The Strange Message in the Parchment Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER I - Stolen!

  CHAPTER II - Triple Creek Farm

  CHAPTER III - Plaintive Bleating

  CHAPTER IV - Eezy Shaw

  CHAPTER V - Bird Attack

  CHAPTER VI - “No Speak English!”

  CHAPTER VII - A Mean Ram

  CHAPTER VIII - The Mystery Boy’s Story

  CHAPTER IX - Midnight Thief

  CHAPTER X - Running Footprints

  CHAPTER XI - A Tough Suspect

  CHAPTER XII - Telltale Glove

  CHAPTER XIII - A Paint Disaster

  CHAPTER XIV - Important Information

  CHAPTER XV - Secret Notes

  CHAPTER XVI - Reinforcements

  CHAPTER XVII - A Denial and a Chase

  CHAPTER XVIII - The First Confession

  CHAPTER XIX - A Strange Reunion

  CHAPTER XX - Found Money

  THE STRANGE MESSAGE IN THE PARCHMENT

  A SHEEP farmer receives a mysterious telephone call shortly after he buys a series of pictures painted on parchment. “Decipher the message in the parchment and right a great wrong,” the voice says. Puzzled, the owner asks Nancy to help.

  With Junie, his daughter, Nancy tracks down a kidnapper and a group of extortionists. Clues weave in and out of several puzzles, two of which are linked with Italy. Is there a connection between the message in the parchment and a boy artist on another farm? And who is responsible for the atmosphere of fear in the neighborhood?

  After several harrowing experiences, Nancy begins to tighten the net around a ruthless villain and calls on the assistance of her friends Ned, Burt, Dave, Bess and George to bring his nefarious schemes to a dead end.

  The ram got ready to toss Nancy into the air.

  Copyright © 1977 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

  Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam & Grosset Group, New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A. NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-07755-9

  2007 Printing

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  CHAPTER I

  Stolen!

  “IT’S perfectly beautiful!” Nancy exclaimed.

  She was standing in front of a long mirror in the Drew hallway, admiring herself in a sheepskin jacket. Near her stood a girl of the same age, eighteen. The two were of identical height and slender, but Nancy was a strawberry blond with blue eyes, while the other girl had brown hair and eyes.

  “Junie Flockhart, you’re a darling!” Nancy said, hugging her friend, a former schoolmate. Junie’s family had moved many miles away, to a large sheep farm.

  Junie smiled. “You know, Nancy, you were always one of my father’s favorites. When I told him I was coming here to visit, he sent you this gift. By the way, how would you like to solve a mystery for him?”

  Nancy’s eyes sparkled. A mystery!

  At this moment a motherly, middle-aged woman came into the hallway to greet Junie and admire the sheepskin jacket. She was Hannah Gruen, the Drews’ housekeeper, who had been a mother to Nancy since the girl was three and her own mother had passed away.

  “Did your father make the jacket?” Hannah asked Junie.

  “Yes,” she replied. “At one end of Triple Creek Farm he has a factory that produces sheepskin articles. Dad also makes parchment from the sheep’s skins.

  “He has a marvelous collection of parchments from all over the world,” Junie went on. “Some are very old. A few have illuminated writing on them in foreign languages; others have beautiful painted pictures.”

  “I’d love to see them,” Nancy put in.

  “You will if you come home with me to solve the mystery. My father has a parchment that has four lovely small paintings on it. He is intrigued by the parchment because of a strange phone call he received soon after he bought it. A man who didn’t give his name said the picture had a message. Anyone who could figure it out would bring happiness and comfort to several people, and right an old wrong.”

  “That’s strange,” Nancy replied. “If the man knew this, why didn’t he tell the whole story?”

  “He hung up abruptly,” Junie answered, “as if someone had approached him and he couldn’t say any more. Everyone in our family has tried and failed to decipher the meaning of the picture.”

  “I’d like to try to solve the mystery,” Nancy said. “When do I start?”

  “As soon as you can get ready. And say, why don’t we have a house party? Ned, Burt, Dave, Bess, George, and my date, Dan. I know you’ll like him.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” Nancy replied. “What do you think, Hannah?”

  Mrs. Gruen smiled. “The instant I heard there was a mystery to solve at Triple Creek Farm, I knew you’d want to go. I think the idea is great. If your father hasn’t any special work for his sleuthing daughter, I’m sure he’ll agree.”

  Nancy took off the sheepskin jacket and laid it on a chair in the living room for her father to see when he came home. Then she went upstairs with Hannah and Junie to look through her closet and select appropriate clothing for the trip.

  “Don’t bother with a lot of dresses,” Junie said. “At the farm we just about live in jeans, shirts, and jackets.”

  All this time Hannah Gruen had been grinning. “Junie, you’ve never seen Nancy when she’s trying to solve a mystery. She’s like a hound on a scent and never gives up until she has caught the villain!”

  Junie was about to say something, but just then Nancy whispered, “Listen! I heard the front door close softly. Let’s find out who’s there.”

  She and Junie hurried down the stairs. No one was in sight and when Nancy called out, asking who was in the house, there was no answer. Then she noticed something strange.

