(#39) The Clue of the Dancing Puppet (13 page)

She waved to the two young women and climbed back into her car, then set off for 16 Dayton Avenue. On the way she told Bess and George the latest development.

“What a mix-up!” said Bess.

“Maybe the man who called himself Sam Longman at the restaurant is now using the name Whipley,” George remarked.

“Or,” Nancy added, “maybe Terrill rents two apartments.”

Bess sighed. “This mystery is getting beyond me. All I know is that two men using three names are from California, and so are Tammi Whitlock and her brother. Say, do you suppose Chuck Grant was just giving us a story and isn’t her brother at all?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Nancy answered. “My only hunch right now is that Owen Whipley or Sam Longman, or whoever he is, won’t answer his bell.”

In a few minutes she parked, and the girls entered the rather shabby-looking apartment house at 16 Dayton Avenue. It proved to be a walk-up, and Nancy noted that again there was one mailbox without a name on it.

“It probably belongs to the man we want to see,” said George. “Come on! Let’s go up!”

Nancy laid a restraining hand on her chum’s arm. “We have no right to make a search,” she said. “I think we should get in touch with Chief McGinnis, tell him what we’ve found out, and ask him to send a couple of detectives here to go upstairs with us.”

There was a pay phone on the wall near the front door. Nancy put in a coin and called the chief. Speaking barely above a whisper, she told him her findings, and he promised to send men over at once. Upon the arrival of the officers, who introduced themselves as Foster and Dougherty, she led the way to a rear apartment on the third floor.

They rang the bell and waited excitedly. There was no answer. Then Detective Foster knocked. Still there was no answer, but Nancy’s sharp ears caught the sound of a movement inside the apartment.

“I’m sure someone is in there,” she whispered to the officer. “I have a suggestion. It may or may not work. Possibly these thieves use passwords of one sort or another. You might try saying ‘Green Acres’ and see if it works.”

The detective nodded. He tapped on the door lightly and called, “Green Acres! Green Acres!”

Within seconds the group heard footsteps, and a man opened the door. The startled occupant gave one look at the visitors and tried to slam the door. When Detective Foster prevented this, the man took to his heels through the apartment.

“That’s Sam Longman!” Nancy cried, recognizing him as Whipley’s companion at the Green Acres Restaurant.

The girls and the detectives rushed after the suspect. By this time Longman had reached a bedroom. He banged the door shut and locked it.

Suddenly Nancy exclaimed, “There may be a fire escape off that room! He’ll get away!”

“No, he won’t!” said Detective Dougherty. “Foster, you and Miss Drew run down and stop him. I’ll break down this door!”

CHAPTER XVII

The Chase

As DETECTIVE Foster and Nancy rushed from the apartment house, they almost collided with a woman hovering over a baby in a carriage. A tall, husky man stood beside her.

Foster stopped, opened his coat to show his detective badge, then commandeered the services of the man. “We’re after a suspect, and I may need help,” the detective said.

Nancy, meanwhile, had asked the woman if there was a fire escape from the left side of the building. The young woman nodded, saying, “You can get onto it from every floor through a bedroom in the rear apartments.”

The detective, the other man, and Nancy sprinted into an alley. Nancy pointed. “There he is! Just jumping down from the foot of the fire escape!”

The three pursuers doubled their speed but were not able to lessen the gap between them and the fugitive.

“He mustn’t get away!” Nancy cried out.

To the men’s amazement, she was more fleet-footed than they. Nancy had vaulted a fence which the suspect had jumped over, and was now running down an alley toward the next street.

The detective and the other man finally caught up with her at the street. Longman was weaving his way to the opposite side, dodging traffic.

“Stay here!” Foster commanded Nancy.

At that moment a red light on the nearby corner stopped all traffic, giving the two men a chance to dash across the street. After a short chase up the block, they nabbed their quarry! He was putting up a fight, Nancy observed, flailing his arms and trying to wrench free.

Longman soon found it was useless to fight, and accompanied the men to the corner. At a green light they all walked across to where Nancy was waiting.

“We’ll go back to the apartment,” said the detective. He turned to the stranger who had helped him. “Thank you for your assistance. Here comes Detective Dougherty. He’ll take over.”

The stranger gave a quick salute, said he had been glad to help, and walked off. The others returned to Longman’s apartment.

Detective Foster told everyone to sit down in the somewhat shabby living room. To Longman, he said, “Now talk!”

The prisoner began to bluster. “What’s this all about? You have no right to hold me! I haven’t done anything!”

“If you won’t tell your story,” said Detective Dougherty, “suppose we ask you a few questions. Do you know that we have located the emerald necklace you stole at the Green Acres Restaurant?”

Longman glared at the detective. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What is your right name?” Foster pursued the interrogation.

When the man refused to answer, Nancy spoke up. “I know two names he uses, but maybe neither one is his right name. One is Owen Whipley, and the other is Sam Longman.”

Suddenly the prisoner, his eyes blazing, cried out, “Who’s this girl, anyway? What right’s she got to question me or say who I am?”

Quietly Bess spoke up. “Nancy Drew is a detective—and a very good one too!”

Dougherty now told Longman that his pal, John Terrill, who also used the name Whipley, was behind bars. Longman gave a visible start and looked frightened. Then his bravado returned, and he said, “Well, that’s his hard luck!”

The officers tried in various ways to get the prisoner to say more, but he merely continued to protest his innocence. Finally Dougherty asked Foster to guard him, while he made a search of the apartment.

“It’s against the law!” screamed Longman.

