The Mystery of the Rogues' Reunion - Marc Brandel [16]
Jupe thanked him for making the call.
“Not at all,” the director assured him. “It was a great pleasure talking to Hector Sebastian. People forget you so fast in this business. But he remembered everything about me, all the fine movies I’ve directed.”
Jupe signalled to Pete and Bob and they all walked across the sound stage to the exit door, leaving the director still lost in his own thoughts as he stood in the light of the kitchen set.
“What do you think, Jupe?” Pete asked as they stepped out into the street.
The First Investigator didn’t answer at once. He was pinching his lower lip.
“Who do you think did it?” Bob prompted him. “Who do you think stole those silver cups?”
“Those arc lights,” Jupe said thoughtfully. “Someone had to be sure they wouldn’t be used.” He stopped and the other two Investigators halted beside him in the shadow of the huge sound stage. “Maybe that’s why he waited until the cameras were rolling …” He frowned. “But I’m not sure.”
“Bonehead?” Pete suggested. “Or maybe Footsie?”
“I’m not sure,” Jupiter Jones repeated. “There are several rather puzzling aspects to this whole case.”
“Yes? What?” Bob wanted to know.
“For one thing …” The First Investigator tapped his thumb with the finger of his other hand. “Puzzle number one: our chauffeur, Gordon Harker.”
“Why?” Pete asked. “What’s puzzling about him?”
“His memory,” Jupe explained. “The guard at the gate this morning recognized him, so Harker obviously does quite a lot of driving for the studio. But he didn’t remember where Stage Nine was. He had to ask someone.”
The First Investigator started forward again towards the parked limousine at the end of the street. “Unless Harker was only pretending,” he said. “Unless he knew all about those silver cups that were going to be presented to us on the talk show. And he wanted us to think he didn’t even know where that sound stage was.”
“You mean you think he stole them?” Bob asked.
Jupe frowned. “I’m not accusing anyone,” he answered thoughtfully, “not yet, anyway. But I did see Gordon Harker walk around the back of that kitchen set … just before the talk show began.”
Chapter 6
Jupe Does Some Sleuthing
AS SOON AS HE HAD finished his breakfast the next morning and helped Aunt Mathilda wash the dishes, Jupiter Jones walked out to his workbench in the salvage yard. He was due at the television station at two o’clock that afternoon to tape the first of the two quiz shows.
In most quiz shows, he knew, the contestants are allowed to choose their own subjects. There would be several categories: history, sport, famous people, and so on. Each Wee Rogue would be allowed to choose one of them and then answer questions about that one area.
As he paused by his workbench Jupe was wondering what the categories would be on The Wee Rogues Quiz Show. He hoped one of them would be science, his best subject at school.
Peggy had tried to question Milton Glass about that at the buffet lunch yesterday, but the publicity man had clammed up at once and refused to tell them anything about how the quiz would be run or what sort of questions to expect.
“It’s a surprise,” he had said.
Scattered on the workbench, which was sheltered by a tin roof were the parts of several old broken cameras that Uncle Titus had brought home one day. Using the lens of one and the shutter of another, Jupe was fitting them together to make what he intended to be a special “investigator’s” secret camera — one that could be hidden under the lapel of his jacket and take pictures through his buttonhole. He was very clever with his hands and he enjoyed making new things out of old bits and pieces.
He had only been working for a few minutes when he straightened suddenly and put down his tools. A red light was blinking over the workbench. That meant the phone was ringing in Headquarters.
A few feet from him an old metal grating just seemed to be leaning against a pile of junk. Jupe quickly lifted