The Whispering Statue Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Acknowledgements

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER I - Three-Way Alarm

  CHAPTER II - Name, Please

  CHAPTER III - The Ambush

  CHAPTER IV - Alias at Work

  CHAPTER V - An Amazing Find

  CHAPTER VI - Thieves

  CHAPTER VII - Four Spies

  CHAPTER VIII - The Race

  CHAPTER IX - Foul!

  CHAPTER X - A Near Discovery

  CHAPTER XI - Telltale Letter

  CHAPTER XII - Unexpected Clue

  CHAPTER XIII - Living Pictures

  CHAPTER XIV - Suspicious Caller

  CHAPTER XV - An Abrupt Departure

  CHAPTER XVI - Unwelcome Command

  CHAPTER XVII - Captured

  CHAPTER XVIII - Important Lead

  CHAPTER XIX - Nancy in Marble

  CHAPTER XX - A Startling Revelation

  THE WHISPERING STATUE

  Nancy Drew is asked to solve a puzzling mystery and immediately is confronted with another, even more complicated. The first one concerns a valuable collection of rare books that Mrs. Horace Merriam commissioned a supposedly reputable art dealer to sell, but she now suspects that the man is a swindler. The second mystery revolves around the baffling theft of a beautiful marble statue.

  To solve both mysteries, the famous young detective disguises herself and assumes a false identity. Despite these precautions, danger stalks Nancy’s every move. An attempted kidnapping, a nearly disastrous sailboat collision, and an encounter with a dishonest sculptor are just a few of the exciting challenges that Nancy is faced with as she gathers evidence against a clever ring of art thieves.

  You will enjoy every moment of this thrill-packed story of how Nancy and her friends combine detective work and summer fun at a seaside resort.

  Could she depend on her disguise not to be recognized? Nancy wondered

  Acknowledgement is made to Mildred Wirt Benson, who under the pen name

  Carolyn Keene, wrote the original NANCY DREW books

  Copyright © 1970, 1987 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 : 978-1-101-07715-3

  2007 Printing

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  CHAPTER I

  Three-Way Alarm

  “NANCY, you’re kidding. No statue can whisper!”

  A twinkle came into Nancy Drew’s blue eyes. She tossed back her reddish-gold hair and looked at the slender, athletic girl standing in front of her. “George, the statue I’m talking about used to whisper before it disappeared.”

  A third girl in the Drews’ attractive living room, Bess Marvin, spoke up. “Where is this marvel?” She was blond and slightly plump and dark-haired George Fayne’s cousin.

  George grinned. “The marvelous marble!” The other two girls laughed.

  Nancy said, “I don’t know anything more about it, but Dad has a client coming to dinner who will explain everything. She has a case for him and he hinted that he wants you girls and me to help solve a mystery in connection with it.”

  “Sounds great!” George remarked.

  Bess, more cautious than her cousin, looked at Nancy. “Will it be a nice straight mystery, or one that’s going to scare the wits out of me?” Nancy said she knew nothing about the case.

  Just then Mr. Drew’s car pulled into the circular driveway of his brick Colonial home, which stood well back from the street. The front lawn was wide with attractive shrubs and flowers. He helped a woman of about forty from the car and escorted her to the front entrance. She was tall, slender, and pretty. Nancy hurried to open the door.

  “Hello, dear,” her father said. “Nancy, this is Mrs. Merriam.”

  Nancy shook hands and she and Mrs. Merriam exchanged smiles.

  “I feel so relieved to be here,” the caller said. “Unwittingly I seem to have become involved in a mystery with a legal angle to it. Your father was recommended to me as a leading attorney.”

  “And he is too,” Nancy hastened to say. She took Mrs. Merriam’s summer coat and gloves, and the three walked into the living room.

  “Mrs. Merriam, I’d like you to meet my friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne,” Nancy said. Smiling, she added, “They’re part of my detective force, so you may speak freely in front of them.”

