Nancy Clue Mysteries 3 - A Ghost in the Closet (10 page)

Joe threw up his hands in alarm. "Frank! Uncle Nelly's been robbed!"

Frank leapt to the window and peered inside. After witnessing the shocking scene for himself, he manfully burst through the door and raced inside to free Uncle Nelly, who was fully conscious and terribly excited. Frank yanked the kerchief from his uncle's mouth.

"Boys, what are you doing here? And Nancy, too?" Uncle Nelly blurted out as Frank untied his bonds. Uncle Nelly quickly snatched his crimson silk lounging robe from the foot of the daybed and slipped it over his white silk summer pajamas. On his feet were slippers of the softest leather. "Your visit is most unexpected," Uncle Nelly cried. His face was peculiarly flushed. "You so rarely drop in unannounced!"

"Lucky for you we did!" Joe retorted, looking his favorite uncle up and down for injuries. Their handsome, youthful uncle seemed none the worse for wear.

"What happened?" Nancy cried out.

"Uncle, were you robbed?" Frank added excitedly. Then he dropped his voice. Perhaps the hoodlum who had tied up Uncle Nelly was still here! He raced to the staircase with a determined look in his eyes, "If anyone's up there," he shouted sternly, "come out now!" He clenched his fists, ready to give the man a good thrashing!

Uncle Nelly chuckled and rubbed his wrists. "There's nothing to get excited about, kids," he declared. "My chum and I were just playing a game." He went to the stairs. "Dear, we've got company," he called in a sheepish, sing-song voice.

A few moments later, a handsome, virile-looking man wear ing a casual slacks outfit and a resigned grin came downstairs. It was Uncle Nelly's favorite chum Willy! "So you want to thrash me, do you?" the man chuckled as he playfully gave Frank a punch to the chest. Frank grinned and gave Uncle Nelly's chum a hearty handshake.

Joe felt a surge of relief flood his body as he spied the muscular fellow, clad in snug black trousers and a striped tee-shirt stretched to the breaking over round, swelling muscles.

"We weren't expecting you today," Willy admitted as he threw an arm around the younger Hardly lad and gave him a manly squeeze. "But it sure is good to see you boys! And this must be the famous Nancy Clue," he said as he let go of Joe and gave Nancy a sturdy handshake.

"It's wonderful to see you, too! " Joe blurted out as he suddenly plopped down on the love seat, grabbed a petit point pillow and pulled it onto his lap. A look of intense concentration crossed Joe's face. "You've done wonders with this place while we were gone," he exclaimed, staring with keen interest at a still-life of fruit hanging on the opposite wall.

"It's like something out of a fairy tale," Nancy agreed.

"It's been the gayest summer ever," Uncle Nelly told them. "So many people have dropped by to look at our goodies, especially since someone started the rumor that this place is haunted!"

"Haunted!" Joe and Frank hooted with laughter. How could anyone think their family hideaway was haunted?

"It's been the best thing for business yet! We've been overrun with moneyed matrons eager to get a look at a haunted house, and once inside they always buy," Willy crowed.

Joe had to smile as he remembered other wild rumors that had spread through the little vacation spot. "Remember the story old Miss Witherspoon used to tell about the secret underground caverns of bygone days?" he chuckled.

"Poor Miss Witherspoon," Frank shook his head. The colorful town oldster had spent her last days at nearby River Depths Sanitarium after her wild tales of an underground city began scaring away tourists.

"Anyone for a famous Hardly apple turnover?" Nancy asked gaily as she handed Uncle Nelly the wicker basket of fresh pastries Frank had dropped. Despite her own troubles she had no wish to put a damper on this touching reunion.

"Let's have breakfast," Willy announced, shepherding the gang into his pleasant kitchen. Nancy relaxed for the first time in days as she watched Willy bustle about the cozy room, painted in soothing peach tones and decorated with starched white tieback flounced curtains. Above the sink was a saucy shelf edged with ruffled gingham and holding a collection of dainty porcelain egg cups. She sipped her coffee as Willy tied an apron over his slacks outfit, took a bowl of farm fresh eggs from the Frigidaire and expertly cracked a dozen into a cast-iron skillet, next to a pan cradling a sizzling slab of bacon.

