“Really? How?”
“By marrying her, I suppose. Even now, he stays in her suite at her expense. She says this is a small repayment since he keeps her from loneliness, but I say the man is a sponge. Her dead husband was a good man—better than any of them. He was a man who worked for his money. These people are nothings, just idle rich who do nothing. They are dirt.”
“Well, you certainly know a lot about them,” Nancy observed. Maximilian’s attitude was so bitter and angry that she felt sorry for the man.
“Know about them!” With that the waiter chuckled. “My dear miss, a servant sees many things, many things. I know much more than that, I assure you—for a small consideration, of course.”
He’s asking for a bribe! Nancy smiled and looked away. “I’m not a reporter, you know. I’m not in the business of buying information.”
Smiling broadly now, the waiter turned to walk away. “If you should change your mind . . .”
But Nancy pretended not to hear. It was all intriguing, but she wasn’t going to get any more involved than she already was. And there was no way that Nancy Drew would ever pay for information—not when she could get it herself, that is.
• • •
“Good night, Dad.”
It had been a long, full day, and Nancy was tired. She and her dad hadn’t had time to eat until after nine o’clock. Fortunately, dinner at the Oak Room, the Plaza’s most exclusive restaurant, had been fabulous. And she and her father had finally gotten a chance to catch up.
The two of them had always been close because Carson had been both mother and father to her after Nancy’s mother died. He had a housekeeper, though. Hannah Gruen was wonderful and like a mother to Nancy, but she couldn’t replace her real one, of course. So Carson and Nancy had had to be a special team—good friends, real partners.
Lately, though, they hadn’t had as much time for each other as they’d once had. Nancy was grown-up now, and Carson’s successful career kept him busy. Yes, dinner together had been a precious time, but now he’d had to turn in early.
Smiling happily, Nancy picked up the phone beside her bed and dialed Ned Nickerson’s number. He’d be back in his room at his fraternity house by now.
As she sat there listening to the ringing, Nancy continued to think about Sarah Amberly. There was something about her and her family—about Maximilian the waiter, too—something that drew her toward them, that attracted her. Was it Jack Kale’s handsome face? Nancy didn’t think so, but then . . .
“Hello?”
The voice coming through the receiver startled her out of her reverie. “Ned! Is that you?” Of course she knew it was; the warm rush that coursed through her when he answered told her it was.
“Nan! Hi!”
He sounded terrific. Nancy felt her heart lift. “Hi, Ned.”
“Where are you calling from? The Big Apple?” he asked.
“You crazy old woman!” Nancy jumped about a foot off the bed when she heard the female voice shouting from the Amberly suite! “Don’t you see you’re being duped? He’s not what he seems to be, I tell you! He’s not what you think!”
“Nancy? Are you still there?” Ned’s voice broke in, bringing Nancy back to herself.
“Uh, yes, Ned, I’m here,” she stammered. “But there’s some sort of argument going on next door, and I can’t really hear you. Could I call you back in five minutes?”
“Sure, Nan. Talk to you then.”
The phone clicked. Nancy hoped she hadn’t offended Ned. In the past, there had been times when her detective work had put a strain on their relationship. They’d finally been able to sort all that out, though, and Nancy felt sure, down deep, that she could count on his support.
Sarah Amberly was shouting again, in that booming, intimidating voice of hers. “You’re a fool, Alison! A complete and utter fool! And don’t go telling me my own business. I don’t have to put up with you, you know. I do it only out of the goodness of my poor, tired heart.”
But Alison, who had seemed so fearful before, did not seem at all intimidated now. In fact, she seemed to be a different person altogether.
“You old loon! Don’t you see he’s dangerous? He leads you around by the nose. You’ll be sorry, Sarah, mark my words! Sorry you were ever bora!”
“I don’t want to hear another word! Not another word!” Sarah Amberly was screaming now, and she definitely sounded shaken.
“Very well, then—you can throw your life away if you want. I tried, God knows! I tried—” And then there was silence.
The silence was soon interrupted by a low moaning sound. And now the voice was saying something—something Nancy couldn’t quite make out.
