The Mystery of the Singing Serpent - M. V. Carey [21]
wearer to slip it over her wrist. Next to the opening, the gilded band was decorated with the head of a cobra. Tiny specks of precious or semi-precious stones were set into the eyes of the snake. Behind the head the metal band flattened out into the cobra’s hood, which was delicately ornamented with green and blue enamel.
Jupiter ran his finger around the inside of the bracelet. It was perfectly smooth. “You had it with you yesterday when you were driving your car?”
“Yes. Wearing it. Was it yesterday? It seems so
long now.” She turned her head, her eyes closing.
“Stupid thing,” she complained. “Wheel coming
off like that!”
“A wheel came off the car,” said Jupiter. “Nothing else disturbed you? Nothing in the car?
She opened her eyes again. “Nothing in the car? No. But the wheel. It came off. I saw it rolling ahead on the freeway and then, the bridge and … and …”
There was a rustle in the doorway behind Jupe. He turned to see the nurse glaring at him.
“I’m going,” he told the nurse. He handed the bracelet back to Mrs. Compton. “I hope you’ll enjoy your plant,” he said softly, and he left the room.
“I told you not to stay long,” scolded the nurse.
“I’m sorry,” said Jupiter. “I only wanted to talk with her for a minute.”
He went down the corridor to the elevator, rode back to the first floor and hurried out of the hospital.
“Any luck?” asked Pete when Jupe reached the truck. “Was she any help?”
“She was a great deal of help.” Jupe climbed into the truck next to Pete. “She had the serpent with her.”
“A snake?” Hans was astonished. “You mean she got a snake with her in hospital?”
“Not a real snake, Hans,” said Jupiter. “It was a bracelet with a cobra’s head on it.”
“Maybe there’s some kind of trick,” suggested Pete. “The Borgias had rings with secret compartments for poison, and a needle would shoot out and stab the enemy.”
Jupiter shook his head. “I examined it closely. There are no gimmicks. It is only a bracelet, but Hugo Ariel delivered it to her personally. Aside from that bracelet, there were no snakes in Mrs. Compton’s car when it crashed yesterday. A wheel came off and the car hit an overpass. Now if anyone can tell me how a bracelet can cause a wheel to come off a car, I will cheerfully eat those cast-iron stoves Uncle Titus just bought!”
Chapter 11
Bentley’s Secret Papers
WHEN JUPE AND PETE returned to the salvage yard and entered Jupe’s workshop, the light over the printing press was flashing. This signaled that the telephone was ringing in Headquarters.
“That may be Allie,” said Jupe. “I gave her our private number.”
Pete pulled aside the grating that concealed Tunnel Two and scrambled through the corrugated pipe to Headquarters. When Jupe followed him and climbed up through the trap door into the trailer, he was already on the telephone.
“She did have a serpent, but it’s only a bracelet,” Pete was saying. “It couldn’t have hurt her.”
Pete listened. Allie’s voice came to Jupe as an excited chatter.
“The wheel came off her car,” said Pete. “That’s all there was to it. It was an accident.”
Allie was silent for a few seconds, but then she said something that caused Pete to scowl. “But we just got back!” he protested.
The telephone chattered again, at some length. Pete sighed and pulled a pad toward himself and wrote an address on it. Finally he said, “All right. After dinner,” and hung up.
“What now?” asked Jupiter Jones.
“Allie was calling from the kitchen phone,” said Pete. “She said Ariel and her aunt are locked up in the library and Bentley is doing some marketing. Bentley gave her letters of reference. One was from a woman in Brentwood who had to leave town when her husband was transferred to Kansas City, and the other was from a professor in Arcadia. She tried to call Kansas City and there’s no listing for the woman. She tried to call the professor in Arcadia. His telephone has been disconnected.”
“Not reassuring,” said Jupe. “She should have checked on Bentley before she hired him.