Read The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book Online
Authors: Carolyn Keene
The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book (15 page)
The neighbors and their attorneys began to argue about what certain things meant. Nancy paid no attention to what they were saying. Her eyes and fingers followed certain lines on Mr. James’s map as she studied the barely discernible measurements. After making some notes on her pad, she traced the borders on Mr. Jones’s map.
Suddenly, she exclaimed, “Dad! Do you realize that these lines for the disputed property are exactly the same on both maps? Do you suppose—?”
Her father and the other men scrutinized the lines she had indicated. Mr. Drew took a magnifying glass from the desk drawer and placed it over the measurements.
“The area in question is exactly opposite on the two maps!” he said. “Now let’s refer to the deeds and see if there are any similarities.”
After reading both documents carefully, he and Mr. Bromley agreed that the deeds were correct but that the surveyor who had drawn the maps had followed the directions in Mr. James’s deed of the area in dispute. He had inadvertently put those on Mr. Jones’s map exactly in reverse.
Nancy whispered to her father, “Does this prove that the land belongs to Mr. James?”
“Without a doubt,” he replied, and pointed this out to Mr. Bromley.
Before the opposing lawyer could answer, Mr. Jones cried out, “This isn’t fair! Somewhere, at some time, someone pulled a bad error on my family!”
Mr. Drew remarked it was unfortunate neither Mr. James nor Mr. Jones had had the land surveyed when they had inherited the farms so the mistakes would have been found years before.
“Does this mean I lose the case?” Mr. Jones asked.
“I’m afraid it does,” Mr. Bromley said. “I’m sorry, Mr. Jones.” Then he turned to Mr. Drew. “Congratulations! Your daughter really won this case for you!”
Although Nancy was happy for her father’s client, she felt sorry for Mr. Jones, who murmured over and over, “Now I’ll have to give up my business of selling flowers. I can’t afford to plant a new bed.”
Nancy walked over to the members of the Detective Club and, for a few moments, held a whispered conversation with them. Finally she said, “Good. I’ll tell him.”
She returned to the desk, where the men were still lingering, and smiled at Mr. Jones. “I’m sorry you have to give up your beautiful garden. My friends and I want to offer our services to make a new one for you. We’ll do all the digging and transplanting.”
Mr. Jones looked at her in amazement. “You really mean it?” he asked hopefully.
By now the other girls were crowding around the desk. “Yes, we mean it!” they all said.
“That’s most generous of you,” Mr. Jones said. “You have no idea how bad I felt having to give up that garden.”
The expression on his face had changed from one of sadness to a happy one. “I’ll put the fence just inside my real property line, and you can make the garden right next to it. In that way both families can still enjoy the flowers.”
Mr. James spoke up. “I’ll pay for new ones to replace any that don’t survive, and take as much water as you need from the brook.”
ACTIVITY
Nancy suggests that you go to your local library and see how your town or city was originally laid out. Look at aerial maps and see how your town has grown and changed over the years. Compare how your town looked when it was established with how it looks today.
CHAPTER X
THE HAUNTED HOUSE
Sleuthing for a Ghost
THE minutes of the previous meeting had been read, and the Detective Club was ready for another mystery.
The members looked toward Nancy, who now addressed the circle of girls.
“How many of you would like to track down a ghost?” she began.
“A real one or somebody playing ghost?” asked Peg.
Nancy said that nobody knew. “There’s an old estate ten miles outside River Heights. At present no one lives there, but realtors who have taken prospective buyers to the place are scared away from it by ghostly figures and weird noises. The police have searched the premises but found no one.”
Karen spoke up. “That sounds like a ghost all right.”
Nancy told her that after the police had looked around the place, the strange happenings occurred only at night. She explained, “If we’re going to try solving the mystery, we must go there in the evening.”
The club members looked at one another, not sure that they wanted to visit a haunted house in the dark. Then they remembered several things that Nancy had taught them.
A good detective never gives up. A good detective must have no fear, only caution. A good detective must look for the unusual. A casual glance is not likely to turn up any evidence.
“I’m game!” Martie called out.
The other girls said, “We are, too.”
Sue asked Nancy to tell them more about the mystery. The young sleuth said that the owners of the estate, a Mr. and Mrs. Costello, were elderly and not well. They were living in a nursing home and had appointed their niece, Maria Costello, to be their guardian.
“It was Maria,” Nancy explained, “who came to me and asked if I would try to solve the mystery because she wants to sell the estate. She has keys to the house, the barn, and the stable, as well as to closets inside the mansion.”
Cathy spoke up. “Wouldn’t it be sensible for us to make our first trip in the daytime, in order to become familiar with the place? We’ll have to know the layout to find our way around in the dark.”
Nancy agreed and suggested that they go to Maria’s house for the keys. “I’ll phone her and see if she’s at home. Maybe she can tell us more about the old estate.”
Nancy called and learned that Maria would be happy to see the members of the Detective Club.
“I’m sure that you and your club can solve this puzzling mystery,” Maria told the young detective.
Twenty minutes later Nancy introduced her friends to the Costellos’ niece, a beautiful, dark-eyed woman, who invited them into her cheerful living room. They sat down.
