Read The Secret of Red Gate Farm Online
Authors: Carolyn Keene
Tags: #Cults, #Detective and Mystery Stories, #Girls & Women, #Children's Stories, #Mystery & Detective, #Juvenile Fiction, #Adventure and Adventurers, #Women Detectives, #Mysteries & Detective Stories, #Fiction, #Code and Cipher Stories, #Codes, #Mystery Fiction, #Women Sleuths, #Adventure Stories, #Farm Life, #Drew; Nancy (Fictitious Character), #Mystery Stories, #General, #Mystery and Detective Stories
The Secret of Red Gate Farm (4 page)
The numbers with the marks above or below them stymied Nancy completely. Most of the others fell neatly into place and spelled:
“Calling meeting,” Nancy repeated. “But where? And by whom?” She yawned, weary from her long concentration. “My brain’s too fogged to figure out anything more,” she told herself. “I’ll tackle this another time.”
The next morning Nancy and her father enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. He praised her for hitting upon the key to the code but agreed that solving the rest of it would be difficult.
“Keep at it,” he advised, smiling fondly at his daughter. “By the way, I won’t be home to lunch or dinner today because of this Clifton case.”
“I thought I’d visit Joanne and try to cheer her up,” Nancy said. “Do you, by any chance, know anyone who’s looking for an office girl?” she added.
Mr. Drew shook his head. “No. I’m afraid I don’t. But if I hear of anything I’ll let you know.”
“I feel that Joanne isn’t the type to be in the hectic business world,” Nancy remarked. “If it weren’t that she wants to help her grandmother, I doubt that she’d even try for a city position.”
After Carson Drew had left for his office, Nancy busied herself around the house, helping Hannah. When the housework was finally done, Nancy settled herself in an easy chair and delved into the code book once more. But she found no new hints to help break her own set of numben.
Nancy, Bess, and George had planned to start for Riverside Heights early in the afternoon, so as soon as the luncheon dishes had been cleared away, Nancy was off to pick up the other girls. By two-thirty they had reached Joanne’s rooming house.
The landlady answered Nancy’s knock on the front door and informed her that Joanne had left two hours before to see about a job. She would be back at three o’clock. The woman invited the girls in, but the living room looked so dark and dreary that they preferred to wait outside in the car.
“It’s too bad Joanne has to stay in a dismal place like that,” Nancy remarked, “especially when she’s accustomed to farm life.”
“I sure hope she finds something,” Bess added. “Maybe luck will be with her today.”
Within fifteen minutes the girls spotted Joanne at a distance. She did not notice the car, and unaware that she was being observed, walked slowly toward the rooming house, her head drooping dejectedly.
“She didn’t get the job,” George murmured. “I feel so sorry for her.”
As Joanne approached, Nancy called to her. Joanne glanced up quickly and mustered a smile.
“No luck today?” Bess questioned.
“None at all,” Joanne answered with a sigh. She came over to the car and stood leaning against the door. “I tried half a dozen places, but I couldn’t land a thing. I’ll just have to try again tomorrow.”
In the face of such spirit on Joanne’s part, the girls could do nothing but encourage her, though secretly they feared she would have no better luck the next day.
“How about coming for a short ride?” Nancy invited.
“I’d love it,” Joanne accepted eagerly. “It’s so hot and stuffy in my room—” She hesitated, then added, “Of course, I guess it is everywhere these days!”
Nancy took a road that led out of the city and soon they were driving past cultivated fields of corn and wheat. Gradually, Joanne became more cheerful.
“It’s so good to be out in the country again!” she declared, gazing wistfully toward a farmhouse nestled in the rolling hills. “That place looks something like Red Gate Farm, only not half so attractive. I wish you all could visit me there sometime!”
“So do wel” Nancy said enthusiastically. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hike over hills and breathe in the fresh clean air?”
“I’ve always wanted to spend a vacation on a farm,” Bess declared longingly. “Just imagine having cream an inch thick!”
“Just what you need for reducing!” her cousin teased her.
“You wouldn’t have to worry about that.” Joanne smiled. “We keep only one cow.”
When the girls later left Joanne at the door of her boardinghouse, they had the satisfaction of knowing she was in a more cheerful frame of mind.
“We’ll keep in touch with you, Joanne,” Nancy promised as they said good-by.
