Cherry Ames Boxed Set 13-16

by Helen Wells

  “If only I could get around more,” Jane said, “I might try to locate a sample for you. This ankle slows me down so!”

  She said she had requested an additional week’s leave from her job in the East. One of her job prospects here was really shaping up. “But now this trouble about the old house—” Jane shook her head. “My mother and Bill keep writing to me, asking what’s the delay about the house and farm. I can’t bring myself to tell them of this ugly trouble.”

  And Cherry could not quite bring herself to tell Jane about her scary visit yesterday to the old farmhouse. She talked instead about Floyd, whom all three of them by now suspected. Of what, exactly? They felt he was mixed up in the medicine racket, but could not pin down their suspicions to anything tangible. Jane made a bold suggestion: confront Floyd point-blank with questions about the remedy and see how he reacted. Take him by surprise.

  Cherry and Dr. Hal objected. “Floyd would simply deny that he knew anything,” Hal said, “and then cover up every trace of his activities. Besides, we have no proof that it’s Floyd who is behind the whole thing. We don’t know who makes the drug, or where. We can’t give Food and Drug even that much of a lead.”

  Cherry had been watching the time. It was growing close to noon. “Excuse us, now, Jane. We have to drive back to Sauk, back to work.”

  On the chance that the Food and Drug inspector might reach Sauk earlier than two P.M., Cherry and Dr. Hal returned to the county health office to receive him. They had plenty of medical reports to study—“although I’d rather be visiting patients,” Cherry fretted, “and do the paperwork some evening.”

  As they came in, the clerk gave Cherry a telephone message. “Would you go right over to Mrs. Grisbee’s house? She called up a little while ago and said her husband is feeling sick all of a sudden. I advised her to call Dr. Clark, but she asked for you. She thinks you can give first aid, or whatever.”

  “I’ll go right away.” Cherry turned to Dr. Hal. “I won’t miss seeing Mr. Short, will I?”

  “Don’t worry, there’s time,” Dr. Hal said. “Besides, he’ll want to see you.”

  Cherry left the office with her nursing bag. She walked the three blocks to the Grisbees’ house. Phoebe Grisbee’s huge, out-of-date car was parked in front. It always reminded Cherry of a clumsy boat or a hearse.

  Phoebe Grisbee let her in and took her upstairs. She found Mr. Grisbee, in the front bedroom, nearly green in the face, sitting weakly on the bed.

  “Oh-h-h, I’m sick as a billy goat!” Henry Grisbee groaned. “Sick to my stomach—throwing up—diarrhea. I don’t know what’s come over me!”

  Cherry questioned him. What had he eaten? Had he taken any medicine?

  “We-ell, I did give Henry some remedy late yesterday afternoon,” Mrs. Grisbee said. She wiped his forehead. “I guess I’d better tell you the truth. Somebody talked me into giving Henry a dose—just a teeny trial dose—of that Nature’s Herb Cure. I never expected it to affect him like this!”

  “So that’s what he took. After all our warnings!”

  Cherry was surprised to see the fake remedy act so fast, but apparently Henry Grisbee was more susceptible to Salmonella bacteria than other individuals. He groaned that he’d taken only a few drops, but that was enough to upset him.

  “Where did you get the Nature’s Herb Cure?” Cherry asked. Phoebe Grisbee flushed and guiltily looked away. “You buy things occasionally from Old Snell,” Cherry persisted. “Did you buy this concoction from him, too?”

  “Well, he was here,” Mrs. Grisbee admitted. “Late yesterday afternoon, after dark.”

  The old pedlar had come out of hiding! And he was selling in town! This was the first time Cherry knew that he had tackled a town with the fake remedy. He’d find many more customers concentrated in Sauk than out in open country. His presence in Sauk meant the racket was spreading to a new and larger location. Spreading! What made the old pedlar so brazen?

  And how could Mrs. Grisbee, who knew better, have been so foolish as to buy and use the dangerous stuff? Cherry asked her that. Mrs. Grisbee said defensively:

  “Old Snell asked me not to be prejudiced, just to try it. He’s sold me other things that’ve done me good. I’m an old customer, and he saw that Mr. Grisbee was feeling poorly, so he gave him one little dose free. Just to try it.”

  “As a favor to you,” Cherry said dryly.

