“Yes he could!” cried Mrs O’Reilly. “You know he could!”
“Mrs O’Reilly, the old pastor does not haunt this place,” said the priest.
“Wait a second!” cried someone behind the policemen.
Pete had come down the pavement. With him was Fenton Prentice.
“That young man is my guest,” said Mr Prentice. “He and his friends are staying overnight with me. This is Pete Crenshaw. He tells me that he woke a short time ago, and that he saw a light in the church. He called it to Jupiter’s attention, and Jupiter went out to investigate.”
The second officer looked with great disapproval from Jupe to Pete and then to Mr Prentice.
“It’s bad enough for kids to play cops and robbers,” he said, “without an adult trying to excuse them!”
Mr Prentice stiffened, then sniffed.
“But there was a light in the church,” said Pete.
“And someone was here,” added Jupe. “A man in dark clothes, with a white collar like the one you wear, Father McGovern. He had white hair. He was over there holding a candle.”
“Tall story,” replied the policeman. “And for your sake, kid, I hope there’s nothing missing.”
“Something is missing from the church,” said Jupiter. “Something that was here last night.”
He looked questioningly at the pastor. “There was a statue over there.” He pointed. “Down that aisle, next to the window. It was a statue of someone wearing a green cape and a tall, pointed cap. He was holding a staff.”
The two policemen crowded in through the doorway and stared. “By darn, he’s right!” exclaimed the younger of the two. “Last night I was here and there was a statue over there–St Patrick, I guess. Isn’t he the one who’s always dressed in green, and he wears a bishop’s hat–what do you call it?”
Father McGovern stared, too. “A mitre,” he said softly. “St Patrick always wears a mitre and carries a bishop’s staff.”
“So what happened to the statue?” asked the puzzled young cop.
“There has never been a statue of St Patrick in this church,” said Father McGovern. “This is the Church of St Jude. He’s the patron saint of the impossible.”
“That makes sense,” said the second policeman sarcastically. “Your housekeeper sees the ghost of the old priest, which is impossible, and this kid here sees him, too, which is impossible, and we see a statue here last night which has never been here, so that’s impossible. I don’t suppose you’ve got a bishop’s hat tucked away someplace?”
Father McGovern started. “There was a bishop’s mitre and a staff in the church yesterday,” he said suddenly.
“How come?” asked the policeman. “We had a pageant,” explained the priest. “For Christmas, you know. The children put it on for the parents. They did it right in the church, the way the old plays were done in the Middle Ages. They had the Nativity scene and the three wise men, and then at the very end all the famous men of the church came in. St Patrick among them, of course. He’s quite a favourite. We had a bishop’s mitre for him, and a staff and a green cloak. I took them back to the costume house today.”
“Aha!” said Jupiter Jones. “So that’s what happened to the burglar!”
“Huh?” said one of the cops.
“It is perfectly logical,” said Jupiter in his most superior manner. “Last night this neighbourhood was swarming with policemen, all of them searching for a man who had broken into a house on the next street. That man ducked into the church. When it appeared that the church would be searched, he quickly put on the cape and the mitre and posed as a statue. When you were looking in here for him, you were so close that you could have touched him.”
The two policemen stared.
“Naturally, he was startled when the caretaker came down from the choir loft,” Jupe continued. “Possibly he became desperate when the caretaker returned to the church after the search. The caretaker would notice, wouldn’t he, if there was a statue where none was supposed to be? Father McGovern, was the caretaker able to remember what happened when he hurt himself?”
The priest shook his head. “He thinks he stumbled. He has a bad concussion, and he’s being treated for shock.”
“He may have been struck,” Jupe pointed out. “He turned out some of the lights, but even so, the burglar may have been afraid he’d be seen. He may have crept up behind the caretaker and–”
The priest put up a hand to stop Jupiter. “I should have come back here with him,” he said. “Poor Earl!”
“I hate to think how this is going to look on a report,” said one of the policemen. “A burglar who masquerades as a statue! A kid who says he saw a ghost!”
“I saw a man wearing dark clothes and a white collar,” corrected Jupe. “I did not say I saw a ghost.”
“How would a mortal man get in?” demanded the housekeeper. “The door was locked. You heard Father McGovern say so himself. It was the old one–poor restless soul!”
“He got in with a key,” decided the second officer. “He had to, because when he went out again he locked the door. Father McGovern, who has keys to the church?”
“I do, of course,” said the pastor. “And Mrs O’Reilly . . . my assistant . . . Earl, of course. I suppose his are with his things at the hospital. And there’s an extra set in the parish house, in case anyone loses his. In the coat closet in the downstairs hall. They’re on a hook there.”
“Are they, Father?” asked Jupiter.
Father McGovern turned and hurried down to the parish house. He was back in a few minutes.
“They’re gone,” he said.
No one spoke.
“It . . . it is a rather stupid place to leave a set of keys,” the pastor admitted. “So many people come to the parish house for one thing or another. They often use the coat closet.”
“What you’re saying, Father,” said one of the officers, “is that almost anyone in the neighbourhood could have gotten his hands on the keys to this church.”
The pastor nodded glumly.
“We’d better call the lieutenant,” said the older policeman. “He’ll want to know that the burglar, alias the vanishing saint, came back here tonight as a phantom priest.”
“That’s not what happened,” said Jupiter.
“You said you saw a guy in black clothes and a clerical collar,” the policeman reminded him.
“I did. But he wasn’t the one who pushed me down and locked the door on me. The person in black was down there, towards the front of the church. Whoever pushed me was here in the back. The ‘phantom’ wouldn’t have had time after he put out his candle to get back here and out the door. Tonight there were two intruders in the church!”
“Two people!” The housekeeper moaned. “The old one, and one other.” She turned on the pastor. “And don’t you be telling me to go and make myself a nice cup of tea,” she warned. “I’ll not hear of it this night!”
9
The Burglar Calls!
THE THREE INVESTIGATORS spent the rest of the night keeping watch in the Prentice apartment. There were no shadowy visitors and no further disturbances. In the morning, Mr Prentice was astir early, scrambling eggs and making toast.
“Well, boys,” he said as he served them breakfast, “have you come to any conclusions?”
“Yeah. I’m stumped!” said Pete.
“It’s too soon to say that,” reproved Jupiter. “Things are just beginning to get interesting. We have a great deal to think about.”
“Like what?”
“Like the burglar. His use of the church next door intrigues me.”
“That’s all very well,” said Mr Prentice. “But what has the burglar to do with the shadow in my apartment?”
“I don’t know,” admitted Jupe. “But I think there may be some connection. Mr Prentice, do you usually see the shadow at a particular time of day or night? I’ve seen him twice in the early evening. When do you see him?”
Fenton Prentice thought a moment. “Usually in the late afternoon or evening, I would say. Perhaps earlier in the day once or twice.”
“Never in the middle of the night?”
“I’m usually asleep then, but I don’t recall seeing him the few times I’ve been awake late at night.”
Jupe nodded. “If it’s all right with you, then, we’d like to leave and come back later in the day. I have an idea for the next step in this case, one which will require some preparation in Rocky Beach. And I believe Pete and Bob have some chores to attend to. You’ll be quite safe. The shadow is unlikely to appear before we return.”
The boys finished breakfast and left. As they came down the stairs into the courtyard, Sonny Elmquist sprang up from a pool chair.
“Hey, I hear you saw the phantom priest!” he said to Jupe. “I wish you had stopped by last night and let me know. I’m interested in things like that.”