by Mabel Maney
As a nurse, Cherry knew that often the confidence a girl got from knowing she looked her very best was better than any medicine.
"I wish she weren't so stubborn about doing this all by herself. I don't know why she won't let me go with her. I'm beginning to see a headstrong side to Nancy," Cherry admitted. "Although, she does know the Chief better than I do and is positive he's got a good explanation as to why Hannah's not out of jail yet."
Midge groaned. Why hadn't he already let Hannah go? "I still think we should consult an attorney," Midge worried.
"We'll just have to hope for the best," Cherry said cheerfully. "Now where's the door to the basement? I've got laundry to do."
Midge pointed the way. "Bess went down to get syrup," she said. "Come to think of it, she's been down there an awfully long time." A worried expression crossed Midge's handsome face. She ran to the basement door. "Bess, are you okay?" she called. But there was no answer.
"Bess!" she called louder. A low moaning sound reached their ears. Bess was in trouble!
* * *
CHAPTER 29
* * *
"Bess? Bees?"
"She might need medical assistance!" Cherry cried. Midge raced downstairs while Cherry ran to get her firstaid kit. Within minutes she had pinned on her nurse's cap and was heading for the basement stairs. Cherry threw caution to the wind and, putting aside her own safety, took the stairs two at a time. Awaiting her was a gruesome sight. Bess was sprawled motionless on the damp basement floor, surrounded by jars of canned fruit.
"I didn't know whether or not to move her," Midge said in a shaky voice as she watched Cherry take Bess's pulse. Cherry nodded her head. Midge had done the right thing, but there would be time later to let her know that! Cherry barked out orders. "Get all the warm blankets you can find. Wake up George. And bring me an ice bag!"
While the others raced about on their important missions, Cherry checked Bess for broken bones, all the time keeping an eye on her pulse. She was relieved to find that, outside of a badly twisted ankle, Bess had no major injuries. "If she's fainted, she should be coming to any minute," Cherry thought. But Bess's breathing grew more labored. Cherry checked her pulse again. She was shocked to find a large, sharp stinger buried deep in Bess's palm.
"Why, she's been bitten by a bee!" Cherry suddenly realized. She quickly injected Bess with the life-saving bee-sting serum she always carried in her firstaid kit. Within seconds, the color came back into Bess's face and her breathing steadied. After sterilizing her tweezers with a match, Cherry removed the barb from Bess's hand and cleansed the wound.
George arrived, her shaking arms loaded down with blankets. Right behind her was Midge, holding an ice bag. Velma and Lauren waited at the foot of the stairs, keeping out of Cherry's way.
"Is Bess going to be okay? What happened?" George frantically quizzed Cherry.
"She's fine," Cherry said. "She had an allergic reaction to a bee sting. Luckily, I had the right medication in my firstaid kit." She held up the stinger for George's inspection.
"Bess? Bees?" George gasped in surprise. "Why, she isn't allergic to bees. In fact, she was bitten several times while we were at Lake Merrimen, and she had no reaction at all!"
"That's odd," Cherry puzzled. She knew it was most unusual for someone to develop a bee allergy late in life. Cherry took a blanket from George, and, using some planks of wood she found nearby, fashioned an emergency stretcher. "Let's get her upstairs and comfortable, and then discuss her medical history," Cherry said. She tucked her patient into the stretcher, and George and Midge headed upstairs with their precious cargo.
"Ugh, what's that?" Cherry cried aloud as she stepped on something big and squishy. She examined the sole of her shoe. "It was a bee," she shuddered. "Here it is!"
Lauren whistled. "That's the biggest bee I've ever seen," she declared. Cherry had to agree. In all the bee-sting lectures she had attended, she'd never seen a specimen that size!
"Cherry, I've decided to wear my hair up, as you suggested," Nancy called out from upstairs. "Would you help me pin it into place?" But when she poked her head into the cellar and saw Bess being carried up the stairs, she gasped in horror, forgetting all about her hairdo dilemma. "What's going on down there?" she cried excitedly.
