The Mysterious Mannequin (10 page)

As the young woman on the floor was helped to her feet and seated in a chair, Nancy and Ned told of coming along just in time to see the robber. They were reluctant to give details of their own part in the recovery of the payroll, but the policemen insisted upon a full report. The balding man who said he was Mr. Bedford, the factory owner, thanked them profusely.

By this time his secretary was able to tell her part of the story. The bookkeeper had already gone out to lunch and she was in the office alone.

“A man came in wearing a black kerchief across his face. He pointed a gun at me and told me to lie down on the floor and not to make a sound. I was so scared I fainted.”

“What did the fellow look like?” the policeman asked.

The girl said he had blond hair but that’s all she could tell about him. Nancy and Ned gave a description. He was of medium height and clean-shaven.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nancy noticed the workers coming from a side door. If she and Ned were to find Arik, they should leave at once.

“I think we’ve given you all the information we can,” Nancy said. “Now if you’ll please excuse us—”

“I will be in touch with you,” said Mr. Bedford. “You have saved me thousands of dollars.”

Nancy and Ned said good-by and went out the door. They hurried down the walk and crossed over to the park. Nancy half hid behind a tree and watched the oncoming workers. A few minutes later she saw Tunay Arik.

“There he is!” she whispered to Ned.

The young man walked on past other workers and chose an empty bench at the far side of the park. As he opened his lunch box and took out a sandwich, Ned sidled onto the bench beside him. Nancy, partly covering her face with one hand, sat down next to Ned. She leaned back slightly, half hiding herself.

Presently Ned said, “Excuse me, but aren’t you Tunay Arik?”

The young man gave a start and rose from the bench. Ned pulled him back. “Don’t try to run away again. I want answers to three questions. First, that letter you showed Aisha was a forgery, wasn’t it?”

Arik looked frightened and did not answer.

Ned went on, “Farouk Tahmasp is alive, isn’t he?”

Finally Arik, like someone trapped, said, “Why —why yes, but that is a personal matter. I meant no harm by having someone write that letter for me.”

Ned looked at Arik in disgust. He now said, “Why did you try to steal the Turkish rug from the Drew home?”

Arik turned ash white. Now he tried once more to get up. Ned yanked him back.

“Answer me!” he said severely.

“I’m not bad! I’m not a burglar!” Arik said in a hoarse whisper. “I didn’t try to steal anything. Say, who are you, anyway? A cop?”

“No, I’m not a policeman,” Ned replied.

Arik had eaten nothing. Now he closed his lunch box and insisted he must get back to work. “I haven’t done anything wrong,” he insisted.

Nancy spoke up. She was not convinced that he was telling the truth. Trying to take him by surprise, she said, “Where did you get the super-duper master key that opened the kitchen door to our house?”

Arik looked totally blank. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied.

The girl detective went on, “I see you don’t wear your fancy gold filigree bracelet to work.”

Arik stood up, his eyes flashing angrily. “I don’t own a bracelet and I think you two are crazy. Now don’t try to stop me again or you will be in trouble.”

Nancy looked the man straight in the eyes. “If it wasn’t you who came to my house, then you have a double. Do you know who he is?”

“No.” Arik strode across the park and went straight back to the factory.

After he had gone, Nancy and Ned began to discuss whether or not he was guilty.

“He certainly acted innocent enough,” Ned remarked.

Nancy said she was beginning to doubt herself. “After all, the first time I saw him, when he was trying to steal the rug, it was only by lamplight. I could be mistaken.”

“Anything’s possible,” Ned said, “but on second thought that guy admitted knowing Farouk.” He frowned, adding, “Nothing makes sense.”

Nancy did not reply. She had another hunch and decided to telephone her father at once and tell him what had happened. She crossed the street and once more closed herself in the telephone booth and gave him a full report. Mr. Drew said he was glad she had called him. He would have a tail put on Arik at once.

“And I’ll keep my eyes open for a double,” Nancy told him.

When she rejoined Ned, he declared he was starving. “Want to go back to that Greek restaurant?” he teased.

Nancy laughed. “I guess we’d better not. How about a nice unmysterious luncheonette?”

As soon as they finished eating, Ned glanced at his watch to see how much time he had left before his appointment.

“I can spend exactly one more hour with you,” he said. “Where would you like to go?”

“Home,” Nancy replied promptly. “I haven’t worked on the Turkish rug for some time. Let’s see if we can find more words in the border. I still think there are further directions in it.”

“Okay,” said Ned.

When they reached the Drew house, Hannah Gruen was not there and Nancy was surprised to find the Turkish rug rolled up on the floor of the front hall. Why was it there? Surely Mrs. Gruen would not have brought it downstairs since she felt so strongly that it should be kept hidden in Nancy’s closet.

As Ned closed the front door and turned toward her, Nancy picked up the rug and began to unroll it quickly. The next moment a small scimitar flew from the inside and headed straight for Ned!

QUICK as a flash Ned sidestepped the flying scimitar which missed him by an inch. It embedded itself in the wall near the front door.

“Wow!” he cried out. “What’s going on here? Some welcome!”

“Thank goodness you’re all right,” said Nancy. “I wish I knew what’s going on.”

At that moment they heard a key turn in the front-door lock and they both stiffened. Was the burglar returning?

Ned got ready to jump him and Nancy moved away. To their relief the door was opened by Hannah Gruen. She looked in surprise at the positions of Nancy and Ned. Then she spotted the scimitar protruding from the wall.

“Oh my goodness!” she said. “Where did that thing come from?”

“It was rolled up in the rug,” Nancy replied.

