The Mystery of Sinister Scarecrow - M. V. Carey [17]
“Oh, of course it isn’t imaginary. I didn’t mean it that way,” said Malz quickly.
“But it isn’t part of a plot, either. It’s just a coincidence that it appeared on the terrace today.”
“I suppose so,” said Jupiter.
Malz stared at Jupe. “You sound as if there really could be something to Letitia’s whims and fancies.”
“Perhaps there is,” said Jupe. He looked at his watch. “After three. We’d better get started back to Rocky Beach.”
“Come back again,” invited Mrs. Chumley.
“Thank you,” said Jupiter. “And please give our thanks to Miss Radford for the lunch.”
“I’ll be in touch,” promised Charles Woolley, and he waved the boys on their way.
“A curious household,” said Jupiter as The Three Investigators made their way downhill to the barn, where they had left their bicycles. “The only one who seems like an intruder there, is Letitia Radford, and it’s her home. The others behave as if she’s a naughty child who came in where she wasn’t wanted. Even when she obviously is not imagining things — and she did not imagine a tarantula or a walking scarecrow — the others act as if she’s a little girl seeing a bogeyman.”
“Maybe she asks for it,” said Pete. “How many times has she had hysterics since we met her?”
“True,” said Jupe. “She is not a calm person.”
“Do you think that tarantula was planted, like the ants were?” asked Bob.
“Maybe, maybe not.” Jupe shrugged. “Tarantulas aren’t unknown in this area. But the spider certainly fits into the pattern of harassment.” He suddenly stood still in the path and listened. There was a rustling noise off to his left.
“Someone is in the cornfield!” said Jupe softly.
“Let’s go!” said Pete, and he started to sprint toward the field.
The rustling became the crash of someone racing away, trampling the corn as he went. The boys dashed after the intruder, but they were only halfway through the field when they heard a car start on the lane below the Radford place. They broke through into the clear just as a nondescript old truck went roaring up the road toward Chaparral Canyon.
“Darn!” cried Pete.
Bob stared after the truck, trying to make out the license number, but the vehicle was moving too fast and raising too much dust.
“The plot thickens!” cried Jupe. He came panting up to his companions, his face red with exertion but glowing with excitement.
“This adds a new dimension to our puzzle,” he declared. “I was ready to conclude that one of the people in the Radford house was responsible for the persecution of Letitia Radford. Now it seems that someone who is not part of the household is interested in what goes on there.”
“You think we just chased the scarecrow?” asked Bob.
“I don’t know,” Jupiter replied. “But the intruder’s behavior is suspicious. Why should he flee from us?”
“It could have been just some kid poking around,” said Pete.
“Unlikely,” said Jupiter. “The person had a car.”
Jupe looked over at the old boarded-up house that stood next to the Radford property. The front yard of the ancient place was a tangle of weeds, and the For Sale sign by the rutted driveway
was faded.
“Doubtless the truck was
parked there,” said Jupe,
pointing to the drive of the
abandoned house. “There
isn’t room on the road to
park a truck and leave it.”
He climbed the fence out
of the cornfield and trudged
toward the house. The other
boys followed.
As Jupe had guessed,
there was a fresh oil stain in
the sloping driveway of the
ruined place. Jupe looked up toward the Radford house. He was far enough to the side of it so that the eucalyptus trees on the hill no longer blocked the entire view of the mansion. But now the barn was partly in the way.
“If I were spying on the Radford house,” said Jupiter, “I would either get closer, as our unknown intruder just did, or I would climb higher.”
Bob pointed to the unboarded upper windows of the old house. “Up there?”
“Of course,” said Jupiter.
The boys searched then, and soon found the back door