Vicki’s eyes sparkled. “Where do you think I got the idea?”
“What I don’t understand,” Louise said, “is how the peddler in the Thieves’ Market got the gold ship model. Surely the people who took the coins wouldn’t plan to dispose of the gold by offering it to American tourists at ridiculously low prices.”
“That,” Mr. Curtin said seriously, “is something that I am sure the FBI will be able to find out. And now, Vicki, I think you had better get on that telephone and put in a person-to-person call for John Quayle in Tampa.”
CHAPTER XIV
The Third Man
JOHN QUAYLE MET THEIR PLANE AT THE TAMPA airport the next morning. He took the little gold ship that Vicki had been carrying in her handbag.
“Better not let this go through Customs,” he said. “We don’t want anybody, even the Customs people, to know about it at this stage. If you will come with me, Miss Barr, I’m sure your friends won’t mind taking care of your luggage.”
When the two of them were alone in his office, Mr. Quayle looked at Vicki for a long moment with a big smile on his face.
“The last time you were here, Miss Barr, I said that you were a good detective. Now I want to repeat it—doubled. Of course you were lucky, too, when the peddler offered to sell you the gold ship and when you saw the coin in the jeweler’s shop. But a good detective is one who is smart enough to take advantage of such breaks. And on the basis of the information you gave me yesterday over the phone, we’ve broken this case wide open. All but one or two small details, and we’ll soon know all about those too.”