CHAPTER V
THE CURSE OF SHAITAN
“YOU mean Mirza?” Tom sat bolt upright, completely awake.
“Right. My studio is wired with a burglar alarm because of the precious stones and valuable jewelry I keep here,” Garth explained. “When the alarm went off, I jumped out of bed and dashed to my workshop just in time to grab him. But he put up a nasty fight and finally escaped out the window.”
“What about my sister’s ruby ring?” Tom asked. “I assume she left it with you?”
“Yes, but don’t worry. It’s still here in my safe. In fact, he didn’t take anything, so far as I can discover.”
Garth added that he had called the police and they were making a thorough search for the suspect. They had also set up roadblocks in the hope of cutting off Mirza’s escape.
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52 TRIPHIBIAN ATOMICAR
“I called partly to warn you that the fellow is a criminal-maybe even dangerous,” Garth said. “Also to find out if you had any information about him.”
Tom told as much as he knew about Mirza and his employer. “When they left here this afternoon, Flambo claimed they were going to fly back to New York,”
Tom concluded. “Why not check with the airport at Albuquerque?”
“Good idea. I’ll notify the police.”
After Garth rang off, Tom lay awake for over an hour, thinking. Was it Sandy’s ruby that Mirza had been after? Or had he just been tempted by the sight of valuable jewelry lying about the studio?
Mirza’s first appearance at the studio window had certainly seemed furtive and suspicious. “And Garth had just been saying, at that moment, that the ruby might have come from the Kabulistan mine!” Tom recalled. “In either case, where does Mirza’s employer, Flambo, fit into the picture?”
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