Nancy Clue Mysteries 1 - The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse (22 page)

Midge stuck the gun in her belt, and cautiously pushed open the door, praying that the priest wouldn't notice the door creaking.

"It's about time you boys got here," Father Helms hissed, his back still to Midge.

"Lucky break," Midge thought. "Those dumb deacons are good for something after all." She crept across the floor.

Edging into the room, Midge took the gun from her belt and aimed at the priest. "The minute he moves away from Velma, he's a dead man," she thought, wiping sweat from her brow.

"I can't get this damn girl to talk," the priest scowled, glaring daggers at Velma. "Perhaps one of her little friends would like go for a swim. Then maybe she'll remember where she hid that negative," he cackled, turning toward what he thought were his cohorts. His smile crumbled when he found himself looking down the barrel of a gun.

"Don't shoot!" he cried, grabbing the back of Velma's chair and tipping her dangerously near the bubbling pool of scalding water. "If I go down, she goes with me," he hissed. "Hand over the gun."

"No...no," Midge said, her voice trailing off into a little sob. She laid her gun on the floor, and kicked it over to the priest. He let go of the chair and picked up the gun. He pointed it straight at Midge.

"You have the wrong girl there," Midge cried. "I've got what you want."

"Where is it?" the priest cried, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"First, let her go," Midge demanded.

"Not until you show me the negative," the priest cried, his voice shaking with rage.

"I have it in safekeeping with a friend," Midge said. "If you let Velma go, I'll lead you right to it." She could tell he didn't believe her, so she described the negative to him.

"It'll look great on the front page of every newspaper in America," she added. "Which is where it will be if we don't get out of here alive.

"I'll lead you to it, but only if you let the girl go!" she repeated. "You and I will walk out of here together."

Beads of sweat appeared on the priest's upper lip. His eyes darted back and forth nervously. "He looks like a cornered rat," thought Midge, "only not so intelligent."

"Midge, if you don't make it, I don't want to either," Velma cried. "I couldn't bear life without you!"

"My, what a touching little scene," the priest cooed viciously.

"He'll shoot you for sure, once he gets what he wants. Why, I overheard him say he's going to blow up the convent!" Velma burst into tears.

"Shut up, you," the priest cried, smacking Velma across her pretty face.

Midge forgot all about the gun pointed straight at her and lunged at the evil priest. She grabbed him around his scrawny neck and squeezed with all her might. The strong girl shook the man to and fro, squeezing his neck until his eyes threatened to pop out of his face. His arms flailed about like a rag doll's. The gun went off.

Velma screamed. "Behind you, Midge! Someone's been shot!"

"Oh, my god, Lauren!" Jackie cried.

Midge released her hold on the priest, who slumped to the ground gasping for air. A look of despair crossed Midge's face when she saw the limp figure of the girl sprawled across the doorway. She raced to her side.

Jackie knelt over Lauren's body. "We were just rushing in to help, and she took a bullet in the chest," she cried, checking Lauren's pulse. "She's still alive, but her pulse is faint!"

"Such a sweet kid," Midge murmured.

"Midge! Look out!" Velma cried.

But they were too late, for the evil priest had recovered, and was advancing on the girls. In his shaky hand was the gun!

"Now you're all my prisoners," he growled, rubbing the bruises on his throat. "I don't believe you've hidden that negative. Hand it over."

But Midge refused. She knew that their only chance of staying alive would be to hang on to that negative!

Just then an altar boy sporting a black eye hobbled in, carrying a tray of food. "I've got your stewed prunes, Father," he said. He hopped over Lauren's body, put down the tray and made a face at the girls. "These are the nasty girls who beat me up," he whined.

"Search her," the priest commanded, pointing to Midge.

The boy complied without a word. Midge grimaced as she felt his slimy hands running over her body. He found the envelope containing the negative in the right heel of Midge's sturdy black loafer.

The priest examined the negative carefully. "This is it," he cried, jigging for joy. He cackled with delight as he danced over to the pool and dropped the negative in.

"Now that I've discovered where those crazy nuns hid that body, thanks to you girls, all the evidence is destroyed. Get up against that wall-now!" he snapped, waving toward the wall with his gun.

"And you," he said, pointing to the altar boy. "Get that body out of the doorway. And then scram."

Tears filled Jackie's huge black eyes when she saw Lauren's limp body being dragged across the floor.

"You'll never get away with this," Jackie threatened.

"Sure I will. It's all worked out just the way I planned."

He related a tale so ghastly the girls gasped in horror. The more he talked the giddier he got, until the girls knew every gruesome detail of his fiendish plot.

"When Bishop Clarence ordered me to seize this land, I thought it would be a simple matter of getting rid of the Mother Superior. But it wasn't that simple. I discovered that instead of naming the church as beneficiary, as good nuns do, the willed all her property to some damn woman!

"I had to have this land!" he shrieked. "The Bishop said if I took care of this, I'd go all the way to Rome!"

