A robbery during an evening preparation for a social engagement sets off a tangled investigation. A family is attacked when a small, light-complexioned man armed with an automatic is seen at their door. He shoots the father in the leg, seizes the valuable jewelry carried from a safe deposit box, and forces the family into a closet. Testimonies vary: the victim describes a timid, poorly dressed fellow who shows little nerve even when committing violence; the maid, the family, and other building residents offer differing details about his appearance, age, and voice. One account, given by the maid and the elderly victim, describes a man in a blue suit, cap pulled low with a yellowish beard, while other witnesses—such as a young tenant in a nearby apartment and the building’s janitor—offer phrases like “small runt” and “boyish” as descriptors. The investigation expands as testimonies from various building occupants and staff—janitors, elevator boys, and even a tenant who suffers a minor assault—are compiled. Witnesses recall a desperate figure who, after committing the robbery, abandons the scene, fleeing upward into an apartment where he appears momentarily before vanishing. His route and actions during the getaway raise suspicions: he had enough familiarity with the building to expect a fire-escape route that turned out not to exist, and he left behind a clue—a ring recovered and later pawned by a young tenant, who insists he found it lying in the corridor. A police detective rushes to interrogate a detained tenant, Jack Wagener, whose involvement in the ring’s disappearance casts a shadow of suspicion and raises the possibility of an inside connection. The family, the maid, and other witnesses militate against identifying Wagener as the robber, all insisting that despite some physical similarities, the criminal could not be mistaken for the tenant. Their statements are further muddled by conflicting recollections concerning the robber’s features: some suggest a youthful, unkempt male, while others imply characteristics hinting at a possibly deliberate disguise. As the threads of testimony unravel, the investigator considers five theories ranging from an insurance scam contrived by the family to a collaborative scheme involving both the tenant and a crafty accomplice. Ultimately, the focus shifts when the detective pieces together the inconsistencies and peculiar choices made by the robber. Clues such as the unusual attention given to the stolen ring, the meticulous details about clothing and physical features, and particularly the suggestion that the suspect might have altered his appearance lead to a radical possibility: the robber may have been masquerading as a woman. The narrative introduces the idea that a man, known from previous minor criminal episodes and even a stint in a reformatory, could have applied a strong depilatory agent, allowed his beard to grow to simulate masculinity temporarily, and then later shed that disguise to pose as a female tenant. The detective’s reasoning culminates in identifying the true culprit as a cunning repeat offender—Fred, whose background in petty theft and methodical planning fits the elaborate scheme. Fred had executed the robbery with precise timing, taking advantage of the family’s lapse in judgment and the building’s layout. His calculated choice to adopt a cross-dressing disguise explains the murky eyewitness accounts and misidentifications. By allowing confusion over his gender and deliberately exploiting the natural fallibility of human memory, the criminal hoped to deflect suspicion away from himself and complicate the police’s task of securing a weapon or his distinctive clothing. In sum, the investigation reveals a layered narrative in which unreliable and contradictory testimonies mask a well-planned theft, purposefully engineered to mislead. What begins as a straightforward insurance claim investigation evolves into an intricate puzzle involving cross-dressing, mistaken identity, and deliberate obfuscation on the part of a criminal who cleverly manipulated the circumstances to his advantage. The detective, piecing together the disparate accounts and physical evidence—from descriptions of a shabby, light-suited intruder to the misdirected recovery of a pawned ring and the impossible escape route—arrives at the conclusion that the robber was none other than a man with a criminal record, adept at altering his appearance to blend into his surroundings.
By Dashiell Hammett · First published 1929 · Genre: Hardboiled Detective Fiction, Noir Fiction, Crime Fiction