"Carey, M.V. - The Three Investigators 15 - The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints" - читать интересную книгу автора (Carey M.V)

"I am looking for Hilltop House," said the man. "I seem to have taken the wrong turn off the highway." The man spoke the very precise English of the well-educated European.

"It's a mile north," Jupe told him. "Go back to the highway and turn right. Drive until you see The Potter's place. The lane to Hilltop House is just beyond that. You can't miss it. There's a wooden gate with a padlock."

The man nodded a curt thanks and got back into the car. Then, for the first time, Jupe was aware that there was a second person in the Cadillac. A rather thickset man had been sitting motionless in the back seat. Now he leaned forward to touch the driver's shoulder and say something in a language which Jupe could not understand. The second man seemed neither young nor old nor anywhere in between. He looked ageless. It took Jupe a moment to realize that this was because he was completely bald. Even his eyebrows were gone--if he had ever had eyebrows. And his skin was tanned to the point where it looked like fine leather.

The ageless one glanced at Jupe, then turned his dark, slightly-angled eyes to The Potter, who had been standing quietly beside Jupe. The Potter made an odd little hissing sound. Jupe looked at him. He was standing with his head to one side, as if he were listening intently. His right hand had come up to grip the medallion which hung around his neck.

The ageless man in the car leaned back in his seat. The driver shifted the gear stick smoothly into reverse and backed out of the drive. Across the street from the salvage yard, Aunt Mathilda emerged from the house in time to see the Cadillac sweep by and speed back down to the highway.

The Potter touched Jupiter's arm. "My boy," he said, "would you go and ask your aunt if I may have a glass of water? I feel a little dizzy all of a sudden."

The Potter sat down on a pile of lumber. He did look ill.

"I'll get it right away, Mr Potter," promised Jupe. He hurried across the street.

"Who were those men?" asked Aunt Mathilda.

"They were looking for Hilltop House," said Jupiter. He went into the kitchen, took out the bottle of water that Aunt Mathilda always kept in the refrigerator, and poured a glass for The Potter.

"How peculiar," said Aunt Mathilda. "No one's lived at Hilltop House for years."

"I know," said Jupe. He hurried out with the water. But by the time he got back to the salvage yard, The Potter had disappeared.





2

The Searcher



THE Potter's decrepit truck was still in the drive when Uncle Titus and Hans returned from Los Angeles. They had a load of rusted garden furniture in the back of the salvage-yard truck. Uncle Titus struggled to manoeuvre his load past The Potter's vehicle, then exploded from the cab of his truck. "What is that thing doing in the middle of the drive?" Uncle Titus demanded.

"The Potter left it when he disappeared," said Jupe.

"When he what?"

"He disappeared," repeated Jupiter.

Uncle Titus sat down on the running board of the truck. "Jupiter, people do not simply disappear."

"The Potter did," said Jupe. "He stopped to buy some furniture to accommodate his expected guests. When he said he was feeling dizzy, I went across to the house and got him a glass of water. While I was gone, he disappeared."

Uncle Titus pulled at his moustache. "Guests?" he said. "The Potter? Disappeared? Disappeared where?"

"It is not difficult to trace the movements of a barefooted man," Jupe told his uncle. "He went out through the gate and down the street. Aunt Mathilda had been watering, and he got his feet wet. At the corner, he turned up towards Coldwell Hill. There are several clear footprints in the dust on the path that leads up the hill. Unfortunately, he left the path about fifty yards up and struck off to the north. I found no sign of him after that. The terrain is too rocky to show footprints."