The Mystery of the Singing Serpent - M. V. Carey [6]
“He’s still there at your house?” asked Pete.
“He is, and my Aunt Pat seems to think he’s keen. But then, Aunt Pat is totally off her rocker. Even before Ariel showed up, she used to draw a circle around her bed every night with a knife. That was to keep away evil influences. Now she’s taken to lighting candles —
lots of candles. They’re very special candles. They’re delivered from a shop in Hollywood and they’re all colors. Purple is for protection and blue means something else and orange is good and red is very powerful. Every night Aunt Pat and Ariel go into the library and light candles and lock the door.”
“And then?” prompted Jupiter.
“And then, sometimes, I hear that sound.” Allie shuddered slightly. “I can hear it even if I’m upstairs, but I can hear it best if I’m in the living room. It comes out of the library.”
“Marie said it was a singing noise,” said Jupe.
Allie looked down at her hands. “I suppose you could call it singing, only . . . only I never heard any singing like it before. It’s really eerie.”
Jupiter frowned. “Marie said something was singing. She didn’t say it was someone, she said it was something. She made it sound as if the noise wasn’t made by a person.”
Allie pulled herself erect in the chair and looked squarely at Jupiter. “Look, it doesn’t matter. Ariel’s doing it somehow and I can’t stand it. It’s got to stop!”
“Is it so bad?”
“It’s bad. It’s so bad we can’t keep any help. The agency’s sent two maids since Marie left. They won’t stay. The place is knee-deep in dust and I’m starving to death, since I happen to be a rotten cook and Aunt Pat is worse. And I’m not allowed to make any noise because Ariel sleeps all day and wanders around the house all night. I don’t like it and I want him out!”
“Getting rid of unwelcome house guests isn’t exactly in our line,” said Jupe. “I should think that if you had a talk with Miss Osborne … ?”
“I have talked with Aunt Pat until my throat hurts,” said Allie. “She just smiles at me as if I had butterflies in my brain and changes the subject and talks about her old movie junk.”
“Movie junk?” echoed Pete.
“She collects stuff from old movies,” explained Allie. “She has everything from the fake eyelashes Delia LaFonte wore in Spring Fever to the sword John Maybanks used in Marko’s Revenge. Every time some movie star pops off or decides to move and get rid of his stuff, Aunt Pat is right there at the auction. That’s where all her money goes.”
“It sounds like a harmless hobby,” said Jupe.
“So does lighting candles,” Allie pointed out. “Only if Ariel comes with the candles, I draw the line. He’s too much. He’s got to go — him and his horrible noise!”
Pete leaned back against the printing press. “You know, Jupe, it could be kind of fun,”
he said. “We could short-sheet Ariel’s bed and put frogs in his bathtub and gartersnakes in his shoes.”
Allie snorted. “Ariel would love gartersnakes. What I want to do is get something on him!”
“Blackmail again?” said Jupe quietly.
“He asked for it, horning in in my house. Only I can’t find out anything about him. He doesn’t talk to me — he doesn’t even seem to see me. And Aunt Pat won’t tell me anything.
There’s something funny about him, and she doesn’t want me to know what it is.”
“But if she already knows —” began Pete.
“What she knows can’t be real bad,” interrupted Allie, “or she wouldn’t have him around. She’s kind of a dimwit, but she’s not bad. What I want is some information I can clout him with. I need to know where he came from and what he’s up to. That’s where you come in.
“Now listen, tonight Aunt Pat’s giving a party. She’s been on the telephone inviting people and Ariel has been stirring up some brew for a punch. If there’s going to be a party, there will be other people in the house and maybe they’ll give us some lead to Ariel. So, since it is my house, you’re invited to the party.”
“Do we taste the punch?