The Mystery of Sinister Scarecrow - M. V. Carey [10]
He shrugged and went out the front door, carrying the bedspread full of ants. The boys walked through the living room of the big house and out onto the terrace. Mrs.
Chumley was still there, drinking her tea, as unruffled as if an invasion of army ants were an everyday event. The Investigators told her they couldn’t stay for tea after all.
Mrs. Chumley looked politely regretful and said good-bye.
**
The boys returned to Rocky Beach just in time for supper. They had no chance to discuss the strange events of the day until they met the next morning in Jupe’s workshop.
This was a corner of The Jones Salvage Yard that was partitioned off with carefully arranged heaps of junk. It was sheltered from the weather by an overhanging roof that ran around the perimeter of the yard and protected especially valuable items. The workshop contained the printing press
that Jupe had fixed up with odd bits
and pieces from the yard. Also in the
workshop were a lathe, a band saw,
and a drill press, as well as Jupe’s
swivel chair and workbench.
Jupe was sitting in the chair staring
at nothing when Pete and Bob came
into the workshop.
“Wondering about the scarecrow?”
asked Bob.
“Aren’t you?” answered Jupiter.
“Sure. And the ants. Who would steal a bunch of ants and put them in a lady’s bed?”
“Someone who didn’t like the lady,” said Pete. “Maybe she’s not easy to like. She has a nasty temper.”
Pete stopped. A light over the printing press was blinking on and off — a signal that the telephone was ringing in Headquarters.
Headquarters for the young detectives was an old mobile home trailer not far from Jupe’s workshop. It was hidden from curious eyes by piles of odds and ends for which there was almost no demand. Uncle Titus had given the boys the trailer to use as a clubhouse, and then had forgotten about it. The Three Investigators were careful not to remind him.
“Aha!” said Jupiter when he saw the light. “I thought we might be getting a call this morning.”
Pete stepped behind the printing press and tugged aside an iron grating that covered the opening of a section of corrugated pipe. Followed by the others, he crawled through the pipe, which was padded with odd pieces of carpeting. This was Tunnel Two, one of several secret passageways that led to the hidden trailer. The tunnel ran beneath some rusted iron beams to an opening directly under Headquarters. Pete pushed up a trap door in the trailer floor and scrambled into the office of The Three Investigators.
The telephone was still ringing. Pete answered it, listened for a moment, then grinned. “No, this is Pete,” he said, “but Jupe’s here and so is Bob.” He listened again. Then he said, “I’ll see,” and he covered the mouthpiece with his hand.
“Guess who this is!” he said.
“Letitia Radford,” said Jupe. “She wants us to find out who is persecuting her in a scarecrow disguise and who put ants in her bed.”
“Even a genius can be wrong,” Pete declared happily. “It’s Charles Woolley, and he wants us to find out who is persecuting Letitia and who put ants in her bed. He wants us to come and see him. He got our telephone number from Chief Reynolds.”
“Well, well, well!” said Jupiter. “We have a case after all! I can go. Bob, how about you?”
Bob nodded.
“We’re leaving right now!” said Pete into the telephone.
Chapter 6
The Time Bomb
IN LESS THAN an hour The Three Investigators were in the big red barn on the Radford estate.
“Letitia did not call her
brother last night,” announced
Woolley with relief. He sat on a
high stool and leaned his elbows
on a table where trowels and
tweezers and forceps were laid out
neatly. “Not that Chester Radford
would necessarily have listened to
her. But I’ve been thinking. I can’t
ignore this scarecrow business any
longer. It’s