The Clue in the Jewel Box

CHAPTER XVIII

“I DON’T know who the guy is, or where he went,” the man insisted sullenly.

“Did you see him?” Nancy persisted. “What did he look like?”

Michael shrugged. “Don’t remember.”

“What’s your real name?” Nancy asked.

Michael did not reply. Suspecting that the police would be summoned, he sat down on the ground, waiting for a chance to escape.

Nancy went into the inn and telephoned headquarters. Then she spoke to the others at the table, asking two of the young men to locate Michael’s companion. He could not be found anywhere, and Nancy assumed he had learned about what was going on and had left. A police car soon arrived and took away the prisoner.

“Let’s go inside,” Helen said. “Then you can tell us, Nancy, how you found out about the mark that will identify the lost prince.”

“I’ll tell you about it later,” the young detective replied. “In this public place someone might overhear me.”

Nancy followed the others toward the inn. After going a short distance she paused.

“Something else wrong?” Ned inquired.

“I can’t help being worried about Mrs. Alexandra and Anna,” she confessed, frowning.

“With the impostor in the hands of the police,” Ned answered, “they should be safe.”

“That’s the point, Ned. The prisoner is a clever thief, and he may have accomplices.”

“But his pals wouldn’t be likely to make trouble for Mrs. Alexandra without a go-ahead from him.”

“I’m not so sure of that. He’s the one we know so he’d have to establish an alibi. Ned, I heard him talking on the phone a while ago.”

“What did he say?”

“ ‘Everything’s fine. I’m with Nancy Drew now. How’s my dear grandma?’ He asked that mockingly, almost as if he knew she might be in trouble.”

“Do you think any of his pals are at the Alexandra house tonight?”

“That’s just what I’m afraid of, Ned. When I learned what the clue in the jewel box was, I advised Mrs. Alexandra not to give Michael any more jewels or art objects to sell. If she acted on my suggestion, then he probably realized his little game was nearing an end.”

“And figured he had to clean up fast,” Ned stated.

Nancy nodded in reply. “He may have arranged for his pals to rob the house tonight. I overheard Michael tell Anna he probably wouldn’t be home. When I asked him if he’d be there tomorrow, he seemed uncertain at first.”

“I see what you mean about establishing an alibi!” Ned exclaimed. “Say, his pals may be robbing Mrs. Alexandra at this very minute!”

“Let’s go to her house!”

“I’ll ask Jim to come with us,” Ned said.

Jim was more than willing to accompany the couple, and Katherine insisted upon going along. They found an empty taxi parked near the inn.

“Take us to the ferry right away!” Ned urged the driver.

“If we miss the next boat, there won’t be another along for half an hour,” Jim added, glancing at his watch.

Ten minutes later the taxi arrived at the dock. An instant before the gates were lowered, the cab was driven aboard. The ride across the river took its usual time, but to Nancy it seemed hours before the boat docked.

“Now to 47 Downey Street!” she urged the driver as the taxi rolled off the ramp.

The car sped through the streets, drawing up at last before the darkened house.

Jim paid the driver, and the young people went up the walk. Ned rang the doorbell but no response came from within the house. Again he pressed the button, holding his finger on it a long while.

“That’s enough to wake anybody,” he declared.

“I’m going inside,” said Nancy. “I wonder if all the doors are locked.”

“This one is,” Jim reported, testing the knob.

The young people circled the house and tried the rear door. It too was locked, but Ned scrambled up a trellis to a window. The sash raised without difficulty. Ned crawled through and unlocked the back door.

“The house is certainly quiet,” he reported in a whisper. “If the neighbors see us, they may report us as burglars.”

“We can explain why we’re here,” Nancy replied, switching on lights as she walked through to the living room.

When the young people reached it, they were appalled by the sight before them. The expensive tapestries had been stripped from the walls. Many of the silk chair coverings had been slashed. All the art objects were missing.

“The house has been ransacked!” Nancy cried.

“What has become of Mrs. Alexandra and Anna?” Katherine cried, picking up a torn white apron.

