The Mysterious Disappearence of Leon (13 page)

Mrs. Carillon slept peacefully through the night. No one else in the household did.

Tina lay awake trying to figure out the Pinky-Pinckney relationship.

Tony lay awake fidgeting. Waiting for Mr. Kunkel’s return had become unbearable. He was tempted to take one of Mrs. Carillon’s pills but was afraid it might contain something for women only.

Mrs. Baker was the one who most needed the pill, but she believed that the best medicine was a well-balanced diet. She lay awake picturing her poor sister Minnie locked up in what Tina so luridly described as the “pest-hole.”

Mrs. Carillon slept through the morning. Mrs. Baker couldn’t remember if she had made breakfast; and the twins couldn’t remember if they had eaten any.

It was going to be a long day.

The Long Day

“I saw your father on television last night. You look just like him,” Tina said, fishing for a clue.

“So they say.”

Tina studied Jordan Pinckney as he walked away. Tall, thin, handsome; his father must have been the character who pulled down his kerchief and said, “Let’s go.” That was when Mrs. Carillon fainted.

Tina suddenly remembered that Mrs. Carillon was confined to bed. She stopped at a newsstand to buy her a magazine with a picture of Christmas Bells on the cover. Tony hadn’t forgotten, either. He brought home a library book about seals.

“How thoughtful,” Mrs. Carillon said, wondering why the pictures in the book didn’t look like the seals she knew. “Now that I’ve got plenty to keep me busy, why don’t you two go help Mrs. Baker. She’s so jittery, today.”

“She’s
jittery!” Tony said, but went into the kitchen, anyway. Tina went to her room; she had more thinking to do about Pinky-Pinckney.

“Tony, I’ve been trying to reach Mr. Banks all day,” Mrs. Baker said, twisting and untwisting the potholder in her hands. “Would you do me a favor and call him for me? I’m so nervous.”

“
You’re
nervous!” Tony said.

Mr. Banks had just returned from the Women’s House of Detention. Mineola Potts was, indeed, there. He had arranged for Mrs. Baker to visit her tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.

“What a kind man,” Mrs. Baker said when Tony finished his report of the phone call.

“Ugh!” said Tony.

“Is Mr. Kunkel here yet?” Tina appeared in the dining room just as Tony finished setting the table. “I’ve got something terribly important to tell him.”

“
You’ve
got something to tell him!”

“How do I look?” asked Mrs. Carillon. She was wearing a purple-flowered hostess gown.

“Like the sofa,” Mrs. Baker said. “It’s a good thing Mr. Banks isn’t here to see you looking like that.”

“I think you look smashing,” said Tina.

“B-b-beautiful,” said Augie Kunkel when Mrs. Carillon opened the door. He was so overwhelmed by the warm welcome that he was stuttering again. It hardly mattered, for everyone was talking at the same time.

“Mr. Kunkel, I have something to tell you. . .”

“...Mineola Potts. . .”

“. . .something terribly important. . .”

“. . . and I fainted dead away.”

“...the first part of the
glub-blubs. . .”

“. . .Christmas Bells. . .”

“Did someone say Christmas B-B-Bells?”

“I did,” Mrs. Carillon replied. “Christmas Bells is the horse that. . .”

“Yes, I know. Strange, I n-n-never noticed the c-c-coincidence.” Augie Kunkel paused to control his stammer. “You see, the French word for Christmas is ‘Noel,’ and ‘Carillon’ means ‘bells.’ ”

“You mean Christmas Bells means Noel Carillon?” Mrs. Carillon said. “No wonder I like that horse.”

Tony knew that it was more than a coincidence. “Mr. Kunkel, I’ve just got to talk to you—alone. Please.”

“I have to talk to you, too, Mr. Kunkel,” Tina said. “In private. It’s terribly important.”

Mrs. Baker emerged from the kitchen. “If you two talked to each other for a change, instead of always arguing, you wouldn’t be bothered with so many secrets. Besides, dinner’s ready.”

Mrs. Carillon talked of horses; Augie Kunkel described in detail how his Aunt Martha was fighting a losing battle with termites and dry rot; and the twins sulked. The evening was almost over.

