The Mystery Of The Talking Skull Part 7

"Gypsies!" Mrs. Jones snorted, seating herself at the table. "Jupiter, now that you've gotten rid of that horrible old skull, don't tell me you're getting mixed up with Gypsies somehow."

"No, Aunt Mathilda," Jupiter answered. "At least I don't think I am."

"Well, they seemed friendly." t.i.tus Jones stated, helping himself to more franks.

The three boys finished eating in silence, and then returned to Headquarters.

"A Gypsy message," Pete said hollowly. " 'A frog in a pond with hungry fish must jump hard to get out.' Does that mean what I think it means?"

Jupiter nodded. "I'm afraid so. It's a veiled warning to us that we'd better work hard to solve this case. I wish I knew where the Gypsies fitted into this, though. First I talked to Zelda. Then Zelda and all her people disappeared. Now two Gypsies show up to leave a message for me, from a friend. I surmise that Zelda is the friend, but I wish she wouldn't be so mysterious."

"Me, too," Pete said, and sighed.

"Well, what do we do now?" Bob asked.

"We talk to Spike Neely's sister," Jupiter said. ''We know she lives in Los Angeles.

Maybe she's in the phone book."

Pete handed him the telephone book and Jupe found there were several Mary Millers listed. Starting with the first one, Jupiter began phoning.

In a deep voice that sounded quite adult, he said he wished to contact Mr. Spike Neely. The first three women he called said they'd never heard of Spike Neely, but the fourth replied that Spike Neely was dead and it was impossible to contact him. Jupiter said "Thank you" and hung up.

"We've located the right Mrs. Miller," he told the others. "Her address is over in Hollywood, in one of the older sections. I propose we visit her immediately and see if she can give us any information."

"It seems like an awfully long shot to me," Pete muttered. "What can she tell us that she didn't tell the police at the time?"

"I don't know," Jupiter said, "but a frog in a pool with hungry fish must jump hard to get out."

"I guess you're right," Bob said. "How will we get there? It's too far to ride on our bikes."

"We'll call the Rent-'n-Ride Auto Agency and ask for the use of Worthington and the Rolls-Royce," Jupiter said.

Some time earlier, Jupiter had entered a contest and won the use of a magnificent old Rolls for a short time. Later, the generosity of a boy whom they had helped allowed them to continue to use the car occasionally. However, when Jupiter phoned now, he learned that the car and Worthington, the chauffeur, were both out of town with a customer.

"Well, if we can't use the Rolls-Royce," he said to the others, "we'll ask Uncle t.i.tus to lend us Konrad and the light truck. Things aren't busy today so he probably won't mind."

But it turned out that Mr. Jones first had an errand for Konrad and the truck.

Konrad would not be free for several hours, so the boys decided to put in the time repainting some furniture. They worked in a spot where they could watch everyone who came into the yard, keeping alert for anyone who looked suspicious. But no one seemed in the least interested in them.

Finally Konrad came back with the truck and unloaded it. All three boys squeezed into the front seat beside him, Bob sitting on Pete's lap, and they set off for Hollywood.

Mrs. Miller's home turned out to be an attractive bungalow with a palm tree and two banana trees outside it. Jupiter pushed the doorbell and a pleasant-looking, middle-aged woman came to the door.

"Yes?" she said. "If you're selling subscriptions, I'm sorry but I don't need any more magazines."

"It's not that, ma'am," Jupiter said. "May I give you one of our cards?" And he handed her one of The Three Investigators' official business cards.

Mrs. Miller looked at it, puzzled.

"You boys are investigators?" she asked. "It hardly seems possible."

"You might call us junior investigators," Jupiter said. "Here's another card that the police gave us."

He let Mrs. Miller see the card Chief Reynolds had given him at the time of an earlier adventure. This one said: This certifies that the bearer is a Volunteer Junior a.s.sistant Deputy cooperating with the police force of Rocky Beach. Any Deputy cooperating with the police force of Rocky Beach. Any a.s.sistance given him will be appreciated. a.s.sistance given him will be appreciated.

