Nancy was thinking fast. She decided to avoid Mr. Stromberg if possible and follow the man with the manuscript. “And I’ll notify the police about both of them,” she told herself.
Nancy wriggled from under the desk, then tip-toed across the room and cautiously raised the trap door. Lying flat on the floor, she gazed into the cellar below. A bright light in the ceiling gave her a clear view of the place. No one was in sight.
“That man must have gone out the cellar door to the street,” the young sleuth concluded. “Well, I’ll do the same thing!”
Quickly she let herself down onto the narrow stairs and closed the trap door after her. Nancy descended and made her way to the front of the cellar. As she came out on the sidewalk Nancy felt sure that the manuscript thief could not be far away. She looked up, then down the street just in time to see the slender man disappear around the corner. She started running after him.
“Nancy!” cried a voice behind her, and a second later Bess and George caught up to her. “You had us scared silly!” Bess scolded. “What’s going on?”
Nancy stopped short. Over her friend’s shoulder she caught sight of Mr. Stromberg who was standing in the door of his shop looking at her angrily. Bess and George had revealed her getaway!
At once Nancy decided to give up the chase. “I can’t explain now,” she said. “Bess, go across the street to that drugstore and telephone Captain Gray. Tell him I have pretty good evidence that Mr. Stromberg is involved in some racket and ask him to send detectives here at once. Meanwhile, George and I will guard the store and cellar exits, so Mr. Stromberg can’t get away.”
By this time the shop owner had gone back inside. Bess hurried off to do the errand, as George and Nancy took up their posts. But Mr. Stromberg did not reappear. Within ten minutes two officers, Willet and Fisher, arrived. Nancy quickly explained the situation.
“We’ll go in and talk to Mr. Stromberg,” Officer Willet said. They entered, but were back in two minutes. “Mr. Stromberg isn’t there,” he reported.
Nancy frowned. “Did you look in the cellar? He may be hiding.”
“Yes, we looked down there. Nobody around except that clerk in the shop. She’s scared out of her wits and says she doesn’t know where Mr. Stromberg went.”
“There’s only one answer,” said Nancy. “There must be a secret exit.”
While Officer Fisher remained to guard the street doors of the bookshop, Officer Willet accompanied the three girls into the shop. They went at once to the back room.
“There’s a wall safe behind that carton,” said Nancy. “Maybe there’s another opening behind something else.”
Against the far wall stood a very tall packing case. Nancy dashed over and peered behind it. “Here’s the answer,” she said. “There’s a door leading outside. Mr. Stromberg must have escaped this way.”
The officer and the girls squeezed behind the packing case and opened the door. They found themselves in the rear yard of a department store. They ran across it and went into the service entrance. No one was around.
“Luck was with Mr. Stromberg,” Officer Willet said grimly.
The service entrance opened into the shipping room piled high with packages awaiting delivery. No shipping clerks seemed to be on duty. The officer and the girls rushed ahead until they came to swinging doors which opened into the first floor of the department store.
“Mr. Stromberg made an easy getaway,” Willet remarked. “We may as well give up the chase and find him by some other method.”
“You mean at his home?” George asked.
The officer nodded. He and the girls walked around the block until they came to the front of the bookshop. Officer Fisher was amazed to see the four arrive from this new direction. They quickly explained what had happened, then he reported that no one had come out of either entrance to the bookstore.
“Let’s go back and see the clerk,” Nancy proposed.
They entered the shop once more and Officer Willet asked the girl clerk where Mr. Stromberg lived.
“I—I d-don’t k-know,” the girl stammered. “I don’t want to stay here. I don’t like it. Please let me go home!”
“Not yet,” the officer told her. “But don’t be frightened. We’ll take care of you. We just want you to tell us everything you know about Mr. Stromberg.”
“N-nothing,” the girl replied. “I was sent here by an employment agency that has my name. He called up for a clerk. He said another girl had worked here only a few hours.”
“That’s true,” Nancy said.
Officer Willet looked through the desk for a clue to where Mr. Stromberg lived, but found nothing. He picked up a book of customers’ names and read them carefully.
