“Be sure to call me as soon as you’ve found out something!” Hannah called.
“Don’t worry, we will!”
Nancy’s father was a skillful driver and right now he was intent upon reaching the lake as soon as possible. He could barely restrain himself from breaking the speed limits.
“This is one time I wish I had a helicopter,” he told the two young people.
“It wouldn’t do you much good at Melrose Lake, Mr. Drew,” said Laura. “It’s a pretty thickly wooded area. I doubt that you’d find a landing strip.”
Don realized that this remark, although unintentional, heightened Carson Drew’s worry about Nancy being lost in the woods. He changed the subject quickly.
“I thought you weren’t due home until Sunday, sir,” Don said.
“That’s right,” the lawyer replied, his eyes intent on the highway ahead. “In Cincinnati late this afternoon I had a call from Chief McGinnis of the River Heights police. He thought it was imperative for me to return home immediately.”
Mr. Drew proceeded to tell Don and Laura the complete story of the embezzlement case.
Laura looked worried. “The Monroe National Bank had my mother’s securities!” she exclaimed. “You don’t suppose—”
“Maybe,” Don put in, “Nancy learned something in connection with this at the Aborn house and is staying to get more information.”
“Oh, she shouldn’t have done it!” Laura cried out fearfully.
“Now there may not be anything to your theory,” Mr. Drew remarked. “Don’t borrow trouble.”
Don patted Laura’s shoulder. “Sure. We have enough worries as it is. Mr. Drew, you were telling us why you came back early.”
“Yes. Although I’m making a private investigation for Mr. Seward, the bank president, Chief McGinnis has been helping me on an unofficial basis. We’re old friends, you see.
“When Nancy told me that two of the suspects —the Dowds—were in the acting profession and had been out of town recently, I had a hunch they might tie in with the case. I asked the chief to check on any past records the couple might have, and call me in Cincinnati.”
At this point Carson Drew explained that Chief McGinnis had learned that the Dowds both had records for theft and embezzlement. Each had served prison terms. Using various aliases, they had either acted or worked in theaters in several states and among other crimes had robbed the ticket offices.
“When the chief told me this,” said Carson Drew, “I asked him to take the list of missing securities to various brokerage offices in the River Heights area. He did this and found that during the past few days all of them had been sold by a woman.”
“The same woman?” Don asked.
“Apparently not,” Mr. Drew replied. “At least when Chief McGinnis asked for the woman’s description it was different every time.”
“How odd!” Laura exclaimed. “Could it have been Mrs. Dowd? Since she’s an actress she must be good at disguise.”
“You may be right,” Mr. Drew acknowledged. “Anyway, the chief sent two officers to their house to pick up the Dowds for questioning.”
“Did they find them?” Don asked eagerly.
The lawyer shook his head. “When the police got to the house they learned that the actor and actress had had a man caller earlier in the day and that the three had left together. Mr. Dowd said they would not be back.”
“How discouraging for you”—Laura sighed in sympathy—“but I’m sure you’ll find them.”
“There’s a state alarm out for the couple,” Mr. Drew said. “They shouldn’t be able to get very far.”
“What do the Dowds look like?” Laura asked.
In reply, the lawyer took two photographs from his breast pocket and handed them to her.
Laura held the pictures toward the light on the dashboard. She shook her head in disbelief. “These are the Dowds?” she repeated.
“Yes, why? Have you seen them before?”
Laura said in a tense voice, “I know them as Mr. and Mrs. Aborn. Oh, Mr. Drew, if they’ve caught Nancy, she’s in real danger!”
CHAPTER XVI
A Speedy Getaway
UNAWARE that help was coming, Nancy worked feverishly to slip her hands out of the ropes in the dark cellar of the shack.
“How are you doing?” Jacob Aborn asked her.
“The bonds are becoming looser,” Nancy replied.
Suddenly she recalled Hannah’s promise to send the police to the Aborns’ home if she had not returned at a reasonable hour. When she told the imprisoned man about this, it seemed to give him courage.
However, to herself Nancy said, “By that time those criminals will have escaped. They may even prevent Hannah from carrying out her plan! And both Laura and Hannah may be harmed!”
As if to offset this alarming possibility, the ropes around Nancy’s hands suddenly pulled free.
