The Blue Herring Mystery (13 page)

“Then we can go over
any
time and you’ll bring the nets and things over in the afternoon?” Bobby said. “Oh, boy, that’s swell!”

“That’s the idee,” said Mr. Boots. “You better take y’r lunch with y’ iffen y’r goin’ in th’ mornin’. Then I’ll pick up y’r supper fr’m Miss Annie an’ bring it over in th’ afternoon. That all right?”

“Golly, that’s perfect!” Djuna and Bobby said together, and Djuna added, “I guess it’s just as well you couldn’t take us over this afternoon, because it’s almost suppertime now and Miss Annie might have some chores for us to do. If we don’t have time to come over in the morning we’ll see you at the scapping grounds in the afternoon?”

“That’s right,” Mr. Boots said. “Now git out o’ here so I kin git some work done!”

A minute later they bounced into Miss Annie’s kitchen and both began at once to tell her about the beautiful net Mr. Boots had made for them. Miss Annie got them quieted down after a bit and heard all about the net and their plans for the next day, while she put supper on the table. By the time they had finished telling her the whole story, supper was ready. After the meager luncheon they had had at Doc Perry’s, they were hungry for it.

It was the kind of supper that Miss Annie could do best. The main dish was chipped beef on toast, smothered with a rich smooth cream sauce. With it each boy had a large baked potato that was stuffed with cheese and lots of butter; pickled beets that were pickled just enough; relishes, and strawberry jam that Miss Annie had made the previous summer; a green salad with Miss Annie’s own French dressing; and after that another apple pie, with huge pieces of cheddar cheese. To say nothing of the three glasses of milk they each drank.

“Jeepers, Miss Annie!” Bobby said with a slight groan when he had finished. “I was wondering when we were pedaling back from Brookville this afternoon what you were going to have for supper. I tried to guess, but couldn’t even
think
of anything as good as this!”

“Well, I’m glad you liked it,” Miss Annie said with a smile. “I’ve always said that a happy boy is one who is full. Now, you two skedaddle out of here an’ maybe take a little walk to settle your supper so you don’t have nightmares.”

Bobby and Djuna, after Miss Annie had refused their help with the dishes, wandered down the path and through the white gate of the picket fence that surrounded Miss Annie’s yard.

“Golly, I’m awful full of food!” Bobby said with a yawn. “What’ll we do until bedtime?”

“We’ve got to go over to Mr. Pindler’s and call up Socker Furlong again,” Djuna said. “Don’t you remember? I told you before. I’m going to try to get him to come over tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?” Bobby asked.

“Because I think whoever checked those Scapping Day reports in the
Advocate
with a red pencil is getting desperate, and is going to try to do something tomorrow!”

“Do what?” Bobby asked excitedly.

“I don’t know,” Djuna said. “That’s why I want Socker here. And I want to do something myself tomorrow and I need Socker to help me, because it
might
be awful dangerous!”

“W
HAT’S THE MATTER
with you, anyway?” Bobby said indignantly. “I don’t see why you can’t tell me what you’re going to do!”

“I told you,” Djuna said calmly. “It would be dangerous for you to know, because —” He stopped speaking and his expression was one of confounded dismay. They had been walking toward Mr. Pindler’s store and as they neared it Djuna had seen that there were no lights inside.

“I forgot that Mr. Pindler always closes Wednesday at noon and doesn’t open again until the next morning,” he said. He lifted his gaze and saw that there were no lights in the Pindler apartment over the store, either. “They must have gone to Riverton, or some place,” Djuna finished bitterly.

“Couldn’t we ride over to Brookville and phone from Doc Perry’s store?” Bobby asked. “I saw a phone booth there, so I wouldn’t have to knock over milk cans to keep people from hearing what you were saying.”

“I guess that’s what we’ll have to do,” Djuna said. “We’ll get our bikes and tell Miss Annie we’re going for a little ride, because it’ll be dark before we get back.”

Miss Annie looked a little doubtful when they told her but she nodded her head and said, “Remember, bed by nine o’clock.”

“Oh, yes, ma’am!” Djuna said.

The sun had set and night was gathering when they parked their bikes in front of Doc Perry’s drugstore for the second time that day. They went inside and found the store empty of customers again. Doc Perry was standing at the back staring morosely at one of his showcases. When he shifted his gaze to the two boys his expression was one of suspicion for a moment, and then it became almost jovial as he said, “Well, nice to see you back again, boys. What can I do for you?”

