Chapter 12 The Clue of the Velvet Mask by Carolyn Keene
A Job As Spy
Nancy struggled to untangle herself from the heavy bedspread and its burden of coats. When she finally got to her feet and looked in the hall, the man and woman had disappeared.
Just then the maid who had gone for the tea opened a door from a back stairway and walked forward.
“Save us!” she exclaimed, staring at Nancy. “What happened to you?”
For the first time Nancy realized how disheveled she must look. Her pretty pink-flowered dress was torn and rumpled. Her hair was mussed and the pink hat lay on the floor.
“The woman who pretended to be ill was a thief! She and some man tried to smother me.”
“Oh, goodness!” The maid nearly dropped the tea tray.
“Did you see anyone running out?”
“No, miss.”
“Maybe they’re hiding in one of the bedrooms. Come on. Let’s look for them!”
“I’m a-scared to,” the maid refused.
“Then you stay here and I’ll do it,” Nancy said. “Don’t let anyone take a wrap from this room until I return.”
“Everything’s in an awful mess.”
“Try to straighten things out a bit,” Nancy advised as she started away.
One by one she searched the bedrooms, looking in closets and every other possible hiding place. Satisfied that no one remained upstairs, she went hastily to the ground floor.
All was serene, with no one lurking about. In the kitchen she found Mr. Tombar directing the caterers.
“Guests aren’t allowed in here,” he said to her icily. “What’s the big idea?”
Nancy was not intimidated by his boorish manner. “I came to get a chicken sandwich,” she said, picking one up from a tray. “I’m simply starved.”
She smiled and closed the door. At this moment a burst of applause from the music room indicated that the musicale was just ending. A moment later the guests began leaving the room and going toward the attractive dining room for tea.
Nancy located the hostess, introduced herself, told why she was there and whispered what had happened.
“I don’t know whether that woman took anything or not,” she said. “Perhaps you’d better check.”
Together they went upstairs. Mrs. Elkin said that she disliked parties with detectives standing around and had refused to have any there this afternoon.
“Every person on my list is a friend,” she said. “I don’t see how a thief could have slipped in.”
Mrs. Elkin was convinced otherwise when she discovered that several pieces of valuable jewelry were missing and immediately called the police.
“I may have a clue,” Nancy spoke up. “Possibly the woman left a coat here that will identify her.”
At Mrs. Elkin’s request a woman detective not in uniform was sent over from headquarters to take charge of the coats. The hostess was asked, however, to identify each guest as she came to ask for hers.
Finally all of the coats had been claimed except one long blue one with large pockets. Nancy checked to see if any guests were left downstairs. She returned to say everyone had departed.
“The owner is not coming for this coat, that’s evident!” she said. “My guess is that it was worn by the thief.”
Picking up the garment, Nancy examined it for clues. In one pocket was a make-up kit. The other pocket contained a velvet hooded mask!
The policewoman ripped the lining of the coat. Nothing had been hidden inside, and the garment had no marks of identification. Store and dry cleaning marks had been removed.
“I’ll take this coat and mask to headquarters with me,” the woman said.
After Nancy reached home, Linda Seeley telephoned to apologize for her failure to attend the musicale.
“Mr. Tombar sent me on a trifling errand and took over himself,” she said. “I guess he thought that I wasn’t capable of handling the affair.”
Nancy remarked that Mr. Tombar himself had not performed too efficiently and told of the robbery.
“Oh, how dreadful!” Linda cried.
After the phone call, Nancy sat lost in thought. She was getting nowhere on the case. Suddenly an idea came to her. She would have a chemical analysis made of the ink notations which she had discovered on the lining of the hooded mask she had.
In the morning she went to a laboratory technician and was informed that the fluid used was rather uncommon. It was new and sold exclusively for marking garments.
“Then any number of dry cleaners might have similar ink?” Nancy asked.
“Not necessarily,” she was told. “You’ll not find many River Heights plants that use this particular type of ink. It’s pretty expensive.”
Nancy was excited. Did the Lightner Entertainment Company use it? she wondered. At noon she managed to meet Linda at the drugstore and asked her how costumes and masks were marked by the firm.
