When Nancy and her friends were ready to leave, Ned said that as long as Nancy had a ride, he would go directly to the lake resort where he was staying. The others said good-by to him and climbed into Dick’s sports car.
Upon reaching the yacht club, the girls thanked Dick for all his help. He grinned. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.”
While Nancy was getting ready for bed, her father telephoned. “I just had a call from the hospital superintendent,” he reported. “Atkin sneaked out. Nobody knows where he went.”
“Too bad,” Nancy said. “I wonder if he knows where Mr. Basswood is.”
“I imagine he plans to join him,” Mr. Drew replied. “The police went to the house where Atkin boarded. He has not been there and left the hospital several hours ago.”
Nancy suggested that perhaps Basswood and Marco De Keer were waiting for Atkin at the motel. When he arrived, they would take off.
“That’s a good hunch,” her father said. “If you hear anything, let me know.”
In the morning the private detective called Nancy. He said that neither Basswood nor his companion had left the motel. Using Dick’s car, she drove with Bess and George to police headquarters. The officers had no report on the owner of the art shop.
“May I have the key?” she requested. “I’d like to look around there again.”
The sergeant on duty handed it over and said with a smile, “Keep in touch with us.”
“I will,” Nancy promised.
It was a gloomy day and the art shop was dark and rather chilly. The girls turned on all the lights. Everything was the same as Nancy had left it the day before.
Bess hunched her shoulders. “Ugh, it’s dismal and spooky in here! Let’s go!”
Before Nancy could answer, a customer knocked on the front door.
Bess begged her not to open the door, but Nancy said, “I may as well wait on the person.”
Within five minutes two other customers arrived and the three girls found themselves having a busy morning. By noontime they had taken in a sizable sum of money.
George remarked, “Basswood certainly isn’t going to pay you any salary. Why don’t you just quit the job? I’m sure you aren’t going to find any more clues here.”
Nancy was inclined to agree and finally said she would lock the place.
“Thank goodness,” said Bess. “My feet hurt from being on them all morning. Let’s go to that sandwich shop where we can sit down and get something to eat.”
“First we’ll go to the police,” George told her. “We aren’t going to carry all this money around.”
They walked to headquarters. Nancy turned in the cash and the key and said that she was locking the shop for the day. She suggested that the officers keep an eye on it.
“We’ll do that,” the sergeant told her.
While the girls were eating, Nancy said she wanted to drive to De Keer’s barn studio. “To see if he too has moved out.”
Before heading for the barn, Nancy telephoned Ned to ask if he would like to go along. He agreed, saying he would meet her there as soon as he could.
When they reached the barn, the girls found it wide open and apparently nothing had been taken from either the inside or the outside. But De Keer was not there. A tall, heavy-set man was busy brushing a rubbery material over a statue to make a mold.
Nancy asked when Mr. De Keer would arrive. The answer startled her. “He won’t be back,” the man said. “My name is Herbert Michaels and I’m the new owner. What do you want?”
“I’m looking for an inexpensive statuette,” Nancy replied.
“Well, look around,” Mr. Michaels said. “I can’t leave this job right now.”
The girls sensed that the man was watching them closely so they separated to look around the place. Nancy became intrigued with the two hollowed-out halves of a life-size reproduction. It lay on the floor near the rear door of the barn.
“I’d like to ask Mr. Michaels about it,” Nancy thought, but at the moment he and her friends were out of sight.
As Nancy examined the reproduction, two huge arms encircled her shoulders. She started to scream, but a gag was jammed into her mouth. Her efforts to free herself were futile. The next moment Nancy was pushed into one half of the statue and the other half was fastened into place on top of her.
Within seconds the statue was lifted, carried a distance, and laid down. As Nancy became drowsy from the lack of enough air, she heard a motor start. She was in some kind of vehicle, being driven away!
