The Secret of the Crooked Cat Read online

  “Maybe it’s in the lion tent, Pete,” Bob suggested.

  But the crooked cat wasn’t anywhere in the lion tent, and they all went back to the shooting gallery. The cat wasn’t anywhere in or around the gallery, or where Pete had calmed Rajah.

  “I had it just before we saw Rajah,” Pete said unhappily. “I must have dropped it and someone picked it up.”

  Jupiter, who had been silently fuming with impatience ever since they had started to look for the crooked cat, now burst out, “I’m sure Andy can get you another, Pete. Mr.

  Carson, when we—”

  But Andy said, “Gee, I can’t get Pete another cat. That was my last, remember? I had five, and gave them all out.”

  “I’m sure we can find something better,” Mr. Carson said.

  Jupiter could contain himself no longer. He blurted out, “Is there trouble in your carnival, Mr. Carson?”

  “Trouble?” Mr. Carson repeated, his deep, dark eyes on the First Investigator.

  “What makes you ask that?”

  “Before you found us, sir, we observed a man watching us, or listening to us, at Rajah’s tent.”

  “Watching you?” Mr. Carson frowned, and then laughed. “No, you must be mistaken. Your imagination was probably working overtime after Rajah.”

  “That is possible,” Jupiter admitted somewhat stiffly, “but we didn’t imagine what we had discovered just before we saw that man listening. Rajah did not escape, he was let loose!”

  Mr. Carson watched them. “Come to my truck, boys.”

  The trucks, trailers and cars of the carnival people were parked in a field next to the show. Mr. Carson and Andy lived in a truck with a trailer hookup on the rear. Inside were two bunks, chairs, a desk covered with business papers, a small safe, and a big wicker basket filled with damaged prizes — torn stuffed dogs, a dirty stuffed cat, broken dolls.

  “I fix all the broken prizes,” Andy said proudly.

  Mr. Carson was serious. “Sit down, boys, and tell me.”

  He listened intently as Jupiter described what they had found at Rajah’s cage. “I’ve studied lock-picking, sir, and I recognized the marks. We’re really experienced detectives.”

  Jupiter handed Mr. Carson the boys’ card:

  THE THREE INVESTIGATORS

  “We Investigate Anything”

  ? ? ?

  First Investigator–Jupiter Jones

  Second Investigator–Peter Crenshaw

  Records and Research–Bob Andrews

  Mr. Carson smiled. “An interesting hobby, boys, but—”

  “Our works is more than a hobby, sir,” Jupiter said proudly. “The Rocky Beach Police attest to our seriousness.” He presented the second card the boys carried: This certifies that the bearer is a Volunteer Junior Assistant Deputy cooperating with the police force of Rocky Beach. Any assistance given him will be appreciated.

  Samuel Reynolds,

  Chief of Police

  “I apologize, boys,” Mr. Carson smiled. “The Chief’s statement seems to indicate you are real detectives. Still, you’re mistaken this time.”

  “Jupe’s never mistaken, sir,” Bob declared.

  “Come now, Bob. I’m sure that Jupiter is an amazing young man, but everyone can be mistaken.”

  “But, Dad!” Andy broke in, “what about—”

  Mr. Carson stood up. “That’s enough, Andy! No more, you hear? Jupiter is mistaken. But the boys did us a service, and here are three free passes for everything at the carnival.” He handed them to the boys. “Is that a good reward, boys?”

  “That is very generous, sir,” Jupiter acknowledged.

  “Oh, no!” Bob cried. “Look, the door!”

  On the drawn blind of the rear door they all saw a massive shadow with wild hair, beard, and enormous shoulder muscles.

  “That’s the shadow!” Pete hissed.

  Mr. Carson walked quickly to the door, opened it, and then turned to the boys smiling. A man entered, and the boys gaped at him. He was only normally tall, but his bare shoulders bulged with muscles. He wore only black-and-gold tights, which clung to his powerful legs like skin, and tight, gleaming leather boots. His black hair and beard stood out wild and thick.