Cherry quickly filled her in on the shocking events, and Nancy hurried to make a comfy bed for Bess on the davenport. Bess quickly regained consciousness and within minutes, was her old, bubbly self. Cherry packed her twisted ankle in ice, and the swelling subsided. She showed Bess the bee, still stuck to the bottom of her shoe.
"I was standing in front of the cabinet, searching for syrup, and suddenly I felt a sharp pinch on my hand," Bess exclaimed. "Golly, that's the biggest bee I've ever seen!"
"Let me see your shoe, Cherry," Nancy said, explaining modestly that entomology was a hobby of hers. She grabbed a nearby magnifying glass and closely examined the specimen.
"This is no ordinary Illinois bee," she declared. "This is the deadly Killer Bee, from the most remote region of the Amazon. It's virtually unheard of in the United States," she said. "No wonder Bess had a reaction; the sting from this bee is fatal without the proper antidote!"
Cherry expressed relief that she had selected the all-purpose serum for her kit.
"But what is it doing in Illinois?" Nancy wondered aloud. "And in my basement?"
The girls gasped. Could it be that someone had planted the deadly insect, hoping to harm them?
"I'll know more after a quick phone call," Nancy said in a most mysterious manner as she headed for the den. When she returned, she had a puzzled expression on her pretty face. "I called my friend, Professor Delbert Dunwiddie at the Department of Agriculture." She explained that she had called upon his expertise while solving The Mystery of the Insistent Insect. "When I asked him if any deadly bees had been spotted recently in Illinois, he thought I was joking. I didn't tell him we had captured one in our home; I thought it best if we keep this to ourselves. At least for now.
"Before he hung up, he asked me if I thought Hannah would get the electric chair," Nancy choked out. She flung herself onto an overstuffed love seat and cried out, "There's only one explanation for this. That bee was put here on purpose. Someone is trying to harm us!"
When she heard this, Cherry almost dropped her emergency forceps. "Oh!" she cried. "How dreadful."
"What if there are more bees down there?" Bess asked in a shaky voice, wondering if the door to the cellar was securely closed.
"It's highly unlikely," Nancy answered. "Don't you think they would have stung us, too, with all the commotion we made?"
Still, Bess would not be mollified. "Shouldn't we check?" she wondered.
"That's a good idea, Bess," Cherry said. "I only have five more vials of bee-sting serum left, and there are seven of us here. That leaves one of us wholly unprotected." She shivered. "That's a chance I wouldn't want to take," she said. "Why, one of us could be stung and killed!"
"I believe there's some insecticide in the garage; Hannah uses it to spray the aphids on her roses," Nancy remembered. "Don't you worry, Bess. I'll go give the cellar a good dose of poison." She checked the dainty gold watch on her right wrist. "It's 8:20 a.m. now. Chief Chumley is always at his office by nine o'clock. That leaves exactly forty minutes for me to fix my hair, select the right shoes, and spray poison in the cellar, after which I will drive to the police station and find out when he's planning to release Hannah and cancel the trial. Golly, I'd better hurry! "
"But, Nancy, what if you get bitten?" Bess worried aloud.
Cherry was worried about that, too. Although she had plenty of serum, there was no use courting disaster.
"Besides, the sting really hurts," Bess added. "Ouch. I'd go, but I'm scared!" She clutched George by the hand. "Don't leave me," she begged.
Quick as a flash, Cherry had the answer. In her firstaid kit was a mosquito netting, left over from her two-week stint as an Island Nurse. Nancy got her bird-watching helmet from the hallwa
y closet and draped Cherry's net over it, securing it with the thin leather band that ringed the helmet. She put on her thigh-high wading boots and tucked the ends of the netting securely inside. Meanwhile, George ran to the garage for a canister of insecticide.
What a sight Nancy made, covered in net and carrying the metal pump filled with deadly fumes! Thick oven mitts from the kitchen and a gas mask from her father's old army trunk in the attic completed her costume.
"A girl can't be too cautious!" Nancy joked, before adding, in a more solemn tone, "I'm going down now."
Cherry stood by, firstaid kit in hand. The girls clustered around the cellar door until they could smell the first scent of insecticide.
Velma opened the windows in the living room. "This stuff stinks," she said. "I can't believe it's the same thing they put on food crops."
