Nancy Clue Mysteries 3 - A Ghost in the Closet (12 page)

"We're having a combination Happy Birthday Hannah and Welcome Home Frank and Joe Hardly Party," Nancy explained. "They've just arrived and are awfully anxious to meet all of you. Especially you, Cherry," she added with a sly smile.

That must be why Nancy looks so gay, Cherry realized. "Then Frank must not mind that Midge has been posing as him all this time," she said in relief, "and has married."

Nancy looked momentarily dumbfounded. Golly, in all the excitement, she had forgotten to inform Frank of that one small detail! "As soon as I solve the mystery, I'll explain everything to Frank," she decided. "But first things first. I must make this a frolicsome party and not show any sign that I know I'll soon be on a case!"

"Velma, would you run out to the garage and find Midge and Jackie? Ask Midge to set up the twenty-four inch motorized grill with automatic built-in fire lighter and rotisserie. It's in the garage behind the speed boat and in front of my skis, if I remember correctly," Nancy recalled. "And ask Jackie to set up the croquet wickets on the grounds just west of the house. She'll find it in the cellar in a leather case propped up against the far left wall, next to the badminton racquets and my fencing mask." Nancy bustled about like a whirlwind in her pretty summer outfit.

"Cherry, would you take these smart, seven-inch tall teardrop glass-encased candles that provide over one hundred or more hours of windproof burning, colored an attractive sunset red, and place them on the occasional tables I've scattered around the patio?

"And when you come back from the garage, Velma, I'd like you to wrap Hannah's presents," Nancy directed. "They're piled on my bed along with sheets of wrapping paper printed with gay forget-me-nots. I'm going to run to the store for some lemons." She tied a chiffon scarf over her coiffure. "Be right back," she gave a happy wave.

"Nancy is certainly in a chipper mood," Cherry sighed with relief. "And to think I was afraid she'd be angry with me for staying out half the night with Jackie!"

For the next fifteen minutes, the happy house practically hummed with activity. Cherry put the finishing touches on the festive decorations, raced inside for a quick bath, then slipped into her nylon bouffant petticoat and, over that, her new elegantly simple toast and white dotted summer silk dress. Just for fun she added her charm bracelet with its tiny nurse's cap, shoes, thermometer and bandage scissors, and a dab of lavender cologne behind each ear.

"It's been a long time since you've worn your whites, Nurse Aimless," she scolded herself as she twirled in front of the full length mirror while checking her hemline. For a moment, her thoughts turned to her friends at faraway Seattle General Hospital. As she was primping in preparation for a patio party, they were busy saving countless lives, comforting the truly sick and polishing their scuffed rubber-soled shoes!

"You've earned a vacation," Cherry told the attractive girl in the stylish dress reflected in the mirror. She wondered, though, how long she could wait before she would once again don the proud uniform of a Registered Nurse. Cherry knew if she said yes to Jackie's offer to accompany her to San Francisco, she would be back in uniform in a matter of days. "Thankfully, there are sick people everywhere," Cherry sighed in relief. She did miss nursing so!

She went to her suitcase, took out a small box and opened it. Inside, wrapped in white tissue, was her starched Stencer Nursing School graduation cap, its black velvet stripe symbolizing her lifetime of commitment. The day that cap was pinned to her curls had been the happiest day of her life, with the night she had kissed Nancy Clue with all her might a close second!

With shaky hands she placed the stiff, spotless cap on her short, dark curls and pinned it securely. "I'm ready to nurse again," she realized, her heart soaring with happiness. "But where am Ito hang my cap? In San Francisco or in Illinois?

Why couldn't Cherry decide which path to take? "I must be true to my heart, and my heart yearns for Jackie. But how can I leave Nancy after all we've been through? How can I leave her just when she's starting to rebuild her crumbled life? But what if I miss my one chance for true love and a contented life with Jackie? I know she wants me to be her girl-I can just tell!" Cherry wanted to weep. "How am Ito know what to do?"

Why, oh why, hadn't her mother covered this topic in any of her many useful lectures?

