Password to Larkspur Lane (15 page)

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Authors: Carolyn Keene

Tags: #Women Detectives, #Detective and Mystery Stories, #Girls & Women, #Mystery & Detective, #Juvenile Fiction, #Adventure and Adventurers, #Mysteries & Detective Stories, #Fiction, #Kidnapping, #Mystery Fiction, #Women Sleuths, #Adventure Stories, #Older People, #Swindlers and Swindling, #Drew; Nancy (Fictitious Character), #General, #Mystery and Detective Stories

BOOK: Password to Larkspur Lane
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At one end of the landing field, Nancy could see the plane and at the other a clump of trees. She angled left and pounded down toward them.
Reaching the shadow of the trees, she stopped and tried to spot the oak. Again, she heard the dog’s bark—this time closer.
Nancy looked back.
The huge beast was silhouetted on the brow of the hill, straining against a leash held by the gatekeeper. He began pulling the man down the slope.
“Does he scent me?” Nancy tried not to think about it, and pressed deeper into the clump of trees.
There was the oak! And gleaming in the moonlight a metal box nailed to the trunk! Nancy darted to it, opened the door, and pulled the single switch inside.
Out on the field, spots of light were coming up through the short grass. “Clever,” she thought. “They’re sunk in the earth, and aren’t noticeable in daylight. Now for the plane!”
The far side of the landing area was bordered by woodland. Nancy ran from her shelter to the woods, then hastened along the edge of the field, keeping within the tree line. At the far end, she crouched low, dashed across the clearing, and crept under the low wing of the small plane.
Nancy knew that the fuel drains were on the underside of the wings. She felt along the surface until her fingers encountered a T-shaped metal valve.
“This must be it,” she decided, and pressed upward. A stream of fuel flowed to the ground! Nancy found that by turning the valve slightly she could lock it open. Then she hurried to the other wing and did the same thing.
“Now,” Nancy said to herself, “that should ground the gang! I’ll get back to Morgan and hide him before the men go to the cars.”
As she started to move, however, Nancy heard the Great Dane growling. Coming down the field were the dog and the gatekeeper, with four men running behind them. Nancy recognized Thorne, Bell, and Luther, but the fourth was a tall stranger. As they drew nearer, she saw he had a gaunt, cruel face, and guessed he was Adolf Tooker.
“I’m telling you I didn’t turn on the lights,” came Luther’s voice.
“Well, somebody did,” Thorne growled. “Jones, can’t you shut that dog up?”
“There’s a prowler down here,” replied the gateman. “That’s what’s the matter with him.”
As the party reached the plane, they stopped less than thirty feet from Nancy. The dog strained toward her hiding place, whining.
Nancy took a deep breath. “I’m really in a tight spot!” she thought. If she moved from the shadow of the plane’s wing, the men would see her. If she didn’t, the dog would attack her!
Suddenly shouts came from the hillside and Nancy saw the bobbing rays of flashlights. “Wait for me!” called Miss Tyson. “Something’s gone wrong!” her shrill voice warned.
The tall man said sharply, “Jones, take that dog and find out what the trouble is! We’ll search down here for the prowler.”
As the gatekeeper pulled the dog away, louder shouts came from the hillside and the four men looked up toward the moving lights.
“It’s now or never!” Nancy thought. Crouching low, she ran out on the moonlit field.
CHAPTER XX
The SP
NOT daring to look back, Nancy raced for the shelter of the woods, wondering if she could make it before being detected.
Suddenly she heard a hoarse shout. “Look, chief! There goes a girl!”
The young sleuth’s heart sank.
“Catch her!” Thorne yelled.
“No, you fool,” barked Bell. “We haven’t time! Into the plane, everybody! Go ahead, Adolf!”
“Wait!” came the tall man’s hard voice. “I smell gasoline.”
Thorne gave an angry exclamation and Bell said, “I do, too. Where’s it coming from?”
“There’s probably a leak in one of the fuel tanks,” said Luther. Quickly he ducked under the wing. “One drain valve is open!” he shouted.
“Open?” thundered Bell. “Who did that?”
At once Thorne climbed into the plane. In a moment he gave an angry yell. “We have no fuel!” he cried and jumped out. “The gauges read empty!”
Miss Tyson raced up to them with three men and a girl at her heels, followed by the gatekeeper and his barking dog.
