Chapter 9 The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene
A Near Accident
The road ahead was clear. Pressing more firmly upon the gas pedal, Nancy made the figures roll rapidly across the dial of the speedometer. Far ahead, she caught sight of an automobile. A woman was at the wheel. There were no other passengers.
“I’m positive it’s the same person!” she told herself tensely. “If I can only overtake her!”
The chase was not destined to be over very soon. Scarcely had Nancy glimpsed the other car than it turned into a side road.
“She knows I’m following her, and means to lead me a merry chase!” Nancy thought. “Her machine is slower than mine, but on the bad roads she’ll have almost an even break!”
Without hesitation, she turned from the main highway. The side road was winding and narrow. Nancy dared not speed over the deep ruts lest she break a spring of her fine, new roadster. It was annoying, almost maddening, to see the other car gradually increasing the distance between them.
“At least that woman is smart!” Nancy reflected grimly. “She knows I’m on her trail and she means to get away!”
Again Nancy increased the speed. The machine roared down the highway, swinging around bends. As she approached each obscure crossroad, she blew her horn. So intent was she upon watching the car ahead of her, however, that she paid scant attention to the fact that she was covering a lot of distance. She did not realize that she was drawing near the main road.
Suddenly the highway loomed up ahead of her. A blue roadster, approaching from the right at a good clip, ran over to the wrong side of the road. Using all her strength, Nancy slammed on the foot brakes and jerked at the emergency. The other automobile swerved, though not in time.
Crash! The two cars struck, their fenders locking. Nancy’s roadster went into a long skid, dragging the other automobile with it. Then, almost miraculously, both came to a standstill right side up.
Quickly, Nancy sprang out to see how much damage had been done.
“Why, Doctor Stafford!” she exclaimed in astonishment. “I hope I haven’t wrecked your machine.”
Although the pastor was somewhat shaken up by the accident, he smiled as he stepped from the car. A brief survey convinced him that only a little paint had been removed from one fender.
“It was all my fault,” Nancy said politely. “I was pursuing another car and I didn’t see you in time.”
“Tut, tut, there’s no damage done,” the pastor assured her. “I was driving somewhat absent-mindedly and shouldn’t have been over so far. Accidents will happen.”
“This is the first time I ever did such a thing.”
Nancy bent down to look at the axle of her own car. It had not been bent. The only evidence of the crash was a slight dent in the front fender.
However, the accident had brought to an end all hope of overtaking the strange woman. Ruefully, Nancy gazed down the road. The car had vanished.
After offering profuse apologies, she was about to take leave of the minister.
“Oh, by the way,” he remarked, “I am on my way to the Blairs’ estate—Jolly Folly. It has a very suggestive name, I must say.”
“I just came from there,” Nancy informed him. “The Blairs are away for the day.”
The minister disclosed his disappointment.
“I had hoped to have a long talk with them. Since I spoke with your father I have worried about those twins. I couldn’t rest if I thought they had been placed in a bad environment.”
“It’s very good of you to take such an interest in them,” Nancy declared warmly. “Have you heard anything further from that woman who called at your home?”
She asked the question casually, not expecting an affirmative reply.
“Why, yes, I have. In truth, that is the reason I am calling upon the Blairs today.”
“Did the same woman come to your house?”
“Oh, no, I should have detained her had I met her again. She telephoned. A mysterious call came from someone and I feel confident that it was she.”
“How strange!”
“She asked me if I had delivered the message to your father.”
“And you told her you had?”
“Yes. I explained that it was too late to carry out her wishes—that the adoption papers had been signed already.”
“Did she take the news as a blow?”
“I fear so. There was a long silence as if she were completely stunned by the information. Then, before I could learn who she was or offer a word of comfort, she hung up the receiver.”
“Did you try to trace the call?”
“Yes, it came from a pay station.”
“Probably from some drug store,” Nancy said musingly. “Did you by any chance mention that the Blairs have already removed the twins from the Selkirk Home to their own residence?”
“Why, yes, I believe I did.”
