Stop the Clock (Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Detective Book 12) (6 page)

“Right!” Ned agreed. “Ralph Mullins would then give Mr. Franklin part of the money that he made when he sold it.”

I nodded. “I wonder where they would be meeting now.”

“I guess we should have followed Mr. Mullins when he left,” Ned said. “Sorry, Nancy.”

“Don’t be sorry, Ned. It’s not your fault,” I said. “I
hadn’t fit the last piece of the puzzle when I told you to drive over to Mr. Franklin’s house.”

Ned looked at his watch. “Now what?” he asked.

“I don’t think there’s anything else we can do now. Why don’t you just take me back to my car, so I can go home and get cleaned up for the party tonight,” I suggested. “I also want to talk to Dad about the case. He may have some more ideas.”

“Home it is,” Ned said.

I pulled into our driveway right behind Dad, so we headed into the house together. I started immediately to fill him in on the case, and on the way to his study, we paused at the kitchen door. “We’re home, Hannah!” Dad said. “Something smells good.”

“It’s almost ready,” Hannah said. “I thought you were still going to Ned’s, Nancy, so there’s just enough here for your father. But if you’re not, it won’t be any trouble to—”

“No, no, you’re fine, Hannah,” I said, interrupting. “Ned and I still have plans for tonight.”

As we continued on toward Dad’s study, I thought about how really lucky I am to have Carson Drew as a father. We have a great relationship, one that a lot of my friends are really envious of. Of course, it’s also nice that my father is one of the most prominent attorneys in River Heights. Besides the normal
father-daughter things we talk about, we also discuss each other’s cases in general terms—only when the information is pertinent, of course. I only run into problems when a case is risky; Dad doesn’t want to hear all the details about the dangers I face.

As Dad set his briefcase down on his desk, I decided to jump right in, asking some of the questions I had for him. “Dad, do the names Ralph Mullins or Willy Franklin mean anything to you?”

“Isn’t Mr. Franklin the janitor at the Mahoney Library?” Dad said.

I nodded. “Yes, he is,” I replied.

“Well, that’s the extent of my information about him, but Ralph Mullins is another story,” Dad said.

I arched an eyebrow. “Oh, really?” I said. “Is it anything you can talk about?”

“There’s no attorney-client relationship, if that’s what you mean,” Dad said. “In fact, it was one of
my
clients who Ralph Mullins tried to swindle out of a lot of money several years ago.”

“This is sounding more and more promising,” I said. I finished telling Dad about the events of the morning, and then about what Ned and I had seen that afternoon. “What happened to your case—the one that involved Ralph?” I asked.

“My client’s doctor convinced his family that a trial would be harmful to his health, so they moved him to a
nursing home in Oklahoma and dropped the charges,” Dad said. “He was already sick when it began.”

“That’s too bad,” I said.

“Yes, it is,” Dad said. “I can tell you this much, Nancy,” he continued. “During the preliminary hearings for my case, I heard all about Ralph Mullins and the schemes he’s been involved in over the years. He seems like the kind of man who is always thinking up illegal ways to make money.”

Ned’s family friend was delayed in Washington at the last minute, so the party that night was canceled. Ned and I decided to go to Pizza Mia, one of the best brick-oven pizzerias in River Heights. I filled him in on what Dad had told me about Ralph Mullins, and then I quizzed him over and over on the questions he was sure would be on his test the next day. We were the last ones to leave the restaurant—but since Ned and I go there often, the owner doesn’t mind if we hang around till closing.

I didn’t realize how tired I actually was until I woke up the next morning with a start. Hannah was knocking on my door.

“I hate to disturb you, Nancy, but Bess, George, and a really nice-looking young man are waiting for you in the living room,” she said. “Bess said you had a library committee meeting this morning.”

“Oh, I do! I guess I forgot to set my alarm last night,” I said. “Will you tell them I’ll be out in just a couple of minutes?”

“Okay, dear,” Hannah said.

I quickly showered, dressed, and made myself as presentable as I could in a short period of time. But really, I can’t win when it comes to fashion. When I went into the living room, Bess had a comment. “Nancy,” she said, “we really don’t mind waiting until you get ready—”

I rolled my eyes. “I
am
ready, Bess!” I said.