Samuel Reynolds, Chief of Police "My, that certainly does look impressive," Mrs. Miller said. "But why are you calling on me?"

"We hope you can help us," Jupiter said frankly. "We're in a little trouble and we need some information. It has to do with your brother, Spike Neely. It's quite a long story, but if you'd let us come in I could explain better."

Mrs. Miller hesitated, then held the door open.

"All right," she said. "You look like respectable boys. I hoped I'd heard the last of Spike, but I'll try to help you."

A few moments later they were seated on the sofa in her living room. Jupiter was explaining as well as he could the curious set of events that had begun with his buying an old trunk at auction. He left out any reference to Socrates, however, as a talking skull would be hard for anyone else to take.

"So you see," he finished, "someone apparently thinks there was a clue in Gulliver's trunk to where the money is hidden. Because we had the trunk for a time, they may think we found the clue and know where the money is. They might-well, they might try to make us tell them, and we can't. You can see what a problem it is."

"Goodness, yes," the woman said. "But I don't see how I can help you. I never knew anything about the money, as I told the police at the time. Why, I never dreamed that my brother was a criminal until the police came looking for him."

"If you could tell us what you told the police at the time," Jupiter suggested, "we might spot some clue."

"Well, I'll try. It was six years ago, you know, but I can remember quite clearly.

Frank-that was Spike's real name-and I hadn't seen much of each other since he left home when he was eighteen. Once in a long while he'd come to see me and my husband, for a few days, but he never said anything about what he was doing.

"I realize now that he was probably hiding out after committing a robbery, but at the time I just thought he was restless and liked to travel. When I asked him what his work was, he said he was a salesman. But, whenever he was staying with us, he used to help my husband out.

"My husband had a one-man home-repair business. He was a very good workman. If you needed your house painted, he could paint it. If it needed wallpapering, he'd do that, too. Or lay a new floor. Or install a bathroom. He could do anything around the house and he made good money.

"As I said, when Spike visited us, he helped on whatever job my husband might have at the time. But this time he didn't seem to want to go out of the house. He seemed nervous. His speech defect was worse than usual. You know that's how he was finally caught-he had trouble p.r.o.nouncing the letter 'L' in words. For instance, if he said 'flower,' it came out 'f'ower.'

"Anyway, I know now that he was hiding out after the bank robbery in San Francisco. So for almost a week Spike stayed home by himself-I had a job then, too.

"He did make himself useful. He painted and papered the downstairs. You know how it is - a busy workman like my husband neglects his own home to do the outside jobs.

"But then my husband got sick. He was working on a big redecorating job for some restaurant and got too sick to finish. He asked Spike to take over for him, and Spike could hardly refuse. But I remember he dressed in baggy overalls and wore dark gla.s.ses every time he left the house.

"It took Spike several days to finish the job, and all that time my husband got worse.

We were just going to move him to a hospital when he unexpectedly died."

Mrs. Miller sniffed and dabbed at her eyes a moment.

"I certainly thought Frank would stay with me then, to help me, but he didn't. He left even before the funeral. He said he had to leave in a hurry and he just packed up and went. I was very surprised. Later, I figured it out."

"You did?" Jupiter asked. "What was his reason?"

"It was the death notice in the newspaper for my husband. You know death notices always mention the next of kin, and in my husband's notice I said that he was survived by me, his wife, and a brother-in-law, Frank Neely, living at the same address. I think Frank was afraid someone would see it and know where to find him, so he hurried off.

"The next I heard of him was when the police came to question me after he was captured in Chicago. But I couldn't tell them anything. As I say, I never knew that Frank was a bank robber."

"When your brother left, did he say anything about coming back or seeing you again?" Jupiter asked.

"I don't remember anything ... Yes, I do, too. It's just come back to me, now that you mention it. He said, 'Sis, you're not going to sell this house or anything, are you?

You'll be staying right here so I'll always know where to find you?' "

"And what did you answer, Mrs. Miller?"

"I said no, I wasn't going to sell the house. I'd be right where I was any time he came to town."

"Then I think I know where he hid the money!" Jupiter announced triumphantly.

