The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs - M. V. Carey [29]
“That sounds ugly,” said Jupe.
“Sure does,” Bob agreed. “The lieutenant said Barron has an arsenal here and his ranch hands would be armed and they’d fight for him. Does Barron have an arsenal?”
“Yes, in his basement,” said Jupe. “I wonder why the lieutenant thinks the ranch hands would side with Barron.”
“Ferrante said he’s been feeling some of them out,” Bob reported. “Some of them go into town and Ferrante managed to talk with them. He says they like things here just the way they are, and he believes they’d fight to keep them that way.”
“Good!” said Jupe. “We can eliminate the ranch hands as suspects. They are what they seem to be—agricultural workers who are permanently settled at Rancho Valverde. They don’t want to be disturbed. But there must be a spy here if Ferrante knows about the guns in Barron’s cellar. And he knew Barron went out to ride this afternoon. Did Ferrante mention anyone on the staff? Detweiler? Aleman? Banales?”
“What about Elsie Spratt and Mary Sedlack?” said Pete. “It doesn’t have to be a man, does it?”
“Ferrante didn’t mention any names,” said Bob. “I’ve already told you most of what he said, except that Mr. Barron is beginning to buy it. I guess he meant that Mr. Barron is beginning to believe in the spaceship. He said he didn’t want the other guys to louse things up, and he said Mr. Barron was smart, but touchy as a rattlesnake.”
“He knew that Charles Barron is beginning to change his attitude towards the supposed aliens from another planet?” said Jupe. “Hmm! The spy is someone close to Barron. And Ferrante and his men are after—they’re after—after gold! That’s it! I should have known all along!”
“Gold?” Bob looked startled. “What gold?”
“The gold that Charles Barron has hidden here on the ranch,” said Jupe smugly.
“You found gold?” said Pete.
“No, I didn’t, but I’m sure there’s gold here someplace. I found papers showing that Barron has sold millions and millions of dollars’ worth of securities. He’s closed out his bank accounts in several cities. So far as I can tell, he now has only one account, and huge amounts have gone in and out of it.
“I think if we could call some of the companies that received cheques from Barron, we’d find that they deal in gold coins or gold bullion. One of the places is a stamp exchange, and places that sell stamps often sell coins as well. Barron has said that only land and gold are safe investments.”
“Why sure!” cried Bob. “It figures! He’s sold everything he owned and he’s bought gold!”
“Exactly!” said Jupiter. “He’s keeping the gold here on the ranch because he doesn’t trust banks. He doesn’t even keep a safe deposit box in the Santa Barbara bank any longer.
Mrs. Barron thought her jewellery was there, but it isn’t. It’s in a wall safe in Barron’s office.
“Now if we could figure out that Barron must have gold, so could other people here on the ranch. I’ll bet the conspirators are looking for the gold, and they’ve staged the landing of the flying saucer to somehow make Barron reveal the hiding place.”
“Crazy!” said Pete.
“Totally mad,” Jupe said, “but it’s the only explanation that fits the facts.”
“We’re going to tell Barron what we know?” Bob asked.
“We’ll certainly tell Mrs. Barron,” said Jupe. “She is our client. And she’s used to dealing with Barron. He might not believe us.”
“What next?” asked Bob. “Do we search for the other field telephone? If we can find it, we can find out who’s using it.”
“Lots of luck,” said Pete. “This place is huge. We’d be searching for a needle in a haystack.”
Jupe pulled on his lower lip. “We wouldn’t have to search the whole ranch,” he said.
“The spy has to be able to use the field telephone where he or she can’t be seen. That means it’s almost certainly in a building.”
“Yeah, but there are an awful lot of buildings here,” Pete objected. “And people are in and out of them all the time.”
A door banged, and the boys looked up to see Elsie Spratt coming down her kitchen steps. She was carrying a blue garment over her arm. She smiled when she saw the boys and