Suddenly Cherry could take it no longer. She must see Velma and finish the talk they had begun that morning. She ran out of the room, took the stairs two at a time and skipped out to the kitchen.

Cherry spotted Midge on the patio, arranging the platters of food in a decorative display on tables covered in gay cloths. Distraught as she was, she still laughed at the sight of Midge wearing a full-length frilly apron over her simple dark slacks and short-sleeved summer shirt and puzzling over the placement of pickles and pimentos.

"Nancy's not back from the store yet, is she?" Cherry quizzed her chum.

"Velma says Nancy will be back soon with plenty of lemons," came the reply. "I hope she gets grapefruit, too. After all, we can't have a patio party without lots of freshsqueezed pink lemonade, now can we? What do you think? Would the radishes be more appealing carved like roses or carnations?"

Cherry looked puzzled. What could explain Midge's sudden interest in the fascinating world of decorative food presentation? Perhaps Midge has been out in the sun too long, she thought as she tried to recall the remedy for sunstroke. "Why on earth are you wearing an apron?" Cherry wondered aloud.

"To protect my outfit, of course," was the puzzled reply.

"Something must be terribly wrong," Cherry thought. The Midge she knew wouldn't be caught dead wearing an apron or cutting vegetables into pleasing shapes. Although, Cherry, had to admit the cucumbers did look mighty tempting as canoes.

"Why don't you lie down inside, out of the sun," Cherry said in a soothing tone. "You could smoke a cigarette and rest."

Cherry's suggestion was greeted with terrible consternation.

"Lips that touch cigarettes shall never touch mine!"

Cherry gasped. How many times had she tried to get Midge to quit smoking? Although the tobacco companies had assured them cigarettes posed no danger whatsoever to one's health, and doctors recommended them as a sure-fire way to reduce tension, Cherry still thought the habit discourteous. Smokers were always flinging ashes everywhere, damaging fine dress fabrics and burning holes in expensive, delicate stockings.

"I'm going upstairs to get my firstaid kit and then I'm going to take your temperature!" Cherry said tersely. She headed upstairs, and along the way, bumped into Velma carrying a pile of gaily-wrapped gifts. Cherry's earlier concern for her own affairs had vanished. She knew a good nurse put her own needs aside, no matter the trouble.

"Velma, I have news for you," Cherry said in a level tone, trying not to alarm her chum. "Midge is acting queer!"

"What else is new?" Velma grinned.

"No, Velma," Cherry insisted. "Midge is acting very queer. Not at all like herself. Velma, she's out there on the patio wearing an apron and cutting vegetables into party shapes! "

Velma laughed and shook her head. "No, Cherry, that's not Midge."

Cherry was relieved that Velma fully understood the gravity of the situation. "That's right," she said. "That's just the shell of Midge-the real Midge has, for some inexplicable reason, become submerged somewhere deep within her own mind. But don't worry," she hastened to add. "I've plenty of experience with amnesia patients. I'll set Midge right in no time! "

Velma laughed until she wept. Cherry had seen this reaction before in people. "What the mind cannot handle-" she told herself. Now was her chance to practice the coolness and presence of mind for which her training had prepared her. Good thing River Depths had a fine sanitarium on the outskirts of town headed by the worldrenowned Dr. Fraud.

"I think a trip to the patio will clear this up," Velma chuckled.

"Eek!" Cherry cried when they reached the courtyard, for now there were two Midges, only one was bent over the barbecue, full of dirt and grease, her shirt-tail hanging out of her pants, and the other was busy weaving necklaces of fresh flowers.

"Cherry, I'd like you to meet Frank Hardly," Velma said, waving her hand in the direction of the tidy Midge. Cherry blushed to the roots of her curly black hair.

"Hello Frank," was all she managed to squeak out.

"It's swell to finally be properly introduced," Frank bowed in his best continental manner. He offered her a selection of festive flower garlands to wear around her neck. "I've made one for every guest," he told the girls. "Although, Cherry, you might have to take off your nurse's cap first in order to get it over your head," Frank worried.

