Роберт Артур - The Mystery of the Screaming Clock

There was stunned silence as they all turned and stared at the group of men in the doorway. Two policemen stood with drawn revolvers. Behind them Jupiter recognized Police Chief Reynolds of Rocky Beach, and Mr. Crenshaw, Pete’s father. Then Pete himself squirmed through the group into the room.

“Jupe!” he said anxiously. “Are you all right? Golly, we were worried about you! I couldn’t get to sleep — I wanted to tell you something — so I telephoned your house. Your uncle said you were at Bob’s, and Bob’s mother thought you both were at your house, Jupiter. I called Headquarters, and you weren’t there either. Then I rode over to Heaquarters to see if you had left any message. I found your note about the clock room, so I telephoned here, but nobody answered.

“Then I got worried. I told Dad you and Bob were missing and he called Chief Reynolds. We all came here to investigate and it looks like we came just in time.”

Chief Reynolds stepped forward and took the picture which Hugenay was holding. He carefully placed it on the desk.

“This was stolen from a gallery about two years ago,” he said. “I remember, photographs of it were circulated to police at the time.”

He turned to Jupiter.

“I had a hunch this might be serious,” he said. “I remembered about Bob being chased yesterday and something stolen from his car and figured you might be tangling with something big. Looks like we got here just in time to catch the thieves with the stolen goods.”

Jupiter turned and looked at Mr. Hugenay. Considering that the art thief had just been captured after outwitting police for many years, he looked very calm. He was in fact smiling. Now he lowered his hands, took a cigar from his pocket and lit it.

“Tell me, please,” he said, “with what crime am I charged?”

“Well, possession of stolen goods will be enough to start with,” Chief Reynolds snapped. “Then maybe abduction, malicious damage — oh, we’ve got you on a lot of charges.”

“Indeed?” Hugenay puffed on his cigar and blew out a cloud of smoke. “Please do not make reckless accusations, my dear fellow. I came here in a public-spirited hunt for some stolen art treasures that had been hidden by Albert Clock.

“This boy — ” he nodded at Jupiter, “will tell you that he and his friends were aiding me voluntarily with my search.

“The damage to this room was done by permission of the lady in charge of the house. It was necessary to find the stolen paintings. We have found them. We will now turn them over to you, gentlemen, and take our leave.”

“Now wait a minute — ” Chief Reynolds began.

“Tell them I am speaking the exact truth, boy,” Mr. Hugenay requested of Jupiter.

Jupe blinked. It was true, of course, everything Hugenay had said.

“Yes, Chief Reynolds,” Jupiter said reluctantly. “We are here voluntarily and Mr. Hugenay was hunting for the hidden pictures. That’s all absolutely true.”

“But we know all about him. He was going to keep them when he found them!” Chief Reynolds cried.

“That is a matter of opinion,” Hugenay said. “You cannot prove it. So if you will excuse us, we will take our leave now. You will not arrest us, I’m sure, because if you do I will file a suit for a million dollars for false arrest and I will win it.”

He gestured to his men, who were still holding their hands up nervously.

“Come on, men,” he said. “We are no longer needed here. We will say goodnight.”

“Now wait a minute!” one of the policemen exclaimed. “You can’t slip out as easily as all that. We can hold these men for impersonating police officers, anyway!”

“Really?” Mr. Hugenay yawned slightly. “Fred, please step forward. Now, gentlemen, examine the insignia Fred is wearing. Notice the initials.”

“N-Y-P-D!” Chief Reynolds said, puzzled.

“Correct. Standing for New York Police Department. These men are actors, whom I hired to help me in this hunt. They are wearing uniforms of the police department of the City of New York, which is almost three thousand miles away. It is merely a harmless joke on my part. You can’t say that they are impersonating Los Angeles police officers — not when they are wearing New York City police uniforms!”

Jupiter gulped. Now that he looked closely, it was true. Along with everyone else, he had taken it for granted the men were dressed as Los Angeles policemen.

“Come, gentlemen,” Hugenay said and started calmly towards the door. Chief Reynolds scratched his head.

“Darned if I can think of anything to arrest them for!” he said, in frustration. “I guess we’ll have to let them go.”

Jupiter shook his head admiringly. Hugenay hadn’t got the pictures he had been after, but he was certainly making a clean getaway once again.

At the doorway, Hugenay paused. He looked back at Jupiter.

“It was a pleasure working with you, my boy,” he said. “I am only sorry we can’t work together professionally. With my training you would have a great future. Still, I am sure we will meet again some day.”

In a moment the outer door opened and closed and Hugenay and his men were gone. Chief Reynolds was still scratching his head.

“Well,” he said, “I think it’s time for some explanations. Jupiter, just what is this whole thing all about?”

Jupiter drew a deep breath.

“Well, Chief Reynolds, it all started with a screaming clock. You see — ”

And he talked for quite a long time.

IT IS NOT necessary to relate all that Jupiter Jones told Chief Reynolds and the others However, you might be interested in a few details that emerged before the case was officially closed.

The stolen pictures which had caused Harry’s father’s arrest had been put under the linoleum by Mr. Clock himself, who was afraid the police might suspect him unless they had someone else to pin the guilt on. As soon as he safely could, Mr. Clock had then left the country and gone into hiding in South America. He wanted both to get away from further police attention and to escape from Carlos, Jerry and Mr. Jeeters, members of the gang that had stolen the pictures who were pressing him to resume activity again.

Mr. Clock had died of an illness in South America, as Hugenay had reported, so it was impossible to bring him to justice. As for Carlos, Jerry and Mr. Jeeters, they were taken into custody in the garage where they had been left handcuffed. They admitted their part in the burglary ring, and cleared Harry’s father of any guilt whatever. He was released from prison, and reunited with his family.

The trick that Bert Clock did in the old film, and which both Pete’s father and Mr. Watson remembered, was to shatter a mirror by screaming in front of it in high-pitched tones. The vibrations caused by certain sound waves can shatter thin glass, and this made a very dramatic scene in the film.

Mr. Clock had obtained a similar mirror later and hung it in his library. He used it as the hiding place for stolen pictures until they were sold. The five he could not sell he left there, as it was the safest hiding place he knew. His reasons for wanting the mirror can only be guessed. It is my belief that he enjoyed knowing he could shatter the glass with a scream any time he wanted to, and perhaps intended to do it some day to amaze a group of friends.

It was this trick Mr. Crenshaw had told Pete about, and which Pete thought Jupiter should know of. As Pete said, he had been unable to sleep and tried to telephone Jupiter, and finding both Jupiter and Bob unaccountably missing, had raised the alarm.

Jupiter was inclined to be annoyed at himself for not guessing that a large mirror could easily conceal several small pictures, but Bob and Pete pointed out to him that he had so brilliantly succeeded in other phases of the investigation that he could be pardoned for not realizing this final point.