The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (4 page)

Nancy gazed into space for several seconds, then said, “Aunt Eloise, I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do. But I think there’s a good chance the thief or some accomplice of his may come back to the Soong apartment to try stealing something else. What I’d like to do is spend the rest of the night there and find out.”

Miss Drew shook her head. “It’s too dangerous,” she argued. “I’d never forgive myself if anything should happen to you.”

“George can stay with me,” Nancy said, by way of persuasion. “I’ll place a chair under the door handle so no one can possibly get in. If I hear anyone trying the door, I’ll call the police.”

George spoke up. “Why call the police? Why don’t you and I just go out and capture the thief?”

Before Miss Drew could comment, Bess remarked, “It’s just possible Chi Che herself will return and won’t be able to get in.”

“That’s true,” Aunt Eloise conceded. “Chi Che may have been held and her key to the apartment taken just so the thief could accomplish the job of taking the manuscript.”

Bess’s eyes sparkled. “And Chi Che will be released! Won’t that be wonderful!”

“I wish I shared your optimism,” said Aunt Eloise. “Just in case she should come home and try to get in, I’ll permit Nancy and George to finish the night in the Soong apartment.”

Bess went on, “Do you think the part of Chi Che’s note ‘Because I have found out that—’ meant the plan to steal the manuscript?”

Nancy shook her head. “Unless Chi Che returns home tomorrow morning, my answer would be ‘no.’ ”

Nancy and George slept fitfully the balance of the night. By seven o’clock they were wide awake. They were just about to go back to Aunt Eloise’s apartment when the Soongs’ door buzzer sounded. George jumped perceptibly. Without making a sound she formed her lips into the words, “Shall we answer it?”

Nancy shook her head. Beckoning to George to follow her, she led the way to the adjoining apartment, opened the hall door, and peered out cautiously.

Quickly and quietly Nancy Drew closed the door to her aunt’s apartment. In hushed tones she told George about the caller. “Just as well if Mr. Stromberg doesn’t find out where we’re staying,” she whispered.

Mr. Stromberg rang the buzzer again. Then, apparently deciding that no one was coming to answer it, he walked to the elevator.

“I suppose he came here to see why Chi Che hasn’t returned to work,” George remarked. “He sure gets around early in the morning.”

Nancy frowned. “I wonder how Mr. Stromberg got into the apartment house. He didn’t ring the downstairs bell to the Soong apartment.”

George shrugged. “Oh, well, someone was probably just going out the lobby door at the time he arrived, and that’s how he got in.”

Aunt Eloise and Bess were already up, and Nancy and George became conscious of the aroma of broiling bacon. They went into the kitchen and reported Mr. Stromberg’s visit.

“You were wise not to let him know where you are, Nancy,” her aunt praised her.

About an hour later the telephone rang. “Will you take it, Nancy?” Aunt Eloise requested. “I’m sorry I forgot to tell you. I must go out to an all-day teachers’ meeting.”

Miss Drew paused by the door long enough to learn that it was a call from police headquarters. Captain Gray was reporting that the fingerprints of the burglar had been checked with FBI records. “Whoever the thief was,” he said, “he has never been arrested.”

The captain went on to say that his men had checked every tenant in the apartment house with the superintendent and also the renting agent in charge of the building. “We’re sure the suspect doesn’t live there,” he stated.

“Thank you for letting me know,” said Nancy. “And I am still very much interested in this case. If you have any further news, I’d appreciate hearing from you.”

The officer chuckled. “I understand you are an amateur sleuth, Miss Drew,” he said. “I heard this from Dr. Gordon when he called up to give a report on Mr. Soong. It seems your aunt had been telling him about you.”

Nancy laughed. “I see I can’t keep that a secret. Well, now that you know, I hope you won’t mind if I try to solve the mystery, too.”

“The department would be delighted to have your help,” Captain Gray replied.

After clearing away the breakfast dishes, the three girls tidied up not only Aunt Eloise’s apartment but also Grandpa Soong’s. Time dragged as they waited hopefully for Chi Che Soong to return home. Near noon Nancy finally said:

“I’m sure Chi Che is still either being held prisoner or is in hiding. Whichever is true, we must find her! Let’s have a bite of lunch and then start our sleuthing.”

She turned to George. “Are you ready to play the part of Chi Che?”

“OF COURSE I’ll play the part,” said George Fayne.

“But I must admit that I’m getting butterflies in my stomach.”

The three girls decided to look through Chi Che Soong’s clothes for the dress Chi Che was wearing in the photograph Grandpa Soong had shown them. As much as they disliked the thought of invading the Chinese girl’s wardrobe, Nancy and her friends felt it was quite necessary if they were to solve the mystery.

Bess opened the door of a closet in Chi Che’s bedroom. “Here’s the dress.”

As she removed the dress from its hanger she remarked how pretty it was. “And ummm, what a sweet sachet it’s scented with—like incense.”

“And now to find Chi Che’s eyebrow pencil and rouge and lipstick, if she has any here.”

George opened the drawer to Chi Che’s dressing table. “We’re in luck again,” she said. “And look, here’s a key. It might be a duplicate to the hall door. I’d better carry it, so I can let myself back in.”

Nancy tried the key in the lock. “This is it all right. Well, let’s go back to our own apartment now and fix you up, George.”

It was easy to apply the make-up and have George slip into the dress, but changing her hairdo proved to be a difficult task. The ends just would not turn forward and stay in position.

“What do you put on your hair, anyway?” Bess chided her cousin. “Varnish?”

“No, cement,” George replied impishly. Then she said the best thing to do would be to rinse her hair with water and set it while damp.

“But that will ruin your make-up and this dress,” Bess objected.