CHAPTER XX
A Startling Revelation
THOUGH Nancy had panicked when she was encased in the statue, she finally managed to overcome her fright. Her first thought was, “I can breathe. There must be holes in this statue, and they’re near my head.”
The vehicle was traveling at a fast speed and the statue jounced badly.
“I wonder how long my kidnapper will keep me in here,” she asked herself. Then a horrifying thought came to her. “Maybe he doesn’t intend to let me out. He may drop me off some place and leave me to starve to death! Oh, Ned, why didn’t you come?”
Back at the barn Bess and George were searching for Nancy. When they did not find her and discovered that Mr. Michaels was gone, they began calling Nancy’s name. There was no answer and they were concerned.
“Look!” Bess exclaimed. “The two halves of that life-size statue are gone.” She grabbed her cousin’s arm. “Do you suppose Nancy could have been put in it and carried off in a car?”
George was stunned by the thought but admitted that Bess was probably right. She rushed to the rear door. “The truck is gone!” she cried out.
The girls rushed around the barn looking for a clue as to where Nancy might have been taken.
“Here’s her wig!” Bess called. “It’s not far from where the two halves of that statue lay on the floor.”
At that moment a car pulled into the driveway. George and Bess went to the door to see who was arriving.
Ned and Dick!
“Oh boys!” Bess yelled. “Nancy has been kidnapped!”
“What!” Ned and Dick burst out. “When? How did it happen?”
The girls told their story and Dick said, “Ned was afraid there might be trouble here. So he picked me up and we rushed over. And now we’re too late!”
“Maybe not,” said Ned. “We can try to follow the tire treads of the man’s truck on the macadam road. By the way, who was he?”
“He gave his name as Michaels,” George replied as she hurried to Ned’s car.
Bess paused to pick up Nancy’s purse and her wig. Evidently the young sleuth had struggled with her abductor and the wig had come off. Bess got into Dick’s car and they followed Ned.
There was little conversation between Ned and George, but both were thinking, “We must overtake that truck. I hope we’ll be in time to save Nancy!”
Both Ned and Dick were driving as fast as they dared and fifteen minutes later they saw a truck in the distance.
“Is that the one?” Ned asked George.
As he drew closer, she said excitedly, “Yes! Yes, it is!”
The two boys put on a burst of speed and came alongside the truck. Gradually they edged it toward the side of the road, hoping to make the driver stop. But he was determined not to and yelled at Ned to get out of the way.
“Here comes a state trooper!” George cried out.
Ned waved his arm out the window signaling for the trooper to stop the truck. The officer in turn waved the driver over and in a moment Michaels was forced to come to a halt.
At once he opened the cab door and tried to flee. But the trooper and Dick grabbed him.
“You got no right to stop me!” the prisoner growled. “Take your hands off me!”
“As soon as we find out what you’re carrying in the back of your truck,” Dick told him.
Ned, Bess, and George by now had opened the rear doors of the truck and climbed inside. The statue lay on the floor.
r /> “Nancy! Nancy!” Ned cried as he tried to find a way to break the statue open.
Bess was crying. George was biting her lips to keep tears back. Would they find their best friend still alive?
Ned had pulled out a sharp penknife and was gouging a hole into the top of the terra-cotta figure. Finally he accomplished it.
“Nancy!” he called inside. To his relief there was a mumbled response.
By this time the trooper and Dick had brought their prisoner to the rear of the truck.
“Break this open!” Ned ordered Michaels.
With no choice but to obey, Michaels jumped inside. From a back pocket he took out a small chisel and hammer. Within a few minutes Nancy’s head was exposed. Ned yanked the gag from her mouth.
“I’m—I’m okay,” she murmured.
Michaels finally pried the entire statue apart. Nancy was released. After several gulps of fresh air she was able to stand up by herself. She looked bitterly at her kidnapper but was too weak to say anything.
“I didn’t mean any harm,” Michaels shouted. “This wasn’t my idea.”
