Mystery of the Strange Messages (7 page)

Fatty fetched his bicycle and rode off, pondering as he went what
to tell Mr. Goon. He decided to tell him everything that had happened that
morning, even about Smith and Harris.

"If the Smith of Smith and Harris
is
the man written
of in those notes, and he's using a false name to cover up some misdeed or
other, I suppose it would sooner or later be a job for Goon to take over,"
Fatty thought. "He'd have to find out what the fellow had done—and why he
should be turned out of 'The Ivies'—if that's the place that is now called
'Haylings Nursery". Any-

way, I can't let poor old Ern get into trouble "

He arrived at Goon's house, and knocked vigorously at the door. Mrs.
Hicks arrived in her usual breathless manner

"There now'" she said "I've just bin reading the
tea-leaves in my after-dinner cup of tea—and they
said
there would be a
stranger coming to the house!"

"How remarkable," said Fatty, politely. "Tell Mr.
Goon that Frederick Trotteville wishes to see him, please "

Mrs. Hicks left him standing in the hall, and went into the
policeman's office He scowled at her. "Bring that boy in," he said,
before she could speak. "I saw him through the window I've got something
to
say
to him'"

Fatty walked in and nodded to Mr. Goon He knew that the policeman
would not ask him to sit down, so he sat down at once, without being asked He
wasn't going to stand in front of Mr. Goon like a schoolboy called in for a talkmg-to'

"Ah, Mr. Goon," he said, in an amiable voice "I
felt I should like to see you for a few minutes About Ern "

"Ern' I'm
tired
of Ern!" said Mr. Goon
"Thinks he can come here and eat me out of house and home, go out when he
wants to. solve mysteries, and cheek me into the bargain,
and
expects me
to pay him for all that!"

"But didn't you promise to pay him?" asked Fatty, in a
surprised voice "I must say that Ern has done very well, so far. Where is
he?"

"Upstairs Locked into his room," said Mr. Goon, in a
surly voice "And I'd like to tell you this, Master Frederick Trotteville—I
haven't time to waste on you I've business to do this afternoon, see?"

"Right, Mr. Goon," said Fatty, standing up at once.
"I only came to tell you what Ern and the rest of us had been doing this
morning I thought you'd like to know "

"But that's what I
asked
Ern' And all he said was that
you'd gone hunting for houses covered with ivy!" said

Mr. Goon, almost exploding with wrath. "Telling me tales like
that! Making fun of me! I ticked him off properly for telling me untruths. Then
he had the cheek to a*k me for half a crown!"

Fatty looked sternly at Mr. Goon "Ern was quite right, Mr. Goon
He told you the absolute truth. We
did
go searching for ivy-covered
houses—and if you were half as cute as that young nephew of yours, you'd guess
at once
why
we decided to do such a thing "

Mr. Goon stared at Fatty in surprise Ern had told him the truth,
had he? But why go after ivy-covered houses? Then it all dawned on poor Mr. Goon
at once. Of course—they were looking for houses that
might
have been
called "The Ivies" at some time or another! Why hadn't
he
thought
of that?

"Well. I'll go now," said Fatty, politely "I
shouldn't punish Ern, Mr. Goon He was telling you the truth But obviously you
don't want to hear any more about the matter, so I'll go "

"No! No, sit down," almost shouted Mr. Goon. "You
tell me about these here ivy-covered houses "

"I wouldn't dream of holding up your work," said Fatty,
and began to walk out of the room

Mr. Goon knew when he was beaten "Here! You come back, Master
Frederick," he called "I've made a mistake, I see it all now. I'd
like to hear anything you've got to say "

"Fetch Ern down, then," said Fatty "He's in on
this. He did some very good work this morning You ought to be proud of Ern, not
disbelieve him, and lock him up and refuse to pay him The work he did this
morning was worth a lot!"

Mr. Goon began to wonder if he had made a great mistake about Ern
According to Fatty Ern was much cleverer than he had thought him Oh, Ern
could
be smart,—he knew that—but to hear this boy Frederick Trotteville talking
about him, you'd think Ern was really
brainy.

