The Double Jinx Mystery Read online

  Jimmy hung his head. “I didn’t pay attention to the sign,” he confessed. “It said to keep away from the cage but I wanted to see the big black bird, so I went in. He scratched me, but Nancy saved me.”

  Oscar said he was terribly sorry the accident had happened. “Jimmy was a brave boy and knew enough to put his arms over his eyes to protect them.”

  The little boy had been frightened because he expected to be punished. Now he smiled his thanks at Oscar. The Tablers did not reprimand their grandson and the others assumed that Gram and Gramps thought Jimmy had been punished enough.

  As the three girls were leaving in Nancy’s car, Mr. Tabler called, “I’ll take your suggestion seriously, Miss Drew, about High Rise’s development plans. Mind, I don’t promise anything, though.”

  “I’m betting he’ll vote to keep Oscar’s place,” Bess whispered.

  George was inclined to agree but Nancy did not comment. She hoped intensely that the children would win him over.

  When Nancy arrived home she was delighted to see Ned’s car in the driveway. He said that his work at the college had not taken long, so he was able to return sooner than he had expected.

  Grinning, he asked, “I hope you don’t mind.”

  As Nancy made a face at him, he added, “What’s new on the mystery that I can help you with?”

  Nancy told him that she wanted to meet Mr. Ramsey Wright, the head of the construction company, and judge for herself what kind of a man he was. “Would you like to drive over to his office this afternoon?”

  Ned nodded and Nancy immediately went to the telephone to make an appointment. She learned that the president of the High Rise Construction Company was not available. When Nancy said she had something important to talk to him about, the secretary told her, “He’s going to lunch now. After that he’ll be looking over one of his projects out in Tomkinsville.”

  “Thank you,” Nancy said.

  She and Ned told Hannah where they were going. At once the housekeeper said, “Have you heard about Tomkinsville?”

  When they both said no, she told them that many people thought of it as a disaster area.

  “In what way?” Nancy queried.

  “There’s a river running along the edge of it—nice and clear with a very pretty dam that ends in a deep falls. Along one bank, there used to be a lovely park with various kinds of recreational facilities and also boating and an area for swimming. But now it’s all gone and they’re expecting a lot of high-rise apartment houses to be built there.”

  Nancy was sorry to hear this. “The man who is behind it is the same one who wants to destroy the Thurston farm,” she told Hannah.

  The housekeeper pursed her lips. “There ought to be a law against permitting such things!”

  Nancy and Ned made no comment but both agreed. They had lunch, then went out to Ned’s car and drove to Tomkinsville. After a couple of inquiries on where the park had been, Ned went in that direction. Reaching the site, they saw a bulldozer and crane already at work.

  Nancy tried to speak to the drivers but the noise of the machinery was so loud it drowned her voice. The men made no attempt to turn off the engines and speak to them. Seeing a workman on foot a distance away, they walked over to him.

  “Would you tell us please where Mr. Wright is?” she asked the man.

  Instead of replying the man stared at her and then asked, “What are your names?”

  Ned told him. The man continued to study Nancy and finally remarked, “Nancy Drew, eh? I’ve heard of you. You’re an amateur detective, aren’t you?”

  “I’ve solved some mysteries,” she answered. The workman asked, “What do you want to see Mr. Wright about?”

  “I have a message for him,” she replied, and thought it best to say nothing more.

  “I’ll see if I can find him,” the workman said. “Why don’t you two walk down by the river? There’s a dam a little way along. It’s very pretty. I think you would enjoy seeing it.”

  As he went off, Nancy and Ned turned toward the water. They came to the river and started to walk downstream.

  “Isn’t this pretty?” Nancy asked. “It must have been a lovely park.”

  “It’s too bad they’re destroying it,” Ned remarked.

  The couple stopped to gaze at the rushing water. Suddenly they heard footsteps directly behind them and turned just in time to see a giant man leering at them. The next instant he put one of his great pawlike hands on each of the young people and gave them a tremendous shove. Nancy and Ned lost their balance and tumbled toward the water!

