The Triple Hoax (10 page)

When Nancy arrived at the hotel, the girls packed their belongings in the trunk of the car, then rode off. Because of their early start, they had not had breakfast. An hour later Bess declared that she could not go much longer without food.

“We’re far away from the city already,” she said. “I wonder where we could find something to eat.”

George asked, “Would you like some Mexican food?”

Bess confessed that at this point she was starved and would eat any kind of food.

“How about an enchilada sundae?” George teased.

“With hot fudge and whipped cream? Yick!” Bess frowned.

George winked at Nancy. “I saw a sign with an arrow back at the last side road. I couldn’t read it, but the sign had pictures of tortillas and enchiladas on it.”

Nancy turned the car around immediately, then took the side road. About a mile ahead they came to an Indian settlement. Women were seated on the ground cooking over low stone fireplaces. When the girls stopped, the natives looked up and smiled. Several children ran to the Americans, followed by barking dogs. Nancy and her friends jumped out of the car and approached the women.

Bess asked, “Do you serve breakfast?”

The woman closest to her glanced at the others in her group. They all shrugged.

George said, “I guess they don’t speak English.”

Nancy tried the same question in Spanish, but the only word the women seemed to understand was comer, which meant “to eat.” They bobbed their heads.

One of the women pointed to the food being prepared. There were different varieties of tortillas and enchiladas, eggs scrambled with hot peppers, strong cocoa, ripe pineapples, and small bananas.

“Why do they have to put hot peppers with the eggs?” Bess complained.

Nancy replied, “In Mexico peppers are used as a health food. One time, when there was a great polio epidemic all over the United States, doctors found that there was not a single case of the disease in Mexico. Upon inquiry they learned that this was due to the daily use of peppers in the native diet.”

Bess said she would like to fix her own scrambled eggs. “Nancy, ask the lady if I may,” she urged.

Although Nancy felt sure the women would not understand, she complied with Bess’s request.

The Indians held a conference, then suddenly a young, pretty girl chattered something excitedly. She raced off, but soon returned holding a live hen that squawked and tried to wiggle out of the girl’s arms. She held onto it tightly and talked in her Indian dialect. To the amazement of the Americans, the hen laid an egg in the girl’s palm!

Nancy and her friends laughed. Apparently the Indians had thought that Bess wanted a newly laid egg!

The girl handed it to Bess, who picked up an empty pan. She took some cooking fat from a crock and melted it. Then she broke the egg on the edge of the pan and quickly scrambled it with a wooden spoon. The natives smiled and shrugged.

Nancy and George decided to brave the already prepared scrambled eggs seasoned with hot peppers. Unlike Nancy, who laid the peppers aside, George bit into one. Her eyes bulged as the spicy vegetable stung her mouth. She swallowed it quickly and gulped down a piece of cooling pineapple.

“When it comes to food,” Bess smirked, “I guess I am the only sensible one—besides Nancy, of course!”

George grimaced, then broke into a mischievous smile. “I guess I deserve that for teasing you so much about your forty-inch waist!”

“My waist isn’t forty inches!” Bess declared, causing George to giggle.

“You two!” Nancy remarked, shaking her head.

After paying for the meal, the girls drove off. They joked for several miles.

George continued to tease Bess. “Alongside those really stout Indian women you looked pretty good.”

Nancy remarked that the younger ones were very attractive. “I guess the older people have wrinkled skin and squinting eyes from the harsh sunlight.”

The girls took turns driving and went as far as they could each day. They stopped at motels only when they were too tired to go on. It was an exhausting and uneventful trip. Bess regretted many times that she had suggested they take a car instead of waiting for the air strike to end.

After lunch on the fourth day the young travelers reached the border. Here they were stopped by a customs official in a snappy-looking uniform.

“We have nothing to declare,” Nancy told him.

He requested to see driver’s license and looked at it closely. “Nancy Drew!” he asked. “You mean you are not going to declare certain property you are concealing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’ll tell you. Hidden in your car is a valuable jade figurine that you stole from a museum in Mexico City!”

“What!” all three girls exclaimed, stunned.

“You must have us confused with someone else,” Nancy declared. “We are not thieves and you will find nothing in this car except our personal belongings.”

The official paid no attention to her remark. Instead, he asked for the key and opened the trunk. He pushed aside the girls’ baggage and looked in back of the spare tire. Presently he pulled out a box that the young detectives had never seen before. Inside lay an exquisite piece of jade carved in the form of a boat with a woman in it surrounded by water lilies.

“How beautiful!” Bess cried out. “Officer, we never saw this before.”

The man stared at her disdainfully. “You are all good actresses, but you have been caught. You are smugglers!”

Nancy firmly denied the charge. Disturbing thoughts raced through her mind. What would happen to her? Would she receive a heavy fine? Even be sent to jail if she could not pay?

She looked at the man. “Where did you get the tip that we were carrying this jade piece?”

The officer refused to answer.

Bess was frightened. She stared into the distance and saw a handsome young man who was also apparently a customs officer. While Nancy continued to argue with the official, Bess smiled coquettishly.

He smiled back at the pretty girl. “Is there anything I can do for you? You’re much too cute to be in trouble.”

Bess blurted out her story and even let her eyes become moist. This was too much for the young man. He took her by the arm and led the tearful girl back to the group. Then he addressed the official who had searched the car.

