“If it hadn’t been for that kid of yours I’d have gotten away with it,” the crook growled. “I was dumb not to suspect she was the daughter of a detective.”
“You may as well cough up the diamond ring,” Mr. Nichols advised. “It will save an unpleasant search.”
With a shrug of his shoulders, Laponi took the gem from an inner pocket and gave it to the detective.
“When do we start for the station?” he asked. “We may as well get going.”
“I’ve already called the police,” Penny told her father.
“Then we won’t have long to wait.” He shoved Laponi toward a chair. “May as well make yourself comfortable until the wagon gets here.”
“Your kindness overwhelms me,” the crook returned with exaggerated politeness.
“How did you get wind that Mr. Winters’ ivories were kept in the house?” the detective inquired curiously.
Although the crook had refused to answer the same questions a few minutes before, he was now willing to talk, knowing that his last chance for escape had been cut off.
“I read an item in the paper some months ago,” he confessed. “It was a little news story to the effect that Jacob Winters had recently purchased several new pieces for his collection and that he intended to build special exhibit cases in his house as a means of displaying them. I clipped the item and forgot about it.