Mystery of the Strange Messages (3 page)

"I put in four lumps." said Mrs. Hicks. "And
there's another in the saucer. You've got a sweet tooth, haven't you, sir? What
about me getting a new scrubbing-brush, now we're on the subject, and ..."

"We're
not
on the subject," said Mr. Goon,
shortly. "Put the cup down, Mrs. Hicks. I've something difficult to work
out, so don't disturb me till my dinner-time."

Mrs. Hicks went out, offended, and shut the door loudly. Goon
called her as she went down the passage.

"Hey, Mrs. Hicks. Half a minute. I want to ask you a
question."

Mrs. Hicks came back, still looking offended. "And what might
you be wanting to know?" she said.

"That butcher-boy—what was he like?" asked Goon, still
vainly hoping that he might have been Fatty in disguise. "And did he
really bring some meat—the meat you ordered?"

"Of course he did!" said Mrs. Hicks. "Two very nice
lean chops, sir, the kind you like. I told you before. And I told you I didn't
see
the butcher-boy, I was upstairs. But it was him all right. I know his
whistle. And I heard him calling over the fence to the next-door kid. It was
Charlie Jones all right. What's all the mystery, sir?"

"Nothing, nothing, nothing!" said Mr. Goon, feeling very
down-hearted. It couldn't have been Fatty after all; it
must
have been
the real butcher-boy. He might have guessed that, when Mrs. Hicks told him that
his chops had come. Fatty wouldn't have known that chops were ordered. Oh, what
an ass he had been!

He caught sight of the note on his desk. Same square, cheap
envelope. Same pasted-on bit of paper, with "Mr. goon" on, in cut-out
letters. What was inside this time?

He slit the envelope open. He paused before he took out the note.
He remembered what Larry had said about

finger-prints. There
might
be some on the writing-paper
inside. Goon fetched his own gloves and put them on. They were thick leather ones,
and he found it very difficult to get the thin sheet of paper out of the
envelope, while wearing such bulky gloves.

At last it was out, and he unfolded it to read. He saw the usual
cut-out words and letters, all pasted on a strip of paper, which itself was
stuck on the sheet of writing-paper.

"Why don't you do what you are told, egg-head", he read,
and grew crimson in the face.
who
was
writing these rude notes? Just wait till he got his hands on him!

He forgot all about his cup of tea, and it grew cold. Poor Goon.
He simply could
not
make up his mind what to do! Why, oh why had he gone
to see Fatty that morning, and left behind all the other notes?

"I can't go and report things to the Super now," he
thought. "If I do, I'll have to tell him I went and told everything to
that Trotteville boy—and he'll telephone to him and tell
him
to take
over. He's always in the middle of things, that boy—always doing me down. What
am I to do?"

Goon sat and worried for a long time. If only he could catch
whoever it was delivering these notes! That would be the thing to do! He would
soon solve everything then, once he got his hands on the fellow! Yes, that was
certainly the thing to do. But how could he watch for him every minute of the
day? It was impossible.

Then a sudden thought came to him. and he brightened. What about
his nephew Ern? What about asking him to stay with him for a while, and give some
pocket-money to keep a watch for him? Ern was smart.

Leaving his cold tea, he went out to Mrs. Hicks, who was sitting
down enjoying her second cup of tea.

"I've got to go out," he said. "Be back by
tea-time. Keep a look-out in case anyone else comes with a note."

"But your chops, sir," began Mrs. Hicks. It was no
good—Goon was off on his bicycle, riding at top speed

to Ern's home. Mrs. Hicks sighed and poured herself out a third
cup of tea. Well, if he wasn't back by dinner-time she would have those chops
herself!

Meantime Fatty and the others had been busy discussing what seemed
like a new, and rather sudden, mystery. They were in the middle of it when Mrs.
Trotteville came home from her shopping, hoping to find that all the jumble had
been taken from the attics, and neatly stacked into the garage. She was not
very pleased to find so little done.

"Well! You said you could get everything downstairs for me by
the time I came back, so that I could look over it," she said.
"Whatever have you been doing?"

