voice couldn't belong to anyonebut Anson Drake." Then she lowered her voice and said softly: "Let mein. I'm Norma Knight."
Drake felt a tingle of psychic electricity flow over his skin; there wasa promise of danger and excitement in the air. Norma Knight was knownthroughout this whole sector of the Galaxy as the cleverest jewel thiefthe human race had ever spawned. Drake had never met her, but he haddefinitely heard of her.
He touched the admission stud, and the door slid silently aside. Therewas no doubt about it, her body _did_ match her face.
* * * * *
"Do come in, Norma," he said.
She stepped inside, and Drake touched the closing button. The door slidshut behind her.
She stood there for a moment, looking at him, and Drake took theopportunity to study the girl more closely. At last, she said: "Soyou're Anson Drake. You're even better looking than I'd heard you were.Congratulations."
"I have a good press agent," Drake said modestly. "What's on your mind?"He waved his hand at a nearby chair.
"The same thing that's on yours, I suspect," she said. "Do you have adrink to spare?"
Drake unlimbered himself from the bed, selected a bottle from the menuand dialed. The robot bellhop whirred, a chute opened in the wall, and abottle slid out. Drake poured, handed the tumbler to the girl, and said:"This is your party; what do you have in mind?"
The girl took a sip of her drink before she answered. Then she looked upat Drake with her deep brown eyes. "Two things. One: I have nointention or desire to compete with Anson Drake for the Necklace ofAlgol. Both of us might end up in jail with nothing for our pains.
"Two: I have a foolproof method for getting the necklace, but none forgetting it off the planet. I think you probably have a way."
Drake nodded. "I dare say I could swing it. How does it happen that youdon't have an avenue of disposal planned?"
She looked bleak for a moment. "The man who was to help me decided toback out at the last minute. He didn't know what the job was, and Iwouldn't tell him because I didn't trust him."
"And you trust me?"
Her eyes were very trustful. "I've heard a lot about you, Drake, and Ihappen to know you never doublecross anyone unless they doublecross youfirst."
"Trade about is fair play, to quote an ancient maxim," Drake said,grinning. "And I am a firm believer in fair play.
"But that's neither here nor there. The point is: what do you have tooffer? Why shouldn't I just pinch the gems myself and do a quick flitacross the Galaxy? That would give me all the loot."
She shook her head. "Belgezad is on to you, you know. He knows you'rehere. His own private police and the Shan's own Guard will be at theCoronation to protect all that jewelry." She cocked her pretty head toone side and looked at him. "What's between you and Belgezad, anyway?"
"I stole his toys when he was a child," said Drake, "and he hasn'ttrusted me since. How do you propose to get the Necklace of Algol if Ican't?"
She smiled and shook her head slowly. "That would be telling. You let metake care of my part, and I'll let you take care of yours."
Drake shook his head--not so slowly. "Absolutely not. We either worktogether or we don't work at all."
* * * * *
The girl frowned in thought for a moment, and then reached into the beltpouch at her side and pulled out a square of electro-engraved plastic.She handed it to Drake.
Underneath all the flowery verbiage, it boiled down to an invitation toattend the post-Coronation reception. It was addressed to "MissCaroline Smith" and was signed and sealed by the Shan of Thizarhimself.
"I'm 'Caroline Smith'," she said. "I've managed to get in good with thefamily of Belgezad, and he wangled the invitation.
"Now, the plan is this: Right after the Invocation, while the new Shanis being prepared in his special Coronation Robes, the Nobles have tochange their uniforms from red to green. Belgezad will go into his suitein the Palace to change. He'll be accompanied by two guards. One willstay on the outside, the other will help Belgezad dress. I've got theroom next to his, and I've managed to get the key that unlocks the doorbetween them. I'll use this--" She pulled a small globe of metal fromher belt pouch. "It's a sleep-gas bomb. It'll knock them out for atleast twenty minutes. No one will come in during that time, and I'll beable to get the necklace and get out of the palace before they wake up."
"They'll know you did it," Drake pointed out. "If you're still missingwhen they come to, the thief's identity will be obvious."
She nodded. "That's where you come in. I'll simply go out into thegarden and throw it over the wall to you. We'll meet here afterwards."
Drake thought it over and smiled devilishly. "It sounds fine. Now let'sco-ordinate everything."
They went over the whole plot again, this time with a chart of thepalace to mark everything out and a time schedule was arranged. Thenthey toasted to success and the girl left.
When she was gone, Anson Drake smiled ruefully to himself and opened asecret compartment in his suitcase. From it, he removed a long strand ofglittering jewels.
"A perfect imitation," Drake said. "And you're very pretty. It's a shameI won't be able to hang you around the neck of Belgezad in place of thereal Necklace of Algol."
But his original plan had been more dangerous than the present one, andAnson Drake was always ready to desert a good plan for a better one.
