(#20) The Clue in the Jewel Box (14 page)

“The house has been ransacked!” Nancy cried.

“What has become of Mrs. Alexandra and Anna?” Katherine cried, picking up a torn white apron.

“I’ll look upstairs,” said Nancy.

She started up the dark stairway, calling the names of the women. There was no answer.

Jim and Ned followed close behind her, groping for an electric switch.

“There must be one here somewhere,” Nancy murmured, inching her way along the upper hall.

The next instant she stumbled over a body lying on the carpet.

“Ned! Jim!” she called, bending over the form.

Just as Nancy shouted that she had found someone lying on the floor, Ned’s groping fingers located the electric switch at the top of the stairs. He pressed the button.

Recognizing the motionless figure, Nancy gasped, “It’s Anna! She’s bound and gagged!”

Katherine raced up the stairs. With a penknife Ned severed the cords, while Nancy removed the handkerchief from the woman’s mouth. But she showed no sign of regaining consciousness.

Leaving the others to look after Anna, she hurried into Mrs. Alexandra’s bedroom. Her worst fears were confirmed. The woman lay helpless on the bed. Her hands and feet were tightly bound, and a cloth had been stuffed into her mouth. Nancy removed the gag.

“Mrs. Alexandra, speak to me!” she pleaded.

The woman’s eyelids fluttered open and then dosed again. She lapsed into unconsciousness.

“We’d better call a doctor,” Nancy said as Ned quickly cut the leg and arm cords.

Jim appeared in the doorway, carrying Anna. Carefully he laid her on the bed beside her mistress.

Nancy ran downstairs. Fortunately the telephone wire had not been cut, and she was able to summon a doctor. He arrived ten minutes later. The physician examined Anna briefly but spent a much longer time with Mrs. Alexandra.

“She’s in serious condition,” he said soberly. “I advise hospital care. I will make the necessary arrangements now.”

While the physician made a telephone call, Nancy asked Jim to summon the police. She and Katherine remained with Mrs. Alexandra and Anna, while Ned looked through the house. Nancy quickly searched the bedroom for the chest containing the Footman jewel case. It was gone! Presently the doctor came back upstairs. “The ambulance will be here soon,” he reported, pulling a chair to the bedside.

Nancy left the room and went to inspect the house. Almost everything of value except heavy pieces of furniture had been stolen. The Easter egg, a pair of gold candlesticks, the silverware—all articles that Mrs. Alexandra treasured.

“She will never survive this blow,” Nancy said to Ned. “How can we tell her the truth?”

“Maybe the police can get some of the things back,” he replied hopefully.

Within a few minutes a car arrived from headquarters. Nancy was able to give the officers a detailed description of nearly every object which had been stolen from the house.

“Any idea who committed the crime?” one of the policemen asked her.

“Yes, I have!” she answered. “The theft probably was engineered by the man who was arrested tonight on the other side of the river. I don’t know his real name—he wouldn’t tell me. He has been living here, posing as a relative and robbing Mrs. Alexandra.”

“Then the actual robbery must have been done by one or more of his pals,” the officer declared. “Mrs. Alexandra hasn’t talked?”

“No, neither she nor her maid has been able to say a word.”

“We may get something out of them after they recover from shock,” the policeman said. “In the meantime, we’ll talk to the prisoner. Maybe he’ll reveal the identity of his accomplices.”

Soon after the police had completed their inspection of the house, the ambulance arrived. Nancy and Katherine rode to the hospital with the patients. Nancy was given permission to remain in Mrs. Alexandra’s room.

“I want to be here when she recovers consciousness,” Nancy had explained to the nurse. “She may reveal something that will help the police make an arrest.”

Katherine, meanwhile, had taken up her post in another room beside Anna’s bed. Now and then she and Nancy would meet in the hall to hold whispered consultations.

“Anna—she spoke a little while ago,” Katherine reported at one of the sessions.

“What did she say?” Nancy asked eagerly.

“She keep mumbling about a stolen jewel box.”

“Then she must know what happened. Katherine, at the next opportunity try to get her to describe the man who bound her.”

“I learn what I can,” the girl promised.

