"Well, Art, looks like he might have had an apprentice. Or perhaps you know some other way a diamond can slip out of an airtight vault by itself?"
"Search me. There aren't any vents or openings of any kind..."
"Not even hamster-sized?"
"Huh? Why, er, no."
"Good. Just checking." I strolled over to one of the cameras. "What about power lines, Art? For the cameras, I mean."
"There are outlets mounted on the walls behind each camera, but I don't see what..."
I lifted one of the cameras off its rack, and examined the outlet. It was a standard AC dual outlet, with one outlet occupied by the camera power line. I tapped the other one. A false front came loose and fell to the ground, revealing an empty space where the other power cable should be.
"Well, that's interesting - a hole in the wall, more than large enough to fit a diamond that size through, I should think."
"I don't get it, Guts. How is a hole that size of any use to the burglar?"
"Come on, Art, use your imagination. Maybe he used some kind of mechanical claw, which he snaked through the hole, grabbed the rock, and pulled it back out. No tracks, no prints - well, hell, ain't ya never watched 'Mission Impossible'? They used to do this kind of thing all the time."
Just then, one of the security guards rushed in. "Uh, sir? We were reviewing the monitor tapes to try and determine exactly when it disappeared, and...well, maybe you'd better come and see this yourself."
We dashed over to the security desk, where they were in the process of rewinding the tape. "Now watch camera four, sir." As he started the playback, we could just make out the diamond, sitting on top of its pedestal. As we watched, it started slowly rising straight up in midair, without any visible means of support. Then it starting drifting towards the camera, and eventually moved behind it, out of sight.
"Well, you're right about one thing, Guts, it did seem to leave through that hole you found. But this picture kinda shoots your mechanical claw theory all to hell."
"Could be, Art. What time was that tape recorded at?"
"These tapes were made about midnight. You can see the elapsed time down in the corner here..."
"Something wrong?"
"I'm not sure. It's just that something else happened around midnight, too. Just for a few seconds, there was a sudden chill in the air, as if someone had opened a freezer door, and slammed it shut again."
Art looked tense. "Brrrr. Ghosts, ghoulies, and things that go bump in the night. I can see the papers now - 'Thief's ghost returns to finish last heist'.
"Or maybe that's just what somebody wants us to think, to throw us off. Ramona says she saw her late husband tonight, trying to warn her of the diamond. Now suppose somebody hypnotized her and made a post-hypnotic suggestion that she should have such a dream. So I end up wasting my time chasing ghosts, while the real thief skips town. Excuse me Art, I better get to the bottom of this."
When I got home, I found her in the kitchen, trading belts with the French maid. I hadn't seen Ramona look so upset since the rumor was going around that the Raiders might move to New York. As for the French maid, she's looked upset since she heard I was moving in.
"OK, what's up?"
"It's Harry. He was here again."
This I didn't need. "All right, let's start from the beginning."
She gulped down another shot, and steadied herself. "Well, you left here in such a hurry, you forgot to unchain me from the bed. So I called Antionette in to let me loose, and that's when I saw him."
"Wait a minute - you mean you were awake?"
"Yes, yes! We both saw him." The maid nodded in agreement. "He was just standing there. I could see his lips move, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. He looked like he was in pain, as if something was trying to keep him from talking."
They say dead men tell no tales, but this one must know a lulu. I decided I was out of my league. "No sweat, honey, we'll get this settled. I'll go find us a professional and then we'll find out what he wants to say."
It was time to consult an expert - the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful Siggy the Snitch.
TO BE CONTINUED...