  “My new jacket is gone!” Nancy cried.

  The girls stared at the empty chair.

  “My beautiful sheepskin jacket must have been stolen!” Nancy exclaimed.

  She rushed to the front door and opened it wide, just in time to see a girl disappearing around the end of the curved driveway. She was wearing the sheepskin jacket!

  “Let’s chase her!” Nancy urged. She whistled for her little terrier, Togo, who hurried from the kitchen. “Come on, old boy! We must catch a thief.”

  Togo followed her and Junie out the door. For a few seconds the dog ran alongside Nancy. As soon as they reached the street, however, and his mistress pointed to the fleeing thief, he knew what he was supposed to do and bounded off. The stranger had a good head start and was running like a trained athlete.

  “We’ll never catch her,” Junie said.

  “She must be a professional thief,” Nancy added. “She was so quiet she didn’t even disturb Togo.”

  “Come on, Togo! We must catch a thief!”

  Junie wondered how the girl had known about the coat. “Of course I carried it in a plastic see-through bag,” she said. “That girl may have noticed it and followed me from the train to your house.”

  Nancy nodded. “She may have been spying and when we went upstairs, she came in. But how did she get in?”

  By now Togo had almost caught up to the stranger. At the same moment all three girls saw a policeman in the distance. The thief, realizing it was useless to proceed, quickly turned into a driveway.

  By the time Nancy and Junie reached the spot, the suspect was out of sight. Togo was returning, however, to present them with a chunk of cloth, which he held in his teeth. Nancy reached down and took it.

  “This is a piece fro
m that sneak thief’s skirt!” she exclaimed. “What a great clue! Togo, you’re a clever little dog.”

  Togo barked as though he were urging Nancy to continue the search. “Maybe the thief is hiding,” Nancy said.

  The girls raced down the driveway to the rear of the property, where there was a hedge. Nancy’s jacket lay on the ground in front of it! Togo pulled it along the ground, growling all the time.

  Nancy picked it up. “Togo, you’re marvelous! You scared that girl into discarding the jacket when you took a piece out of her skirt!”

  “Let’s go on!” Junie urged. “Maybe we can catch her.”

  The girls parted the hedge and went through. The thief was not in sight. Trying to guess which direction she had taken, they ran into the adjoining yard. Here the two searchers separated, one going along the left side of the house, the other to the right.

  Within a few seconds they met on the front sidewalk and looked up and down the street. There was no sign of the person they wanted.

  Nancy heaved a sigh. “Anyway,” she said, “I’m thankful to have my beautiful jacket back. And Togo got a good clue we can take to the police.”

  The little dog was jumping and barking. Junie looked puzzled.

  “Togo is asking for further instructions from me,” Nancy explained. She leaned over and patted him once more. “He’s eager to continue the case. I—”

  Nancy stopped speaking abruptly when Togo barked again. This time he leaped to the pavement and ran alongside a car that was speeding down the street.

  “What’s Togo doing that for?” Junie asked. Without replying, Nancy started running also. Her first thought was to keep Togo from being killed if the driver, either accidentally or deliberately, swerved and hit him.

  “Togo, come backl” she cried out.

  The little dog paid no attention. Suddenly Nancy caught a glimpse of the young woman on the passenger side and realized why. The dress matched the sample Togo had snatched from the thief’s skirt!

  The car’s driver, evidently sensing the situation, put on speed. Out of breath, Nancy stopped. She was in time to catch the number on the license plate and memorize it. Togo had given up the chase, too, and returned to Nancy on the sidewalk.

  “Thank you, Togo,” she said, hugging him. “Now we’ll go.”

  Junie hurried up to them and was told of Nancy’s discovery. She was astounded at the rapidity with which clues were mounting.

  “All you have to do,” she said, “is report the license number to the police. They’ll learn who the car’s owner is, the name of his passenger, and catch the thief.”

  “I hope it will be that easy,” Nancy said. “But—”

  “But what?” Junie asked.

  “The driver may not be the owner of the car.”

  “You mean, he might have stolen it?”

  “Right. If he did, he’ll probably abandon it. Another possibility is that the driver does not know his passenger. She could have hitchhiked and not given her name.”

  Junie’s look of hope faded. “And here I thought it would be easy. Well, it may still be. Let’s think positive, Nancy, and go to the police with a report.”

  CHAPTER II

  Triple Creek Farm

  “LET’s go back to the house first and get my car,” Nancy suggested. “It’s some distance to the police station. Then we’ll show Chief McGinnis the shred from the thief’s dress and the jacket. He’s a good friend of mine.”

  Junie asked, “What can the police find out from the jacket?”

  “Sometimes they discover the most amazing facts about the person who wore a garment.”

  “Like what?”

  “Oh, the blood type, kind of skin, height, weight, male or female—”

  By this time her friend from Triple Creek Farm was laughing. “Don’t tell me any more. I’m lost already.”

  When they reached the house, Nancy took Togo inside and told Hannah where they were going. Then, taking along the new jacket, Nancy backed her sleek blue car out of the garage and drove to headquarters. Chief McGinnis greeted the girls enthusiastically.