* * * * *
Coronation Day dawned bright and clear, and the festivities began early.There were speeches and parades and dancing in the streets. A huge fleetof high-flying rockets rumbled high in the stratosphere, filling the skywith the white traceries of their exhausts. For all of Thizar, it was aholiday, a day of rejoicing and happiness. Cheers for the Shan filledthe streets, and strains of music came from the speakers of the publiccommunications system.
Anson Drake missed most of the fun; he was too busy making plans. Theday passed as he worked.
Thizar's sun began to set as the hour for the actual Crowning of theShan approached. At the proper time, Drake was waiting in the shadowsoutside the palace walls. There were eyes watching him, and he knew it,but he only smiled softly to himself and waited.
"_Sssssst!_"
It was the girl, on the other side of the wall.
"I'm here," whispered Drake.
Something that glittered faintly in the soft light of the twin moons ofThizar arced over the wall. Drake caught it in his hands. The Necklaceof Algol!
He slipped it into a small plastic box he was carrying and then glancedat the detector on his wrist. The screen showed a pale blue pip whichindicated that someone was hidden in the shadows a few yards to hisright.
Drake didn't even glance toward the spy. He put the plastic boxcontaining the necklace into his belt pouch and strode away from thepalace. He had, he figured, about twenty minutes.
He headed directly for the spaceship terminal. Never once did he lookback, but the detector on his wrist told him that he was being closelyfollowed. Excellent!
Inside the terminal, he went directly to the baggage lockers. He foundone that was empty, inserted a coin, and opened it. From his pouch, hetook a plastic box, put it in the locker, switched on the lock with hiskey, and strolled away.
* * * * *
He glanced again at his detector. He was no longer being followed by thesame man; another had taken up the trail. It figured; it figured.
He went straight to the Hotel Gandyll, making sure that his tail didn'tlose him. Not until they were in the lobby did he make any attempt toshake the man who was following him. He went into the bar, ordered adrink, and took a sip. He left his change and the drink on the bar andheaded out the door in the direction of the men's room. Whoever wasfollowing him wouldn't realize for a minute or two that he was leavingfor good. A man doesn't usually leave change and an unfinished drink ina bar.
Drake took the lift tube up to his room, attended to some unfinishe
dbusiness, and waited.
* * * * *
Less than three minutes later, the door was opened. In walked VironBelgezad and his lieutenant, Jomis Dobigel. Both of them lookedtriumphant, and they were surrounded by a squad of Royal Police.
"There he is," said Dobigel. "Arrest him!"
A police officer stepped forward. "Anson Drake, I arrest you in the nameof the Shan," he said.
Drake grinned. "On what charge?"
"The theft of the Necklace of Algol."
Drake looked directly at Belgezad. "Did old Fatface here say I took it?"
"You can't talk that way," Dobigel snarled, stepping forward.
"Who says so, Ugly?"
At that, Dobigel stepped forward and threw a hard punch from hisshoulder--straight at Drake's face.
It never landed. Drake side-stepped it and brought a smashing uppercutup from his knees. It lifted Dobigel off his feet and sent him crashingback against old Belgezad, toppling them both to the floor.
The policemen had all drawn their guns, but Drake was standing placidlyin the middle of the room, his hands high above his head regarding thescene calmly.
"I'll go quietly," he said. "I've got no quarrel with the police."
One of the officers led him out into the hall while the others searchedhis room. Belgezad was sputtering incoherently. Another policeman wastrying to wake up Dobigel.
"If you're looking for the Necklace of Algol," Drake said, "you won'tfind it there."
The captain of the police squad said: "We know that, Mr. Drake. We aremerely looking for other evidence. We already have the necklace." Hereached in his belt pouch and took out a small plastic box. He openedit, disclosing a glittering rope of jewels. "You were seen depositingthis in a baggage locker at the spaceship terminal. We have witnesseswho saw you, and we had it removed under police supervision."
Viron Belgezad smiled nastily. "This time you won't get away, Drake!Stealing anything from the palace of the Shan carries a minimum penaltyof twenty years in Thizar Prison."
Drake said nothing as they took him off to the Royal Police Station andlocked him in a cell.
* * * * *
It was late afternoon of the next day when the Prosecutor for the Shanvisited Drake's cell. He was a tall, imposing man, and Drake knew him byreputation as an honest, energetic man.
"Mr. Drake," he said as he sat down in a chair in the cell, "you haverefused to speak to anyone but me. I am, of course, perfectly willing tobe of any assistance, but I am afraid I must warn you that any statementmade to me will be used against you at the trial."
Drake leaned back in his own chair. One thing nice about Thizar, hereflected; they had comfortable jails.