  “This,” Mr. Carson said, smiling, “is Khan, our strong man. One of your mysteries is explained, boys. Khan, like all of us, has more than one job. He’s in charge of our security. I’d guess he saw you slipping round and decided to check on you.”

  “That is correct,” Khan said in a deep, serious voice.

  Mr. Carson nodded. “There you are then, boys. Now I have business with Khan, and Andy must go back to the shooting gallery, and you go and have fun. Remember, it’s all free.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Jupiter said quietly. He motioned to Bob and Pete. Outside the truck, Jupiter walked ahead until they were behind a trailer, out of sight of the truck.

  Then he suddenly stopped, ducked down, and peered back.

  “What are you doing, Jupe?” Bob asked.

  “I’m sure something is wrong in this carnival, Records,” the First Investigator said.

  “That Khan has something on his mind. He didn’t look much like a guard when he was listening to us. And I’m sure Andy would have told us something if his father hadn’t stopped him. Let’s get close to that window and listen.”

  “Wait!” Pete said quickly.

  Andy Carson came out of the truck and hurried away towards his shooting gallery.

  The boys slipped up to the window.

  Khan’s deep voice was saying, “… now Rajah escapes. What next, Carson? Maybe we won’t be paid at all.”

  “You’ll all be paid next week. Khan,” Mr. Carson said.

  Khan said, “You know how superstitious carnival people are. The show is unlucky.

  There will be more trouble.”

  “Now, Khan, listen to me. You—”

  There was a step inside, and the window banged shut above the boys’ heads. They heard no more and hurried away.

  “Gosh, there is trouble,” Pete exclaimed, “but what can we do if Mr. Carson won’t even talk about it?”

  Jupiter was thoughtful. “He won’t let Andy talk, either, but we have passes, and we can watch. Tomorrow, Bob can check the newspapers at the library for any stories of trouble at the carnival in other towns. Tomorrow, we’ll meet and see what we can decide.”

  “What are you going to do, First?” Bob asked.

  “I think,” Jupiter said ominously, “I shall spend the rest of the night in search of the necessary knowledge.”

  Chapter 6

  Andy Is Amazed

  PETE slept badly that night, trying to think of ways to make Mr. Carson let the boys investigate. By morning he still had no ideas and was eager to find out if the other Investigators had thought of something. He hurried down to breakfast and found his father was up ahead of him.

  “Gosh, you’re up early, Dad,” Pete said.

  “A hurry call from Alfred Hitchcock,” Mr. Crenshaw explained, “Some special work on our new picture. Unfortunately, Pete, I promised your mother I’d clean out the basement today. I’m afraid you’re elected to do it for me.”

  Pete groaned inwardly and said, “Sure, Dad. I’ll do it.”

  That was why Pete didn’t pedal his bike up to the Jones Salvage Yard until after lunch. In the yard he made his way to a long section of corrugated pipe that seemed to vanish into the mounds of junk. This was Tunnel Two, the main entrance to Headquarters. Pete crawled into the pipe and emerged up through the trap door into the trailer. Jupiter was there.

  “Have you thought of a way to get Mr. Carson to let help?” the First Investigator asked promptly.

  “No,” Pete sighed. “I can’t think of anything.”

  “Neither can I,” Jupiter admitted glumly. “I guess we don’t have a chance unless Bob finds something to help us at the library. I’ve been watching for him.”

  Jupiter was standing at the See-All, and now he peered into the eyepiece again. T
he See-All was a crude but efficient periscope Jupiter had built to remedy the one disadvantage of Headquarters—they couldn’t see out. The See-All stuck up above the junk that hid the trailer, looking like a piece of ordinary pipe, and the boys could see most of the salvage yard.

  “There he is now!” Jupiter cried.

  Moments later, Bob came up through the trap door waving a notebook and looking excited.

  “You found troubles at the carnival?” Pete exclaimed.

  Bob beamed. “It took all morning, but I got it! The carnival isn’t very important, so I had to read most of the small-town newspapers.”

  “What did you find, Records?” Jupiter asked impatiently.

  Bob opened his notebook. “Three weeks ago the carnival lost its pony ride in Ventura. Three of the ponies died of food poisoning. Then, three days ago there was a fire when they were just north in San Mateo. Three tents were burned: the fire eater’s tent, the lion tent and part of the shooting gallery. They were lucky to stop it.”

