The Secret of the Crooked Cat - Arden William - Страница 16

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For missing their dinners, both Bob and Pete spent all next day performing chores around their houses. They had to admit that they’d asked for it, and worked without too much grumbling, but their minds were on the failure of the case. They couldn’t help wondering if the tattooed man had been caught. Each tried to call Jupiter more than once, but the First Investigator wasn’t at Headquarters or at his house.

At dinner, Bob gulped his food. His father smiled at him.

“Chief Reynolds reports that you and your friends almost caught a bank robber last night,” Mr. Andrews said.

“We didn’t know he was a bank robber, Dad,” Bob explained. “We were just helping a carnival boy in trouble.”

“It’s good to help people, Bob, and I know that you boys are careful. Chief Reynolds says you did nothing foolish or dangerous. Still, you worry me sometimes. Be sure you keep alert and use your head, son.”

“Jupiter says being prepared is half the fight.”

“As usual, Jupiter is right,” Mr. Andrews said dryly.

“Too bad your man escaped. Chief Reynolds says he’s been reported all over the state, but they haven’t caught him.”

This news did nothing to cheer Bob. As he rode to the salvage yard after dinner, he realized that this could turn out to be the first unsolved case The Three Investigators had ever had. He was still brooding over it when he clambered up into Headquarters. Jupiter was there, bent intently over a pile of newspapers and studying some scrawled notes.

“What are you doing, First?” Bob asked.

The First Investigator shook his head curtly to indicate that he didn’t want to talk. Miffed, Bob began to study some specimens of sea life the boys had gathered while skin diving. Then he wandered to the See-All and began to survey the salvage yard in the fading light of the sunny day.

“Looks like Uncle Titus has bought another load no one knows what to do with,” he announced.

Jupiter grunted. He had stopped his reading and was sitting deep in thought, his eyes closed. Bob looked back through the See-All.

“Here comes Pete!”

This time Jupiter didn’t even grunt. Soon Pete came up through the trapdoor and stared at the silent Jupiter.

“What’s Jupe doing?” he wanted to know.

“Don’t ask me,” Bob replied. “The Great Brain is at work,”

“Why all the newspapers? Is he going to find the tattooed man by putting another ad in the paper?”

Jupiter looked up, his eyes bright. “That won’t be needed, Second. I think I know where the tattooed man is.”

“You do, Jupe?” Bob cried. “Where?”

“Where he’s been all the time — here in Rocky Beach, at the carnival.”

Pete groaned. “Gosh, Jupe, like Chief Reynolds said, we don’t know that. Why, he’s been seen in six different places!”

“Seven, to be precise,” Jupiter agreed.

“That proves he’s sure not here,” Bob said.

“On the contrary, Records,” Jupiter pronounced. “I’ve been studying the reports on him in the papers. The seven people saw him in seven different places as much as two hundred miles apart! I would venture to say that no one has seen him!”

Bob nodded. “I see that, Jupe. But what makes you so sure he’s still in Rocky Beach, and at the carnival?”

Jupiter jumped up and began to pace the tiny room. “I’ve read everything I could find about the bank robbery. There are three items — two in the San Mateo paper and one in a Los Angeles paper. I also took a trip to San Mateo today while you two were paying for missing dinner.”

“Why didn’t you have to work?” Pete demanded hotly. “You missed dinner, too!”

“I did have to work,” Jupiter said, and grinned. “But it just happened that I knew of some very interesting junk that could be purchased in San Mateo. When I told Uncle Titus about the junk there, he sent me to get it with Hans and Konrad.”

Pete sighed. “Some people are just lucky, I guess. Nothing ever gets me out of working around the house.”

“What did you learn about the robbery, First?” Bob asked.

“Well,” Jupiter said, his face eager now, “it happened on the Friday night of the carnival fire, all right. On Fridays, the San Mateo bank is open until six o’clock, the weekend deposits are large, and the carnival opens earlier than usual! Also, fellows, that Friday was the carnival’s last day in San Mateo! They were due to leave San Mateo late than night, travel here, and open on Saturday night!”

“Gosh,” Pete said. “Just right if a member of the carnival wanted to rob the bank and get away fast!”

“Exactly, Second,” Jupiter said. “The robber of the bank was dressed all in black, with a close-fitting black hood and black tennis shoes.”

“Gabbo’s costume!” Bob exclaimed.

Jupiter nodded. “Only the robber’s arms were bare. All the witnesses agreed on that. The robber had rolled up his sleeves.”

“That’s how everyone noticed the tattoo,” Bob realized.

“Yes, Records,” Jupiter said. “The robber entered the bank at five minutes before six. He captured a guard and went into the open vault where the money was. He held the guard hostage until he was outside. Then he stunned the guard and ran into an alley beside the bank. The alarm had been turned on the moment he left the bank, and a police car arrived within minutes.”

“But he got away, didn’t he, Jupe?” Pete asked impatiently.

“He got away, but they don’t know how!” Jupiter said. “The police ran into that alley within minutes after the robber. They didn’t find him — and yet it was a totally blind alley! There was no way out of that alley at all. Only three building walls with high, locked windows. Yet the robber was gone!”

“Just like when we chased that moustached man!” Bob said. “He climbed a wall,”

Pete exclaimed. “A human fly!”

“That is what I believe,” Jupiter nodded. “The San Mateo police put out the alarm and looked for the robber. They found no trace of him until they had a fortunate piece of luck. A policeman on duty outside the carnival — a policeman who had been told about the bank robber — went to stop a scuffle among the people waiting to get into the carnival. In the melee a man wearing a raincoat was knocked down, and his coat flew open. The policeman saw a tight black costume under the coat, and glimpsed a tattoo under the sleeve of the coat!”

“Wow, that was real luck, Jupe?” Pete declared.

“Yes,” the First Investigator agreed, “but many crimes are solved by such small mischances, Second. Anyway, the man wearing the raincoat got away in the crowd. The policeman called for help, and other police rushed over to the carnival. They cordoned off the area, and moved in. They were sure they would find the robber, but — ”

“I know,” Bob said quickly, “the fire broke out!”

“It did,” Jupiter said in triumph. “That was a great danger, so the police had to help put it out. When they had the fire out, they continued their search, but they didn’t find the robber or the money. Yet I’m certain he was there!”

“Why, Jupe?” Bob asked.

“Well, the robber had escaped. He was safe. His only problem was to get out of San Mateo unseen. To go out in the open at the carnival would have been very foolish of him — unless he was a member of the carnival who had planned all along to escape from San Mateo with the carnival. I’m convinced that his whole plan was to rob the bank, escape up the wall of that alley, then slip back into the carnival and remove his disguise. A simple and very safe plan.”

“Only he was accidentally spotted,” Bob went on, “and then he had to have time to get out of his disguise. So he started the fire to gain time and distract everyone — the same sort of idea as letting Rajah loose later.”

Pete asked, “You mean the way he looked at the bank in San Mateo, and every time we’ve seen him, he’s been in a disguise?”

“I do,” Jupiter stated somewhat pompously. “At the bank, and in that house where he bought the crooked cats, his face was stained swarthy, or be had on a plastic mask. His hair was darkened, perhaps his nose changed — and he had a false tattoo!” Bob and Pete didn’t say anything for a full minute.

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