Chapter 11 The Invisible Intruder by Carolyn Keene
Spooky Mistake
CHIDING herself for having been duped, Nancy struggled furiously to get away from her captor. She tried again and again to scream but only muffled sounds came from her throat.
“You little vixen!” the giantlike man said. “It won’t do you no good to struggle. You’ll only hurt yourself. I should warn you I’m an expert at judo and karate. If you get too flip, I’ll use one or the other on you!”
Nancy was powerless but she kept thinking that Ned would return any moment. Where was he?
Now the girl’s captor pulled her into the water and began to push her down. Horrified, Nancy wondered if he intended to drown her. She began to struggle again.
Just then a voice demanded, “Hold it!”
Nancy’s assailant dropped her suddenly and she hit the rocks. Her captor had already started to run.
Nancy stood up quickly. Two men rushed past her after the fleeing figure. They caught him easily, and though he tried some judo and karate tricks, the other two men were more than a match for him.
“You’ve got no right to stop me!” their prisoner protested. “This was. a personal matter. This girl here is a troublemaker and needed to be punished.”
“We’ll hear her side of the story,” one of the men said.
The two newcomers introduced themselves as plainclothesmen from the local police department.
One of them said, “I’m Sergeant Brothers. This is Detective Peron.”
“Who was in touch with you?” Nancy asked to double-check them.
“Mr. Kittredge.”
Nancy was satisfied. “Thank you for coming to my rescue,” she said.
Before leaving, Nancy pointed out the fake box. The men suggested leaving it. A policeman would come there to watch for anyone who might pick it up.
In all the excitement Nancy had forgotten that Ned had not returned. Was he still talking to Burt and Dave?
When she and the detectives and their prisoner reached the road, Nancy was amazed not to find Ned there. Her own car stood where it had been parked, but no other car was in sight nor any of their friends.
Nancy told the detectives about the boy who had come to give Ned the message.
“I’m worried that it may have been a hoax, and that something has happened to him, too.”
“That could well be,” said Sergeant Brothers.
He turned to his prisoner. “Do you know anything about this?”
“No.”
“What’s your name?” Detective Peron inquired.
The prisoner remained silent. The detective searched him, but he carried no identification.
“Have you anything to say for yourself?” Sergeant Brothers asked the man.
“Just one thing. Ordinarily I don’t work for nobody doin’ this kind of work. I went to see a medium and she told me I had to seize Nancy Drew when she was alone under the bridge.”
“And then?” Detective Peron urged him.
“She said if I didn’t do what I was told, I would be punished real bad—maybe be killed.”
“Who was this medium?” Nancy asked.
“I ain’t sayin’ ”
Sergeant Brothers spoke up. “Why not?”
The prisoner said he would say nothing more because he was afraid. “I guess you think that’s cuckoo, ’cause I’m such a big strong guy. But when the spirit world tells you to do something, all the physical strength in the world won’t help you none to keep out of it.”
Nancy looked at the captive in amazement. She had a feeling that the medium was probably the same person who had telephoned her. But since she could not be sure the man was not part of a gang headed by the Prizers, Nancy said nothing.
Changing the subject, she said, “I must hunt for my friend Ned Nickerson.”
The two plainclothesmen looked at each other. Finally Sergeant Brothers said, “You mustn’t do it alone. Drive your car into town to police headquarters. We’ll follow. As soon as this man is arraigned, we’ll come back here again with you and see what we can find out.”
The trip to town took only a few minutes. While Nancy was waiting for the officers to accompany her, she called the motel to find out if by any chance Ned was there. The answer was No. Then she asked if he had phoned a message.
“No, Miss Drew.”
Nancy was becoming more alarmed by the minute. The longer it took to find Ned, the more he might be suffering at the hands of their enemies.
Nancy was asked to sign a statement charging one John Doe with assault and battery. Then the two plainclothesmen said they were ready to leave. Nancy drove back to the stone bridge, followed by the two police officers.
The three alighted and at once went down the embankment opposite the one where Nancy and Ned had been, since that was the way he had returned to the road. They began hunting for Ned’s footprints. At first they were hard to locate, because the soft embankment was full of foot-marks. After a search Nancy was able to spot some ripple-soled shoe prints she was sure were Ned’s. At the foot of the embankment, they led away from the stream toward a hollow.
“Let’s go!” Nancy urged.
The three proceeded silently, picking their way among rocks, mounds of coarse grass, and brush. At last they reached the hollow which was filled with a thick growth of trees. It was much easier walking.
Excited, Nancy ran ahead of the plainclothesmen. She had spotted a shack among the trees.
“Maybe Ned is a prisoner inside!” she thought.
“Hold on, young lady!” Sergeant Brothers called to her. “We don’t want anything more to happen to you.”
Nancy stopped, but urged the men to hurry. When they reached the cabin, the searchers found all the windows boarded up. Tall grass indicated that no one had lived there for some time, or if someone had, he was not using it as a permanent home.
The two detectives searched all around the place. They could not trace the footprints any farther.
“I’m so fearful Ned may be a prisoner in there,” Nancy said. “Would it be all right to look inside?”
The detectives agreed to unboard one of the windows. Using sharp-pointed stones, they managed to pry the wood loose. Sunlight streamed in through the window.
Nancy stood on tiptoe, then gave a gasp. A motionless figure lay on the floor, his back to the onlookers. He wore a white shirt and dark trousers as Ned had. The head was partially covered with a scarf.
Nancy’s heart was thumping, but she managed to say, “Oh, please break in! We must find out who that is.”
The detectives worked on the window until they had it open. As Sergeant Brothers climbed inside, Nancy held her breath. The detective walked over to the figure, knelt down, then burst into laughter.
“It’s a dummy!” he exclaimed.
“A dummy?” Detective Peron repeated.
Nancy was so relieved that she found it hard to keep from crying. Blinking back tears of joy, she climbed through the window and looked at the figure. It was indeed a large dummy, the kind used by magicians and ventriloquists.
So the footprints had not been Ned’s! Where was he, then? Nancy felt sure he had been kidnapped so he could not save her from the man who had tried to drown her. She tried not to think what might have happened to her friend.
“I wonder if this belongs to a medium,” Nancy remarked as she looked around the room.
Hanging on a wall hook was a robe similar to the one Madame Tarantella had worn at the séance. On a table lay a collection of tiny wires with miniature electric bulbs attached.
“If all this gear is used for legitimate purposes,” Detective Peron said, “why did the people board up the windows?”
Nancy said she thought the place was a hideout, and not a home.
“I think it warrants investigating,” Sergeant Brothers said. “First we’ll find out who owns this cabin.”
Nancy continued her search and a few seconds later came across a shell. A small card tied to it read:
A Crusader’s Shell, so-called because it was the emblem of the Crusaders and was worn by Saint James, patron saint of Spain. Generic name Pecten.
Detective Peron came over to see what Nancy was reading. “That’s a beautiful specimen,” he said. “My wife has a set of those scalloped shells. She uses them to serve salads in and sometimes creamed dishes.”
Nancy inspected the shell closely. At first it seemed to contain nothing of special significance. Then she discovered that two tiny initials had been carved into one of the scallops. They were M T.
“Madame Tarantella!” Nancy said to herself. “Does this shell belong to her? In fact, is all this paraphernalia hers?”
Sergeant Brothers interrupted the young detective’s speculations. “We’d better board this place up again and be on our way. Now what about your friend Ned Nickerson?”
Nancy’s heart suddenly sank again. Their search for Ned had been in vain! Where was he?