6 The Black Pearl

Chapter 6 The Black Pearl Lestrade and I sat in awed silence for a moment, then we both broke into spontaneous applause, like an audience after the climax of a drama. Holmes flushed and gave a little bow. "That's the Borgia pearl?" cried Lestrade. "The one that's been missing for more than a year?" "The very one," said Holmes. "As you know, it's the most famous pearl in the world, owned by the Prince of Colonna. You will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by its

disappearance from the prince's bedroom, and the failure of the police to recover it. At the time, we suspected the princess's maid. She had a brother in London, but we failed to find any solid evidence connecting either of them to the crime. "The maid's name was Lucretia Venucci, and I have no doubt that this Pietro, who was murdered two nights ago, was the brother. I looked up the dates in my archive of old newspapers and it turns out the pearl disappeared two days before the arrest of Beppo at the workshop of Gelder & Co., an event that took place at the very moment when these busts were being made.

"Now do you see how it all connects? Beppo was probably Pietro's accomplice in the theft of the pearl, and then he stole it from him. So Beppo had the pearl, but at the same time he was being pursued by the police for another crime. He made for the factory where he worked, knowing he only had a few minutes to conceal this valuable jewel before they arrested him. "Six plaster casts of Napoleon were drying in the passage. One of them was still soft. Beppo, a talented workman, quickly made an opening in the wet plaster, dropped in the pearl, and with a few touches, closed up the hole. It was an

excellent hiding place—no one could possibly find it. "But Beppo was sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and during that time the six Napoleons were sold to customers across London. The busts were identical, and he had no way of telling which one contained his treasure except by smashing them open. Even shaking them would tell him nothing, because the plaster was wet when he dropped in the pearl and so the pearl probably got stuck to it—which is, in fact, what happened. "Beppo didn't despair. With the help of a cousin who works at Gelder & Co., he found out the names of the shops that had bought the busts —Harrison's Art and Antiques and Harding Brothers. He managed to get a job at Harrison's, and that way tracked down three of the Napoleons. The pearl wasn't in any of them. "Then he turned his attention to Harding Brothers. Through one of their Italian employees, he was able to discover where the other three busts had gone. First on his list was Mr. Horace Harker. He was followed there by Pietro

Venucci, his former accomplice. They fought and Beppo killed him." "If Pietro knew Beppo, why carry his photograph?" I asked. "As a way of tracing him. He could show people the photograph of Beppo and ask if they had seen him. After the murder, I calculated that Beppo would probably want to speed up his operations, fearing that the police would redouble their efforts to find him. I knew by this time he was looking for something inside the busts, since he carried it to a garden overlooked by a streetlamp, but I wasn't yet certain it was the pearl.

"Of course, he may have found what he was seeking in Harker's bust. He had a one-in-three chance of striking lucky, which meant there was still a reasonable possibility that he hadn't. "If the Harker bust proved empty, he was bound to target the Chiswick one next, as it was closer to London. I warned the occupants of the house to expect him, and then along we went, with very happy results. By this time, I knew he was seeking the Borgia pearl—the name of the murdered man linked one event to the other. There remained just one more bust—the Reading one—and I knew the pearl had to be in there. I bought it in the presence of the owner, and here it lies."