Chapter 7 The Phantom of Pine Hill by Carolyn Keene
The Perplexed Chief
Standing in the midst of the untidy library, Mrs. Holman, Bess, and George waited for Nancy to give her own theory as to why the phantom had made a shambles of the room.
“Don’t you think,” Nancy asked, “that if the only thing the mysterious thief wanted was money he would have taken all of it at once?”
“That sounds reasonable,” the housekeeper conceded.
Nancy went on, “Since he simply helped himself to small amounts at a time, I believe he thought he was avoiding suspicion.”
George nodded. “You mean that although Uncle John was hiding the money so that the amount was the same as the book page, he wouldn’t be sure whether it was, say, a hundred and fifty or a hundred and forty that he had put in?”
“Exactly. And so he would not report the theft to the police.”
Bess said, “But you haven’t told us why the thief made a wreck out of this room.”
Nancy replied that it was evident he was hunting for something important beside the money. “Perhaps he knows we’re working on the mystery and is getting frantic to find the thing before we do.”
Bess sighed. “I almost hope he found what he was looking for and never comes back!”
“That would please me too,” said Mrs. Holman.
As the girls picked up the books and papers they looked at each one for a clue to the mystery. The papers gave no hint, so these were put back into the desk drawers.
Bess saw something sticking from under the desk and got down on hands and knees to look. There was another paper which she pulled out and held up.
“Oh no!” she cried.
The others turned to look. On the paper were two large black thumbprints.
Instantly Nancy was excited. The prints looked like the ones on the paper which had floated to her feet in the woods!
“I’ll get the other paper,” she said, and hurried up the stairs.
When she returned, the black prints were compared under a magnifying glass from Uncle John’s desk. They were exactly the same!
“I think I should take these papers to the police,” she said.
Her friends continued to hunt for clues in the books while Nancy went to town. She found Police Chief Rankin a rather stern man. Nancy stated her errand quickly and showed him the papers with the thumbprints.
After looking at them for several seconds, the officer said, “Tell me the whole story in detail.”
It took Nancy some time to give him an account of what had happened since her arrival in Emerson. When she finished, Chief Rankin said, “I’m afraid I didn’t put much credence in Mrs. Holman’s story about a phantom. As for the missing pearls, there were no fingerprints in the room but yours and hers. Frankly,” he went on with an apologetic smile, “I thought it likely you had mislaid the necklace, got excited, and reported it stolen. But now I see you’re not that kind of person. I will go out to Pine Hill myself and do a little investigating,” he added.
“That’s what I was hoping you would do,” said Nancy. “When will you come?”
“Right now. I’ll follow you in my car.”
Mrs. Holman and the girls were astonished to see Nancy drive in with the police chief. Bess whispered to the housekeeper, “Nancy’s very persuasive.”
After Nancy had introduced the chief to Bess and George, he gave the library a thorough inspection. The others waited patiently while he tapped the walls, looked up the chimney, and asked if there were a trap door under any of the rugs.
Bess whispered to George, “Nancy has already done all this. Why don’t we tell him so?”
“Better not,” her cousin replied. She smiled. “We might be interfering with his—er—duties!”
When the officer finished, he said firmly, “There’s only one possible way a thief could have entered this room. He must have a duplicate key to the padlock.”
“But, Chief Rankin,” Mrs. Holman spoke up, “there is only one key to this padlock and the man at the lock shop assured Mr. Rorick that the padlock could not be picked.”
Chief Rankin frowned. He did not argue with the housekeeper, but said crisply, “Take my advice—put a new padlock on at once and don’t let anyone get hold of the key to it!”
Mrs. Holman was a bit hurt by his pre-emptory manner, but she merely said, “I will do that.” Turning to Nancy, she asked, “Would you have time to run downtown and buy a new padlock?”
Nancy glanced at her wrist watch. It was just one o’clock and the girls were not due at the pageant until four. “I’ll have plenty of time,” she told the housekeeper.
As she went outdoors with Chief Rankin, he said that he would look around the grounds, although he did not think he would find anything helpful.
“Footprints wouldn’t mean anything. There must be hundreds of them around here, with people cutting grass, gardening, and searching for clues.” As he spoke the latter phrase, he looked significantly at Nancy.
She smiled in answer, then asked, “What about the bobbing light in the woods at night?”
“Have you seen it yourself?” the officer asked.
“Yes.”
Chief Rankin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I feel sure that no thief is going to give away his position by walking around those woods with a flashlight. I’d say they’re used by people who are taking shortcuts from the beach to the road.”
Nancy did not comment—the police chief might be right! She said good-by, thanked him for coming, and drove off to get the new padlock. She obtained one at Emerson’s largest hardware store. The owner assured her that the lock was the very latest model and positively could not be opened except with the proper key.
“Not even by a locksmith?” Nancy asked, her eyes twinkling.
“Well,” said the shop owner, “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. But it would take a real expert to figure this one out. What are you going to use it for?”
Nancy was vague in her answer. “Put it on a certain door to keep out burglars,” she said, chuckling, and the man did not ask any more questions.
She paid for the padlock and hurried home. Mrs. Holman predicted that even two locks on the library door were not going to keep out the phantom. Nevertheless, she permitted Nancy and George to install the new lock to which there were two keys. She took one herself, and suggested that Nancy take the other and hide it carefully.
During her absence, Bess and George had been looking through volume after volume of Uncle John’s books. But most of them had nothing to do with old boats or the history of the area.
Soon Mrs. Holman announced that luncheon was ready and the girls went into the dining room. There were cold cuts, potato salad, rich, ripe tomatoes, and a delicious chocolate mousse dessert.
“You are a marvelous cook,” Nancy said to Mrs. Holman. “Everything is so good!”
The girls insisted upon washing the dishes. While they were working, there was a knock on the back door and Bess opened it. Fred Jenkins walked in, grinning at the three girls.
“Hi, everybody!” he said. “I’ve got to work fast around here today, because I want to see that pageant, too.”
Mrs. Holman appeared and told him to vacuum the living room, then the hall.
“Okay,” he said, and went off to do it.
As soon as the girls had finished their dishwashing chore, they went back to the library to look at more books. Mrs. Holman accompanied them, a mop and dustcloth in her hands.
Fred, coming into the hall, saw her. “Oh, you shouldn’t be doing that,” he said. “I’ll clean the library for you.”
“No, thank you,” said the housekeeper. “Mr. Rorick doesn’t want anybody but me to work in the room.”
At that moment Fred noticed the two padlocks on the door. He began to laugh. “You sure must have a gold mine in that place.” The others ignored him.
As he worked in the hall, Mrs. Holman kept an eye on him. Each time he came near the door to the library, she went out and found him another job which took him away from it.
“He’s too nosy,” she said to the girls.
Presently the telephone rang and Mrs. Holman answered it. After a short conversation, she hung up and came to the library door. The housekeeper beckoned Nancy toward her and whispered:
“That was Chief Rankin. He said to tell you that the thumbprints on that paper are not on record. Whoever left them is not a known criminal.”
“That makes our job even harder,” Nancy commented.
By this time Fred had finished all the work which the housekeeper wanted him to do indoors that day. She told him to go outside and weed the garden.
Nancy and the housekeeper returned to the library. By this time the girls had gone through hundreds of books.
Suddenly Bess called out excitedly, “A clue! I’ve found a clue!”