The Double Jinx Mystery Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER I - Bomb Threat?

  CHAPTER II - Bird of III Omen

  CHAPTER III - Kammy’s ESP

  CHAPTER IV - Suspicious Digging

  CHAPTER V - A Criminal’s Identity

  CHAPTER VI - A New Worry

  CHAPTER VII - Leaping Specter

  CHAPTER VIII - Unseen Visitor

  CHAPTER IX - The Puzzling Circle

  CHAPTER X - Unpleasant Councilman

  CHAPTER XI - Missing Pet

  CHAPTER XII - The Double Jinx

  CHAPTER XIII - A Near Capture

  CHAPTER XIV - Strange Hiding Places

  CHAPTER XV - Fingerprint Proof

  CHAPTER XVI - Nancy’s Strategy

  CHAPTER XVII - Frightening Plunge

  CHAPTER XVIII - An Arrest

  CHAPTER XIX - Lost Loot

  CHAPTER XX - A Spook Unspooked

  THE DOUBLE JINX MYSTERY

  A bird of ill omen is mysteriously left on the Drews’ front lawn. Did the person who put it there do so with the intent of jinxing Nancy and her father?

  Tnis strange incident involves Nancy in her famous lawyer-father’s case concerning a rare bird farm threatened with destruction to make room for a high-rise apartment house complex. Persons opposed to the ruthless take-over of the farm are being made the frightened victims on jinxing by bad luck symbols and other threats to their safety. Even Nancy and her friend Ned Nickerson become targets!

  Nancy soon realizes that helping honest people to overcome their superstitions and fears can be as challenging as tracking down criminals. The young detective’s thrilling adventures will keep the reader in breathless suspense from the first page to the last.

  “The symbol is a jinx!” Mrs. Thurston said.

  Copyright © 1973 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 MYSTERYSTORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-07751-1

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  CHAPTER I

  Bomb Threat?

  NANCY Drew sat crosslegged on her bed. George Fayne sprawled on the floor. Bess Marvin had draped herself in a flowered chair and dangled her legs over one arm.

  “Let’s review this mystery,” suggested Nancy, an attractive girl of eighteen with blue eyes and reddish-blond hair.

  “Great idea,” George replied. She had a boyish figure and short dark hair. “You haven’t told us one word about it except that your father has been engaged to unjinx a man.”

  “How can a lawyer or anyone else do that?” asked Bess, plump, pretty, and blond. “I’ve heard that if a person is jinxed, he’ll have bad luck the rest of his life.” Bess shifted her position and swung her legs over the other arm of the chair. “I sure hope no one ever jinxes mel”

  Nancy smiled. “Nix to jinx. But seriously, Dad was warned by phone that if he took this case, the caller would put a curse on him.”

  “That’s ridiculousl” George burst out. “Of course your father doesn’t believe that anyone could do such a thing.”

  “He’s not superstitious, but he can’t shrug off a threat of injury,” Nancy replied.

  She told her friends that her father’s client, a man named Oscar Thurston, lived outside Harper, a few miles away. He had been threatened several times by unknown persons.

  “Dad thinks it’s because Mr. Thurston won’t sell his farm,” Nancy explained. “It’s not an ordinary farm. He has a small zoo and several huge cages of birds. Many of the birds are rare and very beautiful, Dad says.”

  George frowned. “If Mr. Thurston doesn’t want to sell, okay. He doesn’t have to. What’s this about his being jinxed?”

  Nancy’s reply made George frown deeper. “A firm, called the High Rise Construction Company, is determined to get his land and build apartment buildings on it as part of a large complex. The owner has asked the town council to have the Thurston place condemned.”

  Bess looked indignant. “Sounds pretty unfair. Can’t Mr. Thurston stop them?”

  “Dad is trying to,” Nancy said, “but he has been so busy with other cases, he hasn’t been able to do much investigating yet.”

