it. I’ll fit myself out I like a merchant and go round and have a talk with him.” “Then I wash my hands of the i whole matter,” Susie Croad replied. “I’d like to know Croad's views on i the subject,” said Sam after a pause. I

Author of " The Black Moon.” ' Th# Poison League. 0 •* The White Rook,” Ac.. At.

“Well, you won’t get them. He’s in Paris and likely to stay there. Look here, boys, you’re not going to upset my plans, are you?’’ “No” answered Jimmie roughly. “Whatever you say, goes.” Peter laughed contemptuously. “You call this plan cut and dried,” he sneered. “Seems to me as if it’s all in the rough as yet.” Slowly and carefully ana very quietly Susie Croad went through all the details again. “You’ll disguise yourselves, of course,” she said, “and you’ll just down the clerk while you’re talking to him. You’ll be three very respectable gentlemen and one of you with a suitcase. I’ll see that the wire of the bell is cut. It’s only there for emergencies—a kind of fire alarm, so to speak. I doubt if it is ever tested. One of you had better wait outside in the passage until the clerk has been disposed of.” Again Peter laughed. “And you’re going to let us cut a hole in that safe,” he said, “when you can get impressions of the keys? It’s not business, Susie—it’s not business.” She pointed out that Sir William always kept one key, and that Charles Blindon himself did not know* from day to day the exact hour at which it was possible to open the safe. “You may think I’ve not done very much after all,” she said. “But I’ve hoed up the ground for you, anyway. I’ve saved you from trying a night job and I’ve found out the only iiossible way of dealing with the matter. I'll see that you choose the right, time, when Sir William is not at the office and I can get Charles Blindon out of the way. And then I discovered the Boy and saved you from makiug fools of yourselves by trying to get him to help you. No one else could have done what I’ve done.” “That's true,” said Jimmie, “and if anyone says it ain’t, ’e’ll ’ave me to reckon with.”

Sam and Peter laughed quietly. They admired Susie Croad, but they were not in love with her, like Jimmie.

“It’ll take half an hour,” said Peter, after a few moments of silence, “from your description of the safe. I can see that it’s an old pattern. Makers don’t trust to time and combination locks in these days. They just go for hardness and thickness of steel. I daresay the thing is twenty years old. We’ll cut it easy enough, but it’ll take half an hour from first to last. What’s the best time?”

“First thing in the morning, Peter —almost as soon as the office is open. No one calls until about eleven. That’3 another thing I’ve found out for you.” “You’ve been splendid,” said Sam, “and you mustn’t think we’re grousing. Only you must remember, Susie, that ■we’re taking all the risk.” “Not all, Sam, and I can’t expect you to understand how it has made me sick to have Charles Blindon making love to me. Ugh! The fat brute!” “I’d like to stick a knife into him,” growled Jimmie. Peter turned the conversation to details of more importance than the murder of Charles Blindon. They decided that the attempt could not be made for a fortnight, and that, after that date, they would have to choose their day. “I suppose,” said Peter, “that the Boy doesn’t smell a rat, eh?” Susie Croad reassured them on

this point. It was obvious, she said, j that her engagement to Charles Blin- ; don was genuine enough in the eyes of the Boy, and he would realise that when she was married to the son and future head of the firm she could have | all the diamonds she required without stealing them. An hour later she was back at the j house in Mexham Hill. She was very tired, but she lay down on the sofa in the drawing room and lit a cigari ette. Her thoughts turned to Richard Felling. She had kept him out of the business. She had saved him from the choice between dishonour and the i vengeance of the gang. It had been ' a hard fight, but she had won. ! ! And yet this was the man she had j longed to destroy—the man she still ! longed to destroy if her conscience ! would allow' her to regard him as an enemy. She wondered why she was so conscientious in this particular case. Perhaps it was because she loved Richard Pelliug and she did not wish him to despise her. They were still friends, and if she struck at him, it would be the foul blow of a traitor. Perhaps one of these days he would I knowingly do her an injury. Then I she would strike hard at an enemy. CHAPTER YHI. | Mr. Trillick, the new clerk at Blin- | don and Co.’s office, unlocked the ! outer door and closed it behind him. He was a big, powerful fellow, with j a large clean shaven and rather boyish i face. To look at him one would not have said that intelligence was one of his strong points. His first act was to open the lower part of the window and lean out of it, smoking his cigarette. Rogers passed by, glanced up at him and smiled. That was a signal that the duties of Rogers were at an end so far as the offices of Messrs. Blindon and Co. were concerned. Trillick seated himself in his chair, opened the drawer that contained the j automatic pistol, took out the clip from the pistol and saw that there 1 were six cartridges in it. Then he j half closed the drawer, and began to 1 open the letters. Ten minutes later the telephone bell rang, and he learnt that neither Sir ’William nor his son would be at the office until after lunch. If any clients called they were to be asked to call again in the afternoon. Trillick was new to his job and he was tremendously impressed with the importance of it. He pictured himself as the guardian of fabulous treasures. The work itself was dull enough, but lie looked forward to the day when he would get the better of a thief. An ardent reader of detective j stories, he saw unlimited possibilities in this direction. But he realised that : he would have to be more careful if he wished to retain his post. Less than twenty-four hours had elapsed since he had dealt rather curtly with j a suspicious-looking customer. And the shabby big fellow with the thick , black eyebrows and a sullen scowl liad turned out to be one of the most j important jewellers in the North of England—a man even more wealthy \ than Sir William Blindon. There had j been trouble over That affair, and he j would have been dismissed if it had ( not been for Mrs. Hibberd—the very j charming woman who was going to j marry Charles Blindon. She had i treated the whole matter as a joke, j and had put in a good word for him. And she had also given him a bit of advice. “In real life, Mr. Trillick.” j she had said, “thieves generally make \ themselves as pleasant as possible. And they don’t come to rob a safe in ’ broad daylight.” What a jolly woman Mrs. Hibberd was! But it w*as doubtful if she knew as much about thieves as he did. She j could not possibly have read as many ; detective stories and she was the sort 1 of woman who would think the best I of everyone. (To be continued on Monday.)