The Mystery of the 99 Steps (3 page)

“Bess,” Nancy said suddenly, “I just had a brainstorm. Maybe Marie and Monique will sing some madrigals.”

“Marvelous!” Bess exclaimed. “Oh, Nancy, you’re a whiz. Hurry up and ask them.”

At first the French girls demurred, feeling that they did not sing well enough to perform in public. When Nancy, backed by Mrs. Gruen, assured the sisters they sang beautifully, the girls consented.

Monique said happily, “Marie and I brought old-time costumes used by singers in the Loire valley. We thought Tante Josette would like to see them.”

“That’s great,” said Nancy, hugging the girls.

When she told Bess the good news, there was a squeal of delight from the other end of the wire. “I’ll pick up Marie and Monique at seven-thirty,” said Bess.

Nancy requested that the sisters come last on the program. “I’ll try to finish my visit with Mrs. Blair in time to hear them.”

A little later when Marie and Monique came downstairs in their costumes, Nancy and Mrs. Gruen clapped in admiration. The long-skirted bouffant dresses with tight bodices were made of fine flowered silk. Marie’s was blue and trimmed with narrow strips of matching velvet. Her sister’s was rose color with festoons of shirred white lace.

The girls’ hair was piled high on their heads and they had powdered it to look like the wigs worn by the elegant ladies of the eighteenth century. On one cheek of each singer was a tiny black patch, another custom of the day.

“You will make a great hit,” Mrs. Gruen prophesied.

“Merci beaucoup,”
said Marie, her cheeks flushed with excitement. “Mrs. Gruen, are you not going?”

“I hadn’t planned to, since Nancy was not performing,” the housekeeper replied.

At once the three girls urged her to attend. Hannah beamed. “All right. It won’t take me long to change.”

She hurried to her room and soon returned in a becoming navy-blue dress. A few moments later Bess arrived for her passengers and they left. Nancy set off in her car for Mrs. Blair’s apartment.

The attractive woman, about forty years old, opened the door and said eagerly, “I found some notes in Mother’s diary that may help us.”

She sat down beside Nancy on a low couch in the living room and opened a small red-velvet-covered book. The writing was precise and quite faded in places.

“I’ve had a hard time deciphering this,” said Mrs. Blair. “It tells mostly of my parents’ travels, and mentions that I went along sometimes. But I was always with my governess.”

“Then the experience you dream about,” Nancy guessed, “could have included your governess. Is she still living in France?”

“I really don’t know. To me she was just ‘Mademoiselle’ and that is what she’s called in the diary. She was very kind, I remember. I was only three years old at the time.”

Mrs. Blair gave the names of several famous chateaux they had visited. Another was where Marie and Monique lived.

Nancy’s eyes sparkled. “Now we have something to work on! We’ll go to each chateau and look for the 99 steps!”

“Another place mentioned in the diary, Chateau Loire, was mostly in ruins,” Mrs. Blair went on. “It says the place was haunted by a ghostly alchemist who carried on his work there. You know, Nancy, in olden times people were superstitious about chemists and their experiments, and they were forbidden by law to work their ‘miracles.’ ”

“But they did it in secret?” Nancy asked.

“Oh, yes. They had all kinds of signs, and symbols and special words to indicate to other people in their group what they had accomplished.”

“How clever—and daring!” said Nancy.

Mrs. Blair arose and took a book from a shelf. It too was in French. She showed it to Nancy. “One of the interesting sets of symbols includes a Red King, White Queen, Gray Wolf, Black Crow, and Green Lion. The Red King stood for gold; the White Queen, for silver. I don’t understand the meaning of the crow, but the Green Lion-he’s a bad one. He devours the sun—or in other words, he’s acid making the silver or gold look green.”

“That’s fascinating!” Nancy exclaimed.

“Yes, it is,” the woman agreed. “And it’s hard to realize that the forbidden art of alchemy finally became the basis for our modern chemistry. In the sixteenth century alchemists believed that minerals grew, so certain mines were closed to give the metals a chance to rest and grow.”

