“Well, it’s been repaired, but it’s a good job. My kids at the home will like it. Here’s your money, son.”
Stunned, Bob took the twenty-five dollars without really knowing what was happening. He found himself staring at the tattooed man, but, fortunately, the man immediately returned to looking at other cats. Recovering himself, Bob backed away from the table.
As he did, he saw the pile of stuffed cats on the floor behind the table. One was his own, and one wasn’t any more like the cat Pete had lost than his was. But the other two were identical to Pete’s prize.
The stream of kids was thinning now, and Bob hesitated. He was torn between leaving before he attracted attention and staying to see if he could learn more about crooked cats. He decided to risk staying a little longer.
“I need cats to match a giant cat the children’s home has as a kind of mascot,” the tattooed man explained to some disappointed boys. “It was made in Germany a long time ago. We want similar cats to give to all our kids as Christmas presents.”
“Gee,” a boy who had just failed said, “maybe I know who has one like you want, mister. My friend Billy Mota won a cat at the carnival.”
“Did he?” the tattooed man said. “Unfortunately, I suppose he didn’t see my ad, and I only have today.”
“He lives near me, 39 Chelham Place,” the boy blurted out.
“I won’t have time, son,” the tattooed man said. For an instant, Bob was certain that the swarthy man’s dark eyes had flickered towards him. But he could not be sure that it hadn’t been his imagination. The crowd in the room had dwindled to a very few boys, and Bob realized that soon he would be too obviously hanging round after selling his cat.
Quietly, as the tattooed man was eagerly buying one more cat that looked exactly like the one Pete had lost, Bob slipped through the door. On his bike he rode back to the grove of palms. Jupiter and Andy greeted him anxiously.
“You were in there a long time,” Andy said.
“I was trying to see if I could learn what was valuable about those cats, but I couldn’t,” Bob explained. “But I did see the man, Andy, he’s pretty tall and swarthy, and he’s got a tattoo of a sailing ship on his left arm! Have you ever seen a man like that at the carnival?”
“A tattooed sailing ship?” Andy frowned. “No, Bob, never. Some of the roughnecks are tattooed, but not like that. I don’t know anyone who sounds like that man.”
Jupiter was thoughtful. “He probably keeps the tattoo hidden at the carnival, and the way he looked to you, Bob, is maybe another disguise. Andy searched his car, but found no clues at all. We took the licence number, though.”
“I have something more important, Jupe,” Bob said. “He bought our cat!”
Jupiter was incredulous. “He bought it? The fake?”
Bob displayed the twenty-five dollars. “He bought five cats, all told. Three of them looked like Andy’s cats, but ours and one other didn’t. What’s he doing, Jupe?”
“Did he recognize you, do you think?” Jupiter asked.
“How could he? I never saw him before.”
“Unless he was that old thief last night,” Jupiter pointed out. “If he did recognize you, he might have bought wrong cats to fool us.”
“You said he only got three like mine?” Andy asked.
“That’s all, but some boy told him about another kid who won a cat at your carnival. He got the address of the other kid, and so did I:
“Good work, Records,” Jupiter said. “If he is after the carnival cats, and the three he bought don’t turn out to be what he wants, he’ll have to go after that fourth cat. We’ll go to Billy Mota, too, but first we have to see what he does with the cats he has, and if he finds — ”
Andy broke in, “I think the last boy is leaving!” They watched as a solitary boy came out of the house still carrying a blue-and-white stuffed cat The tattooed man appeared at the front door, looked up and down the quiet street, then went back inside. The sound of the door lock snapping shut carried to the boys.
“Come on,” Jupiter whispered.
The grey day was growing dark early as they slipped up to the stucco house. At the living-room window they carefully raised their heads to look inside.
“There he is,” Bob whispered.
The swarthy tattooed man sat at the long table. On the table in front of him were three crooked cats, all exactly like the one Pete had lost. The tattooed man was examining each of them in turn.
“They’re my crooked cats, all right” Andy whispered.
“Look in the corner!” Jupiter said.
On the floor behind the table were two more cats — the stuffed cats that were not like Pete and Andy’s.
Jupiter said, “He’s thrown those aside! He does want only your carnival cats, Andy!”
“Shhhhhh!” Bob warned. Jupiter’s voice had risen as he realized that the tattooed man was really after the carnival cats. In the room, the man flung down the last cat, and stood up with a long, wicked knife gleaming in his hand.
Unable to move, the boys peered in the window as the tattooed man stood over the table with his long knife.
Suddenly, he began to slash at the first crooked cat with the knife. He cut into the second cat and the third. He stared at the crooked cats, and then began to fling the stuffing all over the table. With his hands moving frantically, he pawed over the stuffing and the pieces of covering.
Breathing hard, the tattooed man dropped his knife and slumped down in the chair behind the table. He looked with gloomy hatred at the hacked remains of the three crooked cats.
Bob whispered, “He didn’t find what he wants!”
“No,” Jupiter agreed, “but whatever he’s looking for is something inside the cats — or one of the cats. And that means it has to be inside the last missing cat! The one that Billy Mota has! If we hurry, we can get there before — ”
“Jupiter!” Andy cried. “He’s coming out!”
Inside the room the tattooed man had jumped up again. His angry eyes glanced all round the room. Then he reached for a hat on a chair.
“Quick, fellows, those bushes!” Jupiter muttered.
They dived for the cover of three thick hibiscus bushes and lay flat in their shadow. The front door closed, and the tattooed man came hurrying round the house. He didn’t even glance towards them, but strode past to the back alley. He vanished from their sight, and moments later they heard a car door open and close. The car engine started and roared away out of the alley.
“He’s gone to get that last crooked cat, First!” Bob guessed.
“Maybe we can catch up with him,” Andy said.
“On bicycles?” Bob pointed out. “Chelham Place is over five miles from here, Andy, near your carnival.” The boys all looked at each other in despair.
“He’ll get the last crooked cat,” Bob moaned. “And we can’t stop him.”
“I guess we can’t,” Jupiter agreed. He got up from under the hibiscus bushes and looked glumly at the small house. Then his eyes lighted up. “Or maybe we can! Fellows, look at those wires! The house has a telephone!” Without waiting for an answer, the First Investigator ran to the front door. It was locked.
“The windows!” Andy cried.
The carnival boy tried a living-room window. It was open! He pushed it up and the three boys tumbled inside.