“I’ll look upstairs,” said Nancy.

She started up the dark stairway, calling the names of the women. There was no answer.

Jim and Ned followed close behind her, groping for an electric switch.

“There must be one here somewhere,” Nancy murmured, inching her way along the upper hall.

The next instant she stumbled over a body lying on the carpet.

“Ned! Jim!” she called, bending over the form.

Just as Nancy shouted that she had found someone lying on the floor, Ned’s groping fingers located the electric switch at the top of the stairs. He pressed the button.

Recognizing the motionless figure, Nancy gasped, “It’s Anna! She’s bound and gagged!”

Katherine raced up the stairs. With a penknife Ned severed the cords, while Nancy removed the handkerchief from the woman’s mouth. But she showed no sign of regaining consciousness.

Leaving the others to look after Anna, she hurried into Mrs. Alexandra’s bedroom. Her worst fears were confirmed. The woman lay helpless on the bed. Her hands and feet were tightly bound, and a cloth had been stuffed into her mouth. Nancy removed the gag.

“Mrs. Alexandra, speak to me!” she pleaded.

The woman’s eyelids fluttered open and then dosed again. She lapsed into unconsciousness.

“We’d better call a doctor,” Nancy said as Ned quickly cut the leg and arm cords.

Jim appeared in the doorway, carrying Anna. Carefully he laid her on the bed beside her mistress.

Nancy ran downstairs. Fortunately the telephone wire had not been cut, and she was able to summon a doctor. He arrived ten minutes later. The physician examined Anna briefly but spent a much longer time with Mrs. Alexandra.

“She’s in serious condition,” he said soberly. “I advise hospital care. I will make the necessary arrangements now.”

While the physician made a telephone call, Nancy asked Jim to summon the police. She and Katherine remained with Mrs. Alexandra and Anna, while Ned looked through the house. Nancy quickly searched the bedroom for the chest containing the Footman jewel case. It was gone! Presently the doctor came back upstairs. “The ambulance will be here soon,” he reported, pulling a chair to the bedside.

Nancy left the room and went to inspect the house. Almost everything of value except heavy pieces of furniture had been stolen. The Easter egg, a pair of gold candlesticks, the silverware-all articles that Mrs. Alexandra treasured.

“She will never survive this blow,” Nancy said to Ned. “How can we tell her the truth?”

“Maybe the police can get some of the things back,” he replied hopefully.

Within a few minutes a car arrived from headquarters. Nancy was able to give the officers a detailed description of nearly every object which had been stolen from the house.

“Any idea who committed the crime?” one of the policemen asked her.

“Yes, I have!” she answered. “The theft probably was engineered by the man who was arrested tonight on the other side of the river. I don’t know his real name-he wouldn’t tell me. He has been living here, posing as a relative and robbing Mrs. Alexandra.”

“Then the actual robbery must have been done by one or more of his pals,” the officer declared. “Mrs. Alexandra hasn’t talked?”

“No, neither she nor her maid has been able to say a word.”

“We may get something out of them after they recover from shock,” the policeman said. “In the meantime, we’ll talk to the prisoner. Maybe he’ll reveal the identity of his accomplices.”

Soon after the police had completed their inspection of the house, the ambulance arrived. Nancy and Katherine rode to the hospital with the patients. Nancy was given permission to remain in Mrs. Alexandra’s room.

“I want to be here when she recovers consciousness,” Nancy had explained to the nurse. “She may reveal something that will help the police make an arrest.”

Katherine, meanwhile, had taken up her post in another room beside Anna’s bed. Now and then she and Nancy would meet in the hall to hold whispered consultations.

“Anna-she spoke a little while ago,” Katherine reported at one of the sessions.

“What did she say?” Nancy asked eagerly.

“She keep mumbling about a stolen jewel box.”

“Then she must know what happened. Katherine, at the next opportunity try to get her to describe the man who bound her.”

“I learn what I can,” the girl promised.

