The Swami's Ring (2 page)

“Exactly.”

Nancy excused herself to telephone the Marvin home. To her delight, Bess answered.

“Just a minute, Nancy. Let me put George on, too. She’s here.”

“Great, because I need to talk to both of you.”

“Uh-oh,” Bess said. “I have a feeling we’re in for another adventure—n-nothing dangerous, I hope.”

Nancy laughed lightly while her friend called George to an extension phone. Then, as briefly as possible, the girl told them about Cliff.

“I’d like you to meet him,” Nancy said. “Can you come over to the hospital?”

“Sure,” Bess and George chorused eagerly.

By the time they reached Rosemont Hospital, Cliff was awake again, and Nancy introduced her friends. Afterwards, George asked if any identification had been found on the patient.

“Apparently not,” Nancy said.

“The only thing he was carrying was a knapsack,” Lisa advised.

She pulled the heavy canvas bag out of the closet.

“Cliff, would you object if I went through it?” Nancy asked.

“No, of course not.”

While everyone watched, she removed several articles of clothing and an envelope with money in it. Then her fingers felt the lining of the bag. An unexpected thickness in the material suggested a hidden pocket.

“Did you find something else?” Bess asked, breaking the silence.

“Could be.”

She opened the pocket and rolled the contents into her palm.

“Don’t keep us in suspense,” George begged as Nancy took her hand out.

When she opened it, everyone gasped at the girl’s discovery. It was a large, gold ring, extremely ornate and obviously meant for a very fat finger!

“That would swim on Cliffs hand,” Lisa observed.

Nancy glanced at the young man, whose eyes were riveted on the unusual ring. Was this the one he had been accused of stealing?

“Cliff,” Nancy said, holding the ring out to him, “does this mean anything to you?”

He blinked his eyes as if struggling to remember. “I—I, no, it doesn’t.”

“I don’t think it should be left unguarded in this closet,” Nancy announced. “Can we put it in the hospital safe until I come back with my magnifying glass? I’d like to examine it further.”

“Definitely,” Lisa replied, “if that’s all right with Cliff.”

Lisa promised to take the ring downstairs as soon as she gave him his medication. Nancy, meanwhile, led Bess and George to the office of Dr. Randolph, the director of Rosemont Hospital. He was a tall, heavyset man in his late fifties.

“It’s nice to see Carson Drew’s daughter on our volunteer staff,” he said, greeting Nancy.

The lawyer was on the board of the hospital and a personal friend of Dr. Randolph.

“I suppose you’ve heard about your amnesia patient,” Nancy said.

“Of course. He’s the most exciting thing that’s happened around here all week!” the man replied. “Not that it’s so exciting for him, poor guy. We called Chief McGinnis to see if anyone on the police department’s list of missing persons fits his description.”

“What did you find out?” George asked.

“Absolutely nothing. The police wanted to know if Cliff had been physically assaulted,” Dr. Randolph went on. “But there was no evidence of that, according to Dr. Anderson.”

“In other words,” Bess said, “there’s no reason for the police to get involved—”

“Yet,” Nancy added in a serious tone.

“Why, what do you mean?” Dr. Randolph replied.

The girl told him about the bearded stranger, his accusation, and her discovery of the ring. “At the moment, it’s our only clue to Cliffs identity,” she said, “and I’d like to study it some more.”

“Good idea, Nancy.”

Promising to keep the man posted on all developments, she and her friends stepped out into the hallway.

“When I signed on as a volunteer, I was asked to help distribute flowers, so I’ll do that now,” the young detective told Bess and George. “Maybe we ought to put our heads together later.”

“Call us when you get home,” George said.

Nancy immediately headed for the main lobby, where several colorful floral arrangements were displayed on a c6unter.

“These are for the third floor, and this one’s for the sixth,” the clerk told Nancy.

She fastened her eyes on the latter in surprise. The card was marked TOMMY JOHNSON. Was it her neighborhood friend? Curious, she went to Pediatrics on the sixth floor first. The boy’s mother was just emerging from his room.

“Mrs. Johnson!” Nancy cried.

