The Mystery of the Monster Mountain - M. V. Carey [41]
put in. “She said Hans and Konrad made
her nervous.”
Jupiter went on, “She was also greatly
upset at the thought of going to the bank
and requesting a new key and having to
sign for it — probably in the presence of a bank officer. The routine procedure for
entering the safe deposit vault wouldn’t be too difficult. She would still have to sign in, but the attendant at the vault wouldn’t look closely at her signature or question her. Why should he? He knew Anna Schmid well. Getting a new key would be more complicated. She might do or say something wrong. The bank official might carefully compare her signature to the signature on Anna Schmid’s registration.
“So fake-Anna became nervous about signing Anna Schmid’s name. She apologized too much to the man who delivered the cement, and she and Joe Havemeyer quarreled. Havemeyer made her practice writing Anna’s name and he got us out of the house when she did it. But we saw her ‘homework’ paper. Then I knew that she was not really Anna, and I knew why Havemeyer went to the meadow every day.”
The deputy closed his notebook and stared at Anna Schmid. He then turned and looked at fake Anna. “If I weren’t seeing it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe that two human beings could be so much alike,” he said. “But what about that gun — the tranquilizer gun? Was that the gun Havemeyer used to threaten you, Miss Schmid?”
“No,” said Anna. “The gun he used was a shotgun.”
“It’s in the closet,” Pete told the deputy.
The door behind Jensen’s chair rattled. Jensen stood up, put the chair to one side, and opened the door.
Mr. Smathers trotted into the room. He was smoke-stained and incredibly grimy, but very brisk and bright.
“Everything’s fine here, I see,” he said.
Then his eyes lighted on Anna Schmid lying on the sofa, and on fake-Anna crouched near the table. He saw the deputy with his notebook, and Hans grimly blocking the kitchen doorway.
“My word,” he said.
“It’s pretty complicated, Mr. Smathers,” Bob told him. “We’ll explain it to you later.”
“Does he have anything to do with this?” asked the deputy, nodding toward Smathers.
“I hardly think so,” said Jupiter. “I believe Mr. Smathers is exactly what he claims to be — a man who can talk to animals.”
“And they listen,” declared Smathers cheerfully.
“Sure, sure,” said the deputy. “Now maybe somebody will tell me why this guy had a tranquilizer gun?”
“Hideous, isn’t it?” said Mr. Smathers. “Almost worse than a conventional firearm. Imagine wanting to capture a wild creature and put it in a cage. Disgraceful!”
The deputy’s expression was one of total bewilderment. “You mean that in addition to everything else, this man was out to bag a bear?”
“Not a bear,” said Pete.
Mr. Smathers chuckled. “Would you believe, officer, that Mr. Havemeyer thinks there is a monster of some type on this mountain? He harbored the idiotic idea that he could capture a being unknown to science and exhibit it to the public, doubtless charging a fee for anyone who wanted to look at it!”
“A monster?” said the deputy. “The guy’s got cracks in his brain!”
“Indeed he does,” said Mr. Smathers. “We all know there are no such things as monsters, don’t we?”
The Three Investigators gaped at the weedy little man. Mr. Smathers smiled and went upstairs.
Chapter 18
Mr. Hitchcock Learns a Secret
TWO DAYS AFTER they returned to Rocky Beach, The Three Investigators called on Alfred Hitchcock at his office.
“I see that you have made the newspapers again,” said the famous motion-picture director. “I assume that you have written up this entire astounding affair. What are you going to call it? The Mystery of the Mirror Image?”
“We thought The Mystery of Monster Mountain might be a better title,” said Jupiter Jones.
“Monster Mountain?” Mr. Hitchcock frowned. “I have carefully gone over every news story on the kidnapping of Anna Schmid, and I have seen no mention whatever of a Monster Mountain.”
“We didn’t tell the reporters everything,” said Bob, and he handed a file across the desk to the director.
“I should have guessed it,” said Mr.