Attempt to Sell a Ruby to a Las Vegas Fence

The Attempt to Sell a Ruby to a Las Vegas Fence turns an unexplained ruby into a lead in Darcy’s investigation: a letter sent from Los Angeles sought a buyer in Las Vegas, where a major American gangster known for fencing stolen property was currently staying. The proposed sale did not become a successful transaction, but its route raised a further question about why the thief had come to California.

The Letter and Its Intended Buyer

Darcy learns that someone tried to contact a major American gangster who was also a prominent dealer in stolen property. The man was then in Las Vegas, Nevada, while the letter came from Los Angeles and was written by someone with a ruby to sell. The evidence identifies neither the letter’s author nor the ruby’s provenance, so the communication establishes a criminal lead without resolving who was behind it.

The letter offered little immediate help in identifying its sender. Darcy had not seen it; he had been told it was typed on a standard machine and bore no fingerprints. Those details left the investigation with the letter’s route and purpose, rather than a distinctive physical trace, as its clearest starting points.

The Failed Trap

Investigators tried to draw the seller out by pretending to be the fence and arranging a trap. The suspected burglar did not appear, leading Darcy to conclude that the person had sensed the plan. The failed meeting left the proposed sale uncompleted and showed that the investigation could not rely on the seller responding to an apparent opportunity.

The California Lead

After the trap failed, Darcy focused on why the thief had traveled to California. He considered whether the journey might connect to Cy Goldman, who had recently bought valuable items from Spain. Among those purchases were The jeweled Spanish candlesticks and an El Greco painting, acquisitions Goldman had apparently discussed with many people aboard the ship. Darcy presents this connection as a possibility, not a proven motive or identification: the ruby letter gives him reason to investigate a link between the seller’s California journey and Goldman’s purchases, but does not establish that the ruby came from Goldman or that the seller contacted the fence successfully.