Bess actually blushed. She’d been serious. “Oops!”

George and Ellis were dressed in track suits. “I see you two have been out running,” I said.

“Well, we didn’t actually make it to the track,” George said. I detected some anger in her voice, so I knew that something had happened to irritate her.

“It’s my fault,” Ellis said with a wide smile. “I just got to talking to Bess about all kinds of different things, and the time just got away from us.”

I was getting the picture. George had made a date with Ellis to run in the park. Ellis, who couldn’t stand it if a girl didn’t fall all over him, decided that it was more important to bring Bess into his camp than to honor his promise to run with George. What a jerk.

Just then I heard the telephone ring. Since I knew Ned was taking a test, and the only other people
who call me were both standing in front of me, I doubted it was for me. I was wrong.

Hannah appeared at the door to the living room. “Nancy, it’s Mrs. Corning,” she said. “She sounds really upset about something.”

I went into the kitchen and picked up the receiver. “Good morning, Mrs. Corning,” I said, as cheerfully as I could.

“There’s nothing good about it, Nancy,” Mrs. Corning said. “Everyone’s stories are gone—and now we have no theme for the celebration. And you’re aware of our tight deadline. I’m afraid your carelessness is going to ruin the library celebration!”

This Is Not a Coincidence!

I
was so stung
by Mrs. Corning’s accusation that I couldn’t speak at first—and before I could find any words, my ear was assaulted by a loud dial tone. Mrs. Corning had hung up.

“What’s wrong, Nancy?” Hannah asked. “From the look on your face, I know that wasn’t good news.”

“Hannah, this library celebration is turning into a nightmare,” I managed to say. “I’m beginning to think that I’m one of those people who brings everyone bad luck.”

“Nancy Drew! What are you talking about?” Hannah exclaimed. “I have several scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, where people you’ve helped over the years are praising you to the skies. We can look at them again if you need to . . .”

Hannah threatens to pull out the scrapbooks whenever I’m feeling frustrated. But that wasn’t really what I needed at that moment. “That’s okay. But, well, my luck may have just run out,” I said. I still couldn’t believe how angry Mrs. Corning had sounded. “I’ll tell you more about it later.”

When I got back to the living room, I saw that my friends had heard me talking to Hannah. They looked pretty worried. “I have to go to the library,” I said. “It’s kind of an emergency. Do you three want to ride with me?”

Ellis looked at his watch. “I would, Nancy, but I have the morning off, and I wanted to do some errands after George and I ran this morning.” He turned to George and shrugged. “Sorry we didn’t make it to the track,” he said. “What about later today?”

“I can’t,” George said. She must have realized how frosty that sounded, so she added, “But I’ll call you tomorrow and see if we can set up something else.”

“Okay,” Ellis said. He gave her one of his big smiles. Frankly, it seemed even phonier now than the first time I saw him do it. “You’re welcome to join us,” he said to Bess.

“I’ll pass, Ellis,” Bess said, then turned immediately to me. “Let’s take care of this emergency.”

Out of the corner of one eye, I saw Ellis frown—but he quickly covered it up.

“See everyone later,” Ellis said.

“Okay,” I said.

I waited until Ellis had let himself out before I filled my friends in. “That was Mrs. Corning,” I said. “It seems that all the remembrances about the clock that everyone wrote down yesterday have disappeared.”

“What?”
Bess and George said in unison.

“How could that have happened?” George said.

“Mrs. Corning said it was because of my carelessness,” I told them.

“Mrs. Corning said that?” Bess said.

I nodded. “I put those papers on the desk she assigned me in the Reference Section,” I said. “She said that desk was safe—for library staff only. But someone must have taken them deliberately.”

“Who would do that?” George asked.

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” I said. “Come on!”

We went out to the garage, got into my car, and headed to the library.

When we arrived, we went straight to Mrs. Corning’s office. She was just hanging up the telephone. She saw us and motioned us inside.

“Have a seat, girls,” Mrs. Corning said. She stood up, came around from behind the desk, and sat down with us.

