20 : In Which Loose Ends are Tied
WHEN BOB, Pete and Jupiter were shown into Alfred
Hitchcock’s office two days later, they found the famous
director seated behind his desk, glancing through several
newspapers. He waved them to chairs.
“Sit down, lads,” he said. “I’ll be with you in a
moment.”
They sat down and waited expectantly. After a moment
Mr. Hitchcock put the newspapers aside and stared at
them quizzically.
“So!” he said. “I send you out to find a friend’s missing
parrot, and instead you find a lost masterpiece and get
your pictures in the paper.”
“Only in our local paper, sir,” Jupiter said respectfully.
“The big Los Angeles papers just mentioned that some
boys had found the picture under a pile of rocks in the
Merita Valley graveyard.”
“They didn’t even mention The Three Investigators,”
Pete added.
“Still,” Mr. Hitchcock said, holding up the Rocky
Beach News, “I feel sure that this makes up for it. A pic-
ture of you, Jupiter Jones, and the car you won in the
contest. A picture of the three of you together holding the
painting you found. And a headline which says, ‘Three
Young Local Sleuths Find Lost Masterpiece.’ I’m sure you
have at last secured adequate publicity for The Three
Investigators.”
“Yes, sir,” Jupiter agreed. “We’ve been offered several
assignments already on the strength of those stories. What
do we have booked, Bob?”
Bob Andrews whipped out his notebook.
“Let me see,” he said. “A lost Siamese kitten; a statue
of the Greek god Pan, stolen from a garden in Holly-
wood; a ghostly old boat that appears only on foggy nights
and always beaches in front of a certain house at Malibu
Beach; and the mystery of why someone keeps changing
the numbers on the front of three houses in Rocky Beach.
That’s all so far.”
Mr. Hitchcock shook his head.
“My imagination staggers,” he said, “at the thought of
what these mysteries will turn into once you lads begin
delving into them. But pray tell me the details which did
not get into the papers. For I know you started out to find
Malcolm Fentriss’s parrot. Yet there is not a word about
the parrot in the newspapers.”
“That was because Mr. Claudius didn’t want to bring
the parrots into it,” Jupiter said. “He was afraid it might
sound too fantastic. Besides—but I’d better start at the
beginning.”
He proceeded to tell how the investigation had spread
to include seven talking birds and a lost masterpiece. Mr.
Hitchcock listened attentively.
“So,” he said, “in the end you got back the parrots,
solved the mysterious message, and found the lost master-
piece, which you returned to Mr. Claudius.”
“Yes, sir,” Jupiter said. “Of course”—the admission
came with some reluctance but Jupiter was too honest not
to make it—“we did have some luck.”
“Luck,” Mr. Hitchcock said, “is only helpful when you
know how to use it. Do I understand that you have re-
turned Billy Shakespeare to my friend Malcolm Fentriss.
and Little Bo-Peep to Miss Waggoner?”
“Yes, sir,” Jupiter said. “They were delighted to get
their pets back. Mr. Claudius explained everything to
them, and apologised for the way he had acted. They
agreed to forgive him.”
“Well, well,” the director said. “So you recovered my
friend’s parrot and you fulfilled the condition I set you—
that I would introduce your second case if you managed
to make it sufficiently noteworthy. Thus I have no alter-
native. I will introduce this case.
“Furthermore”—he glanced at them sharply—“having
gone this far, I will go farther. I will introduce any other
cases you solve if, mind you, I consider them sufficiently
interesting.”
“Thank you, sir!” Jupiter cried, and Bob and Pete
echoed the words. The First Investigator leaped to his
feet. “Come on,” he said. “We have to get busy.”
There was a flurry of boys, and then they were gone.
“Mmm,” Mr. Hitchcock murmured to himself, “I
wonder if I should have mentioned to the boys my friend
Professor Yarborough, and the ancient Egyptian mummy
which he says whispers to him whenever he’s alone in the
room with it?”
Slowly and thoughtfully he gathered up the newspapers
and stacked them into a neat pile.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK SPEAKING: There may be a
few details of The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot which
you would like cleared up. I shall undertake to tie up any
loose ends, as Pete, Bob, and Jupiter are busy.
Mr. Claudius, the fat man, returned to England with
the long-lost masterpiece which The Three Investigators
recovered for him. He paid the promised reward of one
thousand dollars for it. However, Jupiter insisted that the
money must go to Carlos and his uncle Ramos.
Carlos’s uncle returned to Mexico with the money,
where he is recovering his health in his native village. The
lads introduced Carlos to Worthington, who took him
down to the Rent-’n-Ride Auto Rental Agency. The
manager there gave him a job washing the firm’s cars. He
is learning to be a mechanic in his spare tune. Working
round cars he is supremely happy. He lives with the
Joneses and earns his board by working in the junk yard
one day a week.
Mr. Huganay, the art thief, is still at large in Europe,
though wanted by police of several nations. Adams and
Lester suffered their punishment—Huganay departed
without paying them. This has convinced them that crime
is a losing proposition.
Upon reviewing everything that has happened since I
first met Jupiter Jones and his friends, I am forced to
conclude that perhaps I was a trifle too harsh in my judg-
ment of them. Jupiter Jones is still somewhat headstrong
and overly self-confident, but I have faith that his intelli-
gence and judgment will enable him to overcome these
faults. Indeed, I am strongly thinking of sending The
Three Investigators on another case. Any interesting de-
velopments will be promptly reported to you.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK
