The Mystery of the Singing Serpent - M. V. Carey [35]
“Dr. Shaitan?” said Jupiter Jones.
Miss Osborne reached out blindly, touched a chair and sat down.
“Did they want the necklace?” asked Jupiter. “Did you give them the imitation?”
Miss Osborne stared at him, at the other two boys and at Allie. “You knew?”
“We’ve known for some time that there was an imitation. We guessed that Shaitan wanted the Empress Eugénie diamonds, and that that’s why Hugo Ariel stayed in this house. Did they threaten you, Miss Osborne?”
She began to sob. “It was horrible! Horrible! They said I had to make an offering.” She took a handkerchief from a pocket in her gown and scrubbed at her eyes. Then she blew her nose in a determined manner.
“But I fooled them,” she said proudly. “I pretended to hold out. I made them wait.
Wasn’t that clever? Because the thing they have is paste, and the real necklace is safe!”
“In the vault at the jewelers’?” asked Jupe.
“At the jewelers’? Why, no. It was delivered when they brought the imitation. The real one was in a sack — an ordinary paper sack. I put it in the pocket of my robe and then later I hid it.”
Allie sighed. “It’s still in this house?”
“Of course it’s in this house. Where else would it be? But it’s safe. No one will ever find it. I’ll never tell. I won’t even tell you.”
Allie knelt beside her aunt. “All right, Aunt Pat. You don’t have to tell me. But we must call the police.” Her voice was very gentle.
“No!”
“Now we have proof,” said Jupiter. “What they did to you is extortion. You must speak to Chief Reynolds.”
“No!”
“Miss Osborne, those are dangerous men, and they are by no means finished with their business in Los Angeles. Unless you talk to the police, innocent people may be hurt.”
“An innocent person has been hurt, and it’s my fault. I can’t! I won’t! You don’t know what you’re asking! You don’t know what it would mean!”
“All right, Miss Osborne,” said Jupiter. “Only think about this: How long will it take Dr. Shaitan to discover that the necklace is an imitation? What will happen then?”
Pat Osborne was silent.
“Think about it, Miss Osborne,” said Jupe, “and don’t wait too long.”
Chapter 17
A Warning from Pete
MISS OSBORNE WAS still sitting in the living room, dazed, when The Three Investigators left.
“That woman is really, really dumb!” said Pete.
“Is she ever!” agreed Bob. “And we can’t do anything if she won’t talk to the police.”
“There is one thing we can do,” said Jupiter. “We know what Shaitan plans. He’s going to eliminate the delicatessen that’s across the street from Noxworth’s store. We’d better locate that delicatessen and warn the owner. He’ll be the next one to receive the serpent.”
“But will he believe us?” asked Bob.
“Probably not,” said Jupiter. “However, we can give him one of our cards and ask him to call us if a serpent object suddenly appears in his life. When the serpent is delivered, he’ll be curious. I think he will call us.”
The boys reached The Jones Salvage Yard and went into the office, where Jupiter consulted the Los Angeles telephone directory. “Noxworth’s Mini Market is at Beverly and Third,” he said.
“There couldn’t be two of them,” said Bob. “Do we call Worthington?”
Jupiter frowned. “Let’s not run Worthington ragged. We can get into Los Angeles on the bus. Once we see Noxworth’s store, we can easily spot the opposition. Only, I have a feeling we’d better not all go. If Shaitan shows up at Allie’s house again, she’ll call here. I want to be here if that call comes.”
Bob leaned against a filing cabinet. “I’d like to stay here, too,” he said.
“Okay. I’ll go,” said Pete. “But if that call comes from Allie, you guys had better yell for Chief Reynolds and the Rocky Beach Police Department. No telling what those crooks will do when they find out the necklace is a fake.”
Pete hiked off to the highway then, to catch the bus into Santa Monica. In Santa Monica he transferred to a Los Angeles bus, and by noon he was standing at the corner of Beverly and Third.
Pete spotted Noxworth’s Mini Market immediately. It