Carolyn Keene - Nancy Drew

Table of Contents

 

 

 

WHEN star model Jacqueline Henri disappears, Aunt Eloise insists that Nancy replace the young woman in a benefit fashion show. Nancy reluctantly accepts the invitation, only to discover that several of the clothes she is supposed to wear have been stolen! To make matters worse, someone has also scooped the designer’s collection—and sold the originals to a store chain! There’s more bad news. Miss Henri’s brother, an investigative reporter, may have been kidnapped!

Once on the trail of her elusive enemies, Nancy discovers clue after clue pointing to a diabolical scheme that she must stop at all cost!

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Copyright © 1981 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. Published in 2005

by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014. NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES® is a registered
trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-07764-1

“Nancy!” Eloise Drew exclaimed happily as she opened the door of her apartment. “Am I glad you’re here!”

“That makes two of us, Aunt Eloise,” the eighteen-year-old said. “I mean, four of us!”

The young detective gestured toward her friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, who were dragging large suitcases down the carpeted hallway.

“You didn’t know we planned to stay in New York forever,” Nancy said teasingly as the girls set the luggage down in the apartment.

Aunt Eloise laughed. “I hope you’re as well prepared for the assignment I have for you as you seem to be with all that luggage you brought along. It’s a model mystery.”

There was a glint of mischief in her doe-brown eyes as she noticed her niece’s bewilderment. Nancy was the daughter of Carson Drew, Aunt Eloise’s brother, a well-known attorney in River Heights. Nancy had frequently assisted him on cases and had gained a substantial reputation for herself as an amateur detective.

Bess and George looked surprised as well. “I thought we were here to see a benefit fashion show and have a fun vacation,” Bess said, poking a strand of blond hair behind her ear.

“Is that where the model mystery is?” George asked. Unlike her plump cousin, Bess, she was tall and slim with dark hair cropped fairly short.

“Yes and no,” Aunt Eloise replied. “Remember, I told you I’m involved in running a benefit fashion show? Well, one of our models has disappeared. She wasn’t at the rehearsal today, and she isn’t at home. Nobody seems to know where she went. Jacqueline Henri is her name. Perhaps you’ve heard of her.”

“Oh, she’s gorgeous,” Bess swooned. “Bony thin with fabulous black hair and violet eyes. She’s been on the covers of lots of magazines. I’d love to meet her!”

“I was planning to introduce you tonight—” “What if we can’t find her before the show starts?” Nancy said, assuming that the search was the assignment her aunt had mentioned.

“You’ll be stuck without a model,” George said to Nancy’s aunt.

“No, I won‘t,” Eloise Drew said. “If you promise not to disappear on me, too, Nancy, I’d like you to stand in for Jacqueline.”

“Me? Oh, I couldn‘t!” the girl protested.

“Sure you could,” Bess spoke up. “You’ve done modeling before.”

“But only at the Woman’s Club,” Nancy said. “Besides, how could I possibly wear clothes meant for Jacqueline Henri? She must be thinner than I am, and we don’t have the same coloring.”

“Not much thinner,” Aunt Eloise said, stepping back to look at the girl. “And your coloring is fine, too. You’ll see.”

“But what about Jacqueline?” Nancy asked.

Her aunt pursed her lips. “I don’t know what to think. Marjorie Tyson, my co-chairman, has been trying to track her down ever since this morning.”

“Maybe something happened to her,” Bess commented.

“Or maybe she’s just unreliable,” her cousin added.

“Well, I don’t want you girls to trouble yourselves about her until after the show,” Aunt Eloise said. “We expect to have more than five hundred people in the audience and we can’t disappoint them.”

Although the program was still several hours away, the visitors quickly freshened up and changed. Aunt Eloise made a number of telephone calls, and when she finally laid down the receiver, she sighed happily.

“It’s all arranged. We have to get over to the hotel as soon as possible,” the woman said, ducking her head into the girls’ room. “Mr. Reese—”

“Richard Reese, the famous designer?” Bess interrupted.

Aunt Eloise nodded. “He needs to see you for a fitting, Nancy.”

“I’m almost ready,” the young detective said, fumbling nervously with the zipper of a long, emerald-green taffeta skirt.

