The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale - Marc Brandel [36]
Slater was standing at the wheel behind him. Jupe felt him straighten with sudden excitement.
Fluke’s camera had picked out the stern of a boat.
“There it is.” Pete stepped up beside Jupe.
The stern of the boat was growing larger, filling the circle of light. It swept quickly past, like a sign on the freeway. The light was moving across a deck. Jupe glimpsed the spokes of a wheel. The circle clouded for an instant, then reappeared, brighter than before. Jupe could make out the shape of a chair, a porthole.
Fluke had swum right into the cabin.
For several seconds the images on the screen jerked back and forth so quickly it was impossible to make out what they were. Jupe could feel Slater grow rigid with impatience.
The dancing, flickering images gradually stilled. The camera held fast on a single object. It came slowly into sharper and sharper focus.
It was a metal box.
“That’s it.” Slater was leaning forward over the wheel as though trying to grab the box off the monitor screen.
The box grew larger and larger, filling the whole circle of light as the camera on Fluke’s head moved closer and closer to it. It lurched abruptly downward, disappearing altogether. There was nothing to be seen on the screen but a blank circle of white.
It puzzled Jupe at first. Had something gone wrong with the camera? Then he realized that Fluke had his head under the bunk in the cabin. The camera lens was pointed at the white-painted bulkhead on the far side of the space under the bunk.
For a minute the camera held it, almost motionless. Then everything lurched into movement again. The images on the screen swept past so quickly it was impossible to distinguish them. Jupe thought he caught a blurred glimpse of the boat’s rail.
It vanished and the familiar circle of cloudy water replaced it. Fluke was surfacing.
“Stupid beast.” Slater was swearing softly, his hands gripping the wheel. “It didn’t even try to get that box out.” He turned angrily away, looking toward the shore.
Jupe paid no attention to him. He had just seen something on the screen that Slater had missed – a flash of Constance swimming forward. Now her hand reached out toward the lens. The light on the monitor shrank to a pinpoint. The screen went black. Constance had switched off the camera.
“Here. You take the wheel.” Slater grabbed Pete’s arm. “And try to hold her steady.”
Jupe watched Slater hurry over to the rail of the boat. He followed the man slowly as Pete took the wheel. But Jupe didn’t join Slater at the rail. He walked softly past him to the stern and stood by the locker there. He kept his eyes on the surface of the ocean, waiting.
He didn’t have to wait very long. Twenty yards away Constance’s head bobbed up. Jupe could see she no longer had the coil of nylon cord over her shoulder.
Fluke was swimming beside her. As the little whale raised his head, Jupe saw something else too. The camera and the searchlight were gone. In their place, bound to the canvas harness on Fluke’s head, was the flat green metal box.
Jupe opened the locker and snatched out the sealed plastic bag Pete had hidden there. He tore open the bag and took out the walkie-talkie. He pulled the antenna to its full length and switched the walkie-talkie on to Send.
“Bob,” he said urgently into the speaker of the walkie-talkie. “Bob. Start playing.”
He glanced at Slater. The bald man was leaning far out over the rail. He was shouting at Constance.
“Bring it in!” Slater yelled. “Bring that box in, you hear?”
“Start playing, Bob!” Jupe repeated insistently. “Start playing Fluke’s song.”
Chapter 15
The Lost Box
“ROGER, JUPE. Over and out.”
Bob switched off the walkie-talkie and put it on the rock beside him.
There was no sight of Slater’s boat from the cove. He had no idea how