The Ringmaster's Secret (12 page)

“How good it is to see you!” Miss Drew exclaimed.

“You’re a dear to let me barge in like this,” Nancy said. “Aunt Eloise, how in the world did you get that picture of me?”

Nancy’s eyes focused on a large photograph on a table. She was in her circus costume, standing on a horse.

Miss Drew laughed. “I asked a photographer at the circus to take it when I was there,” she said. “It came out very well, don’t you think?”

While Nancy and her aunt ate supper, the conversation turned to the mystery. Nancy told Miss Drew that her father had given her a letter of introduction from Police Chief McGinnis to Captain Smith of the New York Police Department, who had been assigned to the Tristam Booking Agency investigation.

“First thing tomorrow morning I’m going down to talk to Captain Smith,” she said. “I wonder what he found out about Lola Flanders. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she really were Lolita’s mother?”

Aunt Eloise was not so sure of this. Perhaps the woman had changed in the last ten years. It was very strange that she had not been in touch with her daughter.

“At least Lolita knows nothing about this,” Nancy replied. “If it seems best not to tell her, I’ll keep it a secret.”

Directly after breakfast the next morning Nancy set off for Captain Smith’s headquarters. She presented the letter of introduction to the sergeant on duty, who took it to the captain. In a moment the sergeant returned and ushered Nancy into the captain’s office.

“I’m glad to meet you, Miss Drew,” the officer said, smiling. “Chief McGinnis and I were buddies in the Army some years ago. He tells me that you’re quite a detective.”

Nancy blushed and admitted that she had solved some cases. Then she turned the conversation from herself and asked, “Have you found Lola Flanders?”

Captain Smith told her that one of their detectives had called at the Tristam Booking Agency. He found that Lola Flanders was a young dancer who used the stage name of Millie Francine.

“A young dancer!” Nancy repeated. “Then this Lola Flanders is not the person I’m looking for.”

Nancy thought a few moments. Could this young Lola Flanders be a relative of Lolita’s?

“Where is the dancer now?” Nancy asked the police captain.

“She’s working here in New York,” he replied. “I’ve checked. The story is correct.”

The captain said that the police were watching the mails. The package from Danford had not yet arrived. As soon as it did, it would be impounded and X-rayed.

“If you’ll leave your telephone number, I’ll call you as soon as the package has been examined.”

Nancy returned to her aunt’s apartment. Just before noon, Captain Smith telephoned. “The package is here,” he said. “Can you come over?”

“I’ll be there!” Nancy cried.

When she reached Captain Smith’s office, he pointed to a bracelet lying on his desk. “Is that yours?” he asked.

At first glance Nancy thought it was, but when she examined it, she changed her mind. This bracelet had six horses and the gold was much darker than hers had been.

“I’m afraid it isn’t mine,” Nancy said, considerably embarrassed. She told him why.

Captain Smith took the bracelet to the window and looked at it in the strong light.

“I’m no expert at judging jewelry,” he said, “but this bracelet may have been tampered with to change its appearance.”

“May I use your telephone to call Chief McGinnis?” Nancy asked. “I’d like him to check with the girl at the circus who has a horse charm similar to these.”

“Go ahead,” the captain said.

Upon hearing Nancy’s story, Chief McGinnis promised to get in touch with the police in the town where the circus was now playing.

“I’ll call Captain Smith as soon as I have the answer,” he said.

Shortly after lunch Captain Smith called Nancy at her aunt’s apartment to report that Lolita still had her horse charm.

“Captain Smith,” Nancy said, “will you go with me and my aunt to the shop where she purchased the bracelet? The owner should be able to identify the one you’re holding if it is the original.”

The officer said he would meet them at the shop in twenty minutes. At the appointed time the three walked into the shop. After hearing their story, Mr. Abrams, the owner, examined the bracelet. Using a special powder and a piece of chamois, he began to rub the jewelry. In a few minutes the gold was shining again.

“Yes, this is the bracelet I sold Miss Drew,” Mr. Abrams said. “Whoever put this sixth charm on was an amateur. It is a bad job.”

