“Hm,” said Bess. “To me that makes no sense at all. If that’s a code, how are you ever going to break it?”
“Yes, how?” George challenged her.
Nancy replied, “I don’t know, but I’m not giving up. We must solve this! It’s too good a clue not to follow!”
11
An Odd Invention
“I think the 8 and the X are the solution to the puzzle,” Nancy said. “The 8 could stand for the eighth letter of the alphabet, namely H for Howie. But ‘by X’?”
“The twenty-fourth letter of the alphabet,” George said. “Or perhaps it signifies the twenty-fourth day of the month.”
“Or it could mean a signature,” Bess volunteered. “People who cannot write sign their name by making an X.”
George sighed. “It’s hard to be a detective. You have to be clairvoyant!”
Nancy laughed. “There are more possibilities.”
“Oh, no!” Bess shook her head in desperation.
“Perhaps the message was not meant for a confederate of the kidnappers at all, but for us!” Nancy suggested.
“I don’t understand.”
“Maybe the crooks want to lure us to a certain spot on a certain day where they can set up a trap!”
“Oh, don’t say such a thing,” Bess begged. “You make chills go up and down my spine.”
“Calm down, my dear cousin,” George said with a chuckle. “I’m sure if our enemies want to trap us they would have left more specific directions!”
Nancy asked Senora Mendez if any of the girls’ guesses gave her a clue to the solution of the puzzle.
The woman shook her head. “Nothing occurs to me,” she replied. “Do you think it could refer to something in Los Angeles?”
“We’ll try to find out when we get there,” Nancy replied.
After making an exact copy of the ransom note, the girls said good-by to their Mexican friend and left. On the way back to the hotel they stopped at a car rental agency. Nancy told the owner where the girls wanted to go.
He smiled and said, “My partner flew to New York last week and now has to go to Los Angeles for a month or so. He wants someone to bring his car to him. We’ll be glad to give it to you as a rental and you can leave it in Los Angeles. Usually we require our cars to be returned to this country.”
“Great!” Nancy said. “I suppose we came just at the right time.”
The manager nodded. “The car will be ready for you to pick up by seven o’clock tomorrow morning.”
The girls were happy with the arrangement and left the agency.
“We’ll have some free time this afternoon,” Bess said. “Why don’t we go back to Senora Clara’s dress shop and see if we can find another Mexican outfit?”
George smiled. “I haven’t any money to spend, but I wouldn’t mind looking.”
When the girls arrived at Senora Clara’s, no customers were in the shop. The friendly woman greeted them with a smile. “Hello again. Look around all you wish,” she said. “I’ll be busy for a while because a man is coming to offer me some wonderful new stock.”
“What kind of stock?” Nancy asked, intrigued at once.
“In a company that has developed a fabulous fabric,” Senora Clara explained. “It sounded very interesting.”
To Nancy it sounded like a scheme the con men would invent, and she was suspicious at once. “Did you by any chance see a performance of the Hoaxters when they were in town?” she asked the dress shop owner.
“Yes, indeed,” Senora Clara replied. “Weren’t they fantastic?”
“They were,” Nancy admitted. “Did you go up on stage?”
“Yes.”
“I must tell you something we found out regarding the group that might concern you.” Nancy explained the girls’ suspicions and the various things that had happened to people who had attended the show.
Señora Clara was alarmed. “You mean the man who is coming here might try to swindle me?”
“It’s quite possible,” Nancy replied.
“But what shall I do? I have already made the appointment.”
“Don’t buy anything,” George advised.
Señora Clara agreed. “Perhaps you would like to stay with me and see if you recognize the caller.”
“We’d be glad to,” Nancy said. “If he’s Howie Barker, he would recognize us, so may we hide somewhere? Perhaps in a spot where we can get a good look at him?”
“Of course. One of the dressing rooms has a perfect view of my desk,” Señora Clara declared. “And since I have no private office, this is where I’ll sit when I talk to the man.”
“Good idea,” Nancy said and the girls crowded into the small cubicle. Its louvered door had slats through which the young detectives could look.
“This will be perfect,” Nancy said.
Señora Clara smiled. “Just don’t sneeze!”
Bess giggled. “We’ll do our best not to.”
A few minutes later two men entered the shop. They were well-dressed, good-looking, and very polite. When the taller one came closer and addressed Senora Clara, the girls stiffened. He was Barker, the man who had tried to swindle Bess!
“My name is Barker,” he said. “I spoke to you on the telephone a little while ago. This is my colleague, Mr. Cadwell. We would like to tell you about a new firm that has developed a most fantastic fabric.”
“Please be seated,” Senora Clara said and pointed to two chairs next to her desk.
Mr. Cadwell pulled a brochure out of his briefcase and handed it to Senora Clara. It showed a little girl wearing the same attire in different settings. One picture depicted spring, with the child sitting in a field of crocuses; the next one summer, where she was perched at the side of a pool. In the third picture the girl was climbing a tree with bright yellow and reddish leaves, and the fourth showed her seated on a sled surrounded by snow.
