"Carey, M.V. - The Three Investigators 27 - The Mystery of the Magic Circle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Carey M.V)

Pete and Bob had come in from the kitchen. They looked at Beefy with curiosity.

"What's the matter?" Jupiter asked.

"The Bainbridge memoirs," said Beefy. "The manuscript has disappeared. Somebody stole it!"





4

A Case of Witchcraft?



"OKAY, I admit that I'm clumsy," said Beefy Tremayne. "I drop things and knock things over. However, I do pay attention to business, and I'm good at my business. I do not lose manuscripts!"

"Nonsense!" said William Tremayne.

Beefy had driven The Three Investigators from Rocky Beach to the high-rise building in West Los Angeles where he shared an apartment with his uncle. It was a modern security building; the garage doors were opened by a sonic device and the door from the lobby to the inner court was monitored by closed-circuit television. The boys had found William Tremayne lounging on a sofa in the living-room of the apartment. He was smoking a long, slender cigar and staring at the ceiling in a disinterested way.

"I refuse to waste time and effort fussing about that manuscript," he announced. "You've misplaced it in your usual blithering fashion, and it will show up. We don't need any aspiring juveniles to snoop around with magnifying glasses and fingerprint powder."

"We left our fingerprint powder at home today, Mr Tremayne," said Jupe stiffly.

"I'm delighted to hear it," declared Tremayne. He continued to gaze at the ceiling. "Beefy, while you were out, the insurance adjuster was here. He asked a lot of idiot questions, and I didn't care for his tone. Just because I look after your financial interests, and just because the money from the insurance company will come to me for disbursement, there's no need for anyone to take the attitude that I had anything to gain from that fire."

"Uncle Will, they have to ask questions," said Beefy.

"You mean they have to make it look as if they're earning their money," snapped William Tremayne. "I only hope there's no delay in settling our claim. It's going to cost a fortune to relocate the offices and start operations again."

"I can start operating right now if I can just get my hands on that manuscript!" said Beefy.

"Then look for it!" said his uncle.

"I have looked. It isn't here!"

"Beefy, do you mind if we look?" asked Jupiter. "If you say it isn't here, I'm sure it isn't, but it won't hurt for us to double-check."

"Okay. Go ahead," said Beefy. He sat down and glared at his uncle while the boys searched the apartment. They looked behind every piece of furniture and into every cupboard and bookcase. There was no sign of a manuscript that could be the memoirs of an ageing movie star.

"All right, Beefy, it isn't here," said Jupiter at last. "Now let's begin at the beginning. When did you last have the manuscript?"

Bob sat down near Beefy, took a small pad from his pocket, and prepared to take notes.

"Last night," said Beefy, "about nine-fifteen or nine-thirty. I'd taken the manuscript out of my briefcase and started to go through it. But after the fire, and seeing that man bleeding the way he was, I was too shook up to read. I felt as if I had to do something physical. So I put the manuscript down on the coffee table, and I changed into trunks and went down to the pool for a swim."

"Were you here?" Jupiter asked William Tremayne.