The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale - Marc Brandel [6]
“So what kind of a whale was it we rescued?” Pete asked.
“I’m pretty sure it was a young Pacific pilot whale that just happened to be traveling with the gray whales.”
“And Constance Carmel knew it was too.” Jupe nodded thoughtfully. “Good reasoning, Bob. So what do we have now? One kidnapped whale, which happened to be a stray, and a trainer at Ocean World, who says she doesn’t know anything about it. But she obviously does –”
Jupe broke off at the blare of a horn. The Three Investigators were forced to scatter behind the wall as a white pickup truck shot out of the parking lot and turned off toward the Pacific Coast Highway. It was going fast, but not fast enough for the three boys to miss seeing who was driving it.
Constance Carmel.
And just five minutes before she had told them she couldn’t spare them any more time because she had a show to do.’
Something must have come up awfully suddenly.
What?
“Maybe it was us,” Jupiter said thoughtfully. “Maybe what we told her made her take off in a hurry.”
Chapter 3
One Hundred Dollar’s Reward
“So maybe Constance Carmel was lying to us,” Pete said. “But I don’t see that that proves much.”
It was late afternoon. After the trip to Ocean World, Bob had had to go to work at the library. Pete had had some chores to do at home. Jupiter had been helping out around the yard. The Three Investigators had met back at Headquarters as soon as they were free.
Pete went on. “After all, most adults – when you ask them a question, you don’t expect them to tell you the whole truth –”
He broke off. The phone was ringing. Jupe answered it.
“Hullo,” a man’s voice said over the loudspeaker that was attached to the phone. “I would like to speak to Mr. Jupiter Jones, please.”
“Speaking.”
“I understand you were at Ocean World this morning, inquiring about a lost whale.”
The man had a strange accent. When he said, “I understand,” he made it sound like “Ah under – stay – and.”
He might be from Mississippi, Bob thought, or maybe Alabama. He had never known anyone from either of those states, but the man talked the way people did on television when they were supposed to be from the South.
“Yes, we were,” Jupe said. “How can I help you?”
“I also understand” – he said “under–stay–and” again – “that you are by way of being a private investigator.”
“We are. We’re The Three –” Jupe started to explain.
“Then perhaps you might be interested in taking a case.” He made it sound like a cay – us. “I’m prepared to pay you one hundred dollars to find that lost whale and return it to the ocean.”
“One hundred dollars!” Bob gasped.
“Will you accept the cay – us?”
“We’d be glad to,” Jupe told him. He pulled a scratch pad toward him and picked up a pencil. “Now if you would give me your name and phone number –”
“Fine,” the man interrupted him. “Then please get to work at once, and I’ll call you again in a couple of day – us.”
“But –” Jupiter started to say. There was a sharp click over the loudspeaker. The caller had hung up.
“One hundred dollars!” Bob repeated. Although the Three Investigators had had many clients in the past and had solved many interesting cases, no one had ever offered them a hundred dollars for their help before.
Jupe slowly replaced the receiver. His mind was already busy reviewing the call.
“A man calls and offers us a reward,” he said. “But he doesn’t tell us his name. He doesn’t say how he happened to get our number either. But he knows we were at Ocean World this morning –” He broke off, pulling at his lip.
“Well, for thunder’s sake,” Pete demanded. “You’re not going to drop the case, are you? A hundred bucks!”
“Of course not. Quite apart from the money, that rather mysterious phone call makes the mystery even more challenging. The only question is where to begin our investigation.” Jupe was silent for a moment, then picked up the phone book.
“Constance Carmel,” he said. “She’s the only lead we’ve got so far.”
He leafed through the directory to the C’s. There were three Carmels listed. Carmel, Arturo.