"Carey, M.V. - The Three Investigators 23 - The Mystery of the Invisible Dog" - читать интересную книгу автора (Carey M.V)

First Investigator -

Second Investigator -

Records and Research -

JUPITER JONES

PETER CRENSHAW

BOB ANDREWS





Jupe glanced at the card and nodded in recognition.

"The friend who gave me this card," said Mr Prentice, "told me that you boys are detectives with a great interest in things which areа.а.а. well, rather unusual."

"That is true," said Jupe. "The question marks on our card, symbolizing the unknown, might be taken as a statement of that interest. In the past, we have succeeded in solving some rather bizarre puzzles. But until you tell us what is troubling you, we won't know if we can possibly help. We are prepared to try, of course. In fact, we have already begun preliminary work on your case. After we received your letter this morning, we investigated you!"

"What?" cried Prentice. "What impertinence!"

"If you are to be our client, don't you think we should know something about you?" demanded Jupe reasonably.

"I am a very private person," said Prentice. "I don't care to have anyone prying into my affairs."

"No one can be totally private," said Jupiter Jones, "and Bob is a first-rate researcher. Bob, would you fell Mr Prentice what you discovered?"

Bob grinned. He admired Jupe's ability to get the upper hand in most situations. He took a small note pad out of his pocket and opened it. "You were born in Los Angeles, Mr Prentice," he said. "You are now in your seventies. Your father, Giles Prentice, made a fortune in real estate. You inherited that fortune. You are not married. You travel often and you give generously to museums and to individual artists. The newspapers refer to you as a patron of the arts."

"I seldom bother with newspapers," said Mr Prentice.

"But they bother about you," Jupe remarked. "You do seem to take a great interest in the arts," he added, looking around the room.

The living room was actually a luxurious showcase for an art collection. Paintings hung on the walls, porcelain figures stood on low tables, and here and there were lamps which might have come from some Moorish palace.

"Very well," said Prentice. "There isn't anything wrong with taking an interest in beautiful things. But that has nothing to do with what's going on here."

"What is going on here?" asked Jupiter.

Prentice glanced over his shoulder, as if he feared someone might be listening in the next room. When he spoke, his voice was almost a whisper. "I am being haunted," he said.

The Three Investigators stared at him.

"You don't believe me," said Prentice. "I was afraid you wouldn't, but it's true. Someone gets in here when I'm away. I come back and find that my things aren't the way I left them. Once I found my desk drawer partly open. Someone had been reading my letters."

"This is a large apartment house," Jupiter pointed out. "Is there a manager? Would the manager have a master key?"