it is!"

"And Inspector Stevens goes there to

find out ?"

"Oh, you saw Stevens, did you ? Lucky

young dog landing a job like that at the

taxpayer's expense! A fat lot he's found

out so far!33

"What do you suspect there is to find

out ?"

"Dope! Drug racket on a large scale.

And the dope's being paid for not in

money, but in precious stones."

"Aha ?"

"This is how it goes. Lady Blank-or the Countess ofWhatnot --finds it hard to get hold of cash--and in any case

doesn't want to draw large sums out of the

Bank. But she's got jewels --family heirlooms

sometimes! They're taken along

to a place for 'cleaning' or 'resetting' - 441

there the stones are taken out of their

settings and replaced with paste. The

unset stones are sold over here or on the

Continent. It's all plain sailing—there's

been no robbery, no hue and cry after

them. Say sooner or later it's discovered

that a certain tiara or necklace is a fake?

Lady Blank is all innocence and dismay —

can't imagine how or when the substitution

can have taken place — necklace has never

been out of her possession! Sends the poor,

perspiring police off on wild-goose chases

after dismissed maids, or doubtful butlers,

or suspicious window-cleaners.

"But we're not quite so dumb as these

social birds think! We had several cases

come up one after another — and we found

a common factor — all the women showed

signs of dope — nerves, irritability —

twitching, pupils of eyes dilated, etcetera.

Question was: Where were they getting

the dope from and who was running the

racket ?"

"And the answer, you think, is this place

Helir9

"We believe it's the headquarters of the

whole racket. We've discovered where the

work on the jewellery is done — a place

442

called Golconda Ltd. — respectable enough

on the surface, high-class imitation

jewellery. There's a nasty bit of work

called Paul Varesco — ah, I see you know

him?"

"I have seen him — in Hell"

"That's where I'd like to see him—

in the real place! He's as bad as they make

'em — but women — even decent women

— eat out of his hand! He's got some kind

of connection with Golconda Ltd. and

I'm pretty sure he's the man behind Hell.

It's ideal for his purpose — everyone goes

there, society women, professional crooks

— it's the perfect meeting place."

"You think the exchange—jewels for

dope — takes place there ?"

"Yes. We know the Golconda side of it

—we want the other—the dope side.

We want to know who's supplying the

stuff and where it's coming from."

"And so far you have no idea ?"

"I think it's the Russian woman — but

we've no evidence. A few weeks ago we

thought we were getting somewhere. Varesco

went to the Golconda place, picked up

some stones there and went straight from

there to Hell. Stevens was watching him,