Mystery of the Pantomime Cat (18 page)

"Of course," said Daisy. "And then he waited till
the manager had drunk his tea and fallen asleep—and did the robbery!"

"Exactly," said Fatty. "Took down the mirror, found
the key in the manager's wallet, worked out the combination that would open the
safe — and stole everything in it. Then he went down to the sleeping Boysie and
pulled him into the skin again—and departed as secretly as he came, with the
money!

"He knew that when the cup of tea was examined and traces of
a sleeping-draught were found, the first

question asked would be—
Who
brought up the cup of tea to
the manager?" said Fatty. "And the answer to that—quite untruly as it
happens—was, of course, Boysie."

"Oh, Fatty—it's wonderful," said Bets, her face shining.
"We've solved the mystery!"

"We haven't," said Larry and Pip together.

"We
have"
said Bets indignantly.

"Ah, wait a minute. Bets," said Fatty. "We know how
the thing was done—but the
real
mystery now is—
who was inside the
skin of the Pantomime Cat?"

The Last Alibi is Checked.

Every one felt tremendously excited. Larry smacked Bets proudly on
the back. "You just hit the nail on the head. Bets, when you made that
brainy remark of yours," he said.

"Well—I didn't know it was brainy," said Bets. "I
just said it without thinking, really."

"I
told
you there was something sticking out a mile,
right under our very noses," said Fatty. "And that was it. Come on,
now—we've got to find out who was in the skin."

They all thought. "But what's the good of thinking it's this
person or that person?" said Pip at last. "If we say 'John James,'
for instance, it can't be, because we've checked his alibi and it's
perfect."

"Let's not worry about alibis," said Fatty. "Once
we decide who the person was, inside the cat-skin, we'll re-check the alibi—and
what's more, we'll then find it's false! It must be. Come on, now—who was
inside that cat-skin?"

"Not John James," said Daisy. "He was much too

big—too fat."

"Yes—it would have to be a small person," said Fatty.
"Boysie is small, and only a person about his size could wear that
skin."

They all ran their minds over the members of the cast. Larry thumped
on the floor.

"Alec Gram! He's the smallest of the lot—very neat and dapper
and slim—don't you remember?"

"Yes! The others are
all
too big—even the two girls,
who are too tall to fit the skin," said Fatty. "Alec Grant is the
only member who could possibly get into the skin."

"And
he
split it!" said Daisy, suddenly. "Oh, don't you remember. Fatty, how
Boysie came and asked Zoe to mend it for him—and she looked at the splitting
seams and said he must be getting fat? Well, he wasn't! Somebody bigger than he
was had used his skin and split it!"

"Gosh, yes," said Fatty. "Would you believe it—a
Clue as big as that staring us in the face and we never noticed it! But I say—
Alec
Grant.  
He's got the best alibi of the whole lot."

"He certainly has," said Larry. "It's going to be a
hard alibi to break, too. Impossible, it seems to me."

"No. Not impossible," said Fatty. "He couldn't be
in two places at once. And so, if he was in the Pantomime Cat's skin at the
Little Theatre on Friday evening, he was
not
giving a concert at
Sheepridge! That's certain."

"Fancy! The only alibi we didn't check," said Larry.

"Yes—and I
said
that a good detective always checks
everything, whether he thinks it is necessary or not," groaned Fatty.
"I must be going downhill rapidly. I consider I've done very badly over
this!"

"You haven't, Fatty," said Bets. "Why, it was you

who saw that my remark, which was really only a joke, was the real
clue to the mystery! I didn't see that, and nor did the others."

"How are we going to shake this alibi of Alec Grant's?"
said Larry. "Let's keep to the subject. We haven't much time, it seems to
me, if Goon has got a false confession from poor Boysie. He'll be getting into
touch with the Inspector any time now and making an arrest—two arrests, I
suppose, if Zoe has to be in it too."

"Any one got friends in Sheepridge?" asked Fatty,
suddenly.

