(#26) The Clue of the Leaning Chimney (8 page)

“This vase is a fake—an imitation!”
Mr. Sen-yung exclaimed

He showed her the barely perceptible but unmistakable signs that had betrayed the vase to him. Under the magnifying glass the colors showed no signs of having softened with the years, and there was a scent of newness about the porcelain. But most particularly the marks on the bottom stood out a trifle too clearly.

“It is a clever imitation,” Mr. Sen-yung admitted. “Extremely expert.”

Had this copy of Mr. Soong’s vase been made in China and smuggled into the United States by David Carr?

Mr. Sen-yung asked his partner for the complete story of the purchase. Mr. Tallow said he had bought the dragon vase and also the one sold to Mr. Townsend from David Carr. The man had introduced himself as a sales representative of the West Coast Trading Company and shown credentials to prove his identity.

Knowing the fine reputation of the firm, Mr. Tallow had assumed the vases to be authentic. Now it seemed possible that the Townsend vase also was a fake.

“We must get the Townsend vase back at once,” Mr. Sen-yung said. “If it, too, is a reproduction, we’ll refund the money.”

“It has been stolen,” Nancy informed him. “That’s really what brought me to New York.” Then she asked Mr. Tallow, “What does David Carr look like?”

“He is medium height,” the man replied, “with black hair and dark skin.”

“Did you notice his eyes and his shoes?”

“Not his shoes,” Mr. Tallow replied slowly. “But his dark eyes had a peculiar piercing stare.”

“John Manning!” Nancy cried.

The two partners, Miss Eloise Drew, and the detective looked at Nancy in bewilderment. She quickly told them about the vase thief.

“Don’t you see?” she finished. “Manning and Carr are probably the same man!”

“And he’s the one who held up the deliveryman!” Mr. Tallow exclaimed. “I just remembered that Carr was here when I gave instructions as to when and where the jar was to be delivered.”

“Did Carr say where he’s staying?” Nancy asked.

“No, but I think I know where he may be,” Mr. Tallow replied. “He dropped a piece of paper from his pocket. It was a letterhead from the Hotel Royalton.”

Asking permission to use the office telephone, Nancy dialed the hotel. David Carr, she was told, was registered.

“If we hurry, we may catch him!”

The detective, who had been listening to Nancy’s theories with great admiration, led Nancy, her aunt and Mr. Tallow to a police car in front of the store. Seconds later, they sped up Madison Avenue.

Side by side, Nancy and the detective hurried into the hotel lobby and went up to the desk. The man showed his badge and asked for the number of David Carr’s room.

The clerk looked surprised. “Mr. Carr? He just checked out.”

“But I phoned only a few minutes ago,” Nancy protested. “He was registered then.”

“I’m sorry,” the clerk told her. “He checked out right after you called.”

“Did he leave any forwarding address?” she asked hopefully.

The clerk shook his head.

“Mind if we search his room?” the detective asked.

“Go ahead,” the clerk replied. He took a key from the rack and gave it to the plainclothesman. “Room 414.”

While Mr. Tallow waited in the lobby, to watch in case the thief should reappear, Nancy, her aunt and the detective proceeded to the room Carr had occupied.

The door was ajar. Inside, a maid was cleaning the room. The detective asked to see any scraps of paper she had picked up. The maid showed them to him. He and Nancy pored over the pieces, looking for a possible clue to Carr’s whereabouts. But neither the maid’s trash bag nor the room itself disclosed the slightest clue.

The detective grunted in disgust. “No use staying here. There isn’t a ghost of a clue to where Carr went.”

The maid stopped dusting and looked at them. “You mean the gentleman who was occupyin’ this room?” she asked.

“Yes,” Nancy said hopefully. “Can you tell us anything about him?”

“Well, I can tell you what I overheard,” the woman replied. “Just as I came into the room to clean he was talkin’ on the phone. Before he hung up, he said somethin’ about meetin’ somebody at the Oregon restaurant.”

“Thanks!” cried Nancy.

She ran from the room, followed by her aunt and the detective. A few minutes later they joined Mr. Tallow in the lobby. Then all four taxied to the restaurant.

The Oregon was on a corner. Tingling with eagerness, Nancy almost dragged her aunt into the foyer of the narrow restaurant. The tables, she saw, were arranged along the two walls beyond a row of potted palms.

