The White Elephant Mystery Part 12

"He hasn't heard anything from Socker?" Djuna asked.

"Not yet," Tommy said. "He- Oh, here he is now."

"Hi, Trix," Cannonball said. He talked with Trixie for a moment about Spitfire and then Trixie said, "Could you run Djuna and me out to the hospital?"

"Surest thing you know," Cannonball said. "Are you coming along, Tommy, or are you going to the circus?"

"I think I'll go to the circus, if it's all right," Tommy said anxiously.

"Okay," Cannonball said, and added sternly, "When the circus is over, you come back. I'll be parked here." He turned to Djuna. "What," he asked, "are you going to do after you go to the hospital with Trixie?"

"I think," Djuna said, "I'll go back to our room at the hotel and take a nap. I-I don't feel so well."

"That's the first smart thing I've heard you say today," Cannonball said enthusiastically. "I think a nap is just what the doctor ordered."

"I'm going to stay at the hospital with Spitfire for a time, if they'll let me," Trixie said. "I'll stop in at the hotel and pick Djuna up on my way back."

"Fine," Cannonball said. "Let's go!"

On the way to the hospital Cannonball told Djuna that he was going to stop at the State Police substation on the way back to the circus grounds and have them send out a hush-hush alarm for Socker Furlong.

"Then it is true that you think something might have happened to Socker!" Trixie cried from the back seat where she was sitting. Cannonball had thought that he was talking quietly enough to Djuna, who sat beside him, so that Trixie couldn't hear.

"Well," Cannonball said. "We-"

"I told Trixie about the phone call for Socker this morning and what Mr. Canavan said about it," Djuna interrupted to say. "She knows."

"But, Cannonball!" Trixie pleaded. "What's it all about? Why all the hush-hush and-"

"You tell me!" Cannonball growled. "I think they just got their orders mixed up in Socker's office. I think-"

"Well, why don't you get that night city editor on the telephone at home and find out if he called Socker this morning?" Trixie wanted to know.

Cannonball looked at Djuna and Djuna looked at Cannonball and then not either one of them dared look at Trixie.

"Maybe she's got something there, eh, kid?" Cannonball said. "I'll get him out of bed this time, as soon as I get to the station."

When they arrived at the hospital Cannonball let Trixie and Djuna out and then he went out of the hospital driveway with his siren screaming.

Trixie and Djuna went inside and Trixie said to the sympathetic girl who was behind the desk, "I want to take my son in to see his father. It will be all right, won't it?"

"Why, yes, I think so," she replied. "Just a minute." She went out and talked to the woman sitting at the day supervisor's desk and then came back and nodded her head. "Okay," she said. "Don't stay too long."

They walked down a long corridor to the last door on the right-hand side that had a sign on it reading: NO VISITORS.

Trixie knocked lightly on the door and a girl in a white uniform opened it. She held the door wide and after they were inside she said, "I'll be back in a moment," and went out into the corridor and closed the door behind her.

"Say, Trixie!" Djuna said excitedly. "Would you go out and keep that nurse outside until after I get through talking with Spitfire?"

"Well, Djuna," Trixie said. "Suppose-"

"Please, Trixie!" Djuna said.

Trixie nodded her head, but before she went out she stepped over to the bed and leaned over the figure that was lying there swathed in bandages and said, "h.e.l.lo, darling. I've brought Djuna, Socker's friend, with me. He wants to talk with you. Is it all right?"

Djuna, leaning over the bed beside Trixie, looked into Spitfire's gray eyes. He nodded his head up and down and then he winked at Djuna.

"Jeepers! You're marvelous, Mr. Peters!" Djuna said and the bandaged head rolled from side to side and the eyes were very stern-looking.

"He wants you to call him Spitfire," Trixie said with a sob in her voice and Spitfire nodded his head up and down and winked at Djuna again.

"Okay, Djuna. You take it from here," Trixie said and she opened the door and disappeared.