  George grinned. “You called Bess and me to be on standby in case your dad asks you to help solve the mystery of the jinx.”

  “Right,” said Nancy.

  At that moment the front doorbell rang. Nancy hurried down the stairs to answer it. When she opened the door, no one was there. “Maybe Dad ordered something delivered from a store,” she said to herself. Stepping outside, she looked for a package but none was in sight.

  “Who could have rung the bell?” she wondered.

  As she glanced up and down the block, Nancy caught sight of a strange-looking bird. It was standing motionless on the lawn across from the circular driveway which led from the house to the street. The bird was about seven inches long. It had a speckled breast, variegated shades of white, brown and gray on its back, and a soft tail. Most noticeable was the peculiar way its neck was twisted and its drooping head turned backwards.

  Curious to know what had detained Nancy, Bess and George and Hannah Gruen, the Drews’ housekeeper, had come outside. Motherly, middle-aged Mrs. Gruen had lived with Nancy and her father Carson Drew, a River Heights attorney, since the death of Mrs. Drew when Nancy was three years old.

  “Who rang the bell?” Hannah asked.

  “I don’t know,” Nancy replied, “but I guess he or she left that bird.” She walked over to it. As Nancy stooped to pick up the bird, she burst out laughing. “It’s a stuffed or mounted one!”

  “Stuffed?” Bess repeated. “Why would anyone leave you this—this—What is it?”

  Hannah knew the answer because the study of birds was her hobby. “The bird is a breed of woodpecker rarely seen in our country. It’s a wryneck and comes from the Eurasian area of Europe.”

  George looked at the bird closely. “It certainly doesn’t resemble our downy woodpeckers. Say, why would the person who left this run away?”

  “Yes, why?” Bess put in. “Must be something weird about it.”

  “Wrynecks,” said Hannah, “were used in witchcraft to put jinxes on people.”

  “Jinxes?” Nancy repeated, startled. Instantly she set the bird down and motioned everyone away from the wryneck. She rushed into the house, exclaiming, “There may be a bomb in the bird! I’ll phone the police!”

  Within minutes after her call a squad car arrived. Two of the four men were bomb experts who identified themselves as Mercer and Zender. They immediately tested the wryneck. The others stood at a safe distance waiting for the answer.

  “There’s nothing suspicious about this bird,” one of them said. “Have you any idea who left it here?”

  Nancy shook her head but mentioned the mysterious ringing of the Drews’ front doorbell. Then she added, “I understand this is a wryneck. These birds were used to put jinxes on superstitious people.”

  “There may be a bomb in the bird!” Nancy exclaimed.

  “That’s right,” the man replied. “The question is, was the bird left here as a warning and is it intended for you three girls or for the Drew family?” He looked directly at Nancy. “Has your father acquired any enemies lately?”

  Nancy felt that she should not mention her father’s newest case nor the warning telephone call. She merely said, “You know how persistent and thorough my father is. When he begins hunting for the truth, he usually makes an enemy of someone on the opposing side of the ca
se he’s handling.”

  Mercer asked if she knew anybody who might be playing a joke on her. Again Nancy’s answer was no.

  The officers declared there was nothing more they could do and the men said good-by. After they had driven off, Nancy and the others examined the wryneck. There were no identification marks on the bird, the young detective observed.

  Hannah asked, “Nancy, what do you want to do with this bird?”

  “I think I’ll call Dad and ask him. It’s just possible he’ll know something about it.”

  She phoned Mr. Drew but he too was puzzled why the wryneck had been left on their lawn.

  “Take the bird inside and keep it,” he said. “Nancy, you ought to be able to track down the owner. But in the meantime I have another job for you. Could you get hold of Bess and George and drive out to Mr. Thurston’s farm?”

  Nancy laughed. “They’re here now, so we can start right off. I’d like to meet Mr. and Mrs. Thurston. Any instructions?”

  Her father said the assignment was to check the farm carefully for anything that seemed suspicious or underhanded on the part of the High Rise Construction Company.

