They said good-bye to Harry, who climbed out of the car. Worthington started it up again.
“Where to, Master Jupiter?” he asked. “Home now?”
Jupiter deep in thought, shook his head.
“We started to drop in to see Alfred Hitchcock,” he said. “If Mr. Hadley was an actor once, maybe Mr. Hitchcock knew him — he’s worked with hundreds of actors. Take us to World Studios, Worthington.”
“Very good, sir.” The English chauffeur turned the car round and in a few minutes they were outside the front gate of World Studios, which occupied a whole block behind high walls. The gateman spoke on the phone, found that Mr. Hitchcock was in his office and would see them, and a few minutes later all three boys were seated opposite the famous director’s big desk.
“Well, lads,” Alfred Hitchcock rumbled, “what brings you this way? Working on another investigation?”
“Yes, sir,” Jupiter said. “Though it seems pretty mixed up right now and I’m not sure it means anything. You see, we started out to investigate a screaming clock and — ”
“Screaming Clock!” Alfred Hitchcock interrupted in surprise. “What’s happened to him, anyway? I haven’t heard that name in years!”
Mr. Jeeters, however, was amazingly strong. He brushed Bob and Jupiter aside as if they were sparrows, then clamped powerful fingers on the back of Pete’s shirt. He tossed him to one side in the dirt.
“Just try that again if you want to get hurt!” he sneered.
At that moment, Hans, one of the tall Bavarian yard helpers, put a large hand on the man’s shoulder.
“I think better you give Jupe back his bag, Mister,” Hans said.
“You big lug!” Mr. Jeeters snarled. “Let go of me!”
He aimed a fist at Hans’s jaw. Hans ducked, and as the two men struggled wildly, Mr. Jeeters dropped the bag. Pete scooted in and recaptured it, then retreated to a safe distance as the two men, grunting and puffing, tried to throw each other down.
It was Hans who finally got the better of the struggle. Getting a grip around the other man’s body, he lifted him high in the air like an angry child.
“What you want I do, Jupe?” Hans asked calmly. “Hold this fellow while you call police?”
“No, I don’t believe so,” Jupe answered, thinking swiftly. The police might not take the theft of an almost worthless alarm clock seriously. If they did, they’d probably want to hold on to the clock as evidence and now, more than ever, Jupe wanted to investigate the mystery behind it.
“Just put Mr. Jeeters down and let him go,” Jupiter suggested. “We have the clock back.”
“Okay,” said Hans reluctantly, and he let the other man fall in a heap on the ground.
Mr. Jeeters picked himself up and brushed gravel from his clothes. “All right, you kids!” he growled. “You’ll be sorry for this. You’ll live to regret the minute you ever saw that clock!” And with those words, he stalked out.