Chapter 13 The Clue of the Tapping Heels by Carolyn Keene
Omar’s Scheme
Carson Drew was disturbed over Nancy’s absence. The lawyer had driven to the moving picture show to meet his daughter. Upon discovering that the performance was over, and the girl was not in sight, he felt certain that something had happened to her. As the minutes became an hour, he grew frantic and began a systematic search.
Unaware that her anxious parent was combing the town for her, Nancy had slept peacefully beside her chum in the Temple of the Stars. Omar, as soon as he had discovered them, opened the windows and let in the fresh air to clear the room. Presently the Drew girl stirred and sat up.
“Where am I?” she murmured, rubbing her eyes.
“You remember nothing?” the astrologer asked her in satisfaction. Then to himself he added, “Ah, that is good.”
“Where am I?” Nancy mumbled again, peering at the expressionless face of Omar. “Oh, now I remember—The Temple of the Stars.”
The Egyptian scowled, for he had hoped that the two girls would have no recollection of what had happened. But the next instant he smiled.
“You fell asleep here,” he said. “We are closing up for the night now.”
At Nancy’s side George stirred and finally sat up.
“Oh, I have a splitting headache,” she complained. “It must have been that dreadful incense.”
“Impossible,” returned Omar. “Our incense is harmless. You probably dropped off to sleep because you were weary.”
Nancy and George both knew better, but they thought it wise not to argue with the Egyptian.
“What time is it?” the Drew girl inquired, raising herself to a standing position.
“A few minutes after midnight.”
“Gracious!” George exclaimed. “What will your father think! He’ll be worried half to death.”
“We must get home at once,” Nancy agreed.
“Where do you live?” Omar asked casually.
Nancy gave her address, mentioning her father’s name.
“So you are the daughter of the famous lawyer?” Omar questioned, his eyes glistening. “No doubt he will become very alarmed if you do not return soon.”
“Yes, of course. We must start at once.”
Nancy did not notice that the astrologer was staring at her thoughtfully.
“I will drive you home in my car,” he offered suddenly.
“That’s very kind of you,” Nancy replied, then hesitated. After all, she knew nothing of the man and there was a calculating look about him which she did not like.
“Perhaps we ought to call your father first,” George suggested quickly.
“Yes, may we use your phone?” Nancy asked.
“This way, please,” invited Omar after a slight pause.
He led the girls into the hall and showed them the telephone. Nancy gave the number of her home and waited for the connection to be made. Suddenly the wire seemed to go dead. She clicked the receiver several times but could not attract the attention of the operator.
“Something is wrong with the phone,” Nancy complained. “I can’t get anyone.”
“It hasn’t been working well of late,” Omar said suavely. “Our service is very poor.”
Undetected by either of the girls, he slipped a wire cutter into his pocket. At his feet lay the broken telephone cord.
“Will you excuse me just a moment?” he asked politely. “I wish to lock up the other doors.”
Nancy kept trying to attract the attention of the operator. “It’s certainly strange,” she commented. “The phone went dead just as if the wires had been cut.”
“Nancy, that’s exactly what has happened! Look!” George pointed to the broken cord lying on the floor.
“Then the Egyptian must have done it! George, we’re getting out of here before that man comes back!”
Thoroughly alarmed, the girls fled down the hallway to the restaurant. The place was dark, and the tables had been pushed back against the wall. Nancy stumbled into one of them as she tried to reach the door.
“Be careful,” her chum warned anxiously.
The noise had attracted Omar’s attention. It had been heard also by a policeman who chanced to be passing outside the building. He stepped to the window and peered inside. In the semi-darkness the officer could make out two shadowy figures moving about.
“Burglars!” he thought. “I’ll get Hogan and we’ll catch ’em both red-handed.”
Slipping quietly away, he went to the street corner intending to summon the policeman who covered the nearby district.
In the meantime Omar had hurried to the restaurant room. His mind now was firmly made up. He had decided to kidnap the girls and force their parents to pay a large sum of money for their safe return.
“I’ll have no trouble in carrying out my plan,” he told himself. “I’ll lead them to the incense room. When they are overpowered by the odor, I’ll lock them up somewhere. Afterward I’ll send a note to their parents.”
Nancy and George were groping about in the darkness searching for the exit when Omar entered.
“Hello, are you in here?” he called pleasantly.
The girls knew that they must make the best of an awkward situation.
“Yes, we decided we’d take a bus home,” Nancy answered after a long silence. “We can’t seem to find the door.”
“You’re searching in the wrong direction. Here, let me take your hand.”
“I wish you’d turn on the light for us,” George Fayne complained. “This place is dreadfully dark.”
“Just let me guide you.”
The girls felt Omar’s hands close upon their wrists. His grip was like steel.
“Right this way,” the wily fellow said in a purring voice.
“Isn’t this the corridor we came down?” Nancy asked uneasily. “I feel as if we’re retracing the same route.”
“It is so easy to become confused in the dark.”
“There must be a light switch,” George said a trifle sharply.
“I will find one in a moment. Just come with me,” was the suave reply from Omar.
He opened a door and stepped back for the girls to enter ahead of him. Nancy hesitated. She could see nothing, yet she sensed that she was walking into a trap.
“This is the exit?” she asked doubtfully.
“Yes, only a few steps and you will be on the street.”
George moved through the doorway and Nancy reluctantly followed. Scarcely had the two stepped over the threshold when the door slammed behind them.
“That was almost too easy!” Omar chuckled wickedly as he turned the key in the lock. “But I’ll make sure that they’ll not create a disturbance.”
From the incense room he brought one of the metal pots. Lighting it, he placed it so that the fumes would filter beneath the crack of the cloak room door.
“That will keep them quiet until morning,” Omar laughed. “Now I’ll write the ransom notes.”
After due consideration the crook decided that he would demand three thousand dollars from Carson Drew for a clue which would lead to the safe return of his daughter.
“When he sends me the money I’ll write that I must have another three thousand,” Omar chuckled. “The Stars will never talk for less!”
He composed the note and stamped an envelope. Deciding to mail the letter immediately, he picked up his hat and cane, ready to leave the building. As the self-satisfied man walked down the dark hallway a figure suddenly loomed up in front of him.
“Hands up!” ordered a voice.
When lights flashed on, Omar saw two policemen standing before him. He was gazing into the muzzle of Officer Flynn’s revolver.
For a moment the Egyptian was shaken out of his composure. Then he decided that no one could know about the two girls who were locked in the cloakroom.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” he said, smiling blandly. “Why this intrusion?”
“It’s Omar himself,” declared Officer Flynn in disgust. “We thought someone was trying to break into the establishment.”
“Oh, no, I’m quite alone here. I worked late this evening.”
“Well, I guess I made a mistake,” the policeman admitted. “When I looked into the restaurant I thought I saw someone prowling about.”
“I was merely taking the money from the cash register. Come this way, officers, and I’ll show you that the room is quite empty.”
The policemen followed Omar down the hallway.
“What is that strange odor?” Officer Flynn questioned suspiciously.
“Incense. I burned more than usual this evening.”
Omar guided the two men to the restaurant and snapped on the light to show them that the room was empty.
“We may as well go out the front way,” he said pleasantly, opening the door in the adjoining hall.
“I guess that was a good joke on me,” Officer Flynn said ruefully.
He followed his companion from the building. With a sigh of relief Omar locked the door and sauntered down the street with the policemen.