Nancy Clue Mysteries 1 - The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse (23 page)

Nancy fearlessly jumped into the chute.

"Oh, I hope I don't get too dirty," moaned Cherry, as she, too, lowered herself into the opening. Halfway down the chute she got stuck, and it took some pushing from Jackie to dislodge her. Cherry and Jackie tumbled through the duct, and landed together on the stone floor.

"Oh!" Cherry cried, struggling to pull down her skirt, which had flown up above her waist.

Jackie rolled off of her and grinned. "Let me get that for you, Cherry," she offered helpfully.

Cherry stood up and smoothed her skirt. "It's awfully warm in here!" she exclaimed, her face blazing with embarrassment.

Jackie rose to her feet just in time to catch Lauren before she hit her head for the second time that day. The girl had impetuously jumped head-first through the chute.

"Hey, look!" Lauren cried.

For there in the corner sat Nancy Clue, with the three armed deacons bound and gagged at her feet!

"Wow!" Jackie cried. "Some day you've got to show me how you did that so fast."

"Oh," Nancy said modestly, "it was nothing."

Cherry , checked her watch. "We must hurry," she urged. "Time's running out." The girls rushed off down a brightlylit passage. No more than a dozen feet into their journey, they were surprised to find the tunnel split off in two directions.

"Midge didn't say anything about a fork in the road!" Nancy cried. "This must be a recent addition." She put her finger to her pretty face and frowned. "Let's see. There was a tunnel in The Case of the Lingering Lilies. I got trapped in one. Why, I would have perished had my little clog Gogo not alerted my chums Bess and George to my whereabouts!

"I stayed in that tunnel for three clays before being freed. Luckily I had a loaf of bread, chocolate bars, oranges and some milk in my purse," she recalled. "But that's really of no hell) to us," she added sadly.

"Would this help?" Cherry said brightly, pulling out the map she had found in Aunt Gert's secret room. "I was just fishing through my purse for some chewing gum when I found it. It could be a map of these tunnels."

Nancy's bright blue eyes flashed with delight. "This has got to be it," she said, after examining the piece of paper in Cherry's hand.

"Yes, look. On this map, the tunnel leading to the dormitory branches off to the left," Jackie pointed out. "Let's go!" she said, leading the way down the path.

Lauren trotted along eagerly behind her.

Cherry slipped out of her heels. "It's so much easier now to walk," she sighed.

Nancy put her arm around Cherry's shoulder. "And now you're a perfect fit," she murmured.

"This must be it," Jackie called back to them.

"Yeah, hurry up, you two," Lauren added, holding open a door at the end of the tunnel.

"Why, it looks like people live down here all the time!" Cherry cried. Toys and books were scattered everywhere among the neat rows of narrow beds. The cold stone floor had been made more cheerful by the addition of thick rag rugs.

Cherry exclaimed over the unusual statues set into nooks in the wall.

"They're the ancient goddesses," Lauren explained, adding that she was studying mythology in school. "Why would a bunch of nuns have statues like these?" she wondered.

"No one's here," Cherry frowned. "But there are signs of life everywhere," she said, pointing to the clothing lying on the beds. Cherry was frankly scared. According to her watch, they had just twelve minutes left!

"Somewhere there's got to be a way through here," Cherry said, frantically passing her hands over the stone wall in a vain attempt to find loose stones that might indicate a secret entry.

Suddenly, she gasped in horror.

"Oh, no!" Cherry cried. "I broke a nail!"

"Those nails have got to go," her titian-haired chum whispered. "I was going to talk to you about them later."

"There's got to be another hiding place," Lauren said determinedly, looking under the beds for the entryway to another tunnel. When she couldn't find one, she ran to a shelf and started yanking books from it.

"What are you doing?" Nancy gasped.

"Looking for a secret door," Lauren said. "You got a better idea?"

Nancy rolled her eyes. "You girls read too many detective stories when you were kids," she said, going over to the far wall and pulling aside a heavy tapestry. "How about through there?" she asked, pointing to a thick wooden door behind it.

Lauren looked chagrined and ran to the door. But it was locked! Nancy called out, but there was no answer. "This place is going to blow!" she yelled, but there was still no answer.

Jackie deftly produced the deacons' keys and quickly unlocked the door, which flew open to reveal Gertrude Aimless in a nun's habit!

"Oh, Aunt Gert!" Cherry sobbed, falling into her arms.

"Cherry, I knew you'd come; I prayed for you to rescue us!" her aunt cried back, covering Cherry's wet cheeks with kisses.

"I don't want to break up this happy scene, but we've got to move quickly!" Jackie exclaimed.

Cherry checked her watch. "Aunt Gert, we've got only seven minutes left before a bomb explodes. We've got to get out! "

Gert turned back into the cluttered storage room, stacked high with old furniture. She clapped her hands smartly, and from the shadows emerged more nuns than Cherry had ever seen before, each with a makeshift weapon in hand. Behind them were many women and children.