  “Well, he did me a favor. He left his usual route and came into Sauk especially to bring me some things I wanted.” Cherry did not believe the pedlar’s altruistic tale. “As long as he made a trip especially for me,” Mrs. Grisbee went on, “I felt I ought to buy something extra, or at least do something for him. So when he asked me just to let Henry try this Nature’s Herb Cure, I did.”

  Mr. Grisbee muttered, “Some favor to me!”

  Cherry shook her head. She set about taking his temperature, pulse, and respiration, and making the man as comfortable as possible. “We’d better call Dr. Clark,” Cherry said. Mrs. Grisbee nodded, and went downstairs to telephone the doctor.

  “Honestly,” Cherry said, when Mrs. Grisbee came upstairs again, “I’m surprised at you, letting Mr. Grisbee swallow such junk. You know better.”

  Mr. Grisbee groaned in agreement. Phoebe Grisbee said:

  “I—I thought the herbs in it made it all right. Snell was positive it would do Henry heaps of good. In fact, he was so certain that I’d want to buy a jar of it, he promised to wait for me at his shack in the woods tomorrow.”

  “He did!” What a piece of good luck! Why, that would give the Food and Drug man a chance to nab the pedlar!

  “He’ll be at the shack late tomorrow afternoon,” Mrs. Grisbee added.

  “Why tomorrow?” Cherry risked. She checked herself from saying that until now the old pedlar had apparently been hiding out, that this morning his shack had been closed up. “Why tomorrow especially?”

  “Oh, Snell told me he’s been staying and visiting with an old crony,” Mrs. Grisbee said, “but tomorrow he’s moving back to his own place.”

  Cherry was puzzled about the sudden boldness of the old pedlar. Why did he choose this particular time to come out of hiding? Why was he beginning to sell the remedy in the towns now?

  Phoebe Grisbee rattled on, trying to excuse herself. “Old Snell had a long list of word-of-mouth testimonials, from people I actually know here and across the river, so I thought—”

  “He’s selling across the river in Missouri, too? At present?”

  “Land’s sakes, yes! Said he has lots of new customers in Missouri.”

  Cherry stared at her. “Mrs. Grisbee, you’re entirely too trusting. Just because Snell is an old acquaintance! By the way, have you any Nature’s Herb Cure left?”

  “No. I never had any in the first place. Old Snell gave me a bit—a teaspoonful. Henry wouldn’t take but a taste. Why?”

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  Cherry prepared the patient for the doctor’s visit. Within a few minutes Dr. Aloysius Clark arrived. He examined and questioned Mr. Grisbee.

  “It looks to me,” Dr. Clark said, “as if you’re more miserable than sick.”

  It was a good thing, Dr. Clark remarked to Cherry, that Mr. Grisbee had taken very little of the fake remedy.

  As soon as the doctor no longer needed her, Cherry hurried back to the county health office.

  CHAPTER X

  A Ruse Is Set Up

  IF CHERRY HAD NOT BEEN EXPECTING THE FOOD AND Drug inspector, she would not have recognized the man talking with Dr. Hal as a special kind of detective. This quiet, studious-looking man seemed more like a scientist or a teacher.

  “Here she is,” Dr. Hal said, as Cherry came in, and both men rose. “Mr. Short, this is our county nurse, Cherry Ames. Cherry, the United States Food and Drug inspector—”

  “I’m Paul Short,” he said, and held out his hand to her. “Dr. Miller tells me that people here are taking this dangerous remedy in spite of a warning.” He spoke in a quiet, tho
ughtful way. “We’d better move quickly.”

  The three of them sat down around the desk. Cherry was bursting with the news that the pedlar would be back at his shack late tomorrow afternoon, but she of course waited to hear how the Food and Drug man would proceed.

  “The first thing I want to know,” Mr. Short said, “is who manufactures this Nature’s Herb Cure?”

  “We don’t know, sir,” Dr. Hal said. “We have a suspicion that it may be made at an abandoned farmhouse near here, but that’s only a suspicion. All we know for certain is that an old pedlar named Snell sells it secretly.”

  Hal handed the inspector the jar that Mrs. Swaybill had given Cherry. He explained that the manufacturer’s address on the label was a false one.

