The Mystery of the Rogues' Reunion - Marc Brandel [24]
“Edmund F—F—Frank,” he said with his dumbest smile.
“Right.”
The audience went wild.
The show was over. Jupe was still five points ahead of Bonehead. The audience filed out. Milton Glass reminded the contestants to be back at the TV station at two o’clock sharp the next afternoon.
Frowning, Peggy hurried away. Jupe watched her go. He felt sorry for her and wished there was something he could do to help her. But as long as Bonehead was his closest competitor, Jupe was determined to go on winning. He felt he still had a score to settle with Bonehead for the way the child actor had treated him years ago.
Jupe started across the stage to join the other two Investigators in the empty auditorium. A long leather sleeve shot out. Bonehead grabbed him roughly by the arm. His grip was like steel.
“Watch it, Baby Fatso,” the tall young man snarled. “I’m on to you. I know all about you and your Three Investigators. You’re playing dumb so you’ll win the twenty thousand.”
Jupiter turned. Bonehead gripped his arm even tighter. “I’m warning you, Fatso,” his persecutor said. “Cut it out. Or else.” He walked away.
Bob and Pete were waiting for Jupe in the aisle. Gordon Harker had gone to get the limousine.
“What was Bonehead saying to you?” Pete asked Jupe. The First Investigator didn’t answer. He had a question of his own.
“Bob,” he said. “You were sitting next to Gordon Harker, weren’t you?”
“Sure. Why?”
“What was he writing on that clipboard all the way through the show?”
“Nothing much.” Bob shrugged. “He was just trying to guess the answers to the questions before you did.”
“Did you see his answers?” Jupe was frowning. His voice had that probing sound that meant he was on to some clue and intended to follow it up until he saw where it led.
“Sure. He showed them to me. He was doing fine. He got them all right except one.”
“Which one?” the First Investigator asked eagerly. “That last one about Edmund Frank? Did he get that one wrong?”
“No.” Bob shook his head. “The only one he missed was the make of Mr. Trouble’s car. He had Edmund Frank written down long before you came up with it.”
Jupe stared at him, then nodded and started up the aisle. Although Bob and Pete tried to question him as they all went down in the lift, he refused to tell them why he was so interested in the chauffeur’s answers to the questions in the quiz.
It wasn’t until all three were out on the pavement waiting for the limousine that the First Investigator spoke again.
“I can understand his getting all those other questions right,” Jupe said thoughtfully. “Because he saw the film too and he’s obviously an intelligent man. But what beats me …” His voice trailed off.
“What?” the other two Investigators pressed him. “Go on, Jupe, tell us. What’s the mystery?”
“The mystery is,” the First Investigator said in a faraway voice, “the mystery is why a limousine chauffeur is so interested in the Wee Rogues.”
Chapter 9
The Man Who Knew Too Much
“POSSIBLE SUSPECTS,” Jupiter Jones said. “Number One.” He held up a stubby finger. “Footsie.”
The Three Investigators were sitting in Headquarters. They had gone there straight from the television station. Jupe was behind the desk. Bob and Pete were in their usual places.
“Footsie,” the First Investigator repeated. “What do we know about him?”
He didn’t expect an answer. He was thinking aloud, as he often did when something puzzled him.
“We know he could have stolen those silver cups,” he went on. “But then so could any of the other Rogues. We were all standing around that buffet table. There was a crowd of people on that kitchen set — waiters, electricians, grips. Any one of us could have slipped around the back to where the cups were. Any one of us could have been gone for two or three minutes without anybody noticing it.”
“Bonehead,” Pete suggested, leaning back in his rocking chair. “That’s my hunch.”
Jupe held up his hand in a way that meant wait a second. “Let’s concentrate on Footsie first,” he said. “The director, Luther Lomax, suspects Footsie. He saw him hanging around Stage Nine