Jade for a Lady Read online

  A MILO MARCH MYSTERY

  JADE FOR A LADY

  By M. E. Chaber

  PAPERBACK LIBRARY New York

  PAPERBACK LIBRARY EDITION First Printing: January, 1970

  Copyright © 1962 by Kendell Foster Crossen

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 62-9516

  This is for Lisa—and I wish that each page were a bit of ke yu.

  This Paperback Library Edition is published by arrangement with Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

  Paperback Library is a division of Coronet Communications, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Paperback Library” accompanied by an open book, is registered in the United States Patent Office. Coronet Communications, Inc., 315 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  ONE

  The name is March. Milo March. I’m an insurance investigator. For one hundred dollars a day and expenses. Some people think this ought to make me rich. Maybe it would, if I worked every day in the year. But there are long dry spells when all I do is sit around in my office and wait....

  The phone rang. I picked up the receiver and said hello. “Mr. March,” a strange voice said, “this is Robert Carlin, manager of the Claims Bureau of the Personal & Inland Marine Insurance Association.”

  “Yes?” I said. It didn’t mean much to me. I’d heard of the Association, but that was all.

  “Your name was suggested to me by Martin Raymond of Intercontinental Insurance,” he said. “Intercontinental is one of our member companies. I wonder if you might come down and talk to me?”

  “I guess it could be managed,” I said casually. “What do you have in mind?”

  “I’d rather talk about it when we meet. Can you make it today? For lunch?”

  “I don’t see why not.”

  “Twelve?”

  “I’ll be there,” I said.

  “Good,” he said, and hung up.

  I replaced the receiver and opened the phone book. I looked up the Association. They were way downtown on John Street. I picked up the phone and dialed the number of Intercontinental. When they answered, I asked for Martin Raymond. I repeated the request and added my name when his secretary answered.

  “Milo,” he said, coming on. “How’s the boy?”

  “Still a boy,” I said, “if you’re careless with a few years. I just had a call from Robert Carlin. What’s the bit?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Carlin is head of Claims for the Association. We had lunch the other day, and he mentioned that they were thinking of hiring an outside man for a special job. I suggested you. That’s the whole script.”

  “What’s the job?”

  “He didn’t tell me.”

  “What kind of a man is Carlin?” I asked.

  "Top drawer. He’s a former FBI man and has been with the Association for about fifteen years. We’re a member, but we’ve never asked them to do an investigation for us. I’m told that they do a hell of a good job when they’re called in.”

  “Well, thanks for the plug—I think.”

  “Nothing,” he said. “You know that Fm always in your corner, boy.”

  “It’s nice having you in my corner,” I said, “except for the times when you have your thumb in my eye.”

  He chuckled, but it was an executive type sound without any meat on it. “That’s my boy. Always making with the old laugh meter. Well, I’ll see you around, boy.”

  “I suppose so,” I muttered, putting the phone down. I looked at my watch. It was shortly after ten-thirty.

  There wasn’t much chance that I’d get another phone call. Most of my business came from Intercontinental. I called my answering service and told them I’d be back by two or two-thirty. I went downstairs and went to the nearest bar for a martini. By the time I’d finished it, it was time to go.

  I got a cab and told the driver to take me to John Street.

  It’s a funny thing. I’ve traveled all over the world on jobs, but when I’m in New York anything that isn’t Greenwich Village, where I live, or Madison Avenue in the mid-Forties, where my office is, seems like a major safari. In fact, I’d never been to John Street.

  It turned out to be a narrow, busy street. The taxi deposited me in front of number sixty and I went in. A glance at the board in the lobby showed me that the building was * full of insurance companies. I went up to Personal & Inland , Marine and was shown into Carlin’s office.

  He was a wiry little man, probably about fifty. His office, in size and furniture, was pretty much what I was accustomed to seeing in insurance companies—but he wasn’t. He wore a dark shirt and tie and a rumpled suit, which made him look more like an artist than either a vice-president or a former Federal agent.

  “Let’s go to lunch,” he said, as soon as we had shaken hands.

  We went downstairs and walked a couple of blocks to Whyte’s. It’s a restaurant so old, it’s practically a tradition downtown. We got a table upstairs and ordered a couple of drinks.

  “Are you free to take a job?” Carlin asked, when we had our drinks.

  “I guess so,” I said. “Depends on what it is. I didn’t know you handed out jobs.”

  “We usually don’t. We have six men in the department and they can handle about all we do, but it keeps them busy. That’s why I decided to look around for someone to take this case. If I used one of my own men on it, he might be away too long. Martin Raymond said that you were the best man he knew.”

  “Martin doesn’t know very many,” I murmured.

  He smiled. “I did some other checking on you before I phoned. You may not have the background that my men have, but it strikes me that you’re just as good.”

  “What’s the job?” I asked.

  “It’s really two jobs,” he said. “One of our member companies—Great Northern Insurance, to be exact—carried a large policy on a necklace of Imperial emerald jade owned by a man here in New York. It was stolen last week. We want you to find it.”