Nancy listened intently as Mrs. Blair went on, “For a long time people laughed at this idea. But today chemists have discovered that metals do literally grow and change, though very slowly. My goodness!” the woman exclaimed. “We have wandered off the subject of our mystery, Nancy. But actually I didn’t find any other clues to my dream or the 99 steps’ incident of my childhood.”

Nancy glanced at her wrist watch. She was reluctant to leave, but would still have time to hear Marie and Monique perform. She invited Mrs. Blair to accompany her, but the woman declined because of her sprained ankle.

Nancy arose, saying she must go. “You have given me a lot to work on, Mrs. Blair. I’ll certainly be busy in France!
Au revoir,
and I hope I’ll soon have good news for you.”

Nancy hurried to the school auditorium where the Teeners were giving their show. She quietly slid into a rear seat in the dim light.

The Bardot sisters had just been announced and came out before the footlights. Standing with their heads close together, they began to sing. At the end of the number the applause was terrific.

As it died down, and the sisters started the second madrigal, Nancy’s eyes wandered over the audience. Suddenly she caught her breath. Directly across the aisle in the center of a row sat Claude Aubert!

“I must get the police before he leaves!” Nancy thought. Quickly and unobtrusively she made her way outside.

 

 

 

WHEN Nancy reached the street she looked back to see if Claude Aubert were following, but evidently he had been unaware of her presence in the auditorium. She ran to a nearby street telephone and called police headquarters.

The officer on duty promised to send two plain-clothes detectives to the school at once. Nancy said she would meet them in the lobby, and hurried back to the school. As she entered the lobby she heard enthusiastic clapping and assumed Marie and Monique had finished their act.

“Oh, I hope Claude doesn’t come out here before those detectives arrive,” Nancy thought worriedly. She peered inside the auditorium. He was still in his seat.

Fortunately the audience insisted upon encores. Just before the show ended, Detective Panzer and Detective Keely walked into the lobby.

Nancy quickly led them inside and pointed out their quarry. Suddenly Claude Aubert arose, pushed into the side aisle, and, without limping, hurried toward the stage.

“Come on!” Nancy urged the detectives. “He may be planning to harm the Bardots!”

The three hurried after the French ex-gardener. He went through the door that led up a short flight of stairs to the stage. To the left of the steps was an exit to the parking lot. When the pursuers reached the spot, the suspect was not in sight.

“Where did he go?” Nancy asked in dismay.

Detective Panzer yanked open the exit door and reported, “I don’t see him.” He and Keely dashed outside.

The next instant a scream came from somewhere backstage. Electrified, Nancy raced up the steps where a throng milled about on stage. Many persons were asking, “What happened?”

A sob could be heard above the noise. Nancy went to investigate and found Monique in hysterics. Marie was trying to comfort her.

Seeing Nancy, they cried out together, “He threatened us!”

“Claude Aubert?”

“Yes,” said Monique. “He grasped my arm so hard I screamed. Then Claude said in French, “ ‘If you sisters let Nancy Drew go to France, you will suffer and she will tool’”

“He
must
be Monsieur Neuf!” Marie added fearfully.

“Where did he go?” Nancy asked.

Marie pointed to the opposite side of the stage from where Nancy had entered. When Nancy reached it, she found an exit to a walk that ran behind the building to the parking lot.

Nancy was elated. Mr. Nine was trapped! The walk ran between the school and a high concrete wall. There was no way out except through the parking lot. By this time the detectives must have nabbed the suspect!

Nancy dashed along the walk to the lot and stared ahead. A large crowd was making its way to the cars and some of the automobiles had already started to move out. The detectives were not in sight. Neither was Claude Aubert.

“Oh great!”
Nancy groaned in disgust. Then she took heart. “Maybe he’s already been captured and is on his way to jail!”

Nevertheless, Nancy searched thoroughly among the cars, but saw neither Claude Aubert nor the detectives. She returned to the stage. By this time Monique had calmed down and was receiving congratulations with her sister from many persons for their excellent performance.

“You certainly made a hit,” said Bess, coming up with George. “Just as Hannah said.”

“Oh, thank you.” The Bardots smiled.

George added, “Someone told us a fresh guy came up and bothered you. Who was he?”

“A Frenchman who threatened Marie and me if we let Nancy make the trip.”