“Whose was it?” the trooper asked.
“They’ll kill me if I tell you,” the man answered.
In a hoarse voice Nancy whispered, “Trunk Rasson.”
Ned added, “Officer, Trunk’s in jail. He probably expected Michaels to come and bail him out but he didn’t do it.”
Michaels’ bravado suddenly vanished. “Okay,” he said. “But we’re only two of the gang. I’m not going to tell you who the rest are. Right now the safest place for me would probably be jail.”
The trooper asked if either of the boys knew how to drive the truck. Dick said that he sometimes used the one that belonged to the yacht club.
“Then will you drive this truck to police headquarters ? Ned, you join him in the cab.”
As he spoke, the trooper took handcuffs from his pocket and fastened Michaels’ hands together behind his back. The motorcycle was lifted into the truck and the trooper and his prisoner climbed in. Nancy drove Ned’s car and George took the wheel of Dick’s.
A little later they arrived at headquarters and charges were preferred against Michaels. He was led off to a cell.
“What about Basswood and De Keer?” Ned asked Nancy.
She offered to telephone the motel and see if the suspects were still there. Nancy learned that they were in their room. She wondered if they were waiting for one or both of their confederates who were now prisoners.
The young sleuth then telephoned her father. He was astounded and relieved at her news.
“I’ll take over now,” he said, “and call Mrs. King. I’d like to arrange for all of us to be at her house tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, and Mr. Holden will be there too. I’ll ask Mrs. Merriam to drive out also.”
When the young people arrived at the King mansion the following day, they were astonished to find Basswood, Atkin, and De Keer there and three policemen. Mr. Drew listed the evidence that his daughter and her friends had amassed against the thieves. “That—together with Mrs. King’s positive identification of Atkin as the man who delivered the statue—is more than enough reason for holding these men.”
The prisoners sullenly refused to answer questions. But when Basswood recognized Nancy, he cried out, “Your hair! You were wearing a wig that half-covered your face! You’re Nancy Drew, not Debbie Lynbrook!”
Mrs. King had extra chairs brought to her living room. Everyone sat down, then Mr. Drew addressed the group.
“First of all, I want our prisoners to know that Trunk Rasson and Michaels who followed George and Bess and me one night in River Heights have confessed everything they did. Other parts of the operation have been learned through some skillful sleuthing.”
He did not mention Nancy by name but gave her a broad smile. He said that Basswood, under the alias of Thomas Mott, had a sizable bank account in New York City. Certain deposits were payments received from the sale of the stolen whispering statue and from Mrs. Merriam’s books. The woman had been paid only a small percentage of the money Basswood had received.
Bess was furious to hear this. She whispered to George, “How crooked can a person be!”
Mr. Drew further revealed that De Keer had made numerous reproductions which had been sold as originals, with Basswood finding purchasers. “They were always sold to uninformed but wealthy persons. According to Trunk Rasson, Basswood used many aliases and several strong-arm men. The three at the deserted mansion on the Waterford beach were among them. Basswood had sent the fake movers to steal the reproduction from the yacht club to avoid its being detected as a copy.”
The art dealer jumped up from his chair and shouted, “It’s not true! I’m innocent! I’ll fight this!”
Atkin, who had been silent up to this time, exclaimed, “It’s no use, Basswood! We may as well give up. It’ll go easier for us.”
Basswood hissed at his assistant, “Shut up!”
Mr. Drew ordered him to be quiet. “You can do your arguing in court. Right now, I want everyone to transfer to the room where the whispering statue is.”
This announcement unnerved Atkin completely. He slumped in his chair and everyone thought he was going to have another heart attack. But he finally got up and strode with the others to the sunroom. Mr. Holden stood near the marble lady and began to talk.
“This used to be known as the whispering statue. After it was stolen, Marco De Keer made a mold of it so he could cast a reproduction. He ruined the whispering quality. It was through a clue I got from Nancy Drew that I have been able to restore it.”