“Mrs. Corning, I am positive that I put those recollections that people wrote about the clock on top of the desk you assigned me,” I began. “I remember doing it. I just don’t understand how this happened.”

“Perhaps you just
think
you did that, Nancy,” Mrs. Corning countered. “Yesterday was quite a strain on all of us. Maybe you just absentmindedly put them in the wastebasket instead of on top of the desk—because that’s where Mr. Franklin found them.”

“Mr. Franklin?”
I said. I looked at Bess and George.

“Yes,” Mrs. Corning said. “I had to call him this morning about another matter, and that’s when he mentioned the recollections.”

“What did he say?” George asked.

“He said that last night, when he was cleaning up the library, he saw them in the wastebasket by Nancy’s assigned desk,” Mrs. Corning said. “He told me that he thought at the time that it was strange, since Nancy made such a big production out of getting people to write down what they remembered about the old library clock—but he said he just decided that you had changed your mind.”

“No, I hadn’t changed my mind, and I would not have just thrown those papers away,” I said angrily. “Somebody deliberately put them in the wastebasket!”

“Oh, Nancy, that is preposterous!” Mrs. Corning said. “Who would do that?”

“Someone who’s trying to sabotage the seventy-fifth anniversary library celebration, that’s who!” I said. I looked straight at Mrs. Corning. “I don’t suppose you’d know what Mr. Franklin was doing yesterday afternoon between four and six o’clock?”

“Well, as a matter of fact I do. He was doing some yard work for me—for which I pay him very well, if you’re thinking that I ask my employees to do personal things without compensation,” Mrs. Corning said. She stood up. “Nancy, I’ve never known you to blame other people for your mistakes, but if this celebration is to succeed, then you’ll just have to be more careful about what you do.” Mrs. Corning turned and started back to her desk. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are other things going on in the library that I simply must take care of.”

I knew I had to get out of there before I said some things that I would regret later. I couldn’t believe that the very person who had asked me to chair the library decoration committee and to help find the missing library clock had now turned against me. Someone had deliberately set out not only to scuttle the library celebration, but to destroy my reputation at the same time, and I was determined to find out who it was.

I led the way out of Mrs. Corning’s office, with Bess and George right behind me—but instead of stopping at my desk, I headed toward the opposite side of the reference stacks, where I knew there were some secluded tables. I had to think, and I didn’t want anybody else around right now except Bess and George.

“What was that all about?” Bess said, as the three of us sat down.

I shrugged. “My head’s still swimming from all the accusations that have been hurled at me,” I said. “I’m trying to put it all together.”

“I don’t think any of this is just a coincidence, Nancy,” George said. “Somebody is behind it.”

“Oh, I agree, George—and now I have to find out who,” I said.

“Well, just start naming names, Nancy,” Bess suggested, “and then you can see who would have the best motive.”

“Mr. Franklin has moved back to the top of my list, because of what happened to the essays,” I said.

“That makes sense, but why did you want to know where he was yesterday afternoon?” Bess asked.

I told them about how Ned and I had driven by both the Mullins and Franklin houses. “It occurred to me that they might have planned to steal the library clock together,” I said. I elaborated on my
theory. “They may not have been meeting yesterday afternoon, like I thought at first, but that still doesn’t mean they aren’t in this thing together.”

“That certainly makes sense,” George said.

“That’s what I thought too,” I said.

Just then I looked up to see Ned striding our way. I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t happy about something.

Since I didn’t want anyone to remind me that we were in a library, I waited until he reached us to say anything.

“This is a surprise,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

Ned gave me one of his looks. “I called your house and Hannah said you’d just left, so I left you a message here that I’d be right over,” he said. “I just wanted to see how things are going for you. I don’t know which librarian I talked to, but whoever answered your phone said she’d tell you or leave you a note.”

“I’m sorry, Ned,” I said. “I didn’t check my desk.” I looked at Bess and George. “But that’s exactly what I’m going to do now.”

The three of them followed me over to my desk, which was secluded from the other reference librarian by a couple of bookcases. I probably wouldn’t have been so lucky, but the library was in the process
of hiring another reference librarian, so this desk was available.