The King Diamond by Fred M. White — Read

There was no question that Zambra had vanished in a neat and artistic manner which left Paradine fairly guessing. Probably the man had slipped out of the country by some obscure route. Jersey for example; at any rate he was nowhere to be found, and the authorities were left to make the best of the problem. So far as Paradine could see, there was no reason whatever why Zambra should disappear just at that particular moment. Indeed, on the contrary, he had every inducement to remain in England, because Paradine could not see a criminal of Zambra's type quietly allowing the King Diamond to remain in Cleopatra's possession. There was no process out against him either, and it was impossible that Zambra could have had even the smallest inkling of the net which the police were busily engaged in weaving around him.

Possibly if Paradine had gone to Cleopatra, she might have told him something useful. On the other hand, again, she might not. Paradine was shrewd enough to see that it was greatly to Cleopatra's interest to have Zambra out of the way. She had got the King Diamond back with every intention of keeping it. And so long as Zambra was hanging about, there was always a chance of her failing to retain her hold on the treasure. But if she could once drive Zambra out of the country and make it too hot to hold him, then she could snap her fingers at the master criminal so long as she remained in England. It was just likely, with her intimate knowledge, that she had dropped a hint to somebody of whom Zambra stood in mortal dread and thus force him to seek shelter and safety a long way off.