Part 5 (1/2)
Jupiter shook his head. ”I don't think it would make any difference right now, Jeremy. He doesn't want to believe us, and we'll need something more definite to convince him. It's time we turned to research for some clue as to what Karnes and his gang could be after. Bob, you research the local history of the Purple Pirate. Pete, you examine the records of Pirates Cove. I will delve into Captain Joy's background.
Jeremy, may I enlist your aid in solving this mystery?”
”You bet,” said Jeremy eagerly. ”What can I do?”
”To start with, cudgel your brain for anything in your father's past that might have brought Karnes to him. The last voyage of the Black Vulture is at four o'clock, I believe. When could you join us at my uncle's salvage yard?”
”Uh, about five thirty.”
”Good. Is that okay with you both?” Jupiter asked, turning to Bob and Pete.
They nodded.
”Then,” Jupiter said, ”I suggest we all get to work, and meet at Headquarters at five thirty to make our next move!”
Chapter 10.
Jupiter Sees the Answer!
IT WAS EXACTLY FIVE-THIRTY when Jeremy Joy rode his bike through the main gates of The Jones Salvage Yard. The Three Investigators were nowhere in sight. He looked around the piles of old machines and salvaged fixtures from hundreds of torn-down buildings, but he couldn't see anything that looked like a headquarters except the yard office.
”You, boy! What do you want?” The strong voice was almost on top of Jeremy, loud and booming. He turned and saw a large, powerful woman eyeing him.
”I ... I'm looking for Jupiter, and Bob, and ...”
”Well, boy, I'm Jupiter's Aunt Mathilda, and you'll have to wait your turn if I find those scamps first! Gone all day, and just when I do find them in the yard, I turn my back for a second and Whooosshh! They're gone again!”
”They were here, ma'am?”
”Not five minutes ago! Those scalawags have built-in radar and know I have work for them five minutes before I know it myself!” Under the gruff manner Jeremy heard a kind of amused admiration. ”No way of knowing when they'll appear again - maybe you better come back.”
”I think I'll just wait, ma'am, if you don't mind.”
”Suit yourself, boy. You'll find Jupiter's workshop over that way, but don't expect them back too soon. They know I'm after them for some work!”
She chuckled and went back into the salvage yard office. Jeremy grinned as he walked through the junkyard. He guessed that Jupiter's Aunt Mathilda wasn't as stern as she pretended to be.
He found the outdoor workshop in a front corner next to a giant mound of junk, but still saw no sign of the three boys. He sat down to wait on a large corrugated pipe that jutted out from under the mound. He glanced around the workshop, and ...
”Jeremy!”
It was a hollow whisper nearby!
Jeremy jumped up and stared all around.
”Not out there, in here!”
The whispering voice seemed to come from inside the great mound of junk itself!
”P-Pete?” Jeremy stammered.
”Jupiter?”
”Shhhhhhhhh! ” the voice whispered straight from the junk heap. ”Aunt Mathilda is after us for work! If she spots us, we'll never solve the Karnes mystery!” ” the voice whispered straight from the junk heap. ”Aunt Mathilda is after us for work! If she spots us, we'll never solve the Karnes mystery!”
Bewildered, Jeremy looked all around, high and low, but saw no one anywhere!
The unseen voice laughed. ”Make sure no one's watching, then get down and crawl right into the big pipe.”
Jeremy stared at the big corrugated pipe that vanished into the mound of junk.
Sure no one could see him, he dropped on to his hands and knees and crawled into the gaping mouth of the pipe. He could just make out Pete lying on his stomach a few metres in, grinning in the dim light.
”This is Tunnel Two,” the tall Second Investigator explained. ”We've got other entrances to HQ, but we use this one most.”
”HQ?” Jeremy exclaimed. ”You mean you meet inside all this junk?”
Pete laughed. ”Yes and no. Come on.”
Jeremy crawled along the pipe behind Pete until there was a sudden square of light above. He followed Pete up through a trapdoor into a small, cluttered room. There were chairs, tables, filing cabinets, all kinds of equipment, even a stuffed raven! Bob and Jupiter smiled as he climbed up.
”Why, it's a real room,” Jeremy said. ”I know, we crawled clear under all the junk to a building behind it, right?”
”Wrong,” Jupiter said with a twinkle in his eyes. ”As a matter of fact, you're in the exact centre of the whole junk pile!”
”B-but how did you get a room under the junk?”
The three boys laughed.
”Easy,” Bob explained. ”It's a house trailer just like yours, but smaller. We just parked it here and piled all the junk over it.”
”No one knows we're here,” Pete continued, ”but we can see anyone outside through our See-All See-All periscope.” periscope.”
”In here,” Jupiter added, ”no one can see us or find us.”
”And,” Pete finished, ”in here we're safe from Aunt Mathilda and her work!”
This time they all laughed. Jupiter waved Jeremy to take a seat on the last chair and suggested they get to work.
”Jeremy, have you thought of anything that happened in your dad's past that explains what Karnes could be after?”
”Nothing, Jupe. I thought about it all afternoon. We've lived in Rocky Beach as long as I can remember, and Dad's never been in trouble or done anything shady.
Before that he and my mum lived in San Francisco when Dad was in the navy. After Mum died, we came down here and ran a fis.h.i.+ng boat for a while. Then Dad leased the Evans place and made it into the Purple Pirate Lair.”