“Hannah, did you by any chance bring the rug down here?”

“No, I didn’t. I thought we had agreed to hide it in your closet.”

“We did,” Nancy said, “so apparently the burglar brought it down. But how did he know where we had hidden the rug?”

Hannah interposed, “And assuming it was the same intruder, why didn’t he take the rug when he had the chance?”

“Can’t answer either of your questions,” Ned replied. “But one thing’s sure—”

“Arik isn’t our man,” Nancy finished Ned’s sentence.

Briefly they explained to Hannah that Arik was at work when the intruder came to the Drew house.

As Hannah started to take the scimitar from the wall, Nancy suggested that they not touch it. “It may have fingerprints useful to the police,” she said.

Ned chuckled. “You sure have been contacting the police lately,” he teased, and told how he and Nancy had captured the robber down at the Bedford Carpet Factory.

Hannah was astounded but shook her head resignedly. “Ned,” she said, “you should have learned by this time that adventure comes Nancy’s way even when she’s not looking for it.”

“That’s one reason it’s so interesting to be with her,” he replied.

Nancy and Hannah made a search of the house but found nothing missing. The young detective headed for the phone to call her friend Chief McGinnis. The two discussed the whole case for some time. He said to leave the scimitar where it was until a couple of his men could pick it up.

“They are pretty busy right now,” he said. “It will probably be near suppertime before anyone comes.”

Meanwhile Ned and Hannah had started to examine the rug to see if it had been damaged. Fortunately it had not been.

When Nancy joined them, he said, “Maybe it’s an old Turkish custom to leave a scimitar as a warning.”

Mrs. Gruen looked worried and remarked, “It gives me the creeps to think that somebody can get into this house despite all our excellent locks.”

The three went all around the place, checking windows and doors and finally concluded that probably the burglar on his second trip had come in through the front door.

Suddenly Nancy looked around and said, “Hannah, where’s Togo?”

“I took him to the Dog Beauty Parlor,” the housekeeper said. She glanced at her watch and added, “It’s about time to pick up our little dog.”

“I’d do it,” Ned said, “but I must leave now to keep my appointment.”

“Thanks, Ned, for coming along today,” Nancy said.

“You know I don’t mind,” he replied. “I’ll let you know if I make my sale.”

Nancy wished him luck, then drove downtown to get the dog. He frisked about, not only glad to see her, but acting as if he were proud of his new appearance. He had been pedicured, shampooed, and his coat brushed until it shone.

“You’re beautiful!” Nancy said, scooping Togo up in her arms.

She carried him to the car and drove home. No sooner had Togo bounded into the living room than he spied the scimitar in the wall. He growled at it loudly, then jumped up and knocked it down.

“Oh!” Nancy cried out. “Get away! You’ll cut yourself!”

She picked up the scimitar and laid it on top of the piano. Then Nancy realized what she had done. Her own fingerprints, might have blotted out those the burglar may have left!

“Oh, Togo, sometimes you’re good and sometimes you cause a lot of trouble!”

The terrier merely looked at Nancy and wagged his tail.

“You’re hopeless!” she told the dog.

The phone rang and Nancy went into the hall to answer it. To her amazement and delight Aisha was calling.

“Nancy, will you ever forgive me?” the girl said. “I was so rude to you this morning. I am extremely sorry.”

“Of course,” Nancy replied. “I figured you knew some secret in connection with the mannequin that you didn’t want to tell me.”

“That is true,” said Aisha. “But I do want to talk to you. I am alone. My aunt and uncle just went out and will be gone for a while. Could you and your friend come?”

Nancy said that Ned had already left but she would be glad to drive over. She told Hannah where she was going and went out the door, her mind in a whirl.

What was the Turkish girl going to tell her? Did she know the whereabouts of the mannequin? Would she reveal more about Farouk? Nancy finally reached Aisha’s street, parked her convertible, and went up the walk to the porch steps.

The Turkish girl opened the door before Nancy had a chance to ring. Impulsively she put an arm around Nancy as they walked into the living room.

The girls sat down and Aisha began her story. “As I told you, I know where Farouk’s mannequin is. But you’ll never find her unless Farouk himself tells you where she is.”

“Why not?” Nancy asked, bewildered. She wondered why Farouk would have asked her father to bring the mannequin to Turkey if he would not reveal where she was.

Aisha said that he had made her promise she would not reveal the secret.

“I can’t understand why,” Nancy told her quite frankly. “By keeping it a secret, it sounds as if there was something dishonest about the whole thing.”

Aisha looked a little frightened to hear this. “I assure you there was nothing dishonest about the mannequin or about Farouk wanting to keep her whereabouts a secret.” She changed the subject. “Nancy, tell me why you want to find the mannequin.”

“I suppose I’ve been as mysterious about this whole thing as you,” the young detective replied, laughing.

Nancy divulged the story of the rug, all the time watching Aisha’s face closely. The girl’s expression kept changing from one of happiness to one of puzzlement. She made no comment even when Nancy finished.

“Would you like to see the rug?” the young detective asked her.

“Very much.”

“Then let’s go over to my house. Perhaps you can find more words or symbols in it that will reveal the entire message.”

As soon as they reached the house Nancy introduced Aisha to Hannah. Then the two girls sat down to study the rug. Aisha was intrigued by all that Nancy and her friends had found so far.

Industriously they continued to examine the border. Minutes went by, then the Turkish girl exclaimed that she had found something. She pointed it out to Nancy.

“Look there among the leaves!” Aisha exclaimed.

Woven in among them was a fancy and unusual-looking object.

“It’s a shoeshine stand,” Aisha explained.