bonded messenger to Mrs. P.J. Benecke at the Dorchester Hotel.
That afternoon, shortly before closing time, Gregory Halston's secretary said, "A Mrs. Benecke is here to see you, Mr. Halston."
His heart sank. She had come to return the pin, and he could hardly refuse to take it back. Damn all women, all Americans, and all Texans! Halston put on a smile and went out to greet her.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Benecke. I assume your husband didn't like the pin."
She grinned. "You assume wrong, buster. Old P.J. was just plain crazy about it."
Halston's heart began to sing. "He was?"
"In fact, he liked it so much he wants me to get another one so we can have 'em made into a pair of earrings. Let me have a twin to the one I got."
A small frown appeared on Gregory Halston's face. "I'm afraid we might have a little problem there, Mrs. Benecke."
"What kinda problem, honey?"
"Yours is a unique stone. There's not another one like it. Now, I have a lovely set in a different style I could - "
"I don't want a different style. I want one jest like the one I bought."
"To be perfectly candid, Mrs. Benecke, there aren't very many ten-carat Colombian flawless" - he saw her look - "nearly flawless stones available."
"Come on, sport. There's gotta be one somewhere."
"In all honesty, I've seen very few stones of that quality, and to try to duplicate it exactly in shape and color would be almost impossible."
"We got a sayin' in Texas that the impossible jest takes a little longer. Saturday's my birthday. P.J. wants me to have those earrings, and what P.J. wants, P.J. gets."
"I really don't think I can - "
"How much did I pay for that pin - a hundred grand? I know old P.J. will go up to two hundred or three hundred thousand for another one."
Gregory Halston was thinking fast. There had to be a duplicate of that stone somewhere, and if P. J. Benecke was willing to pay an extra $200,000 for it, that would mean a tidy profit. In fact, Halston thought, I can work it out so that it means a tidy profit for me.
Aloud he said, "I'll inquire around, Mrs. Benecke. I'm sure that no other jeweler in London has the identical emerald, but there are always estates coming up for auction. I'll do some advertising and see what results I get."
"You got till the end of the week," the blonde told him. "And jest between you and me and the lamppost, old P.J. will probably be willin' to go up to three hundred fifty thousand for it."
And Mrs. Benecke was gone, her sable coat billowing out behind her.
Gregory Halston sat in his office lost in a daydream. Fate had placed in his hands a man who was so besotted with his blond tart that he was willing to pay $350,000 for a $100,000 emerald. That was a net profit of $250,000. Gregory Halston saw no need to burden the Parker brothers with the details of the transaction. It would be a simple matter to record the sale of the second emerald at $100,000 and pocket the rest. The extra $250,000 would set him up for life.
All he had to do now was to find a twin to the emerald he had sold to Mrs. P.J. Benecke.
It turned out to be even more difficult than Halston had anticipated. None of the jewelers he telephoned had anything in stock that resembled what he required. He placed advertisements in the London Times and the Financial Times, and he called Christie's and Sotheby's, and a dozen estate agents. In the next few days Halston was inundated with a flood of inferior emeralds, good emeralds, and a few first-quality emeralds, but none of them came close to what he was looking for.
On Wednesday Mrs. Benecke telephoned. "Old P.J.'s gettin' mighty restless," she warned. "Did you find it yet?"
"Not yet, Mrs. Benecke," Halston assured her, "but don't worry, we will."
On Friday she telephoned again. "Tomorrow's my birthday," she reminded Halston.
"I know, Mrs. Benecke. If I only had a few more days, I know I could - "
"Well, never mind, sport. If you don't have that emerald by tomorrow mornin', I'll return the one I bought from you. Old P.J. - bless his heart - says he's gonna buy me a big ole country estate instead. Ever hear of a place called Sussex?"
Halston broke out in perspiration. "Mrs.