just our word against his. It would be difficult to prove anything in court.”
“I’ll stay,” Nina decided.
The girl detective looked at her friend and saw a determined look in Nina’s eyes.
“You’re sure?” Nancy asked.
“Yes,” Nina replied. “I’m sure. I’ll stay and I’ll try to do a good acting job until you can get the evidence you need. This makes me wonder whether Uncle—I mean Mr. Calisher didn’t have something to do with framing my father. If he’s capable of doing this to me, what else may he have done?”
Nancy agreed. “That’s a very strong possibility. He could have framed your father and he could have arranged to have had that safe stolen. Ivan Foster could have been working under his orders all along.”
“All that business of not wanting to go to the police and firing Foster instead would fit right in,” Midge said excitedly. “He may have pretended to have those spells, and threatened a nervous breakdown to cover up his tracks.” “Perhaps,” said Nancy, “but then he is a very nervous, emotional man. My dad already warned us. So maybe it was half faked and half real. Anyway, we have to find out. Nina, if you’re brave enough to go back and stay there,
we’ll have a much better chance to get to the bottom of this mystery.”
“I’ll do it,” said Nina. “I don’t think he would have the nerve to do anything violent.”
“Neither do I,” said Nancy, “but just in case, I’m going to tell the police of our suspicions so they can keep watch on you and on the house the next few days.”
With that settled, Nancy drove Nina home, then immediately went to police headquarters, where she outlined the facts to Lieutenant Nelson. He listened in astonishment.
“Well, Nancy,” he said, “this is certainly serious. I agree with you that there is cause to keep a watch on Nina and be sure no harm comes to her. But your evidence against Mr. Calisher is very thin. We can’t arrest him on that. Besides, as you say, if we tip him off, even watching him openly, it might ruin any chance of finding out what’s behind these threats. However, we will follow him discreetly.”
Lieutenant Nelson looked at the girl detective searchingly. “By the way, any progress in your hunt for the safe?”
Nancy told him that so far she had had no more luck than the police but that she was not giving up. Then she thanked him, said goodbye, and made a phone call to the AAA, finding out their man had finally returned from his vacation.
“Yes,” the AAA man told Nancy when they arrived at his office. “There was construction on that highway on the date you gave me, until nearly midnight.” He indicated the position on his map. “The main road was blocked and traffic was detoured down the old road here for a distance of about a mile. Then the barricades were switched and the old road was sealed off.”
Nancy was encouraged. “Thank you very, very much,” she said. Then she turned to Midge. “Come on, Watson. We’ve got another chance!”
17. Discouraged Detectives
As Nancy ran for the car, Midge tagged along like a tail on a kite. “Wait, Nancy—what are you so excited about?” she cried. “Do you think . . . ?” Then she suddenly stopped. “Oh, I see!” Midge jumped in the car as Nancy started the engine. “I know,” she said. “You think the crook went down the detour that night and dumped the safe somewhere along the road. Then the next day, when a different shift of police made the search, the detour was closed off and that’s why they didn’t find anything?” “You guessed it!” Nancy said. “Oh, Midge, keep your fingers crossed that we’re right. Because if we are, we can wrap up this case in a day.”
As the girls drove out of town, Nancy looked in the mirror. The gray sedan was behind them again!
“We’re being followed,” she warned.
“Aw, just outrun them, Nancy.”
“I can’t, Watson. To exceed the speed limit is both illegal and dangerous. We’ll have to think of something else.”
Midge nodded.
A few minutes later, Nancy turned right and drove at moderate speed until she saw a parking garage she had noticed earlier. She knew it had two entrances. Smoothly she turned into the garage, drove through the gate, and handed the attendant money for a half hour.
“I’m going right out the other side,” she said. The startled attendant stared after her as she zoomed up the other ramp and disappeared onto the opposite street.
To be certain she had shaken her shadow, Nancy made a quick left and then a right, then pulled into a carwash. A few minutes later she emerged on another street.
“That should do it.” She laughed. “And we even had the car cleaned! Now let’s find that safe!”
Nancy sped out along the River Heights Road, keeping a careful eye on the mirror even though she was convinced that she had thrown off their pursuer.
In about a half hour, they reached the point where the detour was. The girls surveyed the barricade of timber and rocks that had been erected, and groaned. It would be impossible to move!
They drove up to it and stopped. Then they got out of the car.
“We’ll have to leave it here and walk,” Midge declared.
“Yes, we could do that,” said Nancy. “But if our shadow gets the idea that we came here for another look, he’ll spot the car and we’ll be in real trouble. Somehow, we’ve got to find a way around this roadblock!”
The girls carefully explored the ground around the barricade. It was covered with small, sharp rocks as well as fairly large ones. Nancy decided to risk driving over them. The girls got back in the car and she moved carefully to the right, through high weeds and over rugged ground. She heard the rocks scrape along the bottom of the car and prayed that they would not rip a hole in the oil pan.
However, the blue sports sedan reached level ground on the old road without any noticeable sign of damage. The girls jumped out and fluffed up the high weeds so that no one could tell that a car had recently driven through.
