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

Then Jupiter saw something which made him catch his breath. The Potter's desk had been forced open. There were fresh scratches on the wood and on the lock which usually secured the desk's roll top. One drawer was open and empty, and file folders were spilled across the top.

Someone had been searching The Potter's office.

Jupe started to turn towards the door. Suddenly he felt hands on his shoulders. A foot was thrust between his ankles, and he was shoved, floundering, towards the corner of the room. His head struck the edge of a shelf and he fell, a cascade of papers fluttering down on top of him.

Jupiter was barely aware that a door slammed and a key turned in a lock. Footsteps pounded away across the porch.

Jupe managed to sit up. He waited a moment, afraid that he might be sick. When he was sure that his breakfast would remain where he had put it and that his wits were fairly steady, he got up and stumbled to the window. The Potter's front garden was unoccupied. The searcher, whoever he was, had escaped.





3

The Potter's Family



THERE should be a law, thought Jupiter, about telephones. Even eccentric potters should be required to have one.

On the other hand, even if The Potter had had a telephone, it would have been of little use by this time. Whoever had ransacked the office was probably a mile away by now.

Jupiter yanked at the doorknob. The door didn't budge. Jupe went down on one knee and looked through the old-fashioned keyhole. The door had been locked from the outside, and the key was still in the lock. Jupe went to The Potter's desk, found a letter opener, and set to work on the lock.

He could, of course, have gone out through the window, but he preferred not to do that. Jupiter Jones had a well-developed sense of his own dignity. Besides, he knew it would look highly suspicious if anyone on the road outside saw him climbing through a window.

Jupe was prodding at the lock when he heard more footsteps on the porch outside. Fie froze.

"Grandfather!" shouted someone.

The doorbell rasped rustily in the kitchen.

"Grandfather! It's us!"

Someone knocked on the door.

Jupiter abandoned his efforts with the lock and went to the window. He unlocked it, threw it open, and leaned out. A fair-haired boy stood on the porch, eagerly hammering at the door. Behind him was a youngish woman, her short blonde hair looking untidy and windblown. She held sunglasses in one hand and had an over-stuffed brown leather bag slung over her arm.

"Good morning!" said Jupiter Jones.

The woman and the boy stared at him and did not answer.

Jupiter, who had not planned to climb out of the window, now very sensibly did just that. He had nothing to lose.

"I was locked in," he explained shortly. He went back into the house through the front door, turned the key in the office door, and threw the door open.

After a slight hesitation, the woman and the boy trailed into the house after Jupiter.