The Mystery of the Invisible Dog - M. V. Carey [16]
Aunt Mathilda answered it and announced, “It’s for you, Jupiter.”
Jupe’s eyes gleamed as he took the receiver.
“Jupiter? Is that you?” said a quavery voice. “Fenton Prentice here. Jupiter, you won’t believe this, but … but my apartment is still being haunted!”
“Yes,” replied Jupe calmly.
“After you trapped that Bortz woman, I was sure I’d imagined that shadowy presence,” Prentice went on. “But I didn’t! I just saw it again, in my den! Either I’m losing my mind or I am being haunted!”
“Would you like us to come into town this evening?”
“Please. In fact, I’d deem it a favour if you and your friends would stay overnight with me. I don’t usually like company, but … well, I can’t bear to be alone here! I sit wondering when that thing will appear next — and I can’t stand it!”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” promised Jupiter.
“Jupiter, must you always be running off?” complained Aunt Mathilda as soon as he’d hung up. But when Jupe explained briefly about the Investigators’ elderly, frightened client, Mrs. Jones became sympathetic.
“Poor soul!” she said. “It’s hard enough to be old without being alone. You boys go stay with him as long as he wants. Your uncle can drive you into town.”
Jupe called Pete and Bob, and before long the boys were piling into the back of Uncle Titus’ small pick-up truck for the trip into Los Angeles.
“Well, Jupe, you did it again,” said Pete as he settled into a comfortable position.
“How did you know we’d hear more from Prentice?”
“Because I was sure he wasn’t imagining that presence in his apartment. I saw it myself.”
“You what?” exclaimed Bob. “When?”
“Yesterday, in Mr. Prentice’s den. I saw someone in there. At first I thought it was Pete, but he was in the living room.”
“I remember,” said Pete. “But you decided it was only a shadow.”
“At the time, it seemed the only logical conclusion. Later, I was not so sure. As soon as I saw Sonny Elmquist—”
“You jumped,” recalled Bob. “Elmquist came out of his apartment after the police arrived and you kind of jumped.”
“Yes. Did you notice that he resembles Pete?” asked Jupe.
“Hey, now!” Pete protested. “I don’t look anything like that guy. He’s at least twenty, and he’s skinny, and—”
“He’s about as tall as you are,” Jupe interrupted. “He has dark hair, as you do, and last night he was wearing a black sweater and you were wearing a dark jacket. The light in Mr. Prentice’s den was dim. I thought I saw you. Isn’t it possible that I saw Sonny Elmquist?”
Bob and Pete sat still, pondering this. At last Bob said, “But how could he get in? The door was locked.”
“I don’t know,” admitted Jupe. “I’m not even positive it was Elmquist I saw. But somebody besides Mrs. Bortz has found a way into that apartment. Now we have to find an explanation.”
Within an hour of his call, the Three Investigators were at Mr. Prentice’s door.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” Prentice said. “I am quite unnerved!”
“Understandably,” replied Jupe. “May we look around?”
Prentice nodded and Jupe made a beeline for the den. The desk lamp cast a soft glow in one corner of the room, illuminating richly bound books on shelves, a few Chinese porcelains, and the mandala above the desk. Jupe stared up at the intricate design, frowning and pulling at his lip.
And again, as on the previous evening, he had the feeling that someone stood silently watching him.
Jupe spun around.
There was a sensation of a darker darkness which seemed to pulse, then ebb away, in the far corner of the room.
Jupe jumped towards that corner. His hands groped at walls — plain plaster walls. He switched on the overhead light and stared wildly around. No one else was there.
He dashed out to the front door, startling the others as he sped past, and went to the balcony.
Below in the courtyard, the swimming pool was a swirl of gold and blue, and the floodlights sent amber beams up against the walls of the building.