Chapter Eight
"CHARLEY, are you curious as to why someone vandalized your mess hall yesterday?" Carter asked Sgt. Hacker the next morning.
"Yeah, I'm curious, Vince," Hacker replied. "Aren't we all?"
"Well, the reason I was asking, Hacker, is because I know a little way you might be able to find out some information." Carter idly traced a pattern on the tabletop.
"Yeah?" Hacker said suspiciously. "What?"
"Oh, nothing much," Carter responded. "All you have to do is visit the local police station . . ."
"Police station?" Hacker broke in.
"That's right—police station. And ask to see an inmate there. Ed Barton."
Hacker crossed his arms. He was still suspicious.
"And then when you see him, you just have to casually ask him about the jewel thefts," Carter continued. "Or maybe better yet, you could come right out and say something like, ‘What do you know about the Jewel Pendant' and see what his reaction is. You know, catch him off guard. If he's really mixed up in this thing somehow, he should know something about the Jewel Pendant. It plays rather prominently in our case."
"Let me get this straight. You want me to go to the police station and ask to see some guy named Ed Barton. Then you want me to ask him what he knows about the Jewel Pendant and see his reaction. Is that it?" Hacked asked.
Carter nodded. "Yeah, you've got it, Charley. That's all there is to it."
"Look, Carter, I don't know the first thing about playing detective and besides, I haven't got the time. Why can't you or Boyle do it?"
"Well, Hacker, if the guy is really mixed up in this mystery, he'd probably know me and Boyle. And Pyle. We're the ones trying to crack the case. We need someone they've never seen before to do it," Carter explained. "We're trying to lay low right now, and if he's a crook and Boyle or Pyle or I go to question him, he'd find a way to inform his buddies that we're still on the case and then we'd put ourselves in jeperdy."
"In what?" Hacker exclaimed.
"You know—jeperdy, jeperdy! It's what happens to you if a crook finds out about your plans!"
Hacker threw up his hands in defeat. "Whatever, whatever!"
"Well, Charley, you do want to catch the vandal, don't you?" Carter persisted.
"Of course I want to catch the vandal, Carter!" Hacker replied.
"Then this would be a way to proceed with the catching."
Hacker sighed. "Alright, I'll do it, Vince. But only because I have nothing better to do!"
Carter walked out of the mess hall, laughing.
"Uh, yeah," Hacker confirmed. "I thought maybe I could get a confession out of him."
The desk sergeant snickered. "A Marine sergeant thinks he can get a confession out of Ed Barton when the police have failed?" He shrugged. "Well, go ahead if you want to, Sergeant, but I'm warnin' you—he's a stubborn one!"
An officer escorted Hacker out of the lobby and into the jail cell hall. He took the mess sergeant to cell no. 10. "Here's Ed," the policemen said. "Good luck with your confession." He went back up the hall, howling.
Hacker twisted his hat around. Now what had Carter advised him to ask? Oh, yeah. "What do you know about the Jewel Pendant?" he blurted.
Ed Barton just stared at Hacker, clearly perplexed. "Huh?"
"You know—the Jewel Pendant!" Hacker repeated.
"Actually, pal, I don't know," Barton insisted. "Unless, of course, you're just referring to a jewel pendant."
"I'm referring to the Jewel Pendant!" Hacker stressed.
Barton started laughing. "Oh, I know! You must be some new stoolpigeon sent in by the police to get me to confess. Well, I got news for you, pal, I ain't got nothin' to confess." He sobered. "The police think I've done something wrong because they found a large, stolen diamond in my apartment. But honest—I don't have any knowledge as to how it got there!"
Hacker was starting to believe him. "You really don't know anything about the Jewel Pendant?" he said slowly.
"I'm tellin' you, pal, what I know about this Jewel Pendant you could balance on a pinprick!"
Hacker turned to go.
"Hey, pal!" Barton called after him. "Hope you catch the real crook!"
Hacker nodded slightly. "Yeah."
"Boyle?" Carter called softly at first, then loudly. No answer.
He carefully sidestepped the papers and pencils on the floor and wandered over near the back room, where Gomer had brought a baby once. No one there.
But it was a mess too! The few extra chairs were toppled, and the covers on the bunk were draped here and there everywhere! And there were little pieces of cottony stuff floating around. Carter soon realized that they had came from the mattress, which was slit open.
"What happened in here?"
Carter whirled around. Boyle was in the doorway, surveying the ransacked room.
"Take your guess, Boyle," the sergeant replied cynically. "When were you last here?"
Boyle looked at the clock. "About thirty minutes ago. I left because I had to go over to supply."
