Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion (10 page)

The lawyer added, “I know you will keep alert, Nancy, and look in all directions at once.”

Nancy bent to kiss her father and patted him on the cheek. “Are you trying to make me into some kind of a wonder of science?” she teased. “I’ve never learned to swivel my head!”

He chuckled, then said that he and Mr. Billington were going out to have dinner with Mr. Datsun.

“See you in the morning,” he told the others and the two men set off.

The three girls went up to Nancy’s room to help her pick the outfit she would wear the following morning. The choice was a white dress and shoes. Nancy would arrange her hair in a bun so she would look older.

Bess announced she was suffering with hunger pains so the trio went downstairs to have dinner with Mrs. Billington and Hannah. Once more the Resardos were not there. The rest of the evening was spent reading the latest reports of the forthcoming flight to the moon.

“I see that there are going to be many celebrities here,” Mrs. Gruen remarked. “Even the president may come down!”

The newspaper carried pictures of well-known press correspondents who had arrived to report the shoot. There were photographers by the hundreds and a sprinkling of visitors from other countries.

“It’s going to be fabulous!” Bess exclaimed. “Aren’t those astronauts who are on the mission handsome?”

“Yes, and remarkably brave and intelligent,” George added.

Finally it was time for the group to retire. Nancy was too excited to drop off to sleep but eventually she did and woke up refreshed and ready for the day’s adventure. After breakfast the girls drove to the Nickerson home. A few minutes later Mr. Wilcox arrived and was introduced to them. He wore a khaki smock-type suit.

“So this is the young lady who will accompany me,” he said, smiling at Nancy, “and act as secretary for the trip.” He handed her a stenographer’s pad and a pencil. “Take lots of notes,” he added with a wink.

Nancy laughed. “I understand. Some for you and some for me.”

The two went to the car. Nancy noticed a pair of asbestos gloves on the seat.

“I wear those whenever I have to go inside a cage,” he explained.

When they arrived at the moss-covered mansion, Wilcox turned into the narrow path that wound through the orange grove and the jungle to the house. He parked and they walked up the steps of the old-fashioned house.

The Public Health officer rang the bell. He and Nancy stood waiting but there was no answer.

“Maybe the bell doesn’t work,” Nancy suggested.

Her companion pounded loudly on the door. After a long while it was opened a crack. Nancy’s heart began to beat a little faster. Would the huge man with the whip open the door?

Wilcox called into the crack, “Mr. Fortin?”

“Yes,” came the answer. “No visitors allowed!”

“I’m Wilcox from Animal Control of the Public Health Service,” he told him. “I have an order to inspect your place again. Here are my credentials.”

All this time two dogs had been yelping and barking in the background. Mr. Fortin certainly had protection, Nancy thought.

“Wait until I tie up these animals,” the owner said.

He closed the door and was gone so long that Nancy thought perhaps he was not going to let them in. Finally the door opened.

Fortin was a slender man about fifty years old with a reddish complexion. It flashed across Nancy’s mind that he did not give the appearance of an animal trainer. His hands were rather soft-looking, not like those of a person used to heavy work. He escorted the callers through the center hall and out to the kitchen. He opened a rear door which gave a view of the many cages backed up against the house just beyond the kitchen door. Nancy got her notebook ready.

“These cages look very clean and the animals well-kept,” Wilcox remarked, and Nancy wrote this down.

She followed him outdoors and around the three sides of the cages which seemed to be well-constructed. Each had a sheltered area.

“Very good,” said Wilcox.

All this time Nancy’s eyes had been roaming around the jungle. She could not detect anything suspicious.

Fortin led the way back inside the house and headed for the front door. At once Wilcox spoke up. “I have orders to look over the whole mansion.”

The owner frowned and said, “Why is this necessary? A license issued to me to keep the animals certainly doesn’t permit the Public Health Service to pry into my private life!”

Wilcox replied, “Those are my orders. There could be vermin in the house from those wild animals.” Before Fortin could object, Wilcox started up the stairway. Nancy followed, then Fortin.

After a quick inspection of the second-floor rooms, Wilcox said, “Everything seems to be all right.” He turned to Fortin. “I thought maybe you had some small animals up here.”

“Well I don’t!” Fortin snapped.

He started down the stairway, but Nancy held the health officer back. She whispered, “See that door over there? It probably leads to the third floor.”

Her companion nodded. “I want to take a look upstairs, Mr. Fortin,” he called and walked over to the door.

As Wilcox opened it, the owner’s face turned red with anger, but all he said was, “You’ll find nothing up there. It’s an old tower.”

Nevertheless, Wilcox climbed the stairs, with Nancy at his heels and Fortin behind her. The tower had windows which looked out on the ocean. In front of one stood a powerful telescope.

“That came with the house,” Fortin explained. “It’s so old I guess it was put in soon after the people built the place. They probably watched the ships at sea.”

Nancy had walked over and looked through the telescope. She could plainly see the Space Center and the rocket that would take the astronauts to the moon.

“Everything okay?” Fortin asked in a sarcastic tone.

“Everything’s okay,” the Public Health officer replied, and Nancy wrote this down, along with her observations relating to the telescope.

As the visitors were coming down from the second floor, Nancy noticed a man in the lower hall. He was the big fellow with the whip! Instinctively she held the notebook partly across her face so that she would not be recognized.

When they reached the foot of the stairs Fortin ignored her. He introduced his associate to Wilcox as Joss Longman, saying he was the best animal trainer in the world.