Nancy said no more, yet in her mind she was convinced that the stranger who had called the pastor was the person she had been pursuing. Why had the woman made such frantic attempts to keep her identity concealed? If Nancy could speak with her for a few minutes, matters might be cleared up.
“As I mentioned, I am on my way to the Blair estate now,” Doctor Stafford informed her. “A filling station man told me how to reach the place, but his directions weren’t very clear.”
Nancy knew that it was useless to try to overtake the fleeing woman, now that so much time had been lost.
“I am returning there myself,” she told the minister. “If you care to follow me, I’ll lead the way.”
“Perhaps you drive too fast for me.”
“I’ll not go over twenty-five,” Nancy promised him with a laugh. “I’m not taking chances on any more accidents today.”
A few minutes later the two cars drew up before the Blairs’ imposing residence. Bess was on the front lawn with the babies. She gathered from the expression on her chum’s face that Nancy had failed in her attempt to overtake the mysterious woman, but she avoided asking any questions. Proudly she displayed her young charges to the kindly minister.
“As fine a pair of twins as I ever saw!” he declared. “And in my time I have baptized dozens of them.”
“Oh, by the way,” Nancy asked, “did you look up the names of the first twins—Ruth and Rodney?”
The minister disclosed his chagrin.
“Dear me, it completely slipped my mind. But I will do it tomorrow surely. I must ask my wife where those old records were placed.”
Nancy hid her disappointment. She felt that the point she had brought up was highly important, although neither her father nor the pastor considered it significant. The delay was, however, exceedingly annoying.
Nancy was always impatient for action. Her father chided her by saying that nearly all of her worries were the result of “things not happening fast enough.”
While Doctor Stafford and the girls were admiring the twins, an automobile turned into the drive. Nancy noticed it first, and thought that the Blairs were returning home.
However, as it approached, she saw that it was a much smaller car than the one owned by the theatrical couple.
A strange man sat at the wheel. He stopped the car with a jerk and sprang to the ground. Without glancing toward Nancy or her companions, he rushed up to the front door and rang the bell officiously.
“He’ll ruin the electric battery if he keeps on like that,” Bess laughed. “I guess we’d better tell him the Blairs are out.”
They moved forward, and the stranger turned toward them impatiently.
“Why doesn’t someone answer the bell?” he demanded in annoyance. “Have all the maids gone on strike?”
“The Blairs aren’t at home,” Nancy informed him politely.
She was trying to make up her mind whether or not the newcomer was a traveling salesman. He did not carry a sample case or a portfolio. He was expensively dressed, and his confident manner stamped him as a person of authority.
“You say they aren’t at home?” he inquired, scowling. “Now, that’s a pretty how’d’do! Where’ve they gone?”
“I’m sure I can’t say, but I saw them drive away with golf clubs.”
“More than likely to the Country Club. They’re always gadding about when they should be attending to business!”
“Is there a message you wish to leave?”
The man stared at Nancy; then, noticing that her face seemed unusually intelligent, he decided to state his business.
“I’m McNeery—Edwin McNeery.”
As this name produced no visible effect upon Nancy, he added:
“I’m a theatrical producer—own a chain of theaters. You’ve heard of the McNeery shows.”
“Yes, indeed,” Nancy acknowledged.
“I’ve a good part for the Blairs in a new revue I’m putting on. I want to see them right off and I can’t wait!”
“I’m afraid you must,” Nancy smiled. “I have no idea when they’ll return. We are taking care of their babies for them.”
“Their what?”
For the first time, the man seemed to notice the twins. He stared at them hostilely.
“The Blairs have adopted twins from the Selkirk Home,” Nancy informed him, an amused look in her eyes. “Surely you must have heard about them.”
“Heard about ’em?”
Edwin McNeery raged. “If I had, you can just bet it wouldn’t have been done! You’re not joking?”
“No, the adoption papers have been signed.”
“It’s an outrage!”
The producer’s face flushed angrily, and he fell to pacing the veranda. Suddenly he wheeled toward Nancy.
“They can’t get away with this and work for Edwin McNeery! Those babies are going back to the Home in double-quick time!”