Detectives uncovered a parking ticket and a security video that quickly suggested a man accused of being a jewel fence may have killed a salesman during a $4 million heist.

Trying to prove it was a different story.

Thirteen days after Henry (Hank) Menahem was gunned down in the Madison Ave. store, investigators arrested Edmond Alma and charged him with possession of stolen property.

Some cops suspect the 47-year-old was more than just a middleman hustling hot jewelry; they think he was also the gunman, sources said.

Menahem’s killer wore sunglasses, gloves, a black woolen hat and a scarf over his face when he stormed into R.S. Durant on Jan. 27.

The feisty, 71-year-old victim refused to give up the bling and was shot dead in a tussle. A clerk who survived never saw the killer’s face.

Cops got lucky a week later, when an informant told them Alma flew to Miami the day after the slaying and was trying to sell stolen gems, NYPD sources said.

Further digging led police to a security video showing a man of Alma’s size and gait walking back to a car, parked not far from R.S. Durant, sources said.

The man’s face was not visible – but Alma’s car got a ticket while it was parked near the store around the time of the robbery and murder, cop sources said.

The evidence was circumstantial at best, so cops set up a sting.

The idea was to lure Alma to a Brooklyn Burger King, hook him up with a deep-pocketed prospective buyer – and let him incriminate himself.

The buyer was an undercover cop whose mission was to win Alma’s trust.

Minutes before the meet was about to happen, NYPD brass pulled the plug because they deemed it too risky, police and law enforcement sources said.

They feared if Alma was Menahem’s killer, he might get spooked and open fire in a public place with plenty of innocent bystanders, sources said.

The sting was called off to the dismay of the rank and file, and the NYPD lost what some saw as its prime chance to find out if Alma was the gunman.

After he was busted Feb. 10 on a stolen property rap, investigators raided his Washington Heights apartment and found 37 pieces of the jewelry taken from R.S. Durant, court records show.

He has been jailed on Rikers Island ever since.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has offered Alma a deal: Five to 15 years in prison if he pleads guilty to possession of stolen property.

That’s less than the 25-year maximum, but it’s a heavy sentence for a suspect whose only New York convictions were for reckless driving and disorderly conduct.

“The idea seems to be, throw the book at him having the jewelry because that is all you’ll get,” a police source said.

Alma refused the deal. His lawyer, Terrence Grifferty, has declined to comment on the case.

(Source: NY Daily News)