When they were finished, Nancy shook her head. “Not too good a job. If Ivan comes along and stops, he’s going to see the tire marks.” She thought a moment. “Well, it can’t be helped. We don’t have the time to do a complete landscaping job. Let’s go.”
The girls drove slowly along the deserted road, scanning the sides. They stopped at each small hump in the ground, got out, and poked it with sticks to be sure it was not a covering for the missing safe.
“Watch for places where the ground seems sunken, too,” Nancy said. “Because whenever something heavy is buried, it settles, and after a while it’s easy to spot.”
Midge nodded and kept her eyes glued to the road. “There’s a building,” she called, pointing to a weathered one-room schoolhouse that had once been painted white. Its windows and ; doors were gone and in the yard stood a flagpole, rotted and worn and leaning at a crazy angle.
“Let’s look in there,” Nancy decided. She parked and the girls made their way up the old cinder path, through the weeds and bushes. They looked for signs of automobile tire tracks but could find none.
“I don’t think anyone has been here for many
years,” Nancy said. “But we’ll peek inside anyway, just to be sure.”
Cautiously, they entered the building. “Remember the old church,” Nancy warned. “There probably isn’t a basement in this school, but I don’t want us falling through the floor again.”
The floor proved solid, however, and when the young detectives were inside they found nothing more than a nostalgic scene from the past—rows of old desks and rubbish scattered on the floor, including a forgotten pair of small galoshes.
‘‘Look, Nancy,” Midge said, “some kid had the last word.” She pointed at the blackboard where a faint message could still be read: “Miss Marshall is a mean teacher!”
Next to the words was an uncomplimentary drawing of Miss Marshall. Nancy smiled and was about to comment, when she was stopped by a heavy crash from outside.
‘It’s them!” Midge whispered. The girls ducked
low and inched over to a window.
Nancy cautiously peeked outside. “Oh no.” She groaned.
‘Well is it?” Midge asked, her eyes wide.
‘No,” Nancy replied. “It’s no one. But my car will never be the same. Look.”
Midge looked. The ancient flagpole, which had been leaning so dangerously, had at last toppled over, landing on the hood of the shiny blue sedan.
The girls ran out to inspect the damage. They lifted the pole from the car and dragged it to one side. Then Midge inspected the dent with a professional eye.
“Well, I’d say that Morton could fix this up for about fifty bucks in his body shop. There’s a big dent but no real damage. Just hammer it straight and touch up the paint.”
“Thank you, Watson.” Nancy had to grin at Midge’s quick and efficient appraisal. Then she looked anxiously at the sky. The sun was getting close to the horizon. “We don’t have much time. Let’s go on,” she said.
Resuming the search, the girls drove over a small stream. Nancy stopped on the culvert that passed under the road. There was a tiny pond on the right with crystal clear water. “Any sign of the safe in there?” she asked Midge.
“Nope,” said Midge. “I can see the bottom and all around. There’s nothing there.”
Nancy looked out to the left, where the water flowed out in a tiny trickle. The ditch was empty. Sighing, she drove on.
Within a half mile, Nancy suddenly braked to a stop. “Watson, down there!” She pointed to a steep incline. “Doesn’t that look like a break in the rocks? Maybe a cave?”
“It sure does,” said Midge, jumping out of the car. Nancy followed. They made their way down the slope, holding on to the bushes to brake their descent. If the thief had been able to stop here, it would have been relatively easy for him to tumble the safe down the little hill and straight into the cave entrance. Excited, the girls slid and slipped the last few feet. Nancy took out her flashlight and led the way.
The cave was barely five feet high but more than twice as wide. But as the girls moved cautiously into it, the ground suddenly dipped, and they slid down a wet clay surface without handholds.
“Nancy!” Midge screamed.
Desperately the older girl threw one arm around her protégée and then, somehow, managed to grab an outcropping of rock. Luckily her flashlight was hooked to the belt of her jeans. Otherwise they would have been plunged into complete darkness.
As Midge finally managed to find a handhold, Nancy reached down and shone the light into the direction of their descent. To her relief, the steep slope ended less than five feet below them. Carefully, she and Midge lowered themselves the rest of the way.
Nancy shone her light around the cave. There was no sign of the safe.
“Nancy,” Midge said, “there’s not much that really scares me . . . but sliding down a black hole into nowhere—that scares me. Let’s get out of here! It’s only another wild goose chase anyway.”
“I’m afraid so,” the girl detective admitted. “But going back may not be easy.” She shone the light up the steep, slippery clay slope. Along the walls jagged rocks stuck out, offering support.
“Look around for a couple of small, sharp stones, Watson. We can use them to dig small grooves in the clay.”
Midge did as asked and in a few minutes Nancy was inching her way up, chipping out toeholds with one hand while feeling for the jagged rocks with the other. Midge followed in her tracks. Finally they arrived on top, breathing hard and smeared with red clay.
“I don’t think we’ll ever find that safe,” Midge said, discouraged.
Nancy put her arm around the girl as they got into their car. “Never say never, Watson. We’re not quitters. We’ll find it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet. But we will.”
