The Mystery of Wandering Caveman - M. V. Carey [39]
“Easy!” Pete warned. “Jupe’s trying to remember something.”
“Wadlee Road,” said Jupe. “Where’s Wadlee Road?”
“It’s a little industrial section in Centerdale.”
“Then that’s it!” cried Jupe. “There was a name on that list. Scienserviss. It probably stands for Science Service. It must be the name of some company that sells chemicals. DiStefano’s going to buy the things he needs to make more formula.”
“Oh!” said Eleanor. Then she was out of the car and groping for change for the pay telephone in the parking lot.
“Here!” Bob stood beside her, holding out some coins.
A dime plunked into the telephone, and Eleanor dialled. She waited perhaps twenty seconds, then said, “This is Eleanor Hess, Newt McAfee’s niece. The man who stole the fossil bones from the cave in Citrus Grove is Frank DiStefano. Right now he’s probably at Science Service on Wadlee Road in Centerdale, buying chemicals to make more of that formula that puts people to sleep. When your men go to pick him up, they should be careful. He can knock them out if they aren’t.”
Eleanor hung up, and she and Bob ran back to the car. Eleanor zoomed out of the parking lot and headed for Centerdale.
“I sure hope they were listening good at the sheriff’s station,” said Eleanor.
“So do I,” Jupe agreed. They were clear of the town now, and Eleanor’s foot came down on the accelerator. The woods on either side of the road flashed by. Jupe planted his feet against the floorboards and braced himself as they sped around curves.
No one spoke until they passed the sign announcing that they were entering Centerdale. Then Eleanor stepped on the brake, and the car almost skidded as they slowed to the legal limit.
“We don’t want to get stopped now,” said Eleanor.
They rolled past the two supermarkets that faced each other across the street, and Eleanor turned right. The boys saw smaller shops and a few houses, and then they were among industrial buildings. Eleanor turned again.
“This is Wadlee Road,” she said, “but I don’t see any car from the sheriffs department.”
Then they spotted a square, windowless building with a sheriff’s car near the loading dock. DiStefano’s car was next to it. DiStefano was standing beside the sheriffs car with his spray bottle in his hand.
DiStefano whirled, saw them coming, then leaped towards his own ear.
Eleanor turned into the driveway of the chemical company. The boys saw that the one officer in the sheriffs car was slumped forward with his head on the steering wheel. They saw DiStefano behind the wheel of his car. His face was distorted and he was shouting something. The grinding of his engine resounded across the lot. He was trying to start his car, and it was stalling and stalling.
It caught at last and jerked into motion. The tyres squealed on the pavement as DiStefano sped towards the road.
Eleanor Hess leaned hard on her steering wheel.
There was a jolting crash, and then a clanging, jangling sound as metal parts bounced to the pavement. Eleanor had caught Frank DiStefano’s right front side, crushing his fender against the wheel.
DiStefano shouted a curse and scrambled out of his car. He ran towards Eleanor, his spray bottle in hand.
Instantly Pete was out of the back seat, with something hard and dark and round in his hand. He threw it, and it caught DiStefano on the forehead. DiStefano staggered, dropped his spray bottle, and fell, stumbling backward over his own feet.
There were sirens and flashing lights on the road, and a second sheriffs car pulled into the lot. It screeched to a stop just a few feet from DiStefano. Officers got out with guns drawn. They looked down at DiStefano, and then they looked at Eleanor and the boys.
“There were all these groceries in the back,” said Pete brightly, “so I beaned him with an aubergine!”
Chapter 18
The Million-Dollar Motive
THE DEPUTY SHERIFF sat on the terrace behind the Spicer mansion and looked with open longing at the swimming pool that sparkled in Tuesday morning’s sun.
“We have a good case against DiStefano,” he said. “His fingerprints are on the trunk