The Blue Herring Mystery (17 page)

At that second, panting and cursing, Doc Perry stumbled into the barn, his revolver in his hand. He stopped short, peering around uncertainly in the dim light within the barn. Sparrows and starlings, startled by Djuna’s hasty scramble up the ladder, were flying all around him, like bats in the twilight, chirping and squeaking, in their alarm. A frightened starling, swooping down to escape through the wide doorway behind him, just missed his head, and he ducked. His trigger finger jerked convulsively as he dodged, and the gun in his hand roared again, the sound reverberating from the high walls and roof of the barn.

When the sound died away, Djuna lifted his head cautiously and peered over the edge of the hay.

He saw Doc Perry standing just below him, with his back turned, his eyes darting nervously about, still trying to adjust themselves to the dark interior.

It was then that Djuna noticed the big hickory hoop of the fyke net that one of Aunt Candy’s twins had placed in the hayloft to dry, after he had explained to him and Bobby, two days before, how the net was used. He looked out at the two twenty-foot wings that were stretched across the hay on each side of the deep bag net and saw that they were not tied down to anything!

Moving cautiously and not making a sound, Djuna reached forward until he had both hands wrapped around the sturdy hickory hoop, a hoop far bigger and heavier than the rim of a wagon wheel, five feet in diameter, at the top of the net. Doc Perry was now trying to peer up into the hayloft on the other side of the barn, so that his back was to Djuna. Rising and tilting the net hoop so that one side was braced against the hay, Djuna gave its outer rim a push.

It dropped downward, like an inverted basketball net, and settled like some huge coiled python over Doc Perry’s startled form! It settled down over him until the cod, the narrowest part of the net, rested on top of his head and the net had enmeshed him so that it pinned his arms to his sides! As he began to curse and struggle, Djuna slid down the steep bank of hay and pulled the long twenty-foot wings with him.

Taking the two wings by their ends Djuna ran around and around Doc Perry’s cursing, threshing body and wound the wings tightly about him. Unable to take aim, Doc Perry fired the three bullets remaining in the cylinder of his revolver into the floor of the barn while he frothed and screamed and the half-crazed sparrows and starlings overhead darted madly about.

When Djuna came to the ends of the wings he took the securing lines and tied them around and around the net and its captive until Doc Perry looked like an enormous silkworm encased in its cocoon.

“I’ll — I’ll murder you for this!” Doc Perry managed to gasp before Djuna put a foot behind him, gave him a push and toppled him over, helpless, on the floor of the barn.

Djuna couldn’t help laughing, although it was very close to hysterical laughter, as he gazed down at the mummy at his feet. He didn’t try to reply to Doc Perry’s threats and curses. He was trembling as he took a last look at his captive and scurried out of the barn and down the driveway to telephone for help. He froze with one foot lifted as he reached the flagstone path that led to Aunt Candy’s kitchen. A muffled voice had come to him from some place, perhaps from the shed, off to his left!

“Help! Help!” it screamed.

Djuna turned, and his blood was like ice again as he forced himself to go toward the red-painted shed, behind which his bicycle was leaning. He pulled the steel peg out of the clasp that fastened the door and opened the door cautiously.

“Help me, Djuna! It’s Kloop!” a voice gasped as Djuna tried to adjust his sight to the dark interior of the shed.

But he had no intention of walking into another spider’s web. He let the door bang shut and scampered around the end of the shed as Kloop shouted, “Don’t leave me, Djuna. He’ll be back!” Djuna opened the little kit strapped to the frame of his bike, took out a flashlight he carried there, and went back into the shed. He pressed the button of his flashlight and its beam found Kloop, lying on the floor.

His hands were tied behind him and his feet were securely bound. But he had managed to get rid of the cruel wedge of wood and cloth that had been forced into his mouth. There was a bloody clot on the side of his head and a red streak down his cheek where blood had trickled down into the collar of his shirt. His face was pale and frightened as he stared up at Djuna with bleak eyes.

“Look out for Perry!” he said weakly. “He was ransacking Aunt Candy’s parlor when I arrived. I thought I could take care of him but he pulled a gun and clobbered me over the head with it. He dragged me out here and tied me while I was still unconscious!”

“But I thought —” Djuna began.

“Never mind what you thought!” Kloop said. “Untie me, Djuna, before that madman can get at both of us!”

Djuna stared at Kloop with puzzled eyes for a moment and then he said accusingly, “He can’t be any more of a madman than the person who tried to hit Bobby and me with
your
car last night!”

“What are you saying, Djuna?” Kloop whispered, as he stared up at Djuna in amazement.

“Just what I said,” Djuna replied stoutly. “When Bobby and I were riding home last night, just after we left you, someone tried to hit us with
your
car!”

