Read The Avenger 36 - Demon Island for Free Online Page B

went off that night to meet a man in the woods or anything like that. I wouldn’t have asked Cole to look for her in that case. Fanny is very determined to become a star . . . she’s got a lot more drive in that direction than I have, really. Not that there aren’t girls—and quite prominent ones, too—who wouldn’t have a little romance with one of the crew during a location trip. Fanny simply isn’t one who would.”
    “What about her background?” asked Nellie. “She might meet somebody who had something on her.”
    “It’s possible.” Heather shook her head. “Fanny Fiddler—and that’s her real name, by the way—is one of those rare movie people who was born right here in southern California. She was a cheerleader in high school. I’ve never heard of anything dark and shady in her past.”
    “Terence O’Malley said she looked scared,” Nellie mused. “I’m inclined to agree.”
    “Yes, she does seem very upset and worried about something,” said Heather. “Unfortunately, Fanny isn’t the kind of girl to let down her hair and tell us what’s bothering her. She might confide in her agent, but I doubt even that.”
    “Maybe I can try,” suggested Nellie. “I hate to think of Cole being lost and Fanny Fiddler knowing something that might help us find him.”
    “Mr. Benson and Smitty are out looking right now,” said Heather. “They may well find him.”
    “Maybe,” said Nellie.

    “I thought California was all sunshine and flowers,” said Smitty.
    “Not at night,” said the Avenger.
    The fog was rushing in from the ocean, surrounding them as they explored the forest beyond the castle.
    “We might as well be on Long Island.”
    The Avenger, clad now in dark clothes and minus his assumed Dr. Winters beard, was studying the ground with the aid of a flashlight. “I’d say Cole came this way that night.”
    The giant squinted, looking over his shoulder. “Yeah, that’s part of one of his footprints, sure enough,” he said.
    “We’ll keep heading in this direction then.”
    “Hey, Dick, you got any idea what’s going on here?”
    “Not yet, Smitty, no.”
    “It’s hard to get a handle on this business. I mean, is it spooks or what?”
    Dick Benson kept moving ahead, flashlight probing at the fog-swirled ground. “This island may have more than one secret,” he said.
    “You mean because of them bootleggers who used to hang out here?”
    “There’s no evidence, from a quick check of the castle, that it was ever used to house the rumrunning operation,” said the Avenger as they moved slowly through the foggy night.
    “Meaning they had a secret hideout some place else?”
    “I think so. Perhaps something built underground . . . or tied in with the caves we saw along the shore,” he said.
    “You think Cole’s there? In some hidden setup?”
    “The odds favor that, since his body hasn’t turned up in the Pacific as yet.”
    “Huh? How do you know that?”
    “I used O’Malley’s radiophone hookup with the shore to check with the Coast Guard this afternoon,” answered the Avenger.
    “You thought Cole was dead and floating in the drink?”
    “I was hoping he wasn’t, Smitty, but it had to be investigated.”
    “Glad you didn’t say anything in front of Nellie,” said the giant. “So at least we know he didn’t drown.”
    “It’s less likely that he did,” said the Avenger. “We still can’t be absolutely sure, since not all people who drown show up again. And sometimes a body stays in the water several weeks before it turns up.”
    “Brr.” Smitty hunched his big shoulders. “Well, anyhow, the odds are he ain’t floating with the fishes?”
    “I’d say so, yes.”
    Smitty pondered for a few seconds. “Okay, so he’s maybe in some underground hidey-hole,” he said finally. “How’d he get there?”
    “It’s possible he simply had an accident,” said Benson. “He might have fallen into some abandoned facility.”
    “Yeah, but O’Malley’s