“Oh, we use a special indelible ink that lasts forever,” Linda replied.
“Could you let me see a bottle of it?”
“Why, I guess so. How soon do you want it, Nancy?”
“Right away if I can have it.”
“Wait here, and I’ll see if I can slip one out of the supply room,” Linda said. “It’s safe enough if Bright-Eyes Tombar doesn’t see me.”
Ten minutes later the girl returned with the bottle of ink, wrapped in an office envelope. As she gave it to Nancy, Peter Tombar entered the drugstore.
He could not possibly have known what the fat envelope contained, for Nancy thrust it quickly into her handbag. Nevertheless, he regarded the two girls suspiciously. Linda, becoming confused by his unfriendly scrutiny, acted rather guilty.
Mr. Tombar walked over to the lunch counter. He looked pointedly at the wall clock.
“Miss Seeley, you are five minutes over your lunch hour,” he said.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Tombar. I—I was just leaving.”
“Leaving? I thought you were just coming. Didn’t you hand—”
“Are you eating here?” Nancy broke in pointedly.
Mr. Tombar glared at her but did not reply. Linda took advantage of the moment to escape from the drugstore.
Nancy regretted the meeting with Mr. Tombar. He could not possibly know what Linda had given her, but he might try to find out. She must work fast.
No sooner had Mr. Tombar left the drugstore than Nancy returned to the laboratory. She gave the chemist the bottle of ink for analysis and waited for his report.
Finally it came. She was informed that the ink was identical with that used on the inside of the lining of the hooded mask.
“What a clue!” Nancy thought, and hurried from the shop.
On Sunday she told her father of her suspicions about the ink.
“Now I’m positive someone at Lightner’s is a member of the gang,” she said. “If I could only work there a few days, I could watch everyone.”
“Well, can’t it be arranged? You’re on good terms with Linda. Couldn’t you help her with the office filing, or something of the sort? I’m sure that Mr. Lightner would give his permission if I ask him.”
Nancy’s father promptly put in a call to the man’s home. After a brief conversation, he hung up.
“It’s all settled,” Mr. Drew reported to his daughter. “Mr. Lightner was most agreeable to the suggestion.”
“That’s fine, Dad,” responded Nancy. “Now perhaps I’ll unearth a definite clue by being right on the spot from morning till closing time.”
Nancy appeared punctually at the Lightner Entertainment Company at nine o’clock Monday morning. She noted, with some amusement, Mr. Tombar’s reaction to seeing her there. After his first unfriendly glare, he ignored Nancy pointedly. But he was heard to say in disgruntled tones that business was bad enough without hiring new clerks.
Nancy spent an uneventful morning sorting letters and rearranging a file on the history of masks. However, whenever she was about to seize an opportunity for slipping into the storerooms to look for any evidence, Mr. Tombar would suddenly appear again.
“Hm,” the girl remarked to herself. “He may not be speaking to me, but he’s surely keeping an eye on my whereabouts.”
She decided to wait until later before making any more attempts to enter the storerooms.
“I’ll hold off until lunchtime,” Nancy thought. “While he’s out, I can do some looking around.”
She even resolved to forego her own noontime meal, in order to take advantage of Mr. Tombar’s absence then.
But when twelve o’clock came, the assistant manager did not leave, nor did he at one. To Nancy’s dismay, she observed him eating sandwiches right at his desk.
“Evidently he doesn’t intend to budge from here today,” Nancy told herself.
This proved to be true, for as Mr. Tombar ate wolfishly, he kept an eagle eye upon the office staff. By late afternoon Nancy was both weary and weak from hunger. Her eyes ached from the tedious filing, and she was discouraged.
When five o’clock came, Nancy left the Lightner offices without seeing Linda. She was sure of one thing: Mr. Tombar must have suspected that she was there for the purpose of sleuthing.
Nancy was not surprised the next morning to receive an urgent telephone call from Linda at eight o’clock.
“It’s happened!” the girl announced dramatically. “And I don’t know what to do!”
“Another robbery?” Nancy gasped.
“No, not that. I’ve been discharged!”