Cherry turned even redder when she realized she was still wearing her cap! Thank goodness Hannah picked that very moment to join the party, thus shifting the attention away from the sheepish nurse. Dressed in an elegantly simple lavender frock and low-heeled pumps, the attractive older woman slowly made her way out to the patio, relying on a cane. Gogo was at her heels, a festive ribbon tied around her neck. "Francis P. Hardly, welcome home!" Hannah cried with delight as she spied Frank. "It's been awfully quiet around here without you boys running in and out for Nancy's advice and some of my gooseberry pie," she teased. "Where's Joseph? At a matinee, I'll wager."

Frank grinned. "He's in the pantry with Nancy. They're looking for sugar for the lemonade," he explained. "And putting their heads together so Nancy can get a jump on this mystery and impress Cherry," he thought to himself with a secret smile.

CHAPTER 17

Puzzling Behavior

"And then Willy jumped up and swung Uncle Nelly around and knocked the man to the floor! " Joe said excitedly. He had just finished telling Jackie and Midge about the robbery attempt at the Hardly cottage.

"Willy must be exceptionally strong," Jackie said in awe.

"He's the biggest," Joe crowed. "Why, Willy's practically a reallive Hercules! You'll meet him later when he and Uncle Nelly drop by for cake," he added. "I happened to walk in the house just as the gunman was pointing his weapon at Willy and was able to divert his attention so Willy could act," he bragged.

Frank walked in the room and shot him a sharp warning glance. "Ix nay, Joe," that look said. "Bragging is a sport unbecoming to a Hardly boy!"

Joe excused himself. "I think I need another wiener," he murmured as he left the kitchen and headed for the patio where the party was in full swing.

Frank busied himself squeezing lemons for another refreshing pitcher of pink lemonade.

"Do you want me to run a check on those men?" Jackie offered.

"That won't be necessary," Frank told her as he poured cool water and plenty of sugar into the glass pitcher. "One's already in jail and Chief O'Malley's sure to locate the other any minute now. Besides, we're pretty certain they're thugs hired by the notorious furniture thief Mad Dog MacDougal." He didn't want Jackie to think the case was ripe for investigation. Why, she might take it upon herself to solve it!

"Not the Mad Dog MacDougal who swiped the chandeliers from the Des Moines Opera House during a performance of My Fair Lady?" Jackie wondered.

Frank nodded.

"Say, you Hardly boys are as fast as everyone says," Jackie said in frank admiration.

Frank shrugged modestly, but deep down he was pleased. This was high praise indeed coming from a San Francisco detective! Forgetting for a moment that Jackie was Nancy's romantic archenemy, he fell into easy conversation with the dashing detective. "I knew the minute I spied that fellow he wasn't an antique lover," Frank shared as he stirred the lemonade, "but Uncle Nelly's so unsuspecting he lets everyone in the door. Why, I took one look at that fellow's ill-fitting sharkskin suit and I knew he was in the wrong place!"

"What was he wearing?" Midge asked eagerly. Until now, she had been too busy gulping down delicious deviled eggs to pay much attention to all the cops-and-robbers talk, but Frank's description of the man had piqued her interest.

"The man we caught was clad in a too-tight black suit of a cheap fabric, the kind that wears badly and makes you realize you're better off paying the price for a well-made garment," Frank told Midge, confident that his own lightweight summer slacks were exacting in quality and workmanship. "I didn't see the guy who got away, but Joe described him to me as a tall slender man in a darkcolored trenchcoat with a long thin face and nervous, darting eyes."

Midge gasped. "The guy in the trenchcoat is the one who tried to kidnap the poodles at the Dog Show the other day," she told him, "and his friend is the one who stole my program!"

"So Mad Dog's moved into the dognapping business!" Frank swore angrily. "I'll call the chief right away and tell him to add kidnapping to the charges!"

He strode to Nancy's den and put in a quick call to his chum the chief, but was surprised to find that Chief O'Malley had been called away on official business and had left strict orders that no one was allowed to speak to the prisoner, even the Hardly boys!