The Secret in the Old Lace

  “Oh, dear,” Nancy said. “Who was he?”

  “I don’t know. Fortunately, though, Mr. Miller appeared. The receptionist told him I was delivering the second copy of your story because the first entry had been lost en route.”

  Nancy fastened on every word. “What did the other man do? she asked.

  “Well, Mr. Miller turned to him and said, ‘You’re not connected with this contest, are you, Mr. Rocke?’ Rocke said he wasn’t, and that he had merely offered to take the package to the proper person. To tell the truth, Nancy, he gave me an uneasy feeling. I insisted that Mr. Miller look after your entry personally. ”

  “Thank you so much, Aunt Eloise,” Nancy said gratefully. “You’re a real lifesaver. ”

  After hanging up, Nancy related the conversation to Hannah Gruen, then called her father at his office. He was as puzzled as Nancy. “I can’t imagine why there is so much interest in your manuscript,” Mr. Drew commented. “It’s only a magazine contest.”

  “That’s what I thought, Dad,” Nancy said.

  Deciding to put her aunt’s strange encounter out of her mind, Nancy headed downtown to do some shopping for her trip. On the way, though, she suddenly remembered that she had not heard from Chief McGinnis and stopped at police headquarters.

  “I should’ve called you yesterday,” the chief apologized, “but I got bogged down on a couple of things. Those prints do belong to Matey Johnson, so it looks as if he stole that letter from you. Even so, you might have a hard time proving it. I’m waiting for him to report to his parole officer. ”

  “He probably won’t,” Nancy said and told about her trip to the apartment house where he no longer lived. “I should’ve mentioned this as soon as I found out. But I’ve been worried about sending my manuscript to the magazine and now I’m leaving for Europe.”

  “Well, have a wonderful trip—”

  “It should be a mysterious one,” Nancy interrupted, reminding Chief McGinnis about Madame Chambray’s story of the antique cross and its missing owner.

  After leaving police headquarters, she made a few purchases, including a pretty blue sweater-coat that matched the color of her eyes, then returned home. To her delight, Hannah said Ned Nickerson had called. He and Nancy were special friends; neither of them ever dated anyone else. For a moment a picture of the tall, good-looking athlete from Emerson College swept pleasantly across her mind.

  “Nancy,” Mrs. Gruen said, interrupting the girl’s daydream, “poor Ned has laryngitis. He could hardly talk but he wanted to know how you were and what you were doing. When I told him you were flying to Belgium with Bess and George to solve a mystery, he sounded very downhearted and said he wished he could go along.”

  “I wish he could too,” said Nancy, “but he has a summer job I know he can’t leave.”

  Eager to speak to him herself, Nancy dialed his number. To her amazement Ned’s voice was clear as a bell. He said he certainly had not phoned her!

  Fear suddenly rippled through her as she revealed her travel plans. “Then Hannah told a stranger about Bess, George, and me definitely going to Belgium in connection with a mystery.”

  “That’s bad,” Ned remarked. “I’m sorry I won’t be able to come along to protect you, but I just can’t get away right now. I’ll see you before you go, won’t I? »

  “I don’t know,” Nancy said. “We’re leaving as soon as we get our reservations.” She admitted she was glad Hannah had not been aware of the details of her flight. “So your impersonator didn’t find out anything definite about our departure.”

  Ned agreed. “But when you find out what flight you’re taking, please tell me. Promise?”

  “Promise.” Nancy blushed.

  With so many chores to finish before leaving, the rest of the day flew by. At bedtime she crawled between the covers, checking off in her mind all that was left to do. Then, yawning deeply, she fell asleep.

  A strange clipping sound awakened her a few hours later. She listened intently. The noise stopped. Was she dreaming? Nancy closed her eyes again, telling herself to ignore the interruption. Then clip, clip, clip.

  What is that sound? she wondered, lifting her head off the pillow. She squinted at the open window across the room where a shadowy face was outlined in the moonlight.

  A man was cutting the screen with a large pair of shears!

