“It’s notes!” Bob realized as they drew closer. Small papers were taped to the door, fluttering in the breeze.
“Kelly!” Pete guessed. “I’m dead!”
“Oh, no!” Bob smacked his forehead. “I forgot Elizabeth!”
Behind them Jupiter guffawed. “Boy, are you two in trouble!”
“Hey, you wanna talk about somethin’ real,” called the familiar voice of Ty Cassey, Jupiter’s second cousin. “Talk
Lean and wiry, Ty was a master mechanic. His backpack was at his feet, and he was leaning over the engine of Pete’s Ford delivery van, tinkering. Whenever he passed through Rocky Beach, Ty joined Pete in restoring cars for resale.
“You’re back, Ty!” yelled Pete.
“Obviously. Man, you know you got engine pingin’?”
“No!” Pete made a beeline for the grease pit. Then he spotted Jupe’s laughing face. “Kelly!” he reminded himself, and turned back to the trailer. Inside he flicked on the lights and dialed her number. The guys heard him say, “Kelly, baby!” Then he slammed the door.
Bob picked notes off the door. “ ‘No one plays tennis in the dark, dummy!’ ” he read, “ ‘Investigators should investigate something important — like why they can’t tell time!’… ‘All guys are the worst!’ ”
The trailer door opened and Pete walked out, whistling. He looked very pleased with himself.
“So?” Bob and Jupiter followed him to the grease pit.
“So, no big deal,” he said. “Tomorrow afternoon I’m taking her to see
“Brilliant idea!” Bob said, impressed that Pete had thought of it. “Every girl in the world wants to see Hack den Zorn’s new movie. That ought to get me out of the doghouse too.” He headed for the trailer phone.
“So the third movie’s out already?” Ty asked Pete as he climbed behind the van’s wheel. Everyone knew about the megahit science fiction trilogy. The first two films had made Hack and his costar Qute den Zorn hot box- office stars. Qute — pronounced “cute” — was also Hack’s twin sister.
“Me, I’d go just to see Qute,” Pete confided. “She is one be — yoo — tiful babe.”
“Don’t let Kelly hear you say that,” Jupe advised.
Jupe went into his electronics workshop, a shack on the other side of the trailer from the grease pit. He pulled out a stool and sat in the doorway. Closing his eyes, he turned over in his mind the meaning of the CHAO$ message. Someone was in danger, and it had to be someone with a computer.
The van’s motor roared to life, and Pete stuck his head under the hood. Ty stepped on the gas. Every time he did, the engine pinged. Ty sped around the van to join Pete under the hood.
Just then the trailer door opened, and Bob emerged with a triumphant smile on his handsome face.
“We’re going with you to the movie tomorrow!” he shouted to Pete. “Jupe, you’ve got to come too. Elizabeth has a cousin she wants to set you up with!”
Jupe opened his eyes and rolled them. “I’m busy!”
“Come on, Jupe,” Pete encouraged. “If you don’t bore her to death with the theory of relativity, you’ll have a great time.”
Despite his big brain, Jupiter found girls a huge mystery. “I’ve got to clean up the virus,” he insisted.
“Okay, chicken, but
Slowly Jupe walked over and picked up the phone. He cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. Hello, Elizabeth.”
Pete watched, amused. How was Jupe going to get out of this one?
An idea glinted in Jupe’s eyes. “I’d love to go out with your cousin, but the only time I have open is dinner. She’s welcome to join me — for peanut butter and bananas.” Jupe paused, listening. He smiled. “Of course. I’m very sorry that she doesn’t do peanut butter. Maybe next time. Good-bye.”
Chuckling, Jupe hung up the telephone and returned to his stool to work on the CHAO$ question.
Pete laughed and shook his head. Now back to important things — like the van’s pinging. He asked Ty, “What’s the prob?”
“When fuel and air mix it up, you know, in the engine’s combustion chamber, they’re s’posed to burn smooth,” Ty explained. “But sometimes they don’t. Then you get little bursts or explosions. That’s what makes the pingin’.”
“Will it hurt anything?”
“You bet. Bad detonation can raise the combustion chamber temperatures so high that metals melt and kill the pistons and valves.”
“Oh, no!” Pete groaned.
“Relax, man.” Ty chuckled. “We’re in like Flynn. You were gonna do a tune-up on this baby anyway, right?”
“Yeah,” Pete said eagerly. “Do you mean a tune-up will take care of it?”
“Yup. Your ignition timin’s off, that’s all.” Jupe was getting nowhere fast with the CHAO$ problem. He headed into the trailer to work on cleaning up the Investigators’ PC. First he had to purge the system, then boot it back up using the original software. It could take days. After that he’d have to start reinventorying the junkyard. It looked as if they’d lost data on furniture, appliance parts, garden utensils…
Suddenly Bob bellowed across the yard. “Jupe! Pete!”
The guys turned. Bob was running toward them. He looked both surprised and alarmed.
“There’s a guy out there,” Bob panted. “He’s watching the salvage yard! He’s got on a green jacket and white high-tops!”
The investigators ran to the junkyard entrance. They looked up and down the shadowy street. There was no traffic and no one was in sight.
“Where is he?” Pete demanded.
“Down there,” Bob said, nodding toward a pepper tree growing next to a street light.
Suddenly the growl of a motorcycle erupted, then died.
“That’s him!” cried Bob.
The guys ran toward the motorcycle. The man in the green jacket stomped the starter again. This time the engine caught, and he took off.
“Back to my car!” Pete ordered.
The Investigators reversed directions and piled into Pete’s Aries, parked just inside the junkyard. They zoomed away.
“There he is!” Jupe pointed down a side street. But just then the motorcycle veered off around a corner.
Pete sped up to the corner of the next block, where the motorcycle appeared to be heading. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on the guy. He turned the corner.
“We found him!” Bob exclaimed at the sight of the speeding motorcycle. “Good going, Pete!”
The Investigators leaned forward, excited to be closing in on the dangerous stranger. Now they’d get some questions answered.
Then the motorcycle turned again… and disappeared into the middle of the block! Pete accelerated to the spot. He turned too — right into an enclosed public parking lot.
“You sure he came in here?” Bob asked Pete. The parking lot was empty!
“Nowhere else he could’ve gone.” Pete touched the gas pedal, and the Aries rolled forward. The parking lot was eerily quiet.
“Man, this place is a tomb,” Bob said.
“Why can’t we hear his motorcycle?” Jupiter muttered. “Where’d he go?”
