Mystery of the Missing Man (5 page)

“Hallo, Frederick - in training for something?” he enquired.

“Yes, sir. Getting a bit of my fat off,” explained Fatty. “I’ve a chance of getting into the First Tennis Team next term. Nice to see you, sir!”

The Inspector came straight to the point. “Frederick - I’ve just come from Goon,” he said. “I went to see him to ask him to look out for someone for me - and he immediately started a peculiar story about a tramp he’d found down in your shed.”

Fatty felt himself going red. “Yes, sir,” he said. “Er - what else did he tell you?”

“Oh, I got a good many details from him,” said the Chief, dryly. “According to him, this fellow was extremely violent, had very sharp eyes, like gimlets, and a moustache, probably with a scar under it - and Buster flew at him and bit his ankles to the bone. The tramp’s ankles, not Goon’s.”

“Did he say anything else, sir?” asked Fatty, cautiously.

“He did say that you turned up too late to help him,” said the Inspector. “Exactly what do you know about this violent tramp who was hiding in your shed? I thought you always kept it locked.”

“You think I was that tramp, sir, don’t you?” said Fatty, looking the Chief in the eyes.

“It certainly had occurred to me,” said the Chief, looking straight back at Fatty.

“All right,” said Fatty, with a sigh. “Yes, I was the tramp. But it was only a joke, sir. I didn’t even know Goon was anywhere near. A friend of ours, staying here, peeped into my shed and saw me there, looking like a tramp - I was in disguise, of course - and screamed for help. And Goon came in, and I got away. Buster didn’t go for me, of course - he was just excited to see me and leapt all round me as I went. Er - Goon exaggerated a bit, I expect.”

“Yes. I guessed as much,” said the Inspector, a twinkle in his eye. “You were extremely strong and violent, according to him - he quite thought you were the man we’re after.”

“I suppose - I suppose you wouldn’t care to tell me about this man,” said Fatty, hopefully. “I mean - I might be able to help. You never know.”

“I’ll leave you a copy of the notes I left with Goon,” said the Chief, and he took a sheaf of papers from his pocket and extracted two or three pages from them. “Better not tell Goon that you know about this man - but keep your eyes open for anything out of the way this next week. The Fair’s on - and there’s a Conference of some sort on too - so the place will be full of strangers.”

“Oh, thanks, sir,” said Fatty, joyfully, as he picked up the notes. “Thanks a lot. This is right up my street! I’ll do my best. I can tell the others, sir, can’t I? You know they can be trusted too - we’ve done quite a lot to help you in the past, haven’t we?”

The Chief laughed. “Yes. So long as you give the orders to the others, and they obey you, that’s all right. But remember, Frederick - this fellow is dangerous - all I want you to do is to keep your eyes and ears open and pass on anything you hear that might be of value. You’ve got a way of picking up information - in fact I might almost say you’ve got a gift for it!”

“Thanks, Chief,” said Fatty, pleased, and saw him politely to the front door. As soon as he had shut it Eunice came running up to him.

“Who was that, Frederick? It was a Chief Inspector, wasn’t it? What did he want to see you for? Was it about that tramp yesterday?”

“Yes - mostly about him,” said Fatty, guardedly. He wasn’t going to let Eunice know what else the Chief had told him.

“Well - I do think you might have called me,” said Eunice, indignantly. “After all, I found him - and I called the policeman - and I tried to catch him.”

“Well - the Chief got all the information from Goon, I expect,” said Fatty. “Now I must start on my training, Eunice. Sorry to have to leave you to yourself.”

“I’ll come too,” said Eunice, but at that moment Mrs. Trotteville came in, and, to Fatty’s relief, made it impossible for Eunice to go with him, by asking her if she would mind arranging the flowers.

Eunice, always good-mannered with her elders, agreed at once. and Fatty fled in delight. He meant to go and tell the others the exciting news he had, and he waited until Eunice was safely in the garden and then flew to the telephone.

He rang Pip’s number, but it was engaged. Blow! He rang Larry’s and to his relief Daisy came to the phone.

“Daisy! Listen - there’s a Mystery looming up!” said Fatty, delightedly. “A smasher! The Chief Inspector has just been here, and he wants our help. Can we meet at your house in ten minutes’ time? We can? Good. Ring Pip for me, will you, and get him and Bets along too.”

He rang off, smiling - but as he turned he heard a reproachful voice. “Frederick! You said the Chief came about that tramp. What did he come for? And what’s this about a mystery? I do think you might tell me.”