“I did it!” she exclaimed, and Mr. Aborn sprang from his bench, crying, “We’ll be able to escape!”
Nancy did not respond, for she was working grimly at the ropes which bound her feet. “If I could only see!” she muttered.
Then she remembered the packet of matches in her skirt pocket. She took it out and lighted a match, which she stuck in a crack in the wall. As the light burned she worked to untie the knots that bound her ankles. Several more matches were used before she was free.
“Miss Drew, you’re the most ingenious girl I’ve ever met!” Mr. Aborn said admiringly. “I wish I could think that fast. It just occurred to me that there’s a can of kerosene under the stairs. You might fill the lantern.”
Nancy found the can and in a few seconds the place was aglow with light.
“Now I’ll open the padlock again,” Nancy told Mr. Aborn.
After getting the key she hurried to the side of Laura’s guardian. A minute later the chains fell to the floor with a loud thud.
“At last!” Jacob Aborn cried in relief.
“Our next step,” said Nancy, “is to get out of here as fast as we can and then try to alert the police.”
“It’s my bet,” her companion said, “that Dowd has already skipped town.”
Nancy was inclined to agree, but since the swindler had not expected his two prisoners to escape, he might still be at the Aborn house with his wife.
“We’ll head for my car,” Nancy said, “and decide what we’ll do when we reach it.”
Jacob Aborn moved forward several steps, then his knees began to tremble. “My legs will be all right after I’ve used them for a few minutes,” he apologized.
But try as he would, the man was unable to climb the stairway unassisted. Nancy reached out a strong arm to help him. At last they reached the top of the stairway.
The young sleuth led the way to the door, unbolted it, and the two stepped outside.
“What a relief!” Jacob Aborn gasped, filling his lungs with pure air.
In the east, the moon had risen over the woods and the sky was peppered with stars. The route among the trees would be easy to find in the clear night. Yet Nancy glanced uneasily at her companion, wondering if he would be able to walk to the car.
As if reading her thoughts, Aborn said, “I’m fine now. Let’s go!”
Nancy offered her arm again, and at a slow pace they walked across the clearing and entered the woods. They had gone but a short way when Mr. Aborn sank down on a log, breathing heavily.
“You go on without me, Nancy,” he said in a voice shaky with fatigue. “I can’t do it.”
“Just rest here for a moment,” Nancy said encouragingly, unwilling to leave the man.
Shortly, Mr. Aborn felt he could continue. Leaning heavily on Nancy, he moved forward, refusing to pause again even for a brief rest.
“You’re a very kind girl to help me,” he said hoarsely.
Nancy replied modestly, “I’m so glad I found you. Think of what it means to Laura to have her real guardian found! I know she will be happy living with you and your wife.”
At the mention of his wife’s name Mr. Aborn said he was grateful that she had gone away before the Dowds invaded their home. “She might have been made a prisoner too!” he declared.
Presently, with a feeling of relief, Nancy caught sight of her convertible standing among the bushes where she had left it. After she had helped Mr. Aborn into the front seat, Nancy took her place behind the steering wheel.
“Now we’ll drive to the nearest police station,” she announced. “You direct me.”
She inserted the key and tried the starter. To Nancy’s surprise, the motor did not turn over.
“That’s funny,” she said, and tried again. Nothing happened. Next, Nancy glanced at the fuel gauge. It registered half full.
“I wonder if your battery’s dead,” Mr. Aborn said in a faint voice.
“I think not,” Nancy replied, as she reached into the glove compartment and took out an extra flashlight she kept there for emergencies.
She got out of the car, lifted the hood, and flashed her light inside. She had taken a course in automobile mechanics and knew the possible sources of trouble.
“I see what the trouble is,” Nancy called. “The distributor has been uncapped and the rotor’s missing! This is sabotage!” Without this necessary part the car could not start. “I’m sure that Mr. Dowd is the saboteur,” she added angrily.
Mr. Aborn sighed resignedly. “Stumpy Dowd leaves no stones unturned,” he said in a tired voice. “Just in case we might escape he wanted to make certain we’d have no transportation. I’m afraid, Nancy, that we’ll have to go to the main highway for help.”
