"All in good time, young lady!," the detective snapped at me. He explained that the janitor had undoubtedly watched as the lieutenant exchanged the valuable relic with a copy my father gave him. (It was not unusual for him to have many such copies for the classes he conducted at the local university.) Dad's reputation as an honorable man and an expert in the field was spotless.
"Your father left the station. The plan was that he secrete the necklace in a place known only to him and the lieutenant. Despite the fact that no one was in sight when the two discussed the plan, the janitor must have followed him. The next time he was heard of, he was lying in a pool of blood in your father's cabin. Your father called the authorities himself. There was an empty space in the wall display where a knife had obviously been kept, and the necklace was gone!"
"To the public it seemed clear; your father had murdered the man. It was a convenient way to hide the fact that he had intended from the beginning to sell the necklace to a private party. The cabin was to be the meeting place that would make your father a wealthy man. The lieutenant doubted, however, what appeared to be obvious-even to his superiors. That's when he called me."
"Your father left the station. The plan was that he secrete the necklace in a place known only to him and the lieutenant. Despite the fact that no one was in sight when the two discussed the plan, the janitor must have followed him. The next time he was heard of, he was lying in a pool of blood in your father's cabin. Your father called the authorities himself. There was an empty space in the wall display where a knife had obviously been kept, and the necklace was gone!"
"To the public it seemed clear; your father had murdered the man. It was a convenient way to hide the fact that he had intended from the beginning to sell the necklace to a private party. The cabin was to be the meeting place that would make your father a wealthy man. The lieutenant doubted, however, what appeared to be obvious-even to his superiors. That's when he called me."