The girls continued to the end of the old road without finding another nook or cranny to explore. To their relief, the barricade here proved less difficult to navigate than the first one.
“We should have come in on this end, instead of almost wrecking the car on the other roadblock,” Nancy said.
Midge grinned impishly. “I’m glad you’re not perfect all the time. I wouldn’t be able to stand it!”
18. An Important Clue
Back at the motel, the two girls spent almost an hour bathing and scrubbing off the dirt and grime they had accumulated in their adventure in the cave. They ate dinner listlessly, not finding very much to talk about, but their minds were working, trying to figure out the next step.
Finally Nancy forced a smile. “Watson, I know you must feel bad, since you’re not eating much. But cheer up. We just need to recharge our batteries and we’ll get some new and brilliant ideas, you’ll see.”
“We will?” Midge asked and grinned.
“Yes, we will,” Nancy promised. “Let’s call my dad. Maybe he can help us.”
They returned to the room and Nancy phoned Carson Drew. After she had filled him
in on their adventure, she asked if he had heard from John Ford.
“No,” he replied. “Not yet. But call me again tomorrow. Maybe he’ll get in touch with me by then.”
Next, Nancy called Mr. Watson. Midge’s father, too, had bad news. He told the girls that he had not been offered the job and that he was returning to River Heights the next day.
As Midge was hanging up, there was a knock at the door. Nancy held her fingers to her lips as she went to open it.
“Who is it?” she called.
“Nina.”
“Nina,” Nancy cried, and let her friend in. “Are you all right? Has anything happened?” Nina smiled. “Yes,” she said. “Everything is fine at home. Uncle—I mean Mr. Calisher is completely changed.”
Nancy motioned for the girl to sit down and then looked at her quizzically. “Completely changed?” she asked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean he’s not nervous. He’s not even nagging me about being scared of the threats. He told me the people making them were obviously bluffing and I should go ahead and play and not worry about anything.”
Nancy stared at her friend. “That’s strange.” “I know,” Nina said. “And, of course, there haven’t been any more threats, since he was the one making them. What do you think it means, Nancy?”
Nancy tapped her lips with her forefinger. “I don’t know. But I don’t like it. I’ll bet he’s up to something. Don’t lower your guard, Nina. And remember that the police are watching you. They probably followed you over here.”
Nina nodded. “They did. There was a squad car about a block in back of me all the way.” “That makes me feel better,” the girl detective declared. “How is Mrs. Calisher acting?” “Well, she’s calmed down, now that her husband isn’t in a frenzy. I just wonder whether she knew all along what he was doing.”
“Probably,” Nancy said. “But we won’t find out for sure until we clear up this whole thing.” “Will Aunt Emily have to go to prison, too, if he goes?” the young tennis player asked.
“Not if she wasn’t actively involved in his scheme,” Nancy replied.
“But wouldn’t she be guilty of not reporting him?” Midge piped up.
“No,” Nancy explained. “A wife does not have to testify against her husband.”
“That’s a relief,” Nina said, getting up. “She’s really a nice person. But she’s afraid of him and does whatever he tells her. Well, I’d better get back.”
The girls said good-bye with mutual promises to be in touch the next day. When Nina had left, Nancy sprawled in an easy chair and again went through all the details of the case. She did this frequently, assembling and reassembling in her mind the parts of the mystery, trying to figure out what she might have missed.
Then the phone rang. It was Carson Drew. “Nancy, good news!” he said. “John Ford just called.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful, Dad!”
“What happened?” Midge squealed.
“Excuse me, Dad.” Nancy turned to Midge. “John
Ford called.”
“Whoopee!” Midge shouted and turned a somersault on her bed.
“Tell me more, Dad.” Nancy urged.
“Well,” Carson Drew began, “I told him I would like to reopen his case, start appeal pro- cedings, and that you were looking for the safe.”
“What did he say?”
“He was happy, of course, to know that we were trying so hard to help him, but he still refuses to turn himself in until that safe is recovered. However, he is willing to meet with me tomorrow in New Brighton. But he made me promise to do it on a strictly confidential basis. As his attorney, I can’t violate our trust
and tell the police. I hope that when I see him face to face I can persuade him.”
Nancy bit her lip. “Well, good luck. We’re trying hard here.”
“I know you are, dear.”
Nancy hung up.
“Nancy, there’s one thing that bothers me,” Midge said. “Why has Mr. Calisher suddenly relaxed and turned into a pussycat?”
“He’s afraid we’re on to him,” Nancy replied. “When we exposed Ivan Foster, Mr. Calisher got scared and probably decided to lie low for a while—which makes it all the harder to get the goods on him.” She sighed. “Well, we’re not going to solve this puzzle tonight. Let’s go to bed.”
The next day at breakfast, Nancy suggested that they go down to the small lake that was near the motel.
“Why?” Midge asked.
“To clear our heads,” Nancy grinned. Half an hour later, the young detectives were wandering along the shore, then Nancy sat on the grass. Midge idly built a little earth dam to block the stream that led into the lake while the older girl watched.