  Mr. Short read the label and shook his head. “The usual hokum. Crude directions for use, and the claims are fantastic. This is grounds for Food and Drug action.”

  Cherry asked, “Is this what you call misbranding?”

  “The worst kind,” Mr. Short said. “We could put someone in jail for this—if we could get an official sample.”

  He explained that an official sample was one that the Food and Drug inspector collects and seals, with a printed form on the seal that he fills out and signs. Although Mr. Short was most interested to see the jar that the county doctor and nurse had obtained, he had to obtain the official sample himself. Without it, the Food and Drug Administration could take no action.

  “Before we discuss that,” Mr. Short said, “you must tell me all you know about this remedy, particularly how it is being sold and falsely promoted. I realize,” the Food and Drug inspector added, “it’s not possible for you two to furnish me with complete evidence. That’s what I’m here for. Any leads you can give me—”

  Dr. Hal and Cherry told him what facts they knew. The inspector listened closely.

  “The Food and Drug Administration needs evidence. Proof,” he said. “We can accept your testimony, as competent medical persons, until we get our own sample and make our own analysis of the remedy. We absolutely must get an official sample. And what we need is proof that the pedlar is selling the stuff out of state.”

  Hal scowled, and Cherry guessed he was trying to think how to proceed with the search.

  “Have you any ideas about where I’ll be able to get an official sample?” Paul Short asked. “Our usual procedure is to go to the place of manufacture and inspect the premises, and take a sample. But we can’t do that since you’re not sure where this stuff is being made. Of course I could go have a look in the abandoned farmhouse, on a chance—”

  Cherry said, “If you’d like to try to get a sample from the pedlar, he’ll be waiting at his shack in the woods late tomorrow afternoon.”

  “He will!” Dr. Hal exclaimed, and Mr. Short’s eyes gleamed with interest. Hal demanded, “How come Snell will be there? How did you find out about it?”

  Cherry described her visit with Phoebe Grisbee.

  Paul Short gave Cherry an appraising look. “I have an idea what to do about that appointment, if it’s acceptable to Miss Ames. If you can persuade your friend, Mrs. Grisbee, to go to the pedlar’s shack—”

  “Why, I’ll—I’ll certainly ask Mrs. Grisbee to go and buy a jar of Nature’s Herb Cure from the pedlar for us. And I’ll do anything further I can to help.”

  “Anything? Do you mean that? If you’d be willing to take a risk, Miss Ames, I think we could move in on this case tomorrow afternoon. At the shack. But I warn you, it’s risky. I’m not urging you. It’ll be perfectly all right if you say no.”

  “Say no to what?” Hal asked.

  The inspector took a long breath. “This is the plan I have in mind. I want Cherry Ames to go with Mrs. Grisbee to the pedlar’s shack. I want her to pose as a patient. Pose as Mrs. Grisbee’s niece from another state, who’s been taken sick here. Buy some of the remedy from the pedlar on his claim that it will cure you. And buy it with the pedlar’s knowing that you plan to take it home with you to another state.” The inspector leaned toward them. “Do you see? That will give us the official sample, and will constitute proof of secret deliveries to out-of-state customers.”

  “But—but the pedlar knows who I am,” Cherry said. “He’d recognize me.”

  “That’s exactly where the risk comes in,” Mr. Short said. “You’d have to disguise yourself a little, and pretend to be sick.”

  “Cherry?” Hal asked. “Think you want to take such a risk? Snell is obviously an eccentric and may be dangerous. He might even be armed.”

  She was trying to think. She was aware of the danger, but that was not the main thing. She thought angrily of the hurt done to so many of her patients. She must not let Snell slip away.

  “You and Mrs. Grisbee wouldn’t go alone,” the Food and Drug inspector said. “I’d go with you, and whoever the local police could send—your sheriff or his deputy—someone to give you protection, someone who can make an arrest on my complaint.”

  “I’d go along, too,” Hal said to Cherry. “If you go.”

  The plan began to catch fire in her imagination. She thought of Phoebe Grisbee’s huge old sedan. It had plenty of room in the back seat for three men to sit on the floor, unseen. With three men along—

  “I’ll do it,” said Cherry.

  “Are you sure?” Mr. Short asked her. She nodded. “That’s wonderful! That will be invaluable help.”

