Excerpt "Island of Death - The Sphinx’s Riddle"

Jupiter had just gone to bed when a little red signal light at his desk started to flash. The telephone in Headquarters! A few weeks ago Jupiter had installed a line between the office and his room. When the phone rang in Headquarters it activated the red light. He thought that it might be of use in case an emergency situation would occur.
He looked at his alarm clock. It was shortly after eleven o'clock. Who would call that late? Probably it were Bob and Pete who knew that he used to sit in front of his computer until midnight. The light went out. Now the answering machine was doing its job.
Jupiter decided to wait until tomorrow. It was not so important now, was it? But, what, if it weren't just Bob or Pete...
Jupiter growled and slid out of bed. Why was he always so damn curios and why did he invent this silly light? He put on his shirt, pulled on his sneakers and slipped down the stairs and out of the front door. The mounds of junk looked creepy in the pale moonlight. Gravel crunched under his shoes, when he crossed the dark salvage yard. It was pretty cold. Jupiter shivered and walked faster. This short walk made him unnecessarily wide awake and he already regretted having surrendered to his curiosity. Maybe it was something rather unimportant, or even worse, nobody had left a message on the answering machine!
He took the key out of his pocket and opened the door of the mobile home trailer. The little light of the answering machine indicated that there was at least a message on the tape. Jupiter pressed the rewind button and listened.
»Too bad you aren't there Jupe. Well, it seems you have already gone to bed.« It was Pete. »I am still brooding over my math homework. Actually I though you might give me some sort of help. But you know, probably I wouldn’t have understood it anyway. See you.«
»Great!« Jupiter groaned. »Thanks a lot Pete.« He wondered if he should call his friend back, but he did not want to wake up Pete’s parents. He was already on his way out, when the phone rang once more. Was it Pete again? Jupiter picked it up.
»The Three Investigators, Jupiter Jones speaking.«
Somebody cleared his throat at the other end of the line.
»Hello? Who is this?«
»Jupiter Jones?« The voice hardly rose above a eerie whisper.
»Yes.«
»From the Three Investigators?«
»Well, I just said so.«
»I have got a case for you.«
»Who is this?«
»A riddle.«
»Would you mind telling me who you are?«
»My name is unimportant. There are lives at stake. Solve the riddle!«
»Which riddle? Listen, if you are only kidding -«
»I am not kidding!«, the man harshly interrupted him. He coughed and repeated in a low voice: »I am not kidding. Somebody will die if you don’t solve the Sphinx’s riddle.«
»The sphinx's riddle? Hello? Are you still there?«
»I will call again!«
Before Jupiter could reply anything, the man had hung up.
 
[...]
 
Skinny jumped slightly. He gasped for air. Then he recognised Jupiter, Bob and Pete. His jaw dropped. This moment of total confusion only lasted for a short but wonderful moment, then the familiar expression of self-importance came back to his pale face.
»Jupiter 'Baby Fatso' Jones«, he taunted, alluding to Jupiter’s much despised starring in a popular television series many years ago.
»And of course his two stooges: Pete Piteous and Mr Boring-Bob Andrews. What do you want? Shouldn’t you be back home in you playpens?« Being a little older than the Three Investigators, E. Skinner Norris considered himself way superior and tried to emphasise this fact as often as possible.
»I’m positive you already know!« exclaimed Pete angrily. »We just wanted to take a glimpse at our mysterious new client.«
»I don’t get what you are talking about«, said Skinny.
»You’re lying!« Pete clenched his fists. »You called to threaten us! And you told us all that crab about Sphinx and all.«
E. Skinner Norris made a half-hearted movement with his hand and turned towards Jupiter. »You’d better tell your pal to quit taking all those drugs, Fatso. Could bring him into real trouble one day. « He turned around and strolled to his car.
Pete wanted to run after him, but Jupiter got hold of his arm. »Forget it, Pete. You couldn’t make him talk anyway.«
»But why does he deny everything?«
»Apparently it was exactly the wrong way to approach him.« Jupiter pinched his lip for a few seconds, then he shouted after Skinny, who was just about to enter his car: »Hey, Skinny! Just in case you still want to know about Sphinx and Hadden and Makatao, feel free to call us!«
Skinner did not answer, but the first investigator was sure, that he got the message. Finally the blue sports car roared away.