“Mr. Tallow, see if you can find Mr. Carr,” she whispered. “Look through the palms.”

Parting the fronds of one of the plants, he peered at the dining room. Not seeing the suspected thief, Mr. Tallow stepped into the entranceway for a better view.

“There he is!” he called excitedly.

There was a commotion at the rear of the room. Nancy saw a man spring from a chair and dash through the swinging door to the kitchen.

The detective ran in pursuit. Nancy, remembering the restaurant was situated on a corner, darted back toward the front entrance. If Carr should escape through a side door, she reasoned, he would come out around the corner.

Nancy’s deduction was right. As she rounded the side of the building, Carr streaked from the restaurant’s side entrance. Nancy was on his heels before the detective emerged.

The elusive Carr slipped in and out of the crowd. Pedestrians stared as Nancy raced after him.

At the corner she saw Carr dash into a subway entrance. He leaped down the steps three at a time, Nancy after him. Token in hand, he went through the turnstile like a streak of lightning.

Nancy had to pause a moment to buy a token. A train stood in the station. Carr ran forward alongside, slipping quickly into one of the forward cars.

The doors of the train were closing. Nancy leaped inside the nearest car just before the big door snapped shut. With a lurch, the crowded train started.

CHAPTER X

New Developments

NANCY was wedged tightly between the passengers as the train, with a roar, picked up speed. Reaching for a strap, she caught her breath and quickly planned her next move. She
must
push through the crowded train and find Carr!

Nancy gripped her handbag firmly and started to ease herself among the passengers. She excused herself frequently as she jostled men and women. Finally she reached the car into which the suspect had fled. Suddenly it dawned on her that she could not hold him alone. She must have help!

“I’ll ask the conductor,” Nancy decided, and stood on tiptoe to see if one were in sight.

As she craned her neck, she saw David Carr slouched in a seat near the far door. Near him stood the conductor. Excitedly Nancy moved forward once more.

At that moment the train started to slow for the next stop. In desperation, Nancy forged ahead. Suddenly, with a pitch that threw everybody off balance, the train jerked to an abrupt halt. The doors whipped open. Carr stepped out with the pressing crowd.

“Stop that man!” shouted Nancy. “The dark-haired one with the red tie!”

People around gaped, but no one went after him. Before Nancy herself could get to Carr, he had fled into the sea of humanity milling toward the exit.

When Nancy reached the top of the stairs, David Carr was out of sight. She searched in vain; then, disappointed, hailed a taxi to return to the Oregon restaurant.

“Nancy!” cried Miss Drew as her niece arrived. “Thank goodness you’re safe. We feared Carr might have harmed you.”

Nancy told her aunt and Mr. Tallow about the chase. As she finished, the detective hurried up to them. He said he had fallen over a stool that Carr had tossed at him in the kitchen. By the time he had reached the street, Carr had disappeared. Then he had searched the immediate area to no avail.

All four drove to police headquarters, where the detective made out a report on Carr. At Nancy’s suggestion, they telephoned the West Coast Trading Company in San Francisco. As she had suspected, Carr had not been working for them recently.

“Your niece certainly has a good ead on her shoulders,” the police captain said to Miss Eloise Drew as she and Nancy left.

“They say I’m very much like my aunt,” Nancy said with a smile. “But I’m sorry we didn’t catch David Carr.”

Reaching the sidewalk, the Drews took a taxi to the former teacher’s apartment.

Next morning Nancy suggested to her aunt that they tour Chinatown. Recalling that the stolen vases discovered in Masonville had been wrapped in Chinese newspapers, Nancy wanted to go to the office of the
China Daily Times
and make some inquiries.

When the two reached Mott Street, they located the newspaper office and went inside. Nancy asked a pleasant man the names of subscribers in Masonville and River Heights. He willingly told her, but neither John Manning nor David Carr was among them.

“Nothing came of that hunch,” Nancy told her aunt as they headed for a fine Chinese restaurant.

As they finished a delicious seven-course meal, Aunt Eloise gave her niece a worried look. “Wouldn’t it be wise to give up the case and stay out of Carr’s way, dear?” she suggested.

Nancy patted her aunt’s hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry about me, Aunt Eloise. I promise to be doubly careful. Anyway, I’m going home tomorrow and maybe he’ll stay here.”

