No Rules Read Free Page A

Quigley, shaking his head. ‘The necklace was stored in a special high-security display room in the residence.’
    â€˜Tell me about the room,’ said Friday. ‘What security measures were in place?’
    â€˜The room is the most secure place in the embassy. There are no windows, air conditioning vents or under-floor access points. There is no way in, except through the door,’ said Mr Quigley.
    â€˜Tell me about the door and the locks,’ said Friday.
    â€˜It’s a ten-foot-high steel-lined double door with a titanium frame bolted into the stone walls,’ said Mr Quigley. ‘It has two sets of deadlocks. One at ground level and the other at the top of the door.’
    â€˜I see,’ said Friday. ‘So you need a key to lock or unlock the door?’
    â€˜The display room is in the domestic quarters,’ continued Mr Quigley, ‘and at night that area is entirely sealed off from the embassy offices, in case there is some sort of political attack.’
    â€˜So it was just the family in the domestic quarters?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜No, the Ambassador had taken his family skiing for the weekend. The only person in the domestic area was the chef,’ said Mr Quigley. ‘He was working through the night making a huge ice sculpture and a blackforest cherry cake for the big black-tie dinner.He heard a noise coming from the display room and went to investigate.’
    â€˜I see, and according to the papers the chef was assaulted by the thief,’ said Friday.
    â€˜Yes, we haven’t been able to get much sense out of him,’ said Mr Quigley. ‘He had a big lump on the back of his head, and he’s in hospital being treated for hypothermia.’
    â€˜How did he get hypothermia?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜He was soaking wet when we found him,’ said Mr Quigley. ‘His clothes were completely drenched. The thief locked him in the display room so he couldn’t raise the alarm.’
    â€˜Did the chef have a key to the display room?’ asked Friday.
    â€˜Yes, it was still on him when we found him,’ said Mr Quigley.
    â€˜So if he had regained consciousness, he could have let himself out,’ said Friday.
    â€˜No,’ said Mr Quigley, ‘because he would have had no way of reaching the lock at the top of the ten-foot-tall door.’
    â€˜Ahh,’ said Friday. ‘The classic closed-room conundrum.’
    â€˜Huh? Has living in the airport affected your mental health?’ said Mr Quigley, starting to look optimistic. ‘If it has, that’s great, I can use that to get you released into a hospital. Admittedly, a mental hospital, but it might do you some good.’
    â€˜The answer lies with the missing ice sculpture,’ said Friday.
    â€˜What?’ said Mr Quigley.
    â€˜You mentioned it earlier when you were talking on the phone,’ said Friday. ‘An ice sculpture has gone missing from the embassy.’
    â€˜Yes, but I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything,’ said Mr Quigley. He was looking thoroughly confused.
    â€˜Which is exactly what the thief wanted you to think,’ said Friday, ‘or, rather, not think. Because that’s what the thief wanted – for you to not think about the ice sculpture.’
    â€˜So where is the ice sculpture?’ asked Mr Quigley.
    â€˜Oh, you’ll never find it,’ said Friday.
    â€˜Are you trying to irritate me?’ asked Mr Quigley.
    â€˜It melted after it was used by the thief,’ said Friday.
    Mr Quigley stood up. ‘I’ll write to your parents. You’re being purposefully obstructive. I can’t deal with you.’
    â€˜The necklace was stolen by the chef,’ said Friday. ‘He was the only person with the opportunity to commit the crime, so he had to divert suspicion away from himself. After he stole the necklace, he hid it somewhere in the kitchen. Then he locked himself in