The Strange Message in the Parchment (14 page)

When they reached the car and jumped in, Junie immediately told Bess and George what Nancy had accomplished.

“That’s super!” Bess remarked.

“A grand job, Nancy,” George commented.

Just before dinnertime at Triple Creek Farm, the four boys arrived. They looked weary but were exuberant over the day’s achievements.

Ned said, “Mr. Flockhart gave us until tomorrow evening to do our job, but we accomplished so much today, I’m sure it won’t be necessary to take tomorrow too.”

From a pocket he pulled out a sheet of paper. “Here is a list of people who secretly gave Mr. Rocco money to start his agricultural society. So far we’ve been told of cash payments for Rocco of fifty to three hundred dollars. We even saw some receipts. When we examined them though, we realized the farmers and a few employees in small businesses never could prove anything from them.”

Dan added, “Across the top of the sheet was printed Brotherhood of Agriculturists. It listed the amounts correctly, but the signature at the bottom was a scrawl that nobody could decipher.” Nancy wanted to know if the signature was supposed to be Mr. Rocco’s.

“The victims all thought it was that of his top man,” Ned replied.

Burt spoke up. “This man Rocco is quite an organizer, I’d say. When we totaled up the amount, it proved to be thousands of dollars.”

Dave remarked, “If Mr. Flockhart wants us to go ahead, we still have a long list of people to see.”

Nancy thought their work was astounding and said so. “But how did you get the people to talk?”

All the boys grinned and Ned said, “Oh, it was easy.” He turned to his fellow workers and said, “Shall we tell our secret?”

 

 

 

As Ned and the other boys delayed telling the story of obtaining statements from people who had given Sal Rocco’s henchmen money, Nancy urged them to begin.

“All right,” Ned said. “The boys and I pretended without saying so that we are already members of the association.” He grinned. “We must be pretty convincing because nobody questioned us.”

Burt took up the story. “We said we were becoming very suspicious of Mr. Rocco because we had heard nothing from him. We learned that nobody else had, either.”

“In fact,” Dave put in, “by the time we had talked to each one for a while, we felt convinced that most of the people were ready to protest. Each person was reluctant to be the one to organize a march on Rocco’s men.”

Dan said that a few people had telephoned the Rocco home and had tried to get some information. “The owner either was not there or refused to come to the phone.”

Nancy asked, “So they didn’t learn anything?”

Ned shook his head. “The farmers who did talk to one of Rocco’s men were assured that everything was fine and that they would hear about an organization meeting soon.”

Dan added, “Each of those callers got a lecture on helping unfortunate people, which was the same one they had received when being asked to join the association.”

Burt remarked, “It’s quite a lingo that Rocco has worked up. At first I was inclined to believe it myself!”

George asked, “What I’d like to know is, where is Mr. Rocco keeping all the money he had his men collect?”

“Good question,” Dan replied. “I know the president of the local bank. How about my phoning him to see if Mr. Rocco made a lot of deposits there?”

The others thought this was a good idea, so Dan called. The answer, however, was disappointing. Mr. Rocco kept an account there from which he drew checks to pay bills and get small amounts of cash, but he had never deposited large amounts. Most of the income was from products sold from his farm.

Junie heaved a sigh. “Another dead-end clue!”

The others laughed, then Bess asked Nancy, “Have you any hunches about what Mr. Rocco might have done with the money?”

“I’ve been thinking about it,” the young sleuth replied. “It’s possible that he has hidden the cash right on his own farm.”

“On his own farm?” Bess repeated.

“Sure, there are a million places he could hide his money—in an old suitcase, atop the loft in a barn—”

“He could’ve planted it in the cornfield!” the plump girl quipped.

“Or in the bottom of a well!” her cousin added.

“Stop teasing Nancy,” Ned said, circling his arm around her shoulder. “She’s trying to solve a mystery and—”

Nancy smiled warmly at her friend. “I can always count on you for help, though,” she said, causing the boy’s face to redden.

“Maybe we ought to leave the lovebirds alone, Bess, to figure out this case,” George put in.