It was Eunice who had come in at the garden door with some daffodils. She had heard every word!

“Sorry. Can’t stop, Eunice!” said Fatty, and ran straight out of the front door, Buster at his heels. He had meant to change back into flannels, but he felt that Eunice would probably follow him right up to his room and harangue him there about their “mystery”.

So away he fled to Larry’s, still in running things, leaving a very angry Eunice glaring after him. How maddening that she had overheard him on the telephone!

Important Meeting

Larry and Daisy were in their summer-house waiting for him. Pip and Bets had not yet arrived. They were surprised to see Fatty in running shorts again.

“I say - do you live in those?” said Larry. “I’d better get you a coat. You’ll shiver out here. The wind is blowing straight into the summer-house.”

Pip and Bets arrived almost immediately, and the five, with a happy and interested Buster, held a most interesting meeting.

Fatty first of all told them the story of how he had escaped from Eunice the day before and gone down to his shed and practised a little disguising.

“I put on the tramp rig-out,” he said. “Whiskers and all. So, of course, when Eunice came peeping in at the window and the keyhole, she got a bit of a shock, and yelled for help!”

They all laughed. “Serve her right for snooping,” said Larry. “Go on.”

“Well, who should come to her help but old Goon, who was walking down the lane nearby, on his Sunday beat,” said Fatty. “So you can guess I had a Bit of a Do getting away. Buster nearly went mad with excitement and jumped all over me and rushed off beside me - and Goon and Eunice thought he was attacking me - Goon said he must have bitten my ankles to the bone!”

“But they didn’t catch you, did they?” said Bets, anxiously.

“Of course not,” went on Fatty. “Anyway, it happened that the Chief Inspector went to see Goon about some dangerous fellow - an escaped prisoner - whom he thinks is hiding somewhere in Peterswood - and old Goon told him all about the tramp he’d chased out of my shed, and said he was sure he was the prisoner, hiding there!”

There was such uproarious laughter over this that it was some time before Fatty could go on. “Do shut up,” he begged. “You’ll bring your mother out here, Larry - she’ll think we’re planning something awful.”

“All right - but it’s very funny,” said Larry. “What next?”

“Well, as you can imagine, the Chief wasn’t as idiotic as Goon,” said Fatty. “He guessed at once that the old tramp was me, and came to tackle me about it.”

Everyone gazed anxiously at Fatty.

“Was he angry?” asked Bets.

“No. Of course not. Can’t I practise disguising myself down in my own shed if I want to?” said Fatty. “Of course I can! But, you see, the Chief had to let the cat out of the bag - he had to tell me about the man that Goon thought I was! And I pounced on that at once, and asked if we could help in any way. And he said we could!”

“I say!” said Pip, thrilled. “Then we’ve got another Mystery to get our teeth into. Well - perhaps not quite a mystery - but something very like it! Do you know anything about this man?”

“Yes. Look,” said Fatty, and put his notes down on the summer-house table. “Here are the particulars. And here are photos of the man too - front face and side face. But he’ll be in disguise - he’s clever at that, apparently - so the photos won’t be much good.”

They all stared down at them. The man had very sharp, intelligent eyes under dark brows, an ordinary nose, and thin mouth, and over it, under the nose, a thin, curving scar. Fatty pointed to it.

“He’ll have to hide that,” he said, “And that probably means he will be wearing a false moustache until he can grow one. He may even wear a beard too, to hide his rather weak chin.”

The man’s hair was thick and straight. “He could wave that - or have it permed,” said Fatty. “Or perhaps have it thinned so that he looked a bit bald. You never know.”

“Well - if he can do all those things to himself I don’t see what use these photos are,” said Daisy.

“His hands are a bit knobbly, look,” said Pip. “I bet he’ll wear gloves to hide those!”

“Except that plenty of people have knobbly hands,” said Bets. “Our gardener has, for instance. Very knobbly.”

“Has he any likes or dislikes?” asked Daisy.

“Apparently he is fond of cats,” said Fatty. “And dear me, look - here’s an odd thing I didn*t notice before. He is interested in Nature, but especially in insects. A-HA!”

“What’s the A-HA for?” asked Pip, surprised.

“Interested in insects - and he’s known to be in Peterswood,” said Fatty. “Doesn’t that ring a bell, my dear Fatheads?”