Nancy returned to Mrs. Alexandra’s bedside. A moment later the nurse excused herself to get some medication from another part of the hospital. The sound of the closing door seemed to arouse the patient from her long stupor. She opened her eyes, staring at Nancy without recognition.

“Do not strike me! I will tell you where my money is hidden!”

“Mrs. Alexandra, you’re safe now,” Nancy said soothingly. “Don’t you know me? I am Nancy Drew.”

Mrs. Alexandra relaxed slightly. She reached for the girl’s hand and clung tightly to it.

“My jewels—” she whispered.

“Now don’t worry about anything,” Nancy comforted the woman.

With a deep sigh the former queen closed her eyes again.

“Mrs. Alexandra,” Nancy said, fearing that the victim would lapse into a stupor once more, “did you see the man who tied you up?”

“I was upstairs alone when he came into the room,” Mrs. Alexandra replied, speaking with great difficulty. “The man was thin, of medium height, and wore a black mask. That’s all I remember.”

Before Nancy could ask another question, Katherine appeared in the doorway. She motioned to the young detective to come out into the hall.

“Anna has talked to me!” she said as Nancy joined her. “She tell me that she was in the library when she hear a noise. As she go into the living room to investigate, a masked man leap at her. They struggled, she break away and run upstairs toward Mrs. Alexandra’s room. Just then another man step out and grab her.”

“Then there must have been at least two men in the house,” Nancy commented gravely. “Was Anna able to describe either of them?”

“She say both men wear black masks. Oh yes. She call the one upstairs wiry, of medium height.”

“That tallies with Mrs. Alexandra’s description,” Nancy said thoughtfully. “I wonder if he may be one of the pickpockets the police are after.”

Convinced that the clue was a vital one, Nancy waited until the nurse returned to take charge, then she went to a public telephone and called police headquarters. She reported the information received from the two patients. To her satisfaction, the desk sergeant promised that a special effort would be made to round up the long-sought pickpockets at once.

The hour was late, and Nancy knew that Hannah and her father would be worried about her. She decided to phone them, and was just about to call when Ned thrust his head into the booth.

“Keep your money if you’re calling home,” he advised cheerfully. “I talked to your father a while ago. He says for you to stay here as long as you’re needed.”

“Thanks for calling,” Nancy said. “But I may as well go home. There’s nothing more I can do here.”

“Let’s get Katherine and Jim and go somewhere to eat,” Ned proposed.

“I am hungry,” Nancy admitted. “We cheated ourselves out of most of the supper at the inn. But what about the party there? Shouldn’t Jim go back and get Helen?”

“He phoned soon after we got here, and the party was breaking up then. Bess and Dave were going to take Helen home.”

When Katherine heard this, she consented to go along, and the young people left the hospital.

“Where to?” Ned asked.

“Not many places open at this time of night,” Jim replied, glancing up and down the deserted street. “I know a diner that has good food.”

“Lead on!” Ned commanded. “All we ask is food and plenty of it!”

Jim escorted the party to a place that was open all night. Its only customer was a truck driver seated at the counter.

“I believe I may as well order breakfast,” Nancy declared, scanning the menu. “Orange juice—”

She broke off as the door opened. A man, who was breathing hard, came hurrying in. Almost at his heels was a policeman.

“Hold on there!” the officer exclaimed, grabbing the fellow’s arm. “I’ve got you now!”

“You’ve made a mistake,” the man replied in a haughty voice. “Frequently I am taken for a pickpocket who closely resembles me.”

“Well, we’re looking for him, too.”

“But my name is Dorrance.”

“Doesn’t mean a thing to me.”

Dorrance’s gaze roved about the diner and came to rest upon Nancy. His eyes brightened.

“Here’s a young lady who knows me well, and knows I’m honest,” he told the officer.

Smiling at Nancy, he took a handkerchief from his pocket and waved it.

“Can you identify this man?” the policeman asked her.

“Indeed I can.”

Nancy arose and faced David Dorrance. “Officer, arrest this man!” she said, her words dropping like chips of steel. “He is one of the two pickpockets the police are looking for!”

CHAPTER XIX

Prisoners

DAVID Dorrance stared at Nancy as if unable to believe his ears. He had felt certain she would exonerate him, and instead she had accused him of being wanted by the police.

