The Mystery of the Rogues' Reunion - Marc Brandel [8]
Bonehead told him. He told him clearly and curtly. They each wanted a hundred dollars for the talk show segment. “And it’ll be a fee, not a salary,” Bonehead added, “so there’ll be no withholding tax. You pay us in cash.”
The publicity man’s teeth still shone in his tanned face, but a small frown appeared on his forehead.
“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” he said. “The studio’s already gone to a lot of expense for this lunch. And on top of that I’ve arranged for each of you to receive a valuable souvenir present for being here.”
“What kind of present?” Peggy asked him.
“How valuable?” Footsie wanted to know.
“That’s a secret, Peggy.” Milton Glass turned his smile on her. “But they’re all ready and waiting for you out there right now.” He gestured towards the kitchen door. “And I know you’ll be delighted with them.” He paused for a moment. “But there’ll be no fees for the talk show,” he added firmly.
“Okay.” Bonehead didn’t even bother to shrug. “No cash. No show.”
Milton Glass tried to argue with him. But Bonehead refused to argue back. He explained that it was a take—it—or—leave—it deal. “We’re not negotiating, because there’s nothing to negotiate.”
Glass didn’t stop smiling, but his voice was no longer polite.
“That’s blackmail,” he pointed out. “Sheer, naked blackmail.”
“Sure it is.” Bonehead smiled back at him, and Jupe saw that Footsie and Bloodhound and even Peggy were smiling too. “That’s why you’re going to have to pay up.”
Milton Glass still didn’t agree at once. But Jupe could see that he was going to give in eventually. Jupe was glad enough to get the hundred dollars. It would go into the Three Investigators’ fund to pay for the phone at Headquarters and some new equipment he wanted to experiment with. But it wasn’t the thought of the money that was occupying his mind.
He was beginning to see the Wee Rogues in a completely different light now, not as he had remembered them for so long. He was beginning to realize that they had all grown up in quite an unexpected way.
They were now a group of tough, competitive young people. People who would use all their wits and experience to fight for what they wanted — money.
And if they would fight like this for a hundred dollars, they would fight as hard and as ruthlessly as a pack of wolves for that quiz show prize of twenty thousand. Jupe would need every grain of the intelligence and determination he possessed to beat them. Winning the prize money would not be the snap Milton Glass had said it would be.
Jupe realized he no longer hated the other Rogues. It was even hard for him to believe these were the same people who had teased and picked on him years ago. The idea of revenge was fading. But not the idea of winning.
Because it was part of Jupiter’s character that he could never refuse a challenge. And it seemed to the First Investigator that he was soon going to be facing one of the biggest challenges of his life.
Chapter 3
Five Rogues and a Thief
THE LUNCH TABLE HAD BEEN cleared and carried away. In its place a half circle of swivel chairs had been set up on the movie set of the kitchen.
Milton Glass, who was to be the host of the talk show, sat in the centre of the half circle. Peggy was on one side of him and Bonehead on the other. Jupe was sitting at one end next to Bloodhound. Footsie sat at the other end.
The arc lights went on. They glared down on Jupe like a dozen indoor suns. He had eaten very little of the buffet lunch, only a single cold chicken leg and a spoonful of potato salad. Although he normally had a very healthy appetite, he had had to force himself to eat even that much.
It wasn’t that he was nervous. He was no more stage shy now than he had been as a child actor. In the white heat of the lights, facing the peering lenses of the three television cameras, he felt all his natural talent as a performer coming back to him the way a good swimmer feels his abilities when he dives into deep water.
The truth was that the First Investigator’s mind had been too busy to be bothered with the thought of food. It was still