Without questioning Nancy’s presence at Rosemont, the woman blurted out her story.

“Tommy was riding his bicycle when a car cut in front of him. He and the bike toppled over. He hit his head on the curb and twisted his leg—broke it in two places.”

Nancy winced at the thought. “Oh, how terrible! Has he been operated on yet?”

“No, but he will be this afternoon.”

“These are for Tommy,” Nancy said, indicating the small basket of flowers.

She stepped into the room, where the shade was pulled low to keep out the bright sun. Tommy, a small bandage over one eyebrow, was sleeping quietly. He did not move until Nancy placed the flowers next to him. Then his eyes opened slowly.

“Hi, Nancy,” the boy said. “Did you come to visit me?”

“I sure did,” the girl replied cheerfully.

She touched his cheek gently as an orderly appeared. “We must get him ready now,” the young man said, signaling the girl to leave.

Mrs. Johnson had remained outside the door, waiting to speak to her.

“Did anyone see the car?” Nancy asked the woman.

Tommy’s mother shook her head. “I don’t think so, but I’m not sure,” she said. “It happened on the corner of Hathaway Street and Elm Avenue.”

Nancy squeezed Mrs. Johnson’s arm as she promised to help find the hit-and-run driver. At her first opportunity, she would make a trip to police headquarters.

“Now I have two reasons to go,” Nancy said without explaining further.

She said good-bye and headed for the fifth floor to speak with Lisa. To her surprise, the young woman had gone off duty.

That’s strange, Nancy thought. I’m positive she was supposed to work until five o‘clock. I hope she took care of Cliffs ring for him.

Instantly, the girl detective returned to the main floor and the admitting office, where she inquired about the valuable piece.

“One moment,” the clerk said, and stepped into the inner office, shortly reappearing empty-handed. “I can find no notation about the deposit of a ring from Room 502, and it’s not in the safe.”

“Are you positive?” Nancy inquired.

“Quite,” the woman bristled.

What had happened to Cliffs ring? Nancy wondered anxiously. And where was Lisa?

As quickly as she could, Nancy checked out of the hospital and headed for Lisa’s home. It was near Hathaway Street, where Tommy’s accident had occurred. When Nancy reached the busy intersection at Elm Avenue, she noticed a tall, thin man with a briefcase enter a jewelry store. He was wearing a business suit and a white silk turban that offset his brown face and fine Indian features. But of even more interest was the man running after him. It was the bearded stranger who had attacked Cliff!

I have to talk to him! Nancy said to herself.

She swung her car into a space halfway down the street, pushed a coin into the meter, and ran toward the shop. She paused before entering.

Lisa! she gulped when she saw the girl, who was talking with the businessman and the shopkeeper. Where was the other man? Had he seen Nancy coming and disappeared?

She was tempted to explore the alley next to the store, but the scene inside was more fascinating. Lisa was showing Cliff’s ring to the shopkeeper. Suddenly, he left the counter, and the stranger pocketed the ring. He hurried to the door, which Nancy flung open with such force that he slipped off balance.

“You took that young woman’s ring,” Nancy accused, alerting both Lisa and the shopkeeper.

Instantly, the man shoved Nancy against the counter. He grabbed the door, ready to dart outside, but the shopkeeper and Lisa rushed forward, tackling him. Nancy dived into his coat pocket and quickly retrieved the ring.

“Let go of me!” the man shouted, unaware that the valuable trinket had been removed.

He tore away from the group and ran across the street to a bus that had stopped at the corner.

“We’ll catch him!” Nancy exclaimed.

Without another word, Lisa hurried after her friend to Nancy’s car. As quickly as she could, Nancy pulled around in the opposite direction. The bus was several stoplights away from her.

“Why didn’t you put Cliffs ring into the hospital safe?” Nancy asked as they sped forward.

“I meant to, but Cliff suggested I take it to a local jeweler—to find out more about it. Next thing I knew, that man in the turban was standing there, asking all sorts of questions.”

By now, Nancy’s car had caught up to the bus at a bus stop, where several people debarked. She signaled to the driver to wait.

“What do you want?” the man shouted through his window. “I’ve got a lot of people to let off.”