  5

  Midnight Intruder

  Nancy’s heart pounded as she watched the blades sink through the screen wire. Desperately she wondered what to do. If she slammed the window down and locked it, the intruder could not enter her room.

  But then he’d escape for sure, Nancy decided, and come back another time when I wasn’t here to catch him!

  Quietly she got out of bed and tiptoed to her father’s room.

  “Dad!” she whispered hoarsely. “Dad! Wake up! Someone’s trying to break into my room!”

  Mr. Drew stirred uneasily, mumbling in reply.

  “Dad!” Nancy repeated nervously as he blinked his eyes open. “A burglar is breaking into the house!”

  “Where is he?” her father asked. Now fully awake, he followed Nancy back to her room.

  There, staring at the girl’s empty bed, stood the intruder! Instantly, Mr. Drew pounced on the man, throwing him to the floor. He pinned his arms back to prevent him from pulling out a weapon.

  “Let me go!” the stranger bellowed. He tried to wriggle out from under his captor. But Mr. Drew sat squarely on his chest!

  “Call the police, Nancy!” her father said, glaring at his prisoner.

  The girl detective was already dialing headquarters. She told the sergeant on duty what had happened. “Please hurry over here,” she said, ending the conversation. Then she turned to her father. “They’re sending two policemen right away.”

  Once more the captive struggled for release. He pushed his knees up and dug his feet into the plush carpet, trying to get a strong foothold.

  “No, you don’t,” Nancy informed him, forcing his knees down and sitting on them.

  “Ou-ouch!” he cried out furiously. “Get off me. You’re breaking my bones!”

  The rumpus in the room carried into the adjacent one where Hannah Gruen slept. She awoke and rushed to the scene. Flipping on the overhead light, she gasped. “Oh, my goodness! Who is he?”

  “You’re Matey Johnson, aren’t you?” Nancy responded as she leaned back and noticed the man’s reddish-blond hair.

  All color drained from his face. His mouth quivered open but shut quickly.

  “Well, when the police get here—” Nancy began as the front doorbell rang.

  Hannah hurried downstairs. Shortly two officers appeared in the girl’s room and immediately handcuffed the prisoner. After advising him of his legal rights, one of the policemen said, “Haven’t I seen you around the station?”

  The captive tightened his lips angrily.

  “This is Matey Johnson.” Nancy identified him. “He’s been out on parole.”

  “How do you know th—” the intruder began, then caught himself.

  “Why were you trying to break into our house?” Nancy questioned. “You already stole Mrs. Marvin’s letter. Were you coming back for my manuscript?”

  Matey refused to answer.

  “And I suppose,” the girl detective went on, “that paint ladder came in handy again, didn’t it?”

  She pulled a flashlight from her desk drawer and shone it out the damaged window. Sure enough, the ladder was leaning against the house!

  “Too bad we didn’t think of putting it in the garage,” the girl said to her father.

  “You’re right,” Mr. Drew admitted. “We made it easy for Johnson to break in a second time. Only this time he didn’t get away with it!”

  Johnson glowered as the officers led him out of the house. Hannah Gruen locked the door behind them and yawned. “What a night!” she said.

  Nancy nodded. “You know, I’m hungry all of a sudden. Would anyone else like a snack?”

&n
bsp; Mr. Drew laughed, following Hannah and his daughter into the kitchen. “I guess I lost a few calories sitting on that character! How about another dish of your rice pudding, Hannah?”

  “Coming right up,” she said. “I think we all need to eat a little something to settle our nerves.” She dished out the rice pudding while Nancy made cups of steaming hot chocolate topped with whipped cream.

  “It’s too bad you didn’t get your letter back from Mr. Johnson,” the attorney said to his daughter.

  She shrugged, spooning a bit of the cream into her mouth. “I’m just glad we caught him,” she said. “The only thing that bothers me is he may have shown the letter to someone else—like André Bergère. ”

  The next morning Nancy told Bess and George all about the midnight intruder and her father’s bravery.

  “It sounds to me you were pretty courageous yourself,” Bess complimented her friend. “I would have been totally paralyzed!”