“I’ll phone some of these people to see if they know where Mr. Stromberg lives,” he said.
“I’d suggest that you try Mrs. Horace Truesdale first. She was in here two different times when I was, and seemed to know him well.”
This attempt to locate the bookshop owner failed completely. Mrs. Truesdale said she had no idea where he lived. Other customers gave the same answer.
“I’ll try some of the neighboring stores,” the officer said, and went out. But he came back in a short time and reported that Mr. Stromberg, who had rented the shop six months before, was known as a very uncommunicative person and no one in the other shops knew where he lived.
“We’re stymied for the time being,” George admitted. “But we’ll get those crooks yet!”
Officer Willet smiled. “I like your enthusiasm. I hope we can live up to your hopes.”
Before leaving the shop, Nancy telephoned Captain Gray to tell him the unfortunate result of her endeavors to apprehend the suspects. He sympathized with her, then remarked philosophically :
“That’s a detective’s life! But we never give up.”
He now reported that the police still had no clue to Chi Che Soong’s whereabouts. Furthermore, according to the detective guarding the entrance to Aunt Eloise’s apartment house, no suspicious person had been seen there.
“But something is bound to break soon,” Captain Gray said. “We have so many police working on the case they’re sure to find at least one of the suspects.”
As the three girls started for Aunt Eloise Drew’s apartment, all admitted to being a bit downcast. They had failed to learn anything more to help solve the mystery of Chi Che Soong’s disappearance.
“Nancy,” George said, “if that
was
the manuscript you saw being taken from the safe, why is Chi Che still being kept away from home?”
“I’m afraid,” Nancy replied, “there’s another reason for her disappearance besides someone wanting to get hold of Grandpa Soong’s work. I believe Chi Che inadvertently found out about some kind of racket, and the gang involved is giving her no chance to report it to the police.”
Bess sighed. “Oh, dear! The poor girl!”
That evening Nancy received a telephone call from Lily Alys Wu. The Chinese girl asked what progress had been made on the case. Upon hearing the latest developments, she expressed her own great concern about Chi Che.
“What’s worse,” she added, “I’ve seen Mr. Soong, and I’m afraid he senses now that something is wrong. He doesn’t seem too well and he isn’t doing any writing.”
“How dreadful!” Nancy exclaimed. “I’ll run up to the hospital as soon as I can and try to cheer him a bit.”
“What do you think Mr. Stromberg is going to do now?” Lily Alys asked.
Nancy thought a few seconds, then replied, “I’m afraid he and his pals may skip the country. It’s my guess they may even go to Hong Kong.”
Suddenly Lily Alys broke in excitedly, “Nancy, I just thought of something that may help you solve the mystery!”
CHAPTER XII
Flight Plans
“WHILE I was working in the bookshop,” Lily Alys told Nancy, “I walked to the back room to ask Mr. Stromberg a question. Just like the other time I told you about, he was talking on the phone in a low tone.
“But I caught one thing he said that might have something to do with your case. He said to the other person, ‘You have your ticket? No one will ㅡwith all those students.’ I didn’t catch the one part of the sentence.” Lily Alys asked Nancy what she thought the missing word might be.
“It could be any number of things,” Nancy said slowly. “Of course it might be something completely innocent. But if Mr. Stromberg were talking to one of the gang, the missing part might have been ‘recognize you’ or ‘suspect you.’ ”
“It probably was,” the Chinese girl agreed. “I wonder who the person could have been?”
“And I wonder,” said Nancy, “what the ticket is for. It might be for travel, for the theater, for some sports event—”
“That is one reason I called you,” Lily Alys broke in quickly. “I said maybe I could help you. On a certain flight to Hong Kong from New York, the whole tourist section of the plane has been reserved for Chinese and American students from Columbia University.”
Nancy was excited over the information. “Only I doubt that any students are mixed up in this racket of Mr. Stromberg’s.”
Lily Alys said she was not thinking of the tourist section of the plane. “The first-class section is open to all passengers. I thought the person Mr. Stromberg was talking to might possibly be among those people.”
Nancy was thrilled. “Lily Alys, I believe this is a stroke of genius on your part. How soon does this plane leave?”
