The Mystery of the Singing Serpent - M. V. Carey [22]
“Well she didn’t, and now she wants us to do it,” said Pete. “She told Bentley she needed to file a form with the Social Security people so she could pay Social Security tax on his salary, and he gave her his home address. It’s 1854 North Tennyson in Santa Monica.
She wants us to go there right now and find out if Bentley really has a place there and any other stray information we can dig up.”
“And you told her we’d go after dinner?” said Jupe.
“Darn right. If I don’t show up at home soon, my mother’s going to brain me!”
“Aunt Mathilda is also becoming a bit impatient,” said Jupiter. “I think you’re right.
After dinner would be the best time to go to Santa Monica.”
“Allie says frog and we jump,” observed Pete.
“She is our client,” Jupiter pointed out. “She shouldn’t have hired Bentley on a whim, but she did. Now she wants to know more about him. I think she should. I’ll call Bob and ask him to meet us on the highway in front of the market at seven. Is that okay with you?”
“I can make it,” said Pete.
“Then seven it is,” said Jupiter.
And at seven, The Three Investigators were riding their bikes down the Coast Highway toward Santa Monica. North Tennyson Place, when they located it with the aid of a street map, turned out to be a small court opening off Eleventh. At 1856 there was a large stucco house with a red tile roof. A sign on the lawn indicated that number 1854, the address which Allie had given Pete, was in the rear.
“A garage apartment,” decided Jupiter. He went a short way down the drive, then returned, nodding. “An upstairs apartment over a double garage.”
“So how do we find out if Bentley really lives there?” asked Pete. “He’s at the Jamison house now.”
“We ask for him at the big house,” said Jupiter. “We could be — let’s see — we could be friends of his nephew Freddie. We just rode over from Westwood and decided to drop in on him.”
“That’s enough to get a conversation started,” said Bob.
Jupiter marched to the front door of the stucco house and rang the bell. He waited for almost a minute, then rang again. No one came to the door.
“So much for that great idea,” said Pete.
Jupiter picked up his bike, wheeled it to the driveway and looked back at the garage.
“Let’s assume that Bentley does live here,” he said. “It’s often possible to tell a great deal about a person simply by observing the place he has chosen for his home.”
“So we snoop?” said Pete.
“We can look in the window,” replied Jupiter.
Looking in the window of the garage apartment proved to be extremely easy. A flight of stairs went up the outside of the garage and ended in a small landing. There, next to the door of the apartment, was a window with the blinds up.
“How fortunate.” Jupiter Jones pressed his nose against the glass.
Pete crowded in beside him and looked, too, and Bob stood on tiptoe to peer over Pete’s shoulder.
The last light of the setting sun gleamed in through a window in front of the apartment.
It fell on the opposite wall, where there were shelves crammed with books. The boys could see a work table stacked with file folders and more books, a typewriter on a smaller table, a swivel chair and a floor lamp. There was also a studio couch covered with a tan corduroy spread.
“Looks more like an office than a home,” said Pete.
Jupiter stepped back from the window. “Our mysterious houseman likes to read,” he decided. “He also likes to write.”
Bob whistled. “Get a load of those titles!” he said. “The books on the table. He’s got Witchcraft, Folk Medicine and Magic. That’s a new one. We got it at the library this week and it cost $10.95. He’s also got Voodoo—Ritual and Reality.”
Anything on snakes?” asked Pete.
Jupe tried the doorknob, which wouldn’t turn. He then examined the window. “It’s not locked,” he announced. He looked at his two friends. Pete scanned the empty yard around the garage and Bob stared across at the stucco house.
“We get creamed if we get caught,” said Pete.
“We mustn’t get caught.” Jupe pushed the window sash up. The window opened almost without noise. A second later, Jupe was inside the apartment,