"Well—I'll get Ern down," he said, and got up heavily
from his chair. He went upstairs and Fatty could hear him unlocking Ern's door.
Ern shot out at once, dodging round his uncle as if he expected a cuff He came
down the stairs two at a time, and ran into the office

"I heard your voice, Fatty!" he said, gladly.
"Coo—you're a real brick to come. How did you make my uncle let me
out?"

"Listen, Ern—I'm going to tell him quite shortly about this
morning." said Fatty, quickly, hearing Mr. Goon trending heavily down the
stairs "But I want you to tell him about the house that you and Pip
discovered—Haylings Nursery, run by Smith and Harris, see? I've decided that
he'd better know about it"

Ern just had time to nod before Mr. Goon came into the room He sat
down and cleared his throat

"Well," he said, "I hear that the tale you told me
wasn't far off the mark, young Ern If you'd told me a bit more, I'd have listened
"

"But you
wouldn't
listen, Uncle," said Ern
"You just roared at me when I asked for my half-crown, and rushed me
upstairs and..."

"Well, I'm sure your uncle is quite willing to pay you
now," said Fatty. "I've told him you were a great help this morning
In fact I think he should pay you five shillings, not half a crown. You and Pip
were the most successful of us all"

"Here! I'm not paying Ern any five shillings," said Mr. Goon
at once

"In that case I shall not say any more," said Fatty, and
stood up "You've been unfair to Ern, Mr. Goon, and I should have thought
you'd have liked to make it up to him a bit My word, he did some good work this
morning He and Pip may have put us on to the track of Mr. Smith "

"What! The Smith mentioned in those notes'?" said Goon
astonished

Fatty nodded "Maybe We don't know for certain.

of course. You'll be able to judge if you hear what Ern has to say
But as I consider the information is worth five shillings, I shan't give Ern
permission to tell you unless you pay him—and pay him now, in front of me
"

Ern's rather bulging eyes bulged even more when he heard Fatty
talking to his dreaded uncle in such a cool, determined voice He gazed at Fatty
in awe and admiration What a friend to have I

Mr. Goon's eyes bulged too—not with admiration, but with wrath and
annoyance He glared at Ern and Fatty But again he knew he was beaten That toad
of a boy! He was somehow always just a little bit ahead of him Mr. Goon heaved
a great sigh, and delved into his trousers pocket Ern's eyes brightened as he
heard the clink of coins

Goon brought out two half-crowns He put them on the table beside Ern
"Here you are," he said "But mind—if I think you don't deserve
it, back it comes'"

"You keep it for me. Fatty," said Ern, hurriedly passing
it to Fatty "So's I don't spend it all at once, see?"

Fatty laughed and pocketed the money He didn't trust Goon any more
than Ern did "Well, now you can tell him what we did this morning,
Ern," he said "He knows that we went out hunting for ivy-covered
houses—you told him that, and he didn't believe you But he knows it's true now,
and he knows
why
we went I'll just say, Mr. Goon, that we found a fair
number of ivy-covered houses, not one of them called The Ivies' of course, or
it would be in the directory—but that we decided that the only one worth
looking into was the one that Ern and Pip found together Now you do the
talking, Ern "

Ern told his story well. He described Haylings Nursery, half-shop,
half-house, well covered with variegated ivy, and told about the board outside.
"Smith and Harris"

"And we were going to find out if the Mr. Smith was the one
mentioned in the notes," finished Ern.

"But I decided that perhaps that was
your
job. not
ours, Mr. Goon," said Fatty. "If it
I
i the Mr. Smith, then,
according to the notes, it's a false name—and you can probably easily find out
what his real name is, by making a few enquiries into his past."

"H'm!" said Goon, most interested. "Yes—yes, I can.
And you've been wise to come to me about this, Master Frederick. This is a job
for the police, as you said. I’ll take this over now. You keep out of it. I
think there's no doubt that the Smith in 'Smith and Harris' is the man who is
going under a false name—a criminal who's been in prison, probably. Well, if
so, there will be a record of his finger-prints, and we'll soon find his
name."

