Thefts of Nick Velvet (27 page)

“At ten each morning they show films of the previous day’s races. I’m to meet Chetwind there, but we’ll probably go elsewhere for the actual exchange.” Then, remembering, she added, “Of course, I no longer have anything to exchange.”

“Let me worry about that. If Cazar has both pennies, he’ll show up for the meeting, too. If he doesn’t have them, that puts the finger on Chetwind.”

“And you’ll get them back for me? Both of them?”

“Both of them,” he assured her. “And it won’t cost you anything extra. Two for the price of one.”

By ten o’clock there was a fair crowd at the National Museum of Racing, across Union Avenue from the track itself. Nick let Jeanne walk ahead of him and enter the darkened area where films of the previous day’s races would be shown. He stayed near a display case, looking over past racing trophies while he kept an eye on the main entrance.

He’d only been watching a few moments when Brian Chetwind hurried through the doors, heading straight for the film without a glance to his right or left. A minute later Hugo Blaze strode in.

Nick hesitated only an instant. The whole caper had been one big gamble from the beginning, with license plates, sugar cubes, horses, and cards. Now it was time for him to gamble. “Blaze!” he called softly. “Over here.”

Hugo Blaze paused, hesitated, then walked over to the display case where Nick stood. “What’s up?”

“In here,” Nick said, motioning toward the men’s room door. “It’s important.”

Hugo Blaze stepped inside, looking puzzled, and Nick followed him. A moment later Nick came out alone and headed across the lobby toward the film showing. Jeanne Kraft was just emerging with Chetwind.

“Nick, what can I do? He’s ready to pay off, but he needs the coins!”

“Wait here a moment,” Nick told the Canadian. Then he steered Jeanne back across the lobby to the men’s room door.

“In there?”

Nick nodded. “I want you to meet Mr. Hugo Blaze.”

He opened the door wide enough so she could see the unconscious man sprawled on the tile floor. “But—but, Nick, that’s not Blaze! That’s Alfred Cazar!”

Nick Velvet smiled. “I just won a bet with myself. And here, young lady, are your two Bermuda pennies.”

Nick and Jeanne left Saratoga by car later that day. For them the season was over. “Look!” she exclaimed, holding up for Nick the thick packets of bonds that Brian Chetwind had given her. “They’re worth more than a quarter of a million on today’s market!”

“He’s an honest man.”

She nodded agreement. “That’s more than I can say about Cazar. But how did you know he was Blaze? And how did they work that disappearance from the car?”

“When I first met the older man in his hotel room at the Waldorf, he simply said he was Cazar and I believed him. But right from the start I felt there was something funny. Blaze kept calling him ‘boss,’ overdoing the supposed relationship.

“The fake Cazar showed me the Bermuda penny for two reasons—to see if I was interested, and to fool me as to its location. When I revealed my interest, they knew I’d been hired by you, and they used a clever dodge like the old shell game. The fake Cazar simply slipped the penny to the real Cazar and then the fake Cazar disappeared. I couldn’t steal it if I thought it had vanished along with him. The penny was only inches away from me all the time, yet it was safer than in a bank vault.”

“But
how
did the fake Cazar disappear?”

“They’d just given me the job of driving a strange car. I saw them come back and heard the fake Cazar in the rear seat. Fastening his seat belt. Then he slammed the door.” That should have told me something. It’s far more natural to close the door
before
you fasten the belt. But back-seat belts aren’t connected to any buzzer system, and I simply assumed he was still in the car.

“Meanwhile, the real Cazar—or Blaze—was distracting my attention by explaining the car’s automatic shift. I started up, with Cazar’s voice talking to me from the back seat, and drove away. In reality my back-seat passenger was left behind, probably crouched behind a gas pump. His work was done, and he probably got a cab or hitched a ride back to New York.”

“But the voice!”

“You told me yourself that Cazar had been a night-club entertainer—a mimic and impressionist. I suspect he knew a little ventriloquism, too. While he sat in the front seat calmly smoking a cigarette, he was imitating the absent man’s voice in such a way that it appeared to come from the rear. I couldn’t see him in my rearview mirror, but I certainly believed he was there.

“I suppose the article in the newspaper the other day about the vanishing hitchhiker gave them the idea for the stunt. Its main purpose was to send me off after a phantom Cazar while the Bermuda penny made a safe trip to Saratoga Springs.”

“But what put you onto Blaze—or Cazar—this morning?”

“Remember, I told you last night the wrong man had disappeared. I was considering the possibility I’d been duped by a ventriloquist and mimic. Cazar fitted the bill, but he was the one who vanished. I couldn’t believe both men in the car had that talent.

“But then I remembered how quickly Blaze left me last night when we stopped by a poker game where Chetwind was playing. He couldn’t risk the Canadian seeing him and calling him by his real name. This morning Blaze showed up when I was expecting Cazar, and I took a gamble. I slugged him in the men’s room and went through his pockets. He had both Bermuda pennies, ready to hand over to Chetwind.”

“Will he come after me now?”

“I doubt it. He’s a gambler and he knows when he’s beaten. Besides, he won’t want the police digging into your father’s death. If he does give you any trouble, have him arrested for assaulting you in your room last night.”

