Megan Stine - Long Shot

“ ‘For the second game in a row,’ ” Pete said, reading from the article, “ ‘Rocky Beach guard Pete Crenshaw showed that small guys on the court can win big. This time Pete’s game-winning shot came with no time on the clock and about 40 feet between him and the basket.’ ” Pete turned the newspaper around and pointed at the picture. “Pretty cool, huh? Hey, you’re looking at the wrong picture, Jupe.”

Jupe snatched the paper out of Pete’s hands so he could study a photo at the bottom of the page. “Look at this,” he said finally. “See if you recognize anyone.”

Pete folded the newspaper page in half and looked at the smaller photo at the bottom of the page. “It’s a story about the Shoremont basketball team,” he said. “And the picture shows a bunch of Shoremont players on the bench during a game.”

“In the background,” Jupe hinted impatiently.

Bob moved to look at the photo over Pete’s shoulder. But Pete quickly pulled the newspaper away. “Don’t help me,” he told Bob. “I’m going to get this one myself.”

Pete leaned on both elbows and stared closely at the newspaper photo. Finally his eyebrows lifted in recognition. “That’s the woman Barry Norman had lunch with at the country club. And she’s sitting with John Hemingway Powers.”

“Right,” Jupe said, “so now we know that she knows both Barry Norman and John Hemingway Powers. Now here’s an interesting scenario: If she knows both those guys, isn’t it possible that they know each other? That would mean we have a new suspect, a new clue, a new lead.”

Pete scrunched his face. “Powers?”

“Okay, okay,” Jupe said. “I’ll grant you this: It’s another long shot. But maybe there’s a reason why we haven’t found anything that connects Barry Norman with Coach Duggan. Maybe it’s because there isn’t anything. But now we’ve got a real link between Norman and Powers.”

Bob cleared his throat. “Come on, guys. Would you let me in on this? Hand over the newspaper.” Pete passed it to Bob, who took a long look at the photo. “What did you say his name was?”

“John Hemingway Powers,” said Jupe. “He’s the super-bucks alumnus of Shoremont College we told you about a few days ago.”

“And he’s the one who was putting all the pressure on you to nail Duggan?” asked Bob.

“You should have seen him,” Pete said.

“I have seen him,” Bob said, smiling.

“You have? When? Where?” Jupe asked.

“Remember last week when I met you in the Shoremont gym? I was hanging around in Duggan’s office, talking to his secretary. I told you people were in and out of there a lot. Well, he was one of them. I didn’t think it was important at the time, so I just filed it.”

“What exactly happened?” asked Jupe. “He came in, headed straight for Duggan’s private office, and closed the door. I asked Duggan’s secretary what was going on and she said he does it every week—usually on Thursdays when Duggan’s not in. She said he uses Duggan’s computer to get a printout of the latest statistics from the game. I got the message he’s a real fan — in other words, fanatic about the team.”

“Powers comes in and uses Coach Duggan’s computer?” asked Pete.

“When he’s not there. You got it,” Bob said. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Jupe nodded. “If Powers goes into Duggan’s office for the stats — what’s to stop him from also getting copies of Duggan’s scouting reports? He reads the reports, checks them out to see who Duggan wants for the team — ”

“And then,” finished Pete, “Powers tells Michael Anthony a.k.a. Barry Norman to send out a bribe.”

“That would explain how Powers connected so quickly with Pete,” Jupe added. “He knew Pete was at the top of Duggan’s list, so he sent Michael Anthony to deliver the first envelope. We concluded that Coach Duggan left it because he happened to speak to Pete that same night.”

“But we were wrong,” Pete said.

“We weren’t wrong,” said Jupe, tapping the newspaper. “We were hasty. Do you think Hank would sell me half a black-and-white milk shake?”

“I thought you were dead tired,” said Pete.

“I am. But I’m going to need the shake to revive. Because it’s going to take a while to explain my plan for catching John Hemingway Powers!”

Jupe’s plan was simple. They would set a trap for John Hemingway Powers by planting some bait in Coach Duggan’s latest scouting report — and hope that Powers fell for it. Luckily the next day was Thursday, the day that Powers usually came into the office for the game statistics.

Early the next morning the Three Investigators went to Shoremont College and zeroed in on Coach Duggan’s office.

Jupe and Pete hid in a janitor’s closet across the hall. While they watched through a crack in the door, Bob poked his head into the office. “Hi. Remember me?” he said, pouring on the charm for Coach Duggan’s secretary.

“Don’t tell me you’re still lost,” she said.

“No — lost again,” Bob said.

Once again the blonde offered to point Bob in the right direction, but this time Bob got her to walk with him part of the way, leaving the office unoccupied. As soon as they were gone Pete and Jupe sneaked into the inner office and headed straight for Coach Duggan’s computer.

Jupe had it up and running in seconds.

“I’m into Coach Duggan’s scouting reports now,” Jupe said, his fingers flying on the keyboard. As he typed, entering information, a smile broke across his face.

“What’s so funny?” Pete asked, taking his eyes off the doorway for only a second.

“Tell you later. I’m almost done.” Jupe finished typing and then exited the program. “It’s in there. Step one completed. Let’s go.”

They ran back into the closet, where they hid and waited, hoping Powers would come.

Two hours later Powers arrived. As Bob had reported, he went into Duggan’s office and emerged a few minutes later with a computer printout.

“There goes the bait,” Jupe said. “Powers has used the computer. And Duggan hasn’t been in his office all morning. Step two completed. Now it’s time for step three. Good luck, Pete. Sorry I can’t go with you, but it’s too risky. I might be recognized as the parrot. Make it quick — and make sure you go in there alone.” Pete stepped out of the closet carrying a clipboard in his hand and a pen behind his ear. He walked across the hall.

“Can I help you?” asked Duggan’s secretary, sitting at her desk sipping a can of diet soda.

“Computer maintenance,” Pete said, tapping the clipboard with the pen. “Gotta check it out.”

“Coach has one,” she said. “I’ll show you.”

“No. I mean, thanks. But — uh — I’ll find it.”

“Okay,” said the young woman.

Pete went into the back office and sat down at the computer. Sweat instantly beaded on his forehead. A car he could take apart and stick back together blind-folded. Computers were a different animal. His hands trembled as he typed on the keyboard. Delete... delete... He checked and double-checked Jupe’s instructions on his clipboard.

When Pete was finished, he left Duggan’s inner office, thanked the secretary, and walked into the hall. A quick, quiet knock on the closet door brought Jupe out.

“You did it?” Jupe asked.

Pete nodded. “I deleted all of the stuff you just put in.”

“Good. Step three completed. Now we just have to wait for someone to contact Luke Braun — even though he doesn’t exist!”

“Okay, tell us everything about the fictitious Luke Braun,” Bob said, driving back to Rocky Beach.