Nancy Clue Mysteries 2 - The Case of the Good-for-Nothing Girlfriend

by Mabel Maney

  "That's just a junky piece of iron pyrite. I already have tons of it," Lauren explained. She tossed it into the metal wastebasket between the beds.

  "That's it, then," Midge announced. "In addition to the twenty-four dollars in our travel kitty, we've got eighteen dollars and thirty-nine cents, Cherry's watch, and your gold compact, Nancy." But Nancy wasn't listening. She was staring at the wastebasket with the queerest expression on her face.

  "Did you hear the thud that rock made when it hit the metal?" she asked, almost to herself. She got off the bed and fished it out of the wastebasket. "If I remember correctly, gold is heavier than iron pyrite," she murmured. Suddenly her eyes lit up with excitement. "This rock may be gold!" Nancy exclaimed. "Gold and iron pyrite look an awful lot alike; that's why pyrite is often called 'fool's gold.' I learned how to identify precious gems during The Case of the Genuine Gimcrack," she added.

  "Cherry, do you have any aqua regia in that firstaid kit of yours?" Nancy half-joked. "Plus a high heat source, like a blow torch or a Bunsen burner?"

  "No, but those are certainly excellent suggestions; I must remember to pick them up," Cherry replied.

  Nancy furrowed her pretty brow. "If only we had a scale, or a way to fashion one out of nearby materials." Her keen eyes swept the room, searching for the raw materials necessary for her experiment. She grabbed a wire coat hanger from the closet and set to work fashioning a crude weighing device.

  The girls gathered around as the determined sleuth worked feverishly on her contraption. What was Nancy up to?

  Soon she had fashioned a makeshift scale. She then removed the powder from two compacts and attached them to the wire using clip-on earrings to connect the two.

  "These compacts, when open, make handy measuring plates," she smiled. "And these will do for weights," she remarked as she twisted off the clasp of her opera-length strand of pearls and started piling beads on one side of the scale. While she worked, she explained her experiment.

  "It's so obvious, I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner," Nancy said with a smile. "It's simple. Since we all know the specific gravity of gold is nineteen point three, all we have to do is calculate the specific gravity of this rock, and if it happens to be nineteen point three, or close therein, we've found gold!

  "We can determine the specific gravity by weighing the rock in the air and then by weighing it once again, this time submerged in water. All we really need is a uniform measure of weight. Luckily, I have this long strand of small pearls which will do nicely as a counterweight. See?"

  "Oh yeah," Midge joked. "Why didn't I think of that?"

  "Sometimes the simplest solution is right under our noses, Midge," Cherry comforted her.

  The girls watched breathlessly as Nancy piled pearls on the scale, then raced to the washroom to reenact the very same experiment in the sink. Would the rock reveal itself to be gold?

  * * *

  CHAPTER 18

  * * *

  Eureka!

  "Now, the difference between ninety-six pearls and ninety-one pearls is five. If I divide ninety-six by five, I get nineteen point two!" Nancy cried triumphantly. "There must be just a hair of silver mixed in," she mused.

  "It's gold all right," she added when she saw how puzzled her friends looked.

  Eureka!" Lauren shouted. She jumped up and down on the bed. "We're rich! We're rich!" she shrieked.

  "How rich?" Midge asked eagerly.

  Nancy dug through her suitcase and took out her 1959 Guide to Precious Minerals. "Gold is thirty-five dollars an ounce right now," she told Lauren. "We're not rich, but we've certainly got some nice pocket money here." Her eyes twinkled in delight.

  Cherry's eyes lit up. "I remember seeing a gold-exchange shop next to the restaurant!" she cried. "And if I'm correct, the sign on the door said it opens at seven a.m."

  "We'll go there first thing in the morning," Nancy planned aloud. "But until then, we mustn't let this rock out of our hands. It's our only way out of here."

  A sharp knock at the door startled the girls. "Yoo hoo! It's Gladys Gertz and her friend, Martha Mannish. Are you girls okay in there? We thought we heard a shout."

  Nancy stashed the rock in front pocket of her casual shirtwaist dress and hurriedly donned her earlier disguise of head scarf and dark glasses.

