The Mystery of the Magic Circle - M. V. Carey [42]
Jefferson Long shrugged. “I assumed that there would be at least two men.”
“You might claim that,” said Jupiter, “but what are you going to say about the fingerprints?”
“Fingerprints?” said Long. “What fingerprints?”
“You saw Pete follow Harold Thomas from his apartment to that car wrecking yard in Santa Monica. No doubt Thomas was going to move the films because the arson squad was getting too close to him and making him nervous. Seeing Pete made you nervous. You tailed Pete, and when you realized that he had seen the van, you decided he had to be put out of the way. You didn’t know who he was or what he was up to, but you couldn’t take a chance. When he tried to call for help, you hit him on the head and stuffed him into the trunk of that old car. And when you slammed down the trunk lid, you left your fingerprints.”
Jefferson Long opened his mouth to protest, and then closed it again.
“How could you!” said Madeline Bainbridge. “How could you do that to a mere boy?”
“And then there’s the money,” said Jupiter brightly. “The ransom for the films. It was only paid this afternoon. I would not be surprised if at least part of it is still in Thomas’s car. And perhaps there’s some in Long’s car as well. There hasn’t been time to put it in a secure hiding place. Shall we look and see what we can find?”
“No!” shouted Thomas. He lurched towards the door.
Beefy tackled him, bringing him crashing to the floor, and sat on him. The material of Thomas’s suit ripped, and a wallet spilled out on to the floor, together with three key chains, all loaded with keys.
“Aha!” cried Beefy.
“I’ll have the law on you!” shouted Thomas. “You don’t have a search warrant!”
Gray had been standing in a corner of the room, quiet and almost forgotten. As Beefy held up the keys, Gray moved. He raced past Beefy, brushed Uncle Will to one side, and was out the front door and thundering down the steps before anyone could move.
“Marvin!” cried Madeline Bainbridge.
“He won’t get far,” Pete assured her. “I fixed his car so that it won’t start. His and Thomas’s and Long’s, too. We’ll just call the police and they can pick Gray up as he’s hiking down the hill.”
But then, from outside, there came the sound of a car engine starting.
“Oh, blast!” shouted Beefy. “That’s my
car! He’s taking my car! I left the keys in the
ignition!”
Peter raced for the kitchen and the
telephone, and Madeline Bainbridge went
to the window. “He’ll be sorry,” she said, as
the car pulled away from the house. “He’ll
be very sorry.”
Jupiter and Bob saw the car’s headlights
flash through the lemon grove. The car
reached the road and skidded into the turn.
It didn’t slacken speed one bit.
“Oh my gosh!” yelled Bob.
The watchers in the ranch house heard
tyres screech on the road, and Madeline
Bainbridge screamed.
An instant later, there was a ripping of
metal and a smashing of glass as the car
crashed sideways into a tree. And then there
was silence — a silence that seemed deadly.
Madeline Bainbridge stood with her hands
to her face, her blue eyes wide with horror.
“Madeline!” Clara Adams went to her
and put her arms around her. “Madeline, it wasn’t your fault!” she said.
“It’s like the last time. It’s like Ramon all over again.” And Madeline Bainbridge began to weep.
“It’s only a coincidence,” said Jupe.
Pete had come back into the room. “The sheriff is coming,” he said. “I’ll call again, and I’ll ask them to send an ambulance.”
Jupiter nodded as he, Bob, and Beefy headed outside to see how Gray was. “It’s an unfortunate way to end things,” he said, “but I think we can say that this case is closed.”
Chapter 22
Mr. Hitchcock Declines an Invitation
A WEEK AFTER THE Bainbridge films were recovered by Video Enterprises, The Three Investigators called on Alfred Hitchcock. “I assume that you have been getting your notes in order,” said the famous motion-picture director as Jupiter,