“Not necessarily,” said Nancy. “Come with me, George.”

She led the way to the bathroom, put a towel around George’s shoulders, and told her to lean over the basin. Quickly and carefully Nancy rinsed her friend’s hair and partially dried it before George raised her head. Now Nancy found it easy to arrange a hairdo very similar to Chi Che’s.

When she finished, Bess exclaimed in wonder, “I can’t believe it! You really do look like the girl in this picture, George.” Suddenly she made a low bow. “Delighted to meet you, Chi Che Soong!”

The girls giggled for a few moments, then became serious and discussed the route George was to follow. She would leave the Soong apartment, take the elevator down, dawdle in the lobby until Nancy and Bess appeared, then stroll out into the street. She was to walk directly to the hospital, as if she were going to visit “her grandfather.”

“But when you get inside the hospital, hide in the gift shop,” Nancy directed. “Bess and I will really call on Grandpa Soong and find out how he is. Wait for us to come back downstairs.”

“Then after that,” said George, “I’m to stroll on to Columbia University and walk around the campus. If somewhere along the line a suspicious person speaks to me or follows me, you two girls will do the rest.”

“That’s right,” Nancy replied. “Let’s go!”

Almost from the moment George appeared on the street, with Nancy and Bess following at a safe distance, people began to stare at the attractive “Chinese” girl. But no one stopped to speak to her or seemed to be following.

Nancy and Bess were beginning to think that perhaps their experiment was going to be a failure, when Bess suddenly grabbed her friend’s arm. “Look at the man in that car!” she whispered tensely. “See how slowly he’s going! And he’s sure staring at George—I mean Chi Che.”

The car, a dark-blue hardtop, was hugging the curb. The driver was about twenty-five years old. He was slender and dark, but not an Oriental. He drove slowly as far as the hospital, watched “Chi Che” go in, then drove off.

“Do you think he might be connected with the case?” Bess asked Nancy.

“I don’t know. We can’t very well follow him, but I did get his license number.”

The two girls walked into the hospital. They stopped at the desk to inquire the number of Mr. Soong’s room, received passes to see him, then took the elevator upstairs.

The elderly man looked better and expressed his delight at seeing the callers. He said the doctor had told him he must remain in the hospital at least a week, maybe longer.

“Since I must stay here, I am asking you, Nancy, to bring my mail to me. And will you please answer my phone? There may be word from Chi Che. So far I have had none and do not know where to reach her.”

“I’ll be very happy to do that,” Nancy answered. Grandpa Soong told the girls that a nurse had brought him a message a short time before from Mr. Stromberg. He had telephoned to find out how the patient was.

“I have never met him,” said the archaeologist, “so I consider it very kind that he has taken an interest in me.”

Nancy and Bess wondered how the bookshop owner had learned of the attack on Mr. Soong. Had someone at the apartment house told him?

On the bureau in the room stood a beautiful bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums. When Bess admired them, Grandpa Soong said, “I do not know who sent them. The card of good wishes which came with the flowers has no name on it.”

“How strange!” Nancy remarked. “May I see the card?”

“Certainly. It is in the top drawer of the bureau.”

As Nancy took out the card, she gave an involuntary start. In the lower right-hand comer was a hand-painted dragon! Printed on the card were the words: “Best wishes for a speedy recovery.”

Nancy turned to Mr. Soong. “Surely you must have an idea who sent these?”

“Only a guess,” he answered. “The person who gave my Chi Che the stationery may have heard of my illness and sent the flowers, but did not want me to feel obligated to write a note of thanks.”

Nancy was glad that Grandpa Soong had no suspicions regarding the sender of the flowers. She herself was worried. The user of the dragon stationery obviously knew that Mr. Soong was in the hospital. Did this mean that the person had something to do with the attack?

Trying not to show her true feelings, the young sleuth said lightly, “Well, Grandpa Soong, you must have an unknown admirer. Isn’t that exciting!”

She slipped the card back into the drawer and closed it.

“We must go now,” she told Mr. Soong. “But we’ll come again soon and make a longer visit.”

“I shall look forward to seeing you. And I hope next time you will bring some letter or message from my Chi Che,” Grandpa Soong added wistfully, handing Nancy the key to his lobby mailbox.

“Oh, something is bound to arrive,” said Bess cheerfully. But as the girls walked down the hall to the elevator, she whispered to Nancy, “I wish I could have meant that. To tell the truth, I don’t like the looks of things at all.”

“It certainly is a puzzling situation,” Nancy admitted. “Well, let’s see what happens from here on.”

“I’ll tell you what may happen,” Bess said. “If some of the Chinese students we met yesterday at Columbia see us and think Chi Che is with us, and then find out she’s not Chi Che, it will give the whole thing away!”

Nancy agreed, and said that she and Bess would stay far enough behind George not to arouse any suspicion. When they reached the lobby, they walked into one door of the gift shop. George, seeing them, left by another. They followed a few seconds later.

When the girls reached the Columbia campus, George smiled at various students as they came along. Suddenly she was thrilled to have someone wave to her from a distance and call out, “Good to see you back, Chi Che!”

Nancy and Bess had heard the remark. “The disguise is working!” Bess whispered excitedly.

As they went on, over a dozen young men and women students, some Oriental, others American, also waved and called to “Chi Che.”

“Oh, isn’t this exciting!” Bess exclaimed.

“Yes, but it doesn’t seem to be leading us to the real Chi Che,” Nancy replied.

The words were hardly out of her mouth when a young man, tall, red-haired, and very slender, rushed up to George. As he reached her he cried out, “How did you get away, Chi Che Soong? You little fool!”

Bess grabbed Nancy’s arm. What was going to happen now?