The Avenger 31 - The Cartoon Crimes (14 page)

“All I remember is that I was left here as a boy and raised by an ape,” Cole said from up in the tree. “You can well imagine I’ve been reluctant to leave my island paradise. What self-respecting prep school would admit a lad whose mater was an ape? And how would I feel filling out forms? Mother’s occupation? Ape. No, it won’t wash.”

“I see,” said Josh, watching his dangling colleague, “you aren’t seriously injured.”

“Don’t let this devil-may-care smile upon my lips fool you, Josh,” said Cole. “I think I sprained an ankle. Nothing else of note, however. I’ve been trying to disentangle myself from those branches and the lines of my chute.”

“Want I should shinny up and help?”

“This particular tangle here seems to be the key, Joshua. If I can get it undone I’m certain I can—”

Cole and his parachute parted company and he came falling down through the cat’s cradle of branches. He hit the ground on his backside and one elbow.

Josh offered him a hand up. “I wasn’t sure. You fell awful fast that last few hundred feet.”

“Probably all the
Wonderman
strips I’ve been reading lately helped.” Cole gritted his teeth as he rubbed at various portions of his anatomy. “What’s become of Harmon?”

“Took off for the high ground, with Smitty in hot pursuit.”

“Let’s leave the rest of the heavy work to him and see if we can locate that chalet,” said Cole. “I don’t suppose anything of the wine cellar would be still intact . . .”

The Avenger stepped onto the weedy overgrown patch of ground that had once been the front yard of the chalet. “Mrs. Lewing,” he said.

Jeanne looked at him. “You must be Richard Benson.”

“Yes.” He nodded at the chalet. “Anyone else in there?”

“A whole heck of a lot of rats, but no people.”

Ike, his knife, appeared in the Avenger’s hand. In a few seconds he had the ropes off the girl. “There,” he said.

She brought up one hand to smooth back her hair. “Do you know how Gil is?”

“He should be awake by now, with no serious after-effects,” Benson assured her. “We left him in the hands of a very capable nurse.”

“I heard a plane. Was that you?”

“Yes, with Nellie piloting.”

“Nellie? She really is remarkable.” She looked around her. “Have you caught Wayne?”

“Yes, by now I believe so.”

Cole and Josh came trudging out of the woods. “Good afternoon,” said Cole, “we’re the Swiss Family Robinson, and we were wondering if you could put us up.”

“You must be Cole Wilson,” said Jeanne. “Nellie told me you had a peculiar sense of humor.”

“That’s him, all right,” said Josh.

They all turned now, hearing a heavy treading in the woods.

It was Smitty, carrying the broken body of Wayne Harmon. “I tried to warn him, but—”

“Oh, he’s dead.” Jeanne turned away.

“Couldn’t leave him down there where he fell,” the giant said to Benson in a low voice. “The rats . . .”

“Yes, I understand.”

“I tried to warn the poor kid,” said Smitty. “But he kept going . . . right over the edge.”

Josh put his hand on Smitty’s back. “Take it easy. We know you didn’t deliberately—”

“It’s funny,” said the giant. “When I was chasing him, I was really boiling mad.” He placed the body gently down on the weedy ground. “Then when I saw he was going to fall and maybe get killed . . . all I could think about was trying to save him.”

Cole noticed the newest arrivals first. “Ah, the long arm of the law,” he said.

“Late as usual,” said Agent Early ruefully.

Lieutenant Allen tugged a notebook out of his pocket. “I’d like to get everybody’s story about what’s been going on here.”

The Avenger stepped over to him. “I think the first thing we ought to do is get Mrs. Lewing back to her husband and her home.”

Allen met the smaller man’s eyes. “I’m . . . Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said. “Mrs. Lewing, if you’ll come along with me I’ll see you get back to the mainland. One of my men can drive you home.”

“Yes, thank you. I don’t think I can do anything . . .” She let the words die away.