  Miss Gertz knocked again. "I know you're in there because I can see your lights are on," she called through the door in an insistent tone.

  "Not one word of this to those nosy dames," Midge warned. She opened the door. "Why, it's those nice reporters!" she exclaimed heartily. "How grand to see you again!"

  "What took you girls so long to answer the door?" Miss Gertz quizzed them. Without waiting for an answer, she pushed past Midge and walked right into the room.

  The two women had changed out of their swim costumes and were now attired in denim outfits-a skirt for Miss Gertz and dungarees for Miss Mannish, crisp checkered shirts, and pointy cowboy boots. Miss Mannish sported a festive kerchief tied at a jaunty angle around her neck and had a fringed suede jacket casually thrown over one broad shoulder.

  "Your place is just like ours," Miss Gertz said, looking around the cozy room, "except, of course, we have only one bed." She frowned. "My dear, with your being a movie star and all, I'd think you'd have rented the Bonanza Suite. The manager let us take a peek at it-it's got darling wagon-wheel tables, a private telephone, and everything! But I guess if you're traveling incognito it's best if you keep a low profile."

  Suddenly Miss Gertz whirled around and took a good, long look at Nancy.

  Had Miss Gertz finally figured out who she really was?

  "Now that you've revealed your true identity to us, why not remove your disguise? Wouldn't you be more comfortable, dear?" Miss Gertz queried.

  "We're just on our way out! " Velma exclaimed, snatching up her lipstick from the bed. She linked arms with Nancy. "Let's go Darcy!" she cried gaily.

  "Where are you going?" Miss Gertz asked excitedly.

  "We're...er..." Velma stumbled for an answer.

  Cherry remembered what the nice mechanic had said about the square dance that evening. "We're going to a square dance at the Round-Up Club," she said. "And we must hurry or we'll be late!"

  "What a lucky coincidence-that's where we're headed!" Miss Gertz cried. A calculating expression crossed her face. "Wait! I've got a great idea. Let's go together. I've even got extra scarves." She dug deep in her handsome leathertooled handbag and came up with a handful of brightly colored Western kerchiefs. "This way no one will have to feel silly by not being properly attired," Miss Gertz said brightly.

  "Although, Darcy dear, I don't know what you're going to do. I believe that wearing one scarf around your head and another around your neck is formula for a fashion disaster," she added in a worrisome tone. Nancy declared that she would be satisfied wearing just the one scarf on her head.

  Cherry rummaged through Nancy's suitcase, grabbed a few items, and disappeared into the bathroom, appearing a few minutes later in an attractive black felt circle skirt just right for dancing and an off-the-shoulder peasant blouse. Short white socks paired with black penny loafers gave her a sporty air. If she was going dancing, she was going in the right outfit!

  Miss Gertz nodded her approval, and handed Cherry a red kerchief. Velma chose a pale yellow scarf that nicely complemented her peach shell top. Midge balked when it came her turn to select a kerchief. Like Lauren, she preferred to remain in her own, unadorned outfit.

  "We're not leaving this room until you two girls play along," Miss Gertz declared, so Midge and Lauren grudgingly chose neckwear-Midge a deep blue kerchief and Lauren a light lavender. As soon as they left the hotel room, Midge ripped off the scarf and stuffed it into her back pocket. Lauren followed suit.

  "Those dames are giving me a pain," Lauren whispered to Midge. "As soon as we can, let's ditch them and go to a movie." Midge nodded in agreement. But a half hour later, when Midge reminded Lauren of her plan, the girl was too ful
l of warm peach cobbler and spicy apple cider to move from her comfortable resting spot atop a bale of hay.

  Midge climbed up next to the contented girl and spent the next hour happily watching Velma, Nancy, and Cherry whirl around on the sawdust-covered plank floor. To everyone's surprise, Cherry proved to be quite an accomplished dancer. Over cider and cookies, she explained that she had had a dance lesson at a country-western bar in San Francisco the night she'd met Nancy.

  "Look over there, Lauren!" Cherry cried suddenly. "They're giving rope-trick lessons."

