“Yes,” he said, “Nancy Drew has done a wonderful job. Thank you, Nancy.”
“The hospital called,” said Mrs. Corning. “Morgan will be all right! We’re so grateful to you for clearing up the mystery about him.”
“Will you take him back?” Bess asked.
“Of course. He is honest and faithful. We know his true story. There can’t be any more trouble.”
Nancy thanked her friends for helping her. She gave Bess and George each a squeeze and quickly excused herself to change her clothes. When she came downstairs, Mrs. Corning had a tray of tempting food waiting.
“Oh good!” said Nancy. “Supper was a long time ago. I’m famished!”
While everyone ate, Mrs. Eldridge told what she had learned while a prisoner at Larkspur Lane. Tooker, whose real name was Van Hofwitz, was an international confidence man.
“The sanatorium was his idea,” she said. “He made Bell a partner and he was to pass as a doctor. Thorne had put money into the venture while in prison. As soon as he escaped, he joined the others.”
Mrs. Eldridge went on to say that Von Hofwitz ingratiated himself into various social circles. He would introduce the fake doctor to wealthy ladies who complained of old age.
“I see now how silly I was,” Mrs. Eldridge said. “I was taken in by their suave manners and my own vanity.”
She revealed that the unscrupulous pair would persuade the women to go secretly to the sanatorium. There, using drugs and threats, Bell prevailed upon the patients to sign away large parts of their wealth to him.
Mr. Drew spoke up. “Thorne is a very sharp lawyer and no doubt the contracts he drew for you women to sign seemed harmless enough but could not be changed, even if your relatives tried to break them.”
“But your courage, Mrs. Eldridge,” said Nancy, “helped to put an end to the whole scheme. There are two questions I hope you can answer,” she added. “Why did the gang use blue bells in the code?”
“Because Bell was so conceited he wanted his own name in it. Blue, of course, was the color of the flowers growing so profusely around the estate.”
“And why was the pigeon released from the plane?”
“Tooker was flying from the mansion to an appointment with an old woman in Pennsylvania that day. He let the bird go on the way so that it would reach his estate more quickly.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Eldridge, for the answers to my questions,” Nancy said. “And now I’ll go upstairs and get your bracelet for you.”
“No, dear,” said the old lady. “I want you to keep it as a memento.”
“How wonderful!” Nancy hugged her.
Mr. Corning spoke up. “And I am going to order French crystal earrings in the form of tiny larkspurs for you and the other girls.”
“Oh, how exciting!” Bess exclaimed. “Thank you very much.”
George grinned and added her thanks.
Nancy protested that she wanted no reward. “I’m just happy everything turned out right.”
Ned grinned. “If I were to give Nancy the reward she’d like best, I’d hand her another mystery to solve.”
But it was not Ned who would bring The Clue of the Broken Locket to Nancy, though he was to play a part in the strange case.
“I’ll find you a mystery by tomorrow morning,” he promised jokingly.
“And I’ll be ready for it,” Nancy said with a twinkle in her eyes. “But make it very, very complicated and original.”
Password to Larkspur Lane Page 12