The Mystery of Sinister Scarecrow - M. V. Carey [24]
Pete shuddered. “I’m not anxious to catch anybody at it,” he declared. “After what happened last night?”
“We’ll have to be very careful, but we must stalk the scarecrow,” said Jupe. “We are the only ones willing to be on the scene. The police aren’t that involved yet. And we do know a few things about the scarecrow that could be helpful.”
“We know that he’s handy with a scythe!” said Pete. “What else do we know?”
“He always appears at dusk,” said Jupe. “At least, every time Letitia Radford has seen him, it’s been just before dark—that twilight time when it’s hard to see clearly.”
“I think I see a stakeout coming,” said Bob.
“Exactly,” said Jupe. “This evening, before dark, we’ll go to the Radford house
and watch and wait.”
“Suppose nothing happens?” said Bob.
“Then we return tomorrow night,” said Jupiter.
“Suppose something does happen?” Pete said. His voice quavered slightly.
“Suppose the scarecrow comes?”
“Then we keep out of sight, watch him, and try to find out where he goes,” Jupe decided. “Now here’s what I had in mind. We’ll take our walkie-talkies so that we can keep in touch with one another. Bob, you watch the Mosby house; Gerhart Malz is a prime suspect now. Pete, you hide near the old house on Rock Rim. I’ll patrol the Radford place.”
Pete sighed. “All right. I’ll go. I won’t like it, but I’ll go.”
Pete was still apprehensive that evening when he and the other two Investigators hid their bikes in a clump of scrub brush about a quarter of a mile from the Radford house. Jupiter handed a walkie-talkie radio to Pete and another to Bob.
The little sending-and-receiving units had been built by Jupe himself in his workshop at the salvage yard. Similar to CB radios, each set consisted of a speaker and a microphone. The Investigators each wore a belt with copper wire sewn to it, and each belt had a lead-in wire that could be plugged into the radio. The belts with the wires acted as antennas for the radios, which could broadcast for half a mile or more.
When one of the boys wanted to speak into his microphone, he pressed a button on the set. When he wanted to listen, he released the button.
“Now, if you see the scarecrow,
don’t try to interfere with him,” warned
Jupiter after the boys had plugged in
their radios. “Just try to keep him in
sight. If you need help, use your walkie-
talkie.”
Pete nodded, and they walked on in
the fading light. When they neared the
Radford house Pete left the road, cut
across the vacant land just before the
Radford property, and made his way
down through the underbrush on the
hillside to the old house on Rock Rim
Drive.
There was no traffic on the rutted
old road when Pete reached his
destination.
No
car
was
parked
anywhere in sight. The abandoned
house looked black and desolate, with
brambles and vines creeping up the
walls and a tangle of shrubbery
crowding around the front steps.
The sun was just setting when Pete
found a hiding place in the bushes
beside the drive of the old house.
“Number Two,” said his walkie-talkie. “Where are you, Number Two?”
It was Jupe’s voice.
Pete pressed the button on his radio. “I’m in the bushes near the old house,” he said quietly “There’s nothing moving here.”
“Good, Two,” said Jupe. “Wait and see what happens. Bob, I can’t see you.”
There was a click on the radio. “I’m behind the Mosby house,” said Bob.
“All right,” said Jupe. “It’s getting darker. Keep alert, and don’t use the walkie-talkie unless you have to.”
The radio went silent. Pete sat down on the ground and pulled his knees up under his chin. He waited and listened. At first he heard nothing. But then, faintly, he could hear the sound of a car laboring up the grade from the coast.
Pete tensed. Traffic on Chaparral Canyon Road was not unusual. The car might go on over the crest of the mountains