The Mystery of the Rogues' Reunion - Marc Brandel [34]
Jupe’s eyes went back to Milton Glass. He was opening the envelope Footsie had handed him. For a moment his brilliant smile dimmed as he read the message inside. Then his white teeth flashed again. He gave the ready signal to the control room and turned to face the audience.
‘I’m afraid I have some rather disappointing news for you all,” he said. “I’ve just received a note from one of our contestants, Peggy. I think I’d better read it to you.” He paused for a second, looking down at the sheet of paper he was holding in his hand.
“ ‘Dear Mr. Glass,’ “ he read aloud. “ ‘I’m sorry to let you all down like this. But since my picture’s been in the papers I’ve been having a rough time here with people recognizing me and bothering me on the street just as they did all those years ago. I don’t have a chance of winning that quiz show prize money anyway, so I’ve decided to drop out and go home to San Francisco. At least people leave me alone there. My very best regards to you and to all the Wee Rogues….’” Glass paused again. “It’s signed ‘Pretty Peggy.’”
There was a murmur from the audience. It was a murmur of sympathy, Jupiter felt.
“Well, if you’re watching us, Peggy,” Milton Glass went on, “I can only say we’re all
sorry about the decision you’ve made. It was a great pleasure having you with us. And we’ll all miss you very much.” There was a hearty round of applause. Glass held up both hands to hush the audience. “And now, on with the show. The second and final Wee Rogues Quiz Show,” he announced.
The lights went down. Jupe forced himself to look at the screen as the two minutes of edited film began.
His mind was too busy to concentrate on it, but even though he gave it only half his attention, his trained investigator’s memory recorded all the important points in the brief scenes that flashed in front of his eyes.
Flapjack stole a dog for Mr. Trouble. Peggy drank a strawberry milk shake through a striped straw. Bonehead and Bloodhound started a campfire in the woods to roast corn. Footsie dived into a lake that was only eight centimetres deep. Baby Fatso was trapped in the burning woods. Bloodhound bandaged Footsie’s head with a checkered tablecloth. Peggy rescued Baby Fatso from the fire…
The other half of the First Investigator’s mind was busy thinking about Peggy. He didn’t believe she had written that note. She would never have signed it Pretty Peggy. She hated that name as much as he hated the name Baby Fatso. Besides, she hadn’t gone home. She hadn’t checked out of her hotel. And she had been missing all morning.
It looked to Jupe, in fact, as though Peggy was in real danger. Someone was holding her somewhere against her will. The same someone who had forged that note in her name. The same someone who had called Jupe at Headquarters that morning.
“ ‘She’s quite safe at the moment. I just wanted to warn you, she won’t be safe much longer… . Not if you win that quiz today, Baby Fatso.’ ”
The two minutes of film ended. The lights went on again.
Jupe glanced at the electronic scoreboard. He had forty-five points. Bonehead had forty. Peggy thirty-five. Bloodhound and Footsie were far behind. He made a quick calculation. He would have to volunteer at least three times.
Milton Glass had swivelled in his chair to face the contestants.
With Peggy gone, Bonehead was asked the first question.
“What was unusual about the straw Pretty Peggy was drinking through?”
“It was striped,” Bonehead shot back. “Red, white, and blue.” Applause. Five points for Bonehead. He was tied with Jupe now.
Bloodhound’s turn.
“What kind of a milk shake was she drinking?”
Bloodhound hesitated. Jupe’s hand shot up an instant before Bonehead’s.
“Chocolate?” Bloodhound suggested in his casual good-humoured way.
“Oh no,” shouted one of the onlookers.
“I’m terribly sorry,” said Glass. “And now