  “Nancy, I know you have come to tell me about a mystery. I see it in your eyes. What is it this time?”

  Nancy grinned, then introduced Junie. She told the middle-aged, good-natured man she was trying to track down a thief.

  “Junie brought me this beautiful jacket from her father’s sheep farm, but a short while later, a girl sneaked into our house and stole it.”

  Chief McGinnis looked puzzled. “You say this jacket was stolen?”

  “It was. But we got it back.” Nancy told him about the whole incident and produced the piece of material from the thief’s skirt. Her eyes twinkled. “You see, Chief McGinnis, I even have Togo trained to be a detective.”

  “He’s very clever. Maybe you ought to put him into our Canine Corps!” the chief replied. Then he promised to alert his men and have them track down the thief, using the shred of cloth she had brought as a clue. Nancy told him the license number of the car in which the girl had escaped.

  “I’ll trace it at once,” Chief McGinnis said.

  Nancy explained that the thief had actually worn the coat and run in it for several blocks. “Then she saw a policeman ahead, and Togo was close to her heels. So she threw the jacket onto a hedge. Do you think you might find any clues to her from this?”

  “I don’t know. But if you’ll leave it here, together with the cloth, I’ll have our lab inspect them carefully.”

  Nancy thanked the officer and the two girls said good-by. That evening Mr. Drew was amazed to hear the story, and wondered how the thief had entered their home. Nobody could explain it and for several seconds there was silence in the living room, where the family had gathered with their guest.

  Suddenly Togo, who had been lying on the floor with his ears cocked, jumped up, stood on his hind legs, and walked around.

  Junie laughed. “How cute!” she remarked. “Not only is he a detective dog, but a trick dog!”

  Nancy explained that there was more to the gesture than that. Whenever Togo was trying to convey a message to anyone in the family, he would do this. The little dog now dropped to all fours and hurried to the front door. Nancy followed and asked the others to join her.

  As they watched, Togo got up again on his hind legs and held the handle of the door in his fore-paws. Next he put his teeth around the handle and presto! the door opened. The Drews and Junie looked at the animal in astonishment.

  “You little scamp!” Nancy said to him. “You’re the one that left the door open so the thief could come in!”

  Togo acted very pleased with himself. He danced around some more and gave several short barks.

  “That was a neat trick,” Mr. Drew remarked, “but I think we’ll have to put an extra lock on the door. One that Togo can’t reach and open for burglars.”

  Togo seemed to understand. His tail dropped, a sad look came to his eyes, and he lay down.

  As Nancy patted him, she told her father about the invitation to Triple Creek Farm. “Bess and George and also Ned, Dave, and Burt are to be invited for a house party up there.”

  The lawyer’s eyes twinkled. “With a mystery to solve and a house party included, I don’t see how you could refuse.”

  Nancy kissed her father, then immediately went to call her friends and give them the exciting invitation. Nancy would go ahead with Junie; the other guests were to follow later.

  While she was on the phone, Mr. Drew said to Junie with boyish pride, “I have a few sheepskins of my own. Come with me and I’ll show them to you.”

  He led her into his study. Between bookcases and pictures hung framed diplomas. One was from high school, another from college, and the third and most impressive was from law school.

  “I see you graduated from all three places with honors,” Junie said. “My congratulations!”

  “Thank you,” the lawyer replied. “The other day we were discussing the laws governing the ownership of sheep in yo
ur state. If you have a flock and any of the sheep are killed by wild animals, will the state reimburse the owner for his loss?”

  “Yes,” Junie replied. “And wild dogs are also classed under the heading of wild animals. It has always amazed me how dogs differ. Wild dogs will kill sheep and eat them, but those that have been reared from puppies by human beings love the sheep. They guard them and take care of them. We have several sheep dogs at the farm. My favorite is Rover.”

  The conversation was interrupted by Nancy, who reported that all of their friends would be able to visit Triple Creek Farm.

  “Bess and George can make it next weekend,” she said, “but the boys are uncertain when they can come. They’ll try to visit at the same time as the girls.”

  Nancy went on to say that her friend Ned Nickerson had told her about an interesting artist who lived in the vicinity of Triple Creek Farm. She asked Junie if she had ever heard of Vincenzo Caspari.

  Junie shook her head. “I never have, but my parents may know him. Why did Ned mention him?”

  “I was telling Ned about the strange phone call regarding the parchment. He said this man might be able to help us.”

  The girls went to bed early and were up at seven o’clock, packing their bags. By nine they drove off, with good wishes from Mr. Drew and Hannah Gruen. They took turns driving Nancy’s car, since it was a long ride. Afternoon shadows were lengthening as the travelers finally reached the six-hundred acre Triple Creek Farm.

  “What a wonderful place!” Nancy exclaimed, as Junie turned into a long lane that led to the farmhouse.

  Though the building had many wings and extensions in every direction, it was attractive and inviting. Mr. and Mrs. Flockhart were there to welcome the girls.

  The owner was a large, handsome man with graying hair. Nancy thought his beautiful gray eyes looked as if they had stars shining in them.

  Junie’s mother was small and dainty. Although her daughter resembled her, Junie was already half a head taller than Mrs. Flockhart.