Rushing into the hall, Nancy caught sight of Alison Kale retreating down the corridor. It sounded as if she were muttering angrily to herself.
And now, standing outside the open door of the Amberly suite, Nancy could hear plainly— the unearthly moan was the voice of Sarah Amberly. And the word she was repeating over and over was by now a desperate cry—“Help!”
Chapter
Three
NANCY THREW OPEN the carved wooden door of the neighboring suite and rushed in. From the living room, she could see into Sarah Amberly’s room. The woman was lying half on her bed and half on the floor. Her faded blond hair was undone—it spilled over her shoulders.
The moment she saw Nancy her eyes lit up. “My—my medicine—” she managed to say, twitching her fingers in the direction of a carved mahogany bureau across the room.
On the table Nancy spied a small ivory container. She shook out the contents into her hand—there were ten pale green tablets.
“One, just one, dear—any more would be dangerous . . .” Sarah moaned. Nancy put a tablet in the woman’s fingers and rushed to the bathroom for water.
When Nancy came out, Sarah Amberly was already sitting up on the edge of the bed. She grabbed the water and eagerly drank it down.
“Thank goodness you came,” she murmured, and leaned back against a pillow. For one long terrifying moment, her eyes closed. But when she opened them again, she seemed to be feeling much better. “Pardon my appearance, dear—”
“Oh, please,” Nancy replied, holding up the ivory container. “Where should I put these?”
“I don’t know who keeps moving them! Unless it’s me, of course—my memory does fail me. Let’s see, why don’t you put them here, on my night table where I can reach them when I need one. They’re the only things standing between me and eternity, dear, the only things.”
With a smile, Sarah twisted up the ends of her pale hair and tucked a pin into it. “I knew you’d be coming, but I wasn’t sure when.”
Nancy’s face must have shown her confusion, but Sarah just laughed. “If you don’t believe me, go to the table in the living room and you’ll see what I mean.”
Sarah followed Nancy into the main room. There on the oak table were a number of tarot cards arranged in a circle. In the center was a single card, lying facedown. “Turn it over, dear. You’ll see,” said Sarah.
Nancy gently lifted the card and turned it over. On its face was a picture of three young girls dressed in what looked like clothes from the Middle Ages. They were smiling and dancing around a maypole.
“It is the Three of Cups, the card of friendship,” Sarah explained. “You see, the cards never lie. My last reading indicated I would make a new friend—a young girl, someone pretty and lighthearted and good. And here you are!” The woman chuckled, obviously pleased with herself.
“Not only did you arrive as predicted,” she continued with a laugh, “you also saved my life. My dear, I am terribly grateful. When my strength returns, I will certainly shake your hand. Come help me to the couch, and tell me your name.”
“It’s Nancy, ma’am. Nancy Drew,” she said.
“Now, now, you must call me Sarah, since we’re fated to be friends,” said the fragile woman taking her seat. “Soon I’ll be feeling fit. It won’t be long. My medicine has rema
rkable powers.”
The color was already returning to Sarah’s face, replacing the ashen gray. And for the first time, she seemed to relax.
“What kind of tablets are they?” Nancy asked, unable to contain her curiosity.
“Oh, oxytomicin or some such name. It’s made from a flower grown in the mountains in Mexico. It’s not yet approved by our government, but fortunately, I’m able to get it as part of a research project. I suppose with my condition they feel there’s nothing to lose! So—I may look like a woman, but I’m really just a guinea pig.”
Nancy felt herself relaxing as Sarah Amberly talked to her. Here in her own suite, Sarah wasn’t the dominating personality she seemed to be when Nancy had first seen her.
“Now, sit down, Nancy. After a rescue like that, we both deserve a treat. I’ll call room service. What will you have? Our waiter at dinner tonight told us the fresh strawberries were excellent.”
“Oh—thank you—with tea, please.” Nancy wasn’t hungry in the least, but she was finding Sarah Amberly’s company fascinating. She’d been intrigued by her interpretation of the tarot cards.
“Make yourself at home while I order,” Sarah told Nancy with a sweeping gesture that seemed to say, “What’s mine is yours.” Then she picked up the phone.
