Nancy Clue Mysteries 3 - A Ghost in the Closet (13 page)

"It's for your own good, Frank," the sergeant said. "That's all I can say. Good-bye."

When a puzzled Frank returned to the kitchen, he found Midge and Jackie mulling over the mystery of the disappearing dogs.

"We've got the dognapper's trunk in Nancy's car," Midge remembered. "And she's got a bit of his disappearing powder in her purse."

"But why were they at your cottage today?" Jackie wondered. "Let's go interrogate that fellow," she exclaimed.

"But the chief left orders that no one's allowed to go near the prisoner," Frank blurted out. Although the chief's strange orders puzzled him, at least they prevented Jackie from becoming officially involved in the case. "He must be working an angle," Frank hastily added.

"Let's see if we can trace the magic powder on our own, then," Jackie suggested.

Frank was about to say, "Good idea," but quickly stopped himself. His job was to keep Jackie from becoming involved in the mystery.

"But we can't leave now," Frank cried out. "We've haven't cut the cake! " Golly, was Nancy's one shot at happiness with the nurse of her dreams going to be ruined by his one divulgence?

Jackie and Midge exchanged queer glances. They couldn't believe the famous boy detective was choosing chocolate cake over a baffling mystery!

Jackie began to suspect something was afoot. She shot Midge a little wink. "Perhaps you're right, Frank," Jackie said. "I'll bet the Lake Merrimen police don't need us nosing around. And that cake does look awfully good."

Midge quickly caught on. "Yeah, I've been in enough mysteries for one summer," she sighed. "Hey, Jack, let's go outside for a smoke, shall we?"

"Phew!" Frank thought as he set the pitcher of lemonade on a doily-covered tray and carried it outdoors, little realizing the ruckus he had stirred up.

"Midge, something's up," Jackie whispered to her chum once they were out of earshot. "Did you see how quickly Frank backed off such an exciting development?"

"Yeah," Midge replied. "And have you noticed how jumpy Joe is? And earlier when we were roasting wienies, did you notice how Frank and Nancy kept shooting each other knowing glances?"

"Somehow I don't think that little smile of anticipation on Nancy's face is because she's waiting eagerly for the party games to begin. I've got the feeling those three have a secret," Jackie exclaimed.

Midge smiled, for she had a secret of her own. The minute she managed to maneuver a way to bring Jackie and Cherry together, Midge and Velma were going to slip away for an afternoon of their favorite game.

"Keep your eyes open and your ears to the ground, Midge," Jackie said as she snatched up her empty lemonade glass and prepared to rejoin the festivities. "I think Nancy and the Hardly boys are scheming a way to win Cherry back!"

"But it's not going to happen!" she vowed to herself.

CHAPTER 18

Cosmic Yearnings

"Oh, and a lovely fountain pen engraved with my initials!" Hannah Gruel exclaimed as she opened another gift. "H. H. G.Housekeeper Hannah Gruel."

"It writes in regular and invisible ink," Joe pointed out. "So you can leave Nancy secret messages."

"Never have I received more thoughtful presents," Hannah sighed as she surveyed the pile of presents on the glasstopped wrought iron table in front of her. "Sing Along with Mitch Miller, a lacy bed jacket, The Joy of Cooking, this pen and my very own official Red Cross blood-pressure kit. Why, you kids are going to spoil me!"

"There's one more parcel to open," Cherry said, pointing to a smallish box wrapped in gay pink tissue and tied with a silver bow. Hannah opened the box and pulled out a clear bottle filled with rose-colored water. Taped to the neck of the bottle was a note. Hannah took her reading glasses from her pocket and read it aloud. "Birthday wishes from Mrs. Milton Meeks.

"Oh, dear," Hannah cried worriedly. "Just as I suspected. A whole bottle of Myra's homemade perfume. She sends a bottle to all the River Depths housekeepers on their birthdays. Now I'll have to wear it to church come Sunday," she fretted.

Everyone laughed.

"A toast to my dear friend Hannah who's been like a mother to me since the death of my real mother twentytwo years ago," Nancy proposed, holding her pink lemonade aloft.

"Here's to Hannah!" everyone cried as they raised their glasses high. Hannah beamed happily.

Cherry searched her brain for something clever to say. Her father, who loved a good party, always had at his fingertips a generous store of time-tested toasts on a wide variety of subjects. If only she could remember one of them!

"A porter on the Queen Mary taught me a grand toast," Joe recalled.

"Here's to chums, old and new," Frank exclaimed. "Especially my twin brother Midge."

Cherry giggled. Although she was embarrassed to have given a false diagnosis of amnesia, she had to admit that she was relieved to find it had been Frank Hardly behind that apron all along. "That explains a lot of things," she sighed aloud. "Now that you're together, I can tell you apart, but it isn't easy," Cherry admitted. "You do look shockingly alike. Frank," she teased, "there's not a Hardly girl in your family, is there?"

Frank shook his head. "There's been nothing but boys for generations," he said.

"Even I was fooled for a moment when I first met Frank," Velma laughed. It had been a little jarring to see someone who looked so much like her girlfriend standing at a buffet table making melon balls.

"I'd have to be suffering from amnesia before I'd put on an apron," Midge assured her girlfriend. "Not that it looked at all bad on you, Frank," she hastily added.

"You'll find, Midge, that an apron really does keep one's clothes tidy as pie," he teased. "You'll notice my shirt is as clean as a whistle!"

Everyone had a good chuckle when they looked at Midge's outfit, which was in its usual rumpled state. Her dark trousers were smudged with ashes from her ever-present cigarette and a smudge of grease ran up the sleeve of her Orlon short-sleeved summer shirt.