  Being excellent swimmers they were able to twist their bodies into perfect dives. When they surfaced, the two had already been swept a good distance downstream. Battling hard against the strong current, they tried to turn toward shore but found this impossible to do.

  “The dam is not far ahead with the high falls!” Nancy thought.

  Ned was trying frantically to reach Nancy’s side and help her. He could not make it.

  A few moments later the two went over the dam!

  Nancy and Ned held their breath as they were swept down the falls and prayed that they would not hit rocks. Fortunately neither did. They felt as if their lungs would burst before they were able to take in deep breaths of fresh air.

  A little farther on the water became less turbulent, and Nancy and Ned swam to shore. Exhausted, they dragged themselves up the embankment and sat down.

  Nancy and Ned went over the dam!

  “Thank goodness you’re all right,” Ned told her.

  “I’m glad we’re both okay,” Nancy replied. “I was terrified that we might hit rocks.”

  She and Ned realized they had been very lucky. The weather was warm so they did not feel chilled. Both had lost their sandals and looked bedraggled. Nancy tried wringing the water from her hair and clothes.

  Finally she smiled. “New-style bathing outfit. How do you like it, Ned?”

  He laughed and said, “I’d hate to wear these clothes in a swimming meet! Nancy, do you realize that this time we were jinxed together? Do you suppose that means something?” A mischievous twinkle came into his eyes.

  “Sure it means something,” she echoed. “Another double jinx! Ned, I’m positive now that Mr. Ramsey Wright is the president in charge of hijinks. He doesn’t do the work himself but employs people like this giant, and Slick Fingers and Merv Marvel.”

  She and Ned noticed a police car approaching. It stopped near them and a young state trooper stepped out.

  “You’re the two who went over the dam?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You must be mighty fine swimmers,” he said. “Few people falling into the river near the dam would make it out alive.”

  “How did you know about us?” Ned asked him.

  “A boy ran up to me and said he’d seen you.”

  Nancy explained that she and Ned had driven to the development to see Mr. Wright. “While we were looking at the river, a tall, muscular man came up and pushed us in!”

  “What!” the officer exclaimed. “By the way, where is your car?”

  Ned told him and the officer offered to take the couple back in the police car. As they neared the construction site, Nancy suddenly cried out:

  “There goes that giant man now!”

  CHAPTER XVIII

  An Arrest

  THE state trooper revved up his car and raced along the roadway toward the fleeing giant. The huge man turned his head. Realizing he was being pursued, the suspect turned away from the road and darted into the development.

  “We mustn’t let him get away!” Nancy cried out.

  As the trooper stopped the car, she jumped out. Together she, the police officer, and Ned tore after the big man. Their speed far exceeded his and after a short race they caught up to him. The trooper clamped a hand on his shoulder.

  “What’s this all about?” the giant asked indignantly.

  “Who are you?” the officer queried.

  “My na
me’s Nat Banner and I used to be a strong man in the circus. Now are you satisfied?”

  The officer turned to Nancy and Ned. “Is this the fellow who pushed you into the water?”

  “Yes,” they answered together.

  The trooper addressed the man again. “These young people might have drowned,” he declared. “Did you attack them?”

  Banner looked sullen. “I never saw these folks before in my life. Besides, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t push anybody into the water.”

  When Nancy and Ned continued to insist that their identification was correct, the suspect said, “I was nowhere near the water. I can prove it by Mr. Wright.” He looked off in the distance. “Here he comes now.”

  When the owner of the High Rise Construction Company joined the group, he asked what the trouble was. The giant whined, “These folks are sayin’ I pushed ’em into the river. I never did any such thing. I wasn’t near the water. You know that, don’t you, Mr. Wright?”

  “Of course you weren’t. You were with me until just a few minutes ago,” Mr. Wright said. “Banner is one of my trusted employees.”

