The Elusive Heiress Read online

  Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #68

  The Elusive Heiress

  Contents

  1. Anxious Search

  2. Young Traveler

  3. Vanished!

  4. Close Call

  5. Rescue

  6. Strange Conversation

  7. Rodeo Excitement

  8. Warning!

  9. Clues

  10. Runaway

  11. Night Show

  12. Danger

  13. Discoveries

  14. Clarinda

  15. Corral Trap

  16. Kidnapper!

  17. Cabin Escape

  18. Surprising Answer

  19. Fake Message?

  20. Happy Reunion

  1. Anxious Search

  “I think I have a case that will interest you, Nancy,” Carson Drew told his titian-haired daughter as he handed her a cool glass of lemonade. “It has to do with Arlo Winthrop.”

  “The millionaire?” Nancy sipped the lemonade and reached for one of the cookies Hannah Gruen had placed on the picnic table in the backyard of their River Heights home.

  Her father nodded, sitting down beside her. “Mr. Winthrop has been in poor health for some time and now he’s very anxious to set his affairs in order. To do that, he would like to know once and for all what happened to his daughter Clarinda.”

  “I didn’t know he had a daughter,” Nancy commented, her curiosity immediately caught. “I know his nephew has lived in the mansion with him for years—ever since Mr. Winthrop’s son died, but . . .”

  “Clarinda Winthrop left home forty years ago when she was just eighteen. She and her father quarreled because he wished her to marry a young man he considered a suitable match and she claimed to be in love with a young soldier she’d met at a friend’s house. Her father disinherited her at the time, but in the past few years, he’s had Tom Mathews order several searches for her.”

  “Is Tom Mathews his nephew?” Nancy asked. Her father nodded. “They’ve traced her as far as Cheyenne, Wyoming. That is where her soldier was from.” He paused and took several old snapshots from his pocket and handed them to Nancy. “That is Clarinda.”

  Nancy stared at the pretty young face framed by a cloud of dark hair done in a neat pageboy. The brown eyes were serious even though the girl was smiling at the camera. “She looks so young,” Nancy commented, sure that the girl couldn’t be any older than she was.

  "Barely eighteen,” her father confirmed. “And her father hasn’t heard anything from her in all the years since?”

  “I talked with Tom Mathews and looked over the reports trim the private investigators that he hired and they didn't seem to be able to find out what happened to her after she reached Cheyenne. Of course, Mr. Winthrop didn’t start the searches until she’d been gone over thirty years, so it isn’t surprising they had difficulties.”

  Nancy frowned, though her blue eyes were sparkling at the challenge. “What makes you think we can do better, Dad?” she asked.

  “We have a secret weapon,” he informed her with a grin. “Remember Grace Reed?”

  “Of course,” Nancy agreed. “She’s an old friend of Mother’s from before you and she were married.” Nancy had heard many stories from her father about the happy days when her mother and Grace had been best friends. “I forgot that she lives in Cheyenne,” she admitted.

  “I called her from the office after I finished talking to Mr. Winthrop, and she has invited us to be her guests for as long as the investigation takes,” her father went on, his twinkling gaze telling her that there was more to the story. “And it is just as well she offered us a place to stay.”

  “Why is that, Dad?” Nancy asked.

  “Because there isn’t a hotel or motel room to be had in Cheyenne and there won’t be for over a week. This Friday marks the first day of the big rodeo there—Cheyenne Frontier Days.” “How exciting,” Nancy exclaimed. “I’ve heard a lot about the rodeo. Do you think we’ll have time to see some of the events?”

  Her father laughed. “Grace would never forgive us if we didn’t,” he told her. “Now, do you think you’d be interested in this little mystery?”

  Nancy giggled, well aware that he was teasing. “Do you really have to ask?” she replied, then sobered as her attention returned to the girl in the pictures she still held. “I’d really like to help find her,” she said. “She looks like someone I could enjoy knowing.”

  Her father’s smile was gentle. “That picture was taken forty years ago,” he reminded her. “She may very well be a grandmother by now.” Nancy gave him a solemn stare. “I like grandmothers, too.”

