Chapter 11 The Mystery of the Fire Dragon by Carolyn Keene
A Suspect Escapes
There was only one possible hiding place for Nancy Drew in the cluttered back office of the bookshop—under the kneehole desk. It had a solid front, but fortunately for Nancy it had a six-inch opening at the bottom.
Quickly the young sleuth crawled out of sight. By resting her cheek on the floor and peering out through the opening below the back panel, she could plainly see what was going on.
A moment later a man, carrying a large paper bag, stepped into the room. He was the driver who had trailed George to the hospital when she was masquerading as Chi Che! He was slender and rather short, but muscular looking. Could he be the man who had attacked Grandpa Soong, and the thief who had stolen the archaeologist’s manuscript?
Nancy was greatly excited. There was no question now but that the Stromberg Bookshop was involved in the fire-dragon mystery!
“I wonder what this man is going to do?” the young sleuth asked herself.
Quietly he moved across the room, then he crouched and moved a carton away from one part of the wall. A small safe was revealed.
With deft fingers the man swung the dial left, right, left, then turned the handle. The door opened without a sound.
As the intruder scooped up a stack of papers tied with a cord, Nancy caught a quick glance at the top sheet. It was in Chinese writing.
“That may be Grandpa Soong’s manuscript!” she told herself. “Do I dare try getting it away from him?”
Just then she heard Mr. Stromberg’s voice in the bookshop. The intruder jammed the stack of papers into the bag he was carrying, and went to the trap door. Silently he descended and closed it behind him.
Nancy was thinking fast. She decided to avoid Mr. Stromberg if possible and follow the man with the manuscript. “And I’ll notify the police about both of them,” she told herself.
Nancy wriggled from under the desk, then tiptoed across the room and cautiously raised the trap door. Lying flat on the floor, she gazed into the cellar below. A bright light in the ceiling gave her a clear view of the place. No one was in sight.
“That man must have gone out the cellar door to the street,” the young sleuth concluded. “Well, I’ll do the same thing!”
Quickly she let herself down onto the narrow stairs and closed the trap door after her. Nancy descended and made her way to the front of the cellar. As she came out on the sidewalk Nancy felt sure that the manuscript thief could not be far away. She looked up, then down the street just in time to see the slender man disappear around the corner. She started running after him.
“Nancy!” cried a voice behind her, and a second later Bess and George caught up to her. “You had us scared silly!” Bess scolded. “What’s going on?”
Nancy stopped short. Over her friend’s shoulder she caught sight of Mr. Stromberg who was standing in the door of his shop looking at her angrily. Bess and George had revealed her getaway!
At once Nancy decided to give up the chase. “I can’t explain now,” she said. “Bess, go across the street to that drugstore and telephone Captain Gray. Tell him I have pretty good evidence that Mr. Stromberg is involved in some racket and ask him to send detectives here at once. Meanwhile, George and I will guard the store and cellar exits, so Mr. Stromberg can’t get away.”
By this time the shop owner had gone back inside. Bess hurried off to do the errand, as George and Nancy took up their posts. But Mr. Stromberg did not reappear. Within ten minutes two officers, Willet and Fisher, arrived. Nancy quickly explained the situation.
“We’ll go in and talk to Mr. Stromberg,” Officer Willet said. They entered, but were back in two minutes. “Mr. Stromberg isn’t there,” he reported.
Nancy frowned. “Did you look in the cellar? He may be hiding.”
“Yes, we looked down there. Nobody around except that clerk in the shop. She’s scared out of her wits and says she doesn’t know where Mr. Stromberg went.”
“There’s only one answer,” said Nancy. “There must be a secret exit.”
While Officer Fisher remained to guard the street doors of the bookshop, Officer Willet accompanied the three girls into the shop. They went at once to the back room.
“There’s a wall safe behind that carton,” said Nancy. “Maybe there’s another opening behind something else.”
Against the far wall stood a very tall packing case. Nancy dashed over and peered behind it. “Here’s the answer,” she said. “There’s a door leading outside. Mr. Stromberg must have escaped this way.”