“In three days. It’s for a ten-day vacation in Hong Kong.” Lily Alys chuckled softly. “I understand that the tourist section has not been entirely filled. Perhaps, if you care to go to Hong Kong yourself, I can arrange for you to have one of the seats.”
Nancy felt a surge of excitement over this possibility. She thanked Lily Alys and said she would let her know if she wanted a reservation. “As a matter of fact, my father and I were planning to go to Hong Kong sometime soon. Maybe we could take this flight!”
“But the tourist section is only for students,” Lily Alys reminded the young sleuth.
“My father could go first class,” Nancy told her. “He might spot the suspect without being recognized. I’ll try to obtain a list of the passengers who have signed up so far.”
“Do you think Mr. Stromberg may be one of them?” the Chinese girl asked.
“Possibly,” Nancy replied. “But if so, I’m sure he’ll be traveling under an assumed name and I would have to see him to identify him. But I can alert the police, anyway, and also tell them other members of the gang may be aboard.”
She thanked Lily Alys for the helpful informamation, then at once called Captain Gray. He too felt that perhaps Nancy had picked up an important clue. “I’ll call you back and read you the list of first-class passengers,” he promised, “as soon as I get them.”
Hardly half an hour had gone by when he telephoned. The passengers’ names were in alphabetical order and none was familiar to Nancy until he came to the T’s.
“Mrs. Horace Truesdale!” Nancy exclaimed.
“You know her?” the officer asked quickly.
“Well, no, not exactly. But twice I saw her in Stromberg’s Bookshop. She seemed to be a regular customer.”
“That doesn’t prove anything, of course,” Captain Gray said. “Nevertheless, I will find out more about her and let you know.” He read the rest of the list of passengers but none was known to Nancy.
Within a short time the officer once more called Nancy, this time to report that there was nothing suspicious about Mrs. Horace Truesdale. She was a widow who lived alone in a middle-class apartment house. “She’s reputed to be a great reader and often goes on trips to visit friends.”
The officer finished his conversation by telling Nancy that there still was no news on any of the suspects in the Chi Che Soong case. “But members of the force will be on hand to watch everyone boarding the plane to Hong Kong.”
Later that evening Nancy telephoned her father and asked him how soon he was going to Hong Kong. The lawyer chuckled. “ ‘Fess up, my dear. What’s on your mind?”
His daughter laughed, then quickly related the entire story regarding recent developments in the mystery and told him of the flight to Hong Kong which some Columbia students were taking.
“I’d like to go on the flight,” Nancy said. “And, Dad, I wish that you would go along in the first-class section. You could look over the passengers to see if you think any of them might be suspects.”
After a pause, Mr. Drew said, “I believe I could leave here in a couple of days. That would work out very nicely. I really should get to Hong Kong to interview the heirs involved in that contested will I told you about.”
After further conversation, father and daughter agreed that it might be wise if the two traveled as if they were strangers.
“I’m sure,” the lawyer added, “that the plan will work out to good advantage.”
Nancy said she had another request to make. “I’d love to have Bess and George accompany us.”
Mr. Drew approved this idea at once. “The girls will not only help you, but may prove to be a safety factor. I’ll phone the Marvins and Faynes and find out if they’ll give permission.”
“Wonderfull” Nancy exclaimed. Then she giggled, saying as she had done ever since she was a little girl, “I’ll keep my fingers crossed!”
“I suppose,” said Mr. Drew, “that you will want to make your own reservations through Columbia University. I’ll let you know the result of my calls to Bess’s and George’s families. Then you can borrow money from your Aunt Eloise to purchase the tickets.”
“And I’ll notify Ned Nickerson of our coming,” Nancy added. “He can arrange accommodations for us in Hong Kong.”
“A good idea,” Mr. Drew approved. “But I think I had better do this, in case you’re being watched. One of the gang might pick up the information.”
“All right, Dad.”
Within an hour Mr. Drew called back to say that Bess and George had been given permission to go on the trip.
Nancy’s chums were elated. “Oh, boy!” George cried. “If Chi Che is in Hong Kong, what a ball we’ll have while finding her!”