sir.”
The old man nodded, confused, and began to walk away. Jupiter waited only for a moment. Then he started towards the waiting truck.
“Hurry, fellows, there may still be time to get that last crooked cat! Konrad, put the bikes on the truck and drive to 39 Chelham Place! Hurry!”
Konrad wheeled the truck into the tree-shaded street of big, old houses not more than a block from the ocean. The boys saw no trace of a blue car on the street.
“I knew we’d never catch up with him, First,” Bob said, dejected.
“You were locked in too long, Jupe,” Pete agreed.
“There is always the chance that something will hold him up,” Jupiter insisted. “That must be number 39 up at the end of the street. And, fellows, it’s dark!”
It was a three-storey white house surrounded by tall trees and flower beds. It was dark in the early dusk, as Jupiter had said. A car was parked in the driveway, but it wasn’t a small blue car. As Konrad drove closer, lights went on inside the house.
“Someone must have just come home?” Jupiter declared.
Konrad slowed the truck to park in front of the house. Suddenly a woman’s cries shattered the twilight:
“Thief! Stop him! Police!”
Konrad jammed on the brakes and had the truck door open before the truck had come to a full stop.
“The tattooed man must be in there!” Pete cried.
“Hurry, fellows!” Jupiter urged.
They all leaped from the truck, but Konrad was first The big Bavarian waved them back.
“I take good care of him, boys! Stay behind me!”
They began to run towards the house where the woman was still crying out. Then Pete stopped and pointed up among the trees to the side of the house.
“Look!” he cried.
They all saw the shadowy figure in the dusk coming swiftly down the sheer side of the house. As they watched, the figure swarmed down from unseen handhold to handhold, and dropped to the ground in a pool of light from a downstairs window. It was the swarthy, tattooed man and he carried a large black-and-red bundle.
“It’s him!” Bob exclaimed. “He’s got the crooked cat!”
Andy shouted, furious, “Stop, you thief!”
The man’s head jerked round at Andy’s shout He saw the boys and Konrad, and whirled instantly towards the rear of the house. He disappeared among the back garden trees. Konrad bellowed like a bull and pounded in pursuit.
“I get him, boys!” Konrad yelled But the tattooed man was faster than Konrad or the boys, and vanished into the next street while they were still among the trees. Pete was the first to reach the next street. He stood staring helplessly as the others panted up. They all watched as far up the street the small blue car started and quickly roared away out of sight. “We had him, and we lost him!” Pete moaned.
“He got my last crooked cat, too!” Andy wailed.
“We got his licence number earlier,” Bob pointed out eagerly. “The police can trace him!”
“That would take some time, Records,” Jupiter said, crest-fallen. “But possibly in his haste he left some clue at the house! Come on, fellows, hurry!”
As they reached the big white house, a pretty woman was standing on the side steps with a small boy behind her. Her eyes were wide with alarm, and she looked suspiciously at the boys and Konrad. “Do you boys know that awful man?” she demanded.
“We do, Ma’am,” Jupiter declared. “He is a nefarious thief we have been attempting to apprehend. We traced him to your house, but we came just too late.”
The woman stared. “You’ve been trying to catch a criminal like that? Why, you’re only boys!”
Jupiter frowned in annoyance. The First Investigator had long resented the assumption of adults that because they were “only boys,” they were without intelligence or ability, and therefore unimportant.
“It is true we are ‘only boys’, Ma’am,” Jupiter said a little stiffly, “but I assure you that we have much experience solving puzzles and crimes. I presume you are Mrs. Mota?”
“Why, yes,” Mrs. Mota said, startled “How on earth did you know my name?”
“We knew that man was coming here,” Jupiter explained. “Unfortunately, he delayed us. We really didn’t expect to find him still here, but I gather that you have just come home?”
“Yes,” Mrs. Mota nodded. “Billy and I were out. We came home only a few minutes ago. Billy went straight up to his room, and the next thing I knew he was calling for help!”
The small boy, no more than ten years old, said eagerly, “He was up on the stairs to the top floor! He jumped down when he saw me and grabbed my crooked cat!”
“Of course, you had the crooked cat with you!” Jupiter understood in a flash. “That was why he was still here! He couldn’t find the cat in the house, so he had to wait!”
“After he had Billy’s cat,” Mrs. Mota went on, “he started down, saw me, and ran up to the second floor. That was when I began to call for help.”
Pete said, “And he climbed out of the second-floor window and down the wall!”
“Like a human fly!” Bob exclaimed.
“Billy,” Jupiter said, “Did you find anything on that crooked cat? Or anything inside it?”
“Nope,” Billy Mota said. “I guess I never looked.”
The boys all looked glumly at each other. The last crooked cat was in the hands of the tattooed man. They stood in the dusk trying to think of what they could do next.
“He got what he wanted,” Bob said. “We’ll never find him.”
“We could still get the licence number of his car traced,” Pete said hopefully.
“That will take time, Second,” Jupiter said again. “It has to be sent to Sacramento. Perhaps we should — ”
Konrad, who had been standing silently by all this time, now stepped up to Jupiter and broke in.
“We now call the police, Jupiter.”
Jupiter protested, “But, Konrad, by the time — ”
Konrad shook his head. “You call the police now. Your Uncle Titus would say that, too. This lady is robbed, her house broken in. The man is dangerous, I think. We have lost him. It is now for the police.”
Bob agreed. “We can’t catch him now, Jupe.”
“We’d better call Chief Reynolds, First?” Pete said.
Jupiter sighed and his shoulders dropped. “I suppose you’re right. May we use your telephone, Mrs. Mota?”
“Of course you can, boys,” Mrs. Mota said. They all trooped inside, and Jupiter called Chief Reynolds. It didn’t take long. The Chief, respected anything the boys reported. Jupiter started to hang up.
“He’ll be right over here, and — ” Jupiter stared at the receiver in his hands. “Andy! Call your father at the carnival! Find out if anyone is missing!”
“Missing?” Andy frowned. “Jimmy, Jupe, I told you I never saw that man before.”
“We agreed he is probably in disguise,” Jupiter said. “That swarthy face could be a mask, and a tattoo can be hidden. Find out if everyone is at the carnival!”
“Well, all right,” Andy said, dubiously, “but my Dad’s awful busy just before the show opens, and it’s hard to be sure who’s there or not.”
“Try, Andy!” Bob urged.
Andy went to the telephone, and dialled. He listened for a time as the phone rang and rang.