“Everything’s gone wrong!” she exclaimed.
At that moment a plane swooped soundlessly out of the sky. Before it taxied to a full stop, several armed State Police officers jumped out and surrounded the criminals. A powerful searchlight was turned on the confused gang.
A voice over a loudspeaker ordered, “Stand where you are! No one move!”
“Ned!” Nancy cried out.
She raced from the woods and reached the plane as he leaped from it, followed by Dave, her father, and the pilot.
“Dad!” Nancy exclaimed as Carson Drew caught her up in his arms.
“Are you hurt?” he asked quickly.
“No, Dad, but I’m so glad to see you! Ned, you’re just wonderful!”
“Oh, Nancy, you take such chances,” he said. “But I was sure happy I could come to the rescue.”
In a moment a second noiseless plane skimmed down onto the field. Out jumped Burt, Lieutenant Mulligan, and two members of his detective squad. They joined the others in the circle of light, where the officers began snapping handcuffs on the prisoners.
“Miss Drew,” Lieutenant Mulligan said, “Ned Nickerson informed me of your plan and I called the State Police.”
“I’m glad the mystery is solved, Lieutenant,” said Nancy, then turned to Thorne. “Where are the old ladies?” she asked anxiously.
The gang members had been staring at Nancy in disbelief. “You!” Thorne sputtered. “How did you get out of the cistern?”
“First answer my question,” said Nancy.
“They’re in the cellar,” Bell replied shortly.
Miss Tyson spoke up. “They are not in the cellar.” As Bell looked at her, puzzled, she added, “I didn’t have time to put them there! As soon as I saw the air was out of our car tires, I knew something had gone wrong with the plans. I wanted to get away—fast!”
“What did you do with Morgan?” Nancy asked quickly.
“Nothing. He’s still in the car.”
Nancy explained Morgan’s condition to the police, who promised that the houseman would be taken to a hospital.
Thorne glared at Nancy. “How did you get out of the cistern?”
“Climbed out,” Nancy said directly. “I used the ladder you gave me.”
Miss Tyson gasped. “That’s impossible.”
Briefly, Nancy told how she had escaped and sent for help.
“‘SP at once,’ ” Ned said with a grin. “Sail-plane at once!”
“Also, send police,” Nancy added.
“These aren’t gliders?” Tooker asked.
“No,” Ned answered. “They’re motorized sailplanes. They were perfect for this job because we flew them here using the motor, then cut it out and landed soundlessly.”
He grinned at Dave. “All we had to do was find two sailplanes. We finally rented these from an airport in the next county. The State Police provided the pilots.”
“Dad,” said Nancy, “how did you hear about the plan?”
“Ned briefed me. He called our house on the chance that I’d returned from Chicago.” Looking at Adam Thorne, Mr. Drew added, “I’m proud of my daughter, Thorne. She planned to take you and your accomplices by surprise, so you couldn’t harm the old ladies before you bolted.”
Lieutenant Mulligan cleared his throat. “Miss Drew, you’re a fine detective.”
Nancy smiled and thanked him.
Adolf Tooker turned to Bell and said angrily, “This is the girl you said would be no trouble?”
“I warned Bell about her,” Thorne spoke up, “but he wouldn’t listen!”
“It’s not my fault,” said Bell, his voice rising nervously. “It’s Thorne’s. Ever since he read about the Comings’ jeweled crystal collection he wanted to steal it. Then he dragged us into the scheme and bungled it! My men were doing all his work!
“Whenever I wanted Tarr and Jackson, they were trailing Nancy Drew in the sedan or spying on that Sylvan Lake place. They even set the dog on her. Twice they snatched Morgan, and Jackson showed the blue fire night after night to scare him. It finally worked. Then suddenly Morgan wouldn’t go along with us, so we had to teach him a lesson.
“As for Tarr,” Bell went on bitterly, “he spent days making the firework wheel and rigging up an asbestos-lined box for it.”
Tarr gave a sickly grin. “All I had to do was shut the door of the box and the blue fire was gone—like magic!”
Jackson’s face was pale. “We only did what Thorne ordered.”
“Be quiet, all of you!” barked Thorne. “Don’t you know there are police listening?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Adolf Tooker said wearily. “They’ll find all the evidence they need here.”