“Now, now,” Nancy replied. “I need everybody’s ideas.”

Further conversation was interrupted by the ring of the telephone. Junie went to answer it. During her absence the others began asking one another questions on angles of the mystery.

“What I can’t understand,” said Bess, “is why Mr. Rocco is so mean and cruel to his young nephew.”

They all decided that this was an important part of the mystery and they hoped it would soon be cleared up.

Dan said, “I’m sure the authorities will take this boy away and put him in a school or a home where he will be given kindness.”

At this moment Junie rushed back into the room. “Guess what?” she said. “Mrs. Bolardo has arrived in this country. Right now she is at Mr. Caspari’s house. She wants to come over here at once so she can see her son.”

“Her son!” the others in the room cried out.

Junie said the artist had told her that the full story had to wait until Mrs. Bolardo arrived at the Flockhart farm. “He’s going to bring her right over, but it’s a fairly long drive.”

The girl’s announcement had come like a real bombshell to the listeners. So Tony’s real name was Tony Bolardo ! While waiting for Mr. Caspari to drive in, the group of young people tried to work, but found themselves gathering to discuss the mystery.

Bess remarked, “It’s getting more exciting by the minute!”

Finally Mr. Caspari arrived with the woman artist from Italy. She proved to be beautiful and charming. Both Mr. and Mrs. Flockhart had come to meet her, and she returned their welcome in perfect English. After the pleasantries were over, her expression changed.

“My son! Where is he? I want to see him at once! He was stolen from met” she cried out.

Mrs. Flockhart sat down on the sofa beside her and took the woman’s hand in hers. “Please tell us the whole story from beginning to end,” she requested.

If she had hoped to calm Mrs. Bolardo, she failed. With each sentence the artist uttered, she became more emotional. “What does my son Tony look like?” she asked.

Nancy told her that he was a handsome child. “He looks like you and he shows great promise as an artist.”

“Oh, I am so glad, I am so glad!” Mrs. Bolardo said. “But tell me where he is. I want to see him!”

Junie told her that they had Tony hidden away and would go to see him in a little while.

“We took him away from his uncle because the man was mean and cruel to him.”

“That dreadful man!” Mrs. Bolardo exclaimed. “I will tell you the whole story. My husband and I were very happily married and excited beyond words when little Tony was born. My husband had some business to take care of, so he went off on a steamer. Unfortunately it was in an accident with a sailing vessel, and he was killed.”

“That’s terrible!” Bess murmured.

Mrs. Bolardo went on to say that her husband’s brother Salvatore was the executor of her husband’s estate.

“Sal wanted me to marry him but I refused. In revenge Sal took all the money that was left to me, stole my precious baby, and disappeared. I have searched and searched for them, but until now, never had a lead.”

Tears began to trickle down Bess’s cheeks. She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief and remarked, “For ten years you never heard about them?”

Mrs. Bolardo shook her head.

George mentioned that Tony’s name was not really Tony Rocco, but Tony Bolardo. His mother said that actually his full name was Antonio Rocco Bolardo. The name Rocco was his paternal grandmother’s before she married.

The woman artist continued, “Right after my husband’s death I painted four pictures on parchment to tell the story. Little Tony’s abductor also took that.”

“So you are the woman in one painting!” Junie exclaimed, and Mrs. Bolardo nodded.

Nancy said she was sorry she could not show the parchment to the woman because it had been stolen. “I made some rough sketches in imitation of it,” she said. “But the real clues to finding you were the initials on the back of your picture.”

Mrs. Bolardo suddenly stood up. “Please take me to my boy!” she pleaded. “Where is he?”

Everyone felt convinced that the woman was not an impostor. It was decided that she and Nancy would go alone to Eezy’s cabin.

Mr. Flockhart added, “I think it best if we form ourselves into a group of guards. We can station ourselves around the hillside among the sheep, so that if any of Mr. Rocco’s men follow Mrs. Bolardo and Nancy, we can head them off.”

Nancy said, “Wouldn’t it be a good idea also to inform the police of what has happened and to send men out to keep track of Mr. Rocco?”