A few minutes later he plopped a plate of just-right eggs, yummy-smelling bacon and crunchy toast in front of her. "You'll feel better once you've had a bite to eat," he smiled. Nancy blinked back tears. He had seen right through her brave charade!

"Now what brings you three here so early?" Uncle Nelly wondered as he unfolded a linen napkin in his lap and took a sip of coffee.

"I've got a problem," Nancy admitted.

Uncle Nelly nodded. "I could see that right away. Get my sewing kit, Will," he cried. "I'll have that frock of yours fitted in no time," he promised Nancy.

Nancy cringed.

"It's not that, Uncle," Joe blurted out. "Nancy's lost the love of her life and is desperate to get her back!"

"You poor sweet child," Uncle Nelly murmured. "Tell me what's wrong."

Frank and Joe exchanged happy grins. Uncle Nelly would know exactly what to do to mend Nancy's shattered romance!

Willy got her a fresh cup of coffee and urged her to tell all. Nancy repeated her sad story, ending disconsolately, "It's no use! I'll never get her back. Never!"

"Don't say that," Uncle Nelly begged. "Surely there's a way to win back this nurse."

"I'm afraid not," Nancy said sadly. "I've probably already lost her to Jackie. And we were so perfect together," she sighed. "Why, with all the scrapes I get into, a nurse at home would be mighty handy. Plus, we have the same taste in frocks, and-" She blushed hotly, "-there's the way she makes me feel all warm and curvy inside."

Frank and Joe exchanged puzzled glances. Whatever did Nancy mean? "It must be something that happens to girls, like that other thing," a wide-eyed Joe whispered. Frank nodded.

"We'll put our heads together and come up with a plan!" Uncle Nelly and Willy chorused. But a whole pot of coffee later, they were no closer to a solution. Joe found his mind wandering to the luscious-looking strawberry chiffon pie on the sideboard. Willy grinned, got up and cut generous slices for all. "Uncle Nelly always said you were a good cook, but this pie really takes the cake," Joe crowed in appreciation.

"As my dear mother always said, `The way to a man's heart is through his stomach,' " Willy joked, adding, "Why, when we were first courting, I used to-" He abruptly stopped as he was seized with a sudden inspiration. "Do you remember that terrible fight we had right before our first-year anniversary, Nelson?" Willy asked his chum.

Uncle Nelly nodded. How could he forget the worst day of his life?

"Your uncle and I had a terrible row over some silly little thing," Willy explained. "We didn't speak for one whole day, and I was frantic with worry that our romance had ended. Know what I did?"

"What, Willy?" the boys cried eagerly. Golly, they loved hearing stories about when their favorite uncle was a lad.

"I marched downtown and got a stylish haircut, selected a nice new suit, gave my shoes a lick and a promise and strolled up and down in front of Nelson's shop with a sailor chum of mine, pretending to be engrossed in the lad's conversation. Of course my heart was beating a mile a minute with eager anticipation. And I don't remember a word my young friend said, for I was too busy sneaking looks inside the shop to see if Nelson noticed I was out with someone new."

Uncle Nelly laughed as he remembered that long-ago day. "And I was busy peeking at them from between the slats of a lovely Queen Anne headboard, heartsick that I may have lost my Willy forever!"

"What happened next?" the boys gasped excitedly.

"Why, I raced out and begged Willy's forgiveness, and when he admitted it was all a set-up, I was so relieved that I instantly forgot what it was we had quarreled about," Uncle Nelly cried. "And the rest is history!

"Since then we've only quarreled over the little domestic matters all couples bicker over," he added.

"And then rarely, if ever," Willy interjected. "For we've learned that a couple must compromise in order to sail the seas of happy matrimony. For example," he explained earnestly, "Nelson wanted to make the front rooms into a showcase for his fine collection of Queen Anne furniture, but I'm more of a Rococo Revival man myself. So we compromised and used pieces from both collections."

"I thought the daybed Uncle Nelly was tied to was a Queen Anne," Joe hooted triumphantly. The Case of the Neoclassic Nightstand had trained Joe's already-sharp eye for the widely-flared Spanish feet typical of that period.

