Mountains of Dawn

Greg Crowford left Megève early in the morning, heading to Caltabieni's residence on the Riviera. He drove, in spite of his stepfather's warnings, the forbidden Lamborghini. Twenty miles from the Italian border, the French highway patrol signaled him to stop. Partly because of his speed and partly because he arrogantly felt they could not catch him, he accelerated. As he approached the border between the two countries, a new sign warned him to stop-a long string of nails across the roadway appearing before him. Greg Crowford slammed the Lamborghini to a halt.

Two policemen approached the car from the front and two from the back.

"Driver's license and car registration, please. You were signaled to stop for speeding several miles back. Why did you attempt to outrun our patrol car?"

"I didn't see any speed limit signs. I didn't see a patrol car," Greg said with arrogance.

"Get out of the car, sir."

Behind the driver's seat, the officers saw the painting of The Woman in the Blue Veils. One of them returned to the car and radioed headquarters. He glanced at the Lamborghini several times while speaking into the microphone.

"This car is supposed to be repossessed," he said, when he returned to Greg's side. "And the painting in your car was fraudulently obtained from the manager of a Parisian exposition a few weeks ago. Both the car and the painting are officially classified as stolen." The officer withdrew his handcuffs and pulled Greg's hands behind his back. As he clasped the handcuffs around Greg's wrists, he said, "You're carrying stolen goods, Mr. Crowford, and driving a stolen car."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Greg said, outraged. "The car belongs to my stepfather, Ron Withley. Call him. Check it out. I'm bringing the painting to its rightful owner, a member of the Italian government, Mr. Tomaso Caltabieni of the Genova police department."

The officers ignored him, pushing him into the back of the patrol car.

They brought him to headquarters where he was fingerprinted. A quick check with the records transmitted by Interpol showed that his fingerprints coincided with those found on Mr. Miller's car. The charge of attempted murder was brought against Greg Crowford.

A day later Detective Warner informed Malcolm Clark that extradition papers were being processed for Greg Crowford.

Ron Withley attempted to call Caltabieni as soon as he heard of Greg's arrest, but each of his calls received the same response: "The Commissario can't come to the phone, he's very busy."