  The trooper looked from one to another, then said to Nancy and Ned, “If this man says he’s not guilty and you have no witnesses, there’s no proof. What do you want to do about it?”

  Mr. Wright stared angrily at Nancy. “You’d better drop this crazy charge.”

  Nancy thought she detected a double meaning in his words—they were intended as a threat for her not to pursue the issue any longer.

  Not easily frightened, she changed her whole approach to the situation. Looking at Mr. Wright, she asked, “Would you two men mind walking down to the part of the river where we were pushed in? Maybe you could help us find the person responsible.”

  The High Rise owner and his massive employee glanced at each other, then Mr. Wright said, “I haven’t much time to spend with you. But I’ll go along.”

  The trooper was a bit curious but had no chance to ask the young detective what she had in mind. The whole group trailed her to the riverbank. There Ned and the trooper smiled. In the soft mud were long, deep footprints definitely made by the type of boot the giant was wearing.

  “When Mr. Banner was running,” Nancy said, “I noticed the ridges in the sole of his boot and the heel mark. These are the same.”

  Mr. Wright said quickly, “Lots of men wear boots like his. This match doesn’t prove anything.”

  Ned spoke up. “I think it does. These boots are extra large. The depth of the last two prints near the river indicates that the person standing here had to sink his full weight in order to push one or two heavy objects into the water.”

  The trooper agreed. He asked Nancy and Ned if they wanted to prefer charges against Banner.

  “Yes, we do,” Ned answered.

  There were strenuous objections from both Mr. Wright and his employee, but their opponents were insistent and the offender was taken away in the State Police car. After Nancy and Ned had been to headquarters to file their complaint, the trooper drove Nancy and Ned to the latter’s car.

  Ned had been driving for a little while when he began to laugh and said, “I’ve always told myself if I’m looking for danger and excitement, just go on an errand with you!”

  Nancy grinned. “Now own up, Ned, you wouldn’t have liked this afternoon half as much if it hadn’t been full of excitement.”

  “Okay,” he replied, “but please give me one hour to rest before you get me involved in another hair-raising mystery.”

  “I promise,” Nancy said, laughing. “I might even give you two hours.”

  The two bantered all the rest of the way home. When Hannah saw them, she was astonished at their appearance. “What did you two do? Go swimming with your clothes on?”

  “We sure did,” Ned replied, and told what had happened to them.

  Once more Hannah was aghast “That was dreadfully dangerous,” she commented, frowning. “Such an ugly-tempered man should be kept behind bars until he’s so old he can’t push people into rivers!”

  Nancy and Ned smiled. They loved the intense-ness of Hannah’s loyalty. Ned, chuckling, told the housekeeper he was beginning to agree that somebody had put a double jinx on Nancy and himself.

  “If I were superstitious,” said Hannah, “I could well believe that. First you both came down with ornithosis, then somebody flings you into a river.”

  Ned sighed. “Three times is out. I wonder what the next jinx will be.”

  “Well, I certainly hope this is the end,” Hannah stated firmly. “By the way, I was reading something interesting the other day. Did you know that certain primitive people regarded their names as an integral part of their souls? To protect themselves from witchcraft, they kept their real names secret. They believed that no one could jinx them while they were using a fictitious name.”

  Nancy and Ned said they had never heard about this, though many of the common superstitions were familiar to them.

  “I like the one about a person’s left shoulder being the bad side of him,” Nancy remarked. “That’s why someone, seeing a new moon for the first time over his left shoulder, throws salt over that shoulder to reverse any bad luck it might bring.”

  Ned said he preferred the one about a person carrying a rabbit’s left hind foot for good luck. “I see one dangling now and then in a person’s car.” Then he asked, his eyes twinkling, “Knocking on wood is supposed to bring luck. Does this idea come from woodpeckers pecking at tree bark, hoping to have luck finding a juicy insect?”

  Nancy and Hannah laughed. Then the housekeeper changed the subject.

