The Mystery of the Scar-faced Beggar - M. V. Carey [21]
“Who is it?” said Jupiter. “Do you know her?”
“The girl at the meeting,” said Pete. “You know, the one who got up and made that speech? Everybody cheered for her?”
“Hm!” Jupe sat up straighter, taking in every detail of the young woman’s dress and her walk. “She looks very … very friendly,” he said. “In fact, she’s giving Mr.
Bonestell a hug.”
“What?” Pete straightened up and stared.
The blonde girl let go of the dog’s leash. She stood with her arm around Walter Bonestell’s shoulders and smiled warmly at him. Then she kissed Mr. Bonestell on the cheek.
Mr. Bonestell flushed and looked pleased.
“That’s it!” crowed Pete. “There’s the link between Mr. Bonestell and the bank robbery and that bunch of people at Denicola’s pier and … and Mr. Sebastian’s wallet and the blind man!”
“That girl is the link between all of those things?” said Jupe.
“Sure,” Pete declared. “It’s simple. The girl is a member of the gang, see, and she gets to know Mr. Bonestell and she pumps him about the bank — the routine there and the cleaning people and all. The blind man is the boss of the gang, and he acts as the lookout before the others rob the bank. The girl could be one of the robbers, couldn’t she? She could be wearing a disguise when she went into the bank so Mr.
Bonestell wouldn’t recognize her. Or she could just be an informer.”
“You mean informant,” said Jupe absently. He was busily examining Pete’s theory.
“It’s possible,” he said. “But what about all the other people who attended that meeting last night?”
“Why they’re … they’re …” Pete stopped, at a loss. “They’re innocent dupes?”
he ventured. “The crooks are using them to … to …”
Again Pete fell silent.
“The crooks took up a collection last night because people who have just stolen a quarter of a million dollars from a bank need more money,” suggested Jupe.
“Well, I know it sounds dumb,” said Pete.
“Actually, it doesn’t sound that dumb,” said Jupe. “It is yet another remarkable coincidence that the girl who had such a prominent role in last night’s performance seems to know Walter Bonestell rather well. When he is alone, we must ask Mr.
Bonestell how much information he has given her about the bank.”
The blonde girl was laughing now. Her dog had tangled his leash in a hibiscus bush, and she went to rescue him.
“You stay here and help Hans,” said Jupe softly. “I’m going to follow that girl and see where she lives and who her friends are. Psst, get down! Here she comes.”
Pete slid down below the dashboard so the girl couldn’t see him. “Come on, boy!”
Pete heard the girl say, and she walked past the truck, her heels clicking on the sidewalk.
Jupe waited for a moment, then slipped out of the truck and took off after the girl.
Chapter 9
The Makeup Artist
JUPE LAGGED HALF A BLOCK behind the blonde girl, but when she reached the end of the street and turned to the right, he stepped along a bit faster. He reached the corner in time to see her go into the courtyard of an older apartment building partway down the block.
Jupe walked slowly down the street. The building the girl had entered was built around three sides of a swimming pool. A white-painted iron fence protected the fourth side of the pool from the street. Jupe did not see the girl, but an apartment door on the first floor of the building stood open. As Jupe hesitated outside the fence, the Saint Bernard came bounding out of the door.
“Brandy, you come back here!”
The girl dashed out and the dog retreated to the far side of the pool, where he sat down in a flower bed.
“Monster!” she cried. “Want to get me thrown out of here?”
Jupe quietly opened the gate in the fence and stepped into the courtyard. He stood gazing thoughtfully at the bank of mailboxes beside the gate.
“You looking for someone?” asked the girl.
“N-not exactly,” said Jupe. “I was wondering …” He paused as if he were afraid to ask a question.
“What?” said the girl.
“I was wondering if … if you’d like to subscribe to the Santa Monica Evening Outlook?