(#16) The Clue of the Tapping Heels (10 page)

“Which seems to prove,” Miss Carter said, “that the tapper isn’t Gus Woonton after all.”

Nancy could not agree. She decided to call the Beverly where Gus had been a patient and see if by any chance he had learned Morse code. She phoned and identified herself, then said she might have a clue to Gus Woonton’s whereabouts.

Mr. Pratt, the director, said that he did not know if Gus knew Morse code but would find out. He suggested that Nancy call back later that day.

“Tell me,” said Nancy, “what your opinion is of Gus Woonton. Would he be bright enough to learn the code and use it?”

“Oh, yes. I’d say Gus is too bright. This is why he is restless and uncontrollable. When he became angry, his emotional instability came out. He would do all sorts of strange things. Well, Miss Drew, I’ll wait for your next call.” Mr. Pratt said good-by and hung up.

Nancy reported this latest bit of information to Bess and George.

“Then I’ll bet,” said George, “that Gus Woonton is smart enough to have figured out a secret way to get into this house.”

Bess nodded. “Maybe somebody drops him from a helicopter and he comes down the chimney like Santa Claus.” The girls grinned.

“It’s possible,” Nancy remarked, “that the answer lies in the secret room. It took us a long time to find the panel that opened into it. Let’s search again and try harder to find an exit. We must check on that beam that I thought moved. Come on!”

The three girls hurried to the basement. First they pushed the ceiling beam sideways, hoping it might move something else that would prove to be an opening. But nothing was revealed.

Next Nancy opened the secret panel. They switched on the lights and let their eyes roam all over the bedroom.

“Maybe the diary has been brought back here,” Bess suggested.

Nancy took the key, still on its ribbon around her neck, and unlocked the cupboard. It was empty!

“Oh!” Bess cried out. “That mysterious person took every letter and paper that was here. There was so much he must have had a big sack or a suitcase to put it all in.”

“Which means,” said George, “that he couldn’t get out of a small space. If we find another opening, it would have to be a good-sized one.”

Bess remarked, “The person who took the letters and papers must have thought them pretty important to take them away. Nancy, do you think it was because of us?”

“Yes, I do,” Nancy answered. “It would have taken us a long time to look through everything. I have an idea that the tapper has been watching us and knew that we hadn’t had a chance yet to read every paper.”

Bess sighed. “And maybe there was some very valuable information in the papers to help solve this mystery.”

Nancy chided herself for not taking time before this to examine the contents of the cupboard. But she decided there was no use dwelling on this now. The girls had come down here to find a possible secret exit.

George, meanwhile, was running a hand along the shelves of the cupboard and the walls back of them. “I thought maybe there might be a spring that would turn this cupboard away from the wall and reveal a way out of here.”

She found nothing and now stood on a chair so she could reach way back into the corners.

“This is deep,” she said. “Maybe there’s a hidden exit—”

The next second the excitement on her face changed to an expression of pain. “Oh!” George cried out.

CHAPTER XIV

Disastrous Rehearsal

NANCY and Bess rushed to George’s side. “Are you hurt?” Bess asked her cousin.

“A little,” George replied shakily.

With tears welling in her eyes, she pulled her hand from the recesses of the cupboard. On the end of one finger of her right hand hung a strong mousetrap.

“Get it off! Quick! It’s killing me!” George begged.

The mousetrap was a new one and had a heavy spring. While Bess held the trap, Nancy pulled up the heavy wire with all her strength. When George pulled back her finger, Nancy let the wire go and the trap flew halfway across the room.

Bess was incensed. “I’ll bet Gus Woonton put this here on purpose,” she said. “He has an evil mind.”

She and Nancy were concerned about George. “You must put your finger in ice water right away,” Nancy told her. “I’ll get some ice for you.”

“Oh, I can do it,” George assured her. “I guess I’m lucky that the trap didn’t break my finger.”

