(#30) The Clue of the Velvet Mask (15 page)

“This Jerry Goff was one of the men who helped with George Fayne’s abduction, wasn’t he?” Nancy asked.

“Yes. He sat in front of you.”

“You were in on it, too, weren’t you?” Nancy prodded.

“Yes,” Snecker admitted. “I helped Mrs. Schiff. We muffed the job, getting the wrong girl.” He said that Tombar’s wife was not involved in any way.

“You also slipped up when you dropped your department-store charge plate from the car window.”

“It flew from my breast pocket accidentally when I yanked out a handkerchief. It wouldn’t have mattered except that you found it.”

“Then you must have been the one who advised the store employees not to turn in their plates after the credit manager gave the order,” Nancy remarked.

“Sure,” Snecker said with a shrug. “I sent around a fake order. I knew I’d be caught if all the plates came in except mine.”

Questioned further, Snecker identified Jerry Goff as the member of the gang who made friends with the servants and kitchen help at various parties. In this way he could slip unchallenged to the basement and switch off the lights.

“Jerry thought up the scheme in the first place and sold Tombar the idea,” Snecker disclosed, “and Tombar pulled the rest of us into this mess.”

“He planned all the robberies?” Nancy questioned.

“Every one. He gave us a list of the places we were to knock off, supplied masks and costumes, and room plans of the houses.”

“And cards to admit you?”

“Oh, sure. Tombar thought of everything. He was pretty cool until you made the going tough for him, Miss Drew. Then he began to get nervous.”

“Tell me how the stolen Marie Antoinette miniature got to the store’s gift department,” Nancy asked.

“It was a slip-up. The miniatures were at Tombar’s hideout in the country. By mistake I put that one in my pocket and my helper saw it. I had to send it to the gift department then, and didn’t dare recall it. I got flustered and marked it at a ridiculously low price.”

Nancy next asked Snecker if he had any idea how Peter Tombar might be captured.

“He’ll get out of town as quickly as he can,” the clerk replied. “His job was to have the getaway car waiting for us around the corner. I guess he took off, though, when he heard the siren. But he may head back to the country to get some things he had stored in the inn.”

With this full confession, the three prisoners were escorted to headquarters to be booked on robbery and kidnapping charges. Bess and Nancy accompanied the officers to make a report on their part in the capture. While they were talking to Chief McGinnis, Mr. Drew hurried in with George, her father, and Mr. Marvin.

“Nancy! Bess!” George cried wildly. “You’re safe!”

Information was exchanged hurriedly. When Nancy learned that Ned had remained at the Blue Iris Inn as guard in case one of the abductors should return, she became alarmed.

“We think Peter Tombar may go back there, especially if Goff gets word to him what happened in the store,” Nancy told her father. “If Ned should be taken by surprise—”

“We’ll return there right now,” Mr. Drew broke in.

McGinnis added, “I’ll notify the State Police to meet you there.”

“I hope we’re not too late,” Nancy said as they left headquarters.

George insisted upon going, despite protests from Bess and Mr. Fayne.

“I feel fine,” she insisted stubbornly. “Now that I know the Velvet Gang is nearly rounded up and Nancy safe, my worries are ended. This excitement tonight has cured me!”

“That’s our old George!” Nancy declared happily, hugging her. “It sounds more natural to hear you talk that way.”

At the Blue Iris Inn two troopers were waiting for them. Neither Ned nor the escaped leader of the party thieves was in evidence. Finding the rear door unlocked, they rushed in. A muffled shout reached them from the kitchen area.

“Come here!” Ned called. “I need help!”

Everyone rushed to the kitchen. The troopers’ flashlights disclosed Peter Tombar pinned to the floor, with Ned sitting on his midriff.

“I’m sure glad you got here,” the youth said in obvious relief. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get this guy to headquarters.”

Relieved of his prisoner, Ned related how he had hidden in the old inn and watched through a crack between the boards on a front window. His wait had not been in vain. Tombar arrived in a black sedan which he parked up the road behind the willows.

“He sneaked in and went straight to the kitchen,” Ned disclosed. “He had a lot of money in the cupboard under the sink. He was just reaching for the roll when I tackled him.”

Tombar’s clothing had been torn in the fight and one eye was blackened. Glaring at Nancy, he savagely berated her for the capture of the Velvet Gang. Still fuming, he was taken off by the troopers.

Later that night Goff was caught as he attempted to board a plane at the River Heights airport. Several days elapsed before Nancy and her friends were assured that the entire gang had been rounded up with the arrest of a pawnbroker in one city and a fence in another.

Dozens of cartons of silver and other valuables stolen from River Heights’ homes were recovered and returned to their owners. In a few instances treasures already sold were traced.

One evening Mr. Lightner came to call personally to thank Nancy. “I value my reputation as much as I do my business,” he told the young detective and her father. “And you saved both for me.”

“Of course you will have no damage suits to defend,” Carson Drew interposed with a smile, “so your troubles are really at an end.”

Mr. Lightner beamed. “Again I say, I owe everything to Nancy.”

At that moment Bess, George, and Ned arrived. After Mr. Lightner had been introduced, he told the trio why he was there at the Drews’.

“There’s so little I can do to show my appreciation,” he added. “But I’m giving Nancy a mask as a small token of my gratitude.”

“Not a velvet hooded mask?” Nancy joked.

“No, indeed. We’re through with those forever. I’m giving you an ancient mask of a beautiful Egyptian queen.”

Mr. Lightner smiled and from a box took two identical masks. It was evident that one was very old, the other a new copy.

“How lovely!” Nancy exclaimed. “Thank you very much, Mr. Lightner. But why two of them?”

“One to treasure, one to wear at a masquerade.”

“And that may be sooner than you think,” Ned spoke up, grinning. “The fellows decided on another summer party—this time a masquerade. You’ll go as an Egyptian queen.”

“What fun!”

“Nancy ought to go as the Queen of Mystery,” Bess remarked. “I’ll bet it won’t be long before she’s in the midst of another case.”

Bess’s prophecy was to come true when Nancy set out to solve one of the most puzzling cases of her career,
The Ringmaster’s Secret.

“What are you girls going to wear to the masquerade?” she questioned Bess and George.

“You know me—always Bopeep.” Bess giggled.

“I’ll have to think it over,” George replied. “But there’s one person I know I’ll never try to imitate.”

“Who’s that?” Bess asked.

“The well-known detective, Nancy Drew.” George pretended to shiver. “I tried it once and found it too dangerous!”