The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs - M. V. Carey [45]
“Probably all too true,” said Mr. Sebastian. “I’ve seen some industrious crooks in my time, but they don’t seem able to be honest. Maybe that’s why we call them crooks. They aren’t straight. Or they just don’t see things realistically.”
Jupe nodded. “Elsie probably didn’t plan to rob Mr. Barron when she first went to work at the ranch, but she and her brother felt that they hadn’t been treated right by the world.
They thought they should have gotten better breaks, so it would be all right for them to even things out by taking Mr. Barron’s treasure.”
“Life isn’t fair, is it?” said Mr. Sebastian. “We kid ourselves when we expect that it will be. And what about Mary? Why did she get involved?”
Bob shrugged. “All we know is that she needed money for vet school. Maybe she couldn’t pass up the chance to get it fast.”
“Ambition got the better of her? Could be,” said Sebastian. “Now, did you ever find out where the gold was hidden?”
“Mr. Barron won’t tell, but we can guess,” said Jupe. “The lawn furniture was made to order, and it had slots that were similar to those you find in coin vending machines. I think Mr. Barron bought his gold in the form of coins and dropped the coins through the slots into the hollow places in the furniture. I think his chairs and tables were filled with gold!
“I also think the gold is someplace else by now. Elsie and her brother got too close to the treasure. I’m sure Mr. Barron has taken steps to see that no one else does so again. And perhaps someday he’ll regain some trust in banks or ordinary investments. In the meanwhile, Mrs. Barron hasn’t lost her faith in the Blue Light Mission. The convention will be held at the ranch this summer, and Mrs. Barron is having a speaker’s platform built on the upper meadow. Tanks of butane will be installed there so that the cliffs can blaze on cue whenever she wishes them to.”
“Great!” said Mr. Sebastian. “I love it. That makes the neon tubes on my house seem positively restrained!”
“Now there’s one thing we need to know,” said Jupe.
“What’s that?” asked Mr. Sebastian.
“You introduced our last case for us, after Mr. Hitchcock died and couldn’t be our sponsor any more. We thought that if you liked this one, and if you weren’t too busy with your own work …”
Mr. Sebastian held up a hand. “Say no more. I’ll be honoured to introduce the case. It’s fascinating.”
Mr. Sebastian absent-mindedly ate a brownie. “You know,” he mused, “that scheme was really foiled by Mrs. Barron’s sense of hospitality. If she hadn’t asked you to stay for dinner, you’d have been off the ranch by the time the hoax started. There’s a lesson there.”
At that moment, Don put his head in the room to see how the food was.
“Fine, just fine,” said Mr. Sebastian. “Keep up the good work, Don. Who knows?
Someday you may foil a robbery with a plate of chocolate brownies!”
THE END
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18