The Strange Message in the Parchment

Table of Contents

 

 

 

A SHEEP farmer receives a mysterious telephone call shortly after he buys a series of pictures painted on parchment. “Decipher the message in the parchment and right a great wrong,” the voice says. Puzzled, the owner asks Nancy to help.

With Junie, his daughter, Nancy tracks down a kidnapper and a group of extortionists. Clues weave in and out of several puzzles, two of which are linked with Italy. Is there a connection between the message in the parchment and a boy artist on another farm? And who is responsible for the atmosphere of fear in the neighborhood?

After several harrowing experiences, Nancy begins to tighten the net around a ruthless villain and calls on the assistance of her friends Ned, Burt, Dave, Bess and George to bring his nefarious schemes to a dead end.

Copyright © 1977 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam & Grosset Group, New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A. NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES
®
is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

eISBN : 978-1-101-07755-9

2007 Printing

 

 

 

“IT’S perfectly beautiful!” Nancy exclaimed.

She was standing in front of a long mirror in the Drew hallway, admiring herself in a sheepskin jacket. Near her stood a girl of the same age, eighteen. The two were of identical height and slender, but Nancy was a strawberry blond with blue eyes, while the other girl had brown hair and eyes.

“Junie Flockhart, you’re a darling!” Nancy said, hugging her friend, a former schoolmate. Junie’s family had moved many miles away, to a large sheep farm.

Junie smiled. “You know, Nancy, you were always one of my father’s favorites. When I told him I was coming here to visit, he sent you this gift. By the way, how would you like to solve a mystery for him?”

Nancy’s eyes sparkled. A mystery!

At this moment a motherly, middle-aged woman came into the hallway to greet Junie and admire the sheepskin jacket. She was Hannah Gruen, the Drews’ housekeeper, who had been a mother to Nancy since the girl was three and her own mother had passed away.

“Did your father make the jacket?” Hannah asked Junie.

“Yes,” she replied. “At one end of Triple Creek Farm he has a factory that produces sheepskin articles. Dad also makes parchment from the sheep’s skins.

“He has a marvelous collection of parchments from all over the world,” Junie went on. “Some are very old. A few have illuminated writing on them in foreign languages; others have beautiful painted pictures.”

“I’d love to see them,” Nancy put in.

“You will if you come home with me to solve the mystery. My father has a parchment that has four lovely small paintings on it. He is intrigued by the parchment because of a strange phone call he received soon after he bought it. A man who didn’t give his name said the picture had a message. Anyone who could figure it out would bring happiness and comfort to several people, and right an old wrong.”

“That’s strange,” Nancy replied. “If the man knew this, why didn’t he tell the whole story?”

“He hung up abruptly,” Junie answered, “as if someone had approached him and he couldn’t say any more. Everyone in our family has tried and failed to decipher the meaning of the picture.”

“I’d like to try to solve the mystery,” Nancy said. “When do I start?”

“As soon as you can get ready. And say, why don’t we have a house party? Ned, Burt, Dave, Bess, George, and my date, Dan. I know you’ll like him.”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” Nancy replied. “What do you think, Hannah?”

Mrs. Gruen smiled. “The instant I heard there was a mystery to solve at Triple Creek Farm, I knew you’d want to go. I think the idea is great. If your father hasn’t any special work for his sleuthing daughter, I’m sure he’ll agree.”

Nancy took off the sheepskin jacket and laid it on a chair in the living room for her father to see when he came home. Then she went upstairs with Hannah and Junie to look through her closet and select appropriate clothing for the trip.

“Don’t bother with a lot of dresses,” Junie said. “At the farm we just about live in jeans, shirts, and jackets.”

All this time Hannah Gruen had been grinning. “Junie, you’ve never seen Nancy when she’s trying to solve a mystery. She’s like a hound on a scent and never gives up until she has caught the villain!”

Junie was about to say something, but just then Nancy whispered, “Listen! I heard the front door close softly. Let’s find out who’s there.”

She and Junie hurried down the stairs. No one was in sight and when Nancy called out, asking who was in the house, there was no answer. Then she noticed something strange.

“My new jacket is gone!” Nancy cried.

The girls stared at the empty chair.

“My beautiful sheepskin jacket must have been stolen!” Nancy exclaimed.

She rushed to the front door and opened it wide, just in time to see a girl disappearing around the end of the curved driveway. She was wearing the sheepskin jacket!

“Let’s chase her!” Nancy urged. She whistled for her little terrier, Togo, who hurried from the kitchen. “Come on, old boy! We must catch a thief.”

Togo followed her and Junie out the door. For a few seconds the dog ran alongside Nancy. As soon as they reached the street, however, and his mistress pointed to the fleeing thief, he knew what he was supposed to do and bounded off. The stranger had a good head start and was running like a trained athlete.

“We’ll never catch her,” Junie said.

“She must be a professional thief,” Nancy added. “She was so quiet she didn’t even disturb Togo.”

Junie wondered how the girl had known about the coat. “Of course I carried it in a plastic see-through bag,” she said. “That girl may have noticed it and followed me from the train to your house.”

Nancy nodded. “She may have been spying and when we went upstairs, she came in. But how did she get in?”

By now Togo had almost caught up to the stranger. At the same moment all three girls saw a policeman in the distance. The thief, realizing it was useless to proceed, quickly turned into a driveway.

By the time Nancy and Junie reached the spot, the suspect was out of sight. Togo was returning, however, to present them with a chunk of cloth, which he held in his teeth. Nancy reached down and took it.

“This is a piece from that sneak thief’s skirt!” she exclaimed. “What a great clue! Togo, you’re a clever little dog.”

Togo barked as though he were urging Nancy to continue the search. “Maybe the thief is hiding,” Nancy said.