Dougherty pulled a search warrant from his pocket. Then he and the three girls began a really intensive search for evidence. Every closet and bureau drawer was investigated. Twenty minutes later the searchers were ready to admit defeat. They had arrived in the kitchen as the last area in which to hunt. Longman, a self-satisfied smirk on his face, was standing in the doorway with Foster behind him.

“You’re nuts if you think you’re going to find anything here,” he bragged.

Cupboards were opened. They revealed a few dishes and several cans of food—nothing more. Discouraged, the searchers stood in the center of the room, while Longman watched, grinning.

“What did I tell you?” he said. “Now get out of here, all of you!”

Suddenly Bess had an inspiration. She dashed across to the gas range and opened the large oven door. The eyes of the other searchers popped in amazement.

Jammed inside the oven was the missing dancing puppet!

“For Pete’s sake!” Dougherty cried out. “What’s this?”

To the astonishment of the two detectives, Nancy explained that this figure had been seen dancing eerily around the Van Pelt estate. “My friends and I have been trying to solve the puppet mystery,” she said.

Longman screamed, “Don’t touch that!
You’ll be electrocuted.”

Everyone now turned toward Longman. Foster asked him, “Where’d you get this, and what’s all this about having a dance on the lawn?”

“I’ll tell you nothing,” the prisoner answered, “except to admit that my friend and I have used the name Whipley as an alias.”

Nancy spoke up. “Then at least one of your drivers’ licenses is forged?” she guessed, and Longman nodded.

By this time Bess had carefully lifted the puppet from the oven. It was carried into the living room and set on a straight chair. Nancy began to examine the figure in its frilly dress. Now was her chance to find out how the puppet worked!

Longman’s eyes had narrowed almost to slits as he watched the girl. Presently Nancy said, “Oh, the whole back comes off!”

“What’s inside?” asked George. Before Nancy could reply, Longman jumped toward her and screamed frantically, “Don’t touch that! You’ll be electrocuted!”

All eyes turned on Longman. “I’m an electrician,” he continued. “That puppet is highly mechanized and works by remote control to electric wires. There’s a live one inside. If you touch it, it’ll be curtains for you!”

“Oh, Nancy!” Bess exclaimed. “You might have been killed!”

Nancy seemed less ruffled by Longman’s announcement than the others in the room. If there were a live wire, it had been put there for a reason. “I’ll bet,” she thought, “that Sam Longman has something hidden inside this puppet he doesn’t want us to find!”

She communicated her idea to the others. The suspect glared at her.

Detective Dougherty looked at Nancy in admiration. “You are probably right. We’ll look inside this puppet, but we won’t take a chance. I’ll call the police electrician to handle it with the proper tools.”

He told Foster to go down to their car and radio Chief McGinnis. The detective made the call, and within a short time Smitty, the police electrician, arrived. He admitted that Longman’s statement was partly true and it was just as well that Nancy had not put her hand inside the back of the puppet. Smitty unhooked wires leading to strong batteries.

“Once upon a time this puppet worked by being wound up,” he announced. “There’s a sturdy spring here, but the key has been removed.”

“We think the puppet may be used to conceal something valuable,” Nancy told Smitty. “Do you see anything in there?”

The police electrician pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and trained it on the interior of the puppet. “Wait till you see what’s here!” he cried out suddenly as he reached inside.

CHAPTER XVIII

The Hollow Laugh

THE THREE girls crowded forward to see what the police electrician was going to pull out from the back of the dancing puppet. The detectives kept a tight grip on Sam Longman in case he should try to get away again.

“A pearl necklace!” Bess squealed.

“Those look like genuine pearls,” George commented.

“And obviously stolen too,” Detective Foster spoke up.

By this time the police electrician had drawn out several more valuable necklaces—one of diamonds, another of sapphires, two of rubies, and two more of pearls.

“These must be worth a fortune!” Bess exclaimed.

“They sure are,” Detective Dougherty agreed. “We’ll take it all down to headquarters. Well, Longman, what do you have to say now?”

Instead of replying, the prisoner suddenly went dead white and clutched at his heart. “I’m going to have an attack!” he said.

Instantly Dougherty led him into the bedroom, laid the man on the bed, and felt his pulse.

“You’re having no heart attack,” he said acidly. “Your heart beats fast because you’re scared, but that won’t keep you out of jail. Come on!” He helped the man to his feet, and together the two detectives started for the door with him.

Dougherty turned to Nancy and her friends. “Would you girls mind staying here until we return?” he requested. “If any callers come, try to keep them here. We’ll get this fellow booked as soon as possible, and be right back.”

The girls agreed to remain. While awaiting the detectives’ return, Nancy examined the puppet herself. “My, what a maze of wires there are in here!”

Bess and George peered inside the back of the figure. “Whoever made this was an inventive genius,” George remarked.

“Let’s try to make the puppet dance by holding her up,” Bess suggested with a giggle.

The three girls stood the puppet on its feet and manipulated its limbs and head from the various gadgets inside. Nancy and her friends were still playing with the puppet when Dougherty and Foster returned. The two detectives laughed heartily.

“I guess girls never get tired of playing with dolls,” Dougherty said with a grin.

Nancy’s eyes danced. “Especially when there’s a mystery connected with one. I was just thinking —Longman never explained how he happened to be in possession of the dancing puppet.”

“We tried to make him,” Foster told her. “On the way to headquarters we asked him to explain the mystery of this puppet, but he kept insisting he knew nothing about any mystery. He said a friend of his had found the puppet in a junk shop. Being an electrician, Longman had been intrigued enough to try making it work by putting in wires and batteries. He still insists he doesn’t know how the stolen jewelry got inside.”

“Do you think he’s telling the truth?” Nancy asked the detectives.