Mystery of the Glowing Eye (11 page)

“But Marty King is here,” Miss Hanson told her. “Want to talk to her?”

“Yes.”

Turning to Glenn, Nancy said, “Will you excuse me a few minutes while I see Marty?”

The pilot nodded. “Watch the time, though,” he advised. “Remember your four-o’clock date.”

“I will,” Nancy promised, and opened Marty King’s door. “Hello,” she said. “I’m sorry I missed you before and that Dad is not here now. Tell me, how is he?”

“He seems fine,” Marty replied. “Is there some message I can give him?”

“No, but I thought I’d bring both of you up to date on the glowing eye mystery.”

Marty King leaned forward in her desk chair.

Nancy asked, “Marty, when did you last hear from your contact?”

The young lawyer did not answer at once. She seemed to be searching for an answer. Finally she said, “Why—uh—not recently.”

Nancy decided to catch this secretive young woman off guard if possible. Looking directly at her, she asked, “When did you last hear from Zapp Crosson?”

Marty was so amazed that she gave a convulsive start and did not reply. She jumped from her chair and came from behind the desk. Her eyes were flashing.

“I don’t know how you learned about him,” she said, “but I’ll tell you this. I found out he’s a red-haired nut!”

Excitedly Nancy thought, “Those were Ned’s exact words in his note to Burt!”

“So I’ve heard,” Nancy said aloud. “What I want to know, Marty, is when did you last see him? Recently?”

“I haven’t seen him in a while and don’t want to—ever again,” Marty said angrily.

Nancy felt that she had the advantage and pressed on with her queries. “When did you last hear from Zapp Crosson?”

At this, Marty tossed her head into the air and a smug expression came over her face. “Next thing I know you’ll be asking me what he told me about the glowing eye.”

“I did have that in mind,” Nancy admitted with a little smile. “Well, how about my other question? When did you last hear from your contact Zapp Crosson?”

“I won’t tell you,” the young lawyer said defiantly.

“As you like,” Nancy replied. “But I want to tell you that Crosson might be involved in a kidnapping case.”

“Oh, you mean your boy friend?” Marty King shot back. “Well, I’m sure Zapp had nothing whatever to do with it.”

Marty King looked a little frightened at the information. “I’ll tell you this. Zapp pesters me with letters but I don’t answer them.”

Nancy asked her where the letters had been mailed.

Marty replied, “Most of them were postmarked Emerson.”

Nancy stared into space. This meant that Crosson was still in the general area from where Ned had been taken. She must concentrate all her efforts in that vicinity to find him!

For a few seconds Nancy was tempted to confide in Marty. But a feeling of distrust about the girl swept over her and she changed her mind.

“I must go now,” Nancy said. “Thank you, Marty, for your helpful information. And I think I should warn you again: Zapp Crosson is in bad trouble—very bad trouble.”

“What do you mean?” Marty asked. “Are you implying that he is a suspect in the kidnapping?”

“Yes,” Nancy said.

For the next few minutes there was a verbal exchange between the two girls which revealed nothing of importance to either one. Marty prodded Nancy to tell her more about Crosson but the young sleuth was evasive. Finally she said she must leave because of her next appointment.

Marty King walked with her to the door and Nancy politely introduced Glenn Munson. The young lawyer’s eyebrows lifted and Nancy could imagine her saying, “Where did you meet this handsome young man?”

Nancy was amused but merely said, “Tell Dad I’m sorry I missed him. Good-by. And good-by to you, Miss Hanson.”

Nancy and Glenn hurried off and in a little while they were airborne and heading for Hager. The pilot set his whirlybird down in an airfield not far from the Anderson Museum and locked the ignition.

As they jumped out, he said, “I hope I’m not intruding, but I have a feeling you could use a little extra protection. Mind if I go along?”

“I wish you would,” she said.

Professor Titus was waiting in front of the building. “You’re right on schedule,” he said. “Well, let’s go inside and see what we can learn.”

Nancy introduced Glenn and the three entered the building. Miss Wilkin gave the visitors her usual icy reception and informed them that the museum would be closing for the night at four-thirty.

