“I warned Roger. Ryder, when Toby—who knew where the gem was—telephoned him that he had left explosives out in the open—Ryder tried to use that as a way to lure Roger here to open up, because we had so arranged things that actually no one could even enter and not be caught—he was deadly afraid of being electrocuted too soon.
“But Roger is still safe, the gem is available, and so—as you well know, there is no more mystery, except this:
“How do you think you are going to get the Eye of Om—now?”
Roger stared at his cousin. Saying that. To a beast!
Chapter 41
MAN AND BEAST
With his mocking smile Grover walked over to their safety cabinets, unlocked and threw one wide open.
Roger, with Potts, sidled over near the door, to block the beast if it had been taught to snatch anything in its paws and hop away.
“No need,” Grover laughed, “with its partner, the ape, bound. There is no way to get out of that hide.” He gestured toward the cabinet. “There it is, just as you hid it, the True Eye, in a can supposed to contain medicating compounds to use on the rats. Clever, just as was entry into Roger’s room, with the ‘Fire’ record, by that often-used idea of the pulled fuse. I have wondered why you did nothing to him. Or did Millman come along too soon and scare you off?”
He paused, and they all stared. Could Grover have miscalculated, Roger wondered, in implying that the kangaroo was the impersonator? He had assumed it was the ape.
The beast, on its haunches and flatly extended tail, reached two clawed paws upward, caught one of the round cans from the front row, and dropping it in the loose pouch, in the skin, turned and started hopping toward the door, its claws upraised.