The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book (14 page)

With no route of escape open to them, the Valleccis followed the officers silently to the police car.

Mr. Schwinn wrung Nancy’s hand. “You are amazing! Is there anything I can do for you?”

“I’d like to call my father and tell him the good news.”

Mr. Drew was astounded that the case had been solved so quickly. “My special congratulations to you,” he said. “Nancy, you caught a couple of really big fish!”

Nancy laughed. “One for you, Dad, and the other for the Detective Club!”

“TODAY,” said Nancy to her club of aspiring detectives, “we have the privilege of attending a private hearing.”

“How exciting!” Sue exclaimed. “Where will it be?”

“In my father’s office,” Nancy replied.

The club members begged her to tell them more about it. She said that the case concerned two neighbors who lived on farms outside River Heights.

“They’ve been squabbling over something that neither my father, who represents one of the men, nor the lawyer working for the other man thinks is worth taking to court. They’ll try to settle the problem right in my dad’s office.”

Karen remarked, “This sounds like fun. What are we supposed to do?”

“Just listen,” Nancy said. “We’re to be like a jury.”

She explained that a Mr. James was her father’s client. The name of his neighbor was Jones. Both men had inherited the properties that had been in their families for years. The two small farms were separated by a narrow brook.

“Mr. James has a dog. Mr. Jones has a flower garden planted alongside the brook, and he sells the flowers to a florist,” she went on. “In order to keep the dog from trampling his flowers, Mr. Jones put up a wire fence on the far side of the brook. Mr. James claims that it had been erected on his property, and therefore, he promptly took it down. Mr. Jones set it up again, saying it was on his property, and threatened to have the dog put down if Mr. James didn’t keep him from splashing through the water and trampling the flower garden.”

Nancy smiled. “Unfortunately, the dog didn’t understand what it was all about and kept walking through the flowers. Mr. James insisted that when Mr. Jones had put the fence up, he had kept Mr. James from using the water for his farmwork. He also said that according to an old map he had found, his land went beyond the brook, and therefore, the flower garden actually belonged to him. He came to my father to see what could be done.”

When the girls arrived at Mr. Drew’s office, they found that one side of it had chairs assigned to them along the far wall. They took their seats, and in a few moments Mr. Drew walked in with two men. He introduced them to the girls as Mr. Bromley, an attorney, and Mr. Hallock, a retired judge.

Nancy’s father explained that he had set up his office like a courtroom. Each attorney would interrogate James and Jones, then Mr. Hallock would render an opinion.

The judge took his position behind Mr. Drew’s desk. The two lawyers sat on opposite ends of a bench, and a chair was placed near the judge.

Nancy’s father walked over to the girls and said, “Be very attentive to details. Watch for any discrepancies in what Mr. James and Mr. Jones say. Plus, watch their facial expressions. Perhaps you can detect whether or not they’re telling the truth and also notice any important evidence that is not brought forth. It may be a good idea to take notes.”

The club members pulled out notepads from their handbags and announced that they were ready. Mr. Drew went into his assistant’s office, where the two neighbors were waiting. First he asked Mr. James to come in, and directed him to the chair near the judge. Nancy whispered to the girls that it was a good idea to question each witness out of earshot of the other.

“Now, Mr. James, please tell us in your own words exactly what happened,” Mr. Drew said to his client.

Mr. James stated that he was sure the property on which Mr. Jones had planted the flower garden belonged to him. “The flowers were pretty, and my family and I enjoyed them when we took a walk up to the brook,” he said, “so we did not object. The trouble started when our dog, Prince, began to visit another dog and made his way through the brook and the flower garden to get there. We tried to teach him to go along the road instead, but had no luck. I followed him once to see how much damage he did to the flowers. He seemed very clever and walked around the roses without knocking anything down. But I admit he did leave paw prints.”

Mr. Drew asked, “Are you saying that your dog did no damage to the garden?”

“Yes. He didn’t trample the flowers as Mr. Jones claims. Besides, for the past two weeks we’ve kept him tied and walked with him on a leash.”

“Now, how about the fence?” Mr. Drew went on. “Tell us about that.”

Mr. James said that his neighbor had erected a wire fence without saying anything. “I became angry at this and told him he had put it on my property. That night, I took it down and threw it in his field. The following day, while my family was away, he put it up again.”

Mr. Drew turned to Mr. Bromley and said, “Your witness.”

The opposing lawyer began: “Mr. James, you say your dog never ruined the flowers? My client insists that they were trampled so badly that he had to replace them. Isn’t it possible that you are not aware of the damage because new ones were planted?”

“He could not possibly have replanted them that quickly. I use that brook and see the flower bed every morning and every night.”

Mr. Bromley smiled. “You have testified that your dog picked his way carefully among the plants and did not step on any of them. This is hard to believe. I have often seen dogs whip through flower beds, and it certainly didn’t do the plants any good!”

The opposing lawyer turned to Mr. Drew. “I have no more questions.”