Nancy spoke up. “Your booklet says you stay open until five o’clock.”

Miss Wilkin replied, “At times we make exceptions. Tonight is one of them.”

Nancy tried not to show that the woman’s chilly attitude annoyed her. She said, “We’d like to explore a little while.”

“All right, but watch the signs and don’t touch anything you’re not supposed to,” the prim woman ordered them.

Nancy at once led Professor Titus and Glenn to the narrow hallway behind the wall where she had seen the glowing eye. Glenn searched the wall for a switch that might activate any machinery. He found one and turned the switch but nothing happened. With sensitive fingers he moved along, trying again and again to locate another possible contact, but without success.

Professor Titus had gone around to the big room where the glowing eye had shone high on the wall. Nancy, meanwhile, had found a sliding panel in the wall near where Glenn was looking and saw a closet. There was nothing in it.

The young detective stepped inside. “Maybe there’s some kind of a switch in here,” she said to herself and began running one hand over the wall.

Suddenly her fingers felt strange and she tried to pull them away. But she was not able to do so. Her whole hand was drawn against the wall. She tugged harder but still could not move it. Before she could call out to Glenn, the panel closed.

Instinct told Nancy she was in serious trouble. At the top of her lungs she cried, “Help! Help!”

WHILE Nancy, terror-stricken, continued to yell for help, Glenn and Professor Titus tried to find her. She was hidden from sight and they did not know where to look. The closet she was in stifled her voice.

The trapped girl felt herself becoming faint. A fleeting thought crossed her mind: if she slumped she might be able to pull her hand away from the wall. Without losing her balance, she leaned backward creating a great deal of pressure on her hand. It did not budge.

“Help!” she cried, but this time rather feebly.

By now Glenn had traced her voice and slid open the closet door.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“I—I can’t—get—my—hand—loose!” Nancy whispered.

At that moment Professor Titus arrived. While Nancy was trying to tell him what had happened, Glenn dashed off to find Miss Wilkin. She was seated at the reception desk in the hall.

“Quick!” Glenn exclaimed. “Turn off all the power! Miss Drew is pinned to the wall!”

The prim custodian looked at him blankly and did not move. “Is this some kind of a joke?” she asked.

“No, no!” Glenn assured her. “Nancy is in real trouble. Please turn off all the power in this building!”

Miss Wilkin jumped into action. She grabbed the keys from the desk drawer and rushed down the main hall and around the corner. Glenn raced after her.

The woman reached a large panelboard on the wall and unlocked the covering to it. Quickly she pulled down several levers. At once the place was in darkness.

Glenn did not wait for her to return to the lobby. There was still enough daylight sifting through the windows so that he could easily make his way back to Nancy. The young pilot sighed in relief as he found her seated on the floor, released from the magnetized wall. Professor Titus was kneeling beside her and massaging her hands vigorously.

“Are you all right?” Glenn asked solicitously.

Nancy gave a wan smile. “I will be as soon as the circulation is restored to my hand and arm. They’re numb.”

Professor Titus kept massaging them for another three minutes, then asked Glenn to take over. The young man seated himself on the floor and began to rub Nancy’s hand and arm vigorously.

“That feels great!” she said. “Thank you both so much. I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t come to my rescue.”

Glenn grinned. “You’d have thought of something,” he replied. “Just the same I’m glad you gave me a chance to help you.”

By this time Miss Wilkin had come back to the visitors. Nancy explained what had happened to her and asked for an explanation.

The woman turned pale. “I have no idea. This place is getting very spooky and I don’t like it.”

Miss Wilkin seemed to soften a little. She leaned over Nancy and asked how she was feeling.

“I’m practically well again,” the young detective replied.

As Glenn continued to massage her hand and arm, he asked, “Please tell us exactly how it felt when your hand was pinned to the wall.”

Nancy said she had suffered small electric shocks before. “But this was different. It didn’t go racing through me as the others did. The effect was more like that of a magnet drawing my hand tighter and tighter against the wall. I guess instinct told me not to lean on it. Otherwise my whole side might have been glued to that panel.”

