The Moonstone Castle Mystery Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER I - Jungle Prisoners

  CHAPTER II - Mysterious Threat

  CHAPTER III - A Strange Inquiry

  CHAPTER IV - Nancy’s Impersonation

  CHAPTER V - The Spooky Drawbridge

  CHAPTER VI - A Legal Tangle

  CHAPTER VII - The Reekless Pilot

  CHAPTER VIII - The Canoeists’ Clue

  CHAPTER IX - The Vanishing Patient

  CHAPTER X - Peter Judd

  CHAPTER XI - The Tower Signaler

  CHAPTER XII - Impending Crash

  CHAPTER XIII - Bats!

  CHAPTER XIV - The Castle Captive

  CHAPTER XV - An Exciting Photograph

  CHAPTER XVI - Reptile Guard

  CHAPTER XVII - Telltale Tracks

  CHAPTER XVIII - Worried Plotters

  CHAPTER XIX - A Cry for Help

  CHAPTER XX - Wolf’s-Eye Surprise

  THE MOONSTONE CASTLE MYSTERY

  WHEN Nancy Drew receives a valuable moonstone as a gift from an unknown person, she is amazed and puzzled. But it is only the first of several startling events in this complex mystery that challenge the ingenuity of the pretty sleuth.

  Why are the Bowens—a missionary couple who recently returned to the United States—having so much trouble finding their missing seventeen-year-old granddaughter? Trying to uncover a clue to the orphan girl’s whereabouts, Nancy and her friends travel to Deep River, the town where young Joanie Horton lived with her guardian grandmother until Mrs. Horton’s death fourteen years ago.

  From the motel where Nancy, Bess, and George stay, they see in the distance an intriguing castlelike structure with a drawbridge. Gossipy Mrs. Hemstead at the village tearoom insists that Moonstone Castle is haunted. Curious, the three girls attempt to explore the abandoned castle, but an ominous voice warns them away.

  Other strange happenings in Deep River convince Nancy that there is a connection between Moonstone Castle and the mysterious moonstone gift. But what is the significance? And where does the baffling disappearance of Joanie Horton fit into the intricate puzzle?

  How the young detective exposes a cruel hoax that has far-reaching results makes a dramatic and exciting story.

  “The patient you want to see has been kidnaped!”

  Copyright © 1991, 1963 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 & Schuste

  Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-07741-2

  2008 Printing

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  CHAPTER I

  Jungle Prisoners

  “HURRY! Open the package, Nancy!”

  Three girls stood in the hallway of Nancy Drew’s home, gazing at a small paper-wrapped box, which had just arrived by mail. There was no sender’s name or address on it.

  “Somebody is being very mysterious,” commented Bess Marvin, a pretty, blond girl.

  “Yes,” agreed attractive, titian-haired Nancy, studying the uneven way the sender had pasted on the letters and numbers of the address. “These are cut from a newspaper, and I’d guess the person was very nervous when he wrapped the package.”

  “Well, open it,” coaxed the third girl, George Fayne, impatiently. She was a dark brunette, very slender, and tomboyish. “The sender’s name probably is inside!”

  Nancy, prompted by her detective instincts, was careful not to destroy the wrapping. The white carton inside was unmarked. It contained a plain jeweler’s ring box. By now the girls were holding their breath in anticipation. Nancy lifted the lid.

  “How gorgeous!” Bess exclaimed.

  Nestled in the groove of the satin-lined case was the finest moonstone Nancy had ever seen. She stared in amazement.

  “Pretty neat,” said George. Then she grinned. “A mystery for you to solve. The case of the unknown admirer!”

  Nancy laughed. “Anyhow, you can’t tease me that it was Ned. The package was mailed right here in River Heights and he’s at a camp miles from here.” Ned Nickerson was a college student who often dated her.

  Suddenly Nancy noticed a piece of paper wedged into the bottom of the white carton. She unfolded it quickly and together the three girls read aloud the message pasted on it from newspaper words:THIS IS FOR GOOD LUCK FROM A WELL-WISHER. YOU WILL NEED IT WITHIN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.