  They laughed together easily, then Carson explained the travel arrangements he’d made, ending, “I know it is short notice, but do you think you could be packed and ready by early tomorrow morning?”

  Nancy swallowed hard, then nodded. “If Hannah is willing to help and I start right now.” Her father leaned back in his chair. “She should be through with my packing by now, so you run along. We can talk more about the case tonight. Mr. Mathews promised to have copies made of the detective reports, so they should be arriving pretty soon. I know you’ll want to read them over, too.”

  “Oh, Dad, I have a date with Ned this evening.” Nancy stopped at the door that led to the kitchen. “Do you think I should call him and cancel?” Reluctance showed in her voice as she mentioned the handsome young man she’d been dating.

  Her father’s eyes met hers for a moment, then he waved a hand. “No reason to cancel. You’ll have plenty of time to get caught up on all the details of the case on our flight to Cheyenne. Just don’t be late tonight. We have to leave early, you know.”

  “We’re just going to a movie downtown,” Nancy replied. “We’ll come back here afterward. I’m sure Ned will be interested in the details of such a strange case."

  Though the movie was an exciting and entertaining one, all too often Nancy found her mind wandering from the plot. She kept thinking about the girl in the old snapshots.

  Where could she have gone? Had something happened to her Wyoming soldier? And if he hadn't returned to her, what could have become of her?

  “I envy you flying off to the rodeo,” Ned said as he drove her home from the movie. “I’ve heard so much about all the activities that go on in Cheyenne. I expect you’ll have time to enjoy some of them, won’t you?”

  “Dad seems to think so,” Nancy answered, wishing that she could ask Ned to join them, but aware that she couldn’t, since they were to be Grace Reed’s guests. “Of course, it depends on what we find out about Clarinda once we get to Cheyenne. If we discover that she left there, we may not be staying very long.”

  “That would be a shame.”

  “Will you come in for a while?” Nancy invited as he parked in front of her house. “I’m sure Hannah has baked some brownies and Dad may have learned something more about the case.”

  “I’ll stay as long as you’ll let me,” Ned told her with a smile. “After all, you’re leaving tomorrow and you could be gone quite a while.”

  “I don’t . . Nancy began, but before she could continue, the porch light flashed on and the front door opened.

  “I’m glad you’re home,” her father called, his forehead furrowed with a frown.

  “Is something wrong, Dad?” Nancy asked. “What has happened?”

  “Well, I think we may have a problem,” her father replied. “Come on inside and I’ll explain while we have some of Hannah’s brownies and milk.”

  “So what happened?” Nancy asked once they were settled at the table.

  “I got a mysterious phone call a little while ago,” Carson began.

  “From whom?” Nancy asked.

  He shrugged. “It was a woman’s voice,
but she wouldn’t identify herself. However, she did mention an interesting name—Clarinda Winthrop."

  “Was it her?” Nancy gasped.

  "I don’t know,” he admitted. “I suppose it could have been.”

  “So, what did she say?” Nancy asked.

  “That I should come to Chain Creek Lodge if I wanted to learn the truth about Clarinda Winthrop.”

  “Chain Creek Lodge?” Ned said. “Where is that?”

  “Somewhere in western Canada, not too far from Calgary, Alberta, according to the map.” Carson Drew didn’t sound happy.

  “Are we going there?” Nancy inquired.

  Her father sighed, then shook his head. “Not we—I’m going. I think you should go ahead with our original plan. This could just be a false lead. When someone calls and refuses to give me her name, I have to wonder why.”

  “You mean you want me to go to Cheyenne alone?” Nancy asked, not liking the idea at all.

  “Well, actually, I’ve been thinking about that and I wondered if Ned would like to go.” Her father turned his attention to the dark-haired young man sitting beside her. “I realize it is short notice, but I talked to Grace and she said that she’d be happy to have you as her guest, too, Ned, if you’re free to go.”

  “Well, I don’t. . .” Ned began, surprise showing in his brown eyes.

  “I’m sure you can work something out, can’t you?” Nancy teased, remembering the longing in his voice when they’d talked about her trip earlier.