"My Lord Prosecutor," he said, "I'd like to make a statement. As Iunderstand it, Belgezad claims he was gassed, along with a police guardwho was with him. When he woke up, the necklace was gone. He didn't seehis assailant."
"That is correct," said the Prosecutor.
Drake grinned. That was the way it had to be. Belgezad couldn't possiblyhave bribed the cop, so they both had to be gassed.
"If he didn't see his assailant, how does he know who it was?"
"You were followed from the palace by Jomis Dobigel, who saw you put thenecklace into the baggage locker. There are several other witnesses tothat."
Drake leaned forward. "Let me point out, my Lord Prosecutor, that theonly evidence you have that I was anywhere near the palace is the wordof Jomis Dobigel. And he didn't see me _inside_ the palace. I wasoutside the wall."
The Prosecutor shrugged. "We admit the possibility of an assistantinside the walls of the palace," he said. "We are investigating thatnow. But even if we never find your accomplice, we have proof that youwere implicated, and that is enough."
"What proof do you have?" Drake asked blandly.
"Why, the necklace itself, of course!" The Prosecutor looked as thoughhe suspected Drake of having taken leave of his senses.
Drake shook his head. "That necklace is mine. I can prove it. It wasmade for me by a respectable jeweler on Seladon II. It's a very goodimitation, but it's a phoney. They aren't diamonds; they're simplywell-cut crystals of titanium dioxide. Check them if you don't believeme."
The Lord Prosecutor looked dumbfounded. "But--what--why--"
Drake looked sad. "I brought it to give to my good friend, the NobleBelgezad. Of course it would be a gross insult to wear them at theShan's Coronation, but he could wear them at other functions.
"And how does my good friend repay me? By having me arrested. My LordProsecutor, I am a wronged man."
The Prosecutor swallowed heavily and stood up. "The necklace has,naturally, been impounded by the police. I shall have the stonestested."
"You'll find they're phonies," Drake said. "And that means one of twothings. Either they are not the ones stolen from Belgezad or elseBelgezad has mortally insulted his Shan by wearing false jewels to theCoronation."
"Well! We shall see about this!" said the Lord Prosecutor.
* * * * *
Anson Drake, free as a lark, was packing his clothes in his hotel roomwhen the announcer chimed. He punched the TV pickup and grinned. It wasthe girl.
When the door slid aside, she came in, smiling. "You got away with it,Drake! Wonderful! I don't know how you did it, but--"
"Did what?" Drake looked innocent.
"Get away with the necklace, of course! I don't know how it happenedthat Dobigel was there, but--"
"But, but, but," Drake said, smiling. "You don't seem to know very muchat all, do you?"
"Wha--what do you mean?"
Drake put his last article of clothing in his suitcase and snapped itshut. "I'll probably be searched pretty thoroughly when I get to thespaceport," he said coolly, "but they won't find anything on an innocentman."
"Where is the necklace?" she asked in a throaty voice.
Drake pretended not to hear her. "It's a funny thing," he said. "OldBelgezad would never let the necklace out of his hands except to getme. He thought he'd get it back by making sure I was followed. But hemade two mistakes."
The girl put her arms around his neck. "His mistakes don't matter aslong as we have the necklace, do they?"
Anson Drake was never a man to turn down an invitation like that. Heheld her in his arms and kissed her--long and lingeringly.
When he broke away, he went on as though nothing had happened.
"Two mistakes. The first one was thinking up such an obviously sillyplot. If it were as easy to steal jewels from the palace as all that,nothing would be safe on Thizar.
"The second mistake was sending his daughter to trap me."
* * * * *
The girl gasped and stepped back.
"It was very foolish of you, Miss Belgezad," he went on calmly. "Yousee, I happened to know that the real Norma Knight was sentenced toseven years in Seladon Prison over a week ago. Unfortunately, the newshadn't reached Thizar yet. I knew from the first that the whole thingwas to be a frame-up. It's too bad that your father had to use the realnecklace--it's a shame he lost it."
The girl's eyes blazed. "You--you _thief_! You--" She used words whichno self-respecting lady is supposed to use.
Drake waited until she had finished, and then said: "Oh, no, MissBelgezad; I'm no thief. Your father can consider the loss of thatnecklace as a fine for running narcotics. And you can tell him that if Icatch him again, it will be worse.
"I don't like his kind of slime, and I'll do my best to get rid of them.That's all, Miss B.; it was nice knowing you."
He walked out of the room, leaving her to stand there in helpless fury.
His phony necklace had come in handy after all; the police had thoughtthey had the real one, so they had never bothered to check the GalacticMail Service for a small package mailed to Seladon II. All he'd had todo was drop it into the mail chute from his room and then cool his heelsin jail while the Galact
ic Mails got rid of the loot for him.
The Necklace of Algol would be waiting for him when he got to SeladonII.
THE END
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ October 1956. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
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