“Is this your whole gang?” Mulligan asked sharply.
Tooker looked around the group which included the gateman with the dog, the pigeon keeper, and the nurse’s aide whom Nancy had startled in the hall.
“Yes.”
Miss Tyson’s assistant was shaking with fright. “I was only doing what Dr. Bell ordered. He told me the patients were too nervous to have visitors.”
“He’s no doctor,” Nancy told her. “And I find it hard to believe Miss Tyson is a real nurse.”
The hard-faced woman shot her a venomous look.
“The police will find out about them all,” Lieutenant Mulligan said grimly.
At that moment two helicopters appeared, lights flashing. They landed on the field and the rotors were silenced.
“Last stage of Nancy’s plan,” Ned said. “Reinforcements!”
“Okay,” called a State Police officer to the arriving troopers. “Load this gang in the copters and take ’em away!”
An hour later Nancy had the biggest thrill of the evening. As she walked into the Comings’ living room with her father and the boys, she saw Mrs. Eldridge seated in a big chair with little Marie asleep on her lap. At one side stood the child’s mother, on the other a tall stranger.
“Nancy,” the old woman said happily, “this is my nephew John. Nancy Drew is the girl who—” Tears filled her eyes and she could not go on.
“Yes,” he said, “Nancy Drew has done a wonderful job. Thank you, Nancy.”
“The hospital called,” said Mrs. Corning. “Morgan will be all right! We’re so grateful to you for clearing up the mystery about him.”
“Will you take him back?” Bess asked.
“Of course. He is honest and faithful. We know his true story. There can’t be any more trouble.”
Nancy thanked her friends for helping her. She gave Bess and George each a squeeze and quickly excused herself to change her clothes. When she came downstairs, Mrs. Corning had a tray of tempting food waiting.
“Oh good!” said Nancy. “Supper was a long time ago. I’m famished!”
While everyone ate, Mrs. Eldridge told what she had learned while a prisoner at Larkspur Lane. Tooker, whose real name was Van Hofwitz, was an international confidence man.
“The sanatorium was his idea,” she said. “He made Bell a partner and he was to pass as a doctor. Thorne had put money into the venture while in prison. As soon as he escaped, he joined the others.”
Mrs. Eldridge went on to say that Von Hofwitz ingratiated himself into various social circles. He would introduce the fake doctor to wealthy ladies who complained of old age.
“I see now how silly I was,” Mrs. Eldridge said. “I was taken in by their suave manners and my own vanity.”
She revealed that the unscrupulous pair would persuade the women to go secretly to the sanatorium. There, using drugs and threats, Bell prevailed upon the patients to sign away large parts of their wealth to him.
Mr. Drew spoke up. “Thorne is a very sharp lawyer and no doubt the contracts he drew for you women to sign seemed harmless enough but could not be changed, even if your relatives tried to break them.”
“But your courage, Mrs. Eldridge,” said Nancy, “helped to put an end to the whole scheme. There are two questions I hope you can answer,” she added. “Why did the gang use
blue
bells in the code?”
“Because Bell was so conceited he wanted his own name in it. Blue, of course, was the color of the flowers growing so profusely around the estate.”
“And why was the pigeon released from the plane?”
“Tooker was flying from the mansion to an appointment with an old woman in Pennsylvania that day. He let the bird go on the way so that it would reach his estate more quickly.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Eldridge, for the answers to my questions,” Nancy said. “And now I’ll go upstairs and get your bracelet for you.”
“No, dear,” said the old lady. “I want you to keep it as a memento.”
“How wonderful!” Nancy hugged her.
Mr. Corning spoke up. “And I am going to order French crystal earrings in the form of tiny larkspurs for you and the other girls.”
“Oh, how exciting!” Bess exclaimed. “Thank you very much.”
George grinned and added her thanks.
Nancy protested that she wanted no reward. “I’m just happy everything turned out right.”
Ned grinned. “If I were to give Nancy the reward she’d like best, I’d hand her another mystery to solve.”
But it was not Ned who would bring
The Clue of the Broken Locket
to Nancy, though he was to play a part in the strange case.
“I’ll find you a mystery by tomorrow morning,” he promised jokingly.
“And I’ll be ready for it,” Nancy said with a twinkle in her eyes. “But make it very, very complicated and original.”

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