Very late that night Jupe, Bob, and Pete sat in the crowded fluorescent-light fantasy of Hank’s 24-Hour One-Stop, one of Rocky Beach’s more unusual hangouts.
Pete was hunched over a soda and Hank’s sandwich of the night. After midnight the sandwich was free with an extra-large soda, but it was made of leftovers from the day shift. Tonight it was a meatloaf and tuna salad combo.
While he ate, Pete told Bob and Jupe about the Wolfford game, Traut’s vicious attacks, and the karate fight in the parking lot. Then he drank all 32 ounces of his soda in one gulp.
“I was parched,” he told Jupe.
“Dehydrated,” Jupe corrected. “You lost a lot of fluid in perspiration during the game. I know how you feel.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” Pete said with a laugh. “You were the parrot at the Shoremont game tonight. Did you learn anything new?”
Jupe shook his head glumly.
“Forget the case for a few minutes, okay?” Bob said. “We’re here to celebrate Pete’s big win!”
“This place is definitely beyond weird,” Pete said, looking around Hank’s. “Why is almost everyone wearing black?”
“It’s Wednesday, Pete,” explained Bob. “It’s one of Hank’s deals. Wear black on Wednesday, you get a ten percent discount.”
“How do you know so much about this place?” Pete asked.
“I’ve been here after late-night recording sessions,” Bob said. “That’s when I found out it’s the best place to wait for the first edition of the morning paper. It’ll be here by two in the a.m. Hank guarantees it.”
“You really think there’ll be a story about me in the paper?” asked Pete.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Jupe said, yawning. “It’s a long shot, Pete.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Bob said. “I’m telling you, Pete, if your winning basket was only half as long as you say it was, it will make the papers. It’s too good not to.”
“I think the most
“Well, the note was interesting to me because it signals that Barry Norman is still trying to scare us off the case,” said Jupe. “He knows we’re closing in on him.”
“Not fast enough,” Pete said, returning with another large soda. “I want to get that guy off the streets.”
“That would be easy with what we know about him already,” Jupe said. “But President Harper wants us to find the man Barry Norman is working for. A task at which we have so far failed.”
“Hey, whatever happened to the old it’s-not-over-till-it’s-over Jupiter Jones?” asked Bob.
Jupe put his head down on the table. “I’ve been jumping around in a parrot costume all night. I’m exhausted! I can’t solve a case with no sleep,” he moaned. “We should be going home, not waiting here for the newspaper.”
“We won’t have to wait much longer,” said Bob, pointing to the door. “The papers are here.”
Bob got up and hurried to join the line at the cash register to buy a newspaper. Bob went because Hank was so weird that he sometimes insisted that people line up alphabetically. Andrews was the best last name among the three of them.
“Hey, Jupe, are you going to eat the other half of your meatloaf-tuna sandwich?” Pete asked.
Jupe pushed his plate over to Pete. “Sometimes I think if I weren’t on a diet, you’d starve.”
“Hey, Pete. They didn’t just write a little story about you,” Bob said, dropping an open newspaper onto the table. “It’s the headline story. ‘Long Shot Wins Game.’ ”
“Wow! Look!” Pete said, grabbing the newspaper away. “It’s even got a photo of me!”
There was a picture across the top of the page taken by a photographer who must have been standing high up in the bleachers. The photo showed the whole court, with Pete standing on the far side of midcourt. Everyone was watching the ball, which had been frozen in midair.
“ ‘For the second game in a row,’ ” Pete said, reading from the article, “ ‘Rocky Beach guard Pete Crenshaw showed that small guys on the court can win big. This time Pete’s game-winning shot came with no time on the clock and about 40 feet between him and the basket.’ ” Pete turned the newspaper around and pointed at the picture. “Pretty cool, huh? Hey, you’re looking at the wrong picture, Jupe.”
Jupe snatched the paper out of Pete’s hands so he could study a photo at the bottom of the page. “Look at this,” he said finally. “See if you recognize anyone.”
Pete folded the newspaper page in half and looked at the smaller photo at the bottom of the page. “It’s a story about the Shoremont basketball team,” he said. “And the picture shows a bunch of Shoremont players on the bench during a game.”
“In the background,” Jupe hinted impatiently.
Bob moved to look at the photo over Pete’s shoulder. But Pete quickly pulled the newspaper away. “Don’t help me,” he told Bob. “I’m going to get this one myself.”
Pete leaned on both elbows and stared closely at the newspaper photo. Finally his eyebrows lifted in recognition. “That’s the woman Barry Norman had lunch with at the country club. And she’s sitting with John Hemingway Powers.”
