Jane Carter Investigates: Episode Ninety-Eight
We did not wait to learn the outcome
of the interview. Instead, Dad telephoned the big story to DeWitt and arranged
for complete coverage on every new angle of the case. Satisfied that no more
could be learned that night, we prepared to return to Greenville.
“Aaron Dietz and his confederates
ought to get long prison sentences,” I said, “But what will happen to Mr.
Furstenberg, Dad? Do you think he will escape punishment as his wife believes?”
“He’ll get what is coming to
him,” Dad replied. “A government man told me tonight that Furstenberg’s income
tax reports have been falsified. And Furstenberg knew they had evidence against
him, or he never would have gone into hiding. No, even if it can’t be proven
that he disposed of his undeclared gold without reporting what must have been substantial
profits, he’ll certainly be fined and given a year or so in prison for tax
evasion.”
“I hope he receives a light
sentence for Cybil’s sake,” I said. “Cybil and Thomas Atwood are going to be
married tomorrow. They told me so.”
“There’s a fact we missed,”
declared Jack. “Jane is always showing us up.”
“Oh, I didn’t prove myself so
brilliant tonight,” I said. “When I was down in that vault I decided I was a
Dumb Dora. If you hadn’t had sense enough to guess where Thomas Atwood and I
were being held—well, Dad would have had to adopt a new daughter.”
“It was easy enough to tell what
had happened,” said Jack. “You already told me you thought there was a secret
vault beneath the pool. The water had only been running in a few minutes.” He
fished in his pocket and brought out a pin which he handed to me. “I also found
this, recognize it?”
“That’s Florence’s cameo pin. She
dropped it the day we were on the Furstenberg estate together.”
“The police gave you full credit
for the capture of those men, Jane,” said my father with pride. “You yanked the
drawbridge just in time to trap them.”
“Shep did his share too,” I said.
“He went for the police just as soon as he realized Jack and I had been carried
away on the cruiser.”
“The only trouble was that the
cops wasted too much time searching for you downriver,” said Shep. “We finally
went back to Sunnydale and ran into Mr. Fielding, who suggested we come to the
estate.”
“How did you happen to be in
Sunnydale, Dad?” I asked.
“You might know—I was looking for
you. Isn’t that my usual occupation?”
“You’re not angry at me, are
you?”
“No, of course not,” Dad
admitted. “You’ve all done fine work tonight. This is the biggest story we’ve
run into in over a year! We’ll score a beat on the rival papers.”
“Then don’t you think Jack and
Shep have earned a raise?” I suggested.
“Yes,” agreed my father absently,
“I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”
“I’ll also have a small bill to
present,” I told my father. “There will be several dollars for gasoline,
lunches going and coming from Sunnydale, two ruined dresses, a pair of torn
silk stockings, and—”
“That’s enough,” Dad interrupted.
“If you keep on listing your expenses, I’ll be broke. You turned out to be an
expensive reporter.”
“I’m not a reporter,” I said,
“and don’t you forget it. Just a very highly-paid private contractor. I was
worth it, though, wasn’t I?”
“You certainly were, Jane. The Greenville
Examiner obtained a smashing story to scoop all the other
newspapers, and I’ve got my elusive daughter back again safe and sound.”
“Dad, will you promise me one
thing?”
“That depends on what you are
after,” Dad said.
“Whenever the Greenville Examiner has
a baffling mystery to be run down to earth, will you promise to call in your
ace sleuth?”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” said
Jack.
“Why not?” I protested.
“It’s too dangerous,” he said.
“You’ve nearly drowned yourself twice just in the last week.”
“Says the man who manages to get
himself knocked senseless with each passing season.” I said it lightly, but I
wasn’t joking.
I turned to speak to my father,
but he was no longer with us. Shep had likewise disappeared. When I turned to
face Jack again, he was standing much closer to me than he had been before.
“Jane—” he said, and reached out
his hand to touch my cheek.
I think he might have been
planning to kiss me, but he never got the chance, because just then Shep yelled
out from the direction of the car, “You two lovebirds coming, or are you
angling to get left behind?”
Jack dropped his hand and turned
the color of an overripe tomato.
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