“Very pretty, dear,” her aunt replied, “but why not carry it with you? You can change for the party after the show.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Nancy said while Bess and George helped each other fasten tiny hooks on their gowns.

“Come on, slowpoke,” George teased Nancy as she slipped out of the skirt into another and kicked off her satin shoes in favor of leather heels.

She put everything into a garment bag with pockets for accessories, then joined the others in the living room. Bess giggled while George stepped toward Nancy, her eyes clearly fixed on the girl’s titian head.

“What’s so funny?” Nancy asked.

George removed a hairclip that had pinned back an unruly curl.

“The stylist will fix your hair,” Aunt Eloise assured her niece as they left.

The girls didn’t discuss the model again until their cab cut across Fifth Avenue toward Rockefeller Center. It came to a halt for a few moments while two limousines merged into the line of traffic, giving Nancy and the others a chance to study the crowd who watched the skaters in the rink below. They were gliding in tempo to a familiar melody.

As the cab started to move again, Nancy and Bess, who was nearest the window, noticed an attractive young woman among the pedestrians on Fifth Avenue. She wore a dappled fur coat and a hat to match that barely covered a thick mane of ebony hair.

“It’s Jacqueline Henri!” Bess cried, as the model darted to the corner of the block behind them.

“Are you sure?” Nancy asked.

“Positive.”

Instantly, Aunt Eloise, who was squeezed tightly between the girls, reached for the cab door.

“Please stop,” she told the driver, but retracted the request when she observed Jacqueline stepping into a cab that was evidently headed downtown, away from their destination.

“We couldn’t catch her if we tried,” she concluded.

“Does Jacqueline live around here?” Nancy inquired.

“On the other side of Rockefeller Center, near Broadway, I think,” Aunt Eloise answered. “Perhaps she had trouble getting a taxi up there and decided to walk until she found one.”

“At least we know she’s all right,” Bess said.

“Aunt Eloise, you said people were trying to track her down all day,” Nancy commented. “Did anyone actually go to her apartment?”

“Probably not. Everybody’s been terribly busy at the hotel ballroom.”

“Does Miss Henri have an answering service ?” Nancy went on.

“Oh, yes. I’d venture to say every working model does.”

“But she didn’t leave a message?” George put in.

“No. There was no explanation for her absence whatsoever.”

“That’s strange,” Nancy said. “Seems to me that she didn’t become a top model by being irresponsible. And yet, she’s obviously in town. She could have called.”

They rode in silence until they reached the hotel. By now the last glimmer of sun had faded between the tall buildings, and there was only a residue of dusky glow when the girls got out of the cab and smiled at the doorman under the gold canopy.

Nancy took a deep breath as he opened the door, admitting the visitors to an elegant, wood-paneled lobby. Aunt Eloise led the way past velvet ottomans to a room adjacent to the dining area. It was filled with clothing racks.

“I can’t wait to see everything,” Bess sighed, watching a girl pull a soft coral-colored pants suit off one of the racks. “Which outfits will Nancy be wearing?”

George noticed a sheer turquoise dress on the same rack marked REESE. “That one, maybe?” she said.

“No,” Aunt Eloise replied. “Because of the switch in models, Mr. Reese has made a few changes in his selection. Follow me, everybody.”

“Suppose Jacqueline shows up in time?” Nancy asked.

“She’ll be out of luck,” Aunt Eloise said firmly. “We won’t rearrange everything again at the last minute.”

She stepped across the room and introduced the girls to Marjorie Tyson, a petite woman with short, gray hair that framed her thin, lively face.

“Am I glad you’re here!” she greeted Nancy, causing the girls to laugh.

“That’s what Aunt Eloise said, Miss Tyson,” Nancy explained. Then she told the woman about the model they had spotted at Rockefeller Center.

“Well, if she comes now, she’ll be too late,” Miss Tyson said, agreeing with Aunt Eloise’s decision. “And please call me Marjorie. Nancy, the dresses you’ll be modeling are over there. Bess and George, do you mind waiting while I take Nancy to a dressing alcove? There’s a bench for you in the corner.”

“Of course not,” Bess replied and Marjorie strode toward the rack of clothes. Then she gaped in shock.

“There are only a few outfits left! I wonder what happened to the rest.”