  “Nancy, what are you up to?” Bess demanded. “It sounds dangerous.”

  “Until now, I didn’t think so,” Nancy answered thoughtfully. “Dad is working on a case and has asked me to help him. Girls, let’s dash down to the post office and see if we can find out who mailed the moonstone.”

  She led the way outside and hurried to the garage. Slipping into the driver’s seat of her convertible, Nancy backed the car out and the three friends headed for the post office. They had gone only a block when Nancy parked the convertible.

  “Trouble?” George asked.

  “No, but I thought it might be more sensible to go on foot. The contents of the well-wisher’s note made me think somebody may be shadowing or spying on me. Why don’t I go ahead and you girls follow and watch?”

  “Okay,” George agreed, and Bess, who was George’s cousin, said, “Be carefull We’ll meet you here later.”

  Nancy strode down the sycamore-shaded street at a fast pace. When she reached the business area, she turned onto the avenue where the post office was located.

  Bess and George were about a hundred yards behind. Suddenly Bess grabbed her cousin’s arm. “That man who just crossed the street! He’s following Nancy!”

  “Looks that way.” George watched him intently.

  The man followed Nancy into the post office. When she approached the parcel-post window, the stranger stood behind her while she spoke to the post-office clerk.

  “He is spying,” Bess declared, as she and George watched from the sidewalk.

  The man, thin, dark, and wearing a scowling expression, turned and left the building. He went across the street and stood in the doorway of a store.

  “I think we should warn Nancy,” said Bess.

  George did not agree. “Why don’t we follow him?” she suggested. “Then we might find out who he is and what he’s up to.”

  “All right.”

  Meanwhile, Nancy had learned nothing helpful about the sender of the mysterious, uninsured package. No one in the post office recalled the person who had handed it in, or had noticed the pasted-on letters for her name and address. She refrained from mentioning the contents.

  Disappointed, Nancy turned away and started for home. The strange man came from his hiding place and followed. Bess and George brought up the rear.

  “I don’t think he has noticed us,” Bess remarked to her cousin. “But what shall we do when we reach the car?”

  “Let’s worry about that when the time comes,” George advised. “If that man was watching the house, he certainly saw us drive out with Nancy. He must have figured we went home. Let him think so.”

  When Nancy came to her convertible, she got in, deftly backed into a driveway to turn around, and headed for home. The man sprinted up the street to keep her in sight. Bess and George ran, too.

  As Nancy turned into the circular driveway of her home, the stranger paused. He stood very still, his head lowered, as if he were trying to decide what to do.

  Bess and George had stopped also. Suddenly the man turned in their direction. He must have recognized them,
because he started to run, heading in the opposite direction.

  “Come on!” George urged her cousin.

  At the corner the stranger held up his right hand to signal a bus. Before the girls could reach him, he had jumped aboard and the bus was rumbling down the avenue.

  “Hypers!” cried George in disgust. “And we were so close!”

  The cousins hurried back to the Drew home. When Nancy heard the story, she dashed to the telephone and called her friend Police Chief McGinnis.

  “I’ll tell you the whole story in a minute, but first, could you try to locate a man who is on the bus to Granby and find out who he is? He’s wearing a tan-and-brown-plaid suit, is thin, and scowls. He’s been shadowing me.”

  “Yes, indeed, Nancy. Hold the wire.” The chief was gone nearly a minute, then came back. “Now tell me the whole story.”

  Nancy started with the mysterious moonstone gift and ended with the man’s running away suspiciously. She could hear Chief McGinnis muttering under his breath.

  Aloud he said, “I’m glad you told me, Nancy. Something’s afoot, that’s sure. Watch your step. I’ll call you as soon as I have some word.”

  As the girls sat waiting, Nancy said, “Would you like to hear about the case Dad’s working on? I can tell you because it’s no secret.”

  “But I’m sure it’s a mystery,” said Bess, her eyes twinkling with interest.