Professor Titus wrinkled his brow as if in deep thought. Then he said, “Is the wall covered?”

Glenn went to look. “Yes, with wallpaper.”

The science professor said he believed that under the paper there was a metal plate on a screen attached to the wall itself. “Nancy must have been standing on some electric conducting material.”

Again Glenn went to peer into the closet. He reported, “There is a rug on the floor.”

Professor Titus nodded. “Most likely it’s made of an electric conducting material. The hidden plate in the wall is no doubt positive and Nancy is negative. These unlike charges create a strong electrical force which pulled Nancy’s hand to the wall and held it there.

“Somewhere in the building there must be a control device which regulates the flow of electric current. In this case, there was enough to pin Nancy’s hand to the wall but not enough to hurt her permanently.”

Miss Wilkin had listened carefully. Now she seemed paler than ever. “I do not feel very well,” she said. “I would appreciate all of you leaving at once. I will close the museum and go home.”

Glenn assisted Nancy to her feet and held her arm tightly as the trio walked toward the front door.

Assured that Nancy was all right, Miss Wilkin dashed ahead of them and in a couple of minutes the lights were on once more in the museum. As Nancy neared the entrance, she noticed a pile of booklets on a table nearby. There was a sign alongside them, inviting visitors to help themselves.

The young detective picked one up and found that it contained a history of the museum and a list of its present officers.

Before leaving, Glenn said to Miss Wilkin, “I’d like to investigate that strange wall tomorrow. I’m an expert mechanic and know a lot about electricity and other sources of power.”

The custodian cut him short. “I’m sorry but I couldn’t allow that. I want no more casualities. In fact, I feel that you people should not come here again.”

Nancy and Professor Titus looked at each other but made no comment. They said good-by and left the building. The professor had his car and offered to take Nancy to the fraternity house.

She accepted but said, “I noticed in this booklet that the president of the museum lives in Martin City and has an insurance office there. Glenn, could you take me over there tomorrow morning to call on him? His name is Mr. Schneider and here is the address on Main Street.”

“I’ll be glad to, of course,” Glenn replied. “What time would you like to take off?”

“Is nine o’clock okay?”

“Perfect.”

He said good-by to Nancy and Professor Titus and with a grin added, “Nancy, I believe now what your friends say about you—that you never go anywhere without having an adventure.”

She laughed and waved as he took a shortcut toward the airfield to get to his helicopter. She and Professor Titus went to his car and they drove to the Omega Chi Epsilon house.

When Nancy walked into the guest room, Bess and George were there changing clothes. They looked at her hard, then Bess exclaimed, “Nancy, something has happened to you! You’re as white as a sheet!”

Nancy flopped onto the bed and stretched out. “I do feel a little worn out,” she admitted.

Briefly and haltingly, she told what had occurred at the museum.

Bess gasped. “Nancy, you might have been killed!” she exclaimed.

George felt Nancy’s pulse. “I don’t think you need a doctor,” she said. “But your pulse is on the slow side. I recommend you stay in bed until tomorrow morning.”

Nancy did not argue. All she wanted to do was go to sleep. She realized the shock to her nervous system had been greater than she at first thought. Knowing how much good Glenn’s massaging of her arm had done, she asked George to give her a stimulating rubdown.

George complied at once. She had learned some physiotherapy techniques through a course in gymnastics. Within minutes Nancy was asleep.

It was nearly ten o’clock that evening when she awakened. Nancy opened her eyes to see Bess, George, Burt, and Dave in the room. They had not made a sound and were watching Nancy carefully to make sure she was all right.

With vigor that startled her friends Nancy sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Hi, everybody!” she said. “You all can stop worrying. I’m fine.” She grinned. “I’m hungry. It must be very late, but is there any chance of getting something to eat?”

Her friends were so relieved to hear this good report that each one offered to prepare something for her. Burt and Dave waved Bess and George aside. “We know what Nancy likes,” Burt said. “We’ll get her something to eat and maybe we’ll bring a snack for the rest of us.”