Chapter 12 The Invisible Intruder by Carolyn Keene
Code Identification
THERE was no conversation as Nancy and the two detectives retraced their steps. Nancy’s heart was heavy. She was convinced that Ned had been kidnapped and taken from the area.
Noticing Nancy’s quiet, worried mood, Sergeant Brothers said, “We’ll make every effort to find your friend. I suppose it’s small comfort to you, but you’ve put us on the track of something I strongly suspect is not a legitimate operation.”
Nancy smiled wanly. “Please let me know what you learn from the owner of the shack.”
“I will,” the officer promised.
As they neared the embankment, Nancy noticed a third car on the road. The detectives saw it too and got ready for possible trouble.
They had just cautioned Nancy to stay behind them while they investigated, when four young people stepped from the car and one of the girls called, “Hi, Nancy!”
Detective Peron looked at the young detective. “Do you know them?”
“My best friends,” she replied, a note of relief in her voice.
“Where’s Ned?” Burt inquired as Nancy and the detectives climbed the embankment.
“We don’t know,” Nancy replied.
She introduced Bess, George, Burt, and Dave to the police officers. Then the conversation turned to the mystery. The newcomers were briefed on the present situation.
“Ned has been kidnapped?” George cried unbelievingly.
“We’re afraid so,” Nancy answered. “We don’t know where to look for him.”
Bess remarked, “You must have had some frightful moments when you saw that lifeless form and thought he was Ned.”
“I certainly did,” Nancy agreed. She looked at the car in which the young people had come from town. “Did you borrow this from Helen and Jim?”
“Yes,” Dave replied. “Do you want us to go on a search for Ned?”
Sergeant Brothers said he thought this was useless at the moment. The police would send out a missing-person alarm.
“I think it would be best for you young people to return to the motel and wait for some word from us.”
Burt and George decided they would ride with Nancy and bolster her spirits. They were careful, however, not to be oversolicitous, and talked calmly about their speculations. George was positive that the Prizers and Madame Tarantella were back of the whole mystery.
“But their motive eludes me,” she said.
Burt suggested hopefully that Ned might not have been kidnapped. “He could have hidden in the back of the car or truck that dropped off the gorilla who attacked you, Nancy.”
“He seemed like a gorilla, all right,” Nancy said with a smile.
“Burt is right,” George added. “I’ll bet Ned will return with a big surprise.”
Nancy hoped so, but she was well aware that her friends were trying to cheer her up. When they reached the motel, she insisted upon staying in her room.
“I want to be right by the telephone if any calls come. The police may phone or someone else.”
She did not mention Ned’s name, but Bess and George knew he was uppermost in her thoughts.
“Aren’t you coming to supper?” Bess queried.
Nancy shook her head. “I’ll have a tray sent here.”
There was no dissuading her so Bess said she would attend to ordering it. “I saw the menu. How about some jellied consommé, southern fried chicken, rice croquettes, beans with mushrooms au gratin, lettuce and cucumber salad, and a chocolate parfait for dessert?”
Nancy closed her eyes. “That much food would make me feel positively ill. I’ll just have a plain chicken sandwich, tea, and some fruit.”
After arranging a signal of three knocks on the door for safety, Bess and George showered and changed their clothes, then left the room. Nancy tried to read, but she could not keep her mind on the book. She paced the floor until interrupted by the knocking signal. She opened it. One of the bus boys from the dining room was bringing her supper on a tray.
He smiled. “You’re not feeling well, miss?” he asked.
“Oh, I’m all right,” Nancy replied. “I’m not very hungry and besides I’m waiting for a phone call.”
The boy placed the tray on a low table and left the room. Nancy sat down and began to munch the chicken sandwich. But after two bites she did not feel like eating any more. The hot tea was so refreshing that she drank two cups of it. She eyed a delicious-looking nectarine but could not bring herself to eat it.
“I’ll keep the fruit until later,” she told herself, and began pacing the floor again.
At eight o’clock the telephone rang and she sprang to answer it. “Nancy?” It was Ned’s voice!
“Oh, Ned, are you all right?” she cried.
“Never felt better.”
“Where are you?”
“At the third stop on our hunt.”
“You mean the red barn with the ghost horse?” Nancy asked in amazement.
“Right. Just outside of Middleburg.”
“How did you get there?”
“I got a ride most of the way, then walked the rest. I have lots to tell you, Nancy, but most of it will have to wait until I see you.
“I was kidnapped by two masked men but I escaped. I can’t tell you any more now. What I want you and all the ghost hunters to do is get up here as quickly as possible. I’ve made reservations at Red Barn Guesthouse for everyone.”
