The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book (6 page)

Suddenly, Mr. Goodale jumped up. “Nancy, I believe you have found the guilty person!”

Everyone stared at him.

“The Murphys have a son, Selig,” he explained. “He works in a dye factory. I’ll call the lawyer and have this Selig Murphy investigated at once.”

“Let us know what happens,” the girls begged as the meeting of the Detective Club broke up.

Mr. Goodale promised to do so, but it was not until two days later that Peg gave the girls a report in the Drew living room. Selig Murphy had confessed. When his parents were discharged by Grandpa Goodale, they kept a key to the house. From time to time, they went there with Selig while Grandpa Goodale was in the hospital and no one was at home.

“But why?” Honey asked.

“The Murphys stole various pieces of silver jewelry—even furniture,” Peg explained. “Things they felt he wouldn’t miss. In looking through his desk one day, they came across the will. They took it home to change the names of the main beneficiaries. Selig rented a typewriter that matched the one that had been used to draw the will. He copied the original text, but substituted his parents’ names on page three for those of my parents. Then he returned the revised will to the desk drawer.”

“And all the while Selig was very nervous,” Honey deduced, “and perspired freely, leaving a telltale thumbprint on the back of the substitute sheet!”

Peg nodded and everyone clapped.

“Nancy Drew, you’re responsible for solving this mystery,” Peg said. “My parents are really happy at the outcome.”

“Don’t forget,” said Nancy, “you all helped.”

“Even Selig.” Peg grinned. “I’m certainly glad he left his thumbprint on the will. Without it, my parents never would have been able to prove that the document had been tampered with!”

“WHAT an experience!” exclaimed Karen Carpenter, a charter member of Nancy Drew’s Detective Club. “Tell us about it again, Martie, and don’t leave anything out.”

Martie Wagner was quite upset about what had happened to her while on an errand for her mother at Wright’s Jewelry Store.

“No one was around,” she reported, “so I waited and looked over the jewelry and silverware inside the glass counters. I didn’t hear a sound, but suddenly a blindfold was tied across my eyes and a gag stuffed in my mouth! I tried hard to hit my attacker, but couldn’t see and couldn’t yell.”

“So what did you do?” Sue Fletcher asked, her eyes wide with shock.

“I pulled the gag out, and worked and worked until I got the kerchief off my eyes. By this time my assailant had disappeared, and I didn’t hear anything. For a second I thought a ghost must have done it.”

“Didn’t you yell then?” Peg asked.

Martie shook her head. “All I wanted to do was escape. As I rushed toward the front door an elderly man came in and asked me why I was running. Before I could answer, we both heard a groan coming from the back room.

“‘What’s that?’ the man asked. ‘Did you hurt somebody? Are you a thief?’ I cried ‘no, no,’ and followed him to the back room. On the floor lay the store owner, bound, blindfolded, and gagged. It was awful!”

The other girls agreed, then urged Martie to go on with her story.

“There’s not much more to tell. We freed Mr. Wright, and he called the police. The elderly man said he’d stay with him and advised me to go home, after the jeweler identified me as a friend of the family. He said I would be called later as a witness.”

Nancy spoke up. “Didn’t Mr. Wright tell his story?”

“Oh, yes,” Martie said. “A tall, thin, masked man came into the store, forced him into the back room, and tied him up. Then the stranger must have grabbed what jewelry he could before he saw me.”

Nancy said she would like to ask Martie some questions. “As you were having the blindfold put over your eyes, did the person who was doing it seem to be reaching down?”

“No, Nancy. The person’s arms were on a level with my shoulders.”

“Then perhaps the person wasn’t tall like the thief Mr. Wright described, and that means there may have been two thieves together. Martie, do you remember more about the person who blindfolded you?”

After a few seconds’ thought, Martie replied, “I recall a sweet odor.”

“Perfume?” Honey Rushmore suggested.

When Martie nodded, Nancy suggested the person might have been a woman. “Any other clues?” she asked. “Did you notice your attacker’s breathing?”

“Yes. It was heavy—as if the person had difficulty breathing.”

“Perhaps the person was overweight,” said Karen

“Good guess,” Nancy agreed. She turned to Martie. “Is this the jacket you wore to the jewelry store?”

“Yes.”

Nancy walked across the room and examined the tweed cloth. Then she picked up two curly red hairs from the back of the jacket. “I think your assailant had light red hair, probably short.”

The club members stared at Nancy admiringly, and Martie said, “I do remember one other thing. The person had small feet.”

“That means our suspect is probably a woman,” said Nancy.

