Jupiter and Pete watched Bob go. Then they started north, and before nine-thirty they had passed Malibu. They pedalled up a steep rise beyond the town, then sped down the other side towards the pier that was owned by the Denicola Sport Fishing Company.
The boys stopped on the shoulder of the road across from the Denicola pier. They had both seen the place thousands of times as they went up and down the highway, but neither had paid much attention until now. Before this morning, Denicola’s had been simply another wide spot on the road where fishermen gathered. Some campers and vans were parked beside the highway now, and men and women were fishing off the beach to the south of the pier. Even in the chill spring wind, a few hardy people in wetsuits rode surfboards out where the breakers began to crest.
“Good surf today,” said Pete, envy in his voice. Pete was an excellent surfer, and he would have loved to be out on his board.
But Jupe wasn’t interested in the surf. He was studying the pier and the fishing boat that was tied up beside it. The boat was the Maria III. She was a sturdy, well-kept craft about fifteen metres long, with a wheelhouse for the pilot and open decks for the fishermen who chartered her. A hatch in the deck was open, and a young man in a blue windbreaker was peering down at the engine of the boat.
Tied to the north side of the pier, opposite the boat, was a raft with a gangway leading down to it. A rowboat was tied to the raft. In the deep water beyond the pier, the boys saw a sleek white motorboat moored to a buoy. The cockpit of the motorboat was covered with a tarpaulin.
“That must be Mr. Sebastian’s speedboat,” said Jupe.
“Um,” said Pete. His eyes were fixed on the surfers.
“Want to stay there and keep an eye on the bikes?”
Again Pete said, “Um.”
Jupe smiled, left his bike, and crossed the road.
A driveway led from the highway straight down to the pier. To the left of it was a small parking lot, empty at the moment. To the right, a spur of the driveway went to a house with faded grey shingles and white wooden trim. A station wagon stood in the carport next to the house. Between the house and the pier there was a tiny office cabin which had large windows on three sides and a door in the side nearest the dock. Through the office windows Jupe saw that a grey-haired woman in a black dress sat at a desk examining a ledger, while a younger woman with a mass of very curly red hair talked on a telephone.
Jupe went to the office, smiled through the glass at the red-haired woman, then opened the door and went in.
The office smelled of sea water and rubber boots and seaweed and mildew. There was a wooden bench against one wall, and a table with brochures about sport fishing and charter trips to the Channel Islands off the coast.
The red-haired woman covered the mouthpiece of the telephone with her hand. “Be with you in a minute,” she said.
“No hurry,” said Jupe.
The older woman looked up, and suddenly Jupe felt pierced by her gaze. A thrill of fright went through him. The woman’s dark eyes were strangely knowing, as if she were aware of Jupe’s thoughts. Yet her smile was absent-minded. She seemed unaware of the effect she was having on Jupe. After a glance at him, she went back to her ledger.
Uncomfortably, Jupe turned away and looked out at the dock. The young man in the windbreaker had finished checking the engine of the Maria III. He closed the hatch, jumped from the boat to the pier, then came whistling towards the office.
“Okay,” said the red-haired woman. “We’ll expect forty-three on Saturday. If there are any more, let me know, huh?”
She hung up as the man in the windbreaker came in. “Can I help you?” she said to Jupe.
“I was wondering if you’ve seen a wallet?” said Jupe. “Has anyone turned one in? Mr. Sebastian lost his wallet a day or two ago.”
“Mr. Sebastian? Was he here recently? I didn’t see him. Ernie, did you row him out to his boat? Want to check the rowboat? See if there’s a wallet in there.”
“There isn’t,” said the man in the windbreaker. “Mr. Sebastian was here two days ago. I bailed out the rowboat after I brought him back to the dock. I’d have found a wallet if he’d dropped it in the boat.”
He looked at Jupe in a puzzled way. “How come Mr. Sebastian didn’t come himself? Or telephone?”
“He’s busy,” said Jupe. “He was at a couple of places in the last two days, and he doesn’t remember where he had the wallet last. I said I’d check for him. You get better results that way. If you just call, people don’t always take time to look for lost things.”
Jupe was about to go on to say that Mr. Sebastian had seen a man with grey hair and dark glasses and a scar on his face, but before he could describe the blind beggar, the older woman looked up at him.
“You ask about a wallet,” she said. “That is strange. Last night I dreamed of a wallet.”
The younger woman smiled. “My mother-in-law is a terrifying person,” she told Jupiter. “She dreams dreams that sometimes come true.”
“It is not I who am terrifying,” said the older woman. There was a trace of accent in her speech, and it grew stronger now. “Sometimes the dreams make me afraid. Last night I dreamed that a man came who is a stranger. He picked up a wallet from the ground and put it in his pocket, fast.
“He was a strange man, that one. He had grey hair like my Vincenzo’s hair before he died, but he was not small and old like Vincenzo. He was younger, and he had black glasses. On his face was a scar, like someone cut him once with a knife. He tapped his way with a stick like a blind man, but he knew that I was watching him. He was a danger to me, I knew. It was a bad dream, and very real.”
She looked around to the younger woman. “It makes me uneasy, Eileen.”
Next to Jupe there was a sound that was almost a gasp.
Jupe turned. Ernie had gone pale, and it seemed to Jupe that he shook slightly.
“What’s the matter, Ernie?” said the younger woman. “Does that description fit anyone you know?”
“Oh, no!” Ernie spoke quickly and too loudly. “It’s just scary when Mrs. Denicola does that.”
“I know what you mean,” said the younger woman.
No one spoke for a moment. Then Jupe thanked the two women and backed out of the office. He hurried across the highway to Pete, who was still watching the surfers in a dreamy way.
“We have just hit the jackpot!” said Jupe. “The old lady in the office there is Mrs. Denicola, and the younger woman is her daughter-in-law, and she says the old lady dreams true dreams.”
“You mean she dreams about things that are going to happen?” said Pete.
“Maybe,” said Jupe, “but she also dreams about things that have happened. She just dreamed of a man who found a wallet and put it in his pocket. He was a man who tapped his way with a stick–a blind man. And he was a danger to her!”
Pete stared. “You made that up!” he accused.
“I didn’t. I’m repeating exactly what she said. She’s afraid, and so is that guy who was out on the boat when we first got here. Hearing about that dream scared him stiff. He knows something about the blind man, and he doesn’t want anyone to know that he knows! He has something to do with our puzzle. I intend to find out what it is!”
7
Pete Gatecrashes a Meeting
IT WAS PETE who decided that he would stay near the Denicola pier and watch the man named Ernie.
“If he’s up to something, we’d better find out what it is,” said Pete, “and he’s seen you. He’ll think it’s funny if you hang around. He hasn’t seen me, so I can stick close. He’ll never notice.”
“Be careful,” warned Jupe.
“You know I’ll be careful–which is more than I can say for you!”
Jupe went off then, skimming down the highway, and Pete crossed the road to the beach. He wheeled his bicycle in under the pier, which near the water’s edge was tall enough to stand up under, and locked it to one of the pilings. He was careful not to show any interest in Denicola’s. Anyone watching him would think he was just another kid looking for a safe place to park his bike.