The Mystery Of The Talking Skull Part 8

"Try the next block, Konrad," Jupiter said. "Maybe number 532 is there."

But in the next block the houses were numbered in the four hundreds. There was no 532 Danville Street. Konrad pulled the truck to a stop and looked questioningly at the boys.

"Do you suppose Mrs. Miller wasn't telling us the truth?" Bob asked. "That she never lived at 532 Danville Street at all? Maybe back where we left her she's tearing the house apart looking for that fifty thousand dollars. Maybe she was just trying to get rid of us."

"No," Jupiter said. "I believe Mrs. Miller was telling us the truth. Something has happened to number 532. You two wait here. I shall make a quick investigation to see if I can find out what."

Jupiter slid out of the truck and disappeared. After some minutes he returned, puffing slightly.

"Well," he said, "I learned something anyway. I talked to the superintendent of the apartment house. He's been there ever since it was built. He says it was built nearly four years ago, and that six houses in the block were moved to make room for it."

"Moved!" Pete exclaimed. "Moved where?"

"To Maple Street. That's about three blocks away, parallel with this street. The houses were in good condition and not too big so instead of being torn down they were moved over to vacant lots along Maple Street and put on new foundations. Mrs. Miller's house is still around-it's just in a new location."

"Good grief!" Bob said. "A travelling house! How can we find it? It won't be numbered 532 anymore. It'll have a new street number."

"Well," Jupiter said, "we can telephone Mrs. Miller and ask her to describe it to us.

Then we can go over to Maple Street and look for it."

"We can't do that today," Bob pointed out. "It's getting too late."

"Yup, Jupe, got to get back to the yard," Konrad put in. "We are late now."

"Well, we'll do it tomorrow," Jupiter said. "All right, Konrad, let's go home."

Konrad started the motor and pulled away from the curb. As he did so, a large black car with three very hard-faced men in it also pulled out from the curb, a block back of them, and followed. They did not notice it, which was just as well for their peace of mind.

It was almost closing time at The Jones Salvage Yard when they got back, and t.i.tus Jones mildly scolded them for being gone so long. Then he turned to Jupiter.

"Jupiter, my boy," he said, "while you were gone, a package came for you. Were you expecting something?"

"A package?" Jupiter looked surprised. "No, I wasn't expecting anything. What is it, Uncle t.i.tus?"

"I don't know, my boy. It's all wrapped up, a large box, and as it is addressed to you, naturally I didn't open it. There it is, beside the office door."

All three boys rushed to the box. It was an oversize cardboard carton, securely sealed with many strips of heavy brown adhesive paper. The label on it indicated that it had come by express from Los Angeles but did not give the name of the sender.

"Golly, what do you suppose it is?" Pete asked.

"We'll have to open it to find out," Jupiter said, puzzled. "Let's take it back to the workshop and open it there."

With some difficulty he and Pete carried the box around the piles of secondhand material to the seclusion of the workshop. Jupiter produced his prized Swiss knife with many blades, swiftly cut through the strips of sealing paper, and folded back the top of the carton. Then all three stared with dismay at what was inside.

"Oh, no!" Pete groaned. "Not that!"

It took even Jupiter a moment to find his voice, "Someone," he said, "has sent us back Gulliver's trunk."

They stared at the top of the trunk that they'd thought they were rid of forever. And as they did so, a very m.u.f.fled voice spoke.

"Hurry!" it said. "Find-the clue."

Socrates! Speaking to them from inside the trunk!

Chapter 12.

The Three Find Some Clues "WELL, NOW WHAT?" Pete asked gloomily.

It was quite late the following afternoon, a Sat.u.r.day. The Three Investigators were gathered at the rear of The Jones Salvage Yard for a consultation. The previous evening they had felt no desire to investigate the riddle of the return of Gulliver's trunk. Its mysterious reappearance had, indeed, rather shaken them up. They had hidden the box behind the printing press and agreed to put off their next move until today.

Bob had just arrived from his job in the local library. Jupiter, in charge of the salvage yard while his aunt and uncle were in Los Angeles for the day, was taking advantage of a lull in business to join him and Pete.

Now they were all looking at the trunk and wondering what to do with it.

"I know what," Bob said. "Let's take the trunk right down to Chief Reynolds, tell him everything we know, and let him carry on from there."

"Good idea!" Pete agreed emphatically. "Well, Jupe, what do you say?"

"I suppose so," Jupiter said slowly. "Except that we really don't know too much. We think think Spike Neely hid the stolen money in his sister's house, but we can't be positive. It's just a good deduction." Spike Neely hid the stolen money in his sister's house, but we can't be positive. It's just a good deduction."

"It's good enough for me," Bob said. "Spike showed up at his sister's house the same day he stole the money up in San Francisco. So he must have had it with him. He was afraid of being caught, so he probably hid it before he left. He thought she'd keep right on living there, so someday when the coast was clear he could come back for it."

"Besides," Pete put in, "if he didn't hide it there, we don't know where he hid it and couldn't find it anyway. It's all we have to go on."

"Yesterday," Jupiter said, "Socrates spoke to us."

"I'll say he did!" Pete shuddered. "And believe me, I didn't like it."

"It was sort of unnerving," Bob agreed.

"But he did speak to us. At the moment I'm not even trying to figure out how,"

Jupiter said. "He told us to hurry and find the clue. So there must be a clue in the trunk even if we haven't spotted it yet."

"If there's a clue in it, Chief Reynolds can have the police laboratory go over it inch by inch," Pete argued. "Anyway, he may not need it. If he can locate Mrs. Miller's house on Maple Street, he can get permission to search it and probably find the money anyway."

"That's true," Jupiter agreed. "Well, all right. But first we ought to phone Mrs.