A cart had been wheeled in on which stood a china pot of steaming hot cocoa and cups and saucers. On a plate next to them lay a mound of homemade cookies.
As the girls ate the delicious snack, Maria told them that the ghost or ghosts at the mansion were sometimes seen in filmy white garments, floating in the air toward the road.
“One group of people who went there with the thought of buying the place heard the weird sounds of a violin being played, yet no one was around. Naturally, the sale was lost. Other people reported a loud moaning coming from the third floor.”
Maria stopped. “Have you heard enough?” she asked with a smile.
“That’s plenty for me!” Karen declared. “You made chills go up and down my spine.”
The others laughed, but some admitted the same thing had happened to them. Then Sue said slyly, “Of course, Maria, we don’t dare let on to Nancy that we have any fears.”
Maria laughed softly. “I’ll get the keys.”
While she was gone, Nancy said to her friends, “I suggest that during your sleuthing on this case you use everything you have learned since you joined the Detective Club.”
Maria returned and handed over a large ring of keys to Nancy. Then the girls stood up to leave.
“I wish you luck,” Maria said. “The expenses for my aunt and uncle are very high, and we really need to sell the estate. By the way, we are trying to have the new owner buy everything in the house rather than have an auction. I’m sure you’ll be interested in looking at the old treasures.”
The girls were surprised that the furnishings were still in the mansion.
Peg remarked, “Isn’t it risky to leave all those things in the house while no one’s living there? Burglars could steal everything.”
Maria replied, “I have a feeling the ghost takes care of that!”
After the girls said good-bye to Maria, they drove several miles until they came to a country road marked Sleepy Hollow Drive. It was full of potholes, and the club members were jounced so much that Karen advised everyone to be quiet so that they would not bite their tongues! About a mile from the main road they reached a high picket fence with barbed wire on top.
“I wonder if the fence is electrified,” Martie remarked.
“I doubt it,” said Nancy. “Maria told me the power has been turned off. We’ll need strong flashlights tonight.”
The girls finally came to the big gate, and Nancy stopped the car. Looking through the pickets, she decided not to drive in. The entranceway was completely overgrown, and she did not want weeds and grass to wind themselves around the car’s axles.
The girls got out and walked to the gate. Nancy took the key ring from her purse and inserted the larger keys into the lock one by one until she found a fancy brass key that fit perfectly.
The detective swung open one half of the enormous double gate, and the girls trooped inside. Then Nancy locked it again. As they picked their way along the barely discernible curving driveway, they spotted evidence of the former beauty of the landscape. Here and there bushes were in bloom, and fine old trees spread their branches. In one area, flowers struggled up between the choking weeds.
The mansion, constructed of yellow brick and partially covered with ivy, was huge. The girls went up the front steps, and Nancy unlocked the big door. As she pulled it open, it squeaked loudly.
Inside, there was dead silence. The club members walked around the center hall, admiring the winding stairway leading to the second floor. Before going up, however, they investigated all the rooms on the ground level. Each one was beautifully furnished, but dust covered everything.
“Let’s watch for any telltale footprints,” Nancy advised. “After all, the
ghost
may have been in here.”
ghost
may have been in here.”
“Perhaps it’s here right now,” Honey muttered apprehensively, staring at a closet door, but not quite daring to open it.
“We’ll have to look everywhere,” Nancy said, and turned the knob. But they found no ghost in any of the closets or rooms, and no clue of any kind turned up. When they came to a door next to the kitchen and opened it, the door squeaked tremendously. Breathless, the young detectives waited to see what lay beyond. It was nothing but an empty pantry!
Martie heaved a sigh of relief. “I almost expected a skeleton to be hanging in there!” she said.
The girls were intrigued by the kitchen, which was large and had a fireplace.
“I suppose,” said Sue, “that in olden days they used to cook food in this fireplace.”
“Perhaps the ghost is here right now, ” Honey said.
“Like barbecued hot dogs,” Karen quipped, and everyone laughed.
“Well, that’s it for the first floor,” Nancy declared. “Let’s go upstairs.”
The steps were heavily carpeted, but a couple of the treads squeaked. The Detective Club members scrutinized them inch by inch but found nothing suspicious.
As the girls reached the top and started down the hall Cathy exclaimed, “Look! A man’s footprints!”
There was a circle of impressions faintly visible in the dust that had settled on the dark oak floorboards. All of the girls stared at them in amazement.
“This is positively weird,” Sue said finally. “Where did the man come from, and where did he go?”
Nancy looked at the ceiling. “That’s the only place. But I see no evidence of a break-in or any tampering with the panels. Do you?”
Her friends shook their heads.
“Where do we go next?” Honey asked a bit apprehensively.
“To the bedrooms,” Nancy said resolutely.
The search went on in silence until Cathy spoke up. “We’re certainly advertising our visit,” she said, and pointed to the trail of footprints the girls had been leaving.
“Maybe we’ll scare the ghost,” Sue said.
“One thing I’m sure of,” Nancy said. “The ghost is no thief. There are beautiful art objects in the rooms and lovely paintings on the walls. A thief would have taken all of them.”
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