Nobody said
a.
world about Mr. Goon's visit. Mrs.
Trotteville was always displeased if she thought that Fatty had been
"meddling in mysteries" again. She was tired of Mr. Goon coming along
with complaints of his doings.

"Sorry, Mother! We'll finish everything this afternoon,"
said Fatty. "Larry and the rest can easily come along again. Anyway, we've
got quite a few things out in the garage already."

"I should hope so!" said his mother. "I've got to
look over everything, mend what can be mended, and price each thing. And by the
way, Frederick, I've the names and addresses of a few people in Peterswood who
have said that they will be pleased to give some jumble for the sale, if you go
and collect it on a barrow."

"A
barrow!
" said Fatty. "Do you mean I'm to
borrow the gardener's old barrow and trundle it through the streets? No, thank
you!"

"I've arranged with the builder to lend you
his
barrow,"
said his mother. "Well, I suppose it's a handcart, really, not a barrow.
Larry can go with you to help you. It's for a good cause, so you can do your
bit, surely."

"You have an awful lot of good causes, Mother," said
Fatty. "Still, I'd rather have a mother with too many, than one with none
at all! All right—I'll do some

collecting round and about for you. Larry and Pip can both help
me."

"We'll come this afternoon and clear out the attics
properly," promised Larry. "What time? Half-past two?"

"Yes," said Fatty. "And I vote we all go out to tea
at the best tea-shop in the village. We'll be hungry after our hard work."

"Well, I'll pay for a good tea," said his mother,
laughing. "I see you've forgotten that you want to take off some of your
fat, Frederick."

"Don't remind me of that, Mother, just when I'm looking
forward to meringues and chocolate éclairs," groaned Fatty.

That afternoon the five, with Buster continually getting in their
way at awkward moments, carried down an enormous amount of jumble from the big
attic—and just as they were in the very middle of it, a piercing whistle was
heard coming up the attic stairs.

"Whoever's that?" said Fatty, startled. He looked down
the steep little flight of stairs. "Gosh! It's
ern!
Ern, what on earth are you doing here?"

"Come on down," said Ern. "I got something to tell
you. I'm staying with my uncle—he fetched me this morning."

"Staying with Goon!" said Fatty, disbelievingly.
"But you detest him! Half a mo—we'll all be down and hear what you've got
to say. My word, Ern—this
is
a surprise! We'll be down in a tick."

Ern's New Job.

Everyone was amazed to hear that Ern had suddenly come to stay
with Mr. Goon. They hurried down the attic stairs at top speed. Ern was
delighted to see them.

"Well," said Fatty, clapping the boy on the back. "Still
the same old Ern!"

And, indeed, Ern looked exactly the same as he had always looked,
though he had grown a little. He was still rather plump, and his cheeks were as
brilliant red as ever. His eyes bulged a little, just like his uncle's. He
grinned happily at everyone.

"Coo! You're all here. That's a bit of luck," he said.

"Let's go down to my shed." said Fatty. "We can
talk without being heard there. Do you think we've got enough stuff out of the
attic to satisfy my mother? The garage will soon be so full that it won't take
Dad's car!"

"Yes, we've done enough," said Larry, who was feeling
really tired after carrying so many heavy, awkward articles down the steep
attic stairs. "I want a rest."

So off they all went, out of the side door, down the garden path,
to Fatty's secluded little shed at the bottom of the garden, well-hidden among
shrubs and trees.

The winter afternoon was now getting dark, and Fatty lighted a
lantern, and also an oil stove, for the shed felt very chilly. Soon the glow
spread over the six children and Buster, as they sat together, glad of a rest
after so much hard work.

"I won't offer anyone anything to eat." said Fatty,
"because we're all going out to tea, Ern—and my mother's paying, so we can
have what we like. You can come with us."

"Coo!" said Ern, delighted. "Thanks a lot."

"What's all this about your uncle asking you to stay with him
so suddenly?" asked Fatty.

