The Secret of the Haunted Mirror - M. V. Carey [8]
“That place gives me the willies!” exclaimed Pete, when the salvage yard truck was under way.
Jupe didn’t answer. He leaned against the side of the truck, wrapped his arms around his knees, and closed his eyes.
“What is it, Jupe?” asked Bob.
“I’m not sure,” said Jupiter Jones. “It was something Santora said — some-thing wrong.”
“He said plenty wrong!” declared Pete. “I don’t care what kind of magic spells you put on a mirror, don’t tell me that anybody can go through the looking-glass and stay there on the other side! And come back every once in a while to scare the life out of real people! Or … or whatever that spook is supposed to do.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” said Jupe. “I think we can write off Santora’s tale as a legend, or perhaps something he made up to try to frighten Mrs. Darnley into giving up the glass.”
“I know,” said Bob. “It was the part about how it took him thirty years to locate the mirror. That doesn’t make sense. A man who is adviser to the president of a republic isn’t exactly in hiding. Manolos had the mirror all that time and he must have been a public figure.”
“Ruffino is not in the news a great deal, is it?” asked Jupiter. “What do you know about it?”
The other two were silent.
“An obscure country that doesn’t make news. Possibly it could have taken all that time to locate the mirror. No, that isn’t what bothers me. It was Santora’s description of the burglar that makes me wonder. Remember, he said, ‘We know that one man —
one small man — cannot carry away the mirror of Chiavo, do we not?’ But he didn’t see the burglar, and no one had described the burglar to him. Yet he said, correctly, that the burglar was a small man.”
Bob groaned. “You and your tape-recorder memory! But maybe that’s just a way of talking. Any man would seem small if he had to handle that mirror. It’s a monster!
Do you think Santora’s in on the housebreaking somehow?”
“He seemed genuinely surprised when he heard there had been a break-in,”
decided Jupe. “Also, he seemed to be alarmed. That break-in meant something to him. He assumed immediately that the burglar was interested in the mirror, though Mrs. Darnley hadn’t quite said so. And only then did he claim to be a descendant of Chiavo’s — as if he had to act fast and give every possible reason why he should have the mirror. No, I don’t think Santora knew about the break-in until Mrs. Darnley told him, but I do think it’s possible that he knows who the burglar is. At any rate, I’m fairly certain that we’ll be hearing more about the mirror.”
“I don’t mind if we never hear of it again,” said Pete.
Jupiter Jones smiled, and the smile was one that his two friends knew very well. He had scented a mystery, and he was eager to take hold of it and solve it. “We must be prepared,” he announced. “It will take Santora at least a week to get any kind of documents from Spain. By that time we can be ready.”
“With what?” asked Pete.
“Information,” said Jupiter happily. “We need to know more about Ruffino. We need to know about Chiavo. From what Mrs. Darnley said, he must have been a famous magician. I have never heard of him. We’ll get busy, and when the time’s right we’ll be ready to move.”
Jupe’s estimate of the time the boys had available proved to be accurate. Almost exactly one week after The Three Investigators had visited the Barnley house, Jeff Parkinson rode the city bus to Rocky Beach. It was mid-afternoon when the carrot-haired youth found The Jones Salvage Yard. Jupe was in his outdoor workshop making minor repairs to an old printing press which he had put together out of spare parts from the yard. Jupe straightened up when he saw Jeff and wiped his hands on a piece of rag.
“You’ve heard from Señor Santora?” he asked.
Jeff shook his head and sat down in Jupe’s swivel chair. “Not