Chapter 19 The Bungalow Mystery by Carolyn Keene
Missing Property
Stunned by the accident to the speeding car, Nancy brought the sedan to a halt at the curve. Everyone inside was reluctant to look down into the ravine below, from which there was not a sound.
But only for an instant. Then Carson Drew urged, “Out, everyone, quickly! We must do what we can for those people!”
Nancy and Don sprang from the car and rushed to the edge of the road. The lawyer was close behind them.
As the three gazed down into the ravine, the first light of dawn revealed that the foreign car had rolled nearly to the bottom of it and overturned against a boulder. A wheel had been torn loose from its axle and the body had been smashed in. There was no sign of any of the three occupants.
A silence held the trio above. It was inconceivable that anyone in the wreck could be alive!
At last Carson Drew found his voice. “I guess we’d better notify the police and emergency squad,” he said.
Don agreed, but Nancy thought they should first see if by chance any of the accident victims were alive.
Mr. Drew and Don nodded, and followed Nancy as she scrambled down the incline. Nancy, in the lead, gasped as she saw the body of a strange man, apparently not the driver, which had been flung out of the car into a clump of bushes near the wreck. She also noticed gasoline spilling from a hole in the tank. Vaguely she thought of fire and an explosion.
“Hurry!” she urged.
As the three drew closer they saw a man’s leg and a woman’s high-heeled shoe protruding from beneath the left-hand side of the car.
With frantic haste Don and Mr. Drew dragged the man out, while Nancy tugged at the woman’s body. Stumpy Dowd and his wife! Both were breathing, but unconscious. The victims, cut and badly bruised, were carried to a safe place on the grass.
“Now let’s see about the other man, Mr. Drew,” urged Don.
As they headed for the bushes where he lay, Nancy stared at the car. “The suitcases!” she thought. “Laura’s inheritance and Mr. Aborn’s little fortune! I must get them out before they may be burned up!”
Crawling under the wreck, she began to grope about frantically. Her hand struck a suitcase and she dragged it out.
At that instant Nancy realized how hot the metal was. There might be spontaneous combustion at any second. She must work fast to save the second suitcase!
“It’s the only way I can ever repay Laura for saving my life on Twin Lakes!” Nancy thought.
By feeling around she found the bag and triumphantly brought it out, only to be jerked from the scene by Carson Drew and Don.
“Nancy!” Carson Drew cried, white-faced and horror-stricken. “Are you mad? Those suitcases aren’t worth your life!”
There was a sudden explosion. Then flames enveloped the car and the dry grass in the immediate vicinity began to burn.
Don Cameron shuddered, but looked at Nancy, admiration showing in his eyes. “You’re the most courageous girl I’ve ever met,” he said slowly. “Nancy, you might have been killed!”
As she herself realized what a narrow escape she had had, Nancy breathed a prayer of thanksgiving. She was shaken and silent as the men threw dirt on the flames to keep them from spreading. When they finished, Don told Nancy that he and Mr. Drew thought the third man would be all right, although the stranger as well as the Dowds were injured, perhaps seriously.
“Now I suppose we must get the three of them to a hospital as fast as we can,” he said.
At that moment they all heard the low whine of an ambulance alarm. This was followed by a police siren.
Nancy, Mr. Drew, and Don looked at one another hopefully. “Do you suppose—” Nancy began.
She was right. Help had come! A moment later police and emergency squad cars stopped at the top of the ravine. Four officers, two stretcher-bearers, and an intern, clad in white, hurried down to the group.
“Thank goodness,” said Mr. Drew. Introductions were quickly made, then he asked, “How did you know about the accident?”
An officer, Lieutenant Gill, told him that a farmer living not far away had seen the speeding car go off the road and notified headquarters.
“When we heard it was a black foreign car, we were suspicious immediately,” he said. “Can you identify these people as the Dowds?”
“From pictures, yes,” said Mr. Drew, and briefly told the whole story of the Dowd affair up to the present moment.
“And I can testify that they were impersonating the Aborns,” Nancy added.
“Anybody know who the other man is?” Lieutenant Gill inquired.
“I believe,” Mr. Drew replied, “that he’s William Frednich, assistant to the president of the River Heights branch of the Monroe National Bank. He’s suspected of removing certain securities from the bank.”
During this conversation the intern had been examining the accident victims and the attendants had laid them on stretchers. The doctor reported that the victims had been given first aid and had revived. They would be in good shape after a short stay in the hospital.
“They’ll get a nice long rest after that,” said Lieutenant Gill, “in the state pen. I shan’t try to question them now.”
As the prisoners were carried up to the ambulance, with the others following, Lieutenant Gill explained to the Dowds how Nancy had saved them from being burned in the wreckage.
“I don’t believe it,” said Stumpy ungratefully.
His wife was more gracious. “Thanks, Miss Drew. And I want to tell you I’m tired of this whole business. You’re only a kid but you’ve really taught me a lesson.”
Nancy did not answer. She found herself choking up, and tears came into her eyes.
As the ambulance moved away, Nancy, quickly brushing her moist eyes dry with the backs of her hands, turned toward the east. She observed that a beautiful sunrise was beginning to flood the sky with brilliant color.
Don yawned. “What do you say we head for home?” he suggested. “Otherwise, I’ll never be able to make my sister’s wedding this evening.”
“Oh dear!” Nancy exclaimed. “I forgot all about it. Please forgive us for keeping you up all night.”
Don grinned. “I wouldn’t have missed this excitement for anything!”
“I suggest,” said Mr. Drew, “that we go back to Nancy’s hotel and the Drews will get some sleep. Don, you take my car and return to River Heights. Later, Nancy and I will take a taxi and pick up her convertible at the Aborns’.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll do that.”
While the three had been talking, Lieutenant Gill had been wedging open one of the two locked suitcases which Nancy had taken from the wrecked car. Mr. Drew and the others walked over as he lifted the lid.
The bag was jammed with feminine clothing. There were several dresses, a large make-up kit, pieces of lingerie, shoes, and several wigs—a gray one, a black hairpiece, and one which was decidedly auburn.
“That clinches it, Dad!” Nancy exclaimed. “Mrs. Dowd must have gone around in disguise to cash the bonds.”
“But where’s the money she got?” Don asked.
“It must be in the other bag,” Nancy suggested, “together with securities and money belonging to Laura Pendleton, Mr. Aborn, and River Heights bank clients.”
Lieutenant Gill opened the second suitcase. It contained men’s clothing and toilet articles.
“Nancy, you risked your life for this!” Don exclaimed.
Nancy Drew could not believe her eyes. Had she been mistaken in believing that Stumpy Dowd had put the contents of Mr. Aborn’s safe in the bags? Quickly she glanced down at the foreign car. Had Laura’s inheritance and other people’s money burned in it?
The thought stunned the young sleuth. But in a moment an idea came to her.
“There’s just a possibility the papers are here,” she said.
All eyes turned on the girl detective, as the group awaited a further explanation.