CHAPTER XIV
The Cold, Cold Clue
The boys were late to breakfast the following morning. They had falleninto bed, pleased and exhausted, and the noise of the household stirringhad failed to waken them.
Mrs. Miller greeted them as they came downstairs. "I hear you were ghosthunting again last night. Did you find any?"
"I'll say we did," Scotty replied. "Where is Dr. Miller?"
"Right here," the scientist said from the living-room doorway. "And Ihave news for you. Collins called this morning and renewed his offer. Itold him I'd think about it and let him know later. And Steve Amescalled. The powder is definitely carnotite, and it matches ore producedon the Colorado Plateau. Steve has reported to the Atomic EnergyCommission, and they'll be able to track down its origin without toomuch difficulty, since no two ores are precisely alike. Now, how did youtwo do last night?"
The two girls came into the kitchen in time to hear the question, andRick almost hated to give the answer, knowing that it would disillusionthem, and particularly Barby.
"We trailed three ghosts," he said. "All human."
Scotty added, "And one of them was named Carleton Hilleboe. At leastthat was the name on the registration of their car."
They told the story in detail while Mrs. Miller and Jan fried eggs andbacon and made toast for their breakfast. Barby listened quietly, but ifRick had any idea she would be convinced, he was mistaken. When therecital ended she pointed out, "There's no reason why mortals shouldn'ttake advantage of a ghost. You still haven't proved that the ghost atthe mine isn't real, or how the cold almost knocked you out last night."
"True," Rick had to admit. "We're not making much progress there."
Over breakfast Dr. Miller told them about the Hilleboes. "They were oneof the big families in this vicinity two or three decades ago. They hadthe biggest house in this part of Virginia, but it burned down abouttwenty years ago and the kids moved away. There is no house on theirland now. They rent some of the land to tenants. Carleton Hilleboe isthe eldest son. He's in a business of some kind in Washington. He eithercontrols or owns the property, I'm not sure which."
"Including the upland cornfield above the mine?" Rick asked.
"Yes, and all the property to the east of ours for a mile or two."
"Could he be the mysterious buyer Collins is acting for?" Rick asked.
"It's possible, although why he would want our share of the mine and thefield opposite is beyond me. I think a talk with Collins is in order. Ifyou two want to come to town with me, I think I'll beard him in his den.I've no intention of selling, but I won't tell him that."
On the way to town the boys agreed it would be best for Dr. Miller totalk with Collins alone. He obviously didn't like young people--at leastthem--and he would be more apt to confide in Dr. Miller if the scientistinterviewed him alone.
The scientist agreed. "Why don't you two wait in the drugstore? You canhave a coke or something."
Dr. Miller parked the car in front of Collins' house and the boyscrossed the street to the drugstore. Although it was early in the day,both ordered a dish of ice cream. They were eating it and exchangingsmall talk with the druggist when the Frostola scooter pulled upoutside. Both tensed as the Frostola man came in, but he greeted themimpersonally and turned to the druggist. "I'd like a tin of aspirin,please."
"That infected hangnail still bothering you?" the druggist askedsympathetically.
"No, it's okay today," the peddler answered swiftly. "I've got a slightheadache, that's all."
He paid for the aspirin, accepted the druggist's offer of a glass ofwater, downed two pills, and left.
"Seemed in a hurry," Rick commented.
The druggist nodded. "Seemed so. He usually stops to pass the time ofday. Had a terrible time yesterday with an infected hangnail. They canbe pretty painful. I tried to sell him a new analgesic ointment, but heinsisted on methyl chloride. He had an old refillable prescription fromsome doctor over in Arlington. Said he got it because infected hangnailsbother him all the time. Lucky I had some. It used to be used all thetime for pain from superficial wounds, but it went out of style. Hebought a whole pint. Enough to last for fifty hangnails. Told him hedidn't need it, but he insisted."
Rick said thoughtfully, "His hands seemed to be all right today. Nobandages."
"All he had was a plastic-tape bandage around his thumb yesterday,anyway. Guess the infection must have cleared up."
"What's methyl chloride?" Rick asked.
"A highly volatile chemical. It's not a painkiller in the usual sense,like aspirin. You spray it on the area that hurts, and it evaporates inseconds. You know what that does."
Rick did! And suddenly last night's events were perfectly, transparentlyclear.
"Evaporation cools the surface," Rick said for Scotty's benefit. "Thefaster the evaporation, the faster the cooling. This methyl chloridemust act pretty fast."
"It does," the druggist agreed. "That's how it kills pain, partly. Itchills the outer layer of skin almost instantly."