Chapter 24 The Clue of the Velvet Mask by Carolyn Keene
Fire!
Left together in their dark prison room, Bess and Nancy were suffering intense discomfort. Their gags made breathing difficult, and the cords cut deeply into their flesh.
“Those men made a thorough job of seeing that we don’t get away,” Nancy thought ruefully.
So tightly had her wrist bonds been tied that she realized that she could never unfasten them without aid. The ropes about her ankles were somewhat looser, but it was impossible to reach them.
“I’ll wiggle around and perhaps I’ll find something to help me,” Nancy thought hopefully. “And where is Bess?”
As she rolled and twisted on the floor, Nancy brushed against an object with a sharp metal edge. It seemed to be a loose strap around a large box.
At once Nancy took hope. Raising her bound feet, she began to saw the cords up and down across the metal. It was the hardest kind of work. Repeatedly she abandoned the task as fatigue overcame her. But after each rest period she would try again.
Finally success was hers! The frayed ankle cords broke. Her feet were free!
Nancy scrambled up, and though she still could not see because of the blindfold, she groped backward with her tied hands until she found the sharp piece of metal. Another five minutes and both hands were free.
“What a relief!” she gasped, jerking off the blindfold and removing the gag.
Her unlighted prison was apparently windowless. Nancy was conscious of piles of crates and boxes all about her. Where was she?
Not knowing whether there was a guard near by, she did not dare call out Bess’s name. She would just have to find her by stumbling around.
As she started her search, Nancy’s head encountered an overhead, swinging light bulb. She switched it on.
The brightness revealed that she and Bess had been left captives in a shipping room. Nancy wondered if it was Taylor’s Department Store.
After a hunt in the aisles between the crates, she found Bess.
Quickly Nancy freed her friend and pulled her to her feet. Bess found it difficult to walk because her arms and legs had become numb.
“Oh, Nancy!” she cried out.
“Sh! Someone may be listening,” Nancy warned.
“Where are we?” Bess asked in a whisper, her voice quavering with fright.
“In the receiving and shipping room of Taylor’s store, I think.”
“Let’s get out,” Bess urged.
She hobbled to a heavy metal door at the far end of the room. It was locked!
“I was afraid of it,” Nancy muttered. “Now—”
She suddenly switched off the light, aware of voices on the other side of the heavy door.
Nancy tiptoed over and the girls pressed their ears against it and listened.
A man was talking, bragging about the ease with which the two girls had been captured. He reported that they were neatly tied up and ready for their second ride in another half hour.
“If we hadn’t caught that Drew girl she might have interfered with us tonight. And nobody’s goin’ to stop me from takin’ a big haul out of old man Taylor’s store!” his voice came to them. “Once we get the silver and the furs, we’ll pick up those girls and beat it. And you,” he said to someone, “come back here in ten minutes to be sure everything’s okay.”
Nancy’s pulse began to pound. So the Velvet Gang was going to rob Taylor’s Department Store! She must stop them! But how?
“Let’s scream for help,” Bess whispered.
“No, Bess! That would only bring them in here to tie us up again. Maybe there’s a telephone in here.”
The girls waited until they thought their captors had left, then turned on the light. Though they found a desk, there was no telephone on it.
“Now what’ll we do?” Bess asked.
“You examine the walls for any kind of exit,” Nancy suggested. “There may be a hole of some kind to shove boxes through. I want to find out what these boxes contain.”
“Just Taylor Department Store goods probably.”
“Maybe, but I have another idea. This big cardboard carton looks exactly like one I saw at the Blue Iris Inn!”
“How would it get here?”
“Snecker uses a Taylor truck, don’t forget. Furthermore, he’s in charge of this room.”
“But why would he bring the cartons here, Nancy? It doesn’t make sense.”
Without attempting to answer, Nancy tore open the top of the carton. The first item she lifted out was the Indian religious mask which had been stolen from Mr. Lightner.
“Here’s proof!” she whispered excitedly.
As Bess examined the walls for a means of escape, Nancy went on with her task. Underneath some shredded tissue she found other masks which she knew had been taken from the entertainment firm.
Nancy moved on to another carton. In it she found the silver miniatures which had been snatched from Gloria Hendrick’s home!
“I’ve found the loot!” Nancy excitedly told Bess who had now reached the third wall without locating a door or chute.
“Wonderful! But that doesn’t get us out of here.”
Bess examined the fourth wall. No better luck. Nancy had opened two more cartons. Both contained stolen goods.
“But these boxes are all marked with the Taylor store name!” Bess said.
“To fool the police, Bess. The thieves packed the stolen goods in them at the inn. Then Snecker or some of his helpers would bring them here. Snecker marked the cartons as damaged merchandise to be returned to the original shipper.”
“The shippers are in the gang?”
“No. They’re innocent. The boxes never reached them. You will notice there are only two factories. One of the gang must work in each factory which is in a distant city. He takes the loot out and delivers it to a pawnbroker or some other fence.”
“All of these boxes and crates are being shipped by the thieves?” Bess gasped.
“Oh, no, they couldn’t get by with that. Most of the boxes are incoming merchandise. See, here’s one marked Sweaters.”
“And here’s another stamped China,” Bess added. “That big one is filled with toys.”
Nancy had made the same observation. Curious to learn if the box actually contained toys, she ripped open the top.
“Toys all right,” she conceded. “Games, an atom bomb set, a chemical set and—say! This gives me an idea!”
“What?” Bess demanded eagerly.
“Maybe we’ll get out of here yet!”
“Oh, I hope so. But how, Nancy?”
“This chemical set! See, this one package is marked smoke! By mixing the chemicals, we can make it appear that there is a fire here when one of them returns.”
“And maybe start a real one!”
“No danger of that, Bess. Listen at the door while I whip up a ‘fire.’ Maybe someone’s out there now.”
Bess pressed her ear against the steel door. She could hear a hum of voices. Then a man said, “It won’t be long now. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
Bess now could hear only one person moving around in the next room. She conveyed the information to Nancy.
“Good! My smoke preparation is ready. Now we’ll see if it works. Get some rope and turn out the light.”
Bess snatched up the cords, gag, and blindfold which had been used on her and then snapped off the swinging overhead bulb.
Crouching down on the floor by the locked door, Nancy began to blow smoke from the chemical set beneath the crack.
“We might yell ‘fire,’ ” Bess whispered, hopeful of quick action.
“That would reveal we’ve taken off our gags, Bess. I want to surprise the guard.”
Patiently Nancy kept blowing smoke under the door crack. Suddenly she was rewarded. From the other side of the door, the girls heard a startled exclamation.
“He’s noticed the smoke!” Nancy murmured to Bess. “Stand back!”
Scarcely had the two girls flattened themselves against the wall than the metal door was unbolted and pushed back.
As the guard rushed in, looking about in bewilderment and sniffing the smoke-laden air, Nancy extended her foot directly in his path.
Down he went, sprawling in an ungainly heap on the floor!