  Mrs. Merriam proved to be a charming person. She was introduced to Mrs. Hannah Gruen, who had been the Drews’ housekeeper since Nancy was three years old. Upon the death of the little girl’s mother, Hannah had assumed the responsibility of helping to rear Nancy. Mrs. Gruen was a level-headed and kindly person who always worried about Nancy while she was solving a mystery.

  “Dinner is served,” she announced. “Is everyone ready to go to the table?”

  Mr. Drew laughed. “Ready and starving. I hope you have some of my favorites tonight.”

  While the Drew family and their guests ate, the lawyer suggested that his new client tell her story.

  “I live in Waterford on the coast,” she said. “Some time ago an uncle of mine left me a very fine library of books. Hundreds of them. My home is too small to accommodate them all, so my husband urged me to sell the collection.

  “Horace is away frequently on business and left all the negotiations to me. I went to Willis Basswood in town—he runs a high-class art gallery and bookshop—to see if he could sell the volumes for me.”

  Mrs. Merriam went on to say that Mr. Basswood had agreed, and would take twenty-five percent of each sale as his fee.

  “At first everything seemed to go well. Mr. Basswood was able to get a high price for certain volumes, not so much for others. He gave me receipts for everything. Then suddenly the money stopped coming. When I asked him why, he said that the books were not selling.”

  As she paused, Mr. Drew remarked, “Now Mrs. Merriam has become suspicious of the man and feels that perhaps he’s disposing of them but not giving her the money.”

  Before the lawyer could explain further, he and the others at the dinner table were startled by the ringing of the front and back doorbells and the telephone.

  “Excuse me,” said Mr. Drew and went toward the front door.

  Hannah made her way to the back door, while Nancy answered the wall telephone in the kitchen. A harsh voice on the other end of the line asked, “Drew residence?”

  “Yes. Whom do you want?” Nancy queried.

  The caller rasped, “You tell Mrs. Merriam to shut up or she’ll get hurt and you people too!” The caller slammed down the instrument.

  By this time Hannah had opened the back door. To her amazement a burly masked man stepped inside and knocked her to the floor. Simultaneously there was a yell from the front hall. Bess and George appeared and went to aid Hannah, while Nancy rushed out of the kitchen to help her father. George leaped forward and with a neat judo hold tossed Hannah’s assailant over on his back.

  Hannah jumped up and together she and the girls grabbed the intruder. But he fought fiercely and with a sharp twist pulled free and ran out the open door.

  “Tell Mrs. Merriam to shut up or you people will get hurt!” the telephone caller rasped

  Meanwhile Nancy had hurried into the living room. Her father was battling another masked intruder in the hall beyond. The man’s mask fell off and Nancy caught a glimpse of a cruel face with a set jaw and fiery eyes. He was of medium height and muscular.

  Mrs. Me
rriam was in the hall, crying, “Stop that! Stop that!”

  The intruder seemed determined to hurt Mr. Drew, who kept dodging blows but sending back some stinging ones in return.

  Mrs. Merriam, seeing Nancy, exclaimed, “What will we do?”

  “Run upstairs and call the police!” Nancy directed.

  Her father’s attacker, apparently having heard Nancy’s request, suddenly whirled and made a dash to the front steps.

  Mr. Drew was breathing heavily. Nevertheless he started out the door after the intruder.

  Nancy grabbed his arm. “Please don’t!” she begged. “He may be armed. Let the police handle this!”

  She closed the door and picked up the mask which had fallen to the floor. “This may be a clue to yours and Hannah’s attackers, Dad,” she said, and told of the man in the kitchen.

  They hurried there. “He escaped!” Bess cried out.

  “I don’t understand,” the lawyer said, “what those men hoped to accomplish.”

  “My guess is,” Nancy replied, “that they wanted to hurt us so we’d be unable to work on Mrs. Merriam’s case.”

  “What makes you think that?” he asked.

  Nancy told her father about the warning she had received over the telephone.

