The Secret of the Crooked Cat (ahatti-1) by William Arden

Author:William Arden [Arden, William ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: child_det
Published: 1970-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

12

A Human Fly

In the locked storeroom of the small house, Andy looked up at Jupiter from the floor.

“How far does that signal reach, Jupe?”

“Three miles,” Jupiter said, and suddenly groaned again. “Of course, the carnival is almost five miles from here! Pete won’t get our signal!”

They all looked at each other.

“Someone’ll hear us yelling, fellows,” Bob said, trying to make his voice optimistic.

“Of course they will,” Jupiter said firmly. “But in the meantime, we can try to find a way out ourselves. The experts say there’s no such thing as a room you can’t get out of somehow. There’s always a flaw in a room. Come on, let’s find it.”

“But how, Jupe?” Andy asked. “We’ve looked.”

“There’s always a chance that we’ve missed something,” Jupiter declared. “Bob, you examine all the walls for weak spots, places where pipes go through, anything. I’ll check the window more closely, and Andy can recheck the doors and that cupboard in the corner.” Despite their pessimism, Andy and Bob couldn’t help being convinced by Jupiter’s staunch refusal to give up. They set to work with renewed vigour. But Andy soon decided once again that there was no way. out through the solid doors, and Bob found no weak places in any of the walls.

“Keep trying, fellows!” Jupiter urged. “There must be some weakness in this room.”

The First Investigator continued to study the barred window, and from time to time yelled out for help. Bob got down on his hands and knees to examine the walls at the floor. Andy went into the single cupboard. “Jupe! Bob! Look here!”

The carnival boy held a typewritten sheet of paper he had found in the cupboard. “It’s a complete itinerary of the carnival,” Andy told them. “Our whole route and schedule in California.”

“Then the tattooed man is part of the carnival” Jupiter said in triumph.

“Or at least he’s following the carnival pretty closely,” Bob said.

“Andy,” Jupiter exclaimed, “did you recognize his voice? You didn’t recognize the tattoo, or his face, but think about his voice”

“No,” Andy said slowly, “I’m sure I’ve never heard that voice before, Jupiter.”

Jupiter thought a minute. “He could be disguising his voice, too. It had that odd rasp.”

After looking at the carnival itinerary, Bob began to rummage round in the long, narrow cupboard that was partly filled with old boards and boxes. Suddenly he came out with some strange clothes in his hands.

“Look at this, fellows. I found it all just dropped on the floor.”

Bob held up a pair of strange, black overalls that were cut very narrow, like tights; a black hoodlike head covering that fitted a whole head but left the face open; and a pair of black canvas shoes with odd rubber soles that looked a little like curved suction cups.

Jupiter frowned. “It looks like some kind of costume, Records. Perhaps a carnival costume, but I don’t recall any costume like that. Andy?”

Andy was staring at the black garments with a puzzled expression. He took them and studied them. “Well, what is it, Andy?” Jupiter wanted to know.

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