“Why don’t we check with the police in Mexico City, Mr. Rivera? This young lady tells me Lieutenant Tara knows them and can confirm that they are amateur detectives working on a case. After all, the tip could have come from one of their enemies.”

The older man bobbed his head. “You watch the girls while I go inside and call. But don’t let them get away until I come back!”

He went into his office, and Bess thanked the young officer for his help. Soon Mr. Rivera returned. For the first time he smiled.

“All right, young ladies, I believe we can let you continue your journey. Lieutenant Tara told us he would vouch for you personally. And I will see to it that the jade piece is returned to the museum.”

“Thank you,” Bess said with a sigh of relief. “I could see all of us in jail for the next twenty years!”

After the girls had driven a distance into the United States, Nancy said to Bess, “Thanks for your help. That was clever of you to play on that handsome guy’s sympathy.”

George laughed. “It’s a good thing your friend Dave Evans wasn’t there. He’d have been green with jealousy!”

As dusk was settling, the girls reached Los Angeles. Since they had made no reservations, Nancy stopped at the first hotel they came to. George went inside to inquire about a room. When she returned to the car, her face had a worried look.

“What’s the matter?” Bess asked.

“There’s a big convention in town. Hundreds of detectives from all over the United States are meeting here, and no hotel or motel has any rooms left.”

“What are we going to do?” Bess asked.

No one spoke for a few minutes, then suddenly George remembered something. “Former neighbors of ours moved out here last year,” she announced. “They invited my family and friends to visit them any time. Suppose I phone them.”

“Wonderful!” Bess said. “Do it right now.”

George went into the hotel again and looked up her former neighbors’ name in the phone book. Mrs. Vetter was delighted to hear from her.

“Where are you?” she asked.

When she was told about the girls’ predicament, she said, “This is great! All of you come right over. We’d love to have you stay as long as you wish.”

“Oh, thanks so much,” George said. “You’re a lifesaver.”

When she walked out of the phone booth, her eyes were twinkling. Nancy and Bess, who had followed her into the lobby, were eager to hear what she had learned.

“Everything is okay,” George reported. “The Vetters would love to have us visit.”

Elated, the trio went outside again. They headed for their car which was parked a short distance from the hotel. It was not in sight!

Nancy was puzzled. “I’m sure we left it right here!”

The girls walked farther down the street. By the time they reached the next intersection, they knew that their car had been stolen!

“Oh, no!” Bess wailed. “Do you realize all our luggage is gone, too?”

 

 

 

George was angry. she stomped her foot on the sidewalk and exclaimed, “Can you imagine our car being stolen right in front of a hotel full of detectives?”

Bess was more upset over the loss of their baggage. “What are we going to wear?” she asked. “I don’t have enough money with me to buy a new wardrobe.”

Nancy tried not to show her agitation. “Why don’t we do some sleuthing and see if we can find a clue to the thief?” she suggested.

The girls walked back to the spot where they had parked the automobile. A light truck stood in its place now, but Nancy noted a large, rumpled piece of paper underneath. She pulled it out.

“What’s that?” George asked, curious.

Nancy spread it out. “A poster advertising the Hoaxters!” she exclaimed.

The cousins leaned forward to read it. The poster gave the name of the theater and the performance schedule.

“We’re in luck!” Nancy said. “I have a hunch that one of the Hoaxters took our car. Let’s go over to the theater immediately and find out!”

“But how did they know we were in Los Angeles?” Bess asked. “And what car we were driving?”

“They knew about the car because they planted the jade figurine in it,” Nancy declared. “I thought I saw Howie Barker leaving the garage when I picked the car up. But I can’t see how they could have possibly followed us all the way here.”

“Perhaps they had one of their partners waiting at the border,” George suggested. “When he realized that we were not being detained, he followed us.”

“You’re probably right,” Nancy admitted. “When we arrived and went into the hotel, he took our car!”

Soon the girls reached the theater. A man stood at the front door. He was made up, with a gray wig, mustache, and beard. The girls did not recognize him.

Nancy decided not to speak to him. Instead, she led the way through an alley that opened into a fenced-in parking lot. It was bordered by the street behind the theater and was almost filled to capacity with cars belonging to patrons of the evening performance.

“Do you think ours might be here?” Bess asked tensely.

“I hope so,” Nancy replied. “Let’s separate and check them all.”

Each girl took a section of the parking lot and walked up and down the rows. Suddenly Nancy spotted their rented car parked near the fence! She hurried up to it, took the keys from her handbag, and opened the trunk. To her relief, the girls’ baggage was still there!

As she slammed the trunk lid shut again, Bess and George joined her. From a distance they had seen her stop and open the luggage compartment.

“Is everything safe?” Bess asked worriedly.

Nancy smiled at her friend. “All your clothes are intact. And now we’d better get out of here as quickly as possible.”

The girls piled into the car. It took some maneuvering on Nancy’s part to get away from the fence. When she finally drove through the gate into the street behind the theater, the gray-bearded man they had noticed earlier ran toward them.

He yelled at the top of his lungs, “Stop thief! Stop thief!”

George leaned out the window. “We didn’t steal this car!” she shouted. But they were already too far away for the man to hear her.

Fortunately, there was little traffic on the back street and Nancy proceeded quickly. After a few blocks she noticed a policeman and stopped. She told him what had happened.

The officer promised to inform headquarters about the incident. “You will be required to come in and sign a report,” he said. “Where are you staying?”