The Mystery of Wandering Caveman - M. V. Carey [28]
Birkensteen’s briefcase is missing, and ask if he left it when he came in May. Of course, he never got where he was going, but I sure ought to get a reaction if someone from Harbourview Lane knew him. I’ll take the early bus in the morning. I can be in Rocky Beach in a couple of hours.”
“Very well,” said Jupe. “I’ll go back to the foundation to see if I can find Dr.
Birkensteen’s papers. Dr. Brandon might help me. He seemed friendly enough this evening.”
“And I’ll go to Centerdale,” Pete decided.
“What’s in Centerdale?” asked Bob.
“I don’t know for sure,” said Pete, “but it’s the next town down the road, and that’s where the ransom note for the cave man was mailed. Maybe I can pick up some clues there.”
“Good enough,” said Jupe. He closed his eyes and listened to the clock in the church tower down the road begin to strike the hour. He began to count the strokes, but didn’t finish. He dropped off to sleep, and it seemed only a minute later that he woke to find Pete shaking him.
“It’s almost eight,” said Pete. “Let’s go!”
Bob was already up. Jupe and Pete joined him at the outside tap, and the three washed, shivering in the chill air.
The boys ate a hearty breakfast at the cafe on the main street, and then they separated. Jupe went up the road to the Spicer Foundation.
The front door of the big house was open, and he could hear Mrs. Collinwood inside.
“I could swear it wasn’t there yesterday,” said Mrs. Collinwood. “I looked and looked.”
Jupe peeped through the door. Mrs. Collinwood was in the living room. This morning she wore a brown wig that fell almost to her shoulders.
“I told you it would turn up,” said a second woman. She was dressed in a blue uniform and a white apron. She had a feather duster in her hand, and she stood and watched Mrs. Collinwood adjust her wig in front of a mirror.
“You mislaid it, that’s all,” she said.
“It wasn’t there!” insisted Mrs. Collinwood. “You don’t just mislay a wig!”
The woman trailed away with her duster, and Mrs. Collinwood noticed Jupe hovering in the doorway.
“If you’ve come to see Eleanor, she’s not here yet,” said Mrs. Collinwood.
“Is Dr. Brandon in?” Jupe asked.
“He is, if you’ve got the gumption to face him,” said Mrs. Collinwood. “You know where his room is.”
Jupe thanked her and went through the living room and into the hall. Even before he reached Brandon’s workroom, he could hear the archaeologist. Brandon was shouting, and there were bumps and crashes. It sounded as if he were throwing things.
Jupe hesitated in front of the workroom door, wondering whether he dared to knock. Suddenly the door was snatched open.
“What is it?” shouted Brandon when he saw Jupe. “What do you want?”
“Don’t take the boy’s head off,” said a second person. It was Terreano, sitting quietly in an armchair near Brandon’s desk.
Brandon opened his mouth as if to shout again, but suddenly he smiled. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Come on in.”
Jupe entered the workroom. He saw books and papers scattered on the floor, and the typewriter table upset.
Terreano smiled at him. “Excuse the mess. Dr. Brandon was giving vent to some strong feelings.”
Brandon flushed and looked embarrassed. He picked up the typewriter table and set it in place next to the desk. Then he picked up the typewriter. The roller dropped to the floor and bounced away.
“Oh, blast!” cried Brandon.
“Dr. Brandon never actually strikes anyone,” said Terreano, “but he’s very hard on the furniture.”
“Who wouldn’t be mad?” demanded Brandon. “That butterball McAfee is saying I stole his cave man to keep the sightseers from trampling it, and then I sent a ransom note so it would look as if somebody else did it. Then, according to him, I hid the fossil bones I had here so it would look like some kind of nut was running around taking bones.” Brandon glared at Jupe. “McAfee had the gall to telephone and say that. I may kill him!”
“Jim, nobody seriously believes