Chapter 14 The Mystery at Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene
Earthquake Scare
“Tired of being a blonde, Nancy?” Maud asked sarcastically. “Or are you the mysterious ghost of Lilac Inn?”
Emily, although at first surprised, sensed that Nancy had used the wig for a good reason. With a wink at Dick, she said, “Nonsense. I’ll bet Nancy’s date took her to a masquerade dance.”
The young sleuth was grateful for Emily’s quick thinking. Nancy waited for another outburst from Maud, but none came. Instead, the unpleasant woman said in a bored tone, “I think masquerades are so childish. Well, I’m going to bed.” She said good night and went upstairs.
Nancy now turned to the engaged couple. “Are you both too tired to stay up a little longer?”
Dick grinned. “Not if I’m going to hear why one of Emily’s pretty bridesmaids-to-be is masquerading as Cinderella. Tell me, Nancy, is it a new style to wear flashlights on your dress sleeves?”
“What!” Emily cried, and examined Nancy’s sleeves. “Why, Nancy, what on earth have you been up to?”
“Can we talk some place where we won’t be overheard?” Nancy requested. Dick led the way to his office.
Once inside, Nancy told of her sleuthing activities and experiences that day and night. “I’m glad you helped me along with that ‘dance’ story, Emily. Only Dad and the guard and you two know where I’ve been.”
Dick spoke up earnestly, “You might be risking your life for us, Nancy. Lilac Inn isn’t worth that.”
Nancy set her jaw. “I must outwit my impersonator before she outwits me. And if I do, I’m positive I’ll solve the mysteries of this place, too.”
Dick nodded understandingly. He said Emily had told him of all the odd happenings at Lilac Inn.
“I also explained to Dick about my fear that Maud has some hold over Aunt Hazel,” Emily said, adding that she hesitated to ask her aunt outright unless necessary.
“Of course,” Nancy said. “Mrs. Willoughby is upset as it is.”
Emily said grimly, “If I find out Maud is threatening my aunt, she’ll regret it!”
The three young people started upstairs once more. On the way, Nancy asked if Mary Mason and the gardeners had brought references when they came to Lilac Inn.
“Why, yes,” Emily answered. “But at the time, Dick and I were so busy with work here, we didn’t check them until later. They seemed all right.”
The trio said good night, and Nancy entered her room. Helen was sleeping soundly, and did not awaken. It seemed to the young sleuth that her own eyes had just closed when she was awakened by Helen calling her name frantically.
“Nancy! Nancy! Wake up! There’s an earthquake!”
“What?” Nancy sat up in bed. As she did the startled girl noticed that her bed was indeed shaking slightly.
“Quick!” Helen urged. “Let’s get out of here before the ceilings fall down!”
As the girls ran to the hall, they met Dick, Emily, Mr. Daly, Mrs. Willoughby, and Maud. All cried out that they too had felt the vibrations, which now had ceased.
“This is very strange,” Dick said. “This isn’t earthquake territory.”
On a hunch, Nancy suggested they telephone the Benton State Police and find out if the tremors were widespread. Dick made the call and with a puzzled expression reported that apparently the disturbance was confined to Lilac Inn.
Maud shrieked, “The building’s falling apart! We’d better get out of here!”
“Go if you want to,” Emily said sharply. “But the shaking has stopped and the building is still intact.”
“I’ll make an investigation,” Dick offered. “There may be something wrong with the foundation.” He suggested that Nancy and Mr. Daly accompany him to the cellar. “The rest of you wait here.”
None of the three discovered anything out of the ordinary in the basement.
Nancy smiled in relief. “Instead of falling down, this building seems to be unusually sturdy.”
Mr. Daly, however, was extremely nervous. “This has never happened before,” he said. “Dick, I strongly advise you to give up the inn. It’s—it’s just not safe here any more.”
Emily’s fiancé shook his head, saying that he, like Nancy, was more determined than ever to solve the mysteries at Lilac Inn. The trio went back to the second floor and reassured the others.
“Are you all sure you never felt a similar vibration before?” Dick asked. “Shaking like that used to happen to our house when a very heavy truck went by.”
“Maybe that’s what happened this time,” Helen said philosophically. “Let’s go back to bed.”
Nancy was not convinced by this explanation. Remembering the explosion and fire caused by the time bomb, she wondered if someone had planted an explosive underground to try to destroy or at least weaken Lilac Inn.
“Nancy,” said Helen, when the girls were once more in bed, “why did you change your mind and come back to the inn tonight?”
When she heard about Nancy’s masquerade in the lilac grove and its results, she praised her friend. “Next time, though, don’t try such a risky thing alone,” Helen scolded.
Nancy was almost asleep when a sudden thought struck her. Why had the “ghost” been titian-haired this time, instead of brunette?
When the girls went into the dining room the next morning, the other young people, Maud, and Mrs. Willoughby were already eating.
“Welcome back, Nancy,” said John, grinning. “How’s my beautiful sleuthing skin diver?”
“Ready to flip!” gibed Nancy.
Maud looked up from her grapefruit. “Will you go skin diving with a wig on?” she asked with an attempt to be facetious.
Nancy was slightly annoyed but gave no sign of this. She hoped Maud had not spread word around the inn of the wig episode.
Breakfast over, Nancy returned her car to the parking lot and then sought out Emily privately. She asked whether Maud had been gossiping about events of the previous evening. Emily said she was sure this was the case.
“Tell me, Emily,” Nancy said, “how much do you know of Maud’s background?”
“Very little. Only that Aunt Hazel met her about a year ago at a social gathering in River Heights. They became friendly. The next thing I heard was that Maud was going out West. Then, about a month ago, she showed up here. Aunt Hazel thought she would make a good social director, and Dick and I engaged her.”
“Maud can be pleasant,” Nancy commented, “and she does have musical talent. I really can’t figure her out.” To herself, Nancy conjectured on the possibility of Maud’s using her position as a cover-up.
The young detective left the inn presently to do some sleuthing in the lilac grove. She met John part way there.
“I didn’t want to mention it at breakfast, Nancy,” he said, “but I’d like to see the exact site of your masquerade. Emily and Dick told me a little about it.”
“I’ll be glad to show you.” Nancy led him to the lilac grove. She described vividly her encounter with her double. John listened intently.
“Nancy, you were in a dangerous spot. Maybe it’s a lucky thing Carl Bard scared your impersonator away.”
Nancy did not agree. “The sooner she is caught, the better. I must say, she does look much like me. I don’t wonder you were fooled.”
John laughed. “I think I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. I much prefer the real Nancy.”
Nancy blushed at his compliment. As the two looked about the lilac grove, Nancy saw a tiny object glinting in the sun. She picked it up. The object was of steel and shaped something like a can opener, except that there was a tiny wheel at the end.
“What’s this?” she asked John.
He took the little device and stared at it. “I know where it belongs,” he said. “I’ll return it.”
John put the object in his pocket, and Nancy had the feeling he had deliberately evaded her question.
“I wonder if there are any distinguishing footprints,” he said, changing the subject.
Nancy frowned as she looked at the soft earth. There was a print—a peculiar one which she recognized—clearly outlined. It had been made by a skin diver’s flipper. Nancy’s mind flashed back to the night before, when she had left for the lilac grove. John’s cottage had been dark. Maybe he had been sleeping. If not, where had he been?
“John,” she said, looking the young man squarely in the eye, “were you skin diving last night?”