  “Yes, and a strange one. Jungle prisoners in Africa and a baffling disappearance in the United States.”

  George, who was seated cross-legged on the floor of the Drews’ cheery living room, urged, “Go on!”

  Nancy, her face tense, said, “Fifteen years ago a Mr. and Mrs. Bowen accepted a call as missionaries to a part of Africa where the tribes were restless and always at war among themselves. The Bowens had been there only three months when they were kidnaped by a hostile band and not released until recently.”

  “Oh, how cruel!” exclaimed Bess, who was seated beside Nancy on a green-and-gray-striped sofa. “How did your father come into the picture?”

  “Mr. and Mrs. Bowen returned to this country a few weeks ago. They went directly to the town of Deep River in Deep River Valley where they had left their two-and-a-half-year-old grandchild Joan, called Joanie, with her Grandmother Horton. The little girl’s own parents had died shortly before the Bowens went to Africa.”

  Nancy leaned to the side and pulled open a drawer in the end table by the sofa. She took out a photograph of a little girl.

  “She’s darling!” Bess exclaimed. “Don’t tell me something happened to her!”

  “I’m afraid it did,” Nancy replied. “Grandmother Horton died six months after the Bowens left. There were no other relatives and the child disappeared.”

  “Disappeared!” George repeated incredulously.

  “It’s even worse than that,” Nancy went on. “Nobody in Deep River ever saw or heard of the child. Her Grandmother Horton, who lived on the outskirts, never came to town after Joanie arrived—it is assumed the woman wasn’t well.”

  “Maybe Joanie died, too,” Bess suggested.

  “There’s no record of her death. Besides, in her will Grandmother Horton left her estate to Joanie. The estate was settled, but so far Dad hasn’t found any record of a guardian or learned one thing about the child’s whereabouts.”

  Bess gazed at Joanie’s photograph. “The poor little girl! I certainly hope she’s alive and the Bowens can find her.”

  George rocked back and forth, holding her knees. “Joanie would be seventeen or eighteen now. Pretty hard to recognize her from this picture. By the way, didn’t your father talk to Grandmother Horton’s lawyer?”

  “Dad says he’s away on an extensive vacation and can’t be reached. I didn’t even learn his name. Many other people who might have been helpful have either died or moved away from Deep River.”

  “Weren’t there any servants?” George asked.

  “Yes. Mrs. Horton had a couple, but they disappeared at the time of her death.”

  “How did your dad happen to get the case?” Bess queried.

  “Someone the Bowens knew suggested him. They’re heartbroken over the whole thing, of course, and naturally want the mystery solved.” Nancy suddenly looked out the window. “Here comes Dad now.”

  The lawyer drove his car into the garage. When Nancy’s tall, handsome father came into the living room, he kissed Nancy, then said, “Hello, Bess, George. I’m glad you girls are here because I have a proposal to make.”

  The three friends were all attention as he continued. “Nancy, I’ve picked up a good clue in the Horton case from a retired luggage dealer. Some fourteen years ago a Joan Horton went from Deep River to San Francisco. I want to track her down if possible. But, in the meantime, my investigation in Deep River to clear up the business about the missing child should be continued. Would you like to make the trip—provided Bess and George can go with you?”

  As Nancy’s eyes sparkled in anticipation, Bess squealed, “Oh, Mr. Drew! You mean it? This sounds simply marvelous!”

  “And exciting,” George added. “I’d love to go. May I call up Mother and Dad right now?”

  “Please do. And tell them this is a business trip. All your expenses will be paid by the Carson Drew law firm.” He turned to his daughter. “Nancy, you haven’t answered my question.”

  With a chuckle Nancy said, “Stop teasing, Dad. Have I ever turned down a case?”

  George received permission to go, then Bess called her house. Mrs. Marvin said her daughter might accompany Nancy, and added that if Mr. Drew had not already chosen a place for them to stay, she would recommend the Long View Motel on top of the hill overlooking Deep River and the valley.