Nancy said she would speak to the others immediately and call back. He gave her the number.
She hurried to the dining room. The ghost hunters were just leaving. Quickly she explained to them about the call but added:
“There’s a possibility that Ned is being held by kidnappers who made him telephone. It might be a ruse to get us away from here and over to the Red Barn.”
“But how can you find out?” Bess asked.
Nancy smiled. “Sometime ago Ned and I decided on a code identification. When I call him back, I’ll use it.”
Dave was intrigued. “May we listen?” he asked.
“Come along,” Nancy said.
For privacy they all went to her room and she made the call. The woman who answered the phone said she would get Mr. Nickerson at once.
When Ned came on the phone, Nancy asked him, “What is your right name?”
He laughed heartily. “I get you. It’s Edward Emerson.”
“Hold the line a minute, Ned,” Nancy requested. She turned to the other ghost hunters and said, “That answer means Ned is not a prisoner. If he had been he would have said ‘I keep my middle name a secret.’ ”
Nancy spoke to Ned again. “We’ll be at the Red Barn Guesthouse early tomorrow morning.”
As soon as Ned had hung up, Nancy telephoned Sergeant Brothers and told him Ned had been kidnapped but escaped. Then she asked the officer if he had any information about the cabin with the dummy in it. He told her no one had come there in the meantime and the owner had said he had never given permission for anyone to use the place.
“We removed all of the paraphernalia and brought it here to headquarters,” Sergeant Brothers said. “By the way, that male dummy is very interesting. Actually he’s a kind of robot with all sorts of gadgets to make him perform. He can walk, run, and even attack a person with some karate-like motions.”
Nancy told the detective her suspicions about Madame Tarantella and the initials on the shell. “She may be part of the gang carrying on some shady business. We’re moving tomorrow to the Red Barn Guesthouse outside Middleburg.” The officer thanked her, then said that the police would get in touch with her if there were any further developments.
When Nancy told the other ghost hunters about the robot, George said, “Um! It could attack someone or steal without leaving a single fingerprint!”
“One thing is sure,” Nancy went on. “The person who built it is a clever engineer. That, of course, points to Wilbur Prizer.”
When the ghost hunters reached the Red Barn Guesthouse the following morning, Ned took them into the living room. They found that he was the only person staying there. George remarked upon this.
“People are afraid to come here,” Ned told her. “The owner, Mrs. Hodge—she’s in the attic now —is very discouraged and said she may have to sell the place for far less than it is worth. Does that sound familiar?”
In a chorus the ghost hunters answered, “Sevanee Lake and Pine Grove Camp.”
“I suspect something similar may be occurring here,” Ned remarked. “We’ll have to find out.”
Nancy asked, “Have there been any other ghostlike happenings here besides the phantom horse with the rider running after it?”
Ned nodded. “Mrs. Hodge says all sorts of queer things have been going on here lately, some of them inside the house. The old ghost story had long since been forgotten. Then a few weeks ago a guest actually saw the apparition.
“She told others, and little by little everyone moved out. After that, newcomers stayed only a short time because one of them always saw the horse and the rider. Of course the story spread and now no one writes for reservations or stops here.”
“What a shame!” Bess exclaimed.
Burt said in a quiet voice, “You don’t think Mrs. Hodge is having hallucinations, do you?”
“No, I don’t,” Ned replied. “I was introduced to one of the happenings last night.”
“Oh, what was it?” Bess asked excitedly.
Ned said he had been awakened by terrible screaming out on the road. “It sounded as if someone were beating another with a chain.”
“Horrible!” Bess shuddered.
“It alarmed me, naturally,” Ned went on. “I ran to the window and looked out. There wasn’t a person in sight. I half expected to see an apparition, maybe even the horse and rider, but nothing appeared.”
“The screaming had stopped?” Nancy asked.
“Yes. This morning I asked Mrs. Hodge about it. She had heard the sounds too and looked out, but saw nothing suspicious. She’s convinced that someone is trying to ruin her business on purpose.”
For a few minutes they discussed the strange affair, then Nancy said, “Ned, tell us what happened to you after you left me under the bridge.”
“A couple of thugs jumped me from some bushes. I was no match for them so I pretended to black out. They dumped me in the back of their car. An hour later on a side road they had a flat tire and got out. I suddenly ‘came to life’ and ran off in the woods. But why did they kidnap me?”
Nancy told him about her experience at the bridge and added, “They wanted you out of the way.”
The conversation was suddenly interrupted by a loud crash upstairs!