"I've got a cousin there—you know him, Freddie Wilson,"
said Larry. "Why?"

"Well, I suppose there's a chance he might have gone to
Alec's concert," said Fatty. "Telephone him and see, Larry. We've got
to find out something about this concert now."

"Freddie
won't
have gone to a concert like that—to see a man impersonating women," said
Larry, scornfully.

"You go and phone him," said Fatty. "Ask him if he
knows anything about it."

Larry went, rather reluctantly. He was afraid that Freddie would
jeer at his inquiry.

But Freddie was out and it was his eighteen-year-old sister,
Julia, who answered. And she provided an enormous bit of luck!

"No, Larry, Freddie didn't go," she said. "Can you
see him going to
any
kind of concert? I can't. But I went with Mother.
Alec Grant was awfully good—honestly, you couldn't have told he was a man. I
waited afterwards and got his autograph."

"Hold on a minute," said Larry, and went to report to
Fatty. Fatty leapt up as if he had been shot. "Got his
autograph!
Gosh—this
is super. Don't you remember. idiot,
we've
all got his autograph too!
I'd like to see the autograph
Julia
got! I'll eat my hat if it isn't
quite different from the ones
we've
got!"

"But Fatty—Alec Grant was there, giving the concert,"
began Larry. "Julia says so."

Fatty took absolutely no notice of him hut rushed to the
telephone, with Buster excitedly at his heels, feeling that there really must
he Something Up!

"Julia! Frederick Trotteville here. I say,
could
I
come over and see you by the next bus? Most important. Will you be in?"

Julia laughed at Fatty's urgent voice. "Oh, Frederick—you
sound as if you're in the middle of a mystery or something. Yes, of course.
Come over. I'll be most interested to know what you want!"

Fatty clicked down the receiver and rushed back to the others.
"I'm off
to Sheepridge," he said. "Coming, anyone?"

"Of
course"
said every one at once. What! Be left
out just when things were getting so thrilling! No, every one was determined to
be in at the death.

They arrived at Sheepridge an hour later, and went to find Julia.
She was waiting for them, and was amused to see the whole five march in.

"Listen, Julia," began Fatty. "I can't explain
everything to you now—it would take too long—but we are very curious about Alec
Grant. You say he really was there, performing at the concert? You actually
recognized him, and have seen him before?"

"Yes. Of course I recognized him," said Julia.

Fatty felt a little taken-aback. He had hoped Julia would say she
didn't recognize him, and then he might be able to prove that somebody else had
taken Alec's place.

"Have you your autograph-album with his signature in?"
he asked. Julia went to get it. All the Find-Outers had brought theirs with
them, and Fatty silently compared the five signatures in their books with the
one in Julia's.

Julia's was utterly and entirely different!

"Look," said Fatty, pointing. "The autographs he
did for us are illegible squiggles—the one he did for Julia is perfectly clear
and readable. It
wasn't
Alec Grant who did that!"

"You'll be saying it was his twin-sister next," said
Julia with a laugh.

Fatty stared as if he couldn't believe his ears. "What did
you say?" he almost shouted
"Twin-sister
Julia—you don't
really mean to say he's got a twin-sister?"

"Of course he has," said Julia. "What
is
all
this mystery about? I've seen his sister—exactly like him, small and neat. She
doesn't live here, she lives at Marlow."

Fatty let out an enormous sigh. "Why didn't I think of a
twin?" he said. "Of course! The
only
solution! He got his twin
to come and do his show for him. Is she good too. Julia?"

"Well, they're both in shows," said Julia. "As a
matter of fact, Alec is supposed to be much better than Nora, his sister. I
thought he wasn't so good last Friday, really—he had such a terrible cold, for
one thing, and kept stopping to cough."

The others immediately looked at one another. Oho! A cough and a
cold! Certainly Alec hadn't had one on Monday afternoon when they had all heard
him sing. Nobody had seen any sign of a cold or cough then. Very, very
suspicious!