“Right,” Jupe said, “so now we know that she knows both Barry Norman and John Hemingway Powers. Now here’s an interesting scenario: If she knows both those guys, isn’t it possible that they know each other? That would mean we have a new suspect, a new clue, a new lead.”
Pete scrunched his face. “Powers?”
“Okay, okay,” Jupe said. “I’ll grant you this: It’s another long shot. But maybe there’s a reason why we haven’t found anything that connects Barry Norman with Coach Duggan. Maybe it’s because there isn’t anything. But now we’ve got a real link between Norman and Powers.”
Bob cleared his throat. “Come on, guys. Would you let me in on this? Hand over the newspaper.” Pete passed it to Bob, who took a long look at the photo. “What did you say his name was?”
“John Hemingway Powers,” said Jupe. “He’s the super-bucks alumnus of Shoremont College we told you about a few days ago.”
“And he’s the one who was putting all the pressure on you to nail Duggan?” asked Bob.
“You should have seen him,” Pete said.
“I
“Remember last week when I met you in the Shoremont gym? I was hanging around in Duggan’s office, talking to his secretary. I told you people were in and out of there a lot. Well, he was one of them. I didn’t think it was important at the time, so I just filed it.”
“What exactly happened?” asked Jupe. “He came in, headed straight for Duggan’s private office, and closed the door. I asked Duggan’s secretary what was going on and she said he does it every week—usually on Thursdays when Duggan’s not in. She said he uses Duggan’s computer to get a printout of the latest statistics from the game. I got the message he’s a real fan — in other words, fanatic about the team.”
“Powers comes in and uses Coach Duggan’s computer?” asked Pete.
“When he’s not there. You got it,” Bob said. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Jupe nodded. “If Powers goes into Duggan’s office for the stats — what’s to stop him from also getting copies of Duggan’s scouting reports? He reads the reports, checks them out to see who Duggan wants for the team — ”
“And then,” finished Pete, “Powers tells Michael Anthony a.k.a. Barry Norman to send out a bribe.”
“That would explain how Powers connected so quickly with Pete,” Jupe added. “He knew Pete was at the top of Duggan’s list, so he sent Michael Anthony to deliver the first envelope. We concluded that Coach Duggan left it because he happened to speak to Pete that same night.”
“But we were wrong,” Pete said.
“We weren’t wrong,” said Jupe, tapping the newspaper. “We were hasty. Do you think Hank would sell me half a black-and-white milk shake?”
“I thought you were dead tired,” said Pete.
“I am. But I’m going to need the shake to revive. Because it’s going to take a while to explain my plan for catching John Hemingway Powers!”
* * *
Jupe’s plan was simple. They would set a trap for John Hemingway Powers by planting some bait in Coach Duggan’s latest scouting report — and hope that Powers fell for it. Luckily the next day was Thursday, the day that Powers usually came into the office for the game statistics.
Early the next morning the Three Investigators went to Shoremont College and zeroed in on Coach Duggan’s office.
Jupe and Pete hid in a janitor’s closet across the hall. While they watched through a crack in the door, Bob poked his head into the office. “Hi. Remember me?” he said, pouring on the charm for Coach Duggan’s secretary.
“Don’t tell me you’re still lost,” she said.
“No — lost again,” Bob said.
Once again the blonde offered to point Bob in the right direction, but this time Bob got her to walk with him part of the way, leaving the office unoccupied. As soon as they were gone Pete and Jupe sneaked into the inner office and headed straight for Coach Duggan’s computer.
Jupe had it up and running in seconds.
“I’m into Coach Duggan’s scouting reports now,” Jupe said, his fingers flying on the keyboard. As he typed, entering information, a smile broke across his face.
“What’s so funny?” Pete asked, taking his eyes off the doorway for only a second.
“Tell you later. I’m almost done.” Jupe finished typing and then exited the program. “It’s in there. Step one completed. Let’s go.”
They ran back into the closet, where they hid and waited, hoping Powers would come.
Two hours later Powers arrived. As Bob had reported, he went into Duggan’s office and emerged a few minutes later with a computer printout.
“There goes the bait,” Jupe said. “Powers has used the computer. And Duggan hasn’t been in his office all morning. Step two completed. Now it’s time for step three. Good luck, Pete. Sorry I can’t go with you, but it’s too risky. I might be recognized as the parrot. Make it quick — and make sure you go in there alone.” Pete stepped out of the closet carrying a clipboard in his hand and a pen behind his ear. He walked across the hall.