  "Keen!" Lauren cried. And off she went. For the next half hour, Lauren watched eagerly as various rope techniques were demonstrated. She returned to the group with a rope in one hand and a big grin on her freckled face. "Look!" she cried. "This one's called `Walk the Dog.' " She tied a small loop in the rope and set it to twirling, keeping the loop just inches above the floor.

  "My, you're good with your hands!" Velma exclaimed. Midge looked a little jealous.

  Even Nancy, who had proven her rope-handling abilities beyond a shadow of a doubt, was impressed by Lauren's skilled handling of the rope. "Golly, it took me weeks to learn that trick!" she exclaimed, remembering how hard she had to work to earn her Rope-Trick Badge. The strict Troop Leader, Miss Jane Hathaway, had made Nancy tie knots over and over again until she was fully satisfied. "She was so nice to let me practice on her," Nancy remembered with a smile. "Anyone else would have lost patience after the first hour, but not swell Miss Hathaway!"

  Nancy's thoughts were interrupted by Miss Gertz and Miss Mannish, breathless from a rousing Virginia Reel. "Goodness!" Miss Gertz cried, taking the kerchief from around her neck and wiping her face. "I'm bushed. What do you say we call it a night? Besides, I want to switch on the radio at eleven o'clock and hear the latest report about the murder trial. Do you think they've caught up with the elusive Miss Clue yet?"

  The girls studiously ignored Miss Gertz, pretending instead to admire the crafts at a nearby booth. They tried to keep the mood light as they walked back to their motel-Cherry and Nancy humming a dance tune, Lauren practicing her rope tricks, and Midge and Velma happily holding hands. Soon Miss Gertz stopped talking about the case and instead busied herself exclaiming over the stars above.

  Had the girls known what was going on back at their room, their cheery mood would have been shattered. For at this very moment, a shadowy figure was lurking outside their door!

  * * *

  CHAPTER 19

  * * *

  Unexpected Guests

  "Good, we finally got rid of them," Midge said after they dropped Miss Gertz and Miss Mannish at their room. "I was going to pop her if she mentioned Nancy one more time," Midge scowled. "She sure has Nancy on the brain."

  Cherry smiled. She knew what that was like!

  When Lauren declared that she could go no further without a cold drink, the girls agreed to go to the diner adjacent to the motel and purchase refreshing beverages for consumption in their room.

  "Then it's off to bed, as we have a long day ahead of us," Cherry reminded her chums. "I must freshen up," she decided, giving her friends her order for an orange soda. She skipped ahead to their room, humming a festive fiddle tune. Goodness, she was dusty.

  When Cherry got to their room, she was surprised to find the door was unlocked. "That's strange," she thought, as she turned the knob and peered inside. "I thought I locked this. I must have been so nervous when Miss Gertz burst in and I had to tell that fib, that I neglected to lock the door." She looked around, but nothing seemed out of place. The contents of their purses were still in a big jumble on the bed.

  "Mother would shriek if she could see how untidy we are," Cherry smiled as she walked over to the bed and began gathering her things. She realized she had been remiss to leave the contents of her firstaid kit lying about. "A child could toddle in here and accidentally ingest one of these medicines," she thought with a shudder as she put her supplies back.

  Just as she was finishing her task, she heard the door slowly creak open. "I sure could use that soda!" she exclaimed, whirling around to greet her friends. She was startled to see a dark-haired man with his suit lapel pulled high over his face racing out the doorway, with Nancy's jewelry case in one hand!

  "Stop, thief!" she screamed for the second time that day. But her throat was parched from an evening of laughing and chatting, and all that came out was a pathetic croak.

  "I mustn't let him steal Nancy's precious possessions," she thought, racing out the door after the man. "Thank goodness I'm wearing flats," was her second thought.

  She did her best to keep up, but she fell further and further behind.

  "I'm going to lose him," she thought frantically. She spotted her chums lingering outside of the diner. Unaware of the drama unfolding before their eyes, they were casually leaning on the porch rails, sipping sodas and laughing. Nancy spotted Cherry and waved to her.

  Cherry thought fast. How could she alert them to the danger at hand-and quickly? Suddenly, she had the answer. She took two clean white handkerchiefs from her pocket, and, using them as flags, signaled her distress. Thank goodness that during her stint as a Cruise Nurse aboard an ocean liner, she had learned the Coast Guard Distress Signals.