Nancy wandered over to a series of photos in antique silver frames that stood on the marble fireplace. She recognized Sarah Amberly as a bride, her arm linked with that of a dashing young man in a Panama hat and white suit.
“That’s my Joshua,” Sarah called from the phone, while she waited for room service to answer. “That picture was taken on our wedding trip. He was the grandest man who ever lived, dear. There’s not another like him, and never will be.”
In another photo, the young couple were holding a smiling blond baby. In another, the Amberlys stood with a lanky, black-haired boy, whom Nancy recognized as a young Jack Kale.
“Our only child, Barbara, died when she was three years old. That’s her—the blond girl.”
Nancy nodded sympathetically. Losing a child had to be one of the worst blows life could deal anyone. Was that why Sarah seemed so lonely?
“The boy in the other photo is Jack Kale, my nephew. When my brother and his wife were killed, we brought Jack to live with us and raised him as our very own son. He was handsome even then. Every little girl wanted to marry him.
“Unfortunately, he was too young to appreciate what we did for him. Ah, but then, that’s my Jack, devil-may-care and full of himself. He’s good at heart, I suppose. But not half the man his uncle was—” Suddenly her conversation was cut short as she paid attention to the phone.
“Room service? Well, you certainly take your time in answering! Of course this is Mrs. Amberly! I happen to have a lovely young guest and I wish you to send us two orders of strawberries and tea. And I do mean pronto!” Hanging up, Sarah regarded Nancy with a coy smile. “If you don’t prod the mules, they will never pull the cart.”
For all her charm and friendliness, Sarah certainly had a take-charge personality. Nancy supposed the older woman didn’t mean to be rude, but she was awfully definite about what she wanted and when.
“Joshua taught me years ago to be firm with servants. It’s better for all concerned,” Sarah said as if reading Nancy’s mind.
“Who are these little girls?” Nancy held up a photo of two girls, one about fifteen and the other a toddler. They were dressed in ragged clothes. In the background was a dilapidated old house.
“Why, Nancy dear, don’t you recognize me?” Sarah Amberly laughed a rich, full laugh. “That photo was taken when my sister Alison and I were living in the north end of Boston. My father worked on the docks, and my mother took in laundry. I met Joshua just a few years after that photo was taken. I was hired as his mother’s personal secretary, and he fell in love with me at first sight.”
In the photo Sarah looked out boldly, but Alison’s eyes avoided the camera; they had a faraway look.
“Poor, poor Alison. Always a nervous child, and now— My mother thought it was because she was born during a thunderstorm, but, of course, that’s nonsense.
“Oh, well, I do what I can for her now. I’m all she has, poor thing. And for her I must remain healthy and strong. I fear my nephew would not take very good care of her should anything happen to me.”
It was while Sarah was speaking that Nancy first noticed the ring through the open door in Sarah’s bedroom. It was lying on a small table next to her bed. The gleam from the lamp above it struck the ring in a way that sent a shower of rosy rainbows all over the bedroom.
“Oh, my. What a beautiful piece of jewelry!” Nancy exclaimed, almost in spite of herself. “The one on your bedside table.”
“Ah—you like rubies! Run in and bring it out to me, please.” Sarah took the ring lovingly in her fingers. “My engagement ring. It once belonged to Abigail Amberly, Joshua’s great-grandmother. Before that, the stone was a crown jewel of an Ottoman ruler.
“Joshua was born to great wealth, you see. But he took a successful family business and turned it into an international corporation. That’s the kind of person he was. . . .” As she recalled her husband, Sarah almost looked like a young woman again. It was as if she were in another world.
Abruptly she snapped herself out of her reverie.
“Unfortunately, my arthritis has swollen my finger too much for me to wear the ruby anymore. But I always keep it beside my bed wherever I travel. Somehow, when the ring is near me, I can almost imagine that Joshua is with me, too. Do you find that strange?”
“No, not really,” Nancy answered, touched by the woman’s deep emotion. Obviously, Sarah Amberly was not the cold and cranky person she had first appeared to be. She was warm, smart, and wonderfully offbeat.