“I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other,” Joanne called after them. “So please do call me Jo! I’d much prefer it.”
“Jo it is!” they agreed merrily. “Good-by for now.”
Nancy and her friends had just started back to River Heights when Nancy checked her gas gauge and decided to stop at a filling station. The girls were idly watching passers-by when suddenly a young woman, walking with mincing steps because of her extremely high heels, attracted Nancy’s attention. Nancy gasped in recognition.
There was no mistaking the distinctive Oriental features. The clerk in the perfume shop!
Nancy turned to her companions. “Look at that girl who just crossed over. Isn’t she the same one who sold you the perfume, Bess?”
“You mean the one who tried not to sell me the perfume, don’t you?” Bess joked. “Yes, she’s the same girl!”
Their eyes followed the girl up the street. She had not glanced toward them, but had passed the filling station and continued on.
“Now, what can she be doing here?” Nancy wondered. She got out of the car and stood watching the girl, who entered an office building a short distance farther up the street.
“That’s funny,” Nancy said to her friends, who were peering from the car windows. “I think that’s the very place where Jo applied for a position!”
“You don’t suppose that perfume girl has two jobs, do you?” George questioned.
“I’d sure like to find out,” the young detective answered.
Just then the attendant approached. Nancy paid him and stepped back into the car.
“We must try to follow her,” she declared, starting the motor. They pulled up near the office building into which the young woman had disappeared.
“You two wait here and keep watch,” Nancy said. “If I’m not back in a few minutes, you’d better come and see what’s going on.”
“Aye, aye, sir!” George said mockingly. “We’re at your service! But be careful!”
Nancy alighted, hurried up the street, and went into the building. The halls were deserted. Evidently the girl had gone into one of the offices. But which one? As Nancy stood uncertainly staring up and down, she spotted a handyman coming down the corridor.
“Did you see a girl come into the building just a moment ago?” she inquired.
“Oriental?” the man demanded, resting on his broom.
Nancy nodded eagerly. “Yes, she looks rather Oriental.”
“Oh, you mean Yvonne Wong.”
“Do you know her?” Nancy said, thinking that with the name Yvonne, the girl was probably part French.
“No, but I heard that man she works for, with the loud voice and the swell clothes, call her by that name.”
“She works here?” Nancy inquired in surprise.
“Guess so. She must be a new girl. Came here yesterday.”
“I see,” Nancy murmured, thinking Yvonne Wong had managed a rather sudden change of jobs. “Could you tell me in which office she works?”
Her questions evidently had begun to annoy the handyman. “In 305. If you’re so interested,” he said brusquely, “why don’t you go in and ask her what you want to know?”
“Thank you,” Nancy responded with a polite smile, turning away. “I won’t trouble you any further.”
Nancy had taken only a few steps when she thought of one more question and came back. “By the way,” she said in a casual tone, “what sort of office is 305?”
The man regarded her suspiciously. “How should I know?” he demanded bluntly. “They don’t pay me to go stickin’ my nose in other folks’ business. I got my own work.”
Nancy could see that she was not going to learn any more from the man, so she left the building and joined Bess and George, who were waiting anxiously at the door.
“Well, what did you manage to find out?” Bess queried, as the three girls walked toward the car.
“Quite a bit,” Nancy answered meditatively. She was certain that she could not have been mistaken. Yvonne Wong was the same girl who only yesterday had waited on them in the Oriental shop. Why had she changed positions?
“Well,” George broke into her thoughts, “don’t keep us in suspense!”
Nancy answered all their questions as she drove toward River Heights, explaining that the young woman’s name was Yvonne Wong and that she was a new girl in the office—the same office Nancy and Joanne had visited.
“But what about Yvonne’s job at the Oriental perfume shop?” asked George.
“I don’t know,” Nancy admitted, “and the handyman wouldn’t give me any indication as to the type of business it was!”
Nancy recalled the strange telephone call which had been made while she and Joanne were in the office. She distinctly remembered that some mention had been made of a girl who had been found for the position, and that the man who called himself “Al” had said that one “couldn’t be too careful.”
“I wouldn’t be so suspicious about Yvonne,” Nancy added, “except I have a feeling she didn’t get that job by chance. She must have been chosen because she was especially suited to the situation—whatever that is.”
