The Swami's Ring

Table of Contents

 

 

WHEN an amnesia victim arrives at Rosemont Hospital in River Heights, Nurse Lisa Scotti contacts her friend, Nancy Drew. The young man was found injured, at the bottom of a cliff, with no identification and no memory of what happened to him. A thorough search of his knapsack, however, turns up an unusual ring, much too large for the mysterious stranger to wear.

Learning that the ring is of Hindu origin, Nancy sets off on a trail of danger as she searches for the man’s forgotten identity. Before long, she is caught up in another assignment. A plea from a beautiful harpist has Nancy looking for the troublemakers who are determined to boycott the River Heights Summer Music Festival. Nancy’s discoveries reveal an important connection between the hospital patient, the harpist, and enemies from abroad.

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Copyright © 1981 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. Published in 2005

by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-07762-7

“Nancy, would you come over to Rosemont Hospital and help solve a mystery?”

Mystery! That was all the girl detective needed to hear from her former schoolmate, Lisa Scotti, who was now a nurse.

“Sounds exciting,” Nancy said eagerly. “Tell me about it.”

“A young man was just brought into emergency with bad bruises. He has amnesia—can’t remember who he is, where he has been, where he was going, or what happened.”

“Who found him?” Nancy asked.

“Some people from out of state. They had stopped along a wooded highway near the airport to stretch their legs and discovered him at the bottom of a cliff. Apparently, he fell or was pushed off. I’m surprised he doesn’t have any broken bones.”

“Me too,” Nancy said, adding quickly, “I’ll be right over. ‘Bye—”

“Wait—don’t hang up,” Lisa interrupted. “Visiting hours don’t begin until eleven.”

Nancy glanced at her wristwatch. It was only ten o‘clock.

“In that case, why don’t I offer to do some volunteer work at Rosemont? Then I’ll be able to see Cliff almost anytime.”

Lisa giggled. “How did you know that’s what all us nurses call him?”

“I didn’t.” Nancy laughed.

“Meet you on the fifth floor. Cliffs in Room 502.”

As soon as Lisa clicked off, Nancy dialed the hospital phone number. Since she had attended an orientation program for Rosemont volunteers the previous summer, she was no stranger to the hospital. Surely she could start right away. At least, she hoped so.

“Nancy dear,” Hannah called out when the girl dropped the receiver into its cradle, “would you rather have fish or fowl for dinner?”

“I’ll take either so long as it’s garnished with savory clues!” Nancy teased.

“Now be serious,” Mrs. Gruen replied, poking her head out of the kitchen.

Over the years, a warm and wonderful cam eraderie had grown between the young woman and the Drews’ housekeeper. She had helped rear Nancy since the girl was three, when Mrs. Drew had passed away.

“I am being serious.” Nancy smiled. Her blue eyes almost danced as sunlight captured her pretty face and reddish-blond hair.

“Don’t tell me you’re off on a mystery of your own before you finish the case you and your dad are working on,” Hannah replied saucily. She was hoping the answer would be no. “What will your father say?”

Carson Drew was a prominent attorney in River Heights who had recently become embroiled in problems of the town’s summer music festival. The evening before, he had told Nancy his fear that it might be forced to close because of a squabble among some performers. As he frequently did, Mr. Drew asked his gifted eighteen-year-old daughter for advice.

“If you mean that Dad’s going to worry whether I’ll have time to work on two mysteries at the same time—” Nancy started to say.

“That’s precisely what I mean.”

Nancy did not agree, however. She knew how Hannah worried about her, but could not help teasing her once in a while.

“When Dad comes home, tell him I’m in the hospital.”

“What?” the woman gulped.

“Not as a patient, though.”

The housekeeper shook her head while Nancy pecked her cheek and said good-bye. Driving across town, she noticed the billboard announcement for the River Heights Music Festival, but kept her thoughts concentrated on Rosemont Hospital, where she shortly found herself.

After parking the car, she hurried into the building to register as a volunteer, then went directly to an elevator and pressed the button. The door slid open a moment later, but as she stepped forward, a large, burly man with a heavy, black beard shoved her aside.

“Hey—” she cried as the stranger hurried ahead and pushed an inside button, but the door closed before Nancy could enter. She glanced up at the bank of lights overhead. “He’s stopping at the fifth floor!” she murmured. “I hope I don’t bump into him again!”

It seemed to take forever for the elevator to return, but at last the young detective was on her way upstairs. Lisa was waiting for her.

“Some creep got off the elevator a minute ago,” the nurse said, “and practically knocked me down.”

“That makes two of us,” Nancy replied as they walked toward Room 502.

When they were within a few feet of Cliff’s room, they heard short, quick gasps and ran inside.

“Oh, no! Stop!” Lisa shrieked when she saw the hands of the bearded stranger clutching at Cliffs neck.

“Get away from him!” Nancy demanded. She and Lisa grabbed the man’s arms.

Angrily, he wrenched himself away from the girls. “Where’s the ring you stole?” he growled at Cliff.

“I’m going to call the police if you don‘t—” Lisa threatened.

Now the man stiffened. He loosened his fingers from Cliffs neck, allowing the patient to slip back against the pillow. Cliff moaned softly and opened his eyes halfway, only to shut them again.

“Who are you?” Nancy asked the intruder.

He whirled on his heels and stormed out into the corridor.

“Come back here!” Nancy insisted. She hurried after him as fast as she could, but his long legs carried him swiftly away from her into the elevator which now descended.

Instantly, Nancy dashed through the stair-well door. She raced down the steps, taking two at a time, and upon reaching the main floor, burst across the lobby to the entrance.

“Oh!” she muttered in disappointment. The stranger had disappeared into a waiting tan-colored car with a blue racing stripe on the trunk. The vehicle sped down the street.

Puffs of exhaust from the tail pipe succeeded in covering up the license plate so that Nancy could not decipher it. Disgusted, she returned to Cliffs room, where Lisa was giving him a small cup of water.

“This is my friend, Nancy Drew,” the young nurse said, introducing the two.

The patient, a rugged-faced man with light brown hair, nodded weakly. “I wish I could tell you my name,” he said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Cliff will do for the time being,” Nancy replied. “You had a pretty rough experience just a few minutes ago. Do you know who that man was?”

“No, not at all.”

“Nancy is an amateur detective,” Lisa quickly inserted, “and she wants to help you.”

Cliff smiled again. “Tell me about some of your cases.”

The girl detective blushed modestly.

“As a matter of fact,” Lisa put in, “Nancy has been out of the country for her two most recent mysteries. She found
The Secret in the Old Lace
in Belgium and went to Greece to decipher
The Greek Symbol Mystery.”

“You have an excellent memory,” Nancy remarked, suddenly realizing what she had said. “Oh, I’m sorry, Cliff.”

“This old head’s not that sensitive.” The patient chuckled. “I’m sure my memory was at least as good as yours, Nancy—once upon a time.”

Before she could say more, he closed his eyes sleepily and Lisa beckoned Nancy out into the corridor.

“I’d like to tell Bess and George about all of this,” Nancy said.

Bess Marvin and George Fayne were cousins and Nancy’s closest friends who often helped her solve mysteries.

“The more brains we get thinking about Cliffs identity,” Lisa answered, “the quicker we’ll find out who he is.”