The Three Investigators - 28 - by The Mystery Of The Deadly Double-us

Author:The Mystery Of The Deadly Double-us [Double-us, The Mystery Of The Deadly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

A Clever Fugitive

“A sketch in some spot that wouldn’t be cleaned at once, and wouldn’t be noticed by the kidnappers.” Jupiter exclaimed. “That’s what we should look for. Search everywhere again!”

But again they found nothing — no drawings, no marks at all on any wall or piece of furniture.

“There’s nothing here, Jupe,” Pete said with a sigh. “I guess Ian didn’t have time after he spotted the kidnappers.”

Jupiter whirled towards Pete. “I believe, Second, you’ve just said it!”

“I did?” Pete replied. “What did I say?”

“Ian is obviously very smart,” Jupiter said slowly, “yet he told the manager to send the visitors right up! He was in hiding, and he couldn’t have been sure if they were friends or enemies, but he had the manager send them right up.

Would we have?”

“No,” Bob said. “We’d have had the manager stall them until we could have a secret look at them!”

Jupiter nodded. “Of course, Ian could have seen the men from the window, but that would have been a lucky accident. No, there’s only one reason for Ian to have had them come right up — he didn’t need to stall them, and perhaps make them realize he was suspicious, because he had a plan already!”

“What plan, Jupe?” Bob wanted to know.

“The simplest of all — to leave the room and hide where he could see them, in a place where he would have had a head start in running again if they turned out to be his attackers from Los Angeles. Come on.”

The others followed him out of the room and along the corridor.

“Somewhere close to the exits,” said Jupe, thinking aloud. “Some place where he could see their faces. Somewhere” — his eyes searched the hallway —

“like that storage closet!”

It was a long, narrow walk-in closet for linens and mops, only a few feet from the stairway. With the door open an inch, there was a clear view of the elevator and the top of the stairs. Anyone arriving on the floor and heading for

Ian’s room could be easily seen.

“Look for any kind of pencil drawing!” Jupiter instructed.

Pete found it almost at once, on the inside of the closet door.

“Here! Wow, it’s a really good little sketch. A car. I can see the driver, and something like a badge on the side, and something on top!”

Jupiter frowned. “A car? But what could a car mean?”

“It’s not a regular car, First!” Bob cried. “Look, the driver has a cap on, and that thing on top is a light! It’s a taxi!”

MacKenzie said, “There’s a taxi stands out front!”

“He expected us to guess what he’d do to observe any visitors,” Ndula said, “and is telling us he planned to flee in a taxi!”

They practically ran outside to the single taxi waiting at the hotel taxi stands. The driver was reading a magazine. No, he hadn’t taken any boy from the hotel four days ago or any time.

“How many taxis operate from this stands?” Ndula asked.

“Plenty, mister, but all from our company. Exclusive.”

“Where is your main garage?” MacKenzie asked.

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