CHAPTER XXII
Afterwards
Many hours later Judy opened her eyes and looked up to see Peterstanding beside her bed. His blue eyes were regarding her anxiously.His face came into focus.
“Peter!” she gasped.
“I’m here, Angel. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up. How are youfeeling?”
“Hot,” she said. “That’s funny! I was so cold before. Is it a fever?”She looked around the room and saw that she must be in a hospital. Anoxygen tank was also standing beside her bed, but the funny little cagewas no longer over her nose. “I guess I was pretty sick,” she concluded.
“You were pretty brave,” Peter said, his voice husky.
A nurse she knew came in quietly. Judy moved her foot experimentallyand discovered that it was in a cast.
“Oh!” she said. “No wonder I couldn’t walk. I guess I broke it againstthe fountain.” Then, all at once, her nightmare experience rushed backto her and she added sorrowfully, “It was no use. I limped back to thetower as fast as I could and turned off all the valves I couldfind—but it was all for nothing. I still can’t believe it, Peter.Horace—drowned—”
“Who said so?” Peter interrupted quickly. “Why, Horace is in the roomright next to this one. He’s in better shape than you are. They evenlet him have a typewriter. Hear it?”
Judy listened a moment. She had never heard a sweeter sound.
“That brother of mine!” she said with tears in her eyes. “I guess he’spolishing up that story he had in his pocket.”
“Wrong again, Angel!” Peter was smiling at her now and holding herhand. “That story is already spread all over the front page of thepaper. You’ll read it as soon as your father thinks you’re strongenough. You have a lot of catching up to do.”
“I know. I still feel weak when I think of it. Falco said somethingabout two dead men, and I guess I fainted or something. Peter, he’shiding in the water tower—”
“Not any more,” Peter broke in gently. “He was fished out of the tank,half drowned himself. Edith Cubberling told us where he was, but notuntil after she’d turned on the pump and the tank started to fill up.He had a taste of his own medicine. She was following his orders, shesays, when she turned on the fountain. If it hadn’t been for you andthat blessed cat of yours, Angel—”
“Please,” Judy stopped him, laughing a little and feeling more likeherself. “Angels don’t keep black cats, or go exploring underfountains.”
“Your kind of angel,” Peter told her, “goes wherever she’s needed. Iought to scold you for rushing headlong into danger. I’ve warned youagain and again that the FBI deals with dangerous criminals and that Idon’t want you involved—”
“Please, Peter, believe me. I didn’t know it was dangerous. I didn’tknow you were investigating anything at the Brandt estate until I foundBlackberry and heard Stanley say two government men had been there.Then it made sense. I thought you had brought him.”
“And I thought you had.”
Judy sighed and gave up. “I guess Blackberry himself is the only onewho really knows why he went there. You did let him out of the attic,didn’t you? I hope he’ll forgive me for shutting him up there. Ithought you’d find him.”
“I did.” Peter didn’t say when. “I went up there to investigate a noiseI heard, and there was poor Blackberry all tangled up in your sewingthings. I unwound him and let him out the front door, and away he went!The next thing I knew he was looking at me from the front page of thepaper.”
“They photographed him? Oh, Peter! How wonderful. Whose idea was it?”
“Well, you might say it was your brother’s. He thought it would pleaseyou. He said black cats deserved a little favorable publicity. He evenquoted what you once said about Blackberry being unlucky for criminals.It was certainly true of Falco. The whole gang is being arraigned incourt tomorrow morning. They’re all willing to talk, even theCubberlings. That woman has been talking a blue streak ever since wepicked her up.”
“You know why, don’t you?”
“Well, no,” Peter replied in a puzzled voice. “I can’t say that I do.”
“She thought she had murdered two persons by turning on the fountain,”Judy explained. “She did it on his orders. She told Falco she’d be asfree in prison as she was working for him.”
“This has taught her a lesson then.” Peter’s grip on her hand tightenedas he added, “You taught me one, too. I know now you’ll never be a meeklittle housewife who will stay home and dust the furniture while I goout solving the world’s problems. You’ll be right there solving themwith me.”
“It wasn’t the world’s problems I set out to solve,” Judy objected. “Itwas only Lorraine’s. She seemed so troubled. She doesn’t trust Arthur.It’s a terrible thing for a girl who’s still practically a bride to behaunted with fear and suspicion the way she is.”
“I know,” Peter replied. “Arthur had told me. We had quite a talk onenight. When you went to the movies with Honey, I can tell you now, Ispent that evening with Arthur, too. We traced a telephone call fromLorraine and confirmed his suspicions. She went back there to theBrandt estate and gave Falco more of her jewelry.”
“So that was what happened to her ruby? Why did she do it, Peter?”
“That,” he replied, “is something I had been hoping Lorraine would tellyou herself.”
“She didn’t. Lois said she had a problem, but she wouldn’t tell me athing about it. I didn’t notice that her ruby was gone until I foundthat diamond. Was it still in my coat pocket?” Judy asked.
“It was.” Peter looked at her a long moment and then added, “It wasstill tied in the corner of your handkerchief. I found it before Ifound you. But now you’ve talked enough. I’d better leave and let youget some rest.”
“I can listen, can’t I? Tell me more, Peter. Tell me what’s in thepaper. Can’t I see Blackberry’s picture?”
Peter hesitated. Judy saw an anxious expression on his face. He wentout, and after quite a few minutes he returned with her father. He alsohad a copy of the _Farringdon Daily Herald_.
“Just one peek!” Dr. Bolton said after he had checked Judy’s breathingand given her an injection. “I didn’t expect you to recover quite thisfast,” he admitted. “You really had us worried for a while, Judy girl.”
“I know, Dad.” Judy wanted to say more, but the words wouldn’t come.Peter spread the paper before her. She looked at the picture of herprecious pet for a long time before she asked, “What’s that white thingon his paw?”
“It’s a cast,” Peter told her. “He wanted to imitate his mistress, soyour father put a cast on him, too. Seriously, a car hit him. Don’tworry! Only his paw was hurt.”
“Poor Blackberry! I wonder if he walked out into the road on purpose sosomeone would see him,” mused Judy. “We didn’t think he’d be much helpto us at first, Dad. But he did carry our message. Horace wrote it, andI tucked it under his collar. We were lucky he had the collar on. I wasgoing to wait until Christmas to give it to him and have his nameengraved on it, but it looked so cute. Dogs have collars, and I thinkcollars make cats look important, too.”
“Blackberry doesn’t need to look important. He _is_ important,” Dr.Bolton said.
“I know,” his mistress agreed. “He could tell we were in danger. Catshate water anyway, and when he saw us trapped by it he was right therewaiting until we needed him. It is a shame, though. We tried so hard tosave Dick Hartwell. He said he wanted to die—”
“Your father disappointed him then,” Peter broke in, smiling. “He’salive but still on the critical list. It looks now as if he might pullthrough.”
Judy could hardly believe she had been in time to save Dick, too. “Idon’t understand this at all,” she said a little later. “Why wouldFalco think they were drowned if they were really alive? Dad must havetold him they were dead. Why?”
“Perhaps he’d better tell you.” Peter kissed Judy lightly on
theforehead. “Did I tell you how brave you were, chatterbox? Did I tellyou how much I love you?”
“You showed me,” Judy said. “You came and rescued me, didn’t you? Ithought it was a dream, but after I fainted I seemed to feel myself inyour arms. Peter, is Dad—”
“He is,” Dr. Bolton interrupted before Judy could finish asking thequestion.
“Then everything is all right,” Judy said, and closed her eyes.
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The Haunted Fountain Page 23