“That
proves
he’s mad!” Kloop whispered again. “I went into his store last night, just after I saw you leaving it, and he rushed at me and asked if he could borrow my car to deliver a prescription out east, an emergency. I let him take it and waited in his store while he was gone. After he left I got worried because I remembered how he had cursed at you a couple of times.”

“I never did anything to him,” Djuna said.

“He connected you with the police,” Kloop explained. “Like all crooks, he hates the police. He —”

“Look, Professor Kloop!” Djuna said. “Are you on Aunt Candy’s side, or what? I won’t untie you until I’m positive!”

“Look yourself, Djuna!” Kloop replied, and he managed to laugh in spite of his throbbing head. “Look inside my coat pocket and unless Perry has taken it you’ll find a wallet there. Open the wallet and you’ll find my identification!”

Djuna bent down and took a wallet from Professor Kloop’s inside pocket. He opened it and played his flashlight on it. Under a little plastic cover there was a photograph of Professor Kloop, only his name wasn’t Kloop. It was Chester Britt, and the card said he was a private detective!

“Jeepers, Mr. Britt!” Djuna said, with a little awe in his voice. “I certainly didn’t think you were a detective!”

“There’s no reason why you should have,” Chester Britt said bitterly. “Certainly I haven’t been acting like one! And in case you’re in any further doubt, Aunt Candy is my
real
aunt! She’s my mother’s sister and she’ll tell you so if we ever see her again. But that’s too long to go into now. Get me out of these ropes!”

Without another word Djuna knelt down beside Britt and began to work on the cords that tied his wrists. After he had broken three fingernails he thought of his knife and slashed the cords. Then he slashed the cords that bound Britt’s feet.

“Was there any sign of Perry around when you arrived?” Britt asked as he staggered to his feet.

“Yes,” Djuna said and he couldn’t suppress a snicker. “He’s still here!”

“Good!” said Chester Britt and he hunted around the shed until he found a pick handle that had been broken and would make a very handy bludgeon. “You keep out of the way, Djuna,” he ordered. “This may be dangerous!”

“Yes, sir!” Djuna said, as Mr. Britt leaned unsteadily against the frame of the door.

“Where do you think he is now?” Mr. Britt asked as he lifted his throbbing head. “He’s armed and I don’t know what I can do with this broken pick handle, but —”

“You won’t need it!” said Djuna. Britt glanced at him but didn’t say anything. “He’s up in the barn.”

Mr. Britt followed Djuna on unsteady legs as they went up the incline and into the barn. And when Djuna pointed at the enmeshed cocoon that was Doc Perry, Mr. Britt said, “What’s that?”

“Doc Perry!” Djuna said. Mr. Britt opened his eyes wider, to stare at him.

“You’ve got him in there?” Mr. Britt said incredulously, and then he threw back his head and roared with laughter as Doc Perry began to make bleating noises from inside his cocoon.

“Oh, oh!” Mr. Britt said as he grabbed at his throbbing head. “I’ll get my car and we’ll load him in the back seat and take him down to the State Police barracks.” He stopped to stare at Djuna again and then he reached inside his pocket, brought out his wallet, and extended it toward Djuna. “Here,” he went on, “I think I’d better turn my license over to
you!
”

Socker Furlong, Cannonball, Bobby, Aunt Candy, Mr. Boots, and Aunt Candy’s twins, Olin and Dolan, had arrived at the State Police barracks and were just beginning to explain things to the lieutenant in command of Troop X, when Chester Britt and Djuna arrived, lugging Doc Perry between them.

The lieutenant of State Police looked up and shouted, “Hey! Don’t bring that net in here! If you’re going scapping, the place is up the road a couple of miles.”

“We’ve done our scapping for the day,” Chester Britt said, but no one heard him, because they had all surrounded Djuna to ask him questions. After Djuna had greeted Socker Furlong and Cannonball McGinnty, Socker moved over close to Mr. Britt and his eyes were not genial as he said, “Hello, Chet, what’s the pitch this time? It had better be good!”

Mr. Britt put a hand to his head and sat down abruptly in a chair that happened to be behind him. “It
is
good, Socker!” he said. He waved a hand toward Djuna and his glance was filled with awe. “That kid,” he went on, “has genius!”

“Okay, we know that,” Socker barked. “Now,
give!
”

“Why don’t you have enough sense to unwrap that net?” Mr. Britt shouted back. “Maybe that’ll give you an idea!” They all stared at the rolled net, but they all thought it was just what it looked like — a seine or stake stop net, because even Doc Perry’s shoes were hidden by it.

“What’s the joker, Britt?” Cannonball McGinnty snarled. “What’s in it?”

“Doc Perry!” Mr. Britt said and he began to laugh until the tears ran down his cheeks and he grabbed at his head again.

“Doc Perry!”
Aunt Candy gasped; and she sat down, too, to put her head in her hands, while her two twin sons, Olin and Dolan, moved over beside her to give her reassuring pats on the shoulder. Both of their faces were grim.

Lieutenant Scott, who was in command of the barracks, waved a hand at two troopers and said, “Untangle that!” The two troopers got down on their knees and began to undo the knots Djuna had tied. No one said anything. They just stared until the troopers had unrolled the net and had pulled off the long bag net hiding Doc Perry’s head.

“He’s unconscious from fright,” Chester Britt said. “I wondered why he wasn’t bleating like a sick goat.”

It was Aunt Candy who spoke then. “We’d all be better off iffen he was dead!” she said, and two tears rolled down her wrinkled cheeks. “He’s a filthy crook!” Aunt Candy went on and her two sons said together, “Now, maw!”

“His real name is Hinckley Dingley,” Aunt Candy said. “He —”

“So,
that’s
why he acted so nuts when I sang, ‘Hinckley Dinkley, parlez-vous’!” said Bobby excitedly.

“Sure!” Djuna said, and the two boys couldn’t suppress a giggle as their eyes met.

But no one noticed the interruption. They were waiting for Aunt Candy to go on. “It’s got t’ be told now,” she said. “I guess we should a’ told when he first turned up. But we didn’ want t’ go to th’ po-leece for fear everyone would know.”

“Know what, Mrs. Barnes?” Lieutenant Scott asked gently.

“That that skunk there had married Maud — my youngest sister!” said Aunt Candy.

“Yes,” Aunt Candy went on, “Maudie was only a child — not yet twenty — when she went to Philadelphy to visit some friends. Somehow she got mixed up with that snake lyin’ there an’ he bamboozled her into marryin’ him. She didn’t know he was a thief ’n a forger till the police grabbed him an’ sent him to jail for ten years. That killed Maudie, because she really loved him, I don’ know why! She died from pinin’ for him. Thank th’ good Lord, nob’dy knowed what she hed married! She died whilst he was in prison!”

No one spoke while Aunt Candy stopped speaking for a moment to give vent to her grief.

“But before he was sent t’ jail,” Aunt Candy continued, “Maudie, because she didn’ know no better, tore a page out o’ th’ log of my gret-gran’father’s last whalin’ trip. We didn’ know what was on th’ page but it had somethin’ t’ do with th’ pearls old Captain Jason Beekman was supposed t’ have brung back fr’m th’ South Seas.”

“Jeepers, Aunt Candy!” Djuna said excitedly. “I just couldn’t figure out about that page. I knew you were angry when I called it to your attention that first day you showed me the log. But I just couldn’t figure it out!”

“You’re slipping, Djuna,” Chester Britt said drily. “It’s probably old age creeping up on you!”

Even Aunt Candy laughed at that, and she gave Djuna a warm smile.

“W’al,” Aunt Candy continued, “This no-good husband of hers took thet page to jail with him an’ whilst he was workin’ as a trusty in th’ prison hospital dispensary he figgered out Captain Jonas had brung back some pearls. When he got out o’ prison he got hold of a reg’ler druggist’s license, made out in th’ name o’ ‘Clarence W. Perry.’ So he pretended that was his name, Perry, an’ hung up th’ license t’ prove it. He had never bin in Brookville before an’ he knowed no one would know him.

“He come t’ my house an’ told me ’n my two boys all this an’ he demanded a half of the pearls old Captain Jonas had brung back! We told him there w’an’t no pearls and we told him to git out o’ here. But he said he was a-goin’ to stay till he found th’ pearls, an’ if we forced him t’ leave he’s a-goin’ t’ tell everyone thet he married Maudie an’ thet he’s a jailbird!”

“Olin an’ me wanted t’ beat his brains out,” Dolan put in, “but Maw wouldn’ let us.”

“No, I was a fool!” Aunt Candy admitted. “I was so anxious to save poor Maudie’s good name, I let him blackmail me. I even let Jedge Blackford, my lawyer, rent him Captain Jason’s old stone house down on the river, so as he could hunt for th’ pearls. I knowed he wouldn’ find none. But I done somethin’ else, too, to pr’tect myself. My other sister Angie’s boy, Chet there —” she waved a hand in Chester Britt’s direction — “had bin ailin’ an’ had gone to Arizony f’r it. He had bin a private detective before he went to Arizony. So, when he come back, an’ before he set up his office in Philadelphy ag’in, I hired him to c’m up here ’n git a job with Doc Perry an’ keep an eye on Perry’s doin’s. We jist let him do it ’n his own way an’ we didn’t tell no one he was my sister Angie’s boy, either. He knowed about th’ pearls Captain Jonas was supposed to ha’ brought back an’ I guess he got the bug an’ started huntin’ f’r ’em, too, with Doc Perry watchin’ him like a hawk. I guess Doc Perry decided there wa’nt no pearls in Captain Jonas’s house an’ decided I was a-hidin’ ’em in mine. So, he went t’ my house today when he knowed there wouldn’t be no one home, although
how
he knowed it I don’t know. He —”