Chapter 2 The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene
The Mysterious Mishap
Sipping their tea, Helen Corning and her aunt waited for Nancy’s decision. The young sleuth was in a dilemma. She wanted to start at once solving the mystery of the “ghost” of Twin Elms. But Nathan Gomber’s warning still rang in her ears and she felt that her first duty was to stay with her father.
At last she spoke. “Mrs. Hayes—” she began.
“Please call me Aunt Rosemary,” the caller requested. “All Helen’s friends do.”
Nancy smiled. “I’d love to. Aunt Rosemary, may I please let you know tonight or tomorrow? I really must speak to my father about the case. And something else came up just this afternoon which may keep me at home for a while at least.”
“I understand,” Mrs. Hayes answered, trying to conceal her disappointment.
Helen Corning did not take Nancy’s announcement so calmly. “Oh, Nancy, you just must come. I’m sure your dad would want you to help us. Can’t you postpone the other thing until you get back?”
“I’m afraid not,” said Nancy. “I can’t tell you all the details, but Dad has been threatened and I feel that I ought to stay close to him.”
Hannah Gruen added her fears. “Goodness only knows what they may do to Mr. Drew,” she said. “Somebody could come up and hit him on the head, or poison his food in a restaurant, or—”
Helen and her aunt gasped. “It’s that bad?” Helen asked, her eyes growing wide.
Nancy explained that she would talk to her father when he returned home. “I hate to disappoint you,” she said, “but you can see what a quandary I’m in.”
“You poor girl!” said Mrs. Hayes sympathetically. “Now don’t you worry about us.”
Nancy smiled. “I’ll worry whether I come or not,” she said. “Anyway, I’ll talk to my dad tonight.”
The callers left shortly. When the door had closed behind them, Hannah put an arm around Nancy’s shoulders. “I’m sure everything will come out all right for everybody,” she said. “I’m sorry I talked about those dreadful things that might happen to your father. I let my imagination run away with me, just like they say Miss Flora’s does with her.”
“You’re a great comfort, Hannah dear,” said Nancy. “To tell the truth, I have thought of all kinds of horrible things myself.” She began to pace the floor. “I wish Dad would get home.”
During the next hour she went to the window at least a dozen times, hoping to see her father’s car coming up the street. It was not until six o’clock that she heard the crunch of wheels on the driveway and saw Mr. Drew’s sedan pull into the garage.
“He’s safe!” she cried to Hannah, who was testing potatoes that were baking in the oven.
In a flash Nancy was out the back door and running to meet her father. “Oh, Dad, I’m so glad to see you!” she exclaimed.
She gave him a tremendous hug and a resounding kiss. He responded affectionately, but gave a little chuckle. “What have I done to rate this extra bit of attention?” he teased. With a wink he added, “I know. Your date for tonight is off and you want me to substitute.”
“No, Dad,” Nancy replied. “Of course my date’s not off. But I’m just about to call it off.”
“Why?” Mr. Drew questioned. “Isn’t Dirk going to stay on your list?”
“It’s not that,” Nancy replied. “It’s because—because you’re in terrible danger, Dad. I’ve been warned not to leave you.”
Instead of looking alarmed, the lawyer burst out laughing. “In terrible danger of what? Are you going to make a raid on my wallet?”
“Dad, be serious! I really mean what I’m saying. Nathan Gomber was here and told me that you’re in great danger and I’d better stay with you at all times.”
The lawyer sobered at once. “That pest again!” he exclaimed. “There are times when I’d like to thrash the man till he begged for mercy!”
Mr. Drew suggested that they postpone their discussion about Nathan Gomber until dinner was over. Then he would tell his daughter the true facts in the case. After they had finished dinner, Hannah insisted upon tidying up alone while father and daughter talked.
“I will admit that there is a bit of a muddle about the railroad bridge,” Mr. Drew began. “What happened was that the lawyer who went to get Willie Wharton’s signature was very ill at the time. Unfortunately, he failed to have the signature witnessed or have the attached certificate of acknowledgment executed. The poor man passed away a few hours later.”
“And the other railroad lawyers failed to notice that the signature hadn’t been witnessed or the certificate notarized?” Nancy asked.
“Not right away. The matter did not come to light until the man’s widow turned his brief case over to the railroad. The old deed to Wharton’s property was there, so the lawyers assumed that the signature on the contract was genuine. The contract for the railroad bridge was awarded and work began. Suddenly Nathan Gomber appeared, saying he represented Willie Wharton and others who had owned property which the railroad had bought on either side of the Muskoka River.”
“I understood from Mr. Gomber,” said Nancy, “that Willie Wharton is trying to get more money for his neighbors by holding out for a higher price himself.”
“That’s the story. Personally, I think it’s a sharp deal on Gomber’s part. The more people he can get money for, the higher his commission,” Mr. Drew stated.
“What a mess!” Nancy exclaimed. “And what can be done?”
“To tell the truth, there is little anyone can do until Willie Wharton is found. Gomber knows this, of course, and has probably advised Wharton to stay in hiding until the railroad agrees to give everybody more money.”
