The Mystery of the Rogues' Reunion - Marc Brandel [29]
“But the guard at the studio gate does,” Jupe reminded him. “At least he had my address when I checked in for the lunch yesterday. So he probably has Bonehead’s and Footsie’s too. But I don’t think he’d give them to us if we asked him.”
“He wouldn’t even let Pete and me in the gate this afternoon,” Bob remembered.
The chauffeur thought that over for a moment.
‘I could try,” he said. “The limo company does a lot of business with the studio. I could say I had a call to collect all the Wee Rogues for a special meeting.”
He picked up his cap and put it on.
“Let’s see how I make out,” he suggested. “Come on.”
He let the Three Investigators off a block from the studio gates on Vine Street and then drove on to talk to the guard.
Jupe and his two friends went into a drugstore to have a quick hamburger while they waited for him. They didn’t have long to wait. Jupe could see at once from Gordon
Harker’s smile when he walked in that he had got what they wanted.
He had all the Rogues’ addresses written on a sheet of paper. The Three Investigators studied it while they were munching their supper at the drugstore counter. Peggy was staying in a hotel in Santa Monica. Bloodhound lived at home with his father in Beverly Hills. Bonehead and Footsie had apartments in Hollywood.
“Let’s try Bonehead first,” Jupe decided.
“After I finish this,” Pete objected.
So once the boys’ plates were clean and Mr. Harker had had a sandwich, they all piled into the limousine again.
Bonehead’s address was the Magnolia Arms on a street called Las Palmas, not far from Hollywood Boulevard. It was more like a motel than an apartment house. Inside a narrow archway two lines of small wooden cabins faced each other across a courtyard. Next to the complex was a small parking area.
Gordon Harker parked the limousine on the street while the Three Investigators crept into the court. It was dark now. Only a few of the cabins showed any lights in their windows.
They were in luck. According to Gordon Harker’s list, Bonehead’s apartment was number 10. Although the curtains were drawn in that cabin at the far end of the court, Jupe could see a glow through them. Bonehead was probably at home.
The First Investigator motioned to his two friends and they walked silently on the grass down the court. There was a large magnolia bush directly facing the door of number 10. The three friends squatted in the darkness beneath it, watching the door of Bonehead’s cabin.
The top of the door was made of glass. Venetian blinds were lowered over it, but Jupe could see that some of the slats were worn and bent. If someone could press his face against the glass, he would be able to see into the apartment.
“This looks like a job for you,” Jupe whispered to Pete. Pete sighed. He had heard those words from Jupe before, on other cases. They meant there was something difficult and usually dangerous to be done, something that required Pete’s special skills.
The Second Investigator was by far the most athletic of the three. He could run faster than either Jupe or Bob; he could move stealthily, silently, on the balls of his feet.
“Okay,” he whispered back after a moment. “I’ll see what I can see.”
Crouching, he started forward away from the sheltering darkness of the magnolia bush, across the strip of grass that separated him from Bonehead’s cabin.
He had gone only a few steps when he dropped face down onto the ground, pressing into the earth as though trying to sink into it.
The door of Bonehead’s apartment had opened. Jupe saw the tall young man in his leather jacket silhouetted against the light.
Any moment, Pete thought, and Bonehead was sure to spot him, lying there only a few metres away. He remembered the violent way Bonehead had grabbed Jupe’s arm after the quiz show that afternoon. If he found the Three Investigators spying on him he would be very angry and probably dangerous.
Bonehead turned his head and looked back into the lighted room behind him.
“Come on,” he said impatiently, pulling a comb down through his long hair. “Let’s go. It’s time.”
The First