The Mystery of the Death Trap Mine - M. V. Carey [32]
“Hi!” said Pete.
“You youngsters here by yourselves?” the
man asked.
Pete nodded.
“Bottle hunting, I suppose?” said the man.
“Bottle hunting?” asked Bob.
“That’s what we come for,” the woman told them. “We drive all the way from Casa Verde to these old towns in the hills. If you’re lucky you can find some wonderful old bottles in these places. Got to watch it, though. Don’t touch anything with your hands. If you want to move something, use a stick. Snakes around here.”
“We know,” said Jupiter. “Have … are there lots of people who drive up here?”
“I suppose,” said the man. “The road up here to Hambone wasn’t bad. Even if you don’t find any bottles, these old places are interesting. I found a kerosene lantern in one ghost town last week. It was good as new.”
He drove the jeep on and parked near the store.
“So much for the other tire tracks,” said Bob.
“Those could have been made by someone who came to meet Mrs. Macomber or they could have belonged to any antique hunter.”
Jupiter sighed. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? Mrs. Macomber was here, but she isn’t here now. We’ve reached the end of the trail.”
Chapter 15
The Silent Watchdog
AFTER ROASTING THEIR hot dogs, Allie and the Investigators got back on their mounts.
The return journey to Twin Lakes was slow, with the horses sticking close together and picking their way cautiously down the steep slope from Hambone.
“I wouldn’t have believed it,” said Jupe. “Mrs. Macomber appeared to be a self-possessed woman, yet she seems to have panicked and run.”
“You’re just guessing,” Allie told him. “We don’t know everything that happens with Mrs. Macomber. There might be another explanation.”
“There seems to be only one,” said Jupiter. “When she realized that we had been investigating what went on here five years ago, she got frightened and fled. Perhaps one of her confederates met her in Hambone. It is even possible that another member of the holdup gang has been lurking around Twin Lakes for the last few days. We still do not have any explanation for the prowler who took the machete from the barn.”
Pete brightened. “Hey! He could have been part of the holdup gang. Mrs. Macomber could have hidden him when the sheriff searched for him that night.”
“And what about the groceries … and the cigarette butt?” added Bob.
“What about them?” Allie asked.
“Just listen for a minute,” said Bob. “Suppose Mrs. Macomber was hiding the prowler
— let’s just say he was part of the gang. He could have been somewhere nearby when we went to see her yesterday. He might have gotten hungry and decided to grab a snack while we were going through her houses. Remember, it wasn’t Mrs. Macomber who first missed the food. It was Jupe who noticed that the things were gone.”
“Good thinking, Bob,” said Jupe.
“You’re all nuts!” said Allie.
“Don’t get upset, Allie,” said Jupe. “Remember, we are only guessing. At this point we have a number of odd things going on. We have found the five-year-old corpse of a man who may or may not have been involved in a holdup five years ago. We also have a widow who just might have been involved — and who has mysteriously disappeared. We have a prowler who stole a machete and who may or may not have been a confederate of the widow, or of the dead man in the mine. We also have the mine — a played-out silver mine that is seemingly being worked by a wealthy real estate man from Los Angeles. And we have a gold pebble from that mine. According to Mrs. Macomber, the mine never contained an ounce of gold.”
“Mrs. Macomber might have lied,” said Pete.
“Whatever her connection with the dead wan, there would be no reason for her to lie about the gold,” Jupe pointed out. “She seems to have no connection whatsoever with Wesley Thurgood, except that she remembers his birth here in Twin Lakes.”
“Don’t forget the loot from the robbery,” Pete said. “If it was ever here, did Thurgood get it? Or did Mrs. Macomber get it five years ago?”
The four were silent for the rest of the trip down the mountain. By the time they reached the bottom it was late afternoon. As Thurgood