Chapter 10 The Clue of the Dancing Puppet by Carolyn Keene
An Excited Patron
George sprinted across the parking lot to the convertible. Nancy had already jumped into the driver’s seat and started the car. Two seconds later the girls were on their way.
Nancy sped out the driveway to the main road, then stopped. She looked left and right. In the distance to her left, she saw the taillights of a car and turned in that direction.
As she sped up the road, George asked, “What’s the mad rush for? I should know where I’m going!”
Quickly Nancy told her chum of the conversation between Tammi and the unknown young man. George whistled. “I don’t wonder you want to follow them. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it?”
The car ahead was making good time, but Nancy was able to keep it in view without any difficulty. It went on and on.
Nancy did not say a word. But presently George spoke up. “We may travel for hours,” she said. “Bess and the Spencers will wonder where we are.”
“If we stop to telephone,” said Nancy, “we may lose Tammi.”
Just as she was wondering whether she should give up the chase and turn back, the car ahead turned into the grounds of a country restaurant.
“ ‘Green Acres,’ ” George read the sign aloud. Then she added, “This is a very exclusive place.”
“Which means we shouldn’t go in without escorts—or money,” Nancy said with a sigh.
“If we don’t,” George answered, “how are we going to find out what the ‘job’ is?”
“I’ll park here near the end of the drive,” Nancy decided. “Suppose you stay in the car so you can move it if necessary.”
“And what are you going to do?” George asked.
“Scout around a little,” Nancy replied. “As long as I’ve come this far I may as well find out what I can about the plans of Tammi and her escort!”
As she walked toward the Green Acres Restaurant, Nancy admired the fine lines of the old colonial building. Once a home, it had been converted into a fashionable restaurant. It was white, with tall pillars at the entrance and heavily curtained windows. The grounds were beautifully planted.
“It’s a lovely place,” Nancy thought.
Seeing an attendant at the door, and wishing to avoid being questioned, she skirted the large wooden building. “Perhaps one of the curtains won’t be drawn over the window and I can peer inside!” Nancy hoped.
To her dismay, all views of the interior were completely blocked off. “Now what am I going to do?” the young sleuth asked herself.
At this moment the dance band began to play, and in a few seconds a man started to sing.
Nancy listened with pleasure, one foot tapping the pavement. “Nice voice,” she thought.
Just then a diner seated near one of the windows peered outside. For a few seconds he held one of the draperies open far enough for Nancy to get a good look at the interior of the dining room. At one side were the orchestra and the singer.
Suddenly Nancy gasped. The singer was Tammi Whitlock’s companion! The girl detective almost laughed aloud. So this was the job he had mentioned at the parking lot!
“I’ve certainly come on a wild-goose chase,” she told herself.
Nancy was about to turn toward the driveway and rejoin George when another thought struck her. The singer who had spoken to Tammi so unpleasantly at the Van Pelt estate had said, “We have a job to do!” What could Tammi’s job be?
“If she’s singing here, then she’s not an amateur,” Nancy reflected. “And she has no right to be in the Footlighters!”
Nancy decided to stay at the restaurant a little longer to see if Tammi did appear in some professional act, such as a monologue or skit. The young man stopped singing, but the band continued to play.
“Maybe I should ask the door attendant about the performers,” Nancy thought.
As she moved from the side of the building toward the front entrance, she became aware of a sudden disturbance at the door. Two men rushed out and dashed toward one of the parked cars.
“Hold on!” the door attendant said. “I’ll get your car for you.” The men paid no attention. A second later Nancy noticed a well-dressed, middle-aged woman also dash from the entrance. She was wearing a low-cut evening dress and gleaming emerald earrings and bracelets.
Pointing ahead, the excited patron cried out, “Stop thieves! Stop thieves!”
“She must mean those two men who ran out!” Nancy thought.
They had already started their car and were backing around. Quick as lightning, Nancy dashed up the driveway, calling at the top of her voice, “George, block the driveway!”
George obeyed orders instantly. She moved the convertible back so that it would be impossible for anyone to leave the grounds in a car. By this time Nancy, the woman who had been robbed, the attendant, and two other men were running after the suspects’ car. When the men in it saw their escape blocked, the driver stopped short.
“Get out of the way!” he yelled at George.
“I can’t,” George replied, pretending that the car was stalled.
“Good old George!” Nancy thought.
In a few seconds the whole group was gathered at the entrance. The woman in the evening dress cried out to the men in the car, “You stole my emerald necklace!”
The two suspects glared at her, and the driver said, “You’re crazy! We don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“You were right there at our table,” the woman went on. “All of a sudden I noticed my necklace was gone. You must have taken it!”
One of the men who had joined in the chase said, “I’m James Burke, and this lady is my wife. If you’re innocent, you won’t object to a search.”