"Did you hear any suspicious sounds?" Carter pressed.
"Well, actually, I did hear something strange," Boyle responded after careful consideration. "Right before I left for supply. It was here, in the back room."Boyle gestured at the place. "I came to investigate, but couldn't see a thing. I even looked under the bunk. Nothing!
"When I went outside I walked around the duty hut to see if anyone was prying open a window, but everything looked in order. But apparently, someone got in." Hands on hips, he looked around the main room.
"How could anyone make such a mess in only thirty minutes?" Carter wondered. "This is crazy!"
"Sergeant?"
Carter and Boyle turned at the sound of the familiar voice.
"Shazam! What happened in here?" Gomer's eyes were wide in shock and he came rushing into the room. "Is everybody alright?"
"Yeah, Pyle, we're fine," Boyle answered. "However, it might be a different story if we'd been here when ‘The Phantom' ransacked the place."
"Oh, mercy! Thank heavens it was vacant!" Gomer stared in horror at the files, pencils, mattress stuffing, and toppled chairs. "But who would do such a thing?"
"Who knows?" Carter sighed, picking up a chair. "Except for those guys who're after us, I don't know anyone who would ransack the duty hut."
"Oh brother!" came Boyle's voice from across the room.
"What is it?" Gomer said, alarmed.
"Someone sent us a little message." Boyle pointed at the floor around Carter's desk. Gomer and Carter hurried over.
was graffitied in red spray paint.
Carter gasped. "That wasn't there when I first came in! I'm sure of it!"
"Mercy!" Gomer cried. "That means someone actually came and wrote it while you were in here!"
"Are you sure, Vince?" Boyle asked. "Maybe it was covered up by papers when you first got here."
"No, no! The floor around my desk wasn't cluttered with papers! I know! It wasn't there when I came in!"
Gomer and Boyle looked at each other in horror, realizing what that meant.
When everything was back in its proper place, Boyle suddenly exclaimed, "Hey! I don't remember seeing Private Nelson's criminal record amongst everything!"
Carter, who was making sure the telephone line hadn't been cut, looked up instantly. "Hey! You're right, Boyle! I don't remember seeing it either!"
Boyle turned to Gomer. "What about you, Pyle? Did you see it?"
"No, Corporal, I can't say as how I did," Gomer replied. Then he started. "Criminal record?"
A thorough search of the filing cabinets was conducted, which proved futile.
"It's gone, Sergeant!" Gomer declared. "It's really gone!"
Carter slammed a hand on his desk. "Then it must have been Nelson who ransacked the place!"
"Nelson?" Boyle repeated.
"Yeah! He probably took his criminal record because he's the crook—well, one of them—and knew that he did have a criminal record and that suspicion was mounting against him!"
"Oh, come on, Vince! Don't jump to conclusions!"
Carter threw up his hands. "Well, then, where is it, Boyle? Answer me that! Who—except Nelson himself—would steal Nelson's criminal record?"
Gomer stared. "You think Private Nelson is involved in the crimes, Sergeant?"
"Yes, I think he's involved in the crimes, Pyle."
"But why?"
Carter explained about how Nelson had been arrested several years back as an accomplice in shoplifting.
"Golly!" was all Gomer could say.
"Actually, Gome, I haven't," Duke replied. "I haven't seen him all day."
"Shazam! Do you think he's disappeared?" Gomer worried.
"Who knows?" Duke shrugged. "Nelson seemed like kind of a shady character. Maybe he went AWOL."
"Why, Duke! You can't go around judging people!" Gomer reprimanded. "For all we'd know, Private Nelson could have been kidnapped! Maybe he is involved in these jewel thefts but not in the way people might think. He could've stumbled onto a valuable piece of information—like, for instance, who the real criminals are—and the crooks kidnapped him before he could reveal anything to the police!"
Duke sighed. "Yeah, and for all we'd know, he might be a chronic kleptomaniac who decided to go AWOL to steal more stuff."
At that moment, there was a loud sound coming from outside the Bluebird Cafe. Gomer and Duke rushed out. No one was in sight, but the sounds were still going strong.
"There must be something goin' on in the alley!" Gomer exclaimed, racing into the narrow spot with Duke.
Two figures were scrapping at the far end of the alley.
"Hey!" Gomer called. "You don't need to fight! Fightin' don't solve anything! Why don't you just sit down and peacefully talk this thing out?"
The one man opened his mouth as if to say something, but the second man clamped a hand over it and the fight continued.
"Duke, you better go call the police," Gomer advised.
"Yeah, but Gome, what about you?" Duke asked.
"I'll stay here and try to break up the fight."