"Well, I was just eating my dinner with Mum and my twin
brothers, Sid and Perce, when my uncle comes sailing up on his bicycle,"
began Ern, thoroughly enjoying all the attention he was getting. "And Mum
says, 'Look who's here!' And we looked, and it was Uncle Theophilus..."

"Oh! I'd forgotten that was Mr. Goon's name," said Bets,
with a squeal of delight.

"Well, Sid and Perce, they bolted upstairs
straightaway." said Ern. "They're scared stiff of Uncle because he's
a policeman—and I was going, too, when Uncle yelled at me and said, 'You stay
here, young Ern. I got a job for you to do. I want you to help the law'."

"Go on, Ern," said Fatty, enjoying the way Ern imitated
Goon.

"Well, Uncle was sort of pally and slapped me on the back,
and said, 'Well, how's the smart boy of the family,' and that made me and Mum
proper suspicious," said Ern. "And then he said he wanted me to come
and stay with him, and do a bit of snooping around for him—and I was going to
say No, that I wouldn't, straight off like-that—when he said he'd pay me proper
wages!"

"Did he, now?" said Fatty. "What did he offer
you?"

"Half a crown a day!" said Ern. "Loveaduck, I've
never had so much money in my life! But I was smart, I was. I said, 'Done,
Uncle—if you throw in an ice-cream a day as well!' And he said 'Right—if you
come along with me now'."

"So you came?" said Bets. "Did your mother
mind?"

"Oooh no—she's glad to get rid of one or other of us for a
few days," said Ern. "She just said, 'What sort of a job is this?'
And my uncle said, 'Can't tell you—it's secret. But Ern here's smart, and he'll
be able to do it all right.' Coo—I never knew my uncle thought so much of
me."

"I hope he'll be kind to you," said Daisy, remembering
how unkind Goon had been to the boy on other occasions when he had stayed with
him.

"Well, I've told him straight, I'll go back home if the job
don't please me," said Ern, boastfully. "Job! Funny business it is,
really. It's just to keep a look-out for anyone snooping about the house, hiding
notes anywhere, when Uncle's out and can't keep watch himself. And if I do see
anyone and describe him good and proper, I'm to get an extra five
shillings."

"So Goon has made up his mind I'm
not
the guilty
one!" said Fatty. "Did he tell you anything else. Ern?"

"No," said Ern. "But he said I could skip along
here this afternoon, and you'd tell me anything you wanted to—and I was to say
he'd made a mistake. He says you can burn those notes he left, and don't you
bother about them any more. He can manage all right."

"He thinks we'll give up solving the mystery of the notes, I
suppose," said Pip. "Well, we shan't, shall we, Fatty?"

"No," said Fatty. "There certainly is something
decidedly queer about those notes. We won't burn them. We'll hang on to them. I
vote we have a meeting down here tomorrow morning, and consider them
carefully."

"Can I have a look at them?" asked Ern, filled with
curiosity.

"They're indoors," said Fatty. "Anyway, it's almost
time we went out to have our tea. Got your bike, Ern?"

"You bet," said Ern. "I say, it's a bit of good
luck for me, isn't it—getting so much money! I can stand you all ice-creams in
a day or two—pay you back a bit for the ones you've bought me so many
times."

He grinned round at the five children, and they smiled back
pleased with his good-natured suggestion. That was so like Ern.

"How are Sid and Perce, your two brothers?" asked Pip.
"Does Sid still suck that awful toffee?"

"No. He's on to chewing-gum now," said Ern, seriously.
"He got into trouble at school over that toffee—couldn't spit it out soon
enough when the teacher got on to him about it. So now he buys chewing-gum.
It's easier to manage, he says. Perce is all right too. You should have seen
him and Sid scoot upstairs when Uncle arrived this morning. Atom-bombs couldn't
have got them up quicker!"

They all laughed. Fatty stood up. "Well, let's go," he

said "Ern. if your uncle is at home tomorrow morning, you
come and join our meeting. You may as well listen to our plans, seeing you're
more or less in this affair too."