Nancy had been watching her father intently. Now she saw an expression of eagerness come over his face. He leaned forward in his chair and said, “But I think I’m about to outwit Mr. Nathan Gomber. I’ve had a tip that Willie Wharton is in Chicago and I’m leaving Monday morning to find out.”
Mr. Drew went on, “I believe that Wharton will say he did sign the contract of sale which the railroad company has and will readily consent to having the certificate of acknowledgment notarized. Then, of course, the railroad won’t pay him or any of the other property owners another cent.”
“But, Dad, you still haven’t convinced me you’re not in danger,” Nancy reminded him.
“Nancy dear,” her father replied, “I feel that I am not in danger. Gomber is nothing but a blowhard. I doubt that he or Willie Wharton or any of the other property owners would resort to violence to keep me from working on this case. He’s just trying to scare me into persuading the railroad to accede to his demands.”
Nancy looked skeptical. “But don’t forget you’re about to go to Chicago and produce the very man Gomber and those property owners don’t want around here just now.”
“I know.” Mr. Drew nodded. “But I still doubt if anyone would use force to keep me from going.” Laughingly the lawyer added, “So I won’t need you as a bodyguard, Nancy.”
His daughter gave a sigh of resignation. “All right, Dad, you know best.” She then proceeded to tell her father about the Twin Elms mystery, which she had been asked to solve. “If you approve,” Nancy said in conclusion, “I’d like to go over there with Helen.”
Mr. Drew had listened with great interest. Now, after a few moments of thought, he smiled. “Go by all means, Nancy. I realize you’ve been itching to work on a new case—and this sounds like a real challenge. But please be careful.”
“Oh, I will, Dad!” Nancy promised, her face lighting up. “Thanks a million.” She jumped from her chair, gave her father a kiss, then went to phone Helen the good news. It was arranged that the girls would go to Twin Elms on Monday morning.
Nancy returned to the living room, eager to discuss the mystery further. Her father, however, glanced at his wrist watch. “Say, young lady, you’d better go dress for that date of yours.” He winked. “I happen to know that Dirk doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
“Especially by any of my mysteries.” She laughed and hurried upstairs to change into a dance dress.
Half an hour later Dirk Jackson arrived. Nancy and the red-haired, former high-school tennis champion drove off to pick up another couple and attend an amateur play and dance given by the local Little Theater group.
Nancy thoroughly enjoyed herself and was sorry when the affair ended. With the promise of another date as soon as she returned from Twin Elms, Nancy said good night and waved from her doorway to the departing boy. As she prepared for bed, she thought of the play, the excellent orchestra, how lucky she was to have Dirk for a date, and what fun it had all been. But then her thoughts turned to Helen Corning and her relatives in the haunted house, Twin Elms.
“I can hardly wait for Monday to come,” she murmured to herself as she fell asleep.
The following morning she and her father attended church together. Hannah said she was going to a special service that afternoon and therefore would stay at home during the morning.
“I’ll have a good dinner waiting for you,” she announced, as the Drews left.
After the service was over, Mr. Drew said he would like to drive down to the waterfront and see what progress had been made on the new bridge. “The railroad is going ahead with construction on the far side of the river,” he told Nancy.
“Is the Wharton property on this side?” Nancy asked.
“Yes. And I must get to the truth of this mixed-up situation, so that work can be started on this side too.”
Mr. Drew wound among the many streets leading down to the Muskoka River, then took the vehicular bridge across. He turned toward the construction area and presently parked his car. As he and Nancy stepped from the sedan, he looked ruefully at her pumps.
“It’s going to be rough walking down to the waterfront,” he said. “Perhaps you had better wait here.”
“Oh, I’ll be all right,” Nancy assured him. “I’d like to see what’s being done.”
Various pieces of large machinery stood about on the high ground—a crane, a derrick, and hydraulic shovels. As the Drews walked toward the river, they passed a large truck. It faced the river and stood at the top of an incline just above two of the four enormous concrete piers which had already been built.
“I suppose there will be matching piers on the opposite side,” Nancy mused, as she and her father reached the riverbank. They paused in the space between the two huge abutments. Mr. Drew glanced from side to side as if he had heard something. Suddenly Nancy detected a noise behind them.
Turning, she was horrified to see that the big truck was moving toward them. No one was at the wheel and the great vehicle was gathering speed at every moment.
“Dad!” she screamed.
In the brief second of warning, the truck almost seemed to leap toward the water. Nancy and her father, hemmed in by the concrete piers, had no way to escape being run down.
“Dive!” Mr. Drew ordered.
Without hesitation, he and Nancy made running flat dives into the water, and with arms flailing and legs kicking, swam furiously out of harm’s way.
The truck thundered into the water and sank immediately up to the cab. The Drews turned and came back to the shore.
“Whew! That was a narrow escape!” the lawyer exclaimed, as he helped his daughter retrieve her pumps which had come off in the oozy bank. “And what sights we are!” Nancy remarked.
“Indeed we are,” her father agreed, as they trudged up the incline. “I’d like to get hold of the workman who was careless enough to leave that heavy truck on the slope without the brake on properly.”
Nancy was not so sure that the near accident was the fault of a careless workman. Nathan Gomber had warned her that Mr. Drew’s life was in danger. The threat might already have been put into action!