Djuna climbed up on the high bed beside Spitfire, opened his blouse and pulled out the tiny white elephant that dangled on the cord around his neck. Spitfire's eyes opened wide when he saw it and Djuna said, "Do you remember when you said, 'The white elephant' to me after you fell yesterday?"

Spitfire nodded his head up and down, eagerly.

"I saw it shoot across the track when you struck and scooped it up," Djuna said.

Spitfire grinned.

"I didn't tell anyone about it, or what you said, except Tommy Williams," Djuna said. "I didn't know what to do. Then I remembered the iron elephant that is painted white that old Mr. Grant had on his lawn and Tommy and I went up there last night to look at it, thinking that might be the one you meant. We didn't find anything, but young Mr. Grant surprised us while we were there. I didn't know what he might do to us, so I told him that you had gasped, 'The white elephant' to me when you fell. He thought I meant the white iron elephant on the lawn and he let us go."

Spitfire's gray eyes had filled with alarm as Djuna told him what he had said to Mr. Grant, and then he grinned as he realized how Djuna had fooled Grant with the iron elephant.

"This morning," Djuna went on, "Cannonball drove Tommy and me over to Edenboro, where we live, to get some clothes. While I was changing my clothes in my bedroom your black charm dropped out of my pocket and my little black Scottie-he has awful strong jaws-found it and began to chew on it. Some of the outside black and some of the plaster came off and I saw that there was something else inside. So, I took a knife and sc.r.a.ped the rest off and found this little white elephant.

"I looked at it carefully," Djuna went on, "and found these numerals on the legs. I think they are the combination to a safe, or something. Is that right?"

Spitfire's eyes gleamed as he nodded his head up and down.

"Is the safe up in old man Grant's house?" Djuna asked.

Again Spitfire's head went up and down.

"On the top floor?" Djuna asked.

Spitfire shook his head from side to side.

"The second floor?"

Again Spitfire shook his head.

"The first floor?"

Patiently Spitfire shook his head.

"In the cellar?"

Spitfire grinned and nodded his head up and down.

Spitfire's eyes gleamed as Djuna lowered his voice to a whisper, after looking carefully around to be sure that the door to the corridor was closed.

From time to time Spitfire shook his head, or nodded it violently up and down as Djuna asked him question after question. Perspiration was standing out on both of their foreheads and Djuna could hardly control his voice.

Then Spitfire's eyes were s.h.i.+ning with admiration as Djuna raised his voice to normal and said, "Do you think Ned Barrow missed you purposely when you fell yesterday?"

Spitfire's eyes filled with pain. Then he shook his head, and then nodded it up and down, to indicate that he didn't know.

"Do you want Trixie to fly again before you can talk to her?" Djuna asked.

Spitfire shook his head harder this time than he had at any time before.

Djuna slipped from the bed as he heard the catch click on the door-and the nurse and Trixie came in.

"Spitfire just told me he doesn't want you to fly again until he can talk to you!" Djuna excitedly informed Trixie. "Spitfire isn't sure, but he thinks his fall may have been Ned Barrow's fault!"

Suddenly a smothered sound came from the bed and the nurse moved quickly around it to bend over Spitfire with Trixie leaning over it from the other side.

Then Spitfire's voice was perfectly audible to all of them as he said, "Be careful, Djuna. Good luck!"

"He's talking! He's talking, Djuna!" Trixie cried joyfully.

"I'll be back, Spitfire," Djuna said as he leaned over the bed and saw Spitfire wink at him again.

"Djuna, where are you going?" Trixie cried. "You mustn't-"

But Djuna didn't hear her. He had slipped out the door and was half running, half skipping down the long corridor toward the reception room.

Chapter Nine.

Djuna Walks into a Trap

A taxicab was drawing up in front of the hospital steps as Djuna went down them. He waited until the occupants had paid the driver and then he said, "How much would you charge to take me over to the circus grounds?"

