"Arthur, Robert - The Three Investigators 002 - The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Arthur Robert)

use of this handsome car, complete with Worthington, an
English chauffeur, for thirty days.
“I guess we’d better go home, Worthington,” Jupiter
said, as he and Pete climbed into the back of the old but
luxurious car. “The parrot came back of its own accord.”
“Very good, Master Jones,” Worthington replied in a
crisp British accent.
He pulled the car forward and manoeuvred it to turn
round. As he did so. Jupiter stared out of the window at
the garden of Mr. Fentriss’s home—the house itself was
hidden from sight behind palm trees and flowering bushes.
“Pete,” he said abruptly, “please examine the scene
carefully. Something is wrong, but I cannot detect what.”
“What scene?” Pete asked. “You mean the garden?”
“The garden, the driveway, the entire grounds. I have a
distinct sense of wrongness, yet the source of it eludes
me.”
“You mean something doesn’t add up and you can’t
figure out what?”
Jupiter nodded, pinching his lower lip, always a sign
that his mental machinery was moving into high gear.
Peter surveyed the whole area of grounds and garden.
He couldn’t see anything wrong, except that it needed a
gardener working day and night for a month to make it
look tidy. There was a driveway with a lot of fallen palm
fronds on it A car had recently gone up the driveway.
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smashing many of the palm leaves, but that didn’t mean
anything.
“I don’t see a thing,” he reported. Jupiter didn’t seem
to hear him. His stocky partner was staring out of the rear
window as they drove away, still pinching his lower lip,
thinking furiously.
They had gone almost ten blocks when suddenly Jupi-
ter whirled round.
“Worthington! ” he cried. “We have to go back. Fast!”
“Very good, Master Jones.” The chauffeur deftly
wheeled the big car round. “Go back it shall be.”
“Gleeps, Jupe!” Pete protested. “What bit you? Why
are we going back?”
“Because now I know what was wrong,” Jupiter said,
his round face flushed with excitement. “There are no
telephone wires leading into Mr. Fentriss’s house.”
“No telephone wires?” Pete tried to figure out what his
partner was getting at.
“Light wires, yes, but no telephone wires,” Jupiter said.
“And Mr. Fentriss distinctly stated that Mr. Hitchcock
had telephoned him we were coming. That was a lie. If
that was a lie, probably everything else he told us was a
lie.”