Miller to ask her to describe the house, so we can tell the Chief what it looks like."

"Then let's do it!" Pete said. "On to Headquarters."

"Just a moment," said Jupe. He went out to the front of the salvage yard, saw that Hans and Konrad could handle the few customers, then followed Bob and Pete into Tunnel Two.

A minute later they were inside Headquarters. Jupiter looked up Mrs. Miller's number in the telephone book and very shortly was speaking to her.

"What did my house look like?" Mrs. Miller repeated in some surprise. "Why, my goodness, all you have to do is go to 532 Danville Street and there it is."

When told that the house had been moved, and that a large apartment house now stood on the spot, she gave a little gasp.

"An apartment house!" she said. "No wonder the man was so anxious to buy it. If I'd known the truth, maybe I'd have asked for more money. Well, anyway, it's a cute little bungalow with brown shingle siding. Just one story, but it has a little attic with a round window in front. I can't tell you anything special about it. It was just a nice, well-built little bungalow."

"Thank you," Jupiter said. "I'm sure the authorities will be able to locate it."

He hung up and looked at his two companions.

"The more I think about it," he said, "the more I feel sure that the money is hidden in Mrs. Miller's old house, but in some very tricky manner. And I'm sure there's a clue in the trunk, too."

"Even if there is, I'm tired of that trunk!" Pete said firmly.. "See what happened to Maximilian the Mystic. Now the trunk's come back to us, and I don't want it. It's dangerous. Let Chief Reynolds look for the clue."

"Well, we did agree to cooperate with Chief Reynolds," Jupiter said. "So I guess the thing to do is take the trunk to him. We'd better phone to let him know we're coming."

He used the telephone again, and in a moment was connected with Police Headquarters.

"Chief Reynolds' office, Lieutenant Carter speaking," a crisp, unfamiliar voice answered.

"This is Jupiter Jones. May I speak to the Chief, please?"

"Chief Reynolds is away until tomorrow," Lieutenant Carter replied curtly. "Try him then."

"But this may be important," Jupiter said. "You see, I think we have a clue that-"

"Forget it, kid!" Lieutenant Carter said impatiently. "I'm very busy, and one thing I don't want is boy wonders in my hair. Maybe the Chief lets you mess around in things sometimes, but personally, I think kids like you should be seen and not heard."

"But the Chief asked me-" Jupiter began.

"Take it up with him tomorrow! I have to go now!" And the phone at the other end was hung up with a bang.

Jupiter hung up also and looked blankly at Pete and Bob.

"Something tells me," Pete said, "that Lieutenant Carter doesn't like us."

"He sounded as if he didn't like anybody," Bob put in. "Especially kids."

"His att.i.tude is quite common among adults," Jupiter said with a sigh. "They think that just because we're young we don't have any good ideas. Actually, we often have a fresh viewpoint on a problem. But I guess we can't take the trunk down to Chief Reynolds before tomorrow - maybe not even then, because tomorrow's Sunday. We may have to wait until Monday. So I suggest we search the trunk again and try to find that clue Socrates mentioned."

"I'm tired of that trunk," Pete said firmly. "I'm tired of Socrates. I don't want him talking to me."

"I don't think he'll talk to us any more," Jupiter replied. "Somehow he doesn't seem to talk face to face. He talked to me in the dark in my room, and from inside the trunk, but never directly."

"He said 'boo' to your aunt," Bob pointed out.

"Yes. I can't explain that," Jupiter admitted. "But suppose we open the trunk and have a look. Perhaps someone took something out before returning it."

They crawled out Tunnel Two and opened the trunk. The interior looked just as it had before. Socrates, well wrapped in old velvet, was snugly in a corner. The letter was still in place inside the tear in the lining.

Jupiter took Socrates out, unwrapped him, and set him on his ivory base on the printing press. Then he picked up the letter.

"Let's have another look at this," he suggested.

All three read the letter again. It seemed as innocent as before.

State Prison Hospital July 17 Dear Gulliver: Just a few words from your old pal and cellmate, Spike eely. I'm in the hospital, and it looks like I haven't got much longer.

I may last five days, or three weeks, or even two months, the doctors aren't sure. But in any case, it's time to say good-bye.

If you're ever in Chicago, look up my cousin Danny Street. Tell him h.e.l.lo for me. Wish I could say more, but this is all I can manage.

Your friend, Spike.

"If there's a hidden clue there, I can't find it," Jupiter muttered. "I wonder if-Wait!

I've found something. Look!"

He held out the letter and the envelope to Bob.

"Do you see what we missed?"

"What we missed?" Bob looked puzzled. "No, I don't see anything special, Jupe."

"The stamps on the envelope!" Jupe said. "We didn't look under the stamps for a "We didn't look under the stamps for a message!" message!"

Bob looked at the two stamps - a two-cent stamp and a four-cent stamp. He took the envelope and ran his finger over them. His expression changed to one of great excitement.

"Jupe!" he exclaimed. "You're right! There's something under one of these stamps.

The four-cent stamp feels just a little bit thicker than the two."

Pete also ran his finger over the stamps and nodded. The four-cent stamp was just a trifle thicker - not enough for the eye to notice unless you looked very closely.

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"Let's get inside Headquarters and steam these stamps off and see what's underneath!" Bob exclaimed.

They scrambled back through Tunnel Two and within three minutes had a little kettle boiling in the laboratory. Jupiter held the corner of the envelope in the steam until the stamps loosened. Then he gave a shout of excitement.

"Look!" he cried. "There's another stamp underneath the four. A green one-cent stamp."

"That's queer." Bob frowned. "What does it mean, Jupe?"

"I can tell you what it means," Pete said.