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You stroll over to a desk and pick up the phone. “Give me the police. This is an emergency!” Harlowe Thrombey’s ghost whirls around the room like a tornado. Grimstone and his men cringe by the couch. You watch calmly. A few minutes later the police burst into the house. At that same moment, the ghost disappears. Grimstone starts toward you, but two police officers are already in the room. They grab him, one by each arm. Shortly afterward Chief Ludhorn arrives, you show him the cache of weapons, and Grimstone’s fate is sealed. He and his henchmen are carted off to jail. The dogs are sent to the pound, and the house is locked up. Early the next morning, you climb over Grimstone’s gate. After an hour of searching, you manage to find all thirty-seven of the lost diamonds. You turn them over to the police, and a few weeks later a court rules that Sylvia Ruston is the rightful owner of the diamonds. You wonder whether you’ll be able to charge Sylvia a fee for your services. After all, you never actually did agree to take the case. Sylvia Ruston, you find, is a very fair-minded woman. She gives you two of the diamonds as a reward. You take them to a jeweler and find that the smaller one is worth $5,500. The larger one, being somewhat less pure and brilliant, is worth only $4,500. Still, not bad. The End
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