“You see,” Mr. Cadwell said, “this material can be worn at any time of year. It has a natural, built-in thermostat which adjusts itself to the wearer’s body temperature. It works for everyone in all climates!”
“That’s amazing!” Senora Clara said. “You mean this fabric can be worn comfortably 365 days a year in all climates?”
“That is correct.”
“Do you have a sample with you?”
“Certainly.”
The man produced several pieces of cloth from his briefcase. They were of different colors and textures, but each felt like a lightweight wool.
Señora Clara examined the samples but said nothing.
“This fabulous new invention,” Mr. Cadwell went on, “is called Silk-O-Sheen. It is not mass-produced yet, but the inventor is setting up his first plant. We offer stock in this venture to people in the clothing business for a mere ten dollars a share. Now, how much can I sign you up for, Senora Clara?”
Nancy, who had observed the scene closely from the girls’ hiding place, bit her lips. Would Senora Clara fall for the swindle?
But the businesswoman had a ready answer. “I’d like to think about it first,” she said. “Besides, I have to consult my accountant to see if I have any extra cash to invest.”
“Surely you have money in your cash register right now?” Mr. Barker urged. “You can give us a down payment of 20 percent and pay for the rest later.”
“I never make hasty decisions,” Señora Clara said coolly. “If you will leave me your card, I’ll be glad to let you know in a day or two.”
The men, who had been extremely affable until now, stopped smiling. Cadwell put the samples and the brochure back into his briefcase and snapped it shut angrily.
The visitors got up and bowed curtly. “You are making a big mistake!” Mr. Cadwell said. “And I’m telling you ...”
Just then his companion glanced at a nearby chair. On it lay a small cloth wallet with the name Bess embroidered on it. “Who else is here?” he asked.
Señora Clara did not answer but she got up to retrieve the wallet. Bess Marvin’s heart began to po
und. It was hers!
Barker hurried to the chair and picked up the wallet. Señora Clara plunged toward him, crying out, “Leave that alone! Give it to me!”
Quick as a flash Howie Barker opened the wallet and read Bess’s full name on her driver’s license. The next second the store owner grabbed the wallet, while the man dashed to the louvered door and yanked it open.
“So!” he cried out angrily. “You girls deliberately spied on us! You’ll be sorry for this!”
With that, he and Mr. Cadwell sped furiously out of the shop.
12
Smugglers
George and Nancy ran after the men but soon stopped. Barker and Cadwell had jumped into a chauffered car and were out of sight in the heavy traffic a few seconds later.
“I couldn’t see the license plate,” Nancy said in disappointment.
As she and George returned to the shop, Bess asked worriedly, “What did Barker mean by that threat?”
“I don’t know,” Nancy replied, “but he’ll think up something to harass us.”
Senora Clara looked at the girls, puzzled. Then she said, “You’d better watch your step. I think those men could be very mean, even dangerous!”
“I think so, too,” Bess said, sighing. Then she added, “Now that we’ve averted a disaster, I’d like to look at dresses.”
Nancy laughed. “Go ahead. ”I’ll phone the police, meanwhile, and tell them what happened.”
“Please do,” Senora Clara said. “You can sit at my desk. And you know, Cadwell did not leave me a business card. That makes it even more obvious to me that they are swindlers.”
Nancy reported the incident to the authorities while Bess bought a lovely summer dress. Then they said good-by to Senora Clara, who wished them luck.
Early the next morning Nancy went to the car rental garage to pick up the automobile for the girls’ trip. As she entered the large parking area, she glimpsed a man hurrying out a side door.
“He looked like Howie Barker!” she thought and started to run after him.
Suddenly she stopped short, telling herself it was a good thing the man had not seen her. Otherwise he would guess that the girls were leaving Mexico City!
“If I caught him, I’d have no evidence anyway,” she decided and went to her rented automobile.
When Nancy arrived at the hotel, the girls packed their belongings in the trunk of the car, then rode off. Because of their early start, they had not had breakfast. An hour later Bess declared that she could not go much longer without food.
“We’re far away from the city already,” she said. “I wonder where we could find something to eat.”
George asked, “Would you like some Mexican food?”
Bess confessed that at this point she was starved and would eat any kind of food.
“How about an enchilada sundae?” George teased.
“With hot fudge and whipped cream? Yick!” Bess frowned.
George winked at Nancy. “I saw a sign with an arrow back at the last side road. I couldn’t read it, but the sign had pictures of tortillas and enchiladas on it.”
Nancy turned the car around immediately, then took the side road. About a mile ahead they came to an Indian settlement. Women were seated on the ground cooking over low stone fireplaces. When the girls stopped, the natives looked up and smiled. Several children ran to the Americans, followed by barking dogs. Nancy and her friends jumped out of the car and approached the women.
Bess asked, “Do you serve breakfast?”
The woman closest to her glanced at the others in her group. They all shrugged.
George said, “I guess they don’t speak English.”
Nancy tried the same question in Spanish, but the only word the women seemed to understand was comer, which meant “to eat.” They bobbed their heads.
One of the women pointed to the food being prepared. There were different varieties of tortillas and enchiladas, eggs scrambled with hot peppers, strong cocoa, ripe pineapples, and small bananas.