  “Oh, that isn’t true,” Nancy remarked. “You’ve been in lots of scary situations with me and done okay. ”

  Bess giggled in embarrassment. “I’m hoping, though, there won’t be any in Belgium,” she said, leading Nancy to reveal Hannah Gruen’s phone conversation with Ned’s impersonator. “Oh, no!” Bess panicked. “Maybe we ought to give up the trip!”

  “No, indeed,” the girl detective replied, “but if you want to back out—”

  “Oh, I’ll go along,” Bess agreed reluctantly, “but I know I’ll be a wreck the whole time.”

  George’s reaction was quite different. The minute she heard Nancy’s story she said, “The sooner we leave the U.S.A. the better off we’ll all be!”

  “I hope you’re right,” Nancy commented, “but we might just run into trouble in Belgium.”

  “You mean we might run into Bergère,” George said, adding crisply, “Well, let’s talk about something more pleasant. Burt says he, Dave, and Ned want to come here tomorrow to say good-bye. Since we only have a short time left before our trip—”

  “Listen,” Nancy interrupted, “I want everybody to have dinner here, all right?”

  “Fabulous,” George replied.

  The girls contacted their Emerson friends at once. When the boys arrived the next evening, Dave suggested going to a local show followed by a dance to benefit a home for handicapped children.

  Dave, who had driven Burt and Ned to the Drew house, chided himself for not thinking ahead. “I am really stupid,” he said. “There are six of us, but my car can only take four.”

  “That’s okay,” Nancy said. “Ned and I can use my car. ”

  The three couples drove off in two cars, but Dave and Ned did not follow the same route. Bess, George, and their escorts arrived first. They waited in the lobby for Nancy and Ned.

  “I wonder where they are,” Burt remarked after a while, glancing impatiently at his watch. “We’ve been here almost fifteen minutes. Did Nancy say anything about stopping on the way?”

  “No,” George answered.

  She and the others watched the last trickle of audience take their seats. “It’s curtain time,” Dave commented. “Maybe we should go inside.”

  “What do you think, George?” Bess asked. “You know it’s not like Nancy to be late. I hope nothing has happened to them.”

  The sound of applause now drifted through the doors into the lobby which, except for the foursome, was empty. “Oh, I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” George said, leading the way into the darkened auditorium.

  On stage was a beautiful woman with long silky hair that hung over the shoulders of her white sequined gown. She began to sing softly, bringing a hush over the auditorium. Bess, however, could not concentrate on the performance, that featured several popular songs including a romantic ballad she loved. Bess bit her lips anxiously and turned her head now and then to look at the closed doors.

  “What’s the matter?” Dave whispered to his date, putting his hand comfortingly on hers.

  “I have a feeling something dreadful has happened to Nancy and Ned!” Bess answered in alarm.

  6

  Kid Attack

  Nancy and Ned had started to follow Dave’s car but soon realized another one was tailing theirs. Its headlights created a glare in Nancy’s rearview mirror which caused Ned, who was driving, to push the mirror back.

  “At the next side street,” Ned said, “I’ll turn right and switch off the headlights. If the car passes us, we can stop worrying.”

  Nancy stared out the back window trying to see who was in the vehicle, but could not discern anyone’s face. Ned pressed down on the accelerator and screeched around the corner, switching off his lights as he swung past a truck and swerved over to the curb in front of a parked car.

  “I think we lost them,” the young man said, pulling onto the road again.

  “We can get back to the main street by turning at the end of this one,” Nancy observed. But suddenly a roadblock of wooden sawhorses came into view. A sign attached to them read:

  BRIDGE OUT. ROAD CLOSED.

  WATER AHEAD. DANGER!

  “Sorry,” Nancy said to her friend. “I guess the old twenty-twenty vision is failing.”

  Ned chuckled lightly as he put the transmission into reverse to turn around. Just then the car that had been tailing them pulled up directly behind the couple!

  “Oh, no!” Nancy cried, as four teenage boys, all wearing jackets with sinister-looking spider patches on them, jumped out and swarmed around her car!