Velma picked at the front of Midge's shirt. "What's this?" she asked with a big smile. "Shrimp sauce?" Everyone could tell by the starry expression in her eyes that Velma wouldn't trade Midge or her funny habits for anything in the world.

"Any minute now, I'll fix it so we can sneak off," Midge whispered in Velma's ear.

"Frank's Mr. Tidy," Joe teased his older brother. "Why, Frank here is the only fellow I know who can chase a cunning criminal, rescue a marooned fighter pilot or wrestle a burly thug, all without losing the crease in his slacks. He's just like Father."

"Speaking of your famous father, I read that article in Spy Journal about those stolen rocket ship plans he managed to retrieve just as Russian agents were preparing to smuggle them out of the country," Jackie piped up. "That was good work."

At the mention of that case, Frank blanched. It had been his father's most dangerous mission, and for four fearful days, the Hardly family had held its breath waiting for word that Fennel was fine. Since that dreadful day, Fennel P. Hardly had, at the insistence of his family, forsworn dangerous cases of espionage.

Frank pushed his plate of cake aside and jumped up. He jammed his hands in the pockets of his handsome slacks and started to pace around the patio. He peered at the brilliant moon high in the Illinois sky; that same moon was now a trophy in a cosmic race between two giants-a race Frank feared they would lose!

"Why they wanted our rocket ship plans when they've already proven their superiority in space is beyond me," Frank said grimly. October fourth, nineteen hundred and fifty-seven had been a sad day for a boy detective with space dust in his eyes, for on that day the Russian satellite Sputnik I, the firstever satellite in space, had flown overhead.

"Even Father couldn't stop their dominance of outer space," Joe sighed. Then he smiled brightly. "Here's hoping we reach the moon first," he toasted. "We will, too," he bragged, "because we've got the best scientists in the world and a government eager to spend untold millions for such an important endeavor."

Frank tipped his glass skyward. His eyes glowed. "So enchanting, so mysterious, but so far away that only in his dreams could man touch her barren beauty. This is our moon," he said dreamily.

"But why do you want to go to the moon?" Cherry wondered. "It doesn't seem like a very nice place to visit. There's nowhere to stay up there."

Frank and Joe were almost speechless with astonishment. "Space flight will free man from the chains of gravity that tie him to this planet!" they cried.

"Plus in space, we can harvest new materials and create new products that will enrich all our lives," Frank pointed out. "New things for the home, schools, industry, and even hospitals."

"Dad says it could be a whole new world up there," Joe enthused.

"It will be, too," Frank asserted solemnly, "for peace in space means peace on earth."

"Think of it, Cherry," Joe added excitedly. "If we can develop our space arsenal, we can eventually ring the free world with such formidable weapons that an invader would think a long, long time before risking a war. Anyway, that's what Dad says, and he knows best. Why, he taught us everything we know about tracking crooks, cracking codes and the surveillance of dangerous characters," he bragged. "And not once has he failed in his endeavor to right a wrong or bring a criminal to justice.

"In fact, I think he's digging up clues for a new case right now," Joe said with an excited twinkle in his eye.

Frank smiled, caught up in his brother's enthusiasm. "I do so hope there's a good mystery for us to solve this summer," Frank cut in. "I'm eager to plunge into something new."

Frank's comment surprised Jackie. Why, the way the boy sleuth had acted earlier, a mystery seemed to be the last thing on his mind!

"A mystery sure would be fun right now," Cherry sighed. Only not too soon," she added, "since I've just eaten."

Frank and Joe looked at each other slyly. Little did Cherry realize that soon she would get her wish!

Jackie looked up just in time to catch their exchange. "That does it," she thought. "Something queer is going on. Why are these two eager-beaver boy detectives content to while away the afternoon at a patio party while a thug who wrecked havoc at the Dog Show and then broke into their family cottage is loose and his partner is sitting in jail right now yet to be interrogated? What are they waiting for?" she asked herself.

"Frank, I suspect that-" Jackie began, but before she could go any further, Nancy jumped up, clapped her hands excitedly and squealed, "It's time for a game! Who wants to play?"

"How about a round of Powers of Observation?" Joe suggested.

"What's that?" Cherry wondered. "Is it difficult to play?"

"We blindfold a volunteer and have her describe a person in this room," Joe explained. "We play it all the time at parties in order to hone our detective skills."

"It sounds like fun," Cherry squealed.

A sly grin came over Frank's face. "We'll start with you, Cherry," he announced as he took a red-checkered cloth napkin from the buffet table and used it to blindfold her. Cherry allowed Frank to twirl her around three times, and when he let go, she began walking unsteadily around the patio with her arms outstretched. Nancy was just within her grasp when suddenly, startled by a cough from Midge, Cherry turned to her left, reached out and grabbed onto a muscular arm.

"Oh, it must be you Midge," she laughed as she ran her small, soft hand over a bulging bicep. She gave the massive muscle a playful squeeze.

"No, it's me," Jackie said in a low tone.

Cherry blushed, snatched her hand away and put it primly in her pocket.

"Now you have to describe Jackie," Joe cried. "That's the rule."

"Drat," Frank thought. He had hoped Cherry would choose Nancy, who looked especially fetching in her crisp summer outfit, but his plans had been foiled when Midge had suddenly choked on a stuffed olive.

"I wouldn't know where to begin," Cherry cried, all flustered.

"You can apply the Hardly Boys Identification System and work from the head down," Joe suggested helpfully. "For example, what's Jackie's hair color and style?" Joe prompted.