“If Joshua were here now, he’d be furious with the way things are turning out. Simply furious.” Sarah’s whole mood seemed to turn and her face clouded over.
“My nephew is throwing my money away as fast as he can take it from me. Alison, poor Alison, in her condition— Oh, when I think of what may lie ahead, I feel as if I’m on a collision course with destiny, and everything is reeling out of control. Look at this!”
Turning over the tarot cards that were arranged like a wheel around the first one, Sarah muttered, “The Three of Cups was the only bright spot. All the others—ghastly cards. When Madame Rosa read me this afternoon, I felt suddenly so afraid. Everything she was saying was pointing to the most horrible—”
“Why, Sarah! You’re up!” The man’s voice at the front door was cool and crisp. He walked into the room, and Nancy recognized him as Sarah’s companion, the distinguished middle-aged man. He smiled, walked up to Sarah, and touched her tenderly on the shoulder. “Darling,” he said softly.
“Oh, hello, Pieter,” Sarah replied almost listlessly. Telling Nancy about her tarot reading seemed to have depressed her.
“And who is your young friend?” asked Pieter, politely smiling at Nancy.
“Pieter van Druten, meet Nancy Drew. Pieter, this young lady practically saved my life. I seem to have mislaid my tablets, and she found me at the very last moment.”
“Thank goodness you were near, Miss Drew.” Pieter van Druten extended his hand and smiled tightly at her. Nancy felt a cold shiver go through her when she returned his grasp.
“She was magnificent, Pieter. The Three of Cups personified.”
“Yes, I’m sure. Miss Drew, is there anything further you’ll be needing?”
Nancy understood that Pieter was trying to hurry her out of the Amberly suite. And in his tone she picked up a kind of disdain for the tarot cards, too.
Just then a knock was heard.
“Are you expecting anyone, Sarah?” Pieter wanted to know.
“Yes, room service. Let them in.”
Pieter walked to the door and opened it. “You may put that down here,” he ordered the waiter, pointing to the coffee table.
Nancy nodded when she saw Maximilian enter the room
. “Good evening,” he murmured politely to Nancy and Sarah.
“Now, now, just leave our order and be on your way,” Pieter said coolly. “Nobody pays you to stay and chat.”
Maybe he was making a joke, but if he was, Nancy thought it was a poor one. Pieter’s whole attitude was so superior, so cold. Nancy saw pure hatred burning in Maximilian’s eyes as he nodded to Pieter and obediently left the room.
“I’m sorry to have to break up this lovely visit, but I really must discuss an urgent matter with Mrs. Amberly in private.” So saying, Pieter grasped Nancy gently but firmly by the elbow and led her to the door. Nancy turned to see Sarah’s reaction, but the woman merely nodded listlessly.
“Oh, dear, if this is about Jack, I’m not sure I want to hear it,” she murmured.
Pieter van Druten turned to Nancy with a humorless smile. “I’m sure you understand, Miss Drew. Good night.”
And before Nancy could even say good night to her new friend, the door was slammed behind her.
• • •
“Well, it’s nearly nine A.M.—hope your meetings aren’t too boring today, Dad.” Nancy got up from their breakfast table at the Palm Court to kiss her father goodbye. “See you around four?”
“Let’s hope so,” said Carson doubtfully. “You know how meetings are. But whatever happens, we’ve got dinner at the Russian Tea Room tonight, and theater tickets for that matinee tomorrow—don’t forget.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Nancy laughed. “How many Tony Awards did it win? Ten?”
Carson waved as he walked off, his leather briefcase in hand. Nancy was about to sit back down and drink another cup of tea when she spotted Sarah Amberly walking down the lobby hallway on the other side of the palms. Nancy was surprised. The night before Sarah had seemed so ill, yet here she was out of her room.
Quickly, Nancy went around the palms and caught up with her. “Hi!” she called with a big smile.
But Sarah Amberly acted as if she barely recognized her. “Oh— Oh, yes— Hello, there . . .”
It was as if the night before hadn’t even happened! Sarah’s face was troubled, anxious, and her eyes kept darting around, as if she were expecting something extremely unpleasant.