"But Gomer!" Duke exclaimed. "They might get real mad at you! You might even get hurt for interfering!"
Gomer waved him towards a pay phone. "Don't worry, Duke, I'll be fine. You just go call the police and I'll see what I can do here."
Duke ran over to the nearest booth, trying to keep an eye on Gomer as he did so.
"Now look here!" Gomer said loudly. "There's a peaceful way to solve this! Please stop fighting!"
The two men fell on the ground, wrestling like crazy. Then suddenly the second one slapped a handkerchief over the first one's face. After a minute, the man went limp.
The second one hoisted him up triumphantly and was about to carry him off when Gomer rushed over.
"Shame, shame, shame!" was his greeting.
"Just forget everything you ever saw," the man hissed. "The Jewel Pendant warns you!" He pushed Gomer, then turned and ran off, carrying the unconscious one. Gomer picked himself up and followed, calling "Wait!" but by the time he got to the alley's end, the man was nowhere in sight.
Duke came rushing up with two policemen. "What happened, Gome?" he burst out. "Where'd they go?"
Not paying attention to his friend, Gomer spoke to the officers. "Oh, I'm so glad you've come, but I'm afraid it's a little late."
One officer whipped out a notepad and pencil. "What happened, Marine?"
"Well, there were these two men fightin'," Gomer began. "I tried to stop them, but I couldn't. They just kept right on. Then the one man shoved some kind of handkerchief at the other one, and it made him black out. Then the man was going to carry the other one off. I tried to stop him, but he gave me an ominous warning: ‘Just forget everything you ever saw. The Jewel Pendant warns you!' Then he pushed me."
"Jewel Pendant?" Duke and the policemen said in unison.
"Uh huh. It ties in with some other threats my friends and I have been getting. Anyway, the man picked up the other one and just tore down the alley here," Gomer continued. "I followed, but by the time I reached the end, they had just disappeared! No trace of them anywhere!"
"Was there anything you noticed about the men? What did they look like?" the officer pressed.
Gomer paused. "Well, I couldn't see very well, but it looked like the one who got hit with the handkerchief was wearin' green clothes. And the one who threw it at him had a dark brown trenchcoat and panama hat."
"That's all very interesting, Marine," said the second officer.
"Oh, and there was something else. When I first called out to them, the one in the green acted like he wanted to say something, but the other one clamped a hand over his mouth and wouldn't let him," Gomer recalled.
"Intriguing," remarked the first officer. "Now, Marine, what are these other threats about Jewel Pendants you've been getting?"
Gomer explained briefly about the mystery, ending with the account of the duty hut being ransacked.
"Good heavens, Marine!" exclaimed the second officer. "It sounds like you and your friends have been busy."
"Oh, we have," Gomer confirmed. "It's been the most hectic weeks of my life!"
The officers and the Marines conducted a thorough search of the alley for clues, but found nada.
The policemen turned to go. "Well, we'll try to find the men, Marine. If you remember anything else, call us. Ask for Officer Hansen or Officer Kelly." They got in their squad car and drove away.
Duke and Gomer left the alley as well. "Brother, Gome! Mystery and intrigue follows you everywhere you go!"
"What's the problem, Corporal?" Gomer asked. "Where's Sergeant Carter?"
Boyle stopped pacing. "That's just the problem, Pyle. I don't have any idea where he is. I called Bunny's apartment, and she says that he left to come back here over two hours ago!"
"Mercy!" Gomer said, alarmed.
"I know he might have stopped for something to eat, but two hours is a long time," Boyle continued.
"Well, it sure is!" Gomer agreed. "And I found more trouble in town."
Boyle idly flipped through the pages of a blank notepad. "Yeah? What?"
Gomer explained about the two men in the alley.
"Oh brother!" Boyle said at the conclusion. "How does the Jewel Pendant tie in with that?"
Gomer threw up his hands helplessly. "Who knows?"
"Well, that only makes the mystery more puzzling," Boyle sighed.
"It sure does." Gomer ran a hand over the typewriter keys. "It really makes a person wonder what will happen next."
RING!
The jangling of the telephone made them both jump. Then Boyle picked up the receiver. "Hello, Company B, Corporal Boyle."
"Oh, Charles, thank heavens you're alright!"
"Huh?"
"Well, I just got another note from this phantom."
Boyle grabbed a pencil. "You did? What did it say?"
There was the sound of paper rustling. "It says, ‘We've got a friend of yours. Forget the Jewel Pendant and we'll release him.' I was afraid it was you!" A pause. "Is everyone accounted for there?"