“Why do they have to put hot peppers with the eggs?” Bess complained.
Nancy replied, “In Mexico peppers are used as a health food. One time, when there was a great polio epidemic all over the United States, doctors found that there was not a single case of the disease in Mexico. Upon inquiry they learned that this was due to the daily use of peppers in the native diet.”
Bess said she would like to fix her own scrambled eggs. “Nancy, ask the lady if I may,” she urged.
Although Nancy felt sure the women would not understand, she complied with Bess’s request.
The Indians held a conference, then suddenly a young, pretty girl chattered something excitedly. She raced off, but soon returned holding a live hen that squawked and tried to wiggle out of the girl’s arms. She held onto it tightly and talked in her Indian dialect. To the amazement of the Americans, the hen laid an egg in the girl’s palm!
Nancy and her friends laughed. Apparently the Indians had thought that Bess wanted a newly laid egg!
The girl handed it to Bess, who picked up an empty pan. She took some cooking fat from a crock and melted it. Then she broke the egg on the edge of the pan and quickly scrambled it with a wooden spoon. The natives smiled and shrugged.
Nancy and George decided to brave the already prepared scrambled eggs seasoned with hot peppers. Unlike Nancy, who laid the peppers aside, George bit into one. Her eyes bulged as the spicy vegetable stung her mouth. She swallowed it quickly and gulped down a piece of cooling pineapple.
“When it comes to food,” Bess smirked, “I guess I am the only sensible one—besides Nancy, of course!”
George grimaced, then broke into a mischievous smile. “I guess I deserve that for teasing you so much about your forty-inch waist!”
“My waist isn’t forty inches!” Bess declared, causing George to giggle.
“You two!” Nancy remarked, shaking her head.
After paying for the meal, the girls drove off. They joked for several miles.
George continued to tease Bess. “Alongside those really stout Indian women you looked pretty good.”
Nancy remarked that the younger ones were very attractive. “I guess the older people have wrinkled skin and squinting eyes from the harsh sunlight.”
The girls took turns driving and went as far as they could each day. They stopped at motels only when they were too tired to go on. It was an exhausting and uneventful trip. Bess regretted many times that she had suggested they take a car instead of waiting for the air strike to end.
After lunch on the fourth day the young travelers reached the border. Here they were stopped by a customs official in a snappy-looking uniform.
“We have nothing to declare,” Nancy told him.
He requested to see driver’s license and looked at it closely. “Nancy Drew!” he asked. “You mean you are not going to declare certain property you are concealing.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’ll tell you. Hidden in your car is a valuable jade figurine that you stole from a museum in Mexico City!”
“What!” all three girls exclaimed, stunned.
“You must have us confused with someone else,” Nancy declared. “We are not thieves and you will find nothing in this car except our personal belongings.”
The official paid no attention to her remark. Instead, he asked for the key and opened the trunk. He pushed aside the girls’ baggage and looked in back of the spare tire. Presently he pulled out a box that the young detectives had never seen before. Inside lay an exquisite piece of jade carved in the form of a boat with a woman in it surrounded by water lilies.
“How beautiful!” Bess cried out. “Officer, we never saw this before.”
The man stared at her disdainfully. “You are all good actresses, but you have been caught. You are smugglers!”
Nancy firmly denied the charge. Disturbing thoughts raced through her mind. What would happen to her? Would she receive a heavy fine? Eve
n be sent to jail if she could not pay?
She looked at the man. “Where did you get the tip that we were carrying this jade piece?”
The officer refused to answer.
Bess was frightened. She stared into the distance and saw a handsome young man who was also apparently a customs officer. While Nancy continued to argue with the official, Bess smiled coquettishly.
He smiled back at the pretty girl. “Is there anything I can do for you? You’re much too cute to be in trouble.”
Bess blurted out her story and even let her eyes become moist. This was too much for the young man. He took her by the arm and led the tearful girl back to the group. Then he addressed the official who had searched the car.
“Why don’t we check with the police in Mexico City, Mr. Rivera? This young lady tells me Lieutenant Tara knows them and can confirm that they are amateur detectives working on a case. After all, the tip could have come from one of their enemies.”
The older man bobbed his head. “You watch the girls while I go inside and call. But don’t let them get away until I come back!”
He went into his office, and Bess thanked the young officer for his help. Soon Mr. Rivera returned. For the first time he smiled.
“All right, young ladies, I believe we can let you continue your journey. Lieutenant Tara told us he would vouch for you personally. And I will see to it that the jade piece is returned to the museum.”
“Thank you,” Bess said with a sigh of relief. “I could see all of us in jail for the next twenty years!”
After the girls had driven a distance into the United States, Nancy said to Bess, “Thanks for your help. That was clever of you to play on that handsome guy’s sympathy.”
George laughed. “It’s a good thing your friend Dave Evans wasn’t there. He’d have been green with jealousy!”
As dusk was settling, the girls reached Los Angeles. Since they had made no reservations, Nancy stopped at the first hotel they came to. George went inside to inquire about a room. When she returned to the car, her face had a worried look.
“What’s the matter?” Bess asked.