  “I understand from their bank that they’re a reputable outfit. But look for surveyor’s stakes that might have been pounded into the fields or marks put on the fences or trees.”

  “All right, Dad. See you later.”

  Immediately Nancy relayed her father’s request. “How about it, girls?”

  George answered, “At your service.”

  Nancy brought her convertible from the garage and the other two girls climbed in. On the way to the Thurstons, Bess said, “Tell us more about this High Rise deal.”

  Nancy said she had not seen the place, but the idea of destroying the bird farm and ousting the Thurstons was abhorrent to her.

  “Dad says that the school children and grown-ups from the town of Harper and for miles around go there in busloads to see the animals, and the birds particularly. It would be a shame to deprive all those people of something so enjoyable and educational.”

  George asked, “Who will decide all this?”

  “Presumably the town council,” Nancy replied. “Dad told me that the five councilmen have been approached one by one by the staff of the High Rise Construction Company. They are trying to persuade them to vote against Mr. Thurston because of a great need for housing developments.”

  George set her jaw. “And probably trying to bribe the councilmen,” she said.

  Bess looked at her cousin disapprovingly. “Why do you always have to be so suspicious?” she asked. “Nancy, what do you think?”

  The young detective smiled. “Remember what the law says: A man is presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty.”

  George made no comment.

  Nancy had been watching road signs and presently turned into a side street of Harper and drove all the way to the end. A neat sign at the entrance to a farm said:

  Oscar Thurston’s Zoo and Aviary

  Visitors Welcome

  A tree-shaded driveway led to the house and other buildings. Nancy parked and the three girls stepped out.

  “Isn’t this beautiful?” Bess burst out. Some distance back of the large, attractive old-fashioned farmhouse was a long row of huge wire cages. “Let’s look at the birds before we introduce ourselves,” she begged.

  Nancy and George nodded and the girls headed for the end cage. Before they reached it, Nancy suddenly gasped in astonishment.

  “What’s the matter?” Bess asked.

  Nancy whispered, “There’s a man with wire clippers snipping the cage!”

  “The birds will get out!” George exclaimed. “There’s a good-sized hole!”

  “We must stop him!” Nancy urged, and started to run toward the man.

  At that moment he looked up and saw her coming toward him, followed by Bess and George. Instantly he stopped work and sped away in the opposite direction across a field, carrying the clippers.

  “We must catch him!” Nancy said tensely. “George, you come with me. Bess, will you try to block up that hole so no birds can get out?”

  The race after the fleeing figure began.

  CHAPTER II

  Bird of III Omen

  THOUGH Nancy and George ran as fast as they could, the stranger who had snipped the wire cage outdistanced them. Apparently he was familiar with the territory. He had skirted the rough terrain, but the girls had to watch constantly for stones and pits. They finally stopped, out of breath, their faces flushed pink from the exertion.

  “It’s a shame he got away,” George said in disgust.

  Nancy was more optimistic. “At least we can give a good description of him. Let’s check. He had a long thin nose and dark squinty eyes.”

  George nodded. “And a full reddish beard.”

  “He was of medium height,” Nancy added.

  George chuckled. “And he wore sports clothes that looked too large for him.”

  The girls trudged back toward the cage where they had left Bess. In the meantime she had been breaking branches off a nearby tree and stuffing them into the hole. Some of the larger birds in the cage that looked like hawks began to squawk loudly. Realizing she was a stranger and about to cut off their chance. for freedom, they made an earsplitting racket.

  “Oh be quiet!” Bess ordered. The birds, however, paid no attention to the command.

  In a few moments the squawking brought a muscular-looking man on the run from a barn back of the cages. He was dressed in a coverall and Bess was sure he worked at the Thurston farm.

  “What’s going on here?” he thundered at her. “And what are vou trying to do to that cage?”

  Bess was frightened. She asked, “Are you Mr. Thurston?”

