Mystery of the Missing Man (17 page)

“Look - there’s Eunice - and Buster,” said Fatty, suddenly. “Gosh - and my father and mother too! I hope Eunice didn’t scare them too much when she got home and told them I was locked up in a van!”

“Frederick - what is the meaning of all this?” said Mr. Trotteville, looking anxious and upset. “Eunice came home with such a tale - oh, good morning. Chief, you here too! What in the wide world has been happening?”

“Well, sir, if you’d allow me to come back with you, I’ve a few questions to ask Frederick here,” said the Chief, politely. “I’m really as much in the dark as you are.”

“Yes, yes - come back by all means,” said Mrs. Trotteville. “Frederick, have you had any breakfast?”

“No. Nobody has,” said Fatty, cheerfully, patting a most excited Buster. “Except the Chief. I expect he’s had his, haven’t you, Chief?”

“I certainly have,” said the Chief. “Ah, I see you have a car - good. Will it take us all?”

“We’ve got our bikes,” said Larry. “We’ll bike up as quickly as we can. See you later!”

Well Done, Fatty!

Jane was most amazed to see so many arriving for breakfast. She and Cookie began to fry eggs and bacon at top speed and to make pieces of toast.

Eunice found a moment to have a word with Fatty. She looked very downcast. “I lost my way last night,” she said. “I’m awfully sorry, Frederick. I went for miles and miles in the mist!”

“Never mind!” said Fatty, grinning. “It’ll take a bit of your fat off, Eunice. Cheer up!”

“Well, now, Frederick, would you like to tell me what led up to your truly remarkable performance this morning?” asked the Chief when breakfast was on the table. He sat down in a chair and took out his notebook. “Right from the time when I first informed you of the man with a scar, and asked you to keep an eye open for him.”

“Well, sir - there were a whole lot of odd clues - but none of them seemed to fit together,” said Fatty. “I mean, we spotted the likeness of the Fangios to the photo of the scarred man - but you told us he’d got no relations - and they said they’d only got their old mother….”

“Yes. Actually he’s a cousin,” said the Inspector,“as no doubt you heard the twin Fangios calling out this morning. A cousin they’re ashamed of and afraid of. That explains the likeness between them that you were clever enough to spot.”

“Yes. That was really the beginning of it all,” said Fatty. “Well, quite a lot of things seemed to be clues after that. I mean - the insects, such as the fleas and the beetles. Mrs. Fangio was mixed up with both, so I just thought that a love of insects was in the family, so to speak. Another clue was that they all behaved queerly when I asked them if they knew a man with a scar. That’s what made me think of going down to the caravan camp where they lived, and having a look round.”

“Excellent idea,” said the Chief. “Go on.”

“Well, there were other clues, sir - clues that I didn’t really recognize,” said Fatty. “Large carpet slippers, for instance. I saw Mrs. Fangio wearing them, but didn’t imagine that they were really her own - I mean, his own - I just thought the old woman had borrowed them from Josef. I didn’t guess that they meant that a very large foot was inside them - the foot of a man, not an old woman! And then there was the quarrel in the caravan, when I heard two men’s voices - and yet only one man was there! And I just didn’t have the sense to fit the second voice on to somebody who was there - I couldn’t understand why there were only three people when there should have been a fourth! Of course the second man’s voice belonged to old Mrs. Fangio, who was using her - I mean his - proper man’s voice in the quarrel! She usually put on a sort of cackling old woman’s voice!”

“All very complicated for you!” said the Chief. “I can quite see how puzzling everything must have been. Anything else?”

“Yes - the cat,” said Fatty, ruefully. “I forgot the scarred man was fond of cats. Actually I thought it was perfectly natural for an old woman like Mrs. Fangio to be fond of the cat, especially when the others were cruel to it. I was blind! I got all the clues and I never saw what they added up to!”

“She even had knobbly hands,” put in Bets, “and we noticed them specially!”

“And I never thought of how easily a wrinkle could disguise a scar,” groaned Fatty. “Of course, I see now that she - he, I mean - was very clever at disguising himself, and even kept his face all screwed up, so that the false wrinkles and real ones couldn’t be distinguished.”

“He’s known to be a master at disguise,” said the Chief, “if that’s any comfort to you!”

“Well, it is a bit,” said Fatty. “But after all - I’m pretty good at disguising myself too, sir. I ought to have seen through his.”

“What made you suddenly see through Mrs. Fangio?” asked Pip. “I mean - one moment you were as castdown as anything - and the next you were yelling like mad, and tearing up the caravan steps!”

“I don’t quite know,” said Fatty. “It seemed as if all the muddle of clues in my mind about fleas and beetles and carpet slippers and voices and quarrels and the cat and wrinkles and knobbly hands fell into place - oh yes, and something else, sir! Of course! That’s what really made it click!”

“What?” said everyone, eagerly.

“Well - old Mrs. Fangio, as I thought she was, knocked me right over two nights ago,” said Fatty. “I thought it was just a lucky blow on her part. And last night she boxed my ear, hit me on the side of my head - you can see my swollen ear now, sir. And it was a man’s blow, not a woman’s. I remember thinking that at the time, without even guessing it was a blow from a man! But my ear began to sting like anything as I stood looking up at the three Fangios on that caravan step this morning - and it was that that made everything click into place. I thought: ‘It was a man’s fist that gave me this swollen ear,’ and then I knew I was right, and suddenly the whole mystery was solved.”

“Oh, Frederick - your poor ear,” said his mother. “I must bathe it for you.”

“Please don’t fuss, Mother,” said Fatty. “I’m PROUD of this ear. Well, Chief - I think that’s about all. But gosh - I thought old Goon was going to win this time! I just got in by the skin of my teeth.”

“Well, my congratulations, Frederick,” said the Inspector, standing up. “And, as I think I have said before, I am looking forward to having you on my staff some time in the future - and if anyone gives you a swollen ear then, it will be me, not Mrs. Fangio!”

And away he went with the six children and Buster to see him off.

“I want a bit more breakfast,” said Fatty, returning to the dining-room.

“Oh, Frederick - you’ve forgotten you’re slimming!” said Eunice. Fatty gave a determined snort.

“Today is to be a day of celebration, my dear Eunice!” he said. “Buns, lemonade and ice-cream at eleven. A good lunch in the middle of the day. A smashing tea at the best cake-shop in Peterswood - and oh, by the way, what about that cat?”

“What cat?” said Eunice.

“The Fangios’ cat!” cried Bets. “Oh, of course! They won’t want it, poor thing. We’ll fetch it, Fatty.”

“And it shall have the time of its life because it helped us to solve the Mystery of the Missing Man!” finished Fatty. “What do you say to that, Buster?”

“Wuff,” said Buster, and wagged his tail vigorously. “WUFF!”