  “A phone call came today for you and the message was that tomorrow morning you will have a surprise. Now don’t ask any more. That’s all I can tell you.”

  It was not until midmorning the next day that they found out what it was all about. The front doorbell rang and both of them hurried to answer it. Bess, George, and two athletic-looking blond young men, Burt Eddleton and Dave Evans, who dated the cousins frequently, stood before them.

  “Surprise!” they exclaimed. Bess added, “We’ve brought reinforcements and we’re ready for a sleuthing job.”

  Nancy cried out, “How wonderful to see you!”

  Ned kissed the girls and slapped the boys on the back.

  Mr. Drew was still at home and said he was delighted to hear about the reinforcements. The group sat down for a second breakfast snack and discussed the mystery.

  “What I’d like you to do is visit the High Rise Construction Company office and see what you can learn,” Mr. Drew said. “Also I’d like you to investigate the sites on which Mr. Wright plans to build. I have a list of them.”

  The lawyer thought it best if the boys went to the High Rise company alone. Nancy and the other girls could visit the development areas and find out all they could about how the property had been acquired.

  When the group was about to leave the house, the telephone rang. Nancy answered and the others heard her say, “I have nothing to tell you, and if you have finished, I’ll say good-by.” She hung up.

  “Who was that?” her father asked.

  Nancy explained that it was Mr. Wright, who had told her he had to pay a high sum to bail out his employee. “Then he said, ‘If you and your friend don’t retract your charge against Nat Banner, you’ll be sorry!’” Nancy added with determination, “Well, I won’t pay any attention to him,” she concluded.

  “He can’t scare me either,” said Ned. “Incidentally, while I’m at the High Rise office, I’d better not let him see me.”

  The others, however, expressed alarm. Mr. Drew begged his daughter and her friends to take extra precautions. They promised, then left the house. The boys went off in Burt’s car, which would not be recognized by anyone connected with the High Rise personnel.

  Nancy, Bess, and George headed for the first site on Mr. Drew’s list. They could find nothing wrong or underhanded about the purchase, and the sellers had been willing to p
art with their property.

  Another place was owned by a widow who did not want to move but had been told she could live on the property for two more years.

  Next the three young detectives reached a retirement home for women. No vehicles were allowed beyond the fenced-in grounds, so Nancy parked outside.

  The visitors gave their names to a gatekeeper and at his request Nancy stated her business. He made a brief telephone call, then waved them inside the grounds.

  As the trio walked up a sweeping driveway, they came to a sweet-faced elderly woman seated under a tree. The girls smiled at her.

  “I’m Mrs. Carten,” she spoke up. “Have you come to visit someone at our lovely home?”

  “Not exactly,” Nancy replied. “We heard that this place is about to be sold. Where are you all to be moved?”

  Tears trickled down the woman’s cheeks. “It is worse than that. A man bought the mortgage from the bank and now he has foreclosed on the property. We will have to move at once. I don’t know what will become of us.”

  The girls were dismayed to hear this. They expressed their sympathy, then George asked, “Is the man’s name Mr. Wright?”

  “Yes, it is,” Mrs. Carten answered.

  Nancy suggested the girls talk to the owner, Mrs. Sutton. She found her seated at a desk in a large cheerful office. Mrs. Sutton confirmed the story.

  “All of us who live here are heartbroken,” she said.

  “We’re very sorry,” Bess spoke up. “Has Mr. Wright actually foreclosed?”

  “It can happen at any time,” the woman replied.

  The phone on her desk rang. Mrs. Sutton answered and in a moment drew in her breath. She put the phone down, then burst into tears.

  “Forgive me, please,” she said. “It has happened. Mr. Wright has given formal notice of a foreclosure.”

  “Perhaps I can help you,” said Nancy. “May I make a call?” The woman nodded.

  Nancy dialed her father’s office. Quickly she told him where she was and what had happened. “Oh, Dad, please try to do something fast!”