The needle-sharp point of the sword stopped only inches from Jupiter’s chest. Slowly Jupiter reached out and took the paper off it. With another abrupt movement Three-Dots withdrew the sword blade, and once more it was just a cane.
“You will hear from me again,” he said sharply. “In the meantime, if Augustus returns, phone me.”
He turned, got into his car, and was gone.
6
Strange Deductions
JUPE WAITED until the car was out of the gate, then he turned. He was pale.
“There’s somebody not to fool around with!” Pete exclaimed. “I thought he was going to stick you, Jupe.”
“He was warning me,” Jupiter said with a slight gulp. “He was letting me know it’ll be too bad for anybody who tries any tricks on him.”
“I think that’s the same man who called on my father ten years ago,” Gus spoke up. “I can’t be sure, but he looks like the same one.”
“He has the same three dots on his forehead,” Bob said. “And he looks as if he came from the Far East, maybe somewhere in India. The three dots could be title mark of some special religious group.”
“Why’d you let him know there had been an Augustus of Poland bust in the bunch?” Pete asked. “That really stirred him up.”
“He seemed to know about the busts,” Jupiter said, taking a swallow of root beer. “I wanted to see if Augustus meant anything to him. It did, all right. Possibly he stole the copy of the message from Mr. Dwiggins.”
“He doesn’t wear glasses and a black moustache,” Gus objected.
“He could have hired someone to do it for him,” Bob suggested. “Anyway, he certainly had some idea Augustus was important.”
“He was fishing for information,” Jupiter said. “So was I. I persuaded him to give me his name and address.”
He put the card Three-Dots had given him on the desk. It said, in engraved script:
Rama Sidri Rhandur
PLESHIWAR, INDIA
Under it he had written in pencil the name and address of a motor hotel in Hollywood.
“India!” Pete exclaimed. “Bob was right! But if Three-Dots is from some fanatical group in India who wants to get The Fiery Eye, I vote we forget the whole thing. I read a book about Indian tribesmen who were out to get back some kind of holy relic. They’d just as soon cut you up as look at you. Why, the look in that fellow’s eyes — ”
“So far we’re just guessing,” Jupiter said. “Bob, it is now time to do some research.”
“Sure,” Bob agreed. “What kind?”
“In the library,” the First Investigator told him. “See if you can find out anything about The Fiery Eye. Also look up Pleshiwar, India.”
“Right,” Bob said. “Suppose I report back after dinner. My family sort of expects me to eat dinner at home once in a while.”
“That will be time enough,” Jupiter told him. “We will start the Ghost-to-Ghost Hookup going then.”
“My word!” Gus said as Bob pedalled away. “I had no idea what I was letting you in for! Somebody attacks Mr. Dwiggins — Three-Dots comes here and threatens you, Jupiter — there is obviously a lot at stake and a great deal of peril. I haven’t any right to endanger you. I think I had better just go home and forget about The Fiery Eye. You can stop hunting for Augustus, and if Three-Dots or Black Moustache find him, they can fight it out between them.”
“Gus, that’s mighty good thinking!” Pete exclaimed. “How about it, Jupe?”
But the expression on Jupe’s face gave him the answer. Give Jupiter Jones a good mystery to solve and it was like handing a steak to a hungry bulldog — he wasn’t going to give it up!
“We’ve only just started on this investigation, Second,” Jupiter said. “We’ve been wanting a mystery to tackle, so we can’t give up a good one when it comes along. Anyway, there, are certain curious facts I haven’t figured out yet.”
“There are? Such as what?” Pete asked.
“It is my deduction,” the First Investigator said, “that Mr. Dwiggins locked himself in the closet.”
“Locked himself in the closet?” Gus’s voice was full of astonishment. “Why should he do a thing like that?”
“I don’t know. That’s part of the mystery.”
“What makes you think he locked himself in, First?” Pete asked. “I mean, he was locked inside and he certainly looked as if he had been handled roughly.”
“Superficial evidence meant to mislead us,” Jupiter said. “Think about it, Second. Use your ability to reason. Mr. Dwiggins said he’d been in the closet for an hour and a half, didn’t he?”
“Well — yes.”
“During which time he pounded on the door and called for help. Now what would a man do first under such circumstances?”
“He’d put his glasses on straight!” Gus cried. “Or else, because it was dark, take them off and put them in his pocket. He wouldn’t let them hang by one ear for an hour and a half!”
“I guess you’re right, Gus.” Pete scratched his head. “Also he’d straighten his tie. You’re right, Jupe, he fixed his tie and glasses to make us think he’d been attacked.”
“Always analyse all the facts,” Jupiter said. “I must admit, though, that Mr. Dwiggins was very convincing. I might not have thought of being suspicious except for one fact. Come over here behind the desk, both of you, and put your hands on the seat of this chair.”
He stood up. Pete and Gus both touched the wooden seat of the swivel chair.
“Now touch the desk,” Jupiter directed. “And tell me the difference between the two wooden surfaces.”
Both touched the desk. Gus exclaimed, “The chair is warm because you were sitting in it. The desk top is cooler.”
Jupiter nodded. “And when I picked up Mr. Dwiggins’s chair back in his office, I noticed to my surprise that the seat of it was slightly warm, as if someone had been sitting in it up to a minute or so before. Then when I thought about the glasses and necktie, I realized what must have happened.
“Mr. Dwiggins saw us drive up and get out of the car. He knocked over the chair, hurried into the closet, and disarranged his glasses and tie. Then he sat down and began to shout for help. He probably hadn’t been in the closet more than two or three minutes before we found him.”
“Wow!” Pete exclaimed. “Why would he do all that?”
“To deceive us,” Jupe answered. “To make us think his copy of the message had been stolen, when it hadn’t.”
“You mean there was no middle-sized man with glasses and a black moustache?” Gus asked.
“I don’t think so. I think Mr. Dwiggins made him up. My theory is that Three-Dots, Mr. Rama Rhandur from India, may have paid Mr. Dwiggins for his copy of the secret message, and Mr. Dwiggins thought of this scheme to make us think it had been stolen.”
“It certainly sounds logical,” Gus admitted. “That would explain how Mr. Rhandur came here, too. He solved the message enough to realize the importance of those busts.”
“And he said he’ll be back!” Pete exclaimed. “Maybe he’ll bring some of his buddies with him next time. Suppose he doesn’t believe we really don’t know where Augustus of Poland is? They have some pretty fierce tortures to make people talk, over there in the Orient.”
“You’re letting your imagination run away with you, Second,” Jupiter told him. “This is California, not the Far East. I haven’t heard of anybody being tortured here since Indian days.”
“There always has to be a first time,” Pete muttered darkly.
Gus was about to say something when the phone rang. Jupiter answered. “Jones Salvage Yard, Jupiter Jones speaking.”