‘He saw Rico tonight, but maybe I’d better start in at the beginning. Talk about a break! It fel into my lap,’ and he gave Purvis a detailed account of what he had seen and heard at the club, as wel as the conversation he had overheard between Eve and Gillis as they sat in the car.
Purvis was enthralled. He just sat still, staring at Dallas, drinking in every word, and not interrupting.
When Dallas had finished, he got up and began to pace up and down.
‘What a break!’ he said. ‘It’s unbelievable! I’ve worked on this goddamn case for fifteen years, and never thought I’d get anywhere with it, and then suddenly it’s handed to us on a plate.’
Dallas grinned.
‘I made it sound too easy,’ he said, stretching out his long legs. ‘If it hadn’t been for a hunch…’
‘Never mind that. These people must be after the collection,’ Purvis said, coming to stand over Dallas. ‘This morning Kile and the Gil is girl cal on the Rajah. In the evening Gil is talks in terms of half a million. The connection’s obvious. It looks as if the Rajah has offered Kile a half a million to get his jewels back, and Gillis plans to gyp him.’
‘The whole idea seems to have come from Gillis,’ Dal as pointed out. ‘Kile is being used as a stooge.
But how is Kile going to get the jewels? Think he knows where they are?’
‘I don’t know,’ Purvis said, sit ing down. ‘He must have some idea otherwise he wouldn’t have seen the Rajah this morning.’