  “I really don’t like the idea of Nancy traveling so far alone,” Carson continued. “And, of course, I should be able to join you in a day or two. Unless my mysterious caller actually was Clarinda Winthrop.”

  “I don’t know whether to hope it was her or it wasn’t,” Nancy said, her blue eyes dancing. “I know it’s important that we find her quickly, but I really was looking forward to working out the riddle of her disappearance while I was enjoying Rodeo Week.”

  Both her father and Ned laughed indulgently. “You just don’t want anyone else solving your mystery,” her father teased.

  “Well, are you going to help me, Ned?” Nancy asked.

  His grin was wide and very attractive as he nodded his head. “I’ll have to make a few phone calls and do some packing, but I think I can work it out and I would love to make the trip.”

  Nancy picked up her milk glass in a toast and the others joined her. “To our successful hunt for Clarinda Winthrop.” Smiling, they sipped from their glasses and began making plans for die two separate journeys.

  2. Young Traveler

  The airport was busy and crowded and Nancy was glad of Ned’s company as they hurried to the correct boarding area. Since her father’s plane had left a short time before theirs, there was no one to bid them good-bye.

  “Nancy Drew?” The voice was unfamiliar and Nancy turned slowly to see a very worried- looking middle-aged lady standing in the line behind them. “You are Nancy Drew, aren’t you?” the woman asked rather shyly.

  Nancy nodded politely, none too comfortable with the fame she’d gained from solving mysteries. “I’m afraid I don’t know who you are,” she admitted.

  “Oh, you wouldn’t know me,” the woman said quickly. “I’m Mrs. Peterson from De- Cateur Academy, the girls’ school.”

  “I’ve heard of it,” Nancy said, noticing for the first time that the woman was accompanied by a very pretty little blond girl who appeared to be about ten years old.

  “I wouldn’t bother you,” Mrs. Peterson went on, “except that I was wondering if you were going to be on this flight?”

  Nancy hesitated a moment, then decided that the woman seemed genuinely upset about something. “I’m flying to Cheyenne, Wyoming,” she admitted.

  The woman’s frown was immediately replaced by a relieved smile. “Oh, that’s wonderful, Miss Drew,” Mrs. Peterson said, then turned her attention to the girl beside her. “Did you hear that, Jennifer?” she asked. “Miss Drew is going to Cheyenne, too.”

  Brown eyes looked at Nancy appraisingly and when Nancy smiled at her, Jennifer smiled back shyly, though she didn’t say anything. Nancy returned her attention to the woman.

  “Jennifer has to make the trip alone,” Mrs. Peterson went on. “It’s a family emergency and there’s no one to fly with her, so I was wondering . . She began to look uncomfortable. “I know it is presumptuous of me, Miss Drew, but I ’d feel so much better if I knew that you would keep an eye on Jennifer, see that she makes the proper plane changes, things like that. I was going to ask the flight attendants, but they can get so busy. . . The woman let it trail off, her expression so full of hopefulness Nancy wanted to pat her shoulder reassuringly.

  “I’d be happy to have Jennifer’s company,” she assured the woman, then turned her attention to the little girl. “Is someone meeting you in Cheyenne, Jennifer?” she asked.

  “My mother,” Jennifer responded softly.

  Mrs. Peterson nodded. “Lorna Buckman,” she confirmed. “She called and said that she would meet Jennifer in Cheyenne.”

  Nancy introduced Ned to Jennifer and Mrs. Peterson, then the line moved and other matters claimed her attention. Before she knew it, they were on the plane and ready to take off for the long, cross-country flight.

  It was an uneventful trip. Jennifer proved to be a good traveling companion, spending much of her time looking out the window at the clouds below them or reading the books and magazines Mrs. Peterson had given her before she said good-bye at the gate. She also had a rather elaborate board game that she taught Ned to play while Nancy took time to read the detective reports her father had given her before she left.

  "I’m glad Jennifer came with us,” Ned teased when Nancy stopped her reading to enjoy lunch. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have had anyone to talk to.”