“Just because I look like another man is no reason for arresting me as a thief.”

“If you’re innocent, you won’t mind being searched,” she told him.

At this remark the color drained from the man’s face. The officer examined his pockets and found a large sum of money. Several bills were marked ones which had been given to a police decoy to trap the pickpockets.

“You’re one of the men we’re looking for, all right,” the officer stated.

“You win,” Dorrance said angrily. “Miss Detective, just how did you figure all this out?”

“I decided that you and your double work together. One of you picks the pocket of a victim, and either makes a quick getaway, or passes the loot to the other man through a window or a door. Then the thief plays innocent, and of course the pocketbook or wallet is never found on him.

“That handkerchief signal proved your undoing. You waved it once too often. Your pal stole a knife from Mr. Faber. In escaping, he nearly forgot to wave his handkerchief at me. Then moments later you tried the same stunt. Obviously you couldn’t have moved from the office building to the store that fast.”

“I didn’t think you’d figure it out!” said the thief as he was led away.

Forgetting their hunger, the young people decided to follow the officer and his prisoner to police headquarters. There Nancy repeated everything she knew about the two pickpockets.

Dorrance waived his constitutional rights to consult a lawyer before answering questions. His double, he said, had stolen Mr. Drew’s wallet. He admitted that both were professional pickpockets. They had met accidentally, and later worked out the partnership. When he would not tell the name of his accomplice, Nancy spoke up.

“Isn’t it Cordova?”

The prisoner nodded. “I suppose that woman in the apartment house on Water Street talked,” he said. “Cordova’s related to her husband.”

Nancy had a sudden hunch. “The husband’s tall and has bushy hair, hasn’t he?” she asked. “And he works with you.”

Dorrance looked surprised. “That’s right. He didn’t want to at first, but Cordova talked him into it.”

“Where is he now? At the apartment on Water Street?” Nancy asked.

“You find out!” Dorrance retorted.

“We’ll round him up,” the police lieutenant said quietly. “His name is Carl Peters.”

In addition to the money in Dorrance’s pockets, a little notebook had been found. It contained two addresses; that of a house on Clayton Avenue and the Alexandra residence.

“The Clayton Avenue place may be Cordova’s hideout,” said the officer. “We’ll search there at once, and also the Water Street apartment. What about this Alexandra address?”

“The man arrested at the Red Lion Inn tonight lived there,” Nancy explained. “I think he’s associated with Dorrance, Cordova, and Peters. The four probably planned the robbery at Mrs. Alexandra’s.”

It was so late that Nancy and her friends did not remain longer at police headquarters. However, the next day the young detective learned by telephone that a successful raid had been staged at the Clayton Avenue house and Peters had been captured. Although Cordova escaped, all of Mrs. Alexandra’s jewels and antiques had been recovered, as well as Mr. Drew’s papers.

On the way to church, she told the story to her father and Hannah Gruen. “And, Dad, you’ll get back most of the money that was stolen from you!”

“That’s good news.” Mr. Drew sighed. “Nancy, I’m proud of the way you handled this mystery.”

Later, when the family was finishing dinner, Nancy said, “As to the clue in the jewel box—well, I’m right back where I started. Prince Michael still has not been found. But I do have a good lead to work on,” she added. “If he is alive, then—”

Suddenly a voice boomed through an open window. “Carson, where are you?”

The lawyer glanced at his watch. “My goodness, Nancy, that’s Mr. Field. I promised to meet him twenty minutes ago. I must be off.”

He kissed her affectionately, said good-by to Hannah, and left the house. Nancy immediately telephoned the hospital. She was glad to hear that Mrs. Alexandra and Anna had improved.

Next she called Katherine and learned that Richard Ellington had not contacted her.

“Oh, Nancy, I worry,” the young woman said. “Richard and I are close perhaps because we are from same country. He is so kind, I do not see how he could—what you say?—break our date. He never do so before.”

“I’ll call his apartment,” Nancy offered.

The same man who had answered the evening before said that Ellington had not come home, and had sent no word.

Deep in thought, Nancy put down the telephone. “What could have happened to Richard?”

She drove to police headquarters to obtain more information about the two prisoners. Nancy was told that the impostor prince’s real name was Stanley Brandette.