"Velma, a good insecticide, properly used, makes our tomatoes plump and pretty and our apples so red and shiny. Why, if food didn't look good, people wouldn't eat it," Cherry informed her.
"There, I'm finished," Nancy said, coming back upstairs and locking the cellar door behind her. "I didn't see any more bees," she said, "But I did see something peculiar. It looks as though a hole had been bored through the thick concrete wall; a hole just big enough for a large bee to fly through!
"But who? And why?" Cherry gasped, floored by the discovery. It was seeming more and more impossible that the deadly bug had made its way to the Clue basement unaided!
"Someone deliberately drilled that hole," Nancy said. "Someone is trying to harm us and make it look like a freak accident! "
Bess shivered and reached for George.
"We needn't stay here one day longer," Nancy said as she discarded her protective gear. "As soon as Hannah is released from jail, I propose we go directly to Lake Merrimen for a few days. I have plenty of play clothes to go around," she added when she saw the doubtful look on Midge's face.
"That sounds grand," Midge said weakly. She wasn't so sure she should say anything to shake Nancy's confidence. After all, Nancy was old friends with the Police Chief. "It is entirely possible that all this will be settled with a minimum of fuss," Midge thought hopefully.
"Jeepers! Look at the time! " Nancy cried suddenly. She ran a comb through her titian hair and threw on some lipstick. She brushed aside the cup of coffee Cherry was trying to hand her, grabbed her purse, and raced out the door, but she was back in a flash. "I forgot my evidence," she grinned, taking the stairs to her room two at a time. "I'll bet the Chief was just waiting to see the evidence before releasing Hannah," she mused as she raced upstairs. "I'll bet that's it. He needs to see official proof, plus perhaps take a statement from me."
Nancy's loud shriek a moment later brought them all running. They found her prostrate on the floor, sobbing hysterically. "They're gone! " they heard her wail.
What she said next sent chills through her chums.
"Someone's stolen the letters from my secret hiding place!" Nancy cried.
* * *
CHAPTER 30
* * *
Purloined Letters
"Let's all look for them," Cherry suggested. "Maybe they're just misplaced. Often I think I put something in a special place, and then, to my surprise, find it someplace else! Why, the day I graduated with honors from Stencer Nursing School, I fretted for over an hour because I couldn't find my cap, and what do you know, I had already pinned it to my hairdo!"
Nancy shook her head. "I know I put them in the secret hiding place in my hope chest," she wailed. "They're gone!"
She got off the floor, wrenched open the maple chest, and glided her fingers over the smooth wood until she found the secret spot. The girls watched in amazement as a hidden drawer slid out from under the wooden chest. "I hid them in here!" Nancy cried.
"We must call the police and report a breakin!" Cherry gasped.
"They already know," Bess blurted out. "Two nights ago someone broke into this house and the only thing out of place was this hope chest!" Bess cried.
Nancy looked awfully upset when she heard this. "So, someone managed to find my secret hiding place and steal the evidence," she said. "No wonder Chief Chumley didn't let Hannah go! When he came to get the letters, they weren't there. Why, he must have thought I made the whole thing up, or that I was playing a terrible prank! "
Cherry gasped in alarm.
"There is someone afoot in River Depths who wishes me ill," Nancy added in an ominous tone. "My guess is that he'll be willing to give me back that evidence in exchange for a nice big reward."
Nancy took out the bundle of jewelry she'd been keeping in her purse since Dust Bin. "When he calls, give him these for the return of my personal papers!" she cried dramatically. She threw the parcel on the bed, and the knot in the handkerchief came undone.
Cherry gasped. "Why would a blackmailer want a pile of small, dull, gray stones?" she asked.
A sick expression came over Nancy's face when she looked at the stones. "My jewels!" was all she could gasp out. "Someone has stolen my jewels!"
"And put these stones in their place," Cherry pointed out. "But who could have done this?"
"The jewel thieves, of course," Midge and Velma chorused. "They must have followed us."
"But how could they have gotten to your purse without your knowing it?" Cherry cried. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Could Lauren be responsible for this? After all, she had stolen three butter knives and a deck of playing cards.