"What did you do with the deacons?" Aunt Gert wondered aloud. Jackie quickly explained the fate of the men, and a sunny in broke over Aunt Gert's handsome face.

"Let's go," said Gert, waving them forward in her best military manner. The nuns were a blur to Cherry as they raced out of the room, through the dormitory and to the tunnel.

"We'll never make it," Cherry cried. "Why, all these people have to get back to the cellar and climb up that chute. It will take forever!" she exclaimed.

"Nonsense," her aunt said briskly.

"There's an escape tunnel to the outdoors," Nancy guessed. "At any rate, there was one in The Secret of the Shivering Sheltie."

"Bingo!" Aunt Gert cried. Cherry blushed. She felt like a silly goose for losing her head that way. Nancy saw her consternation and gave her chum a little squeeze.

"Follow me," Aunt Gert directed, as she raised her habit high above her ankles and ran.

"The other branch of the tunnel leads to the outdoors," she called out over her shoulder. Cherry checked her watch as she hurried to catch up to the nuns. Only three minutes remained!

They raced around the corner and started down the righthand tunnel. Cherry gripped Nancy's hand. Would they make it in time?

"We're here!" Aunt Gert called out. With Jackie's help, she moved a circular stone from the wall. Cherry could see daylight at the end of a long escape hatch. One by one the women and children passed through the pipe, which emptied out onto the banks of a river. Soon they were all in the brilliant sunshine, surrounded by the sweet scent of lavender, which grew wild around the convent.

Cherry checked her watch and gasped. Where were Midge and Velma? They had only one minute left!

"I'm going back in," Jackie said, starting for the convent.

"No!" Cherry said firmly, surprising everyone with her vehemence. "We've got to trust them; we can't risk losing you-not after all this." Cherry threw her arms around Jackie. She looked frightened. Nancy looked a little jealous.

Jackie looked grim. "How long?" she asked. "Thirty seconds."

They held their collective breath.

Cherry began the countdown. "twenty-nine...twenty-eight ... twenty-seven..." Suddenly, her sturdy nurse's watch stopped ticking. She shook it, but it was dead.

"This wasn't supposed to happen!" Cherry cried. "It has a lifetime guarantee."

Nancy had been counting under her breath, and she raised her voice so the others could hear. "twenty seconds... nineteen... eighteen... seventeen..."

Many of the nuns were holding hands and praying.

'`seven... six... five... four... three... two..."

"Oh, please let Midge and Velma be safe," Cherry prayed.

"One!"

Silence.

The building was still standing!

The tower bell began to peal madly.

"Look," cried Jackie, "Midge is ringing the bell!"

Like an actor in a swashbuckler movie, Midge grabbed Velma with one arm and, using the bell rope, shimmied down the convent wall. Everyone ran to greet them, cheering madly.

"You did it!" cried Cherry, hugging Midge and Velma.

"You did it, too!" Midge cried, nodding toward the rescued women and children.

"And Nancy tied up three deacons all by herself," Cherry boasted, hugging her new chum. Nancy blushed and introduced herself to everyone.

"Did you really overpower the deacons all by yourself?" Midge asked. Cherry could see Midge had new respect for the girl sleuth.

Nancy laughed. "What I want to know is where you learned how to disarm that bomb."

Midge grinned. "I took a class when I was in the state, ah, university," she chuckled, adding, in a more serious tone, "We got there just in time. For a moment there, I thought we weren't going to make it. When we got to the top of the building, we lost our perspective and didn't know which way to turn to get to the bell tower room."

Cherry gasped. "How horrible," she said. "How did you find your way in there?"

Midge gently reached into her breast pocket and pulled out the little brown mouse. "This little angel," she said. "Later I'm going to find a nice big piece of cheese for her."

This gave Aunt Gert an idea. "All this excitement's made me hungry; let's go and have a nice big meal, and I'll explain everything. I've got a lot to tell you, Cherry," she said, as she herded the group toward the convent.

"We've got a few things to reveal, too," Midge said, taking Velma by the hand.

"And I can't wait to hear how you found Nancy Clue, Cherry," Jackie added, hurrying to catch up to the girl and her aunt.

Cherry brushed. "First," she said, "I've simply got to freshen up."

She went up to a pretty nun with pale skin and sparkling blue eyes, and asked if she could use her powder room. Something about the nun looked familiar. Cherry knew she had seen those eyes before, but where?

The nun gave Cherry a penetrating look, and grinned.

"Hello, Nurse Aimless," she said, in a familiar voice. The nun whipped off her wimple and fluffed her blond hair. "That's better," she grinned, laughing in that sparkling way that had haunted so many nurses' dreams.

"Lana!" Cherry cried. "You're a nun? What are you doing here?"

The nun giggled. "I've got someone who wants to see you," she laughed, pulling Cherry in the direction of a nun. She tapped the sister on the shoulder, and when Cherry saw who it was, she gave a little shriek.

"Head Nurse Marstad! What are you doing here?"

Then Cherry did what any girl would have done. That is, any girl who had been through what she had in the last twenty-four hours. She fainted!