Read The Whispering Statue Online
Authors: Carolyn Keene
Tags: #Art Thieves, #Yacht Clubs, #Women Detectives, #Detective and Mystery Stories, #Girls & Women, #Adventures and Adventures, #Adventure and Adventurers, #Juvenile Fiction, #Mothers and Sons, #Mysteries & Detective Stories, #Fiction, #Art Objects - Reproduction, #Fraud, #Mystery Fiction, #Adventure Stories, #Art Objects, #Swindlers and Swindling, #Drew; Nancy (Fictitious Character), #Statues, #Mystery and Detective Stories
The Whispering Statue
Table of Contents
THE WHISPERING STATUE
Nancy Drew is asked to solve a puzzling mystery and immediately is confronted with another, even more complicated. The first one concerns a valuable collection of rare books that Mrs. Horace Merriam commissioned a supposedly reputable art dealer to sell, but she now suspects that the man is a swindler. The second mystery revolves around the baffling theft of a beautiful marble statue.
To solve both mysteries, the famous young detective disguises herself and assumes a false identity. Despite these precautions, danger stalks Nancy’s every move. An attempted kidnapping, a nearly disastrous sailboat collision, and an encounter with a dishonest sculptor are just a few of the exciting challenges that Nancy is faced with as she gathers evidence against a clever ring of art thieves.
You will enjoy every moment of this thrill-packed story of how Nancy and her friends combine detective work and summer fun at a seaside resort.
Could she depend on her disguise not to be recognized? Nancy wondered
Acknowledgement is made to Mildred Wirt Benson, who under the pen name
Carolyn Keene, wrote the original NANCY DREW books
Carolyn Keene, wrote the original NANCY DREW books
Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam & Grosset Group,
New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A.
NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster,
Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.
New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A.
NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster,
Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.
eISBN : 978-1-101-07715-3
2007 Printing
CHAPTER I
Three-Way Alarm
“NANCY, you’re kidding. No statue can whisper!”
A twinkle came into Nancy Drew’s blue eyes. She tossed back her reddish-gold hair and looked at the slender, athletic girl standing in front of her. “George, the statue I’m talking about used to whisper before it disappeared.”
A third girl in the Drews’ attractive living room, Bess Marvin, spoke up. “Where is this marvel?” She was blond and slightly plump and dark-haired George Fayne’s cousin.
George grinned. “The marvelous marble!” The other two girls laughed.
Nancy said, “I don’t know anything more about it, but Dad has a client coming to dinner who will explain everything. She has a case for him and he hinted that he wants you girls and me to help solve a mystery in connection with it.”
“Sounds great!” George remarked.
Bess, more cautious than her cousin, looked at Nancy. “Will it be a nice straight mystery, or one that’s going to scare the wits out of me?” Nancy said she knew nothing about the case.
Just then Mr. Drew’s car pulled into the circular driveway of his brick Colonial home, which stood well back from the street. The front lawn was wide with attractive shrubs and flowers. He helped a woman of about forty from the car and escorted her to the front entrance. She was tall, slender, and pretty. Nancy hurried to open the door.
“Hello, dear,” her father said. “Nancy, this is Mrs. Merriam.”
Nancy shook hands and she and Mrs. Merriam exchanged smiles.
“I feel so relieved to be here,” the caller said. “Unwittingly I seem to have become involved in a mystery with a legal angle to it. Your father was recommended to me as a leading attorney.”
“And he is too,” Nancy hastened to say. She took Mrs. Merriam’s summer coat and gloves, and the three walked into the living room.
“Mrs. Merriam, I’d like you to meet my friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne,” Nancy said. Smiling, she added, “They’re part of my detective force, so you may speak freely in front of them.”
Mrs. Merriam proved to be a charming person. She was introduced to Mrs. Hannah Gruen, who had been the Drews’ housekeeper since Nancy was three years old. Upon the death of the little girl’s mother, Hannah had assumed the responsibility of helping to rear Nancy. Mrs. Gruen was a level-headed and kindly person who always worried about Nancy while she was solving a mystery.
“Dinner is served,” she announced. “Is everyone ready to go to the table?”
Mr. Drew laughed. “Ready and starving. I hope you have some of my favorites tonight.”
While the Drew family and their guests ate, the lawyer suggested that his new client tell her story.
“I live in Waterford on the coast,” she said. “Some time ago an uncle of mine left me a very fine library of books. Hundreds of them. My home is too small to accommodate them all, so my husband urged me to sell the collection.
“Horace is away frequently on business and left all the negotiations to me. I went to Willis Basswood in town—he runs a high-class art gallery and bookshop—to see if he could sell the volumes for me.”
Mrs. Merriam went on to say that Mr. Basswood had agreed, and would take twenty-five percent of each sale as his fee.
“At first everything seemed to go well. Mr. Basswood was able to get a high price for certain volumes, not so much for others. He gave me receipts for everything. Then suddenly the money stopped coming. When I asked him why, he said that the books were not selling.”
As she paused, Mr. Drew remarked, “Now Mrs. Merriam has become suspicious of the man and feels that perhaps he’s disposing of them but not giving her the money.”
Before the lawyer could explain further, he and the others at the dinner table were startled by the ringing of the front and back doorbells and the telephone.
“Excuse me,” said Mr. Drew and went toward the front door.
Hannah made her way to the back door, while Nancy answered the wall telephone in the kitchen. A harsh voice on the other end of the line asked, “Drew residence?”
“Yes. Whom do you want?” Nancy queried.
The caller rasped, “You tell Mrs. Merriam to shut up or she’ll get hurt and you people too!” The caller slammed down the instrument.
By this time Hannah had opened the back door. To her amazement a burly masked man stepped inside and knocked her to the floor. Simultaneously there was a yell from the front hall. Bess and George appeared and went to aid Hannah, while Nancy rushed out of the kitchen to help her father. George leaped forward and with a neat judo hold tossed Hannah’s assailant over on his back.
Hannah jumped up and together she and the girls grabbed the intruder. But he fought fiercely and with a sharp twist pulled free and ran out the open door.
“Tell Mrs. Merriam to shut up or you people will get hurt!” the telephone caller rasped
Meanwhile Nancy had hurried into the living room. Her father was battling another masked intruder in the hall beyond. The man’s mask fell off and Nancy caught a glimpse of a cruel face with a set jaw and fiery eyes. He was of medium height and muscular.
Mrs. Merriam was in the hall, crying, “Stop that! Stop that!”
The intruder seemed determined to hurt Mr. Drew, who kept dodging blows but sending back some stinging ones in return.
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