The Mystery of the Singing Serpent - M. V. Carey [37]
“Would you hot-shots please tell me what you’re doing now?” he asked.
“Have you had a complaint about us?” asked Jupe. “I’ve had a call from the Los Angeles Police Department, Juvenile Division. They asked me if I knew you, and I had to admit that I did.” The chief pointed a finger at Pete. “You paid a call on a merchant named Hendricks today,” he accused.
Pete gulped.
“You left your calling card and the telephone number of this place,” said the chief,
“which is why the LAPD called me. They think that you’re trying to shake down Mr.
Hendricks.”
“Shake him down?” cried Pete. “I wasn’t trying to shake him down. I was trying to warn him.”
“It didn’t sound that way to Hendricks. It sounded more like a threat. Care to explain?”
“We’d be glad to,” said Jupiter quickly.
“Fine,” said Chief Reynolds. “I’m listening.”
Jupiter decided that professional ethics would not permit him to mention Allie and her aunt, but otherwise he told the chief everything. He told of finding a mysterious house in Torrente Canyon, and of the peculiar brand of magic being practiced there. He admitted entering the house. He related the conversation he had overheard between Shaitan and his confederate. “We believe that Mr. Hendricks is in danger,” he finished. “When the power of the singing serpent is invoked —”
Chief Reynolds held up his hand. “That’s enough. Don’t get so carried away. Los Angeles is full of weirdos who burn candles and chant to the moon. If they arrested everyone who thinks he’s got some kind of pipeline to super power, there wouldn’t be standing room in the city jail. Now I will explain about you three to the Los Angeles police, and that won’t be easy. But please do me a favour. Keep out of other people’s houses, or you’ll really collect a load of buckshot some day.”
When he had gone, Pete said, “You should have told him about Miss Osborne and that necklace.”
“I couldn’t,” said Jupiter. “Allie is our client and we have to protect her. And Miss Osborne would deny our story, anyway.”
In the office of the salvage yard, the telephone rang. Jupiter went to answer it. He was back outside in seconds. “That was Allie,” he said. “The power of the singing serpent has been invoked against her aunt! The cobra was just delivered!”
Chapter 18
Living Terror
ALLIE WAS WAITING in the doorway when the boys arrived at the Jamison house. She had the cobra in her hands. It was not a piece of jewelry, like the serpent which Margaret Compton had received. It was a gilt statue about six inches tall. The body of the snake was a heap of shining coils. The hooded head reared out of this. Red eyes sparkled as Allie held the thing up.
“Who was the messenger?” asked Jupiter Jones.
Allie led the way to the living room and put the statue down on the coffee table. “I don’t know,” she said. “Someone rang the bell and left the box on the front porch and took off.”
“I don’t suppose it matters,” said Pete.
“No, I don’t think it does. What does matter is that Aunt Pat got to the box before I did. Even before she unwrapped it, she was shaking. She knew.”
“And then?” asked Bob.
“She saw the snake and she read the card.”
Jupe bent over the white square of cardboard on the table. “ ‘Belial will claim his own. A soul is more precious than diamonds,’ ” he read aloud.
“They printed it nice and big, so she’d be sure to get the message,” said Allie.
“And she got the message?” said Bob.
“Well, she fainted. I never saw anybody faint before. I didn’t know what to do. After a while she opened her eyes and began to moan. I got her upstairs and put her to bed.”
“Will she talk with the police now?” asked Bob.
“No. I told her she had to. I told her we had real evidence — the wrappings and the card and all. She said it wouldn’t do any good. She said it might be too late, and the only thing that might help would be to give Shaitan the real necklace.”
Jupiter started. “She isn’t going to do that?”
“She can’t,” Allie told him. “She hasn’t got it. I found it.”
The Three Investigators