Mr. James was excused and followed Mr. Drew from the office. Nancy’s father now summoned Mr. Jones, who was shown to the seat near the judge.

Mr. Bromley questioned his client first. He asked him to name specific days when the dog had trampled the garden.

“Let me see,” Mr. Jones said. “He was there last Tuesday or Wednesday. Then he damaged the rest of the plants on Friday night.”

“How long has this problem been going on?” Mr. Bromley asked.

“We’ve argued about the dog crossing my land for years,” Mr. Jones replied. “But it wasn’t until I purchased special expensive plants that the real trouble began. Besides, the Jameses used to keep their dog in the house most of the time. But lately, they just let him roam a lot.”

Mr. Bromley nodded and said, “Mr. Drew, your witness.”

Nancy’s father stood up. “What proof do you have, Mr. Jones, that the land in dispute is yours?”

“I have an old map. It shows that the brook belongs to me. I let Mr. James use the water until his dog became a nuisance.”

Mr. James was brought in, and as his neighbor stepped down, he took the witness chair.

Mr. Drew repeated the various statements Mr. Jones had made. One by one, Mr. James refuted them. He and his family never let their dog out at night without having him on a leash. The problem over his roaming across the neighbor’s land had never come up until the time Mr. Jones had plowed the area for his flower bed. He had declared that it belonged to him, and Mr. James had done nothing until the fence went up because he and his family enjoyed the beautiful flowers.

After a few more questions, the two men were shown into the assistant’s office, while the attorneys and the judge discussed the matter.

All this time, Nancy and the Detective Club members had kept quiet and taken notes. Now they whispered in low tones, and all agreed that there were many discrepancies in the neighbors’ testimony.

Mr. Hallock pointed this out also and said, “Gentlemen, you asked me to give my opinion in this case. I believe that both men are at fault in a way, and they should settle their differences on friendly terms. Would you like me to tell them this?”

Mr. Drew nodded and went to get the two neighbors, who came in arguing. Mr. Hallock rapped his knuckles on the desk and said, “Gentlemen, the three of us agree that both of you are at fault. We think you should forget your differences and get along on better terms. Mr. Jones, suppose you take down the offensive fence, and Mr. James, will you please keep your dog tied up or on a leash?”

There was silence for a couple of minutes, then Mr. Jones burst out, “I won’t do it! I planted that garden. It belongs to me, and I don’t trust that dog!”

Mr. James in turn said, “You can see why Mr. Jones and I don’t get along. He doesn’t trust me, and he makes up false stories to get his point across.”

It was evident that neither man was going to give in. Mr. Drew and Mr. Bromley looked at each other. Nancy wondered if they were thinking, “Will it be necessary for this to be tried in court?”

Suddenly, Mr. Drew whispered to the judge and Mr. Bromley. The former nodded, and the opposing lawyer said after a moment, “Okay, go ahead.”

Mr. Drew turned to the members of the Detective Club. “We’ve agreed that you ladies should give your opinion and suggest a possible procedure in this case.”

Nancy was delighted and flattered by the suggestion. She looked at the girls, then at the lawyers, and said, “We have been comparing notes and find that the men’s testimony is unconvincing. We recommend that each be asked to bring in the deeds to their property and whatever maps they may have, to determine the property line and who owns the flower garden.”

“That’s a very sensible solution,” the judge agreed. “Mr. Drew, Mr. Bromley, I second the motion.”

Mr. Drew did not seem surprised, but Mr. Bromley looked at the girls in awe. “Congratulations,” he said. “You have figured out exactly what should be done.”

Mr. James and Mr. Jones looked at Nancy and the club members. Finally both men declared they would have to go on a real hunt for the maps because unfortunately they had neglected to put them in bank safe-deposit boxes. They had been hidden in some desk or bureau drawer.

The next meeting of the group was set for several days later when, hopefully, the matter of the property line would be settled. The girls were eager for the time to arrive. Mr. Drew told Nancy that both men had accepted the old surveys made years before, which were used to write up the deeds and to make the maps.

“It’s unfortunate they didn’t have new ones made,” Mr. Drew remarked. “Those old deeds and maps are hard to read. They’re not computed in feet or yards, but in links and chains.”

“How does that work?” Nancy asked.

Her father replied, “A long time ago, the surveyor carried a sixty-six-foot chain consisting of a hundred links to measure distances. Each link was approximately seven and nine-tenths inches long. If a piece of property was sixty feet, it was approximately ninety links of the chain.”

“It sounds complicated,” Nancy remarked.

Nevertheless, she set to work studying up on the subject. First, she took a book from her father’s library, then went to the public library to get a surveyor’s book. By the time the group reassembled in Mr. Drew’s office, she had a good working knowledge of how to read old deeds and maps.

Those belonging to Mr. James and Mr. Jones were discolored and brittle, so they were handled carefully. Mr. Drew spread them out on his office desk, and Nancy was permitted to study the maps. To her amazement she discovered that both of them had been drawn by the same surveyor. She pointed this out to the men, who had been busy comparing the deeds. They nodded and went back to studying their documents.