As Mr. Aborn spoke, Nancy heard a car motor not far away. Eagerly she looked to right and left but saw no approaching headlights.
“Quick! Duck down!” Mr. Aborn whispered, and Nancy crouched in the bushes alongside her car.
A dark foreign sports car emerged from the Eagle Rock lane, then made a left-hand turn in the direction of Twin Lakes!
“It’s the Dowds making a getaway!” Mr. Aborn said. “We’re too late!”
Nancy was alarmed by this turn of events. She wondered why Stumpy Dowd was not heading toward River Heights. Had he given up the idea of going to the Drews’ residence and forcing Laura Pendleton to give him the jewels? Or was he taking an alternative route there?
“Oh dear! I wish there were a telephone nearby!” Nancy moaned. She told Mr. Aborn that his had been disconnected.
Jacob Aborn spoke up. “Nancy, I’m sure that Dowd and his wife have left my house for good. I think the best plan is for us to go there.”
“Yes,” Nancy agreed. “After you’re safely inside I’ll go for help.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Jacob Aborn protested. “Few cars come along this road at night. You’ll have an extremely long walk before you reach the main highway.”
Silently Nancy agreed, but she also noted that the man’s strength was almost spent. She helped him from the car, and the two slowly approached the lane that led to Mr. Aborn’s house.
“Oh, if I could only get my hands on that scoundrel!” the man muttered.
The thought gave him new strength, and he moved forward again. Cautiously the two crept toward the house, approaching it from the rear.
“We’d better make certain that no one’s here,” Nancy whispered.
As they drew near the back door she saw that it stood ajar, as though someone had left hurriedly without taking time to shut it.
With Jacob Aborn close behind her, Nancy stepped cautiously into the kitchen. There was profound silence. The place appeared deserted.
Crossing the room on tiptoe, Nancy and Mr. Aborn walked toward the living room. He clicked on a light. Everything was in disorder. A chair had been overturned and papers were scattered about.
“The Dowds certainly made a thorough search,” Nancy remarked.
Just then Mr. Aborn’s eyes fell upon the wall safe which stood open. With a cry of alarm he tottered across the room to look inside. Everything had been taken out.
Mr. Aborn groaned. He told Nancy that a sizable sum of his own money had been in the safe, along with shares of negotiable stock. Stumpy Dowd had forced him to tell the safe’s combination on threat of harming Laura.
Mr. Aborn, white as starch, sank into a nearby chair and buried his head in his hands. “Nearly all my securities were in there,” he said. One quick glance at him told Nancy that the man was on the verge of a complete collapse. She could not leave him alone, yet how could she get help without doing so?
A second later she and Mr. Aborn were startled to hear a car driving up the lane. Were the Dowds returning? Had the couple merely gone out for a while, or had they forgotten something in their hasty flight?
Nancy’s next thought was far worse than either of these. Had Stumpy Dowd somehow learned that his two prisoners had escaped?
CHAPTER XVII
Two-way Detecting
As THE automobile pulled to a halt, Mr. Aborn slumped to the floor in a faint. Evidently he had shared Nancy’s thought that the Dowds were returning, and would force their way in. The terrifying thought that he might become a prisoner again had been too much for the exhausted man.
“Oh!” Nancy cried out.
From the window Nancy saw four people hurriedly alighting from the car. A moment later the bell rang and a woman’s voice cried, “Mr. Aborn —Mr. Aborn—please let us in. It’s the Donnells!”
Nancy hurried to the front door and flung it open. “Cathyl Jim!” she cried out. “Oh, you don’t know how glad I am to see you!”
The two young people introduced Nancy to their parents, a good-looking couple in their forties. Then they stepped inside.
“What are you doing here, Nancy?” Jim Donnell asked, puzzled at the girl’s disheveled appearance. “What’s going on?”
Nancy replied by saying Mr. Aborn was ill, and there was no time for further explanation right now. She hastily led the family into the living room. When they saw their unconscious friend on the floor, Mrs. Donnell rushed forward with an excited cry.
“How dreadful!” she exclaimed.
As she knelt down, the kindly woman said she was a registered nurse. After a brief examination of the patient she reported that Mr. Aborn appeared to be suffering from malnutrition and shock.