Martie continued. “While she was blindfolding me, one of her shoes was right alongside mine. It looked the same size as mine, so maybe she’s my height. And I’d say she wore slacks and flat shoes. I could tell from the way she leaned against me.”

Nancy remarked that the girls had made a pretty good identification of the mysterious attacker and thief. “Peg, would you please list them?”

Peg held up her fingers and checked off the clues. “The assailant is a woman, about Martie’s height, is heavy, and gets short of breath. She has light red hair, probably short.”

Karen put in, “And travels with a tall, thin man who is rather violent. Why don’t we try to find them?”

“Good idea,” said Honey. “But how do we start, Nancy?”

“By going to the street where Wright’s is. We’ll talk to people in nearby stores and anyone who might have been around when the robbery was taking place. Perhaps someone saw the couple come out of the jewelry shop.”

“Maybe,” Peg suggested, “we’ll see the thieves!”

Nancy smiled. “I doubt it. They know the police will be after them. I’m sure they left quickly.”

“Then how can we find them?” Sue asked.

Nancy said she did not expect to. “But we might pick up clues to the thieves’ identity that the police haven’t learned yet.”

When the members of the Detective Club reached the area of the store, Nancy stopped suddenly. The girls looked at her inquiringly, then followed the direction in which she was glancing.

Martie asked, “You mean the cabbie at that taxi stand just beyond Wright’s might have been here during the robbery?”

“Yes.”

The girls walked over, and Nancy nudged Martie to ask him. When she did, he looked amused. “Are you playing detective?” he asked, then added, “I saw a man and a woman hurry out of Wright’s. They got into a parked car and drove off. I didn’t notice the license number, but the car was a dark sedan.”

Nancy winked at Peg, who said, “Please tell us what the couple looked like.”

As if to humor her, the cabdriver replied, “Well, the guy was tall and thin. The woman was shorter and had reddish hair.” Then he laughed. “Do you think I’d make a good detective, too?”

Nancy smiled. “A very good one. Can you describe their faces, the shapes of their heads, and their ears?”

The cabbie looked at her with heightened interest. “You’re really serious, aren’t you? Well, I believe the man had a sharp face and a small goatee. His nose was sharp, too, and I’d even say his ears were pointed.”

“That’s a great description,” Karen said. “Did you notice anything else?”

“Yes. I can tell you the guy was a mighty bad driver. His car was parked smack against the curb. He took off like a shot and sure gave the tires on the right side a beating. He scraped that curb so hard, I don’t think the rubber’s going to last long.”

“Thanks a lot,” Nancy said, and the girls walked away, whispering among themselves.

“What do we do next?” Peg wanted to know.

Nancy suggested going to police headquarters. “Our suspects may have police records. Also, Martie should tell her story to the authorities.”

When the club members reached the building, the young detective introduced the girls to Chief McGinnis.

The officer greeted them and said, “If Nancy Drew is your teacher, and you are able to solve mysteries the way she does, someday you all may join the police department!”

The girls laughed, then Nancy asked Martie to tell her story. Martie did so and ended by saying, “I didn’t get in touch with you, because Mr. Wright told me I’d be contacted later. I didn’t see the suspects.”

Chief McGinnis said, “By getting your club members to help, you have added a valuable bit of information to the case. We didn’t know the masked man in Mr. Wright’s store had a partner. So, she’s a red-haired woman!”

Peg spoke up. “Do you know what the man looked like?”

“No,” the chief admitted. “Mr. Wright couldn’t give us a detailed description. And the thief must have worn gloves because he left no fingerprints.”

“We got a lead from a cabdriver who saw the couple run out of the store and drive off in a dark sedan,” Peg told the officer. There was a tone of mixed pride and teasing in her remark as she related their conversation with the taxi driver.

“Very good sleuthing,” the chief said. He pushed a buzzer on his desk, and another officer walked in.

“This is Sergeant Walsh, ladies,” Chief McGinnis said. “Mike, meet the Detective Club. They’ve brought some valuable clues about the Wright robbery. Will you see if there’s a record of a tall, thin man with sharp features and slightly pointed ears whose partner is a heavyset woman with red hair?”

Mike left and returned a few minutes later with startling news. “The couple are husband and wife and are wanted in several cities for robberies. Apparently, they are now working the smaller towns.”

“Send out an alarm for them at once,” McGinnis ordered. Then he turned to the girls. “Thanks for your help. And good luck on your next mystery.”

After the group had left, Nancy said, “Let’s do some more inquiring.” She led the club members back to Wright’s, and they searched along the scraped curb for anything that might further identify the suspects or their sedan.

Martie pointed out the marks that indicated a car had scraped roughly along the curbing. They even noticed little pieces of rubber.