The officer and the girls squeezed behind the packing case and opened the door. They found themselves in the rear yard of a department store. They ran across it and went into the service entrance. No one was around.
“Luck was with Mr. Stromberg,” Officer Willet said grimly.
The service entrance opened into the shipping room piled high with packages awaiting delivery. No shipping clerks seemed to be on duty. The officer and the girls rushed ahead until they came to swinging doors which opened into the first floor of the department store.
“Mr. Stromberg made an easy getaway,” Willet remarked. “We may as well give up the chase and find him by some other method.”
“You mean at his home?” George asked.
The officer nodded. He and the girls walked around the block until they came to the front of the bookshop. Officer Fisher was amazed to see the four arrive from this new direction. They quickly explained what had happened, then he reported that no one had come out of either entrance to the bookstore.
“Let’s go back and see the clerk,” Nancy proposed.
They entered the shop once more and Officer Willet asked the girl clerk where Mr. Stromberg lived.
“I—I d-don’t k-know,” the girl stammered. “I don’t want to stay here. I don’t like it. Please let me go home!”
“Not yet,” the officer told her. “But don’t be frightened. We’ll take care of you. We just want you to tell us everything you know about Mr. Stromberg.”
“N-nothing,” the girl replied. “I was sent here by an employment agency that has my name. He called up for a clerk. He said another girl had worked here only a few hours.”
“That’s true,” Nancy said.
Officer Willet looked through the desk for a clue to where Mr. Stromberg lived, but found nothing. He picked up a book of customers’ names and read them carefully.
“I’ll phone some of these people to see if they know where Mr. Stromberg lives,” he said.
“I’d suggest that you try Mrs. Horace Truesdale first. She was in here two different times when I was, and seemed to know him well.”
This attempt to locate the bookshop owner failed completely. Mrs. Truesdale said she had no idea where he lived. Other customers gave the same answer.
“I’ll try some of the neighboring stores,” the officer said, and went out. But he came back in a short time and reported that Mr. Stromberg, who had rented the shop six months before, was known as a very uncommunicative person and no one in the other shops knew where he lived.
“We’re stymied for the time being,” George admitted. “But we’ll get those crooks yet!”
Officer Willet smiled. “I like your enthusiasm. I hope we can live up to your hopes.”
Before leaving the shop, Nancy telephoned Captain Gray to tell him the unfortunate result of her endeavors to apprehend the suspects. He sympathized with her, then remarked philosophically:
“That’s a detective’s life! But we never give up.”
He now reported that the police still had no clue to Chi Che Soong’s whereabouts. Furthermore, according to the detective guarding the entrance to Aunt Eloise’s apartment house, no suspicious person had been seen there.
“But something is bound to break soon,” Captain Gray said. “We have so many police working on the case they’re sure to find at least one of the suspects.”
As the three girls started for Aunt Eloise Drew’s apartment, all admitted to being a bit downcast. They had failed to learn anything more to help solve the mystery of Chi Che Soong’s disappearance.
“Nancy,” George said, “if that was the manuscript you saw being taken from the safe, why is Chi Che still being kept away from home?”
“I’m afraid,” Nancy replied, “there’s another reason for her disappearance besides someone wanting to get hold of Grandpa Soong’s work. I believe Chi Che inadvertently found out about some kind of racket, and the gang involved is giving her no chance to report it to the police.”
Bess sighed. “Oh, dear! The poor girl!”
That evening Nancy received a telephone call from Lily Alys Wu. The Chinese girl asked what progress had been made on the case. Upon hearing the latest developments, she expressed her own great concern about Chi Che.
“What’s worse,” she added, “I’ve seen Mr. Soong, and I’m afraid he senses now that something is wrong. He doesn’t seem too well and he isn’t doing any writing.”
“How dreadful!” Nancy exclaimed. “I’ll run up to the hospital as soon as I can and try to cheer him a bit.”
“What do you think Mr. Stromberg is going to do now?” Lily Alys asked.
Nancy thought a few seconds, then replied, “I’m afraid he and his pals may skip the country. It’s my guess they may even go to Hong Kong.”
Suddenly Lily Alys broke in excitedly, “Nancy, I just thought of something that may help you solve the mystery!”