The farm owner thought this was a very good suggestion and went at once to phone the police. He talked to Officer Browning, who promised to take care of all the details.

Junie spoke up. “Dad, wouldn’t it be a good idea to try getting Mr. Rocco into his own house and to be there when we all come with Tony and his mother?”

“I’ll mention that to Officer Browning,” her father agreed.

Several cars were to be used in the operation. Nancy and Mrs. Bolardo rode in one, in the center of the line. Each car parked at a different place, and the group walked up the hillside in twos and threes.

“This is lovely country,” Mrs. Bolardo remarked to Nancy when they got out. “I guess it has been a good healthy place to bring up Tony. But it is dreadful that he has never been to a school or made any friends.”

Most of the sheep were lying down, and the two climbers walking among them did not seem to disturb the animals. It was so quiet that Nancy mentioned it to her companion.

“I don’t see the shepherd either,” Nancy said as she gazed around, realizing the man was not at his usual station in front of the cabin. They walked up and called out his name, but there was no answer.

Nancy peered inside the cabin. No one was there! The girl thought this was very strange, and suddenly began to worry that something had happened to the elderly man. And what about Tony?

Without showing the agitation she felt, the girl detective told Mrs. Bolardo that Tony worked and studied in a well-hidden bower behind the cabin. Carefully they proceeded, parting branches of trees and shrubbery as they went.

Finally they reached the arbor and looked in. Mrs. Bolardo screamed and Nancy caught her breath. Eezy and Tony had been trussed up, and were lying inert on the ground!

“Oh, how dreadful!” Mrs. Bolardo cried out. “My son! My beloved boy! What have they done to you?”

Nancy jumped forward to remove the gags and ropes that bound the two tightly. Before she could reach them, strong arms came around her and yanked the girl backward. Mrs. Bolardo received the same treatment.

“Let me go!” Nancy cried out, struggling to pull free of her captor.

“Be quiet or you’ll get something worse!” her unknown assailant hissed into her ear.

Nancy glanced at Mrs. Bolardo. A man was holding one hand tightly over the woman’s chest and was stuffing a gag into her mouth!

 

 

 

THE men who had captured Nancy and Mrs. Bolardo were masked and wore dark coveralls. She could not identify her assailants.

They trussed up Nancy and the Italian woman as they had Eezy and Tony. No doubt they had just finished their work on the shepherd and the boy when they heard voices and spotted the girl and her companion coming up the hillside.

Nancy could hardly wait for the two men to leave. Surely the boys would capture the attackers somewhere among the sheep as they hurried away. Besides, she wanted to try untying some of the knots that bound Eezy’s wrists.

There was a moment of panic for the prisoners when one of the captors lifted Tony and swung the boy over his shoulder. He was going to take him away! The other captor whispered something in his ear, however, and the man laid down his victim. “We’ll come back for you after dark,” he told Tony.

“Evidently they’re afraid to go any farther at this time,” Nancy thought.

Finally the dark-clothed figures left. At once Nancy wiggled over to Eezy’s side. He understood what she wanted to do, and rolled over. It took her several minutes to free his hands. In turn, he untied the knots of the ropes that bound her wrists. After that it did not take long to remove all the gags and untie their ankles.

Mrs. Bolardo had been so frightened she seemed speechless, but Nancy said, “Tony, I have a wonderful surprise for you. This is your mother!”

The boy stared, unbelieving, but Mrs. Bolardo rushed to him and hugged her child. “Tonio! Tonio!” she exclaimed, and then went on, speaking rapidly in Italian.

At first Tony could not believe what he had heard, but as his mother talked and told him about his own kidnapping and his thieving uncle, he believed her story and put his arms around her.

All this time Eezy had stood by, speechless. He swung his head from side to side, and kept mumbling, “I can’t believe it!”

Mrs. Bolardo heard him. She let go of Tony and addressed herself to the shepherd. “It is true! And the main part of the credit goes to wonderful Nancy Drew!”

Tony now surprised them all by saying in per-feet English, “Thank you. Thank you very much. This is a very happy day for me and my mother.”