"How will you get his finger-prints?" asked Fatty, with
much interest.

"Oh, I have my own ways of doing that," said Goon,
putting on a very cunning expression, which Fatty didn't like at all.

"Well—it isn't by any means certain that this fellow Smith is
anything to do with those notes, you know," said Fatty, getting up.
"Better be a bit careful, in case he isn't, Mr. Goon."

"You don't need to give
me
any instructions,"
said Goon, annoyed. "I've been in the police force long enough to know my
way about."

Fatty said good-bye and went. Ern was told to go and keep his
usual watch from his bedroom window, in case anyone turned up with another
note. Goon finished some reports and then decided to go and interview Mr. Smith
of Smith and Harris. Ha—good thing that fat boy had had the sense to tell him
about it. And fancy young Ern discovering the house! Goon brooded for a while
over the five shillings he had parted with.

"Good mind to go and get it off him," he thought.
"No. I can't—he's given it to that fat boy. Well—I'd better get down to
Haylings Lane, and see this Mr. Smith "

He went to get his bicycle, passing through the kitchen

where Mrs. Hicks was reading the tea-leaves in her cup again. Mr.
Goon shouted.

"You and your tea-leaves!" he said. "Waste of
time!"

He went out of the kitchen door and shut it with a bang. Lazy,
careless woman—always breaking things, always having cups of tea, always ...
Mr. Goon's thoughts stopped suddenly as he saw something that gave him a real
shock.

One of those anonymous notes! Yes, it must be. It lay on the
kitchen window-sill—a cheap square envelope, and on it was "Mr. goon"
just as before, with a small letter for his surname. He stared at it in
amazement.

Well,
Ern
must have seen who put it there—and so must Mrs.
Hicks! No one could have come across the garden to the kitchen window-sill
without being seen! He strode indoors with the letter.

"ern!"
he yelled.
"ern!
Come down here. And you, Mrs. Hicks, you sit still
I've got a few questions to ask you both. Ho yes—I certainly have!"

Ern gets into trouble.

Ern had heard his uncle's stentorian call, and leapt up, scared.
Now
what was the matter? Thank goodness he had handed that five shillings to
Fatty.

He tore down the stairs, two steps at a time. "What is it,
Uncle? What's the matter?"

Mrs. Hicks was sitting in her chair, looking very startled,
staring at Mr. Goon.

"See here, Ern," said Mr. Goon, in a voice of thunder.
"See here—another of those notes I told you about Put on the window-sill
outside the kitchen here! Mrs. Hicks! How long have you been sitting here,
facing the window?"

"About three minutes," said Mrs. Hicks, looking quite
taken aback. "I did my washing-up, and then sat down for my second cup of
tea. Not more than three minutes ago."

"Did you see anyone come into the garden?" demanded
Goon.

"Not a soul," answered Mrs. Hicks. "Well, bless us
all, is that really another of them ominous letters, sir—or whatever you call
them? And left on the window-sill too! What a nerve!"

"You
must
have seen someone put it there," said
Goon, exasperated.

"Well, it wasn't there ten minutes ago, that I do know,"
said Mrs. Hicks. "Because I opened the window to throw out some bread to
the birds, Mr. Goon, and I'd have noticed at once if that letter was there. I'm
not blind. And don't you glare at me like that, Mr. Goon, you make me feel right
down queer!"

"Well—someone must have come over the fence, crossed the
garden, and actually placed the note on the sill within the last ten
minutes," said Goon. "Ernie
must
have seen them, even if you
didn't. Ern, did you see anyone?"

"No, no one," answered Ern, puzzled. "No one at
all." "Then you couldn't have been watching," said Goon, losing
his temper.

"I
was
watching, I was sitting at my window all the
time," said Ern, indignantly. "I tell you, nobody came into the yard,
NOBODY!
"

"Then how did this note get here?" shouted Goon.
"There's Mrs. Hicks here in the kitchen, and you upstairs at the
window—and yet someone steals into the yard under your very eyes, leaves the
note on the sill and goes away again."