“Who is he?” Henry asked Jessie.
Benny noticed the way the man strolled, as if he had all the time in the world.
“He was the guy in the Captain Fantastic suit at the antiques show!” he said. “Remember, I said he was too slow to be Captain Fantastic?”
Violet nodded. “It is the same person. He was handing out flyers about this meeting.”
Inside, fans traded and sold comics at a long table. Bottles of soda and a platter of store-bought cookies were on a smaller table.
The man wearing the Captain Fantastic button was arranging the paper plates and napkins, while a girl with straight black hair put out cups.
“I’m thirsty,” said Benny. “Can we get something to drink?”
The kids walked over to the table. As Henry poured Benny a lemon-lime soda, the man stared at him.
“I know you,” he said. “You’re the lucky kids that found number nine at the antiques show.”
“That’s right,” Violet replied. “Did you find another copy of the comic?”
He laughed bitterly. “Are you kidding? Number nines are really scarce. Change your mind about selling yours? I’ll pay sixty dollars.”
Henry shook his head. “No, thanks.”
“You sure?” the man pressed. “How about sixty-five? Seventy?” He poured a cup of soda and gave it to Jessie. “Okay, seventy-five, but that’s my final offer. You could buy a lot of comics for seventy-five dollars.”
Jessie looked at Henry. They couldn’t possibly sell their fake comic. That would be cheating this man, who would believe he was paying for the real thing.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But our comic isn’t for sale.”
The young man sighed. “Well, it was worth a shot. I’m Marvin Peabody, president of this Captain Fantastic Fan Club.” He pointed to the dark-haired girl. “This is Irene. She’s the club secretary.”
Irene had short black hair and wore pink ballet shoes with her jeans.
She fixed drinks for Violet and Henry. “Are you interested in joining?”
“We really came by accident,” Henry told her. “What time does the meeting end?”
“Usually by eight,” Irene said.
“I’ve got to go start.” Marvin turned back to the children. “I could go as high as eighty dollars for your comic.”
“Sorry,” Violet told him.
Marvin wheeled abruptly and headed for the front of the room.
The Aldens found chairs near the back and sat down.
“Is he mad because we won’t sell him our comic?” Benny asked.
Henry gave a low whistle. “Eighty dollars is a lot of money! If he’s willing to pay that much, I can’t see why he hasn’t found a copy. He’s the president of the fan club.”
Jessie nodded in agreement. “He must have had a chance to buy number nine before now. It seems like he really wants to buy our comic.”
“All right, everybody! Welcome to our monthly meeting.” Marvin shuffled through some papers. “Last month we began the contest to see who could find the secret signature Sid Hoyt hides in each of his comics.”
The Alden children glanced at one another.
“The secret signature is the one clue the counterfeit comic book artist doesn’t know about,” Violet whispered. “Because it wasn’t in the phony number nine.”
Jessie nodded. “Let’s hope nobody figures out the secret signature is always hidden somewhere in Captain Fantastic’s cape.”
A thought occurred to her. What if the counterfeiter is a member of this fan club? He could be in the room this minute!
Irene raised her hand. “I think the signature might be on the last page of each issue. There’s a funny little box in the lower left-hand corner. It doesn’t really look like a signature, though.”
“I know the little box you mean,” said Marvin. “That’s something the publisher puts in. Anybody else?”
Several people made guesses, but when everyone flipped through their Captain Fantastic comics, they realized each guess was wrong.
“We’ll keep looking,” said Marvin. “I talked to Mr. Hoyt about this some time ago. He just laughed and said it wouldn’t be any fun if he told us where it was.”
The meeting moved on to other business.
Henry turned toward Violet and pretended to wipe his forehead.
“That was close,” he whispered to the others. “Until we solve this case, Sid’s secret signature must stay a secret.”
“I have a surprise,” Marvin was telling the audience. “Our club will have a private reception with Sid Hoyt at the convention this weekend!”
Cheers went up.
“As you know,” Marvin continued, “Sid Hoyt is giving a presentation and will be auctioning off a piece of original art. And he will meet with us.”
“Mr. Hoyt lives right in our area,” said one of the members. “I wish he’d invite us to his studio sometime.”
“We’ve been there,” Benny blurted.
Everyone swiveled to stare at him.
“You’ve been to Sid Hoyt’s house?” Marvin said in disbelief.
“Yeah,” Benny said. “It’s really cool. It looks like a barn.”
“How did you get to see Mr. Hoyt’s house?” Marvin demanded.
Henry spoke up. “We called him on the phone and he invited us.”
“And then he took us to the place where the Captain Fantastic comics are made,” Benny added.
Marvin put his hands on his hips. “I’ve been president of this fan club for three years and he’s never invited me to his home or to ABC Comics.”
Irene laughed. “Oh, Marvin. Give the kids a break!”
The group discussed the upcoming convention a few more minutes, then Marvin ended the meeting.
As the Alden children were leaving the room, he caught up to them.
“I want to ask you guys something,” Marvin said. “Have you known Sid Hoyt long?”
“We only met him this week,” Jessie replied. “He’s been really nice to us.”
“I guess I have rotten luck, then,” Marvin said with a tight smile.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Violet reassured him. “Maybe we called him when he wasn’t busy. He had just finished the newest Captain Fantastic comic.”
“And he took you to ABC Comics to deliver it,” Marvin said.
“We really need to go,” Henry said, pushing the library’s glass door, “We’re not allowed to ride our bikes after dark.”
In the parking lot, the members were getting into their cars.
As the kids unlocked their bikes from the rack, they saw Marvin come outside with Irene. Both carried boxes of leftover refreshments and paper goods.
“My comic book hobby is getting so expensive,” Marvin said to her.
“At least you can buy what you want,” Irene said, then walked across the parking lot to her car.
“Marvin’s getting in that car,” Jessie said, as they rolled their bikes onto the blacktop.
She nodded toward an old station wagon parked under a big oak tree. With the sun setting, the trees cast purplish shadows.
“It’s too dark to see if it’s blue or what the license plate says,” Jessie said.
“Wait till he starts it,” Henry said. “If it has a noisy muffler, we’ll know it was Marvin who followed us from Sid’s house the other day.”
Marvin stowed the box and cooler in his trunk, then climbed into the driver’s seat. But just after he closed the door, a motorcycle roared to life.
Both the motorcycle and the station wagon left at the same time. The kids couldn’t hear if Marvin’s car had a faulty muffler.
“We still don’t know if Marvin is a suspect or not,” Jessie said. “But we’d better head home or Grandfather will be worried.”
As they pedaled out of the lot, Violet spied a small white card where Marvin’s car had been parked.
“It’s a business card,” she said. “For Rollins Construction.”
“That’s the company that’s building the new house,” said Jessie. “I wonder if Marvin works for them.”
“How come we’ve never seen him at the site?” Henry asked.
“We’ve seen a car like his there,” Benny said. “I think it is Marvin’s car. Maybe he hides when he sees us!” |