He hit Corrio very suddenly under the chin, grabbing the gun with his other hand as he did so. The gun went off crashingly as Corrio reeled backwards, but after that it remained in the Saint's hand. Corrio stood trembling against the wall, and Simon looked at Fernack again and rubbed his knuckles thoughtfully.
"Just to make sure," he said, "I fixed a dictagraph under the table yesterday. Let's see if it has anything to say."
Fernack watched him soberly as he prepared to play back the record. In Fernack's mind was the memory of a number of things which he had heard Corrio say which fitted into the picture which the Saint offered him much too vividly to be easily denied.
Then the dictagraph record began to play. And Fernack felt a faint shiver run up his spine at the uncannily accurate reproduction of Corrio's voice.
"Smart work, Leo… I'll say these must be worth every penny of the price on them."
The other voice was unfamiliar.
"Hell, it was a cinch. The layout was just like you said. But how you goin' to fix it on the other guy?" "That's easy. The broad gets him to fetch a parcel from Grand Central and take it where I tell her to tell him. When he gets there, I'm waiting for him." "You're not goin' to risk givin' him all that stuff" "Oh, don't be so thick. There 'll only be just enough in the parcel to frame him. Once he's caught, it'll be easy enough to plant the rest somewhere and find it."
Corrio's eyes were wide and staring.
"It's a plant!" he screamed hysterically. "That's a record of the scene I played in the film test I made yesterday."
Simon smiled politely, cutting open the upholstery of the armchair and fishing about for a leather pouch containing about fourteen hundred thousand dollars' worth of emeralds which should certainly be there unless somebody else had found them since he chose that ideal hiding place for his loot.