  Nancy, who was well-versed in all forms of communication, immediately translated Cherry's message for the others. "Stop that man with the untidy black hair. He's got your jewelry case," Nancy repeated slowly. "Oh," she exclaimed. "He's got my jewelry case!"

  Midge leapt into action with the others hot at her heels. They chased the thug down the sidewalk and had almost caught up to him when he disappeared around a corner and raced down an unlit side street, his dark coat and black hair blending into the inky night. They heard a car screech to a halt, a door slam, and a engine roar.

  "He's gone!" Cherry cried in alarm. "How very odd that there are two jewel thieves in this very same area," she said, remembering the ugly incident earlier that evening in front of the jewelry shop. "One with flaming red hair and the other with untidy black hair. Oh, dear!"

  "What's this?" Nancy asked excitedly, snatching a strand of black fiber from the ground. Using the flashlight she always kept in her pocket in case of emergencies, she examined her find. "This is from a cheap wig," she determined. "That man was wearing a shoddy disguise. He must be the same man who pushed Cherry earlier today. What a clever ruse," she added. "Now we have no idea what he really looks like!"

  Luckily, Nancy had spent many a summer behind the scenes at the local Junior Theater, learning first-hand the materials of stage craft. She was particularly adept at recognizing disguises-a skill that had helped her in solving many mysteries!

  "He's got your jewels!" Cherry wailed. "Oh, Nancy, can you ever forgive me? I forgot to lock our door, and a nefarious hoodlum sneaked inside and stole your jewels! I wouldn't blame you if you never spoke to me again," Cherry added. "Why, I may never speak to myself again! How could I have left the door unlocked? How could I have-"

  Nancy grinned and kissed Cherry quickly to end her tortured lamenting. "He's got my jewel case containing only my costume pieces," Nancy laughed. "I left my good gems wrapped in a hankie on the bedside table." She reached into the pocket of her dress for the chunk of gold they had discovered earlier. "Luckily, I took this to the square dance. We're still going to get out of here tomorrow, and home to Hannah. That's what's really important."

  "Do you think they'll come back when they realize they've got a case full of fake baubles?" Cherry cried worriedly.

  Nancy nodded. "It's just possible they will. We know two things. He's in disguise and is likely to change his appearance again in order to fool us. Plus, he's got an accomplice, and they're traveling in an automobile. We've got to keep our wits sharp and our eyes open," Nancy cautioned. "Jewel thieves are a particularly cunning breed of criminal. They'll go to any length to attain what they want."

  "Why, the next time I see a suspicious character, I'll run and get someone immediately!" Cherry vowed.
<
br />   "And I can tie 'em up with my rope," Lauren planned as she practiced her double-hitch square knot.

  The once gay little group, now sobered by the run-in with the thief, made its way back to the room. Cherry peered around every corner and even jumped once when she heard a sudden moaning noise from behind her. She was relieved when she realized it was only Midge and Velma.

  "I've got to keep my wits sharp and my eyes open," Cherry thought, a chill of terror racing up her spine. She was determined, having been neglectful once, not to make the same mistake again!

  * * *

  CHAPTER 20

  * * *

  A Frantic Phone Call

  "Coffee. Hot and black," Midge ordered as she slid her lanky frame into a booth at the DoubleD Diner. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. It was practically against her religion to get out of bed before nine o'clock in the morning, but she figured it was the only way she could get some muchneeded privacy.

  "I haven't been up at the crack of dawn on purpose since that time my grandfather took me fishing when I was ten," she remembered. "Once every twenty-five years or so I'll get up and watch the sun rise," she vowed. "Builds character!" She yawned again. Between Nancy's tossing and turning and Lauren's snoring, Midge had gotten precious little sleep.

  The waitress, a shapely number in a tight-fitting pink costume and frilly apron, smiled at Midge as she placed a cup of steaming coffee on the chipped Formica table. Midge took a big gulp of her favorite beverage.

  "Not too strong, I hope?" the waitress purred, lingering at Midge's side even though the diner was quickly filling up with early-morning fishermen.