“We just wanted to use your telephone,” Djuna said. “Can we?”

“Long distance,” Bobby said importantly.

“Help yourself,” said Doc Perry with a wave of his hand.

The telephone booth was a part of the partition that separated the store proper from the little room where prescriptions were prepared.

Djuna went back to the booth and lifted the receiver without putting in a coin, because the instructions said you weren’t to put in any coins until the operator asked for them. He left the door open as he went through the same procedure he had used the night before, to get Socker. He had three quarters and three nickels and one dime ready on the little shelf below the phone, ready to deposit when the operator asked for them.

In a few minutes a voice said in his ear, “
Good
evening! This is the
Morning Bugle
.”

“A person-to-person call for Mr. Socker Furlong from Edenboro,” the long distance operator told her.

“Just a moment, please.”

Then, “Furlong speaking!” boomed in Djuna’s ear.

“Eighty-five cents, please,” the operator said.

“Hey! Wait a minute!” Socker shouted. “Who’s calling?”

“It’s Djuna, Socker!” said Djuna.

“Eighty-five cents, please!” the operator said, a little more sharply.

“Eighty-five cents, my eye!” Socker bellowed. “Hey, Sarah!” he went on.

“Yes, Socker,” the
Morning Bugle
operator answered.

“Get that Edenboro operator on another line and tell her to hang this call on the
Morning Bugle
,” Socker said.

“Okay, Socker,” Sarah said. “Will do!”

“Hello, Djuna,” Socker boomed. “Now,
what
are you up to?”

Djuna carefully closed the door of the booth before he answered. As he closed it he saw Professor Kloop come in the front door of the drugstore and stop to talk to Bobby.

“Hey, Socker!” Djuna said with his hand cupped between his lips and the mouthpiece of the telephone. “I’m phoning from the drugstore in Brookville, and that man I asked you about yesterday — last night, I mean — just came in the door.”

“What does he look like?” Socker asked.

“Well,” Djuna said as he turned his head to look at Kloop, “he’s quite tall and slim and his red hair is kind of tangled, I guess that’s because he never wears a hat. He has awful cold-looking light blue eyes and his clothes are always rumpled, too. And he’s kind of pale, and has a little mole just below his right temple.”

“Does he kind of bend forward, stoop, when he walks?” Socker asked.

“Yes!” Djuna said.

“Right!” Socker said. “Maybe I do know him after all, but if I do his name isn’t Karl Kloop. It doesn’t make any difference what his right name is now, Djuna, but you watch out for him. He’s a pretty slick character!” Then Socker seemed to lose his patience as he shouted, “What in the name of the good Lord are you mixed up in now, Djuna?”

“That’s why I called you,” Djuna said. “I — I wanted to ask you if you’d please come over here
tomorrow
. Like you say, I’ve got a bear by the tail and I can’t let go!”

“Well, why didn’t you keep your hands in your pockets!” Socker bellowed. “Does this guy who calls himself Kloop know what you’re up to?”

“No, I guess not,” Djuna said.

“Is he on your side?” Socker asked.

“Golly, I don’t know
what
side he’s on,” Djuna said miserably. “That’s why I want you to come over tomorrow.” Djuna cupped his hand again and lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “I think we can solve the whole thing if you do.”

“Solve!”
Socker shouted again. “So! You
are
all tangled up in one of those things again! Why can’t you tell me what it is?”

“I can’t over the telephone, Socker. Honest!” Djuna said. “The operators always listen in, up here, and there are a couple of people outside the booth who might hear. If they did, it would spoil everything.”

“All right, kid,” Socker said. “I’ve got to get a few hours sleep tomorrow morning. Then I’ll get a train to Riverton. I’ll phone Cannonball McGinnty now and see if he can run me over to Edenboro.”

“No,” said Djuna, “you better have him bring you to the scapping place on the Sepasco Kill. It’s a couple of miles north of Brookville on the Federal Highway. Anybody in Brookville can tell you where it is. That is, if there’s anyone left in Brookville. Tomorrow is Scapping Day.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” Socker said. “Now listen, Djuna,” he went on and his voice was grim, “you be careful of that lad Kloop. He’s a very smooth operator.”

“Oh, yes, I will, Socker,” said Djuna, and he added, “You’ll get here as early as you possibly can?”