"You couldn't have had your purse with you in Kornville, Nancy, because I distinctly remember you borrowed my hairspray," Velma remembered.
Cherry gasped as she suddenly remembered something. "As we were getting ready to leave Kornville, I found Nancy's purse wide open and shoved under the seat!"
"Someone in Kornville stole Nancy's gems and left these rocks in their stead," Midge deduced. "No one knew Nancy was carrying these jewels except the jewel thief who snatched the case of costume pieces and got away." She shook her head. "They must have followed us all the way across Nebraska." Midge looked peeved. "I can't believe they followed us that many miles and we never caught on," she said in disgust.
"They must be very clever people," Cherry pacified her. "And, after all, they were in disguise, so it's not as if we knew who to watch out for. At least they got what they wanted, and are now probably many states away."
"Wait," Midge replied. "I remember seeing the exact same car in two different states. Remember outside of Pocatello when that dusty brown Impala passed us by? Then in Wyoming, a dusty brown Impala almost hit us. Remember, Velma? You were driving and had to stop short."
Velma nodded.
"Later, I saw that very same car at the service station outside of Dust Bin. I got a good look at the driver. He was an unattractive man wearing a straw hat and dark glasses. With him was a blond-haired woman wearing a red head scarf and big white glasses. The pointy kind your friend Ethel wears."
"Cat glasses?" Velma guessed.
Midge nodded.
Cherry gasped. Why, Midge was describing the nice couple Cherry had bumped into the very first night of their trip! "Oh, Midge, those couldn't possibly be the jewel thieves! Why, they're just a nice couple on a vacation!" she cried.
Everyone looked at Cherry as if she were suddenly speaking in a foreign tongue.
"Come again?" Midge demanded. When she saw how shaken Cherry was, she softened her tone. "What is it, Cherry? What do you know?"
"I met them at the Pocatello Potato Palace," Cherry admitted. "They helped me find Nancy's jewelry box after it flew out of Nancy's purse."
"What?" her chums cried in surprise.
"I had picked up Nancy's purse by mistake," Cherry quickly explained. "You and Velma were necking and when I went to get Lauren, I bumped into them and somehow Nancy's jewelry box flew out of her purse. I was so upset, and they were so nice when I told them she had sapphires and diamonds and family heirlooms in the case. They seemed truly interested in helping me find it," her voice trail
ed off. She reddened.
"Do you remember anything else, Cherry?" Nancy asked. "Did you see them again?"
Cherry blushed furiously. "Just later that night when I helped them find their cabin at the Komfort Kourt," she admitted. "And in Kornville," she added meekly, "when I saw them outside the diner."
Midge groaned.
"But they can't be the thieves," Cherry added hurriedly. "When I went to the car to check in my firstaid kit for something, someone was in our car, but it was a brunette in a navy blue shift and a red scarf. She had tripped and fallen into our convertible.
"Oh," Cherry suddenly blushed. "She wasn't telling the truth, was she, Midge?"
Midge shook her head.
"It was one of the thieves in disguise, wasn't it?"
Midge nodded.
Cherry cringed. "I guess I'll have to turn in my detective's badge, huh?" she joked meekly.
"But we'll still let you practice medicine," Midge quipped. When she saw the tears in Cherry's eyes, she wished that for once she had kept her mouth shut. Golly, Cherry was as good a sport as they came!
"I'm the reason they knew about the jewels in the first place. Oh, Nancy, you must hate me!" Cherry cried. She burst into tears and flung herself on the bed. Nancy hurried to her side.
"Anyone could have made that same mistake," Nancy said as she hugged her pal to her bosom. "Don't worry. I have tons more jewelry."
"But the thieves got your diamond-studded, silver horseshoe-shaped brooch," Cherry wailed. "The one from your mother."
Nancy put on a stoic show. "Never mind," she said bravely. "There are more important things to worry about, like getting Hannah out of jail!" She charged out of the room and down the stairs, calling behind her, "If the blackmailer calls while I'm out, take a message." They heard the front door slam shut and the roar of the snappy convertible as Nancy sped off.