Wilcox nodded, then checked through the first floor with Nancy. They found nothing suspicious. Back in the hall the two men were waiting for them sullenly.

“That’s all now,” Fortin said sharply and walked toward the front door, but Wilcox did not move.

“We haven’t seen your basement yet,” he said.

Hearing this, Longman turned quickly and hurried toward the kitchen. Nancy saw him open a door at the back of the hall and disappear.

Once more Fortin began to argue that the Public Health Service had no right to intrude on his privacy.

“Orders are orders,” Wilcox said firmly. “Take me to your basement.”

Fortin glared at the visitors, then he slowly walked to the kitchen. When they came to the door at the rear of the hall through which Nancy had seen Longman disappear, she put out her hand toward the knob.

“Don’t go in there!” Fortin shouted at her. “That’s a clothes closet.”

Nancy doubted this but she followed him into the kitchen. Fortin began to talk about how old-fashioned the room was.

“That’s only a coal stove,” he remarked. “It’s pretty hard learning to cook on it. As soon as I get more money, I intend to replace it with a modem range.”

Nancy suspected that the man was stalling for time. He went on talking about the outmoded plumbing and what trouble they had with it. She was convinced that Longman had gone ahead to conceal something in the basement.

“What is it,” she wondered, “that they don’t want us to see?”

Finally Fortin opened a door in the kitchen and clicked on a light in the basement. He led the way down a steep flight of wooden steps. Longman was not in sight. Nancy was sure he had used a secret entrance to the place.

Wilcox had already started walking around the basement which contained nothing but old furniture and piles of rubbish thrown against the walls. This seemed odd to Nancy. The Public Health officer did not act as if he suspected anything.

Fortin asked, “Well, are you satisfied now with your inspection?”

Wilcox looked stern. “I don’t think much of your housekeeping,” he replied. “Please see that the trash is cleaned out of here.”

“Okay,” Fortin growled.

The two men started up the stairway. Nancy, pretending that she was writing down what Wilcox had said, purposely leaned against a pile of old furniture. Presently the load shifted. Nancy grabbed a child’s desk for support.

The next moment the whole conglomeration of furniture came tumbling down on her!

THE racket caused by the falling furniture sent Wilcox and Fortin running back to the basement.

The animal trainer, instead of asking if Nancy had been hurt, said to her angrily, “What were you trying to do? You have no right touching anything around here! You were snooping, that’s what. Talk!”

Wilcox said icily, “I’m sure she meant no harm. Are you hurt?”

By this time Nancy had picked herself up and though her clothes were dusty from the furniture, she had not been injured.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Fortin,” she said. “I used to have a desk very much like this one. When I touched it, the whole pile came tumbling down.”

Fortin’s face was grim. Nancy thought he was going to say he did not believe a word of her story. Quickly she asked, “Is this desk for sale?”

“No!” the animal trainer almost shouted at her. “And I’d appreciate your leaving. I have work to do.”

Mr. Wilcox spoke up. “We’ll go at once and I’ll give the Health Service an excellent report about your animal operation here.”

While Nancy brushed dust from her clothes, she took in every detail of the wall behind the pile of furniture. She had spotted a steel door. Evidently Longman had rushed downstairs to try hiding it with the pile of furniture. Something secret must be inside!

Nancy had also noticed heavy cables in the basement. One of them ran through the wall next to the half-hidden door.

Fortin said sarcastically, “Listen, miss, you’re delaying my work. Please go at once.”

“Oh I’m sorry,” Nancy apologized and scooted up the stairway.

She was puzzled by what she had seen. The young detective had a strong hunch that something besides the training of wild animals for a circus was going on at the moss-covered mansion.

Mr. Wilcox and his “secretary” left the house and rode off. Nancy told him what she had seen in the cellar. “Why do you think Fortin was trying to conceal that door?”

Wilcox smiled. “I’m no detective, but I suspect he had something hidden behind it. Since I insisted upon seeing everything, he was probably afraid I might want to look in there. I’m sure no wild animal was inside. Otherwise it would have picked up our scent and made some kind of noise.”

Nancy said no more and in a short time she and the health inspector reached the Billington house. She thanked him for his help and jumped out of the car.

Bess and George met her at the front door. “Thank goodness you’re here in one piece,” said Bess.

George asked, “Did you learn anything exciting?”

Nancy related her experience to the girls, Mrs. Billington, and Hannah Gruen. All of them tried guessing what might be beyond the steel door where the furniture had been piled up.

“Even though Mr. Wilcox doesn’t think so,” Bess put in, “I’ll bet there’s some kind of an animal behind that door.”

“You could be right,” Mrs. Billington said, frowning.

George had a different theory. “I’m sure Fortin only keeps those wild animals to scare people away and isn’t training those beasts to perform. There’s some other reason he and Longman are living at the moss-covered mansion.”

“Like what?” Bess asked.

“There could be all kinds of secret rooms,” her cousin replied.

Nancy was intrigued by this idea. “They might even be storing explosives!”

Bess stared at her friend. “Are you hinting that Mr. Fortin might have been responsible for the explosive oranges that were shipped into the Space Center?”

George answered. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Mrs. Billington looked worried. “If you’re right and anything should go wrong, the whole of Merritt Island could be blown up!”

Nancy turned to Hannah. “You haven’t said a word. What do you think?”

Looking worried, the housekeeper replied that their suspicions about the moss-covered mansion should be reported to the FBI.

Nancy pointed out, “But it’s mostly speculation —we haven’t any constructive evidence.”