  “On the other hand,” the lawyer said, “there may be a gang that has a grudge against Willis Basswood.”

  Although Mr. Drew was upset by what had occurred, he smiled when he heard how George had used her knowledge of judo on Hannah’s attacker.

  “Good for you,” he said. “Can you give a good description of him?”

  “Indeed I can,” Hannah spoke up indignantly. “I pulled off his mask. He looked like a gorilla!”

  Mrs. Merriam had joined the group and said the police were on their way. “I wish someone would explain what the ruckus was all about.”

  Nancy gave her the phone message and Mr. Drew said, “I think, Mrs. Merriam, you may be right in mistrusting Mr. Basswood. Apparently there’s a connection between him and those thugs. You must be very careful from now on.”

  Police sirens wailed and within seconds two cars raced up the driveway. Four officers jumped out. Three started to search the grounds while one remained at the front door.

  By this time the Drews and their friends had gathered in the living room. The lawyer opened the door and invited the officer inside.

  “Which way did your intruder go?” the policeman asked.

  “There were two men—one at the front door and one at the back,” Mr. Drew replied.

  “Who saw which direction the one at the back took?”

  Bess and George said that he had gone to the rear of the garden and jumped the hedge. They described him as a strong, heavy-set man with a long scar on his right wrist.

  The officer said, “I think we know who he is. It won’t be too hard to pick him up. He earns a living as a strong-arm man for underworld characters.”

  “Oh, how dreadful!” Mrs. Merriam exclaimed.

  Nancy described the man who had come in by the front door. The two masks were examined. They were identical.

  “Those thugs were working together all right,” the officer declared. Then he hurried outside to report to the other men, taking the two masks with him.

  “It’s all my fault!” Mrs. Merriam berated herself.

  She was pale and looked as if she were going to faint. As the woman slumped into a chair, Hannah Gruen hurried off to bring her a cup of tea.

  The hot beverage revived Mrs. Merriam. Looking intently at Nancy and her father, she said, “I think you should give up the case.”

  Nancy was stunned. She was already intrigued by the suspicions against Mr. Basswood. “Besides,” she thought, “I haven’t heard the story of the whispering statue.”

  CHAPTER II

  Name, Please

  MRS. Merriam’s announcement was followed by a long, embarrassing pause. Mr. Drew did not feel that he should urge a new client to go on with the case if she did not wish to. Nancy, Bess, and George looked down at the floor, not knowing what to say.

  Their caller must have realized that her remark had stunned the others. She said quickly, “Please don’t think I believe you’re incapable of handling this matter. I just don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

  Everyone looked at her and smiled. Mr. Drew said, “We’re used to this sort of thing, Mrs. Merriam. Don’t worry about us. However, I don’t want anything to happen to you. You said your husband is away a great deal. I’d advise you not to stay in your house alone.”

  Nancy added, “And please spend tonight with us, Mrs. Merriam.”

  The woman smiled gratefully. “You are very kind people. I admit I am a little afraid to go back to Waterford this late. It’s a fairly long trip by plane and then I have to drive to my house.”

  Mr. Drew said, “Indeed you must stay.”

  The conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Mr. Drew answered and was told that the police were calling. Chief McGinnis, a long-time friend of the Drews, came on the line. He said, “That man who escaped from your home by the front door has not been apprehended.

  “However, we caught that burly fellow who barged in your back door. He refuses to give his name and claims he is innocent.” The chief chuckled. “He had the nerve to say that Mrs. Gruen had attacked him!”

  “How did he explain the mask?” the lawyer asked.

  “He didn’t. We’re checking the fingerprints on both masks.”

  Mr. Drew reported the conversation to the others. “I imagine the police will keep the fellow in jail until he’s willing to cooperate. And now I have a surprise to tell all of you. I know Mrs. Merriam is in a hurry to have this mystery solved. Unfortunately I am busy on another case which will take me out of town for a while.

