The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints - M. V. Carey [37]
“Something wrong, Miss Hopper?” asked Jupiter.
“Oh, Jupiter. And Pete. Good morning. It’s nothing important, really. It’s only that Mr. Farrier has a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on his door and Marie can’t get in to do his room. It always upsets her when she can’t follow her regular routine.”
Miss Hopper hesitated for a moment, then said with a touch of slyness, “I heard Mr. Farrier come in last night. Well, actually it was this morning. Three o’clock.”
“That’s interesting,” said Jupiter. “Most fishermen are early morning people.”
“I have always understood that,” said Miss Hopper. “Mr. Farrier was so attentive to young Mrs Dobson yesterday, I wondered if he might not be helping her get settled.”
“Until three in the morning?” exclaimed Pete.
“No, Miss Hopper,” said Jupiter. “We have just come from The Potter’s, and Mr.
Farrier did not spend the evening with Mrs Dobson.”
“Now where do you suppose the man could have been until that hour?” wondered Miss Hopper. “Well, it is his own concern, I am sure. And how is poor, dear Mrs Dobson this morning? I saw her drive by earlier.”
“She is reasonably well, under the circumstances. She came into town to file an official report with Chief Reynolds. She wants her father found.” Jupiter had no hesitation about confiding this much to Miss Hopper, who always found things out anyway.
“Most proper,” said Miss Hopper. “What a strange thing for The Potter to do –
going off that way without a word to anyone. But then, he has always been a strange man.”
“That’s for sure,” said Pete.
“Well, we must be going, Miss Hopper,” said Jupiter. “We only thought you would like to know that Mrs Dobson and her son are settled in at The Potter’s house. You always take such an interest in your guests.”
“How nice of you, Jupiter,” said Miss Hopper.
“And I hope Mr. Farrier wakes up before lunch.”
“It would make Marie happy,” said Miss Hopper. “Poor man. One shouldn’t be too hard on him. He has such dreadful luck!”
“Oh?” prompted Jupiter.
“Yes. He’s been here four days just for the fishing, and he hasn’t caught a thing.”
“Terribly frustrating,” said Jupiter, and he and Pete took their leave of Miss Hopper.
“Now where do you go at three in the morning in Rocky Beach?” asked Pete, once they were outside.
“Several places occur to me,” said Jupiter. “One could, of course, try fishing by moonlight. Or perhaps one could be waiting on a hillside with a gun. Or one might amuse oneself by frightening people with flaming footprints.”
“I might buy that last,” said Pete, “if there was any way he could have got into that house. Jupe, all the downstairs windows are locked, and most of them are painted shut. There are two locks and a bolt on the front door and one regular lock and a dead-bolt loot on the back. He couldn’t have got in.”
“Someone did,” Jupiter pointed out.
“For my money, only one person could,” said Pete. “The Potter would be the only one with the keys.”
“Which brings us back to the question of why?” Jupe reminded him.
“Maybe he doesn’t like house guests,” said Pete.
“You know that’s ridiculous,” said Jupiter.
“The alternative is even sillier,” said Pete. “He’s gone off and kicked the bucket someplace, and then come back to haunt the house.” And with that, Pete mounted his bicycle and pedalled away towards his home.
Jupiter returned to The Jones Salvage Yard to confront an anxious Aunt Mathilda and a concerned Uncle Titus.
“How is Mrs Dobson?” was Aunt Mathilda’s first question.
“She’s better this morning,” Jupiter reported. “Last night she was extremely emotional — not to say hysterical.”
“Why?” asked Uncle Titus.
“There was a second set of those flaming footprints,” said Jupiter. “On the stairs, this time.”
“Merciful gracious to heavens!” cried Aunt Mathilda. “And she still insisted on staying in that house?”
“Aunt Mathilda, I do not believe she was in any condition to move last night,” said Jupiter.
“Jupiter, you should have told me,” scolded Aunt