"I appreciate the suggestion, but if Cherry finds me with another girl it will only convince her I've fallen back on my old ways," Nancy lamented. "That will toll the death knell to our romance for sure! I'm afraid it's no use, fellows. I've lost her for good." Nancy buried her head in her hands and let out a girlish wail. "This has never happened to me before! Whatever shall I do?" she cried.

"You could become a nun," Joe said helpfully. "Girls with broken hearts are always finding solace in convents." Joe stopped talking when he realized his brother was staring at him in the queerest manner. "Well, it happens in the movies all the time," he explained.

Frank had to chuckle. His brother Joe was the dreamer of the two; always whiling away his Saturday afternoons at the cinema. He liked musical romances best of all!

"I don't think I could join a convent," Nancy admitted, "as it means wearing the same outfit day after day."

She sighed. "For a minute there at the Dog Show, I thought Cherry might had fallen for me all over again."

"You mean you were there when the poodles were kidnapped?" Uncle Nelly shivered.

"I helped rescue them," Nancy admitted. "During the search I could tell Cherry was drawn to me again, as I was behaving like the sober, sane, sensible Nancy Clue she had loved from afar."

"That's it!" Willy cried. He looked at the three young chums. "Who is Cherry, really?" he quizzed them.

The three sleuths looked puzzled.

"A nurse?" Joe guessed tentatively.

"A nice nurse," Frank corrected him.

"The nicest nurse you'll ever meet?" Nancy offered.

"No," Willy crowed. "She's Nancy's number one fan!"

"She was until she got a good look at the real Nancy Clue," Nancy corrected him. "It's hopeless," she sighed dejectedly.

Willy took her tear-stained face in his large rough hands and gave her a good, hard look. "That's not the Nancy Clue I know so well, from magazine articles, newspaper accounts and word on the street. Nancy, we all make mistakes. You've got to forget about your past and move ahead."

"Gaily forward!" Uncle Nelly shouted.

"Batten down the hatches!" Frank urged.

"Man the torpedoes!" Joe cried in delight.

Nancy smiled tentatively. "Do you really think I could rekindle Cherry's infatuation with Nancy Clue, the detective, and eventually make her fall in love with Nancy Clue, the girl?"

"Absolutely!" the fellows cried.

"Oh, it's a grand idea," Uncle Nelly hooted. "A much better idea, Nancy, than buying a new frock, restyling your hair and making Cherry jealous. Although," he mused, "the new short, soft waves they're showing in the city would be fetching on you."

For the first time since she had arrived at the merry little cottage, Nancy looked truly hopeful. She took her compact from her purse, powdered her pert, but shiny nose and ran a quick comb through her tangled titian hair. "I must find a mystery to solve-and fast," she declared as she leapt up from the table and headed for the door. She threw her trenchcoat over her ill-fitting frock. "Quick!" she cried impatiently. "Can anyone point me toward the nearest haunted house? Do you know of anyone with any missing heirloom jewelry? How about a stolen clock?"

"But Nancy, you already have a mystery to solve," Willy pointed out. "According to news reports, the six missing poodles may have been found safe and sound and reunited with their tearful owners, but the fiend who snatched them is still at-large. You must bring this man to justice!"

"That's it!" Nancy cried. "I've been too befuddled to realize I had the answer right in front of me all along! Oh, thank you Willy! Thank you, Uncle Nelly!"

"Go home, take a bath, put your hair up, slip into your nicest lightweight summer sleuthing outfit, and find that poodlenapper," Uncle Nelly instructed. "I guarantee that before you know it, you'll have that man behind bars and have become the apple of Cherry's eye!"

Nancy pulled her detective's notebook from her purse, but before she could begin listing possible clues, she scrunched up her face in frustration. "Oh, no, I just remembered we're having a birthday party this afternoon for Hannah. I can't start on a case now!"

Uncle Nelly refused to give up. "Then have your little party. Willy and I will stop by later and announce that another poodle has been kidnapped. That way, the mystery will start on a dramatic note."

Nancy quickly agreed to the scheme. She hopped in her car and raced home to change into her prettiest party outfit. "Jackie may be a big handsome girl with a warm smile and a magnificent physique, but I'll bet I can show her a thing or two when it comes to detective work!" Nancy smiled confidently as she drove off.

CHAPTER 14

Captured!