“Just as soon as I can make it,” Socker said. “Good-by, kid.”

“Good-by, Socker,” said Djuna. He sat still with his eyes closed for perhaps thirty seconds before he pulled out the light above his head and opened the door of the telephone booth.

Professor Kloop was nowhere in sight as Djuna came out of the telephone booth. Bobby, who was looking at the wares displayed in the showcases, was the only person he saw. A moment later Doc Perry came scurrying out of the little room where the prescriptions were prepared and Djuna wondered as he saw the malevolent suspicion on his face if he had been listening to his conversation with Socker from behind the telephone booth.

“You get your call all right?” Doc Perry asked, and he managed to smile as he asked the question.

“Oh, yes,” Djuna told him. “Thanks for letting me use the phone.”

“Don’t thank me, thank the telephone company,” Doc Perry said, and added, “I suppose you boys are all ready to go scappin’ tomorrow?”

“Boy,
are
we!” said Bobby. “Mr. Boots made us a special four-foot net that we can handle. It’s a beauty!”

“Now, that was nice of him,” Doc Perry said. “Seems like a right nice old feller.”

“Oh, he
is!
” Djuna said.

“Well, I hope you have a nice time tomorrow,” Doc Perry said. “Quite a show they put on up at the scappin’ grounds, I hear.”

“I’ve never been there before on Scapping Day,” Djuna said. “Are you going?”

“Surest thing you know,” said Doc Perry. “Wouldn’t miss it for nothin’.”

“I suppose Professor Kloop will mind the store for you,” Djuna said.

“Nope!” Doc Perry said. “He just told me he wanted to be up at the scappin’ place most of the day to take notes for the di — dio — what in the name of the old Harry do you call them things?”

“Dioramas,” said Bobby. “He told us he was going to make one about Scapping Day.”

“That’s it,” Doc Perry said. “But I got a high school boy — Ben Arthur’s boy, Herbert — who can take care of things for me. I understand the real excitement don’t start until aroun’ five o’clock, when it’s high tide, and then goes on into the night.”

“That’s what Mr. Boots says,” Djuna told him. He looked at his watch and said, “Golly, we better be on our way, Bobby. It’s dark and Miss Annie will begin to worry.”

“Say!” Bobby said, and his face brightened. “Could you eat a chocolate nut sundae?”

“Oh, sure,” said Djuna and his face brightened, too. “I could almost always eat one.”

“I’ll treat!” Bobby said. “We’d have time, wouldn’t we?”

“Oh, sure,” Djuna said again. “But you don’t have to treat. We’ll go dutch.”

“No, sir!” said Bobby. “It was my idea, so I’ll treat.”

“You want a couple o’ chocolate nut sundaes?” Doc Perry asked.

“Please,” Bobby said.

While Doc Perry was putting together the sundaes he said, casually, “Who was you phonin’ over to Philadelphia?”

Djuna, before he stopped to think, or to wonder how Doc Perry knew he had been phoning Philadelphia, said, “Socker Furlong, a newspaper friend of mine.”

“Socker Furlong, eh?” Doc Perry said, in a voice that caused Djuna to look up quickly. “He’s the one who worked with you when you helped the Secret Service grab that counterfeiter, ain’t he?”

“Yes,” Djuna said, and he squirmed uncomfortably.

“Well, all them crooks ought to be grabbed,” Doc Perry said. “An’ I guess you’ve done your share at puttin’ ’em in jail. That’s where they belong.”

“There’s going to be another one there within a couple of days,” said Bobby with an exultant glance at Djuna, “unless I miss my guess!”

“What’s that? What did you say?” Doc Perry asked. He held a sundae dish in one hand and a scoop of chocolate ice cream in the other as he stared at Bobby. Djuna, watching him, saw that his hands were trembling.

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Djuna said as he kicked Bobby on the ankle. He looked at his watch again and said, “Jeepers, we’ve got to hurry!”

“Just a minute now,” Doc Perry said as he resumed making the two sundaes. A few moments later he pushed the two sundaes toward the boys and no one would have ever known that they had finished supper less than an hour before.

Doc Perry did not seem disposed to pick up the conversation about crooks where they had terminated it a few moments before. He stood behind the counter gazing somberly straight in front of him, with an occasional fleeting glance at the boys while they ate. When they had finished and had climbed hastily down from their stools he lifted a hand and said, “I’ll be seein’ you, boys.”