  He coached her in detail as to what she and Phoebe Grisbee were to say and do. As for himself, he and the sheriff would have to get a warrant of arrest from the nearest federal court.

  “The nearest is in Des Moines,” Hal said.

  The Food and Drug inspector looked at his wristwatch. “It’s twenty to three now. The court closes at four, and opens again at ten in the morning. Let’s see. It took me approximately three and three-quarters hours today to drive the hundred and fifty or more miles from Des Moines to Sauk. That means seven and a half hours for the round trip. Figure about half an hour to get the warrant, and a little time to get meals and gas—” He broke off to ask, “Has Sauk got an airport? Or anyone with a private plane who’ll fly the sheriff and me to Des Moines?”

  “Unfortunately no,” Hal said.

  “Well, then,” Mr. Short said, “the sheriff and I had better start pretty soon for Des Moines, stay there overnight, get the warrant at ten, and drive back here tomorrow. I don’t want to risk being late for that appointment with Snell.”

  As important as it was to find and inspect the place where the drug was manufactured, Mr. Short decided that the chance to nab the pedlar and obtain an official sample was still more urgent. The question of the place of manufacture could wait for a few hours longer.

  Now that their plan of action was decided on, they talked for a few minutes about how Mr. Short worked. In order to do his job, he was highly trained in the organic sciences and in his particular kind of scientific crime detection techniques.

  “Sounds exciting,” Dr. Hal said.

  “Sometimes collecting samples is a little risky,” Paul Short said. “You’ll find out tomorrow afternoon. Incidentally, I wish you’d both still be alert for a sample, in case our ruse falls through. Though I think Snell will show up.”

  “Next thing,” said Cherry, “is to persuade Mrs. Grisbee to go along with our plan.”

  While Dr. Hal and Mr. Short went to another part of the courthouse building to see the sheriff, Cherry went to Phoebe Grisbee’s house.

  Thank goodness Henry Grisbee was asleep. Phoebe was surprised to see Cherry again so soon, even more surprised when Cherry asked her for a pledge of secrecy.

  “I’ll be quiet as the grave. Can’t I even tell your aunt or my husband about what we’re going to do?”

  “Not yet,” Cherry said. “Snell is breaking the law and making lots of people sick. Your husband, for instance. Snell is wanted by the federal government.”

  Phoebe Grisbee’s eyes and mouth opened. “Snell? A—a criminal? I thought he was just a poor lonely old backwood
s fellow—”

  She listened solemnly while Cherry told her the chief facts of the racket, and then outlined the Food and Drug man’s strategy for tomorrow afternoon.

  “Will you cooperate, Mrs. Grisbee? Will you take this risk in order to help yourself and your neighbors?”

  “Well, I do lots of community work—I guess tomorrow afternoon would be for the general welfare, too, wouldn’t it?” Phoebe Grisbee’s round face was very sober as she thought it over. “I could ask a neighbor to stay with my husband. All right, I’ll go. Though I don’t know what Mr. Grisbee will say when he finds out.”

  “Good for you!” Cherry squeezed her plump hand. “I’ll come back here tomorrow around four.”

  “I’ll have some clothes ready for you to wear as a disguise,” Phoebe Grisbee said. “Mercy! We’ll both of us have to do a good piece of play acting.”

  From Mrs. Grisbee’s house, Cherry notified Dr. Hal that her aunt’s friend would take part in the plan. Mr. Short and the sheriff had already left for Des Moines. Then Cherry drove out into the country to see her nursing cases.

  It would be just today, when she was preoccupied, that a rural storekeeper told her of a new family with a crippled child. Rumor said that the little boy had had polio a year ago; he wore a brace and limped. The family had just moved into the county, and the other children wondered why he did not come to school.

  Cherry drove to where the road ended, then got out of her car and walked. She found, on an under-developed farm, a brave family and a seriously handicapped boy of seven.

  There was no possibility of his travelling to school. A teacher would have to come to him. Or, Cherry realized, the doctors might decide eventually to send Billy to a crippled children’s hospital, or to the University Hospital for surgery, where his deformity might be corrected. She told the family of the good work done by the State Services for Crippled Children, a team of specialists who came from the University of Iowa Hospital to hold clinics in various parts of the state. It was the county nurse’s job to find patients and prepare them for the team’s visit.