"Well, actually, Sergeant Carter's missing," Boyle said, beginning to worry even more.
"Mercy! It's probably him, then!" Mary Ann exclaimed. "We'd better call the police!"
Boyle was already looking for the number. "Yeah, we'd sure better. I'll call the police, and maybe you can call Bunny and find out if she's heard anything yet."
"Oh, I will, Charles! Goodbye!" Mary Ann quickly hung up.
"What's going on?" Gomer wanted to know.
"Sergeant Carter might have been kidnapped," was the shocking answer.
"Kidnapped! Oh, my goodness! We've just got to find him!" Gomer raced out the door in panic, and Boyle assumed he was after the Jeep.
He called the police, then ran after him.
Gomer had dashed into Col. Gray's office to report Sergeant Carter's strange disappearance.
"Uh huh. You see, Mary Ann Harper—she's a friend of ours—received another message from this phantom and it said ‘We've got a friend of yours. Forget the Jewel Pendant and we will release him'! And Sergeant Carter should have been back two hours ago!"
Col. Gray laid down his pencil. "Hmm. It does seem suspicious. I thought you and the others were going to investigate secretly and make it appear as if you had abandoned the case."
Gomer nodded. "We did, sir, but I guess somehow the crooks found out we were still working on it. Sergeant Carter thought that maybe Private Nelson—he's the one who just transferred into our platoon—was involved."
"Private Nelson?" Col. Gray repeated. "He hasn't been seen on base since early this afternoon. Perhaps your sergeant had something there and the desperados kidnapped him before he could tell anyone else."
"Oh, I sure hope he hasn't been kidnapped!" Gomer wailed.
"I'll send a few men out to look around."
"Could Corporal Boyle and I go look, sir?"
Col. Gray was doubtful. "Are you sure you should, Private? The criminals are after you and Corporal Boyle too."
"Oh, we'd be very careful, sir," Gomer assured him. "We've just got to find Sergeant Carter!"
"Did the Sergeant have his own car or was he taking the bus?" Gomer asked.
Boyle drove towards town to retrace the route from Bunny's apartment. "He had his own car," he replied.
"Maybe he never even drove away from Bunny's," Gomer said fearfully. "Maybe the crooks were hidin' in a bush and jumped out and grabbed him!"
They drove past the Bluebird Cafe. Gomer pointed to an alley. "That's where I saw the two men," he explained.
"It is, huh?" Boyle turned the Jeep to cruise down the narrow passageway. "Well, since that guy gave you the ominous Jewel Pendant message, we might find a clue around here."
He stopped the Jeep at the spot Gomer indicated and the two Marines got out to look around.
As they wandered around, Gomer noticed something behind an old Shasta bottle and picked it up. "Here's the handkerchief the one man used," he said, holding it up.
Boyle nearly keeled over. "Watch it, Pyle! That thing has chloroform on it!"
Gomer lowered it. "Oops. Sorry, Corporal." He wrapped it up in a piece of paper towel and shoved it in the glove compartment. "I thought the man took it with him. We'd better take it to the police station later for evidence. They said to call if we found out anything more or remembered something else. They said to ask for Officer Hansen or Officer Kelly."
Boyle shined the flashlight around the dark alley. "Here's a glove," he said, pointing to a dark blue one near a broken window.
"Shazam! I think the man in the trenchcoat was wearin' gloves!" Gomer exclaimed.
Boyle found a pair of tweezers and dropped the glove into a brown paper lunch bag. "Looks like the police missed a lot of clues."
Gomer gasped. "Oh, my goodness! I remember that this stuff wasn't here before! The police and Duke and I conducted a thorough search, but we didn't find a thing! That means that the man in the trenchcoat must have returned after we'd left!"
Boyle looked grim. "You go past the Bluebird when you leave the apartment building where Bunny lives," he realized. "Vince could have been on his way back to the base and . . ."
"Oh, don't say anymore, Corporal!" Gomer interrupted.
They resumed their search, but nothing more was to be found.
"Well, looks like we've got the only two clues available," Boyle remarked.
Gomer leaned against the wall of the nearest building. "I guess you're right, Corporal. We'd better . . ."
The Marine was just going to say "go," when a panel opened up in the wall and swallowed him. Boyle gaped.
"Pyle? Pyle, are you alright?" he called. No answer. Maybe he got knocked out or he just can't hear me, Boyle thought. He tapped on the wall, trying to get it to open, but without results. The panel was being stubborn; it simply would not open. Oh, brother! Now what am I going to do? I've lost both Vince and Pyle, and there's angry criminals running around. Chances are, they've got both of them and now they'll come after me! I've got to rescue the others!
