Страница 22 из 23
“She isn’t saying anything until she sees a lawyer,” snarled Havemeyer, “and I’m not, either.”
“I think we can reconstruct what happened,” said Jupe cheerfully. “Havemeyer came here and registered at the i
“A stock swindler,” put in Jensen. “He soft-talked my sister into investing ten thousand dollars in a mining company that’s been an empty hole in the ground for twenty years. Trouble is, there is a mine even if it’s worthless, and we couldn’t nail anything on him.”
“And you are not a nature photographer,” accused Pete.
Jensen gri
“You pla
“I wanted to protect her, and I also wanted to catch him in the act and get him tossed into jail. Only when I got here, he seemed to be married to A
Jupe nodded sympathetically. “So we can go back to the begi
“Havemeyer stayed on at the i
“When Havemeyer was ready,” Jupe continued, “he locked A
“I am sure they were very upset when A
“Havemeyer was afraid it would look odd if he wasn’t cordial to his new wife’s relatives, so he invited them to stay at the i
“But she still got plenty nervous,” Pete put in. “She said Hans and Konrad made her nervous.”
Jupiter went on, “She was also greatly upset at the thought of going to the bank and requesting a new key and having to sign for it — probably in the presence of a bank officer. The routine procedure for entering the safe deposit vault wouldn’t be too difficult. She would still have to sign in, but the attendant at the vault wouldn’t look closely at her signature or question her. Why should he? He knew A
“So fake-A
The deputy closed his notebook and stared at A
“No,” said A
“It’s in the closet,” Pete told the deputy.
The door behind Jensen’s chair rattled. Jensen stood up, put the chair to one side, and opened the door.
Mr. Smathers trotted into the room. He was smoke-stained and incredibly grimy, but very brisk and bright. “Everything’s fine here, I see,” he said. Then his eyes lighted on A
“It’s pretty complicated, Mr. Smathers,” Bob told him. “We’ll explain it to you later.”
“Does he have anything to do with this?” asked the deputy, nodding toward Smathers.
“I hardly think so,” said Jupiter. “I believe Mr. Smathers is exactly what he claims to be — a man who can talk to animals.”
“And they listen,” declared Smathers cheerfully.
“Sure, sure,” said the deputy. “Now maybe somebody will tell me why this guy had a tranquilizer gun?”
“Hideous, isn’t it?” said Mr. Smathers. “Almost worse than a conventional firearm. Imagine wanting to capture a wild creature and put it in a cage. Disgraceful!”
The deputy’s expression was one of total bewilderment. “You mean that in addition to everything else, this man was out to bag a bear?”
“Not a bear,” said Pete.
Mr. Smathers chuckled. “Would you believe, officer, that Mr. Havemeyer thinks there is a monster of some type on this mountain? He harbored the idiotic idea that he could capture a being unknown to science and exhibit it to the public, doubtless charging a fee for anyone who wanted to look at it!”
“A monster?” said the deputy. “The guy’s got cracks in his brain”
“Indeed he does,” said Mr. Smathers. “We all know there are no such things as monsters, don’t we?”
The Three Investigators gaped at the weedy little man. Mr. Smathers smiled and went upstairs.