“Can I help you?” asked Duggan’s secretary, sitting at her desk sipping a can of diet soda.
“Computer maintenance,” Pete said, tapping the clipboard with the pen. “Gotta check it out.”
“Coach has one,” she said. “I’ll show you.”
“No. I mean, thanks. But — uh — I’ll find it.”
“Okay,” said the young woman.
Pete went into the back office and sat down at the computer. Sweat instantly beaded on his forehead. A car he could take apart and stick back together blind-folded. Computers were a different animal. His hands trembled as he typed on the keyboard. Delete... delete... He checked and double-checked Jupe’s instructions on his clipboard.
When Pete was finished, he left Duggan’s inner office, thanked the secretary, and walked into the hall. A quick, quiet knock on the closet door brought Jupe out.
“You did it?” Jupe asked.
Pete nodded. “I deleted all of the stuff you just put in.”
“Good. Step three completed. Now we just have to wait for someone to contact Luke Braun — even though he doesn’t exist!”
“Always important to a basketball coach,” Bob said, rolling his eyes.
“It’s important to me, and I created him.” Jupe bristled. “He’s six feet six inches tall.”
“That’s more like it,” said Pete. “He has a remarkable shooting percentage, he’s completely ambidextrous — I thought that was an interesting touch—and I wrote that he was fast, slim, and agile. I also added that Coach Duggan thought Luke was destined to become the next Magic Johnson.”
“Wow!” Pete said. “Hey, if I were a coach, I’d sign that kid up no matter what.”
“That’s the idea. To make Powers salivate to recruit him for Shoremont. I also added that Luke was going to decide by today what college to attend. Of course since Luke doesn’t exist, I gave him your phone number and address, Bob. Now we just have to wait at your house for the phone to ring.”
In the middle of the afternoon the right call finally came. Bob answered and immediately pointed at the receiver to signal Jupe and Pete that this was it.
“Yes, this is Luke Braun,” Bob said, taking the phone and sitting down sideways in a large stuffed living room chair.
Jupe could tell from the smile on Bob’s face that the phone call was going exactly as planned. First Bob acted interested in talking to Michael Anthony — but then he began to set the trap.
“Sure, I want to talk to you. But I’m not comfortable meeting you someplace. My parents and I decided that I wouldn’t meet with anyone except here at my house and with them. My dad just lost his job, and we don’t have much money. They’re very eager for me to find a college that can help out.”
Bob listened some more and finally gave Pete and Jupe a thumbs-up. “Great,” he said, and hung up the phone. “E.T.A. — one hour.”
When the doorbell rang about an hour later, Bob answered it.
“Hi, you must be Michael Anthony,” said Bob, opening the door. “I’m Luke.”
Barry Norman came in and sat down, but he was looking at Bob quizzically. “The scouting report said you’re six six.”
“I do some fantastic stretching exercises before each game,” Bob said.
The answer obviously didn’t sit well with Barry Norman. He squirmed in his chair. “You are Luke Braun?”
“Sure. Some people think I’m the next Magic Johnson,” said Bob. “Can we talk money now, Mr. Anthony, because I’ve got three other schools coming over to bribe me this afternoon.”
Barry Norman’s face remained calm as his eyes surveyed every inch of the room. “I think I’ll be going, Luke.”
Bob stood up before Norman could move. “Wait!” he said. “I want you to meet my mom and dad before you go. They’re really eager to say hello, especially since they’ve made me what I am today. Hey, guys!” At that signal Pete and Jupe walked into the living room. They were delighted to see Barry Norman’s face, already confused, go pale.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Norman,” said Jupe. “We forgot to tell you in Chief Reynolds’ office that we are the
“No, I haven’t. And if you think I’m going to incriminate someone, you’re very naive.”
“You already did incriminate someone,” said Bob, “when you called me.”
“You see, Mr. Norman,” Jupe explained, “there is only one way you could have learned about Luke Braun and gotten his phone number. And that is if John Hemingway Powers told you. Because Luke Braun doesn’t exist.”
Jupe sat down on a couch two feet away from Barry Norman’s chair. The two stared at each other for a long time.
“I’m making no admission of any guilt, you understand,” Norman finally said. “But if I were working for John Hemingway Powers, so what? I haven’t done anything illegal, and for that matter neither has John Hemingway Powers.”
“That may be true,” Jupe said. “But I can’t imagine that your law practice will benefit from all the negative publicity when this news reaches the press. On the other hand, if you cooperate, President Harper might agree to keep you out of it.”