  “No, I’m not,” the man replied. “My name’s Rausch. I work for Mr. Thurston. Well, young lady, are you going to answer my questions?”

  Quickly Bess told him of seeing a man cutting the wire cage. “When he spotted me and my friends he ran away. They went after him. I stayed to plug this hole. That’s what I’m doing.”

  “A likely story,” Rausch replied. “I think you’re connected with those people who are trying to drive Mr. Thurston away from here.”

  “I am not! If I were, I certainly wouldn’t be standing here and trying to explain!” She was no longer afraid of the man—merely angry.

  Bess’s face reddened as Nancy and George, who were hurrying back, saw her talking heatedly to the man. Every once in a while he would shake his finger at her.

  “Something’s wrong!” Nancy exclaimed and started to run, with George keeping pace alongside her.

  When they reached the cage, Bess said, “Girls, tell this man what we saw. He won’t believe me. And guess what? He thinks I’m connected with people who are trying to run Mr. Thurston off his propertyl”

  George’s eyes blazed. “That’s ridiculous—utterly ridiculous,” she cried out. “Incidentally, who are you?”

  Bess replied, “He says he works for Mr. Thurston.”

  “Then I suggest,” said Nancy, “that everyone calm down.”

  She told him about the man clipping the wire cage and the chase. She ended by saying, “We didn’t capture him, but we have a good description of him. Do you know anybody who’s of medium height, has a long thin nose, dark squinty eyes, a full reddish beard, and wears oversized sport clothes?”

  The expression on Rausch’s face changed instantly. “I guess you girls are telling the truth and I’m sorry I spoke to you harshly, miss,” he said to Bess. “I don’t know anyone who fits that description.”

  Rausch then said he would go for some material with which to mend the fence. “Will you girls please stay here a few moments longer until I get back? Don’t let any of these birds fly out!” he said, hurrying off.

  When Rausch returned, Nancy asked if the girls could help him. “Well, yes, you can,” he answered. “These birds may think I’m here to feed them and fly through this hole before I can get it covered.�
� He said to Bess, “Your idea of putting branches in there was good.” He now removed them.

  Bess smiled.

  A new piece of steel cable was fitted into the section that had been cut out. Then, as the girls held it tightly against the opening, Rausch quickly threaded a wire in and out, weaving the two sections together firmly.

  “We came to see the Thurstons,” Nancy told him.

  When the job was finished, he took the girls to the rear door of the farmhouse and ushered them inside.

  “Please wait here a minute,” he said. “Mrs. Thurston is a semi-invalid and sometimes she doesn’t feel well enough to have visitors.”

  He disappeared toward the front of the house, but presently came back with a ruddy-faced, jolly-looking man. His graying black hair had receded from his forehead a couple of inches.

  “Oscar,” said Rausch, “these are the girls who came to see you. And they’ll tell you what happened at one of the cages. I must go out now and tend to the animals.”

  He hurried off as Nancy introduced herself, Bess, and George.

  “How do you do?” Mr. Thurston said. He looked at Nancy, “You are Carson Drew’s daughter?”

  Nancy nodded. “Dad has told me about taking your case. He asked me to come out and meet you and look around your place.”

  “I’m pretty proud of my birds,” said their owner. “By the way, call me Oscar. Everybody does. I’m sorry Mrs. Thurston isn’t quite ready for visitors. Come outside. I’ll tell you something about my birds.”

  On the way to the cages, Nancy briefed him about the wire snipper. Oscar remarked, “One more bit of harassment. I don’t know how much your father has told you about the trouble here, but I’m being bothered all the time in one way or another—threats, the warning of a curse to be put on me, and jinxes on my birds.”

  Nancy told him that she knew about the housing development to be built by the High Rise Construction Company and that Oscar did not want to sell his property.

  “That’s right,” he said. “And my wife adores this place. She isn’t very well and I’m afraid that if we had to move out and leave all this it would be very bad for her health.”