She insisted upon taking care of the injury herself, so Nancy and Bess continued their hunt for hiding places in the secret bedroom. Nancy swung her flashlight into the area where the mousetrap had been. She could detect nothing but dust in the hidden recess. The rest of the cupboard yielded no clue either.

“Nancy, I guess we’ll have to give up,” Bess told her chum. “Let’s go upstairs and see how George is making out.”

“Just a minute,” Nancy requested. “Actually we haven’t investigated this room and the bath thoroughly.”

Every inch of the ceiling, walls, and floor were inspected again. Finally the girls’ search was rewarded. They found a loose floor board under the bed. There was a small hollow space beneath it but no treasure lay within.

“If there ever was anything in here,” said Nancy, “it has been taken out and I’d guess not long ago.”

Finally the girls went upstairs. George was still soaking her finger in the ice water, but Mrs. Bealing had brought a bottle of witch hazel. She soaked a piece of cotton, wound it around George’s finger and put on a bandage.

“That should do the trick,” she said. “Incidentally, I don’t see how any mice could get into that room downstairs. Besides, you say the trap wasn’t baited. This means that evil man put it there, hoping to harm somebody.”

“And he did,” George said ruefully.

Early in the afternoon Nancy telephoned the Beverly. Mr. Pratt told her that Gus Woonton did indeed know Morse code. “He learned it in our craft shop. Please tell me why you inquired about that.”

“Because we think that possibly Gus is hiding in this house and may be responsible for the strange tapping-heel sounds we hear at night, sometimes in Morse code. He did spell out one sentence.”

“That’s a unique situation,” Mr. Pratt remarked. “With you and the police and ourselves hunting for Gus, he should be caught soon.”

Nancy said she would pass along the latest information about Gus to the authorities, then expressed her thanks and said good-by. Two minutes later she was talking with the sergeant on duty at Berryville Police Headquarters. He said that unfortunately it would not be possible to put a twenty-four-hour stakeout on the Carter home.

“We’re short-handed with some of the men on vacation,” he explained. “I suggest that Miss Carter engage the services of a private detective agency. Of course we’ll take a look around the house every time we go through Amity Place.”

Nancy was disappointed. She felt that the police were not taking the mystery seriously enough. Furthermore, she was sure Miss Carter could not afford the services of private detectives.

“We girls will just have to do it ourselves,” Nancy decided.

When she mentioned this to Bess and George, the latter said, “But you can’t watch tonight, Nancy. You have a rehearsal.”

“Yes, I know. But how about you two detec tives standing guard?”

The cousins looked at each other. Finally Bess said, “Of course we’ll do it, Nancy. George and I will take a nap this evening, then spend the night watching.”

When Hannah Gruen heard that Nancy had to return to River Heights that evening and Ned would not be there to take her to the rehearsal, the housekeeper insisted upon going along.

“You’ve had so many narrow escapes, I want to keep you from any more danger.”

Nancy laughed. “You’re such a dear, Hannah,” she said. “Well, be prepared for anything.”

Everyone had an early supper, then Bess and George went to take naps. Mrs. Bealing was to call them at nine o‘clock.

Nancy and Hannah left. They were alert to danger all the way, but the ride to River Heights was without incident.

“I’m afraid I cheated you out of some excitement,” Nancy told Hannah. “Nobody followed us or tried to harm either of us.”

“Thank goodness for that,” Hannah said.

They entered the school auditorium. Mrs. Gruen insisted upon sitting in the second row.

Nancy laughed. “The orchestra may make you deaf.”

“I’ll take that chance,” the housekeeper said.

In a few minutes the rehearsal began. The director said it was getting so close to performance time that he had decided to have the scenery set up.

“I want you to get used to it so your movements through doorways and on the stairs will look natural.”

As the rehearsal proceeded, Mr. Skank began to nod approvingly at the various performers. Nancy came in for her share of praise for her early tap number.