  “If you’re willing, Mrs. Merriam, I should like Nancy, Bess, and George to go to Waterford without me and stay at your yacht club. I can highly recommend my daughter as an amateur sleuth.”

  Hannah Gruen spoke up. “Nancy has a long list of accomplishments and Bess and George have been a wonderful help to her. She discovered The Secret of the Old Clock and recently solved The Mystery of the Ivory Charm.”

  Mrs. Merriam’s face broke into a wide smile. “I shall be delighted to work with them. But as I said before, I don’t want anyone getting hurt. If you girls promise not to take any chances, I’ll say yes.”

  At once Bess said, “I promise!”

  George added that she would see to it Nancy took no unnecessary chances.

  Mr. Drew said he had a request of his own. “Nancy, I want you to use a disguise and an assumed name while you’re working on this case.”

  Again Mrs. Merriam looked alarmed. “Is that necessary? Won’t it bring more trouble to Nancy?”

  The lawyer shook his head. “It should be good protection.”

  Bess asked, “How did the person on the phone and the two attackers know Mrs. Merriam is here?”

  Suddenly the woman put a hand over her mouth and fear came into her eyes. “I’m afraid,” she said slowly, “that a friend of mine might have given the whole thing away. I thought she could be trusted to keep a secret. She told me she had been down to Mr. Basswood’s art store. She is a great talker and I’m afraid may have mentioned my plans.”

  Mr. Drew frowned. “That is unfortunate,” he said. “I shall not be working on the case, however, so if they follow me they will learn nothing. But if they think Nancy is coming to Waterford, that’s a very good reason why she should assume a disguise.”

  Bess remarked that it was lucky the man who had seen her in the kitchen was in jail. The one in the front hall had not had a glimpse of any of the girls.

  There was a slight lull in the conversation as each one in the group thought about the case. The silence was broken by George.

  With a broad grin she asked, “Let’s work on a new name for Nancy. Since it’s a mystery about books, how about Libby, for library—Booker?”

  The others laughed.
r />   Bess’s eyes began to twinkle. “Mr. Basswood’s name is partly fish. How about Nancy calling herself Carrie Fisher?”

  Again there was laughter and many suggestions followed. In the end it was Hannah Gruen who proposed a name which appealed to Nancy.

  Smiling, Nancy said, “From now on will everyone please address me as Miss Debbie Lynbrook.”

  “Okay, Debbie,” said Bess and George together. Bess added, “I just hope we don’t make any mistakes and call you by your own name.”

  Nancy chuckled. “If you do, I won’t pay any attention to you.”

  Mr. Drew said that he would get in touch with Mr. Ayer, the manager of the yacht club, and tell him what the plan was. He would request that all messages for Nancy Drew be rerouted to Mr. Ayer. The only ones Nancy was to take were those under the name Debbie Lynbrook.

  The light turn in the conversation had revived Mrs. Merriam’s spirits. Hannah suggested that they now eat her raspberry shortcake. Everyone returned to the table and sat down.

  Bess said, “Mrs. Merriam, Nancy hinted that you know something about a whispering statue. Will you tell us the story?”

  “I’ll be glad to,” she replied. With a smile she added, “It concerns the yacht club. Maybe you three girls would like to solve that mystery too.”

  Mrs. Merriam said that the statue was life-size and of fine Italian marble. It had been imported from Italy many years before by a man who was of Italian descent.

  “He lived in the mansion, which is now the Waterford Yacht Club. The statue stood on the front lawn.”

  Suddenly Mrs. Merriam stared at Nancy. “You know, as I recall the face of the sculpture, the young woman looked very much like you. Actually, she was supposed to resemble the wife of its owner. The couple had come from Italy, but she never got over a feeling of homesickness. She passed away while still in her twenties.”

  “How sad!” Bess murmured softly.

  Mrs. Merriam said she had never known the woman but had met the husband a few times. “He was a very nice man. He died suddenly and it took a long time to settle the estate. In the meantime the yacht club decided to purchase the place.”