“We most certainly do,” said the driver. “Nobody except the police can search us. I tell you, we don’t know anything about a necklace.”
The man standing next to Mr. Burke introduced himself as the owner of the restaurant. “This is most regrettable, gentlemen,” he said. “But as Mr. Burke has remarked, if you are innocent, then you will not mind being searched. This puts me in a very awkward position, which I am sure you understand. I hope you will co-operate.”
“There’s no need for us to co-operate,” said the driver icily. “We’ll show you our drivers’ licenses. I think that’s enough!”
He pulled a wallet from his pocket, and his companion also took out one. The licenses revealed that the driver was John Terrill and his friend Sam Longman. Both were from California.
Nancy, all this time, had been studying the men closely. The driver was slim in build and dark, while his companion, Longman, was stockier and had unruly, light-brown hair. They both looked to be about thirty-five years of age, well-to-do, and did not seem like criminals.
Nancy wondered what would happen next and whether George would be forced to move the convertible. At that moment a car came whipping up the road and turned in. It stopped dead upon reaching the blockade.
“Police!” Nancy thought in relief. Two officers jumped from their car and approached the group.
“How do you do, Mr. Landow?” one of them said to the restaurant owner. “Some trouble here?”
Quickly Mr. Landow explained what had happened. When Mrs. Burke kept insisting the two men had taken her valuable emerald necklace, the officers said they would make a search. Grudgingly the two suspects permitted this. The necklace was not found on either of them.
“We’ll look in your car,” one of the officers said, and a thorough search was made inside the vehicle. The necklace did not come to light.
“I hope all of you are satisfied,” said John Terrill. “You can be sure, Mr. Landow, that this not only will be the last time I patronize your restaurant, but I shall tell everyone I meet not to come here! As for you, Mrs. Burke, you ought to have your head examined for making such a scene. And now, if somebody will move that convertible out of the way, we’d like to leave.”
The officers also looked at the men’s driving licenses, then let them go. George deftly moved the car, and the Californians rode off.
Nancy addressed the restaurant owner. “Does a young woman named Tammi Whitlock work for you?”
The man shook his head. “I don’t know such a person,” he replied.
“She’s in the restaurant now,” Nancy went on.
“Then she’s a patron,” Mr. Landow answered. He turned away and walked back to the restaurant with Mr. and Mrs. Burke.
The police followed, saying they would make a thorough search of the restaurant to see if they could locate the stolen necklace. Nancy did not wish to intrude, but she was interested in learning when and how Mrs. Burke had missed her jewelry. The young detective ran to catch up to her.
“Pardon me, Mrs. Burke,” she said, smiling, “but I was wondering if perhaps I might help you.” She chuckled. “I have a reputation for being able to find lost objects. I don’t mean to intrude in the police search, but would you mind telling me what happened just before you missed your necklace?”
Nancy’s manner was so straightforward and she was so attractive-looking that no one in the group took offense at her request. Mrs. Burke stopped and said, “Well, my husband and I were seated at a table not far from the dance floor. When the singer, Chuck Grant, left the platform he came right past our table. I liked his looks and the way he sang, so I smiled at him. He stopped to chat.
“At that moment the two men who just left here stopped at the table also. One stood in back of me and the other alongside. They began to kid Chuck Grant. He came right back at them, and the conversation went on for several seconds. Then all three left.
“Right after that, I missed my necklace. It hadn’t fallen to the floor, so I was sure the man who stood behind me had taken it.”
Nancy told herself that any thief who could have done this without attracting attention must indeed be amazingly adept.
Mr. Burke added, “My wife became very excited and started running after the two men. They also started to run. I must admit it made them look guilty.” He sighed. “But you saw what happened.”
“Where did Chuck Grant go?” Nancy asked.
“Oh, he had walked off in another direction. I believe he was sitting at one of the tables with a young lady.”
“Tammi!” Nancy thought. For a fleeting second she wondered if there could be any possible connection among Tammi, Chuck, and the two men. But instantly she put the idea out of her mind. It was too improbable!
“Well, thank you for telling me,” said Nancy. “I must go now. A friend is waiting!”
As the two girls left the grounds of the Green Acres Restaurant, Nancy told George the whole story. “Instinct tells me this journey wasn’t a complete waste of time,” she added.
“And instinct tells me,” said George, “that in view of what happened last night on the road, we’d better roll up our windows and lock the doors.”
“You’re right,” Nancy agreed.
There was only moderate traffic on the road, and the girls came within view of the Van Pelt estate without interference. Nancy heaved a sigh of relief and turned into the driveway. But a moment later she jammed on her brakes. There was a roadblock of sawhorses across her path.
“Well, for Pete’s sake!” said George.
She was about to get out and remove the horses, which she recognized as part of the theater’s stage props when, without warning, brilliant lights were flashed into the two girls’ eyes from each side of the convertible!