  “You’ve at least made me curious,” I said. “I know Great Northern. I used to do some work for them. They have a pretty good bunch of their own investigators. And you’ve got your men. I don’t like to be nosy, but how come you’re passing up so many good investigators for a guy named March? Just for one little necklace.”

  “I told you there were two jobs,” he said with a smile. “W^hen this necklace was taken, it was the only thing stolen, although it was in a wall safe with other jewelry. It’s true that the other pieces weren’t as valuable as this one, but they didn’t come from the five and ten.”

  “How valuable was the necklace?”

  “It was insured for one hundred thousand dollars.”

  I whistled softly. “It must have been good jade.”

  “The best. Some of the stones in the necklace were more than two thousand years old.”

  “Go on,” I said. “I still haven’t heard anything about the second job.”

  “In the past five years,” he said, “member companies of our association have paid out about two million dollars on stolen jade jewelry. All of it good stuff. We’ve done a little checking and have discovered that other insurance companies have paid out about four million dollars during the same period on jade that was stolen. In some cases other jewelry was taken with the jade, but most times only the jade was stolen. The other jewelry has all shown up somewhere since, but not a single piece of jade has been seen after it was stolen.”

  “Somebody’s collecting jade?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Looks that way. We believe that all of the thefts were committed or engineered by the same person or persons. Since the thefts have occurred all over the world, it must mean a
large and well-organized gang. That’s the second job. It’ll give you an idea of what you’ll be up against.”

  “Only if I get close enough,” I said, shrugging. “What about known jewel thieves? Have they been checked out?” “Pretty thoroughly. We believe that none of them has been involved in this.”

  “Any files on the other cases?”

  “It’s my way of working,” I said bluntly.

  “It’s all right with me," he said easily. “My information is that you nearly always get results. That’s all we’re interested in.”

  “Who would I be working for? You or the other companies involved?”

  “For us.”

  “No interference from the other companies?”

  “I guarantee it.”

  “Do you know my rates?” I asked. “A hundred dollars a day and expenses.”

  ‘That is satisfactory. In fact, I think I can promise you that if you pull this off, there will also be a substantial bonus.” “I won’t fight it,” I said. “I’m very fond of money. Do you have a file on the necklace job?”

  “Not much of a one. I’ll give it to you when we get back to the office. The necklace belonged to Maxwell Hailey, who lives up on Park Avenue.' He and his wife were out that evening, and it was the servants’ night off. The thief broke in by jimmying the lock on one of the rear doors, and opened the wall safe without damaging it. That’s about all we know.” “Somebody who knew the combination?”

  “That or someone with an electronic device which permitted him to detect the fall of the tumblers.”

  “I suppose the servants were all checked?”

  ‘Thoroughly. The police are inclined to think they’re clean. Mr. Hailey swears that none of them knew the combination.” ‘The wife?”

  He grinned at me. “She was one of our first thoughts. And of the police. She’s thirty years younger than her husband. But he also swears that she didn’t know the combination, and the police couldn’t stir up even a breath of scandal about her.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Some of my best friends are cops, but I think I’ll check it out myself.”

  “Good,” he said.

  We had another drink and then ate lunch. I went back to the office with him, and he gave me the Hailey file and a check for a thousand dollars for advance expenses. It looked lovely. I went back uptown to my office.

  The file didn’t tell me much more than Carlin had. Maxwell Hailey was a sixty-year-old industrialist, still active in his business and worth several million dollars. His wife was thirty.

  She was his second wife, and they had been married five years. He had two grown children by his first wife. The Haileys owned considerable jewelry, which was usually kept in a bank vault, being taken out only when it was to be worn, and then it might be kept in the apartment wall safe for a day or two. The insurance company and the police had questioned Mr. and Mrs. Hailey and their servants, but the result was nothing. They weren’t even suspicious of anyone. The police had taken the usual steps, but no trace of the necklace had been found. At the time of the theft there had been other jewelry, valued at about five thousand dollars, in the safe, but it had not been touched. There had also been about a hundred dollars in cash. It had been left there.

  I picked up the phone and dialed the number of Great Northern. I asked the operator for John Franklin.

  “Milo March,” I said, when he answered.

  “Milo,” he exclaimed. “It’s a long time since I heard from you. How are you?”

  “Fine. And you?”

  “Great. I was talking about you with someone the other day.”

  “I know. I’ve taken the job.”

  “I’m glad to hear it, Milo. I told Carlin you were the man for the job.”

  “Thanks, John,” I said. “I’ve been looking through the file. Not much in it.”

  “Not much,” he admitted.

  “The police dig up anything that isn’t in the file?”

  “Not a thing.”

  “What about the time since the file was typed up. Anything turned up since then?”

  “No.”

  “You sound too damn cheerful for a man whose company just lost a hundred grand,” I said.

  “Why not?” he asked. “The brass here may be a little worried because they don’t know what good hands we’re in. I stopped worrying when Carlin said he was going to hire you.”

  “Thanks for nothing,” I muttered. “All I seem to have been given so far is a headache. Usually there’s something to go on. You have any ideas on this?”