  Jennifer smiled up at him. “I’m glad you’re going to Cheyenne,” she said. “Maybe you can come and have dinner with us, if Mom is well enough.”

  “Has your mother been ill?” Nancy asked, suddenly realizing that it was a little strange for a child Jennifer’s age to be in school so far from home.

  Jennifer nodded, her eyes darkening. “She was in a car accident and had to stay in the hospital. That’s why I went to boarding school. I was supposed to stay the rest of the summer, but Mom must be better, ’cause she said I should come home.”

  “Are you looking forward to the big rodeo?” Ned asked.

  Jennifer nodded. “Last year, I rode in one of the parades. I was in a Pony Club then.”

  “Did you like boarding school?” Nancy inquired.

  “Mrs. Peterson is nice,” Jennifer responded. “She is our housemother. But it was more fun last winter, when everyone was staying at school. There were only a dozen of us there for the summer. Of course, we had the horses to ride and we didn’t have any school work, but. . . She let it trail off, brushing back her long, straight blond hair. “It will be better with Mom.”

  Nancy smiled at her. “I’m sure it will,” she agreed. “And I bet she’s very anxious to see you, too.”

  It was late afternoon when the plane circled and dropped down to the airport at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Nancy was happy to gather her papers and belongings to get off. Though Ned and Jennifer had provided pleasant company, the reports had merely whetted her appetite for solving the mystery of what had happened to Clarinda Winthrop.

  According to what the detectives had found in both of their investigations, Clarinda Winthrop had taken a train west, arriving in Cheyenne about two weeks after she disappeared from her father’s home. Once in Cheyenne, she’d taken a room in a boarding- house and was rumored to have found a job in a I x-al dry goods store.

  Much checking, however, had not turned up any records of her residence or employment. In fact, it seemed that no one named Clarinda Winthrop had left a single trace in Cheyenne’s many records. The two agencies had also tried to locate her in Denver and even checked a few more-distant cities, but they had found nothing.

  “Are
we being met, too, Nancy?” Ned asked, breaking into her thoughts.

  Nancy looked around quickly, blushing slightly, then waved. “Mrs. Reed,” she called, easily recognizing their hostess’s round figure and warm smile. “Over here!”

  Grace Reed hurried to give Nancy a hug, then stepped away from her. “Don’t you look more like your mother every day?” she said. “And so grown up, too.”

  “And you don’t get a day older,” Nancy informed her, then quickly introduced Ned and Jennifer, adding, “Jennifer’s mother is supposed to be here to meet her.”

  Mrs. Reed smiled at the little girl, who was looking around rather nervously. “She’s probably still stuck in traffic outside,” she soothed her. “Seems like half of Cheyenne was coming out to meet someone today.”

  “Why don’t we see about the luggage, Jennifer?” Ned suggested. “You can show me which ones are yours, all right?”

  Nancy gave him a grateful smile as he took the little girl over to where the luggage was being unloaded. Once Jennifer was gone, she allowed a little frown to touch her normally smooth forehead. “I can’t imagine where her mother is,” she told Mrs. Reed. “Mrs. Peterson assured me that she’d be meeting Jennifer.” “Mrs. Peterson?”

  Nancy quickly explained how she and Ned had come to have Jennifer’s company for the flight and also told the attractive, gray-haired widow the few facts she’d learned from Jennifer’s conversation. Mrs. Reed shook her head as Nancy finished.

  “That’s an awfully long flight for a child that age to have to take alone,” she commented. “She was lucky to have you and your young man to watch over her.”

  Nancy blushed a little at the description of Ned and hastily informed Mrs. Reed that Jennifer had entertained Ned for her while she worked on the mystery she’d come to solve.

  “It’s as though Clarinda Winthrop just vanished from the face of the earth,” she finished. “I’m not sure where we can begin.”

  “Well, I have some names for you, Nancy,”

  Mrs. Reed told her, “old timers who might be able to tell you about her. Carson told me that she might have worked for a dry goods store and I know Webber’s was the biggest store here at that time. Anyway, Joshua Webber is still living, so he might be able to give you some idea of what happened to her if she worked for him.”