The Secret of the Haunted Mirror - M. V. Carey [24]
The truck turned off the freeway, and in a few minutes Konrad stopped at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street and the boys climbed out.
“You want me to pick you up later?” asked Konrad.
“No, we’ll take the bus,” said Jupiter. “We may be in Hollywood all day.”
“Your Aunt Mathilda will be cross,” warned Konrad. “She does not like it when you are away on Saturday.”
“But she usually forgives us,” said Jupe.
Konrad drove away and the boys began their search. The first costume shop on Jupiter’s list was on Vine Street. The Investigators went into a huge building, a place much like a warehouse. There was a small office area near the door where a jolly, balding man sat leafing through a copy of a trade magazine. Beyond the office the boys saw racks and racks of costumes of all sizes, colours, and descriptions.
The balding man looked up. “Yeah?” he said.
Jupiter took out the piece of fabric. “My aunt is trying to match this,” he said.
“She borrowed a costume for a party. She tore it and she has to get it fixed before she returns it. She hasn’t been able to find the material in any of the regular shops. Do you have anything like it? Could you fix it?”
The man took the material and rubbed it between thumb and forefinger. “Hmm!”
he said. “Wool. Dalton Mills used to make something like this, but we never used it.”
He handed the fabric back. “Sorry,” he said.
The boys murmured their thanks and left.
“I feel like giving up right now,” said Pete.
“We’re only beginning,” said Jupiter. “Places that rent costumes never throw anything away. They mend and clean and keep things forever. It doesn’t matter if the material isn’t new.”
At the second costume company the boys tried, the proprietor had never seen fabric like the piece Jupe showed him. It was the same at the third, fourth, and fifth shops the boys visited. It was almost eleven o’clock when Pete and Jupe came to a building on Santa Monica Boulevard which housed the Lancet Costume Company.
Inside there was the usual office area, and there was a stout man leaning on a counter smoking a cigar.
Jupiter presented the piece of fabric and repeated the tale of the damaged costume.
The man took the cigar out of his mouth and glared.
“Tell Baldini to do his own dirty work!” said the man.
“Baldini?” echoed Jupe.
“Don’t act so dumb, kid,” snapped the man. He picked up the piece of cloth.
“Only one like this,” he said, and his voice was suddenly a bit softer. “Dalton Mills used to make a wool that had silver threads, but it wasn’t this good. This was woven for Drakestar the magician.”
Jupe felt his heart give a thump.
“I was crazy to let that down-and-out Baldini rent Drakestar’s robe,” said the costume man. “Now you two get yourselves over to that crummy rooming house on Virginia Avenue and tell Baldini to bring back the robe. I can fix it, but it will cost him money. Can’t do re-weaving for nothing. Now beat it!”
“My aunt’s fabric …” began Jupiter.
“Kid, that is not your aunt’s fabric, and for all I know you don’t have an aunt. Tell Baldini to bring the robe back or I may take five minutes off and go round and beat his ears down!”
Jupiter and Pete retreated with as much dignity as they could muster. When they were outside, Jupiter laughed out loud. “Wonderful! Someone named Baldini rents a robe which once belonged to Drakestar and then haunts a mirror in Drakestar’s house! I was hoping we’d find the right costume shop and get a lead on the ghost, but this is too good! Our ghost is a real artist!”
“And he lives in a crummy rooming house on Virginia Avenue,” said Pete. “It must be near here, if that man could go there in five minutes and beat his ears off.”
“Shall we go?” said Jupiter Jones.
They went, excited now, and they found the rooming house easily. Most of the buildings on Virginia Avenue were fairly new apartment houses, but one old place which had once been a private residence remained. It was shabby, but the lawn was neatly mowed and there were flower beds near the porch. A sign in front indicated that a room was available.
“What now?” wondered Pete.