Part 4 (1/2)
Adams edged carefully away from the bed and glided safely away from the sleeping fox. He dipped a slip of paper from his wrinkled pocket and started to read mechanically.
”Largest diamond came from Africa--weight one pound and a quarter--didn't get the name of it, because I couldn't p.r.o.nounce it anyhow.” He looked up anxiously. ”Is that enough?”
Jim put the pipe away carefully.
”For brevity,” he admitted. ”It's perfect. But it will do.”
”So?”
”From what I saw of that diamond last night,” Drake continued, ”it must have weighed at least two pounds. Perfectly cut and yet by no one in this country. Puffy, we've a perfectly swell mystery on our hands.”
”And the fox?” Adams added, with a suspicious look at the drowsy animal on the bed. ”What in h.e.l.l's bells made you bring it here?”
”George Lardner,” Drake said slowly.
”_What?_”
”Lardner was at the zoo this afternoon,” Jim explained. ”He paid a large sum of money to make sure he could steal the fox tonight. If Lardner wanted it that bad, what could I lose?”
He didn't mention the sudden vision of Sylvia Fanton he had seen, haunting and lovely in the cage.
”So he thinks Sylvia had the rock?” Puffy's face awakened with new angles.
”So do I,” Drake admitted. ”At least she knows a lot about it.”
He jerked upright suddenly, caught by the sudden movement on the bed.
Adams wheeled, his eyes following Jim's.
”Holy Ned!” he shouted. ”The girl....”
The silver fox was gone. Sylvia Fanton, more lovely than ever was stretched comfortably across the bed, her slim limbs partly covered by the fox cape. She was real this time. Drake caught the look of grat.i.tude in her eyes.
”Then you _are_ real,” he went toward her in long strides. ”I was beginning to wonder.”
She crouched away from him slightly, trying to stretch the short fur to cover her rounded limbs. The task wasn't very successful.
”I'm sorry,” she whispered. He knew she _was_ sorry. Sorry for all the trouble she had caused him.
”But why...?”
She sat up, s.h.i.+elding herself carefully.
”It's very simple,” she explained. ”I am doomed to wear the body of a fox during those hours when the sun is high. At night....” She motioned toward the window with slim fingers.
Drake turned, saw that the sun had drifted behind the distant skyline and darkness had come down on the city. He smiled, only partly understanding.
”At night you become a very lovely woman. I know that much.”