Nancy’s thoughts flew at once to Mr. and Mrs. Kroon. Had the woman attached it and wrapped the bracelet for mailing while George and Little Will had been watching the trailer? Had the Kroons stolen the original charm from Lolita’s necklace some time ago and kept it, hoping to locate the valuable bracelet, attach the missing horse, and sell the jewelry at a high price?

“Mr. Abrams,” said Nancy, “can you tell from your records where you purchased the bracelet?”

“In just a minute,” the shop owner said. He went into a back room but returned presently and handed Nancy a piece of paper.

“I got the bracelet from a London pawnbroker,” he said. “Here is the name and address.”

Nancy thanked Mr. Abrams for his help and left the shop with her aunt. Captain Smith handed Nancy the bracelet. She thanked him and then asked if he could find out from London who had signed the pawn ticket.

“Certainly,” Captain Smith said. “I can do it through the London police. It will take a while but I’ll call you when I hear.”

The following morning at about eleven o’clock he phoned. “It begins to look as if you’re getting somewhere, Miss Drew,” he said. “The pawn ticket was signed with a nervous scrawl that was hardly legible. It looks like Laura Flynn.”

“It could be Lola Flanders!” Nancy cried.

“It’s possible,” the captain agreed. “The ticket was signed three years ago. The shop keeps things for only two years, then sells them.”

After saying good-by, Nancy thought about this latest news. Suddenly her eyes began to sparkle. She dialed her father’s office. When he answered she told him of her discovery.

Then she said, “Dad, will you fly to London with me right away?”

“What!” Mr. Drew exclaimed. “Fly to London?”

“That’s right, Dad. You need a vacation and you can help me solve this mystery. Who knows, we may find Lolita’s mother and bring her back with us.”

The lawyer laughed. “You’re very persuasive. All right, Nancy. We’ll go.”

“Oh, Dad, you’re a sweetheart!” Nancy cried. “When can you get here?”

“I might as well leave right now,” he said. “I’ll catch the night plane. You see if you can get reservations for tomorrow.”

“I’ll call you back,” Nancy said. “In the meantime, can you find out if there have been any new developments in Sims’ Circus?”

“Bess called here a little while ago,” Nancy’s father said. “Lolita had been in touch with her. Kroon has dismissed Pietro and no one knows where he has gone.”

“That is bad news,” Nancy remarked.

When her father said good-by, Nancy called the airline and reserved seats on a plane leaving late the next afternoon. She then called her father and gave him the good news.

“I’m looking forward to a trip with you, Nancy,” he said, “but I can’t have you to myself until we’re on the plane. Ned is coming with me to see us off. By the way, I’ll bring your passport.”

Nancy and her aunt rose early to meet the plane from River Heights. To their amazement, not only did Mr. Drew and Ned step off the airliner, but Pietro as well.

“It’s good to see you, Pietro!” Nancy cried.

Pietro explained that he was going to London to see his father and had a reservation on the same plane as the Drews.

After he had been introduced to Aunt Eloise, the group found a taxi and drove to Miss Drew’s apartment. With the excuse that he had some shopping to do, Ned asked Nancy to go out with him until it was time to leave for the airport.

While they were having lunch in a cozy restaurant, Ned suddenly warned Nancy not to get any crazy ideas about staying in England.

“Why, Ned,” she said, “what a funny thing to say!”

“Well, I understand Pietro is planning to stay.”

Then Nancy caught on. She started to laugh. “Why, Ned Nickerson!” she said. “Just because Kroon told Lolita she couldn’t marry Pietro, there’s no reason to think he wants to marry me!”

“I’m not so sure,” Ned replied glumly.

“Don’t be silly,” said Nancy sternly. “I’ll come back just as soon as I can find out something about Lola Flanders.”

Ned looked relieved.

When they reached the apartment again, Nancy telephoned Captain Smith to ask if any more had been learned about the Tristam Booking Agency.

“We have rather important information,” the officer reported. “Our men have been watching Lola Flanders’ mail. She has been receiving a great number of what look like dividend checks.”

Nancy told the captain that she was flying to London and would get in touch with him when she returned.

“Perhaps I’ll have learned more for you by that time,” Captain Smith said as he hung up.

Nancy discussed these latest findings with her father. It seemed to her that Reinhold Kroon was using the agency as a coverup. He was stealing money that belonged to the real Lola Flanders, using Millie Francine as a front.