  They grinned maliciously at the couple. Nancy and Ned hastily locked their doors and started to roll up their windows. One of the boys, however, was too quick for Nancy. He reached into the car before the pane was all the way up, shoved her hand aside, and pulled open the door, dragging Nancy out.

  Ned, unable to prevent this, frantically pressed the horn, trying to attract the attention of anyone near enough to hear him. Just then, another boy pulled him away from behind the wheel and, with the help of one of his friends, lifted him out of the car.

  Ned struggled furiously and quickly regained his balance. He dived at the two boys, as another young punk swung at him from behind.

  “Ned, watch it!” Nancy cried. She stood next to the boy who had dragged her out of the car. Apparently convinced she was too scared to move, he left her unguarded and joined in the fray.

  Ned, hearing her warning, ducked and, gripping the legs of his attacker, pulled him to the ground.

  Nancy knew she would be unable to assist Ned in the fight. She turned and ran down the street as fast as she could!

  “Hey! Stop her!” one of the gang members shouted. The boy who had dragged Nancy from the car dashed after her. His long legs carried him closer and closer to the fleeing girl, when Nancy turned a corner. Her pursuer followed suit, but suddenly he cried out in pain! He had stepped into a pothole and fallen headlong onto the pavement.

  Nancy looked over her shoulder and realized that he was unable to get up. Relieved, she ran on, calling loudly for help.

  Ned, meanwhile, had been overpowered by the three young hoodlums who remained behind.

  Panting and exhausted, he stopped fighting. “What do you want?” he asked his attackers.

  “We’re going to take your car apart, wise guy!” one of the boys replied. He ran to the trunk of his own car and got out a box of tools. “Here,” he said to one of his companions, “you disconnect the radio. I’ll get the hubcaps.”

  The third boy, who was the smallest and looked about fifteen years old, stood guard over Ned.

  While his friends were busily working on Nancy’s car, he released his grip on the athlete somewhat. Ned, perfectly still, tried to regain his strength. Suddenly he twisted his body and grabbed the boy, lifting him up and dragging him toward the road barrier.

  “Let me go!” the boy screeched, trying to get away from Ned.

  The captive thrashed his legs, allowing his body to fall like dead weight toward the ground. But Ned tightened his grip on the boy’s arms and, ki
cking over one of the wooden horses, he dragged him to the dark, swirling water.

  “Tell your friends to quit or I’ll dump you in the river!” he panted.

  By now the boy’s companions had come after Ned and his captive, ready to pounce on the young athlete again, when they heard police sirens in the distance.

  “The cops!” one of the young punks yelled. “Let’s get out of here!”

  The two ran up the street, too scared to come to their friend’s help.

  “Just who are all of you?” Ned asked his captive.

  “Friends!” the boy hissed, squirming and trying to kick Ned in the shins.

  Ned sank his fingers into the boy’s arm.

  He bellowed in pain, but did not answer when Ned repeated the question.

  “As soon as the police get here,” Ned said, “I’m going to tell them you were responsible for this whole mess.”

  “But that’s not true. Sammy Johnson made us do it,” the boy blurted out.

  “Who’s he?”

  After a slight hesitation, the answer came. “He’s Matey Johnson’s brother!”

  By now, a patrol car flashing blue and red lights had pulled to a halt behind the two cars. Two officers and Nancy emerged. She rushed to Ned’s side.

  “Are you okay?” she inquired, noticing a slight bruise along his cheekbone.

  Ned grinned. “I feel as though I just scored a touchdown—”

  “I hate you,” his captive snapped at Nancy.

  She stared at him in surprise. “I don’t even know you! What did I ever do to you?”

  Before he could answer, the police officers interrupted. “Come on, we’re taking you down to headquarters,” one of the men said.

  Immediately Ned related what the boy had told him. “I guess the kids were trying to get even with Nancy for catching Matey Johnson,” he concluded.

  “Incredible,” the girl detective said. “Was Sammy one of the gang members?”

  The boy, who was now handcuffed, glared. “Well, you won’t catch him!”