Mystery of the Ivory Charm (10 page)

“Perhaps another time——” Mrs. Allison began.

“Oh, I didn’t mean that I wanted to talk with you here, but I’m eager to get your present address so I can find you.”

Mrs. Allison and her companion exchanged swift glances, which were not lost on Nancy.

“I move about from place to place,” the woman answered vaguely.

“But surely you have a postal address. There must be some way for me to communicate with you.”

“Just write a letter in care of General Delivery, River Heights,” Mrs. Allison said.

Nancy was annoyed. The woman apparently did not wish to give out any information regarding her whereabouts. Nancy realized it would be useless to pursue the matter further, so she rose and said good-by. As Nancy returned to her own table, Mrs. Allison and Steve Roach immediately left the restaurant, without finishing their dinner.

“Where’s Rishi?” Nancy asked, noticing that he had left the table and apparently taken his plate of food with him.

Mr. Drew shrugged. “He excused himself and said he would meet us at the car.”

“Probably,” George spoke up, “he didn’t want Mrs. Allison or Roach to see him.”

Her statement proved to be true. When the Drews and their friends returned to the car, they found Rishi seated on the floor of the rear seat.

“Excuse Rishi, please,” he said. “Not wish to meet people Nancy speak to.”

“I understand,” Mr. Drew replied, and nothing more was said.

Bess carried the empty dishes back into the restaurant; then the group set off for River Heights. That evening Rishi studied for a short time before going to bed. Nancy briefed Hannah on the day’s events.

“I have a little news, too,” the housekeeper said. “A phone call came for Rishi. It was a man who didn’t give his name. All I said was, ‘There’s no one here by that name,’ and he hung up.”

“Good for you, Hannah,” said Nancy. “But
someone
must suspect he’s here. We’ll have to guard him very carefully.” The housekeeper nodded.

The following morning, after Mr. Drew had left, Rishi went back to his studies. Hannah asked Nancy to do some marketing. The housekeeper went out to the garden to pick fresh flowers for the house. She found some weeds near the garage and decided to pull them.

“Oh, there’s the phone,” Hannah told herself.

She started for the back porch. By this time the bell had stopped ringing, so she turned back to her work. By the time she had finished, Nancy drove in and the two went into the kitchen to prepare lunch and chat.

“I’ll call Rishi,” Nancy offered, going to the foot of the front stairs.

The boy did not reply, so she mounted the steps and went to his room. It was empty. Not only was Rishi not there, but an open closet door revealed that his clothes were missing.

“Rishi has run away!” Nancy thought.

She looked for a note but none was in sight. Nancy opened the bureau and desk drawers. Still no explanation for the boy’s disappearance. Suddenly she recalled the ringing telephone about which Hannah had told her. She raced downstairs.

“Hannah,” Nancy cried out, “I’m afraid Rishi has been kidnapped!”

Mrs. Gruen’s mixing spoon clattered from her hand to the floor. “Rishi kidnapped!” she exclaimed. “This is dreadful! Who could have done such a thing?”

“I have a suspicion, but of course no evidence,” Nancy replied.

“We must call the police at once!” the housekeeper insisted.

“I agree,” said Nancy, and she hurried to the kitchen telephone. “I’ll talk to Chief McGinnis personally.”

After hearing the young detective’s story, the chief offered to come to the house and get the details. He arrived shortly and was amazed by what he learned.

“Rishi was studying with Professor Stackpole, wasn’t he?” the officer asked. “Do you think his teacher thought the boy might be safer staying with him?”

Nancy shook her head. “The professor would never do such a thing. He would have asked us first.”

Nevertheless, she phoned him. Dr. Stackpole was shocked to hear the news and declared he knew nothing about the kidnapping.

Chief McGinnis asked Nancy if she suspected anyone. “Yes. The man named Rai, who claims to be Rishi’s father.”

The officer said the police were still trying to locate the animal trainer. “But I’ll put a couple of special detectives on the case.”

After Chief McGinnis had left, Nancy and Hannah talked over the case. Nancy thought of two places to search.

“One is the home of Rishi’s real father, the other is Mrs. Allison’s property. Hannah, suppose you wait here for a phone call. I’ll try to get Bess and George to ride to the other places with me.”

In the meantime, Nancy called her father and learned he was out of town for the day. Next she phoned Bess and George, who gasped when they heard that Rishi had disappeared mysteriously, with his borrowed belongings.

Nancy picked the girls up a few minutes later and drove directly to the house occupied by the importer from India. No one answered the bell. The same neighbor she had talked with before, Mrs. Wilson, told the girls that Mr. Tilak had not yet returned from India.

“Have you seen the boy who was with me around here?” Nancy asked her.

“No.”

“If you do, please hold him until I can get here,” Nancy requested.

“He’s a runaway,” Bess added. “In fact, he has been——” She stopped speaking abruptly as George gave her a withering glance. She was fearful Bess was about to say “kidnapped,” an angle that was not to be generally revealed.

“If I see the child around, I’ll invite him in, then notify you,” Mrs. Wilson promised with a smile.

Nancy thanked her and the girls left. “I’ve decided to drive out to the Allison property and see if I can find Jasper Batt,” Nancy announced as the girls entered the car. “I have a feeling he may know something about the kidnapping.”

After a swift trip through the countryside, Nancy parked the car as close as possible to the ruins of the old house. The girls walked the remaining distance. Jasper Batt was busy raking up the debris around the burned mansion.

“I scarcely know how to approach him,” Nancy whispered. “He may decide that I’m an enemy and attack us with that rake.”

“We’ll be on our guard,” Bess declared. “If he seems to be in an ugly mood we can always turn and run.”

