Beppo had a cousin who works with Gelder. His cousin told him which shops had bought the busts. So Beppo got a job with Morse Hudson, and managed to find three of the busts. The pearl was not there. Then, with the help of some Italian employees, he found out where the other three busts had gone. The first was at Harker's. There he was caught by Pietro, who blamed Beppo for the loss of the pearl. There was a fight and Beppo stabbed Pietro.'
'If Beppo worked with Pietro, why did Pietro carry his photograph?' I asked.
'So that when he was looking for Beppo he could show it to people and ask if they had seen him. That was the obvious reason. Well, after the murder I thought that Beppo would probably try to hurry. He might think that the police would know what he was doing, and so he needed to find the pearl quickly. Of course, he may have found the pearl when he broke Harker's bust. I was not even certain that he was after the pearl, but it was evident to me that he was looking for something. After all, he carried the bust past the other houses so that he could break it in the garden which had a streetlamp nearby.
As I told you, Harker's bust was one of three that were left, so the chances were exactly two to one against the pearl being inside it. There remained two busts, and it was obvious that Beppo would go for the London one first. I warned the people living in the house, so that no-one else would get hurt. Then we went there, with a happy result. By that time, of course, I knew for certain that we were after the Borgia pearl. The name of the murdered man linked the pearl with the busts. There was just one more bust - the Reading one - and the pearl must be there. I bought it from the owner - and there it is.'
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