Her second dance took place near a heavy side wall. It was not raised and lowered by pulleys; but had heavy braces behind it so that it could be pushed to wherever it was needed.

Nancy was about halfway through her number when others on the stage became aware that the wall was teetering. Suddenly it began to fall toward Nancy.

“Look out!” several actors warned.

“Nancy!” Hannah Gruen screamed.

Instinctively Nancy glanced over her shoulder. She was horrified at what she saw. It was not possible to escape the falling wall!

Instantly four quick-witted young men sprang forward. Two caught the front end of the wall, the others the rear. Carefully they eased it to the floor.

Mr. Skank rushed over. “Are you all right?” he asked Nancy.

She nodded, then said, “I wonder what caused the set to fall.”

“Somebody’s carelessness,” the director replied angrily. “I’m going to find out!”

One of the young actresses, who had been backstage, came running forward. She said that a short, heavy-set man who was not connected with the play had been leaning against the wall.

“The next thing I knew the scenery was falling. It almost seemed as if he had done it on purpose.”

“Where is he now?” the director asked.

The girl said he had run away as soon as the wall had started to tumble.

Everyone rushed from the stage to find the man, but he had disappeared. Nancy said nothing to the others but she had a strong hunch he might have been Gus Woonton and that he had intended to harm her.

“He’s really dangerous,” she told herself. An involuntary shiver went down her spine as she thought of perhaps meeting him face to face.

Suddenly the wall began to
fall
toward Nancy!

The wall was put back in place and the rehearsal continued. By the time it was over, Nancy had begun to feel hungry. It had been hours since the early supper at Miss Carter’s house.

As she and Hannah started off in the car, Nancy said, “Let’s stop at Finch’s Soda Shop for ice-cream sundaes.”

Mrs. Gruen laughed. “I’m kind of hungry myself,” she admitted. “But Finch’s is a place for young people.”

Nancy patted Hannah’s hand. “There’s always room for you with this young person.” Mrs. Gruen beamed.

When they walked in, all the tables were taken, so the two seated themselves on stools at the counter.

“Hi, Roscoe!” Nancy said to the clerk. “Two vanillas with fudge sauce, please. We’re starved. How about some of your good cookies, too?”

“Coming right up,” Roscoe replied. Then he leaned across the counter and whispered to Nancy, “The police were here looking for you. They missed you at the school and thought you might stop here.”

“Did the officers say what they wanted?” Nancy asked.

“Yes. The sergeant is expecting you at headquarters to identify a burglar.”

CHAPTER XV

The New Lead

ROSCOE had the sundaes ready in a jiffy. “Eat up,” he said. “You’ll need your strength to face that burglar!” A broad grin spread over the clerk’s face.

Nancy smiled back. “I’d say I have the advantage because he’s behind bars.”

“You win,” said Roscoe. “I might have known better than to try getting ahead of you. Working on a new mystery?”

“Yes. Got any clues?”

“What kind?” the clerk asked, his eyes twinkling. “I have all sorts of clues filed away.”

The subject was not pursued, because new customers came in and Roscoe had to wait on them.

“We’d better hurry,” Nancy told Hannah. “I wonder if the suspect the police are holding is Gus Woonton.”

She and Mrs. Gruen ate quickly. Nancy paid the clerk and they left the soda shop.

When they reached headquarters, a sergeant, named Scott, whom Nancy had never seen before, was on duty. She introduced herself and Mrs. Gruen, and the officer said he would call a man to take them to the cell block.

“A pudgy man was brought in a short time ago,” he explained. “He hasn’t gone to bed yet. Tell me if you recognize him or have ever seen him around here or in Berryville.”

The two visitors were led along the cell block. Most of the prisoners were asleep. The guard stopped in front of the cell in which the suspect sat. His light was still on.

Nancy got only a quick glimpse of his face because he instantly turned his back. The guard ordered the prisoner to come forward but he refused. The officer tried to make him talk, but got no response.