"A dollar fifty," the driver said automatically. But when he looked at Djuna and saw the eagerness in his eyes he added, "I'll make it an even dollar."

"Thanks, very much," Djuna said and climbed in.

When they arrived near the center of Riverton Djuna leaned forward in his seat and said, "Would it cost any more if you stopped at the Brewster House and I ran inside for just half a minute?"

"Why, no," the driver said. "Take your time, Bud."

Djuna hurried into the lobby of the Brewster House a few minutes later and saw that the same clerk Cannonball had talked to that morning was still on duty.

"Please," Djuna said, when the clerk had finished talking to a man and woman, "have you heard anything from Mr. Furlong?"

"Not a peep, sonny," the clerk said and pointed to the key in Socker's box.

"Thank you," Djuna called over his shoulder as he hurried back to the taxicab.

As Djuna climbed into the cab he saw a dark-skinned man with an unpleasant face staring at him from the driver's seat of a car that was parked just behind the cab. Djuna started to speak to the man and then remembered that the reason he looked familiar was because he had seen him sitting in the same car outside the hospital, just before he got in the cab.

Then it occurred to Djuna that the man might be following him. He turned and looked out the rear window and saw that the car was pulling away from the curb, right behind the taxicab he was in. Djuna could feel something very unpleasant creeping up his spine as he sat back in a corner of the cab and peeped out the back window to watch the black sedan behind them. He saw that it was staying as closely behind them as it could and when they took a right turn at the next corner the black sedan also turned. After it followed them around another turn, Djuna leaned forward and spoke to the driver.

"There's a black sedan behind us," Djuna said, trying to keep his voice steady, "that has been following us ever since we left the hospital. Do you suppose you could get away from it?"

The driver didn't say anything for a moment and then he turned his head and stared at Djuna for a split fraction of a second. "What's-a-matter, kid?" he said. "You in trouble?"

"No," Djuna said. "That is, I'm not in trouble but I'm afraid I might have some trouble after I get out of your cab, if he is following us."

"You want to tell me about it, Bud?" the driver asked.

"Oh, jeepers, there isn't time," Djuna said. "You see I'm afraid something pretty awful might happen to me if he is following us."

The cabdriver eased up on his accelerator and swung over toward the curb and stopped. The black sedan slowed and then it went on by them. They both watched it in silence when it pulled up to the curb a half-block down the street and also parked. No one got out of the car.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Bud," said the cabdriver and he turned half around in his seat and asked, "What's the pitch?"

"What's the pitch?" Djuna repeated, puzzled, "I-I don't think I know what you mean."

"I mean, what's he followin' you for?" the driver explained. He studied Djuna for a moment and said, "You don't look as though you'd been pa.s.sin' any bad money, or anything."

"Oh, I haven't!" Djuna said. "You see, a friend of mine is in trouble. I'm trying to help him. I don't even know who that man is in that car up there, but I know that if he can he'll stop me from doing what I've got to do."

"Just as clear as a foggy night without no headlights," the driver said sarcastically. After a grunt of disgust he said, "What you want me to do?"

"Nothing much," Djuna told him eagerly. "Do you know where old Mr. Grant, the man who owned the circus, used to live?"

"Sure," the driver said. "You want to go there?"

"Yes," Djuna said, "or almost there. You can let me out on the hill, so no one sees you drive up to the house, if there is anyone in the house. But first you'll have to lose that black sedan up there. He mustn't know I'm going there."

"So, he mustn't know you're goin' there, eh?" the driver said and he spoke the same way Cannonball had when he had been mimicking the girl on the hospital switchboard.

"Then," Djuna went on, "would you go the circus grounds-I'll give you a pa.s.s to get in-and find Cannonball, I mean Trooper McGinnty, and give him the note I'll give you to give him. He'll be parked between the restaurant tent and the performers' dressing tent."