Part 9 (1/2)
The cas.h.i.+er could not tell Nancy where the woman had gone, for she had left no forwarding address. From a bellhop she learned that Mrs. Egan had directed a taxi to take her to the airport.
”She said something about going to Chicago,” the boy recalled.
”Thanks.” Nancy smiled.
Determined that Mrs. Egan should not leave the city without at least answering a few questions, Nancy sped to the airport. To her bitter disappointment, as Nancy pulled up, a big airliner took off gracefully from the runway.
”Mrs. Egan probably is aboard!” she groaned.
Nancy checked and confirmed that a woman answering the description had bought a ticket for Chicago, in the name of Mrs. Floyd Pepper.
”My one chance now of having her questioned or trailed is to wire the Chicago police!” Nancy decided. ”I'll ask Dad to make the request.”
She telephoned to explain matters, and Mr. Drew agreed to send a telegram at once.
Nancy, having done all she could in the matter, returned to the Claymore Hotel with a new plan in mind. She asked for some stationery with the Claymore letterhead. When she arrived home her father was there.
”Dad, I want to find out if Mrs. Egan has any part in the seances, the stock deals, or the money that used to be put in the walnut tree,” said Nancy. ”Will you tell me honestly what you think of this plan? I'm going to type notes to Mrs. Putney, Lola White, and Sadie Green.”
”Using Mrs. Egan's name?”
”That's the idea. If it doesn't work, then I'll try the name of Immer later. I won't try imitating Mrs. Egan's signature in the hotel register. I'll just type the name.”
”But what can you say without giving yourself away?” asked Mr. Drew.
”I'll write that my plans have been changed suddenly,” Nancy said. ”I'll request them to send all communications to Mrs. Hilda Egan at the Claymore Hotel.”
”When she isn't there? And why Hilda? Isn't the name Mrs. Frank Egan?”
”That's how I'll know the answers belong to me. I doubt if her clients know her first name, anyway.”
Mr. Drew chuckled. ”Anyone could tell that you have legal blood in your veins,” he said. ”But aren't you forgetting one little detail?”
”What's that?” Nancy asked in surprise.
”If Mrs. Putney, Sadie, Lola, or any of the others have ever had any correspondence with Mrs. Egan, they'll be suspicious of the letters. They may question a typed name instead of one written in her own hand.”
”How would it be,” said Nancy, ”if in the corner of the envelope, I draw the insigne of the Three Branch Ranch!”
”Well, here's hoping,” said Mr. Drew a trifle dubiously.
Later that day Nancy wrote the letters, then rushed over to the Claymore and persuaded the hotel clerk, who knew her to be an amateur detective, to agree to turn over to her any replies which might come addressed to Mrs. Hilda Egan.
”Since you say these letters will be in answer to letters you yourself have written, I'll do it,” he agreed.
All the next day Nancy waited impatiently for word from the Chicago police in reply to her father's telegram. None came, nor did she receive a call from the clerk at the Claymore Hotel.
”Maybe my idea wasn't so good after all,” she thought.
But on the second day, the telephone rang. Nancy's pulse hammered as she recognized the voice of the Claymore Hotel clerk.
”Nancy Drew?”
”Yes. Have you any mail for me?”
”A letter you may want to pick up is here,” he said hurriedly.
CHAPTER XIII.
Complications THE letter awaiting Nancy at the Claymore Hotel proved to be from Sadie Green, the girl who worked at the Lovelee Cosmetic Company.
In the communication, which the girl never dreamed would be read by anyone except Mrs. Egan, she revealed she had received a bonus and would gladly donate it to the poor orphans cared for at the Three Branch Home.
”... In accordance with messages from their deceased parents,” the letter ended.
”So that's what they are up to!” Nancy thought grimly. ”There's no greater appeal than that of poor, starving orphans! The very idea of trying to rob hard-working girls with such hocus-pocus!”
As soon as Nancy returned home, she promptly typed a reply on the hotel stationery warning Sadie that since certain unscrupulous persons were endeavoring to turn a legitimate charity into a racket, she was to pay no attention to any written or telephoned messages, unless they came from Mrs. Egan herself at the Claymore Hotel.
Nancy's next move was made only after she had again consulted her father. At first he was a little reluctant to consent to the daring plan she proposed, but when she outlined its possibilities, he agreed to help her.
”Write down the address of this shop in Winchester,” he said, scribbling it on a paper. ”Unless I'm mistaken, you can buy everything you need there.”
As a result of Nancy's talk with her father and also with Ned Nickerson, another letter went forward to Sadie Green. The note merely said that the girl would be required to attend an important seance the following night. She was instructed to wait for a car at Cross and Lexington streets.
At the appointed hour, Nancy, heavily veiled, rode beside her father in the front seat of a car borrowed from a friend. In order not to be recognized, Mr. Drew had a felt hat pulled low over his eyes.
”Dad, you look like a second-story man!” Nancy teased him as they parked at the intersection. ”Do you think Sadie will show up?”
”I see a blond girl coming now,” he replied.
Nancy turned her head slightly and recognized Sadie. Making a slow gesture with her gloved hand, she motioned the girl into the back seat. Mr. Drew promptly pulled away from the curb.
The automobile took a direct route to the vicinity of Blackwood Hall. Nancy covertly watched Sadie from beneath her veil. The girl was very nervous and kept twisting her handkerchief as they approached. But when they got out and started walking, she gave no sign that the area was familiar.
Ned Nickerson had followed in another borrowed automobile which he concealed in a clump of bushes. Then he removed a small suitcase from the trunk, and started off through the woods.
Meanwhile, Nancy and Sadie, with Mr. Drew a little distance behind, approached Blackwood Hall.
”I hope everything goes through as planned,” Nancy thought with a twinge of uneasiness. ”If Ned is late getting here-”
Just then she saw a faint, greenish light glowing weirdly through the trees directly ahead. At the same moment came a strange, husky chant.
Nancy stepped to one side so that Sadie might precede her on the path. The girl gazed at the green point of light as one hypnotized.
”The spirit speaks!” Nancy intoned.