Speed Saunders and the Hilton Diamond, 4: Wait... what?

 

Speed has stopped by for a casual chat with Darnell The Fence of Stolen Goods.

Smooth, Speed; really smooth.

Darnell is less than cooperative.

You don't get to be as well known of a fence as Darnell without a cool composure.

From this interaction, Speed deduced that the European Diamond Merchant did, in fact, dump the diamond he stole from Jim's dad at Darnell's.

Headquarters! That's where Speed is from, you know.

At Headquarters we learn some very important information from the Chief Coroner.

Specifically, that "Hilton" isn't the name of the hotel, it's the name of Jim's FATHER (and presumably of Jim).  Okay, the hotel COULD be named "Hilton", but the diamond is called the Hilton Diamond because it was stolen from Jim Hilton's father, Mr. Hilton.

Oh, we also learned that Mr. Hilton had been drugged with chloral.  By which the coroner doesn't mean the organic compound trichloroacetaldehyde, but rather the result of its union with water, chloral hydrate, commonly used as a hypnotic or sedative agent since 1869.

You can tell because it looks like a person zonked out on the ground after wiping out while ice-skating.

Speed's assumption that the chloral hydrate was administered BEFORE Mr. Hilton was shot is correct.

What about the normal shading of the face, doc? Because that appears to have been greatly maximized.

One supposes Speed might have gotten this information over the phone but perhaps he wanted to show Jim Headquarters, which is, after all, where Speed is from.

Then they dash BACK to the hotel that may or may not be named "Hilton".

"Given the speed at which I operate, I have a hunch my intial search was cursory and shoddy!"

Sure enough, Speed finds something that the previous investigation did not reveal.

Do you think maybe Mr. Hilton LIVED at the hotel? That's a thing that used to happen in those days, before they invented condos.

Surely, if Jim was able to tell at a glance his father's coffee cups, he'll be able to identify whether this is his father's diamond bag. And, yes, traditionally, jewelers DID use small leather pouches for carrying jewels. Probably a medieval thing.

Drumroll, please...

MH: Mr. Hilton

Hm. So the pouches belongs to... someone else?  Another diamond merchant?  Elias Brent, we can assume? But this line of reasoning is cut short by the arrival of a stranger in the doorway!

"Wuh-ellll,  ya got trouble my friends, right here in Saunders City!
Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with C and that stands for CHLORAL!"

I'm glad he introduced himself or I might have thought THIS one was Nikola Tesla.   This dandy fresh off the Rock Island Line is here as a Useful Male Informant.  I don't believe I caught his name, but I don't believe he dropped it.  Surely Mr. Secretary will provide us useful information!

... Wait. 
Wait.
I... what? WTH?

Brent didn't TAKE the diamond from Hilton; HE BROUGHT IT TO HIM.

...

Let me try to understand. 

Brent had a diamond in his possession worth between $10 million and $25 million (in today's dollars), which he brings FROM Europe TO Saunders City to Hilton's room (which may or may not be at the Hilton).  Then, um... Hilton goes DOWN to Brent's room on the floor below-- BRINGING TWO OF HIS OWN COFFEE CUPS-- and they ... have coffee in Brent's room (411)?  Then they... go back UP to 511, where, um... Hilton zonks out, chloralized by the coffee, giving Brent the opportunity to shoot him in the head and put the gun in the corpse's hand (because you could totally get away with that stuff in the day).   Then he left and used tweezers (every diamong merchant has them) to turn the inside key and lock the door.

Okay, MAYBE all this simply happened in Room 511 and... and Brent TOOK THE CUPS to his room afterwards because he knew the chloral in one of them could be detected if found by the police.  Sure, I can believe that but...

if he HAD the diamond, what was the point of KILLING HILTON?!  And then selling a $10-25 million diamond to a cruddy local fence for what, five thousand bucks?  And if Hilton has never had the diamond, WHY CALL IT THE HILTON DIAMOND?!* This makes no sense at all.

NO, SPEED, IT IS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE AND NOW MATTER HOW LONG YOU STARE AT ME IT WON'T CHANGE THAT.

Speed prepares to arrest everyone within a one-mile radius.

"Don't I need to, you know, be some sort of officer to get a warrant from Headquarters?"
"Of course not, Jim. Just tell them I sent you; I'm from there.

Tomorrow: Speed gets to the bottom of this mystery. Kind of. Without a warrant.

*This does, I suppose, lend credence to those scholars who believe that the Hotel is ALSO named "Hilton".