"May we take this album away for a little while?" asked
Fatty. "I'll send it back. Thanks so much for seeing us. You've been a
great help."

"I don't know how," said Julia. "It seems very
mysterious to me."

"It
has
been very mysterious," said Fatty,
preparing to go. "Very, very mysterious. But I see daylight now, though I
very—nearly—didn't!”

The Five Find-Outers went off with Buster, excited and talkative.
"We've got it all straightened out now," said Fatty, happily.
"Thanks to Bets. Honestly, Bets, we'd have been absolutely stumped if you
hadn't made that sudden remark. It was a brainwave."

They got back to Peterswood, having decided what to do. They would
go and see Pippin first, and tell him all they knew. Fatty said they owed it to
him to do that, and if he wanted to arrest Alec Grant, he could. What sucks for
Goon!

But when they got to Goon's house, they had a shock. Pippin was
there alone, looking very gloomy.

"Ah, Master Frederick," he said, when he saw Fatty,
"I've been trying to telephone you for the last hour. Mr. Goon's arrested
Boysie and Zoe, and they're both in an awful state! I'm afraid Boysie will go right
off his head now."

"Where are they?" asked Fatty, desperately.

"Goon's taken them over to the Inspector," said Pippin.
"What's the matter with
you!
You look all of a dither."

"I am," said Fatty, sitting down suddenly. "Pippin,
listen hard to what I'm going to tell you. And then tell us what to do. Prepare
for some shocks. Now—listen!"

A Surprise for the Inspector!

Pippin listened, his eyes almost falling out of his head. He heard
about the false clues and frowned. He heard about the way the children had
interviewed the Suspects by means of asking for autographs—he heard about the
tea-party—the checking up of the alibis—and then he heard of Bets' bright
remark that had suddenly set Fatty on the right track.

The autograph albums were produced and compared. The visit to
Sheepridge related. The twin-sister came into the story, and P.C. Pippin rubbed
his forehead in bewilderment as Fatty produced the many, many pieces of the
jigsaw puzzle that, all fitted together, made up a clear solution of the
mystery.

"Well! I don't know what to think," said poor Pippin.
"This beats me! Goon's got the wrong ones, no doubt about that. And I
think there's no doubt that Alec Grant is the culprit."

"Can you arrest him then and take him to the Inspector?"
cried Fatty.

"No. Of course not," said Pippin. "Not just on what
you've told me. But I'll tell you what we
can
do—I can go and get him
for questioning. I can take him over to the Inspector and face him with all
you've said."

"Oh
yes—
that's a fine idea," said Fatty.
"Can we come too?"

"You'll have to," said Pippin. "My word, I shan't
like to look at the Inspector's face when he hears about those false clues of
yours. Good thing you've solved the mystery, that's all I can say. Let's hope
that will cancel out the mischief you got into first."

Pippin's voice was stern, but his eyes twinkled. "Can't be
really cross with you myself," he said. "Your clues put me where I
could see the crime when it was just done—and now it looks as if I'll be able
to show Goon up. He deserves it, brow-beating that poor, queer-headed fellow
into a false confession!"

The morning went on being more and more exciting. Alec Grant was
collected from the theatre, where he was rehearsing with the others, who were
most alarmed at Zoe's arrest. He put on a very bold face and pretended that he
hadn't the least idea why Pippin wanted to question him.

He was very surprised to see all the children also crammed into
the big car that Pippin had hired to take them over to see the Inspector. But
nobody explained anything to him. The children looked away from him. Horrid,
beastly thief—and how
could
he let Zoe and Boysie take the blame for
something he himself had done?

Pippin telephoned to the Inspector before they left. "Sir?
Pippin here. About that Little Theatre job. I believe Mr. Goon's brought his
two arrests over to you. Well, sir, can you hold things up for a bit? I've got
some fresh evidence here, sir. Very important. I'm bringing some one over to
question—man named Alec Grant. Also, sir, I'm bringing—er—five children."