“Oh - you mean the Conference of Colly-something,” said Larry, remembering. “Yes - yes, there may be something in that. You mean, he may get himself up as a colly-something - a beetle-lover - and go and sit solemnly in the meetings at the Town Hall, while everyone is looking for him elsewhere.”

“Well - it does sound a bit far-fetched,” admitted Fatty. “But we can’t afford to miss any possible clue. It might be the best possible hiding-place - meetings for beetle-lovers! Whoever would think of looking for an escaped prisoner there? With thick glasses to hide his sharp eyes….”

“And the kind of hat and muffler and thick coat that Mr. Tolling wears,” said Bets. “Honestly, I couldn’t help thinking he looked as if he was in disguise when we saw him at the station - moustache and beard and all!”

“Well, we’ve got a difficult job on,” said Fatty, sounding pleased as he gathered up the papers. “But we’re going to have some fun! And remember - Goon is also on the lookout for this fellow, and whatever we do we mustn’t let him spot him first!”

“Good gracious, no!” said Daisy. “By the way, what height is the man? Tall? Short?”

“Medium,” said Fatty. “But we must remember that he can make himself taller by wearing higher heels, or shorter by stooping. Inspector Jenks said he was very good at disguising himself. Now, we must make plans.”

“Yes. Let’s,” said Bets. “And we mustn’t let Eunice know a thing.”

“She overheard my conversation with Daisy, on the telephone,” said Fatty, frowning. “Just like her! She was very inquisitive as to why the Chief had come to see me this morning, of course - and angry because he didn’t see her about the old tramp. Little does she know that he was only me, down in that shed!”

“Well, we’ll certainly have to be careful when Eunice is about,” said Larry. “Now - how are we going to set about this mystery, Fatty? Let’s think.”

“Well, it’s obvious that the fellow must mix with plenty of other people, where he would go unnoticed,” said Fatty, considering. “He probably wouldn’t want to take a room in a hotel - or in a boarding-house. He would know that the police would make enquiries at all those. No - I think there are two places to look for him.”

“What are they?” asked Bets. “The Fair is one, of course.”

“And the Coleopterist Conference is the second,” said Fatty. “I’m sure of that.”

“But we can’t get into any of their meetings,” objected Daisy. “We’re none of us colly-whatever-you-said.”

“I can get in,” said Fatty. “Eunice’s father gave me tickets for every meeting! He gave Mother and Dad some too - so we can go to any meeting we like!”

“Well, I don’t want to,” said Daisy, decidedly. “Ugh - beetles crawling about all over the place.”

“Don’t be an ass. If there are beetles on show, they’ll be stuck in rows in cases,” said Larry. “Won’t they, Fatty? As dead as door-nails!”

“Yes. But I expect that all that will happen at the meetings is that the chief coleopterists will get up and make long, long speeches,” said Fatty. “They might perhaps chat together at the end of each meeting. It will be very, very dull for any of us whose job it is to attend one in order to examine the coleopterists to see if any of them resemble the escaped prisoner.”

“Bags I don’t,” said Daisy, promptly. “I’d rather go to the Fair.”

“Oh well - we’ll all go there,” agreed Fatty. “Actually, I thought we’d go this afternoon. The Coleopterist Conference doesn’t begin till tomorrow, anyway. So what about a visit to the Fair and mixing business with pleasure?”

Everyone thought that this was a very good idea. “But what about Eunice?” said Bets, anxiously. “Will she have to come too?”

There was a moment’s silence and then Fatty gave a heavy sigh. “I don’t see any way out of that,” he said. “Mother will expect me to take her, and she’ll kick up an awful fuss if I try to get out of it. Blow!”

“We’ll try and take it in turns to be with her,” said Larry, generously. “You’re the brightest one of us all, Fatty, so you’re more likely to spot anyone like the man we’re after - and if this afternoon you see anyone you particularly want to examine, or follow, or talk to, just give me one of your winks, and I’ll take charge of Eunice at once.”

“Well, thanks,” said Fatty, relieved. “I must say she would rather cramp my style if she stuck to me like a leech all afternoon. And remember, not a word in front of Eunice about this business. If anyone is careless enough to drop a hint without meaning to, they’ll have to retire from this mystery altogether.”

This was a truly awful threat, and Bets felt quite scared. She decided that it would be best if she hardly spoke at all when Eunice was near. Fatty grinned at her serious face.

“It’s all right, young Bets. You won’t let us down. You never have yet. The one I’m really afraid of is Buster. He’s been listening to us with pricked ears the whole time. Buster - don’t you dare to give anything away to that girl, will you?”