“How can I ever thank you?”

Nick had an answer. “You can start by paying me the balance of my fee. Then we’ll go on from there.”

THE END

(FIRST AMERICAN AND FIRST
British magazine publications are given, as well as all American book and anthology appearances.
EQMM
is
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
, and
Argosy
is the British short-story magazine, not the American publication of the same name.
The Spy and the Thief
is a 1971 paperback issued by Davis Publications, Inc.)

1. The Theft of the Clouded Tiger,
EQMM
9/66;
Argosy
11/68;
Best Detective Stories of the Year
, ed. Anthony Boucher, Dutton, 1967;
The Spy and the Thief
.

2. The Theft from the Onyx Pool,
EQMM
6/67;
Argosy
12/68;
The Spy and the Thief
.

3. The Theft of the Toy Mouse,
EQMM
6/68;
Argosy
1/69.

4. The Theft of the Brazen Letters,
EQMM
11/68;
Argosy
2/69;
Crime Without Murder
, ed. Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Scribners, 1970;
The Spy and the Thief
.

5. The Theft of the Wicked Tickets,
EQMM
9/69;
Argosy
2/70;
The Spy and the Thief
.

6. The Theft of the Sacred Music,
Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
9/69 as “Dead Man’s Song”;
Argosy
12/69.

7. The Theft of the Meager Beavers,
EQMM
12/69.

8. The Theft of the Laughing Lions,
EQMM
2/70;
Argosy
6/70;
Ellery Queen’s Headliners,
ed. Ellery Queen, World, 1971;
The Spy and the Thief
.

9. The Theft of the Silver Lake Serpent,
Argosy
1/70.

10. The Theft of the Coco Loot;
EQMM
9/70;
Argosy
1-2/71 as “Theft of the Convict’s Calendar”;
Best Detective Stories of the Year
, ed. Allen J. Hubin, Dutton, 1971;
The Spy and the Thief
.

11. The Theft of the Blue Horse,
EQMM
11/70;
Argosy
3/71;
The Spy and the Thief
.

12. The Theft of the Dinosaur’s Tail,
EQMM
3/71;
Argosy
8/71;
Ellery Queen’s Magicians of Mystery
, ed. Ellery Queen, Dial, 1976.

13. The Theft of the Satin Jury,
EQMM
6/71;
Argosy
2/73;
Ellery Queen’s Champions of Mystery
, ed. Ellery Queen, Dial, 1977.

14. The Theft of the Leather Coffin,
EQMM
11/71;
Argosy
7/72.

15. The Theft of the Seven Ravens,
EQMM
1/72.

16. The Theft of the Mafia Cat,
EQMM 5/72; Argosy
8/72.

17. The Theft from the Empty Room,
EQMM
9/72;
Ellery Queen’s Crookbook,
ed. Ellery Queen, Random House, 1974;
Masterpieces of Mystery
(Vol. 6), ed. Ellery Queen, Meredith, 1977.

18. The Theft of the Foggy Film,
EQMM
11/72;
Argosy
5/73.

19. The Theft of the Crystal-Crown,
Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine,
1/73.

20. The Theft of the Circus Poster,
EQMM
5/73.

21. The Theft of the Cuckoo Clock,
EQMM
9/73.

22. The Theft of Nick Velvet,
EQMM
2/74.

23. The theft of the General’s Trash,
EQMM
5/74.

24. The Theft of the Legal Eagle,
EQMM
7/74.

25. The Theft of the Bermuda Penny,
EQMM
6/75.

26. The Theft of the Venetian Window,
EQMM
11/75;
Ellery Queen’s Searches and Seizures
, ed. Ellery Queen, Dial, 1977.

27. The Theft of the Admiral’s Snow,
EQMM
4/76.

28. The Theft of the Wooden Egg,
EQMM
7/76.

29. The Theft of the Sherlockian Slipper,
EQMM
2/77.

30. The Theft of Nothing at All,
EQMM
5/77.

31. The Theft of the Child’s Drawing,
EQMM
10/77.

32. The Theft of the Family Portrait,
EQMM
3/78.

33. The Theft of the Turquoise Telephone,
EQMM
8/78.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following publications for permission to reprint the stories listed:

Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
for “The Theft of the Clouded Tiger” (September 1966), “The Theft from the Onyx Pool” (June 1967), “The Theft of the Toy Mouse” (June 1968), “The Theft of the Meager Beavers” (December 1969), “The Theft of the Seven Ravens” (January 1972), “The Theft of the Mafia Cat” (May 1972), “The Theft from the Empty Room” (September 1972), “The Theft of the Circus Poster” (May 1973), “The Theft of Nick Velvet” (February 1974), “The Theft of the General’s Trash” (May 1974) and “The Theft of the Bermuda Penny” (June 1975).

Argosy
for “The Theft of the Silver Lake Serpent (January 1970).

Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
for “The Theft of the Crystal Crown” (January 1973).

Copyright © 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, by Edward D. Hoch. New material copyright © 1978 by The Mysterious Press.

Cover design by Jason Gabbert

978-1-4804-5653-2

This 2013 edition published by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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New York, NY 10014

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