Nancy returned to Mrs. Alexandra’s bedside. A moment later the nurse excused herself to get some medication from another part of the hospital. The sound of the closing door seemed to arouse the patient from her long stupor. She opened her eyes, staring at Nancy without recognition.

“Do not strike me! I will tell you where my money is hidden!”

“Mrs. Alexandra, you’re safe now,” Nancy said soothingly. “Don’t you know me? I am Nancy Drew.”

Mrs. Alexandra relaxed slightly. She reached for the girl’s hand and clung tightly to it.

“My jewels-” she whispered.

“Now don’t worry about anything,” Nancy comforted the woman.

With a deep sigh the former queen closed her eyes again.

“Mrs. Alexandra,” Nancy said, fearing that the victim would lapse into a stupor once more, “did you see the man who tied you up?”

“I was upstairs alone when he came into the room,” Mrs. Alexandra replied, speaking with great difficulty. “The man was thin, of medium height, and wore a black mask. That’s all I remember.”

Before Nancy could ask another question, Katherine appeared in the doorway. She motioned to the young detective to come out into the hall.

“Anna has talked to me!” she said as Nancy joined her. “She tell me that she was in the library when she hear a noise. As she go into the living room to investigate, a masked man leap at her. They struggled, she break away and run upstairs toward Mrs. Alexandra’s room. Just then another man step out and grab her.”

“Then there must have been at least two men in the house,” Nancy commented gravely. “Was Anna able to describe either of them?”

“She say both men wear black masks. Oh yes. She call the one upstairs wiry, of medium height.”

“That tallies with Mrs. Alexandra’s description,” Nancy said thoughtfully. “I wonder if he may be one of the pickpockets the police are after.”

Convinced that the clue was a vital one, Nancy waited until the nurse returned to take charge, then she went to a public telephone and called police headquarters. She reported the information received from the two patients. To her satisfaction, the desk sergeant promised that a special effort would be made to round up the long-sought pickpockets at once.

The hour was late, and Nancy knew that Hannah and her father would be worried about her. She decided to phone them, and was just about to call when Ned thrust his head into the booth.

“Keep your money if you’re calling home,” he advised cheerfully. “I talked to your father a while ago. He says for you to stay here as long as you’re needed.”

“Thanks for calling,” Nancy said. “But I may as well go home. There’s nothing more I can do here.”

“Let’s get Katherine and Jim and go somewhere to eat,” Ned proposed.

“I am hungry,” Nancy admitted. “We cheated ourselves out of most of the supper at the inn. But what about the party there? Shouldn’t Jim go back and get Helen?”

“He phoned soon after we got here, and the party was breaking up then. Bess and Dave were going to take Helen home.”

When Katherine heard this, she consented to go along, and the young people left the hospital.

“Where to?” Ned asked.

“Not many places open at this time of night,” Jim replied, glancing up and down the deserted street. “I know a diner that has good food.”

“Lead on!” Ned commanded. “All we ask is food and plenty of it!”

Jim escorted the party to a place that was open all night. Its only customer was a truck driver seated at the counter.

“I believe I may as well order breakfast,” Nancy declared, scanning the menu. “Orange juice-”

She broke off as the door opened. A man, who was breathing hard, came hurrying in. Almost at his heels was a policeman.

“Hold on there!” the officer exclaimed, grabbing the fellow’s arm. “I’ve got you now!”

“You’ve made a mistake,” the man replied in a haughty voice. “Frequently I am taken for a pickpocket who closely resembles me.”

“Well, we’re looking for him, too.”

“But my name is Dorrance.”

“Doesn’t mean a thing to me.”

Dorrance’s gaze roved about the diner and came to rest upon Nancy. His eyes brightened.

“Here’s a young lady who knows me well, and knows I’m honest,” he told the officer.

Smiling at Nancy, he took a handkerchief from his pocket and waved it.

“Can you identify this man?” the policeman asked her.

“Indeed I can.”

Nancy arose and faced David Dorrance. “Officer, arrest this man!” she said, her words dropping like chips of steel. “He is one of the two pickpockets the police are looking for!”