Nancy Clue Mysteries 3 - A Ghost in the Closet (16 page)

Nancy was a bit surprised when her dramatic announcement drew no reaction from her chums. "They must not believe me," the young sleuth realized.

"I'll prove it," she said aloud. "I found prints from United States government-issue shoes outside the house," she announced. "When I was working on The Case of the Sensible Shoes, I became somewhat of an expert in identifying different kinds of sturdy footwear," she explained modestly, "especially shoes worn by police officers, G-men and secret agents. While this snub-nosed, heavy-heeled, thick-soled shoe would lead some to think that it was an American law enforcement agent assigned to serve and protect us peeking through the Hardly window earlier today, I know better!"

Nancy pointed to a tiny moon-shaped impression on the heel of the print. "If you look closely, you'll see a telltale sign. See what it says? Made in America."

Still no one said anything.

"Don't you see?" Nancy queried them. "The owner of these shoes made one mistake. Instead of taking his shoes to a government-sanctioned repair shop, as any United States agent knows to do, he took them to the same kind of ordinary shoe shop John Q. Public frequents, the result being the shoemaker used heel plates bearing the proud words we see on so many of our fine goods, from precision engineered hi-fi stereos to the safe automobiles that give us Americans the freedom to travel our vast land in style. It could only be the work of the Russians, given their love of sensible shoes."

Nancy gave them a smug smile. Why, everyone had been stunned into silence by her keen detective work! That weekend seminar covering Special Agent Shoes had really paid off, she realized.

"We already know the Russians did it," Joe informed her. "Jackie found some fingerprints that matched those of a notorious Russian spy."

Nancy bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. "I must go wash this plaster dust from my hands," she gulped as she fled the room.

"But why would the Russians want your parents?" Cherry cried aloud. "Your father's not a secret agent!"

"There's only one answer to that question," Frank feared. "Father's working on another top-secret mission for the United States Government!"

"What a relief," Cherry exclaimed. "Then the Federal Bureau of Investigation is sure to find your parents in no time at all. I bet they've already been found and are on their way back here this very minute. I'll tell you what," she suggested cheerfully. "I'll tidy up while you boys call the Bureau headquarters."

"I'm afraid there's one problem with that plan," Frank informed her. "We can't call the FBI."

"Why not?" Cherry wanted to know. "Isn't it their job to lend a helping hand to citizens in times such as these? Surely the FBI will want to know if your father has been kidnapped, seeing as he's working for them."

"He's not working for the FBI, Cherry," Frank corrected her. After first extracting a pledge from his chums to never reveal what they were about to learn, Frank blurted out, "He's working for a government agency so secret that no one, not even the FBI, knows it exists, and even the people who work for it don't know what it's called! "

CHAPTER 23

Chili con Carne and
Baked Alaska

Frank and Joe exchanged an anxious glance. "We'll have to tell them everything," that glance said, "for if we're going to rescue

Mother and Father we'll need all the help we can get!"

"I'm going to show you something no one outside our nuclear family has ever seen," Frank told his chums. He reached deep into his trouser pocket and took out a small brass key. He crossed the room and unlocked the door to a shallow closet just large enough for a rack of trenchcoats. He pushed aside the clothes and disclosed an electronic panel with blinking red lights. He quickly punched a series of buttons, then stepped back as the wall slid open to reveal a dark, windowless room the size of a walkin wardrobe closet. A tinny-sounding beep-beep-beep emanated from somewhere in the room.

"Nancy has a little room like this off her bedroom," Cherry gasped in recognition. "It's lined with cedar and stuffed with evening gowns and sweaters, ski togs and angora sets, little hats and fancy gloves and the most adorable handbags."

Frank threw on a switch and soft overhead lights blinked on. As the little group walked into the secret room, Cherry gazed about in wonder. It was like Nancy's walk-in wardrobe closet, but it wasn't, for where Nancy had specially built narrow shelves for her hats and shoes, the Hardlys had a map of the world. And where Nancy had a built-in jewelry chest, the Hardlys had a giant ham radio with speakers and microphones and a complicated looking antennae. "Golly," Cherry breathed as she looked at the blinking mechanical contraptions and buzzing gizmos.

"This is the Hardly Family Command Center," Frank told them. "You're the first outsiders to know our secret. Why, even Father's government contact doesn't know this room exists."

"Terrible things could happen if certain people knew of the location of Father's command post. Why, they could plant listening devices in this room and learn all sorts of top-secret things!" Joe blurted out.

Cherry gasped.

"You see, Nurse," Frank cut in. "There's a war going ona war for the minds and hearts of free men everywhere. In the past, Father has helped the government uncover acts of treason and subversion lurking around every corner. But apparently that war has yet to be won."

Cherry shivered. Suddenly the room seemed icy cold. Jackie put her arm around the frightened nurse and held her tight. As Cherry snuggled close to the strong girl, she felt a warm surge racing through her body. It was a surge of pride: pride for the brave citizens engaged in the struggle for truth and justice so all Americans could enjoy the benefits of good schools, fresh air and lots of attractive outfits!

"I won't fail these brave soldiers," Cherry stiffened in determination. She made a vow to nurse as no one had ever nursed before!

"Hello?" they heard Nancy call from the den. "Where did everybody go?"