There were gasps from his audience. Mr. Holden smiled. “I’d like Nancy to tell you herself how she guessed this.”
As the young sleuth hesitated, half a dozen people said, “Speech! Speech! Come on, Nancy!”
She walked slowly to Mr. Holden’s side, then said, “When I was a prisoner inside the unfinished statue, I noticed that two holes had been put in it so I could breathe. I suspect De Keer and Basswood knew I’d be coming back to the barn to hunt for more clues, and had the two halves of the statue all ready, hoping to capture me.”
Dick looked puzzled. “But I thought they didn’t know that you were Nancy Drew,” he said.
“I didn’t,” Basswood said. “But even Debbie Lynbrook got to know too much and she had to be held for a while until all of us could clear out.”
George asked, “If you suspected her, why did you let her have the key to your shop?”
The art dealer answered, “She was an excellent saleswoman and I figured she could sell everything in the place before I skipped out. But my plans went wrong. She caught Rasson, who was supposed to bring all the money she made to me.”
Mr. Holden interrupted. “Shall we proceed with the explanation about the whispering statue?”
There was a chorus of yeses from the audience.
Nancy went on, “As air came through the holes in the statue in which I was a prisoner it made weird little sounds. This gave me the idea that perhaps the original statue had had some concealed holes in it which caused the whispering sounds. When Mr. De Keer painted the rubbery material over it to make his mold, he covered them up. This was fortunate for him because now the statue could not be traced so easily by the police.”
“She’s right,” Mr. Holden declared. “I’ve found the holes which had been cleverly put in originally. There was one inside each ear and two under locks of hair at the nape of the neck.”
“Have you opened them?” Bess asked eagerly.
“Yes, this morning. We will now move the statue outdoors. The wind is blowing strongly in the garden.”
Mrs. King summoned her houseman who brought a dolly and the marble lady was trundled into the garden and set up. Everyone gathered around it.
The statue was indeed whispering and Bess declared it was saying “Woe to anyone who doesn’t speak the truth!”
Suddenly Basswood cried out, “I can’t stand it! That thing’s supernatural! I’l
l tell the truth!”
His confession was mostly a reiteration of what Nancy and her friends and Mr. Drew had found out, but he did promise to return every penny of the money he had acquired dishonestly.
Nancy had guessed correctly that De Keer had made the reproduction to cover up the theft of the original statue. He had brought it to the yacht club and almost been caught, so he had put it in the abandoned tool shed. There had never been another chance for him to set it in place.
Basswood faced De Keer. “If you hadn’t put your initials on the bottom of that reproduction, we’d never have been found out!” he accused his friend.
Mr. Drew interrupted him. “There was plenty of other evidence against you,” he said.
Basswood went on, “De Keer made several stupid mistakes. He should never have made that threatening telephone call to your home, Mr. Drew. And he shouldn’t have sent Rasson and his buddy to your house. Those two things put you on our trail right away. Another thing. He shouldn’t have gone to the yacht club at night to punch those holes in his reproduction after your daughter stopped my other men from taking it.”
De Keer shot back, “Basswood, you messed matters up yourself by having that blank telegram delivered and having the masked man try to sink the sailboat Nancy and her friend George were in! But the worst thing you did was to hire her as a salesclerk! Nancy Drew right under your nose!”
The police officers said it was time for them to take their prisoners away. The confessions had been recorded on tape.
After the group had gone, Nancy and her father and all their friends continued to gaze at the beautiful marble statue.
As the young detective stood there, she wondered what challenge lay ahead. Where would it lead her? This question was answered very soon. At that moment events were taking place that would involve her in the amazing mystery of The Haunted Bridge.
Interrupting Nancy’s thoughts, Mrs. King said that if the members of the yacht club were willing, she would like to keep the statue. When she received a reimbursement from Basswood, she would turn the five thousand dollars and some extra money over to the club.