  “It’s delightful. Mrs. Thompson who runs it is charming, and can give you girls some motherly attention if you need it.”

  Bess reported her mother’s suggestion to the lawyer, who smiled. “It sounds like the perfect place for you girls. Could you be ready to leave tomorrow morning?”

  “Yes,” the trio chorused eagerly, and Bess and George hurried off to start packing.

  Nancy brought the moonstone, the warning note, and the strangely addressed wrapper to her father, who studied them all carefully. “I gather these letters were cut out of a River Heights newspaper—they match the print, so there’s no clue as to whether the sender is a local person or someone who came here and bought a paper.”

  Mr. Drew was as puzzled as Nancy, and could see no connection between the moonstone and the case on which he was working.

  “It’s possible that some eavesdropper heard me discussing the Horton mystery the other day, and is trying to get some message across to you, Nancy,” the lawyer said. “Keep alert to anything to do with moonstones.”

  At that moment the telephone rang. Mr. Drew answered it, while Nancy waited. Presently he returned to say that Chief McGinnis had called. The man who had followed Nancy, then suddenly hopped a bus, had alighted before the police had a chance to intercept it.

  Nancy was pensive. “I wonder if he’s still in River Heights. If so, he may come here again.”

  “I thought of that,” Mr. Drew said, “so I asked the chief to send a man over to watch the house tonight.”

  Nancy spent most of the evening in her room packing for the trip to Deep River. She went to bed early and soon fell asleep, but around midnight was awakened by shouts of “Stop! Stop!”

  The young sleuth jumped out of bed and ran to a window. Just then the sound of a shot rang out through the still night.

  Nancy pulled on her robe and slippers. She dashed to her father’s room. To her astonishment, the door was open and he was not there!

  With a quaking heart Nancy flew down the front stairway, calling, “Dad! Dad!”

  There was no answer.

  CHAPTER II

  Mysterious Threat

  AS NANCY reached the bottom of the stairway, the front door burst open and her father rushed in. He went straight to the telephone in the ha
ll and dialed a number.

  Nancy stood stock-still, thankful that her father was all right, but wondering what had happened outside. In a moment he said, “Sergeant, this is Carson Drew speaking. I have a message from your man Donnelly. Donnelly has been watching our house tonight. He almost caught a prowler, and has gone after him in a car. Donnelly can’t radio in because his set is out of order.”

  Mr. Drew went on to say that the intruder had gone off in a car. “Here’s his license number.” He gave it slowly so the sergeant could write it down.

  When the lawyer hung up, he looked at Nancy, who still stood at the foot of the stairway.

  “Dad, what happened?” she asked tensely. “I heard a shot!”

  Before answering, Mr. Drew grinned broadly. “And you thought your old dad had met his end, eh?” he teased. “As a matter of fact, that shot had nothing to do with the prowler, Detective Donnelly, or the getaway. Somebody was having trouble with an old jalopy on the side street. It back-fired just as the intruder took off and Donnelly yelled ‘Stop!’”

  Nancy heaved a sigh of relief. “I’m glad nobody was shot. Please tell me the rest of the story.”

  “Let’s go into the kitchen and get something to eat,” Mr. Drew suggested. “That’s what brought me downstairs in the first place. I wasn’t sleeping, and got so hungry I came down for a midnight snack. As I reached the hall, I saw a shadowy figure sneak past the living-room window. I went to look and was just in time to see Donnelly start chasing the prowler. I caught a glimpse of the man under a street light before he jumped into a car.”

  “What did he look like?” Nancy asked.

  Mr. Drew said the stranger was thin, dark-haired, and had a scowling expression.

  “Oh, he might be the same one who was following me—the one that Bess and George saw!” Nancy exclaimed.

  “He probably was,” the lawyer agreed. “I wonder what he was doing around here.”

  “Perhaps trying to steal the moonstone that was sent to me,” Nancy guessed.

  “That might be,” Mr. Drew agreed. “One thing is sure—he wasn’t planning to eavesdrop on us—because we were in bed.”