Hardy Boys Mystery Series by 19

Author:19 [19]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2010-08-22T23:30:22.278000+00:00

CHAPTER XII

The "Seacat" Clue

THE watchman stared at the diamond merchant. Both their

faces were turning an angry crimson.

"Mr. Tiffman, I don't know what kind of a joke you're

playin'," the watchman said, "but I saw that messenger with

my own eyes!"

"And I don't know, Mike, what kind of a joke you're

playing!" Tiffman roared back. "I tell you no messenger came

to my office!"

"Can't help that! He came here and left!"

"I think you'd better call the police at once," Frank put in

quietly.

"Who are you?" Tiffman snapped.

"We're sons of Fenton Hardy, the private detective." Frank

explained about the anonymous phone tip. Tiffman's attitude

promptly changed.

The watchman called the police. A prowl car Was at the

building within moments, and Chief Collig arrived a few

minutes later, accompanied by a plain-clothes detective.

"You boys watch the door," Collig told the two prowl car

officers. "The rest of you come upstairs to Mr. Tiffman's

office."

The five crowded into the elevator and rode up. Tiffman's

office door was flush-paneled with a pane in one corner. It

was marked "507" in modernistic metal numbers, and the

name plate below said: PAUL TIFFMAN, Gemologist.

After the Hardys had told Collig about the anonymous tip-off

and the two men had told their stories, the police chief

commented, "Sounds to me as if that messenger pulled a fast

one."

"You mean he simply walked off without delivering the

gems?" When Collig nodded, Tiffman frowned and shook his

head. "That doesn't make sense. If he were planning to flee

with the diamonds, why bother coming to Bayport at all?"

"Is there any chance he could have been waylaid between the

elevator and this office?" Joe put in. "If so, the thug might

have dragged his body somewhere out of sight, and then gone

down in the elevator posing as the messenger."

Collig turned to Mike. "How about it? You sure the man you

took down was the same man you brought up here?"

"Sure was," the watchman said tartly, "unless he was awful

good at disguises. That messenger had red hair, freckles, and

a wart on his cheek. So did the man who rode down."

"Have you ever seen this messenger?" Collig asked Tiffman.

"Wouldn't know him from Adam."

"Who sent him?"

Tiffman named a firm of diamond importers in New York

City.

"Ever had deliveries from them before?"

Once again Tiffman shook his head. "Normally I make buying

trips to New York once a month and select my gems right

there," he explained. "But it happens I want to show a special

selection to a wealthy client out in Dorset Hills tomorrow.

The New York firm was expecting a new shipment from South

Africa today, so they promised to make up a parcel and rush

it down here tonight."

"How was the messenger traveling?" Collig inquired.

"By train-at least they told me he'd get in on the

eight-fifteen."

Collig picked up the phone and called New York City Police

Headquarters and asked them to watch the incoming trains.

He also called Bayport Headquarters and told his desk

sergeant to put out a statewide alarm for the messenger.

Finally he tried to contact the diamond importers, but

evidently their office was closed for the night.

"Well, that's about all we can do now," Collig said, hanging

up. "But we'll have that messenger here with some

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