Actually the young detective felt that if Carr and Manning were the same person, there was a good possibility he was already on his way back to the River Heights area. She would have to watch her step!

“You’re going home?” her aunt repeated. “Oh, Nancy, I thought—”

“Sorry, darling,” her niece said. “A friend of Ned’s is being married. Ned’s to be an usher. I promised to drive up to Emerson and get him day after tomorrow.”

“I hate to have you leave,” her aunt said wistfully. “But I bow to the younger generation! Now let’s do some sightseeing.”

The following day, on arriving home, she was welcomed by a smiling Hannah Gruen and a barking, tail-wagging Togo.

Ned telephoned just as Nancy started to unpack. Nancy plunged into a brief description of her activities.

“Wow!” he exclaimed when she finished. “You sound like a one-woman police force! Anyway, I’m glad you’re back. I’d begun to think you’d forgotten about me.”

“Not a chance!” she assured the youth. “I’ll be at Emerson tomorrow by twelve o’clock.”

“Okay.”

Later, Nancy called Mr. Soong. The Chinese gentleman was shocked to hear that an imitation of his rare Ming vase had been sold to the Sen-yung Oriental Gift Shop. He congratulated Nancy on her brave attempt to capture Carr and expressed the hope that the man would be apprehended soon.

The next day when Nancy arrived at Ned’s fraternity house she was immediately surrounded by the various members. Having attended many parties there, she was well known and well liked.

“Ned’s not here,” one teased. “Prof kept him after class. How about lunch with me?”

“Say, you big so-and-so,” called a youth, clattering down the stairs. “Lay off!”

Ned appeared, grinning, turned Nancy around and marched her back to the car. They had lunch at an attractive inn, then started for Ned’s home, a few miles out of River Heights. On the way, Nancy gave Ned all the details of her search for a China clay pit near the leaning chimney. While they were going through Masonville, she suddenly asked Ned to stop.

“What’s up?” Ned asked.

They were in front of the courthouse.

“I’ve been wanting to find out who owns that fenced-in property in the woods,” Nancy replied. “Let’s go in to ask the Registrar of Deeds.”

Ned followed her up the steps and into the registrar’s office. The clerk handed them a map and ledger. Together they flipped the pages until they came to the entry Nancy was seeking.

The records showed that a tract of land comprising some two hundred and fifty acres, including the abandoned Civil War mine, had been purchased by Miles Monroe of Philadelphia five years ago.

“Miles Monroe!” Nancy exclaimed in surprise. “That’s where he said he came from!”

“Who’s he?” Ned inquired.

“A geologist I went to see about the China clay pit. Now I know why Mr. Monroe asked me to let him know if I located it.”

“Sounds phony to me,” Ned declared. “Want to stop and see him?”

“If you have time.”

“I’m not due at the bachelor dinner until seven-thirty. So let’s go. I’d like to see this Mr. Monroe and ask him what he means by trying to put one over on the world’s prettiest detective.”

“Ned, stop it!” Nancy commanded.

They left the courthouse and drove to Miles Monroe’s apartment in River Heights. As before, an eye stared through the peephole in answer to Nancy’s ring. When the professor recognized Nancy, the door flew open.

“Glad you called,” he said. “I have something to show you. But first, tell me why you came.”

Nancy introduced Ned, then quickly got to the problem on her mind. “We’ve found out your secret, Professor Monroe!”

“My secret?” he asked, perplexed.

“It’s you who owns the old iron mine!”

“Me?” exclaimed the geologist. Then he burst out laughing. “I never owned a piece of land in my life!”

“The property is listed as being owned by Miles Monroe of Philadelphia,” Nancy told him. “Who could this Miles Monroe be?”

The professor shook his head. “Search me!” he snorted. “To the best of my knowledge I was the only Miles Monroe in Philadelphia.”

Nancy felt sure the man was telling the truth. Since he could tell her nothing more, she put the puzzling question aside for the moment.

“You said you had something to show me,” she reminded him.

The geologist uncrossed his long, bony legs and limped over to the bookcase. He took out a thick volume that looked to be very old. Carefully he turned the pages to a place he had marked.

“After you told me you were searching for a China clay deposit,” the professor said, “I came across a reference in this old book on geology.”

With Ned looking on, Nancy read the paragraph the geologist had marked. It told of a fine white clay that had been found one mile southeast of a “crook in Huntsman’s River” during the days of the early settlers.