“Such nerve!” George exclaimed. “What’s his name?”

Nancy whispered it, then brought Bess and George up to date, telling of her suspicion that Aubert was Monsieur Neuf.

“Wow!” said George. “Mr. Nine must be worried you’ll solve the mystery.”

In a low tone Nancy said, “We’d better go home, and I’ll call headquarters to see what happened to the detectives.”

They found Mrs. Gruen waiting in Nancy’s convertible. After bidding good night to Bess and George, Nancy drove off. The housekeeper was astounded at the story of the threat.

“Starting tonight, I’m going to keep the burglar alarm on all the time!” she declared. “I’m glad we had it put in.”

Nancy grinned. “Marie and Monique, be careful not to come home unexpectedly. You may scare Hannah.”

“Just the same,” said Mrs. Gruen, “I don’t like this whole thing. Nancy, perhaps you ought to postpone your trip for at least a few days.”

“I can’t,” Nancy replied. “Dad and Mrs. Blair are counting on me. Let’s not worry until we find out if Claude Aubert has been captured.”

As soon as she reached home Nancy telephoned the police. The suspect, she learned, had not been brought in. Furthermore, Detective Panzer and Detective Keely had neither returned nor phoned a report.

“We assume they’re still tailing their man,” the desk sergeant added.

Nancy hung up, her mind in a turmoil. How had Claude Aubert escaped? Where would he show up next?

“I’ll bet,” she thought, “that it will be right here. I’m glad the burglar alarm is on.”

After a pre-bedtime snack, Mrs. Gruen and the girls went upstairs. Nancy, who had some final packing to do, was the last one to retire. Some time later she was awakened abruptly by a loud ringing.

Instantly the young detective was out of bed and pulling on her robe and slippers. She dashed to a window and leaned out, hoping to spot the intruder. Seeing no one, Nancy sped to her father’s room in the front of the house and peered below.

“Oh, they’ve caught him!” she exulted.

In the rays of a flashlight, the two plainclothesmen were holding a tall, long-faced man. Aubert? Just then Mrs. Gruen, Marie, and Monique rushed in.

Nancy cried out, “The detectives got the burglar! Hurry! Let’s go down!”

She quickly led the way, turning on lights as she went, and flung open the front door. The detectives marched their prisoner, now limping, into the hall. Claude Aubert!

“Hello, Miss Drew,” said Detective Keely. “We saw your lights go on and thought you’d like to know we got this fellow.”

“Bud here and I had a wild chase,” Panzer told Nancy. “We got clues to Aubert from people all over town who saw him, but we missed him every time. We figured he might come here, so Bud and I hid near your house and waited. We let him try to jimmy the window, then nabbed him red-handed.”

Nancy expressed the theory that the fugitive had eluded them at the school by running in front of the stage curtains, jumping from the platform, and mingling with the crowd leaving the auditorium. The policemen agreed. “That’s why we all missed him,” said Detective Keely.

The prisoner was prodded into the living room. His black eyes glared malevolently at the three girls. The man’s lips moved but no intelligible sounds came through them. A quick search of his pockets by Keely revealed no passport or other identification.

As soon as Mrs. Gruen and the girls were seated, Detective Panzer ordered, “Okay, Aubert. Talk! Tell everything from the beginning. Why and how did you sneak into this country and under what name?”

Silence.

Nancy spoke to the detectives. “I haven’t introduced my friends from France—Marie and Monique Bardot. Perhaps they can act as interpreters.”

“Good idea,” Detective Keely agreed.

Marie was spokesman. She relayed questions from Nancy and the police to the prisoner about the threatening letters to Mrs. Blair and the Drews; the helicopter ride; the faked illness in front of Nancy’s car, and his inconsistent limping. No answers from Aubert.

Finally Detective Panzer said, “We’ll go now. A night in jail may loosen this man’s tongue. He’ll learn he can’t run around threatening people.”

After the men had left, Mrs. Gruen said, “We should all be thankful that awful man is in custody. Nancy—you, Bess, and George can go to France with nothing to worry about.”

Nancy merely smiled. She was not so sure! The group exchanged good nights again and retired. Soon Nancy began to dream. She kept chasing after a man who carried a large sign reading: