“Negative, negative, negative.”

“Then logically we can’t be sure that this bribe came from him,” Jupe said with a shrug. “All he offered you was a scholarship, which is perfectly legal.”

“So what’s our next step? Call the NCAA?” Bob asked.

“No, I think we should report the bribe to the president of Shoremont College on Monday,” Jupe said. “And then offer our investigative services to him. Cash payments to athletes aren’t illegal — but they’re unethical and completely against the NCAA rules. I’ll bet the Shoremont College president will want to get to the bottom of this fast.”

“Okay! Sounds like we’ve got a new case,” said Pete.

“Yeah,” Bob said. “There’s just one thing.”

“Don’t tell us,” Jupe said. “You can’t come with us on Monday, right?”

“Right. Winter break starts, remember?” Bob said. “No school for two weeks. So Sax expects me to show up at the talent agency every day. But you know I’m with you guys.”

“Only in spirit,” Jupe said with a sigh.

Monday morning Pete drove Jupe to Shoremont College, two miles outside of Rocky Beach. It was a small, pretty, tree-lined campus. Pete was dressed for the occasion, wearing his red and yellow Rocky Beach High athletic jacket. Pete thought it proved that he really was a high school basketball player. Jupe wore a Plato T-shirt with a picture of the famous philosopher on the front.

Pete parked the Ark outside the three-story modern red-brick administration building, and the two friends took an elevator up to the top floor.

“How may I help you?” asked the receptionist, a gray-haired woman with glasses stuck on top of her head.

“We’d like to see the president of the college,” Jupe said. “It’s a matter of extreme urgency.” Jupe could sound very adult when he wanted to.

The receptionist buzzed the college president on his intercom, then led Jupe and Pete into an office with tall glass windows covering two entire walls. A man was sitting on the corner of a polished walnut executive’s desk. He was in his thirties, young for a college president. He wore a shirt and tie, but instead of a suit jacket he had on a big comfortable cardigan sweater. “Hi,” he said, smiling broadly as he walked over to shake hands. “I’m Chuck Harper. What can I do for you guys?”

Jupe simply reached into his wallet and handed President Harper a business card.

“The Three Investigators?” President Harper said. “I only see two. Well, what are you — a rock band? I do just about everything around here, but I don’t hire the bands.”

Jupe cleared his throat. “President Harper, I’m Jupiter Jones. This is Pete Crenshaw. Bob Andrews, our other associate, is unavailable. We’re not rock musicians. We’re detectives.”

The college president looked puzzled until Jupe showed him the note and the money that had been left in Pete’s car. Then Harper’s face grew very solemn.

“I found it in my car right after Coach Duggan came up to me,” Pete explained.

“Oh, boy.” President Harper sighed and slumped down heavily on a large leather couch that faced one wall of windows. Looking out, he didn’t say anything for a moment. “You know, I sit up here and watch my campus and think I know everything that’s going on down there. But then something like this hits you right between the eyes.” Then he was back on his feet. “Now listen, you guys can’t just come up here and accuse my coach of bribing you. Prove it to me — prove it was Duggan.”

“We can’t,” Jupe said firmly. “And we didn’t say it was Coach Duggan. We’re much better detectives than that.”

“Well, it probably is Duggan,” said President Harper, sitting down again.

The remark surprised even Jupiter. After another pause President Harper went on.

“The truth is — and this can’t go out of this room — there was talk about Duggan using illegal tactics to keep talented players on his team at the last school where he coached. Nothing was ever proven, but that school’s reputation was ruined. I knew I was taking a chance with Duggan, but I believed he was innocent. He’s an excellent coach.”

President Harper looked out the window again. “There he goes,” he said, pointing to a figure in a purple jacket and purple sports cap. The man was walking one of the crisscrossed paths of the campus. “There goes Duggan.”

Jupe and Pete went to the window and watched.

“Still,” Harper went on, “he’s got the money for a scheme like this. He demanded a large discretionary budget all to himself. He could be paying the guys and I wouldn’t know. But I won’t stand for payoffs at Shoremont!”

Down below, Duggan disappeared from view.

“Okay,” the president said, “if The Three Investigators were going to investigate this bribe, how would you do it without being noticed?”

Jupiter didn’t have to think about that one even for a second. “We’d cover the situation from the inside and the outside. By that I mean, on the outside Pete would open a savings account and deposit the bribe money. And he would act interested if and when he’s contacted again.”

“And what about the inside?” asked Harper.

“Simple.” Jupe smiled excitedly before revealing his plan. “I’ll enroll at Shoremont and attend classes with the basketball players. That way I can get to know them and find out who’s taking money. It should work, because your winter term just started, and we’re on a two-week winter break at Rocky Beach — so I won’t miss any school. And I may even be able to tutor a few players.”

President Harper shook his head.“Too hard, Jupiter. To pull that off, you’d really have to do all levels of college work.”

Jupiter raised one eyebrow in reply. “President Harper,” said Pete. “There’s only one thing bigger than Jupe’s IQ — and that’s the national debt.”

President Harper smiled as he sat in the swivel recliner behind his desk. “It might work,” he said, thinking out loud. “I could get you the basketball players’ schedules so you could take the same courses.”

Jupiter nodded and President Harper picked up the phone. He spoke in a low voice to someone in the admissions office. “I’m sending down a young man named Jupiter Jones,” the president said. “Here’s what I want you to give him.”

A few minutes later it was all arranged.

“But no one can know about this,” President Harper said as he hung up. “And I won’t do anything unless you find absolute proof of Duggan’s guilt.”

“Of course,” Jupiter said.

Just then President Harper’s intercom buzzed. He picked up the telephone and listened to his receptionist. “Tell him I’ll be with him in one minute, Ginny. Thanks.”

President Harper hung up and rubbed his chin in thought. “John Hemingway Powers is outside,” he said. “He’s an alumnus of Shoremont, and he’s just endowed us with enough money to build a new gym and sports complex. If he finds out about what you guys are doing, if he even thought there was a sports scandal brewing here, we wouldn’t see a penny from him.”

“It won’t happen,” said Pete.

“I just want you guys to understand the situation. This is top secret,” said President Harper. He shook hands with them again. “If you need anything, call me. But don’t come to my office anymore — it might blow your cover. And better use my private back door to get out.”

Jupe and Pete slipped out the back door and down a stairway to the admissions office on the first floor.

“It’s like a dream come true,” Jupe said, beaming.

 “It’s a cool case, that’s for sure,” Pete said.

“Not the case,” Jupe said. “College!”