“One of them tried to rob us,” Lisa called back.

Before Nancy could park, her friend had jumped out of the car and raced to the policeman on the corner, leading him quickly to the bus. When the last of several passengers had stepped off, Lisa and the officer jumped on board. There were only a few people left, and the man in the turban was not among them!

Through her rearview mirror, Nancy watched Lisa and the policeman step off the bus without the Indian. The girl detective immediately switched on her hazard lights, leaving the car double-parked, and leaped out.

“What happened?” she asked, hurrying toward them.

“I don’t know. He must have sneaked off without our seeing him,” Lisa replied.

The officer listened to the girls’ story while Nancy displayed Cliffs ring. “Lucky you were on the scene, Nancy Drew,” he complimented her.

Nancy’s reputation as a keen detective was well-known to the police of River Heights.

“I was planning to see Chief McGinnis tomorrow,” Nancy said. “But maybe Lisa and I ought to go to headquarters now.”

“Good idea,” the policeman grinned, “especially since I don’t want to tow your car away.”

The girls glanced in the direction of Nancy’s flashing rear lights. She suddenly realized she had double-parked next to a patrol car!

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

When the pair reached the station, Nancy explained that she had two important matters to discuss with the chief. One related to the identity of a local amnesia patient who had been assaulted in the hospital. The other had to do with the driver of a car that had nearly run down Tommy Johnson.

“I know about both cases,” Chief McGinnis said, “but I have no lead on the first and only a very slim one on the second.”

Nancy gave a description of the bearded man.

“I’ve seen him twice now,” she said. “The first time he took off in a tan-colored car with a blue racing stripe on the trunk.”

“What’s the license number?”

Nancy shrugged. “I couldn’t see it.”

The chief hunched forward on his elbows and shook his head thoughtfully.

“Do you have any idea whom it belongs to?” Nancy asked.

“Yes, I think so. Of course, I can’t be absolutely positive, but—”

“But what?”

“It sounds like the same car that caused the Johnson boy’s accident.”

Nancy was stunned into silence as her mind raced over the events of the afternoon. What was the connection between the Indian businessman and the bearded stranger?

“I have a hunch the bearded man may be the driver we’re looking for!” Nancy exclaimed.

“You could be right,” Chief McGinnis said. “I’ll let you know if anything definite turns up on either of those men.”

Nancy promised to reciprocate and said good-bye. As the girls headed for Lisa’s house, the young nurse suggested that Nancy keep the ring.

“It’ll be safer with you,” Lisa insisted, adding an apology for what had occurred earlier. “I should have put it in the hospital safe.”

“Just be glad we have it,” Nancy smiled. “Besides, your visit to the jewelry shop turned up an interesting character.”

“And some interesting information,” Lisa said. “This is the first chance I’ve had to tell you what Mr. Jhaveri, the jeweler, said about the ring. He’s quite an expert on foreign jewelry, and he believes the design is Asiatic.

“The other man disagreed, however. He kept saying the ring was Middle Eastern. That’s when Mr. Jhaveri said he would show me some pictures as proof.”

“And that’s when the Indian businessman tried to steal the ring,” Nancy put in.

“Exactly.”

“He didn’t count on Nancy Drew,” Lisa added, causing a blush of crimson to cross her friend’s face.

They pulled up in front of the Scotti home and Lisa opened the car door instantly.

“I promised Mom I’d cook dinner tonight, so I’d better run,” she said. “Thanks a lot. See you tomorrow.”

Nancy said good-bye, all the while thinking about the scene in the jewelry shop. She was tempted to return there, but a glance at her watch told her she was more than an hour late for dinner.

Hannah is probably worried about me, Nancy thought. I can just imagine the phone calls she must have made to the hospital.

The girl pressed down on the accelerator, watching the speedometer needle waver just under the speed limit. Rush-hour traffic had eased up, and she found herself in the driveway of the Drew home within fifteen minutes. Mrs. Gruen opened the door with a mixture of disapproval and relief on her face.

“I’m sorry,” Nancy said, hugging the woman. “I was on my way home when—”