“But you haven’t heard about mystery guest number four,” Kelly said, lowering her voice even more.
The four teenagers looked toward the closed curtains around Juliet’s bed to be sure she wasn’t waking up. Then Kelly continued her story. “The fourth person I call Mr. Sweetness,” she said. “He was like a brick wall with a bad temper. He was big, in his thirties, wearing an army camouflage jacket. As soon as he saw me, he put the collar up to hide his face. Maybe ’cause he was so ugly!”
“Why didn’t you ask his name?” said Pete grumpily.
“Hey — I did, and he told me to mind my own business. And he meant it,” Kelly said. “Then he drew the curtains around Juliet’s bed so I couldn’t see anything.”
“But what did you hear?” asked Jupe.
“Well,” Kelly said, “I heard him go through her closet and after that, every drawer on her side of the room.”
“Slowly or quickly?” Jupe asked.
“Quickly,” Kelly answered with a decisive nod.
Jupe smiled. “From that I’d have to conclude that he wasn’t just browsing. He knew exactly what he was looking for.”
“But he didn’t find it. He left empty-handed,” Kelly added.
“Unfortunately, there’s no way to get any more answers until Juliet wakes up,” Jupe said, starting to pace the floor.
“And she’d better wake up during visiting hours or the dragon lady will kick us out again,” Pete said.
Bob peeked around the corner of Juliet’s curtains. “She doesn’t look too bad,” he said. “The newspaper this morning said she was lucky to be alive. She totaled her car in the crash.” Bob turned back to his friends. “Have you been to the scene of the accident yet?”
Jupe shook his head and kept pacing back and forth. Just then the nurse with red hair came into the room carrying a large bouquet of flowers.
She looked at Kelly and then at each of the guys in the room. “Three boys?” she said, shaking her head at Kelly. “Don’t you think you should let someone else have one?” She set the flowers down by Juliet’s bed and then walked to the door. “I’ll be back,” she said, almost like a warning.
“What for?” Pete muttered when she was gone. “Well, this is interesting,” Bob said, examining the flowers the nurse had left. “These are from Michael Argenti.”
“Why is that interesting?” asked Pete.
“Because he’s the competition,” Bob said. “He owns the Roast Roost restaurants.”
“How do you know all this stuff? I mean, between you and Jupe, it’s disgusting,” Pete said.
Bob laughed. “No, it’s just that one of the bands we handle at the agency just played at the grand opening of a new Roast Roost franchise. And Michael Argenti was supposed to be there, but he kept us waiting four hours in the hot sun until he showed up.”
“Can you explain why Argenti would send flowers to the daughter of his rival?” asked Jupe.
“Sax does things like that sometimes,” said Bob. “It’s a business practice. Doesn’t mean you actually like the guy. I heard Argenti and Big Barney can’t stand each other. Every time Michael Argenti makes a wish on a wishbone, he wishes Big Barney would drop dead. And it’s the same for Big Barney.”
“Well, now at least we’ve got some suspects,” Pete said, pounding his fist into his hand.
“Yeah, but do we have a crime?” Jupe asked. At that moment Big Barney Coop opened the door. He froze for a second, obviously surprised at seeing a roomful of people.
Jupe studied Big Barney’s full, round face. What was that deep in his eyes? Was it the look of a father worried for his daughter? Or was it the look of a maniac who didn’t want his daughter to find out about his plot to poison the world?
Without walking into the room, Big Barney said, “How about giving me time alone with my daughter?” Jupe, Pete, and Bob reluctantly moved out into the hallway. Jupe glanced around and then walked toward the nurses’ station in the center of the hall. There was only one nurse behind the desk, the woman with the copper-red hair. Her nametag said Elizabeth Lazar, R.N.
“Could you tell me who was the nurse on duty last night?” Jupe asked.
“Funny you should ask,” Nurse Lazar answered. “Not that it’s any of your business, but it was me — that’s who. One of the other nurses ran off and got married and I’ve been pulling triple shifts. Twenty-four hours straight.”
Jupe smiled excitedly. “Great. Then perhaps you could tell me about Juliet Coop’s three visitors,” he said. “Besides her father.”
Nurse Lazar frowned and shook her head. “No way. Patient info is strictly for the family.”
The conversation was closed. Jupe could see it in her eyes. She was tired, she was grumpy, she was, a lot of things, but talkative wasn’t one of them. Jupe sighed and looked away.
“It’s really important,” Bob said, running his hand through his blond hair.
She turned her stare on Bob, who smiled back. Then he said in his most friendly voice, “Triple shifts, huh? What a bummer. How about if we personally sing you three choruses of the Beatles song of your choice — and, trust me on this, you haven’t heard ‘Sergeant Pepper’ until you’ve heard us.”
“Spare me the charm. I’ve had a long day,” Nurse Lazar said. But her face actually thawed and she almost smiled. “Okay, look. There weren’t three visitors last night. Only two — a young man and a young woman.”
“What about the guy in the army jacket?” Jupe asked.
Elizabeth Lazar’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I told him he couldn’t go in,” she said. “What a nerve! That guy gave me the creeps.”
“Why?” Bob asked.
“He kept asking me questions,” she said. “And he was asking some doozies.”
“For example?” asked Jupe.
“ ‘Is she going to make it?’ — he said it just like that. And ‘Where is her personal property?’ Questions like that. He didn’t exactly look like a friend of the family, either.”
“Did you get a good look at him?” Bob asked.
Nurse Lazar shook her head. “I’m not a face person,” she said. “I remember his jacket and his questions. I could remember his temperature if I took it. Not his face.”
“Thanks,” Bob said.
As the Three Investigators turned away, Jupe said, “This Mr. Sweetness sounds suspicious to me. But maybe Juliet knows who he is. Let’s go back in the room and see if she’s awake.”
“Hey, guys,” said Nurse Lazar, shaking her head. “Juliet Coop was shaken up pretty badly, and her body needs to sleep it off. So she won’t be awake for a while.”
With that piece of news, the Three Investigators decided to take another approach. Jupe and Bob would do exactly what they’d done on a million other cases in the past. They’d go to Rocky Beach’s police station to talk with their longtime ally, Chief Reynolds. Pete, on the other hand, would do exactly what Kelly told him to do — stay at the hospital and keep her company.