"We're in the closet," Cherry informed her. Nancy followed her voice, and when she stepped inside the room Cherry could tell, by the stunned look on her face, that she hadn't known of the existence of the Command Center either.

"You certainly kept this a secret all these years," Nancy exclaimed as she plopped down on a straightback wooden chair.

"It was to protect you, Nancy," Frank told her. "And it has to remain a secret," he added hastily.

Nancy laughed bitterly. "Don't worry," she said. "If anyone can keep a secret, I can." The room grew quiet. Nancy seemed unusually distracted and perturbed, Frank thought, although her hair did look nice brushed back like that, and she had shaken almost all of the plaster dust from her outfit.

"Where were we?" Jackie asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh, yes," Frank snapped to attention. "This is our Radar-O-Scope," he said, pointing to a black box, resembling a television set, with its many dials. "It's just like the ones used in submarines, only ours is smaller. Father carries a trans mitter in his pocket when he's out on a case so we can track him anywhere within a radius of one hundred miles. Plus, we have wristwatch tracking devices." Frank switched on the screen. After a few minutes of crackling and humming, it glowed an eerie greenish color.

"Father must not have the transmitter with him," Joe sighed. "Or else an orange blip would appear. Maybe he's called in to the reel-to-reel," he suggested helpfully.

"What's that?" Cherry asked.

"The reel-to-reel is a tape recording device hooked up to the Command Center telephone. A special motor attached to the telephone activates the tape so that incoming messages can be recorded and listened to later." Frank snapped the device into replay mode to see if there were any messages.

"What a marvelous invention," Cherry remarked.

"We have one very much like this at detective headquarters," Jackie said. "You could call and leave me a message any time you like," she murmured to Cherry.

Nancy pouted. All she had was a private line to the pink princess telephone in her bedroom.

The boys jumped when their father's unmistakably calm voice came over the tape loud and clear. "Caramel bread pudding, mushroom spread, chili con carne, steamed cauliflower hearts, wilted lettuce-leaf salad, baked Alaska, deviled crabs."

Cherry looked alarmed. "That's a recipe for dyspepsia!" she was about to cry when Frank suddenly blurted out, in a gleeful tone,

"Father hates those dishes! This must be a secret-coded message! "

"But what does it mean?" the others chorused.

"We'll run it through the Hardly Decoding Machine," Frank declared, leaping into action. He flipped the master switch on a massive machine, the size of a two-door Frigidaire, that stood against one wall of the little room. The contraption came alive as lights flashed, knobs twirled and a mechanical whirring sound filled the little room.

"This artificial brain is set up to recognize, analyze and transcribe over one hundred and thirty-seven known codes of the modern world," Joe explained as Frank typed the list onto a special typewriter that turned the letters into a series of dots and dashes on a paper tape. Next he fed the tape into a slot. "Now we wait," Frank breathed excitedly.

"As one of the most brilliant detectives the world has ever seen, Father knows every code imaginable," Joe pointed out. "Why, he could have used any one of them when devising this secret message. This machine saves us the hours of drudgery we used to spend hunched over the worktable, sweat pouring down our brows as we figured these things by hand."

A bell sounded and a moment later the machine spit out a piece of paper. On it were seven cryptic lines:

in closet under stairs secret map watch your step things are not what they seem underneath Lake Merrimen what goes up must come down

"Is there a closet under the stairs that lead to the second floor in this house?" Jackie wondered.

"No," Nancy answered authoritatively. "There's a lovely built-in credenza under the stairs."

"And we don't have a cellar," Joe mused. "Father does have a detective's office downtown, but it's in a one-story building."

"Maybe it's at one of your father's hangouts," Jackie persisted. "His favorite bar, a gymnasium or the local men's club."

Frank shook his head. "Father doesn't mix much with other fellows," he told her. "When he's not solving a case, he's home with us."

"Where could it be?" the boys wondered.

"The only other place Father ever goes is the cottage, and there's no closet there, save a small one in the master bedroom," Frank said.

A funny look came over Uncle Nelly's face. All this talk about closets had jogged his memory. "Those two horrid men who tied us up asked me if we had any closets," he remembered. "Boys, where are those architectural plans we took from them?"

"Right here in my pocket, Uncle," Frank said. He pulled the tube out of his trousers pocket and laid the plans on the table.

Uncle Nelly flicked on a table lamp, took his reading glasses from his shirt pocket and closely examined the blueprint. Soon a wide grin lit up his youthful face. "Aha!" he cried. "I remember now-there was a closet under the stairs at our charming cottage at Lake Merrimen. Your father and I would play games in there on rainy afternoons, and use it for a hiding place when it came time to eat our vegetables," Uncle Nelly remembered, chuckling. "Mother was forever urging us to come out of the closet, so in 1923, when she redecorated the cottage, she had it boarded up."

"So those thugs weren't looking for antiques to steal, they were looking for whatever is in that hidden closet," Jackie concluded, saying what was on all their minds. "But how could those poodlesnatching thugs be connected to the Russian agents who kidnapped your parents?"

CHAPTER 24

A Chase

"Sputnik!" Frank spat out, his keen hazel eyes narrowing in anger.

"Gesundheit," Cherry cried as she reached for a fresh hankie.

Trust Cherry to lighten the mood, Jackie thought with a little grin. "Frank, what does the Russian satellite Sputnik have to do with the hidden closet?" Jackie quizzed him.