The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale - Marc Brandel [42]
“Okay.” Slater nodded sullenly. “We’ll all get back on the boat and sail around to the marina in Rocky Beach. Then we can go and see this Chief Reynolds you’re talking about. That suit you, boy?”
Jupe shook his head. Slater had put his gun away, but it wouldn’t take him long to pull it out of his pocket again. Back on his own boat he would just wait for the right moment, his chance to get his hands on that box and make off with it.
“There’s no need to go all that long way around by the coast,” Jupe suggested politely. “We can just call Chief Reynolds from here. He’ll send a squad car for us.”
“Call him? How?” Slater was beginning to snort again. “You think there’s a phone at this cove? Boy, the nearest call box –”
“The nearest call box is less than a mile down the coast road,” Jupe said. “At the Clifftop Cafe. Bob can bike down there in a couple of minutes and call Chief Reynolds.”
“Can do,” Bob agreed.
“Now, if you wouldn’t mind leaving your gun on your boat, Mr. Slater,” Jupe continued pleasantly, “Constance will tell Fluke to bring in the box and then we’ll all go up to the road to wait for the police car. Don’t you think that’s a good idea, Mr. Slater?”
Slater obviously didn’t think it was a good idea at all. He looked as though he thought it was a terrible idea. But he nodded anyway. There was nothing else he could do.
Bob went ahead to phone Chief Reynolds. Constance fed Fluke while Jupe and Pete made sure Slater put his gun back in the boat locker. Then Constance said goodbye to Fluke. She told him she would be back in a little while to see that he was all right. Fluke seemed to hate to see her leave. He came in close to the beach to watch her go.
It wasn’t until all four of them were walking up toward the road, with Constance carrying the metal case, that Jupe suddenly remembered Paul Donner.
He had disappeared.
They didn’t have to wait long before Bob reappeared and the police car picked them up. Fifteen minutes later they were all being shown into Chief Reynolds’ office.
Jupe couldn’t blame the chief for staring at them as they entered. The Investigators had picked up their sweaters and sneakers from their bikes, and Pete had brought Constance a terry-cloth robe from the boat, but they were a strange, bed raggled-looking crew. They must have looked as though they had all just walked in out of the ocean.
“Now what’s this about, Jupe?” Chief Reynolds asked as soon as he had found them all chairs.
The chief had known Jupe for years. There were times when he thought the Three Investigators went too far on their own in working on their cases. They were only kids, and the chief didn’t approve of the way they sometimes stuck their necks out. But he had respect for Jupe’s brains. There had even been times when the First Investigator’s ideas had helped the chief solve one of his own police cases.
Jupe looked at Slater. “This is Mr. Oscar Slater,” he explained. “I think it would be best if he tells you his whole story himself.”
“Go ahead, Mr. Slater.”
Slater stood up. He pulled out his wet billfold and showed Chief Reynolds his ID. Then, while the chief had one of his men check it out, Slater started his story.
He told the chief quite frankly about his smuggling trip to Mexico with Diego Carmel. He told him about the storm, the wreck of the boat, the way they had salvaged the metal case from the cabin.
“My young friend, Jupiter Jones here,” Slater went on, “thought it would be a good idea if we opened the case in your office. That way there wouldn’t be any arguments later about how much of what’s in it belongs to me and how much belongs to Miss Carmel’s father. And, I must say, I thought that was a pretty good idea, too, Chief.”
He took a key out of his pocket and handed it to Chief Reynolds.
“If you’ll just bring the box over, Constance,” he suggested.
Jupe couldn’t help admiring the way Slater was handling it. He was behaving like an honest citizen who only wanted to see justice done. He watched Constance set the