The Mystery of the Rogues' Reunion - Marc Brandel [43]
Jupe believed him. From what he had seen of Bonehead’s behaviour in the last few minutes, he had realized Bonehead’s toughness was nothing but a pose. Underneath it, the young actor had a terror of violence.
The Three Investigators hurried across to Peggy, leaving Bonehead still leaning weakly against the door. Pete and Bob ungagged her while Jupe took out his Swiss army knife and cut the binding ropes.
Peggy shook her head as though to clear it. She rubbed her wrists and pushed her hair away from her forehead. She carefully stretched her legs and with some difficulty stood up. She smiled.
“Well,” she said. “This is funny. Just like one of our old Wee Rogues comedies. Except then I was always rescuing you, Jupe. And now you’ve rescued me.”
Chapter 16
A Favour for Don
“Peggy was so happy about winning that prize money,” Jupe said, “that she decided not to press charges against either Luther Lomax or Bonehead.”
“She can afford to go to college now, which is what she’s always wanted to do,” Bob put in.
“She’s planning to start at Berkeley in September,” Pete added.
The Three Investigators were sitting around the patio table in Hector Sebastian’s enormous living room with its row of windows overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Referring to the notes Bob had made, they had been giving the mystery writer the rundown on their latest case.
Hector Sebastian was comfortably stretched in a long beach chair beside the table. Before he took up writing some years ago, he had suffered a severe leg injury while working as a private detective in New York, and his leg still gave him a little trouble at times.
“So Bonehead’s gone back to acting under his own name now?” he enquired.
“He’s trying to, anyway,” Jupe told him. “Although I don’t think he’s having much luck. He still has to work as a mechanic for a living.”
The First Investigator paused thoughtfully. “It’s funny,” he said. “It was my memory of the real Bonehead that got me involved in that quiz show in the first place. I disliked him so much as a kid that I wanted to beat him at all costs. But I almost grew to like the young man who impersonated him. I’m sure he never meant Peggy any harm anyway. He was just so desperate for money and discouraged at being an out-of-work actor that he went along with everything Luther Lomax suggested.”
“It can be rough making it in this town,” Mr. Sebastian agreed. “Speaking of which, what happened to Luther Lomax? Is he still rattling around in his ruined mansion dreaming about the past?”
“No,” Pete answered. “He had a complete nervous breakdown when he saw Peggy come downstairs with us after we’d untied her. He kept shouting, ‘Quiet on the set,’ and ‘Lights, camera, action!’ Gordon Harker finally managed to calm him down and drive him to a hospital.”
The mystery writer shook his head sympathetically. “He was a great director once,” he said. “I remember many of his old movies. Is he still in a hospital?”
“No,” Jupe explained. “The Motion Picture Association found a comfortable place for him in the mental wing of a home they run for retired movie people. At least he’s among some of his old friends there.’
“Yes.” Mr. Sebastian smiled wryly. “I’m sure he is. There’s an old saying in Hollywood: ‘You don’t have to be crazy to make pictures, but it certainly helps.’
“And Glass was totally innocent of the plot between Bonehead and Lomax?” Mr. Sebastian asked.
“Yes,” Jupiter said. “All along, Glass had no knowledge that Bonehead was a phony,
that Lomax had stolen the cups, or that the two had kidnapped Peggy. Glass was trying to get promoted at the network by putting on the quiz shows. He didn’t want to spoil his reputation by exposing Bonehead as a fake once the shows were over.”
“What about Footsie and Bloodhound?” Mr. Sebastian went on. “What happened to them?”
“The quiz shows gave Footsie the break he needed,” Jupe answered. “He’d been out of work a long time. An athletic-shoe store