Mr. Drew agreed that this might be the case. “Perhaps the police will have the answer by the time we return,” he said. “We’d better start for the airport now.”

An hour later the Drews and Pietro checked in at the ticket counter. They each had a large suitcase for the baggage compartment and a small overnight bag to carry. While waiting for the signal to board the plane Nancy walked down to the end of the long room to examine a map on the wall.

She was tracing the course of their flight across the Atlantic when out of the corner of her eye she saw a man pick up her overnight case and run off with it.

“Stop!” Nancy called, dashing after him.

Holding the case in front of him, the man ran on. As Nancy drew closer to him, she thought he was trying to open the unlocked bag. Why?

“Stop, thief!” Nancy shouted.

This time the man dropped the bag and fled down a nearby stairway. Nancy picked up the bag and noticed a corner of her pink-flowered robe protruding from it.

“He did open it!” she thought in surprise. The woman’s lounge was close by. Nancy hurried in and sat down in a chair with the bag on her lap. She opened it wide.

Acrid fumes poured from the case. An open bottle lay among the disarranged toilet articles.

Nancy began to cough and choke. The next moment the fumes reached her eyes.

“I can’t see!” Nancy cried in alarm.

AT Nancy’s outcry, the attendant rushed forward. “What’s the trouble, miss?” she asked.

“My eyes!” Nancy groaned. “Someone put acid in my bag. Please help me!”

The frightened attendant said she would take Nancy to the first-aid station. Guiding the stricken girl through the waiting room with one hand and carrying her bag in the other, the woman led Nancy to the airport infirmary. A nurse hurried forward to take charge.

Nancy quickly explained what had happened, and at once she and her bag were taken into the doctor’s office.

The odor of the fumes was very evident and the doctor recognized them at once. He took down a bottle of oily liquid and some gauze sponges from a shelf. Soaking a sponge, he dabbed it on her eyes.

“Take that bag out into the fresh air!” he ordered.

The nurse hurriedly went off with it, while the doctor continued to swab Nancy’s eyes. Presently she was able to see dimly.

“You’re lucky,” the physician said. “If that acid had spilled in your eyes, you would have become blind. But the fumes only affected them for a short time.”

By now Nancy was able to see clearly again. She thanked the doctor for his prompt help.

“I’m glad I was here,” he said, smiling. Then he sobered. “Would you mind telling me why you were carrying that deadly acid with you?”

When Nancy told him her story, the man’s eyebrows raised in amazement. “I’ll report this to the police at once,” he declared.

Back in the large waiting room, Mr. Drew and his companions wondered what had happened to Nancy.

“She probably went to telephone again,” Ned said.

“Well, I wish she’d hurry,” Mr. Drew remarked. “We’ll be taking off in a few minutes.”

Ned had been staring at an unusual sight, just outside the window. A woman’s overnight bag lay open on the ground. A white-uniformed nurse and a policeman were carefully examining its contents.

Ned laughed and pointed out the scene to Miss Drew. “That has all the earmarks of a mystery,” he said. “Nancy is missing it.”

“Why, that looks like Nancy’s robe,” she said. “I wonder what could have happened?”

The whole group hurried outside to the policeman and inquired what the trouble was. Impatiently, he replied, “Some fool girl was carrying a bottle of acid in her bag. It came uncorked. The doctor is taking care of her.”

“What!” Mr. Drew cried. Turning to the nurse, he said he was the girl’s father. “Please take us to her at once.”

Reaching the infirmary, they burst into the doctor’s office. “Nancy! What happened?” Mr. Drew cried.

Quickly she gave him the details.

“The fiend!” Pietro cried. “I’ll stay here and find that fellow if it’s the last thing I do!”

“That won’t be necessary,” said Mr. Drew. “The police can take care of him.”

The doctor said Nancy was able to travel, so she went outside with the others. She could give the policeman only a hazy description of the man who had taken her bag since she had not seen more than his back.

Nancy looked in dismay at her suitcase. The acid had spilled on some of the clothing, and it was ruined. Luckily it had not damaged the bag itself, and Nancy was able to retrieve some of her belongings.