"So one day I followed your Mother Superior on one of her many trips to San Francisco. I followed her to Lindy Lane, where I overheard her discussing plans to renovate the underground rooms of the convent with her friend Gertrudethat nosy dame who's been hanging around here for years. I should have put a stop to that long ago," he grumbled.

"They're both down there now," he gloated.

"I broke into her house and found all the evidence I needed to implicate these nuns in the biggest kidnapping ring of the century. It will be quite a feather in my cap to find all those missing wives and children!

"You should have seen her expression when I told her I was going to inform the authorities of the devilish activities going on here! She promised me she would pack and go, and sign over the land to me, too.

"But then my beautiful plan was foiled by some nun with a camera. That murder wasn't even my fault," he complained. "I struck out in self-defense to keep that nosy accountant from the Catholic Men's Club from going to the police with his little story of embezzlement.

"I was trapped! What could I do? I had already told the Bishop the land was practically mine! Then that damn Mother Superior skipped town with the negative, but I got her back. I had to kidnap a few more nuns than planned, but now I've finally got the negative back, too.

"We've been trying to tame this bunch of nuns for a long time, and we're finally going to succeed. Ha, ha, ha!" he laughed victoriously. He backed toward the door, his gun trained on the girls. "I've got a bomb hooked up in the bell tower. When the bell chimes three o'clock, it will detonate, and this place will be blown to smithereens!

"I'd shoot you now, but I think you'll want to use this last bit of time to reflect upon your sins," he sneered.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Cherry Aimless came hurtling through the open doorway, knocking the priest so hard that he flew right into the deadly pool!

"Golly," she cried, racing to the edge of the pit and reaching out a helping hand. "Don't worry, I'm a nurse."

"Don't save him!" Midge cried. "He imprisoned your aunt and countless other women!"

Cherry searched her heart, but she could find no compassion for this man. She snatched away her outstretched hand and the priest slipped into the steamy abyss.

Quick as a flash Midge untied Velma, who fell into her arms. "I can't believe he killed that little girl," she sobbed.

"I am not a little girl," Lauren hollered. She sat straight up. "And I'm not dead either!" She pulled the stuffed bear out of the front pocket of her overalls. "Billy took the bullet for me," she said solemnly, pointing to a hole in the bear's head.

Jackie swept Lauren up in her strong arms and exclaimed, "You are one lucky little punk." Lauren squirmed in embarrassment. "Put me down," she demanded, secretly pleased by the attention.

"I'll never make fun of that stupid bear again," Midge said solemnly.

Lauren rubbed a bruise on her temple. "I must have knocked myself out when I hit the floor," she said. "What's going on?"

"All this is a mystery to me, too!" Cherry cried.

"Good work, Cherry," Jackie beamed. "Your timing was perfect."

"Is this who I think it is?" Jackie asked, reaching out to shake hands with the titian-haired stranger at Cherry's side.

Midge slapped Cherry on the back after Nancy introduced herself. "Good work!" she cried. "You're a better detective than I thought.

"We've all got a lot of explaining to do," Midge added, "but first we've got to disarm a bomb and free some nuns. Does anyone besides me know how to dismantle an explosive?" They all shook their heads.

"They don't allow girls on the Bomb Squad," Jackie said. She laughed. "I think they're afraid to let girls learn too much about bombs."

"I'll have to do it, and the rest of you will have to find the nuns."

"And there are more armed deacons somewhere in the convent," Jackie added. "So we're not out of danger yet."

"But I don't know anything about capturing criminals," Cherry protested.

"I do," Nancy volunteered, remembering that in The Case of The Twice-Burnt Toast she had overpowered a gang of criminals using just the contents of her purse.

"I'd better get to the bell tower," Midge said. Velma, refusing to be parted from Midge for another second, insisted she would accompany her on her mission.

"And the rest of us will find the nuns and free them! But no matter what, we all have to be out of here within twenty minutes," Jackie said sternly.

Everyone agreed, and after synchronizing their watches to Cherry's sturdy nurse's watch, the girls hurried out of the boiler room to complete their dangerous assignments.

Midge led them back into the cellar. "Remember what I told you earlier about the tunnel under the hamper?" she said to Jackie. "That leads to underground rooms."

Cherry checked her watch. "Golly, we've got to hurry. There's only seventeen minutes left!" Midge grabbed Velma's hand and started up the spiral stone stairway.

"I've had lots of experience with tunnels," Nancy called up the stairs after her. "I feel confident that we can find our way."

Under Jackie's guidance, the girls pushed the heavy hamper aside. Jackie knelt down and rapped on the solid slab of stone underneath.

"This must lift up somehow," she said, feeling around the edges for a crack. She found a space big enough to put her fingers in, and after rolling up her sleeves, she lifted the slab out of their way. Cherry secretly thrilled at the sight of Jackie's powerful arms straining under the weight of the stone. Underneath was a chute, but it was too dark to see where it led!