But this was not Nancy’s idea of how to approach him. She put two fingers to her lips and the girls drew near quietly.

“How are you, Mr. Batt?” Nancy said pleasantly.

The man looked up and scowled. “Well, what do you want?” he demanded. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“This will take only a minute, Mr. Batt,” the girl detective began. “I want to talk to you about a boy named Rishi.”

“I never heard of him. Go away and let me do my work.”

“Very well, if that’s the way you want it,” Nancy said, humoring him. She turned as if to depart, then paused again. “By the way, Mr. Batt, did you ever recover those valuable papers you lost?”

“No, I didn’t!” the caretaker snapped. “But I know what became of them all right!”

“I suppose you lost them accidentally?” Nancy prodded.

“Lost them! I should say I didn’t. They were stolen by that no-good relative of mine. Name’s Pete. He did it to get even with me because Mrs. Allison gave me his job of taking care of the place. Before I came here Pete looked after things.”

“Pete?” Nancy inquired.

“Peter Putnam,” Batt replied.

“Let me see, he lives near here, doesn’t he?” Nancy probed.

“Too near to suit me. His place is about twenty miles beyond Doverville. You won’t find Pete living in a regular house, though—not that guy. He’s too stingy to build himself a decent place. He lives in an old barn that was standing on the property when he bought it.”

Nancy asked several additional questions. Batt became suspicious that he was being pumped for information and refused to say any more. The girls returned to the parked car.

“I’d like to drive on to Peter Putnam’s place,” Nancy suggested. “Okay with you girls?”

“I’m curious to see his house,” George answered.

Half an hour’s drive brought the trio within the general vicinity of the Putnam farm. Upon inquiry at a gasoline station, they were told to follow a winding, rutty lane. The property was located nearly a mile from the main highway and consisted of a few acres of cleared land completely surrounded by dense woods.

“This must be the place,” Nancy commented, stopping the car near a strange structure, which resembled neither a house nor a barn.

The queer, tumble-down building had originally been painted brick red, but now appeared to be washed-out pink. A porch had been built at the front, and large windows were cut into the walls at uneven angles. An old silo, long since useless, adjoined the east side of the structure, while the west side was supported by a massive stone chimney.

“Did you ever see such a crazy-looking house?” Bess giggled. “I wish I had a camera with me.”

As the girls alighted from the car, a stout, short man in black corduroy trousers, a sleeveless leather jacket, and a misshapen, dirty felt hat walked from the building.

He removed a brier pipe from the corner of his mouth and demanded gruffly, “Yes? What is it? I warn you before you say a word that I won’t buy anything.”

“We have nothing to sell, Mr. Putnam.” Nancy smiled, but added shrewdly, “We might be willing to make a purchase.”

“Eggs, or a chicken?”

Nancy shook her head. “I’d like to discuss a business matter with you. May I come in?”

“All right,” Peter Putnam consented grudgingly, “but the place ain’t fixed up much.”

“George and I will wait outside,” Bess said hastily.

Nancy followed the farmer into the house and tried not to stare as she noticed how dirty it was. The huge rooms were nearly bare of furniture. An old-fashioned cooking stove, a kitchen table, and a sagging cot were the main pieces. Peter Putnam drew up a crate, offering it to Nancy in lieu of a chair.

“What do you want to buy?” he asked eagerly.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have expressed it in just those words,” Nancy countered. “I’m searching for some papers that disappeared from an old house owned by Mrs. Anita Allison. I’m willing to pay you for recovering the documents.”

Putman eyed the girl cunningly; then he replied evasively, “Now what should I know about any such papers? Peter Putnam tends to his own business.”

Nancy nodded. “You were the former caretaker at the Allison property. I thought you might be able to help me. As I said before, I’m willing to pay you to get them or tell me where they are.”

“No doubt old Jasper Batt stole ’em!”

“I don’t think so.”

“How much are you willing to pay me?” Putnam asked cannily. “Mind, I’m not saying I could get ’em back for you.”

“How about twenty-five dollars?” Nancy offered.

As she had anticipated, the sum sounded large to the miserly farmer. His face twisted into a grimace as he tried to decide whether or not to acknowledge that the papers were in his possession.

“Well, if I learn anything about the documents, I’ll let you know,” he said after a long pause.

Nancy had no intention of giving up so easily, but before she could think of a suitable response the two were startled to hear the angry barking of a dog in the yard. At the same instant, Bess uttered a terrified scream.

Nancy rushed to the window. An ugly white and brown mongrel had cornered Bess near the house and with menacing snarls threatened to attack her.

“Call off your dog,” Nancy cried to Putnam, “before he bites my friend!”

Seizing a whip from a hook on the wall, the farmer ran out the door. Nancy attempted to follow, but in her hurry she tipped over an old coffeepot that stood on a sagging shelf near the window. It clattered to the floor and the lid fell back to reveal a white object hidden inside.

Bending down, Nancy picked up the coffeepot. She removed a long bulky envelope from it.

“What’s this?” she wondered.

Had she made an important discovery? With trembling fingers she opened the envelope. Inside was another marked “Property of Anita Allison.”

“These must be the stolen Allison papers!” Nancy thought, quietly thrusting the envelope inside her jacket. Hastily she left the house.

In the meantime Putnam had driven away the hound, permitting Bess to escape to the car. Nancy and George joined her.

“We must get away from here at once,” Nancy said. “If Putnam discovers I’ve taken the papers we want he’ll try to stop us!”

“The papers stolen from Jasper Batt?” Bess questioned.

Nancy nodded, triumphantly tapping her jacket.

“I have the documents here. Let’s hurry to a secluded spot where we can find out what they say.”