The Mystery of Monster Mountain - Carey M. V. (читаем книги онлайн бесплатно .TXT) 📗

“Do you think you’re going to do that?” Pete asked.

Konrad grinned. “I think you will do what you want,” he said. “Only you be careful, okay?”

“We’ll be careful,” Jupiter promised. “Where’s Mr. Smathers now?”

“He walked down to the village,” said Hans. “Cousin Anna, she took the car and went to Bishop to buy some things. Mr. Jensen went someplace in his car, too.”

 “Cousin Anna says you should eat some lunch when you come back,” Konrad told them. “There are sandwiches in the refrigerator.”

“I’m ready,” said Pete.

After the boys had wolfed down lunch, Jupiter washed the dishes. Cousin Anna’s wedding ring was on the window sill over the sink. Jupe frowned. “That ring’s too big for Anna.” he said. “She’s going to lose it if she doesn’t watch out.”

Pete, who was drying the glasses, only nodded absently. His attention had been caught by something on the living room floor, just beyond the kitchen doorway. He put the dish towel on the drain board and went to the living room.

“Somebody’s wallet,” he said, and stooped to pick it up.

It was an old wallet, worn soft and with one seam ripped. When Pete picked it up a cascade of cards and papers slipped out onto the floor.

“Oh, blast!” Pete crouched to gather up the things.

“Whose is it?” Bob called.

Pete found a driver’s license among the business cards and restaurant receipts which littered the floor. “It’s Mr. Jensen’s,” he said. “Boy, he’s out with his car now. I hope he doesn’t get stopped by the police for running a red light or anything. They’ll really nail him if he’s driving without his license.”

“Just a minute.” Jupiter had come to the doorway, and he was staring down at a snapshot which lay on the floor. “That’s Cousin Anna,” he said.

“Huh?” said Bob. “What?”

“A picture of Cousin Anna.” Jupe bent and picked it up.

It was a picture of Anna Havemeyer and her husband. They had been snapped coming out of a coffee shop in some city or town, and evidently were not aware of the camera. Anna wore a light-colored shirtwaist dress and had a sweater over her shoulders. Her head was half-turned so that she looked back at Joe Havemeyer. His mouth was open and his expression was determined. He seemed to be saying something important to his wife.

“What’s Jensen doing with a picture of Anna in his wallet?” asked Jupiter. He handed the snapshot to Bob.

Pete finished gathering up Mr. Jensen’s belonging’s, then took the snapshot from Bob and studied it. “It sure wasn’t taken here in Sky Village,” he said. He turned the picture over and looked at the back. “There’s a date on it — it was taken last week, in Lake Tahoe.”

The Three Investigators looked blankly at one another.

“Is Jensen an old friend of Anna’s?” Bob wondered. “Or of Havemeyer? Could he have been at their wedding?”

 “No!” said Jupe firmly. “The first night we were here they had a party for Anna’s wedding, and Jensen and Smathers were the outsiders. Don’t you remember? Havemeyer said they’d have to include the paying guests, but they wouldn’t let Mr. Jensen and Mr. Smathers spoil things.”

Pete slipped the snapshot into the wallet “Mr. Jensen may be only a paying guest, but he does have a picture of the Havemeyers taken in Tahoe. That’s quite a coincidence!”

Jupiter took the wallet from Pete. “I believe we should simply put this on Mr. Jensen’s bureau and not say anything about it,” he said virtuously. “And while we’re in his room, we might keep our eyes open for anything of interest. Since we have been asked by Hans and Konrad to help protect Cousin Anna, it is our duty to look for threats from all directions… ”

“I get your meaning,” said Pete. “Let’s move on it, huh, before somebody gets back!”

Jensen’s room was on the north side of the house, next to the big double room occupied by Hans and Konrad.

“Hope it’s not locked,” said Bob.

“Nothing in this place ever gets locked,” said Pete. He turned the knob and Mr. Jensen’s door swung open.

The room was neat and clean, like everything else in the inn. A poplin windbreaker had been thrown over the back of a chair and a comb tossed down on the bureau. Other than that, there were no signs that anyone occupied the place.

Jupe opened the closet door and found a good supply of sport shirts, some creased from wear and others fresh and clean. A pair of black oxfords were on the floor, and next to them was Jensen’s suitcase.

Jupe hefted the suitcase. “Not all unpacked,” he said. He carried the case to the bed, where he put it down and opened it.

There were socks in the suitcase, and clean underwear, several rolls of film, and a few packages of flash bulbs. There was also a book. Pete whistled with delight when Jupe picked it up.

“Photography for Beginners” he read. Jupe opened the book at random. “Not what one would expect to find in the luggage of a successful commercial photographer” he said. “If Jensen is selling his work to magazines, he should be far too expert to need this sort of handbook. It’s very elementary.” He closed the book. “Whatever he is, Mr. Jensen is not a photographer.”

Bob began to lift socks and underwear out of the suitcase. “Let’s see what else there is” he said.

He discovered nothing else except a little notebook which was greatly worn and dog-eared, and which was crammed with names, addresses, and telephone numbers. Bob went through the book quickly. Most of the ad- dresses were for businesses or individuals in Lake Tahoe. There was no entry for Cousin Anna until the very end of the book. There, on a page that was otherwise blank, was a series of notations that caused Bob’s eyes to widen with astonishment.

“You found something?” asked Jupe.

“There’s a page here all about Cousin Anna” said Bob. “Look, there’s a number at the top—PWU 615, California. Then Anna’s name—Miss Anna Schmid — and her address, Slalom Inn, Sky Village, California.”

“PWU 615?” said Pete. “Sounds like the license number of a car.”

“Anything else?” asked Jupe.

Bob handed the notebook to Jupe without another word.

“Fascinating,” said Jupe. “A notation that Anna owns the Slalom Inn and also the ski tow, and that she has the reputation in Sky Village of paying cash for everything. And written at the bottom of the page, the words, ‘A perfect pigeon!’ ”

“Pigeon?” said Pete. “That’s con-man talk, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” answered Jupe. He closed the notebook and put it back into the suitcase. “It’s a term used by swindlers. A pigeon is a sucker, a victim, an easy mark.”

“So Jensen is a confidence man, and Anna is his victim.”

“At least Jensen is not a photographer,” said Jupe. “But if he’s a swindler, what is he up to? He hasn’t done a thing here except… ”

“Except get rabbit punched by a bear, or a monster, or whatever,” Pete finished. “He hasn’t even been especially friendly with Anna.”

They heard a car on the road outside. Jupe hurried across the hall to the room occupied by Mr. Smathers. He looked out the window.

“It’s Cousin Anna returning from Bishop,” he reported, “and the license number of her car is PWU 615.”

Bob hastily closed the suitcase and stowed it back in the closet. Pete smoothed the bed where it had rested.

“Do we warn her she’s got a con man registered here?” asked Pete as the boys left the room.

Jupe shook his head. “I don’t think we should do that without real proof. We only know that Jensen has a snapshot of Anna and Havemeyer taken in Tahoe the week they were married, and that he’s particularly interested in Anna’s finances. Bob, you’re going to talk to your father tonight to get the report on Havemeyer. Let’s give him Jensen’s address from his driver’s license — I noticed that he lives in Tahoe Valley — and see if your father’s contact in Reno can find out anything about Jensen. And until we know more, we had better keep an eye on our supposed photographer whenever he’s around Cousin Anna. If he tries to interest her in some moneymaking scheme, we’d better be ready!”