  “The lion tent?” Pete exclaimed. “That makes trouble there twice.”

  “It could be coincidence,” Jupiter said. “We must never jump to conclusions. But it would be interesting to know if the pony ride was also located in the same carnival area.”

  “The papers didn’t say, First,” Bob said.

  “No,” Jupiter said thoughtfully. “Both so-called accidents could have been much worse. The carnival was lucky, unless—” Jupiter did not finish that thought. “I assumed that those two other accidents were all you found, Records?”

  “How did you know that, Jupe?” Bob asked, puzzled

  “Last night we heard Khan mention superstition,” Jupiter reminded them. “After I got home I talked to Uncle Titus and read some of his books—you remember Uncle Titus worked in a circus. One of the oldest carnival superstitions is that accidents happen in threes. So Rajah’s escape was the third!”

  “Gosh, do they still believe that?” Pete asked.

  “Carnival people tend to live apart, Second, and hold to old beliefs,” Jupiter explained. “But I did more than read carnival history last night. Uncle Titus told me of a book that lists all circus and carnival performers. I called the reference room of the Los Angeles library this morning. There is no listing for a strong man named Khan!”

  “Khan’s a fake?” Pete exclaimed.

  “It could be he hasn’t performed recently,” Jupiter admitted. “Or he could be from out of the country. But there is something suspicious about Khan.” His eyes gleamed.

  “And I’ve got an idea of how to get us involved with the carnival. We won’t convince Mr. Carson right away, but I think if we get Andy here we can convince him by following my plan.”

  “What plan is that, Jupe?” Pete asked.

  Jupiter began to explain his plan, and after a few minutes both of the other boys were grinning and nodding.

  **

  A short while later Pete was again watching the salvage yard through the See-All.

  “Here he comes, fellows!”

  When the blond carnival boy came up to the workshop outside Headquarters, Pete was waiting for him.

  “What’s up, Pete?” Andy asked.

  “We thought you might like to see our secret Headquarters, and how we work,” Pete said. “Come on.” He led the carnival boy into Tunnel Two and up through the trap door into the trailer.

  “Jiminy! What a neat place!” Andy cried.

  He stared wide-eyed at the microscope, telephone, periscope, walkie-talkies on the wall, filing cabinets, metal detector, shelves of books and trophies, and all the other equipment the boys had arranged so that Andy couldn’t miss it. He looked at Bob and Jupiter, who seemed to be hard at work. Neither of them even glanced up. Jupiter was peering through magnifying goggles at a lock and a book. Bob was studying something under a lighted glass screen.

  Pete said in a low voice, “We know there’s something wrong at your carnival, Andy.

  We’re investigating the details.”

  “But you can’t,” Andy said. “You don’t know.”

  “Science and our training will tell us what you won’t, Andy,” Pete declared, sounding as pompous as Jupiter.

  Suddenly Jupiter stood up. “A professional criminal released Rajah, fellows,” he announced as if unaware that Andy was in the room. “There is no doubt. The indentations on the exterior face of the lock are proximate patterns of a type-seven picklock! The purpose was certainly to cause trouble.”

  Andy stood and blinked at the stream of

  words he only half understood. Before he

  could gather his wits, Bob started talking.

  “It’s certain, now, that three weeks ago

  the deaths of three ponies caused the pony

  ride to be abandoned,” the Records and

  Research man of the trio stated. “Then a fire

  destroyed three tents and part of the

  shooting gallery. This has caused financial

  loss, and Mr. Carson has been unable to pay

  wages.”

  Still acting as if he didn’t know Andy

  was present, Jupiter nodded and asked.

  “What do we know about the performers?”

  “The

  strong

  man,

  Khan,”

  Bob

  announced, has no previous record of work

  in carnivals. Possibly he is an impostor.”

  Through this whole big act, Andy’s

  mouth had dropped lower and lower. Now

  he could contain himself no longer.

  “Who told you all that?” he blurted out.

  Both Bob and Jupiter turned as if

  amazed to find Andy in the room with them.

