The Secret of the Haunted Mirror - M. V. Carey [35]
“There it is,” said Anderson softly.
Jupe and Bob got to their knees and looked out through the windscreen. On their right was a square brick building, much begrimed with age and soot. The sign in front was faded but still readable. The larger of the two trucks owned by Uncle Titus stood in front of the warehouse.
“Uncle Titus and Hans and Konrad are still here,” Jupe informed his friends in the back of the truck.
“That means the kidnapper isn’t, just yet,” said Pete. There was great relief in his voice.
“Pull over and pass the truck,” Jupe ordered Anderson. Go on for half a block, and then stop your engine.”
The bread man went slowly past the warehouse and let the van swerve towards the kerb. Then Anderson turned off the ignition.
Jupe and Bob scrambled towards the back of the van and looked out of the rear window. They saw Uncle Titus come out of the warehouse and climb into the cab of the salvage yard vane Hans and Konrad followed him.
“All right,” said Jupe. “The instructions have been followed to the letter. Now all we have to do is wait.”
Henry Anderson began to get out of the van.
“Where are you going?” asked Pete.
“I’ve got to tinker with the engine,” said Anderson. “What’s the first thing a guy does when his engine stalls? He gets out and tinkers under the bonnet. Wouldn’t look natural if he didn’t.”
Jupiter Jones chuckled. “You have the making of a first-rate detective, Henry Anderson!”
Chapter 16
The Fight for the Haunted Glass
HENRY ANDERSON POKED and pried at the engine of the bread van. He unscrewed spark plugs, wiped them off and replaced them, looked into the radiator, and examined the battery.
In the van The Three Investigators and Jeff Parkinson crouched low. Jupe peered out of the windscreen, keeping his head down so that no one on the street would see him. Pete, on his knees, surveyed the street through the rear window of the van.
“I don’t like it,” said Pete, finally. “The fog’s getting thicker, and it’s beginning to get dark. That crook could already be inside the warehouse, and if he stays there long, we’ll miss him when he comes out.”
“I don’t think he’s inside,” said Jupiter Jones. “He’d be foolish to wait inside for the mirror to be delivered. If Mrs. Darnley had called the police he’d be trapped in there. My guess is that he’s cruising around, checking to make sure the police aren’t waiting for him. If he is, perhaps he’s suspicious of our friend Henry.”
Jupe rapped softly on the inside of the windscreen, Anderson came around to the side of the van.
“Maybe you’d better stop fooling with the motor,” said Jupe “Why not pretend you’re going to telephone for help? Isn’t that what you’d do if you were really stuck?”
Anderson nodded.
“Good. Go and locate a telephone. We’ll need one, anyway, if the kidnapper shows up. Then come back here. We think you may be making our kidnapper nervous.”
“Wouldn’t want to do that,” said Anderson, and he started off down the street.
Five minutes passed, then —
“Look!” said Pete.
Jupe scrambled to the back of the van. Pete pointed. A thin, black-clad man had stepped out from the far side of a fence that surrounded a timber yard. He stood looking suspiciously at the bread van.
“That is him, isn’t it?” Jupe asked Jeff Parkinson.
“I think so,” said Jeff. “Hard to tell in this fog.”
“We’ll know in a minute,” said Bob.
The man started to walk along the road towards the van.
“Geehosephat!” breathed Pete. “He’s headed this way!”
“It is Gómez!” added Jeff. “What do we do now?”
“Get down! Quick!” snapped Jupiter.
Just then the cheery voice of Henry Anderson sounded outside the truck.
“Evening,” said Anderson.
“Yes,” said the kidnapper. “You work late today, I think.