“There’s something underhanded about the whole thing, but we haven’t much to go on,” Bess declared.
Nancy agreed. “Some clue may turn up. Anyway, we have Jo to think about for the time being.”
It was getting dark as Nancy dropped off Bess and then George at their homes.
It rained so hard the following day that Nancy stayed indoors and tried to figure out the remaining symbols of the code. Using the same alphabetical key, 16 was M, 5 equaled H, 2 could be B, and 18 stood for R.
“MHBR,” Nancy pondered. “That doesn’t make any sense. Perhaps those marks over and under the letters are a second code,” she reasoned. “If only I could decipher them, I might know who’s calling what meeting, and where.”
The next morning a bright sun shone. While Nancy was busy with chores around the house, the phone rang and she went to answer it.
“Hello, Nancy,” said a quiet voice. “This is Jo. How are you?”
“Oh, Jo, I’m fine,” Nancy replied eagerly. “Did you find a job?” she asked hopefully.
“Not yet,” Joanne answered sadly. “But I have some other news.”
“I hope it’s good,” Nancy said.
“I just talked with my grandmother on the phone. I must go home right away. She told me that soon after I left, a man called and made an offer to buy Red Gate. His price was so low, she didn’t accept. He was very persistent, though, and gave her five days to think it over.”
“Yes?” Nancy prompted.
“Well,” the other girl went on, “in the meantime, Grandmother decided to try raising money by taking in boarders. She placed an ad in the paper that same day.”
“Good for her!” Nancy exclaimed. “Has she had any replies?”
“No,” Joanne said worriedly. “Even though the ad hasn’t run very long, Gram’s discouraged. I’m afraid she has changed her mind and intends to take that man’s offer. She said he’s coming to Red Gate tomorrow at five o’clock and bringing papers for her to sign.”
There was a pause, then Joanne burst out, “Nancy, I just can’t let Gram go through with this, and if I’m not there, she’ll accept the man’s offer. She mustn’t give up Red Gate Farm yet! That’s why I must get home and persuade her not to sell.”
“By all means,” Nancy agreed. “I suppose you’ll take the train to Round Valley in the morning?”
“That’s the horrible part, Nancy,” Joanne said dejectedly. “I’ll have only enough money for train fare half the way after I pay my room rent.”
“No need to do that, Jo,” Nancy said eagerly. “You get your bag packed and be ready to leave at ten o’clock tomorrow morning!”
CHAPTER V
Money, Money !
As NANCY reflected on her plan, another idea occurred to her. She was sure that Bess and George would love the chance to spend a vacation on a farm, since they had both mentioned it the other day. Nancy did some mental arithmetic and came to the conclusion that three steady boarders who paid their bills regularly might help to lessen the amount of the mortgage interest payments that threatened Red Gate.
“And also keep Mrs. Byrd from selling the place,” Nancy thought. “I hope Dad agrees to my making the trip.”
That evening at dinner Mr. Drew said, “I’ll be out of town for a week or so, Nancy. Do you think you can get some of your friends to stay with you?”
“I have an even better idea,” Nancy replied, and smiled.
She outlined her plan to help Joanne Byrd. Her father consented enthusiastically, proud as always of Nancy’s desire to assist others.
It was not so easy to convince Bess and George, when Nancy telephoned them. They both wanted to help Joanne and agreed that a week or two in the country would be very pleasant, but there were complications. If George went, it meant she would lose out on a camping trip. Bess had planned to visit an aunt in Chicago, but admitted that the trip could be postponed.
“There’s one thing about it,” George said laughingly as she finally agreed to give up the camping trip. “I’ve never been with you yet that we didn’t run into an adventure or mystery! Maybe a trip to Red Gate will be exciting.”
Bess and George had no trouble in getting their parents’ consent. It was decided that Nancy would pick up Joanne first, then come back for the cousins, since River Heights was on the way to Round Valley.
Nancy packed her clothes that night after telephoning the plans to Joanne. As she was dosing the suitcase, her eyes fell upon the copy of the coded message which lay on the dressing table.
“I’d better take it along and work on it whenever I have the chance,” she decided.
Nancy got up early the next morning and had breakfast with her father. After exchanging fond good-bys with him and Hannah, she hurried to her car.
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