Smitty stuffed his hands in his pockets. He walked some distance from the rest and stood with his shoulders hunched.

Gil Lewing shook his head. “Not today,” he told his wife.

It was a bright morning, several days after her return. “And you’re not worried about the deadlines?”

They were walking across their vast lawn. “Oh, I suppose down deep I still am,” he said. “Up here on the surface, though, I’m more in the mood to take a drive with you. So I repeat I am not going down to my studio today.”

“Okay by me.”

“I think Oppenheim is mellowing,” said Gil. “When I was in there yesterday he didn’t scream once and only yelled twice. He introduced me to a kid named Wayerhauser and I looked at his samples. He might make a pretty good assistant. In fact, I’m thinking of maybe hiring two guys to help out.”

“A good idea,” said his wife.

“Well, I figure something good should come out of all this mess,” he said. “Oh, and I want you to invite Nellie and her friends out to spend another weekend soon. We never did get a chance to talk.”

Jeanne laughed. “I’ll try, but don’t be disappointed if they don’t come.”

“What do you mean? Why?”

“I have the feeling those Justice, Inc., people only go places where there’s trouble brewing.”

Josh was bent over in a chair, a deep frown on his face. He was staring intently at the blank memo pad in front of him. “Today’s the last day,” he muttered.

“Last day of what, old chap?” asked Cole as he came breezing into the office.

“I got to . . . I absolutely got to come up with names for the twins. I mean, you can’t have your kids running around with no names stuck on them.”

“My mind is a complete vacuum when it comes to names,” admitted Cole. “I recently gave a lady friend a small pup, and it took me hours of real mental strain to finally come up with a name for it.”

“What did you name it?”

“Well, the young lady and I mutually came up with a name,” said Cole, edging over to a chair. “We . . . mostly she . . . named it Fluffy.”

“Whoosh!” exclaimed MacMurdie who was ensconsed in a nearby chair. “ ’Tis a name to reckon with.”

“Ah, it’s Mac. Glad to see you finally woke up.”

“Mon, I’ve been awake for days now.”

“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed.” Cole leaned against the desk. “Fluffy isn’t actually that bad a name. Although I feel that for a Mexican hairless it may be—”

“Geeze!” exclaimed Smitty as he burst into the office. He was clutching a telegram in his hand.

“Bad news?” asked Josh.

“Oh, yeah, you bet.” Smitty circled the office, the way a lion paces his cage.

“Animal, vegetable, or mineral?” asked Cole.

“My uncle,” said Smitty. “Oh, this can only mean terrible trouble.”

“Which uncle?”

“Aw, you know the one I mean. That screwball they went and named me after, Algernon Heathcote.” Smitty balled up the telegram. “See, I’m all set to go out to a little reunion in Frisco. Everybody’s got to unwind now and then. Somehow my crazy uncle gets wind of it. He says he’s going to be in Frisco, too, and to be sure and look him up.”

“Relatives are always issuing invites like that,” said Cole. “You have but to ignore it.”

“You guys have never met Uncle Algernon,” said Smitty, absently taking an angry bite out of the balled telegram. “You can’t ignore Uncle Algernon. I mean, if he don’t want to be ignored, you can go to the ends of the earth and he’ll turn up in the next room.”

The Avenger had entered the office of Justice, Inc. “What’s causing you all this unhappiness, Smitty?”

“Aw, it’s nothing.”

“Seems the lad has an uncle he’d rather avoid,” explained the Scot. “As fate would have it this very uncle is going to be in San Francisco the same time that Smitty’s planning to be there.”

Benson took his place behind his desk. “San Francisco,” he said. “That’s interesting.”

Slowly the giant turned to stare at him.“Wait. Don’t tell me. We got a case to work on out there.”

“Not exactly,” said the Avenger. “But this morning I was consulted about something odd which has been going on out in San Francisco. I’m not yet sure if it’s something I want to look into or not.”

Smitty sighed and sank down into a chair. “This ain’t going to be no vacation.”