The Mystery of the Magic Circle - M. V. Carey [18]
“We hardly need to worry about the police,” said Madeline Bainbridge. “We’re doing nothing wrong.”
“Not now!” said Gray.
“Not ever!” said the actress.
“Then you want the cops up here?” asked Gray. “You should have used your power on those kids, just the way you did on Desparto that night!”
“I never harmed Ramon!” cried the movie star. “Not even when he betrayed me!”
“Of course not!” Gray’s voice was mocking. “You wished him long life and happiness.”
“Marvin, don’t!” Clara Adams pleaded.
“You keep bringing that up!” The actress’s voice was rough with anger. “Over and over again. All right, I was furious with Ramon. But I didn’t hurt him. I wouldn’t use my power to hurt anyone, and you know it. In fact, you’re counting on it, aren’t you?”
“Madeline! Please!” said Clara Adams.
“Okay, okay!” grumbled Gray. “There’s no use going on with the rite now. Let’s get into the house.” He raised his voice. “Bruno! Here, Bruno!”
“Perhaps we should leave the dog outside,” said Clara Adams, “just in case those boys come back.”
“They won’t come back,” predicted Gray. “And if we leave him out, he’ll get restless at three in the morning and set up a howl, and I’ll have to get up to let him in.
That’s what we get for raising a guard dog who thinks he’s a member of the family.”
There was no more conversation from the walkie-talkie. After a few moments, Jupiter drew a deep breath. “Marvin Gray wanted Madeline Bainbridge to use her power on us, just as she used it on Ramon Desparto,” he said. “What, I wonder, did she do to Desparto?”
“Nothing, according to her,” answered Bob. “She said she never harmed anybody.”
“Desparto died in an auto accident,” said Pete. “The brakes on his car failed when he was leaving here one night after a party.”
“Was it a party?” said Jupiter. “Or was it like the ritual we saw tonight? One thing we now know for sure: Madeline Bainbridge is a witch, or she thinks she’s a witch.
And she believes she has some kind of power.”
“The power to … to kill someone?” said Pete. His voice was very low.
“Murder by magic?” Bob shook his head. “Impossible!”
“Perhaps,” said Jupiter. “However, it appears that Madeline Bainbridge feels some guilt about Desparto. She wouldn’t deny her responsibility so furiously if she didn’t believe it was possible for her to have hurt him in some fashion.”
“That Marvin Gray,” said Pete. “Why’d he get her all stirred up that way? He didn’t have to rake up that stuff from the past.”
“Perhaps he’s manipulating her,” said Jupe. “He may be the real power in her household — perhaps the only power.”
“I don’t like him,” said Pete.
“Nor do I,” agreed Jupe. “Not after hearing him over the walkie-talkie. The man’s a bully I wonder if he tells lies just to protect Madeline Bainbridge’s privacy. He may be even more interested in protecting his own.”
“Jupe?” said Bob. “Could Gray have been involved in the theft of her manuscript?”
Jupe shrugged. “I don’t see why or how. He couldn’t have taken the manuscript himself — he was being interviewed by Jefferson Long when it was stolen. And he has no apparent motive for theft. Quite the opposite. As Bainbridge’s business manager, it’s to his advantage to have the book published and earning money. But did he talk to someone—anyone—about the book? Or did Bainbridge? After what we’ve heard tonight, I’m almost sure the answer to the mystery of the missing manuscript is hidden in Bainbridge’s past — in that magic circle which existed long ago.”
Jupe stood up. “We’ve done all we can do tonight. I’ll go and retrieve my walkie-talkie and meet you where we left our bikes. Tomorrow … tomorrow we investigate the former coven.”
“If that’s what it was,” said Bob.
“I think that’s just what it was,” said Jupiter, and he started across the fields towards the haunted wood.
Chapter 9
The Crime Fighter
“YOU’RE KIDDING!” said Beefy Tremayne. “Madeline Bainbridge really is a witch?”
Beefy was guiding his sports