The island of Oahu showed as a jagged outline against the sky. The ship, passing Koko Head, swung past Diamond Head and the beach at Waikiki.
A short time later the gangplank had been stretched and the passengers, many of them wearing garlands of fragrant leis made of vividly colored tropical flowers, surged down. Beaver said, “Just a minute, your hat, sir.”
He took Leith’s hat and brushed off an imaginary speck of dust. Surreptitiously pinning a small bow of white ribbon to the crown, he replaced the hat on Leith’s head.
A moment later, Leith was swept down the gangplank. As he paused at the foot, a hand touched his shoulder and an official voice said, “One moment, please.”
It was an hour later that Sergeant Ackley, accompanied by a jubilant Beaver, walked into a jewelry store in Honolulu.
“We want this necklace of pearls appraised,” Sergeant Ackley said. “In fact, you’d better appraise both of them.”
The jeweler examined the necklaces, then he looked up at the two men.
“Well?” Sergeant Ackley asked.
“Worth about five dollars,” the jeweler said.
“For which one?” Beaver demanded.
“For both,” the jeweler said.
Stunned, the two conspirators looked at each other, then silently took their spoils to another jewelry store. The jeweler studied the pearls under a magnifying glass, and was even less flattering in his appraisal. “About two dollars apiece,” he said.
Leith lolled in the reclining chair on the lanai of his suite in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and glanced out over Waikiki Beach where tourists and beach boys were hissing their way into shore on surfboards.
“This,” he said, “is the life.”
“Yes, sir,” the undercover man observed.
Leith said, “By the way, Scuttle, I ordered a gun today.”
“A gun, sir?”
“Yes,” Leith said, “a shotgun. I think I may run over to one of the other islands and get in a little shooting. It’s rather an expensive gun. I think prices went up because of this international trapshooting contest which is being staged tomorrow. By the way, Scuttle, you’ll never guess whom I met this afternoon.”
“Who?” the undercover man asked.
“Sergeant Ackley.”
“What’s he doing over here?”
“I’m sure I don’t know,” Leith said, “but seeing him has made the Islands suddenly distasteful to me. I’ve booked passage on the Clipper tomorrow. I’ll fly back to the Mainland. Ah, there’s a ring at the door. It must be the shotgun.”
“You’ll hardly be using the shotgun if you’re flying back to the Mainland,” the undercover man said. “Shall I tell them to take it back?”
“No, no,” Leith said. “I told them I’d buy it, and I’ll buy it. I’m a man of my word, Scuttle.”
The undercover man signed a delivery slip and took it to Leith.
“Quite a beauty, isn’t it?” Leith said.
“Indeed it is,” the undercover man said worriedly. “Did Sergeant Ackley know you had seen him?”
“Oh, yes,” Leith said. “I shook hands with him — although he seemed to want to avoid me. He said he’d been over here for two or three weeks, conferring with the local police department on a forgery case.”
The valet started to speak, then checked himself...
The Clipper took off for the Mainland with roaring motors, the hull dripping globules of water which scintillated like diamonds in the sun.
Lester Leith waved goodbye to his valet.
That afternoon Silman Shore met an embarrassing defeat in the international skeet shoot, following which he was seen to inspect the gun he had found in his gun case; but he made no comment.
Katiska Shogiro, watching him with glittering eyes, was heard to break into a sudden string of Japanese expletives.
At 5 o’clock that night, Mah Foy sailed for China. In her purse was a certified check signed by Lester Leith. It bore the words, “Donation to the Chinese cause — less 20 per cent for costs of collection.”
It was a week after Beaver’s return by passenger ship that Lester Leith, seated in his apartment, heard the sound of authoritative knuckles.
The door opened even before Leith could signal his valet. Sergeant Ackley, accompanied by a uniformed officer, Charles Sansone, and Silman Shore, entered the apartment.
“Well, well,” Leith said. “Good evening, gentlemen, we seem to be renewing a pleasant shipboard acquaintance. Did you come for—”
Sergeant Ackley said, “We came to make an investigation.”
“Of what?” Leith asked.
“You purchased a shotgun while you were in Honolulu?”
“That’s right,” Leith said.
“Mr. Shore’s shotgun was stolen while he was in the hotel in Honolulu. He feels that perhaps, in some unaccountable manner, the thief might have switched shotguns. He wants to see the shotgun which you took away with you on the Clipper.”
“Indeed,” Leith said, his eyes narrowing. “I think I’ve had all of.Mr. Shore’s veiled accusations I care for. If he wishes to make a charge, he can make it in the regular way — and he’d better be prepared to substantiate it.”
“I’m not doing this,” Shore said sullenly. “It’s the sergeant who’s responsible.”
“Indeed,” Leith said, arching his eyebrows. “I’m surprised, Sergeant.”
“You needn’t be,” Sergeant x\ckley said. “Just bring out that shotgun.”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible.”
“We can get a search warrant,” Sergeant Ackley said threateningly.
“I’m afraid that wouldn’t do you any good,” Leith said.
“Don’t stall,” Sergeant Ackley accused. “You laid yourself wide open, Leith. The idea of a man carrying a shotgun with him on the Clipper!”
Leith smiled. “It was rather a foolish thing to do,” he said. “Do you know, Sergeant, I became ashamed of myself. I found myself getting enthused when I saw Mr. Shore’s performance on the Monterey, but after I had a chance to see the wonderful panorama of the Islands unfolded beneath the Clipper, as we flew over Oahu, I realized that I didn’t want to indulge in any sport which would mean the taking of life... I waited until the ship was about halfway across, and then pitched that shotgun overboard.”
“You threw it overboard!” Shore exclaimed.
“Exactly,” Leith said, “and that’s why a search warrant would do you no good, Sergeant.”
The men exchanged glances. Shore said, “I guess that’s all you want of me, Sergeant.”
He turned and left the apartment.
A moment later, Charles Sansone silently followed.
Sergeant Ackley stood staring down at Leith. “Damn you,” he said, “you had it all figured out. When you flashed that necklace in your exhibition of magic and Shogiro identified it, Shore got up and dashed to his stateroom. It’s significant that he picked up his gun and inspected it. Later on, his stateroom was thoroughly searched by Shogiro, who had tumbled to what happened after he’d searched your stateroom and found nothing. That necklace wasn’t concealed in either place!
“There was only one other place it could be, one thing which wasn’t in the room when Shogiro searched it — and that was Shore’s shotgun. By removing the plate in the end of the butt, there was a hollow where a necklace could easily have been concealed.”
Leith blinked. “By George, Sergeant,” he said, “a man could conceal a necklace there.”