  Jupiter looked his most innocent. “Andy, I didn’t know you were here,” he said.

  “Someone had to tell you all that!” Andy said hotly.

  “No, Andy,” Jupiter shook his head. “We’re investigators, and we simply found out.

  Do I understand we’re correct?”

  Andy nodded. “All of it, even Khan. He’s using a false name because he’s really a circus performer. He needed money, so he came to work for us. But carnivals are lower than circuses, and he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s working for us. We don’t even know his real name, but he’s a good strong man.”

  “I suppose that’s all possible,” Jupiter acknowledged. “But one thing is clear, Andy

  — someone is causing trouble at your carnival. We’d like to help find out who, if your Dad will let us.”

  Andy looked at them all. “If no one told you about all that, tell me how you found out? I don’t believe in magic, no sir. How’d you do it, fellows?”

  “Elementary, my dear Andy,” Jupiter said, and grinned.

  Bob and Pete grinned, too, as Jupiter explained what they had done to find out about the problems of the carnival. Andy was all admiration when Jupiter finished.

  “Jiminy, you fellows are good detectives! I’ll bet you could find out what’s happening at the carnival. But carnival people are very proud, and my Dad doesn’t want outside help.”

  “He could lose the carnival soon, Andy,” Jupiter said.

  “I know. If we can’t pay next week—” Andy stopped and his face became determined. “All right, if Dad won’t let you help, I will! Fellows, I know someone is trying to make Dad lose the carnival because of me!”

  Chapter 7

  A Startling Discovery

  “IT’S MY GRANDMOTHER! She hates Dad,” Andy said.

  The carnival boy’s face became sad. “My mother died when I was little. She had an accident. I never really knew her too well.”

  “We’re sorry, Andy,” Bob said sympathetically.

  “It happened a long time ago,” Andy said. “Anyway, my grandmother — Mom’s –

  mother — never liked Dad or the carnival. She didn’t want Mom to marry Dad, and when Mom died, my grandmother blamed it on Dad and the carnival.
She hates the carnival, says it’s no place for a boy. Well, after Mom died, Dad was kind of broken up, and the carnival wasn’t doing well. I was awful young, you know? Grandma wanted me to live with her. She’s not rich, but she’s got some money, and Dad was moving around a lot, so he let me live with Grandma.”

  Andy’s face darkened. “When I got older, I hated living at my grandmother’s. She was nice to me, but she’s scared of everything and wouldn’t let me do anything! I wanted to be with Dad in the carnival. So this year I ran off and joined Dad. Jiminy, but Grandma was mad. She came after me, but she never did have me legally, so when I said I wanted to stay with the carnival. Dad told her to go home!”

  Jupiter broke in, “Did she threaten trouble, Andy?”

  Andy nodded. “She told Dad she’d never let me be like him and get hurt like my mother. She threatened to go to court to prove Dad couldn’t take care of me. So Dad decided to try the show out here in California. That was partly to get far away from Grandma, and partly to try to make enough money to prove he could take care of me.

  But now, with these accidents, Dad could lose the whole show!”

  Jupiter was serious. “Do you really think your grandmother would go so far as to ruin the carnival?”

  “I don’t know, Jupiter,” Andy said slowly. “I’ve tried not to think about it. She was always nice to me, even if she does hate Dad. But I can’t think of anyone else.”

  “Still, those accidents could have hurt you, Andy,” Jupiter said thoughtfully. “I don’t think she’d resort to such desperate measures. Maybe there’s some enemy of your Dad’s you don’t know about. Someone with a stronger reason to ruin him.”

  “I don’t know, Jupe, but their scheme is going to work if we don’t find out,” Andy said. “The whole carnival is scared about the next accident.”

  “The next?” Jupiter said, surprised. “But they should be feeling safer. You’ve had three accidents.”

  Andy shook his head. “They all decided that Rajah’s escape doesn’t count because no one was hurt and nothing bad happened, thanks to Pete. So they’re still waiting for the third one.”

  “That’s dangerous,” Bob pointed out “When people start expecting an accident they get nervous, and accidents are sure to happen.”