The Mystery of the Invisible Dog - M. V. Carey [26]
Bob got up and went through the apartment room by room, turning on all the lights.
No shadow person lurked anywhere. Prentice was reassured by the empty brightness of the apartment and busied himself with the dinner dishes. The Investigators settled down to watch the TV monitor.
For several hours nothing happened in the courtyard, except that Mrs. Bortz carried some garbage back to the trash cans. The boys began to get bored and sleepy.
“Look!” said Jupe suddenly. Sonny Elmquist had come out of his apartment and was standing by the pool, staring into the water. The Investigators watched him closely.
The door to Murphy’s apartment opened, and the stocky man came out. He was smoking, carrying the ashtray that he usually used. He made a gesture of half-greeting to Elmquist. Then he put his cigarette out, set the ashtray on a table, and went out the front gate. An instant later the boys heard a car start. Pete went to the window that overlooked the street.
“He’s going someplace,” he reported. “He’s going fast.”
“Possibly he is simply going for a drive,” said Prentice. “He was upset, I think, when he returned from the hospital. Probably he can’t sleep.”
Sonny Elmquist went back into his apartment and pulled his curtains.
“Blast!” said Pete. “We can’t see what he’s doing.”
“Doubtless he’s getting ready to go to work,” said Jupe. “He’s due at the market at midnight.”
Just then the lights in the courtyard below were snapped out. The screen of the television monitor became a grey blue, with the only light visible a patch of brightness behind Elmquist’s curtains.
“Double-blast!” said Pete. “Now we can’t see anything.”
“There’s an automatic timer on the lights,” said Mr. Prentice. “They go out at eleven.”
“So much for closed-circuit TV.” Jupiter snapped off the set.
“Well, if it’s dark, we don’t really need it, do we?” said Pete. “Look, if Elmquist is going to work tonight, and if he is the one who’s been getting in here, he’ll have to pull his funny stuff in the next hour or not at all. You guys stay in here with Mr. Prentice. I’m going out on the balcony to watch. No one will be able to see me. I’ll stay behind that rubber tree.”
“Don’t ring the doorbell if you see anything,” warned Jupe. “Just knock very softly.
We’ll come out.”
“Okay.” Pete got into his ski jacket. For a moment the lights in the Prentice apartment were extinguished, and Pete opened the door and stepped out on to the balcony. The door closed behind him, but this time it was not locked. Pete knew that Jupe and Bob were waiting on the other side of the door and would be there, ready, if he needed them.
The lights in Elmquist’s apartment glowed for a short time, then went out. Pete waited for Elmquist to come out of the apartment and set off for work. Nothing happened. A faint reflection of the city lights kept the pool area below from being a complete pit of blackness. Pete knew he could see anything that moved down there, but nothing did move.
Soon after midnight a man came in through the front gate. Pete stiffened, then relaxed as the dark figure stopped at a poolside table. It was Murphy, retrieving his ashtray. The stockbroker went into his apartment, and a light went on behind his curtains.
Pete blinked. For a few seconds — for just as long as it had taken Murphy to get his ashtray and open his door — Pete had taken his eyes off Elmquist’s door. In those few seconds, Elmquist had come out of his own place. In the faint light from Murphy’s windows, Pete could see that Elmquist was dressed in a bathrobe and slippers. The young man moved noiselessly around the pool, approaching Murphy’s door. Pete blinked again. Elmquist was gone! Twenty yards from his own front door, he had vanished!
Pete rapped quickly on Prentice’s door. Without waiting for anyone to answer, he stole down the stairs towards the courtyard. He intended to put himself at Elmquist’s door, to intercept the wandering young man when he returned.
Pete had just reached the decking that surrounded the pool when