  “Not really, Milo,” he said. “I don’t think the necklace was taken by any of the known jewel thieves or by anyone in the

  Hailey household. I’m inclined to go along with Carlin in believing there is a big international outfit of new faces. 1 doubt if you’ll even find them in this country.”

  “You think the servants are all out?”

  “I think so. That’s what the cops think, too.”

  “What about the wife—or one of her friends?”

  He chuckled. “Go see them and make up your own mind, Milo. I think you’ll agree with us. You’re trying to make the job too easy for yourself.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “If it were the wife, or one of her boy friends, we wouldn’t need you. We would have it wrapped up. It’s much bigger than that, Milo.”

  “I don’t like big things,” I said sourly, ‘Tell me something, John. Those other robberies that Carlin mentioned—most of the jade that was taken was Chinese, wasn’t it?”

  “Well, in a way,” he said. “At least, at some time or other, it had mostly been Chinese-owned. But I’m told that it didn’t originate there, that China got its jade primarily from Burma or Chinese Turkistan. Why do you ask?”

  “I just thought of something,” I said. “Suppose this big gang you and Carlin keep mentioning turns out to be Red China trying to get all its jade back. What do I do then?” “If I know you, you’ll walk into Red China and bring it back.”

  “Funny man,” I said. “I should know better than to waste my time talking to you about it. See you around, John.” “Good luck, Milo,” he said. He was chuckling as he hung up.

  I cursed to myself and took another look at the report. There was a notation that Hailey was usually home by four in the afternoon. I glanced at my watch. It was just three o’clock. That would give me time to go see Mrs. Hailey before he arrived. I left.

  The Haileys lived in the better section of Park Avenue. A doorman called upstairs to see if I were to be thrown out. He looked disappointed when the answer was obviously no. I went up in the elevator and was met at the door by a maid. She led the way into the living room.

  The woman who waited for me there was tall, blonde, and extremely attractive. She wore a dark gown that covered her from her neck to well below her knees, but managed to suggest much that was beneath it. She appeared to be younger than the thirty stated in the report.

  “Mr. March?” she asked as I came in. “I believe that you said you represent our insurance company?”

  “That’s right,” I said. “You’re Mrs. Hailey?”

  She nodded. “Won’t you sit down? I hope this visit means that you have some news about my necklace.”

  I took the chair across from her. “I’m afraid not, Mrs. Hailey. As a matter of fact, I just started working on the case today. The company is hoping that I will be able to find it. I wanted to ask you a few questions.”

  “More questions?” she said with a little gesture of annoyance. “But we’ve already told everything to two different men from the insurance company, as well as to the police.”

  “I’ve read their reports,” I said, “but it’s not quite the same as hearing the information for myself. I hope you won’t mind telling it once more. •.. You and your husband were out the night the necklace was stolen?”

  “Yes. At the theater.”

  “And the servants?”

  “They were all out, too. We’d given them
the night off.” “The necklace was in the safe?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you always keep it there?”

  “No. We kept it in a safe-deposit box at the bank along with my other jewelry. It was only taken out when I was going to wear it.”

  “And were you going to wear it that night?”

  “No. I had worn it the night before. There had been no opportunity to return it to the bank.”

  “Wasn’t that unusual?”

  “No. My jewelry is often left in the apartment safe for three or four days. The safe is quite good.”

  “But not good enough this time,” I commented. “Was the lock on the safe broken?”

  “No. Someone managed to open it.”

  “Perhaps one of the servants?”

  “No. My husband says that they did not know the combination. And the police have proved that each of them was where he or she claimed to be that night.”

  “Was it generally known the necklace was here that night?” “I don’t think so.”

  “But the servants probably knew it was here?”

  “I suppose they might have known it,” she said. “But we trust them completely.”

  “Who knew the combination of the safe?”

  “My husband.”

  “Perhaps it was written down somewhere in case he forgot it?”

  “I don’t believe so.”

  “And you didn’t know it?”

  “No.”

  “Perhaps you knew it at one time,” I said with a smile, “and then forgot it. And you might have mentioned it to a friend without suspecting they might sometime make use of it.”

  “No,” she said firmly.

  Before I could ask another question there was a cheery hello from the direction of the hallway, and a moment later a man entered the room where we sat. He was tall and handsome, with gray hair. He looked to be about fifty, although I guessed he was Mr. Hailey, and knew from the report that he was ten years older.

  “This is my husband,” she said to me. She stood up and kissed him as he came up to her. “Maxwell, this is Mr. March from the insurance company. About the necklace.” “Have you found it?” he asked.

  “No,” she said before I could answer. “Mr. March has just been assigned to the case, and he has come to ask the same old questions.” She looked up at him and laughed. “I believe Mr. March had just gotten to the point of thinking I stole the necklace myself or gave the combination to my secret lover.” Her husband looked at me with laughter in his eyes. “You must forgive us, Mr. March,” he said, “but that was the first thing the police thought of. My wife is thirty years younger than I am, and this seems to put all sorts of ideas into people’s heads. We find it very amusing.”