"You say he was alone here a lot while both you and your husband were out working.

Then there's one logical place for him to have hidden the money - right here in this house!"

Chapter 11.

An Unpleasant Surprise Both Bob and Pete looked at Jupe in amazement.

"But Chief Reynolds said the police searched the house and didn't find anything,"

Bob reminded him.

"Because somehow Spike Neely was too clever," Jupiter said. "He hid the money so well that an ordinary search couldn't find it. Fifty thousand dollars in large bills wouldn't make a very big package. He could have tucked it away in the attic, under the eaves, or somewhere like that. He planned to come visiting you again, Mrs. Miller, when the coast was clear, and get the money back. Only he got sent to jail and died there."

"He did ask Mrs. Miller if she was going to stay here!" Bob said excitedly. "That shows he planned to come back."

"And he had several days in which to think of a hiding place no one would suspect,"

Pete put in, showing some excitement himself. "It would have to be tricky, to fool the police, but I'll bet you can find it, Jupe!"

"Would you be willing to let us just look around a little, Mrs. Miller?" Jupiter asked hopefully. "Just to see if we can spot any likely place?"

Mrs. Miller shook her head.

"It does seem possible, the way you reason it out," she said, "but you couldn't ever find the money in this house." She shook her head again. "You see, this isn't the house I was living in at the time. I moved four years ago. I didn't think I ever would, but someone made me such a good offer I couldn't say no. So I sold and moved here."

Jupiter rallied from his first disappointment. "Then it could still be in the other house," he said.

"Yes, that could be," Mrs. Miller agreed. "After all, Frank was very clever. Even though the police searched thoroughly, he might have fooled them. I used to live at 532 Danville Street. That's where you'd have to look now."

"Thank you," Jupiter said and got to his feet. "You've been a big help, Mrs. Miller.

We must follow up this new information immediately."

They said their good-byes and left hastily. A moment later they were crowding again into the truck, where Konrad waited for them.

"We want to go to 532 Danville Street, Konrad," Jupiter said. "Do you know where that is?"

The big blond man dug out a worn map of Los Angeles and the towns around it.

After some study they found Danville Street. It was a fairly short street but some distance away. Konrad looked doubtful.

"I think we better go home, Jupe," he said. "Mr. t.i.tus told me not to be away too long."

"We'll just drive by the address," Jupiter said. "We'll make sure where it is. After all, I don't suppose we could just barge in and search somebody's house. We'll have to tell Chief Reynolds of our deduction."

Pete and Bob knew that Jupiter would have liked to find the money himself and take it in triumph to the authorities. But they all realized that was impossible. Konrad agreed, however, that they could drive by the address on Danville Street on their way back to Rocky Beach, and they started off.

All three boys were in much better spirits now, though Pete still had some doubts.

"After all, Jupe," he said, "we can't be positive that Spike Neely hid the money he stole in his sister's house."

Jupiter shook his head. "It's the only logical place, Pete," he said. "It's where I would have hidden the money if I'd been Spike Neely."

After making a number of turns, they came out on Danville Street.

"This is the nine-hundred block," Jupiter announced. "Turn left, Konrad, the five-hundred block should be in that direction."

Konrad turned and all three boys watched the pa.s.sing houses sharply, reading the street numbers.

"We're in the eight-hundred block now," Bob announced. "Three more blocks and we should be there."

They traveled along past a number of small, neat houses sitting on well-tended grounds. Now all three boys were leaning forward and craning their necks.

"It ought to be right in the next block," Bob said eagerly. "About the middle of the block, I'd say. On the right-hand side, of course, because that's where the even-numbered houses are."

"Stop in the middle of the next block, Konrad," Jupe directed.

"Okay, Jupe," the driver agreed. He drove a minute and stopped.

"This the place, Jupe?"

Jupiter did not answer. He was staring openmouthed at a large apartment house that took up most of the block on the right-hand side of the street. There were no small, private residences at all on that side.

"Number 532 is gone!" Bob said hollowly. "There's just that apartment house, and it's number 510."

"It looks as if we lost a house," Pete said, with a feeble attempt at humor.