“B-b-but the garden is lovely now; abloom with white clematis (
C
.
paniculata),
autumn crocus
(Colchicum),
and fleece-vine
(Polygonum auberti
).”

Mrs. Carillon stifled a yawn. Augie Kunkel rose, invited them to dinner on Saturday, and bid them good-night.

9
_*
The Mystery Is Solved

Part One of the Glub-blubs

Saturday was too far off. The twins decided they had to see Mr. Kunkel early the next morning (or, as Tina put it, they would die of hypertension). That meant skipping school, but Tina thought of a good excuse. It was Rosh Hashanah. “After all, we
are
orphans,” she said, “so we could be Jewish as far as anyone knows.”

Although they walked together across the park, the twins still had not told one another about their discoveries. “That would be going too far,” thought Tony.

Augie Kunkel had never invited Mrs. Carillon or the twins to his apartment. He wasn’t especially ashamed of his fourth-floor walk-up with its shabby furniture; there was just no place to sit. Books were everywhere: on the chairs, on his desk, on the floor, on the sink.

Tony, knowing his friend would be flustered by their unexpected arrival, had written down his discovery in order to save time and embarrassment. He handed the note to Mr. Kunkel before he was able to stammer out a greeting.

Augie Kunkel was even more bewildered after reading Tony’s message. He sat down on the one empty chair and read aloud:

Noel C ___ all =
Noel is Seymour Hall
.

“Who is Seymour Hall?” he asked.

“Seymour Hall is the name of the jockey who owns Christmas Bells. Noel Carillon and Seymour Hall are one and the same person. That’s why Mrs. Carillon is so taken with him; somewhere, down deep, she recognizes the little boy she married.”

Tony expected Tina to object; surprisingly enough, she didn’t.

It was Augie Kunkel who was being difficult.

“What you say, Tony, is quite ingenious; but let’s go over the facts:

1. The syllables fit perfectly.

2. Mrs. Carillon does seem unusually obsessed with the jockey Seymour Hall and his horse.

3. Christmas Bells does mean Noel Carillon.

“But does it really make sense? Can we answer these questions:

1. Why did Noel Carillon change his name again?

2. Why did he choose the name Seymour Hall?

3. If Noel Carillon is Seymour Hall, who was the man in the boat?”

“I can answer the second question,” Tony said. “Noel Carillon chose the name Seymour Hall because that was the name of his school. It was on the envelopes of all the anniversary cards.”

“And I can answer the third question,” Tina said. “I know who the man in the boat was!”

Part Two of the Glub-blubs

Tina wrote her solution under Tony’s.

I ___ new. . . . =
I
am
New
ton Pinckney.

“Who is Newton Pinckney?” Mr. Kunkel asked.

“Newton Pinckney is a tall, thin, handsome actor about forty-some years old. When Mrs. Carillon saw him on television, she screamed and fainted. It was such a shock that she blotted it out of her mind completely. My guess is that Newton Pinckney was Noel Carillon’s friend, the one he called ‘Pinky.’ He was the man in the boat.”

“Hmmm,” pondered Augie Kunkel. “
Noel is Seymour Hall
;
I am Newton Pinckney.
But why? Why did Noel change his name?”

“To avoid Mrs. Carillon,” said Tony.

“Why did Newton Pinckney confess?”

“Because he thought he was drowning,” said Tina.

“But why, why? Why all the pretense and false identities? How long was it supposed to last?”

“Maybe Newton Pinckney was supposed to kill Mrs. Carillon, so he and Noel could split the inheritance,” suggested Tony.

“That’s impossible,” Tina shouted; but she wasn’t too sure. Jordan’s father did play a convincing crook.

“Not intentional murder, oh no, I can’t believe that,” Augie Kunkel said. “After all, Noel had a fortune of his own which he has never laid claim to. But I do admit there is something very strange here. I suggest we verify a few facts before we tell Mrs. Carillon.”

“Tell Mrs. Carillon?” gasped Tony. “Do we have to tell her? I don’t want a jockey for a father.”

“When the time comes we will have to tell her the truth,” Augie Kunkel said, sadly.

The Verifiers