The Swami's Ring Read online

  “Can I go with you?” the boy asked the officer. He shook his head.

  “Do me a favor, son. Go home and get a good night’s rest—unless you want to have that bruise checked first. You could have a slight concussion, you know.”

  Ned insisted he felt fine, but Mr. Drew studied his weary face. “You’ll stay in the guest room tonight,” he said. “I’ll call your family and explain. I’m sure it’ll be all right.”

  The young man nodded gratefully.

  “What about Nancy, though?” he asked.

  “I’m afraid we’ll have to leave everything up to the police now,” Mr. Drew sighed.

  He himself was deeply worried about his daughter’s safety, but he managed to retain his composure after the police said they would contact him shortly.

  By next morning, however, the telephone had not rung and the attorney dialed headquarters. He learned that the Flannery house was vacant. Teacups and saucers that had been left in the sink overnight indicated that the occupants had departed recently. Officers, nevertheless, intended to search the grounds in daylight.

  When Ned finally awoke, Mr. Drew relayed the information, asking if any other clues to Nancy’s whereabouts had occurred to the boy.

  “Just that I’m positive she’s with the Flannerys,” he said. “At first, I thought the guy who hit me had probably kidnapped Nancy. But if Brady was my attacker, then he obviously didn’t take Nancy with him to the theater.”

  “Well, I think the police must’ve come to the same conclusions by now,” Mr. Drew said. “So where do you suppose Flannery is?”

  “Maybe at Swain Lake Lodge.”

  Mr. Drew considered the idea. “I doubt it. He wouldn’t want to be seen in a public place with his prisoner.”

  “Then, maybe—” Ned let the sentence hang, thinking momentarily about Phyllis Pruett.

  He shot out of his chair to the telephone. He didn’t know Angela’s number, but he quickly obtained it from the River Heights Theater office and dialed again.

  “Angela Pruett?” the young man said, “This is Ned Nickerson.”

  From there on in, plans were made for him to pick her up at her hotel. He gave only a brief explanation before turning to Mr. Drew again.

  “I’m going to find the swami’s retreat if it’s the last thing I do,” he announced, “because that’s where I think Nancy is!”

  “Perhaps you ought to take along some extra muscle,” the attorney said, “like Bess and George and the boys.”

  “Excellent idea,” Ned declared. “Would you like to come too, sir?”

  “Seems to me you have a full car already,” Mr. Drew said, “but I wouldn’t miss this trip for anything. I’ll follow in my car.”

  It took almost an hour before Ned was able to round up everyone. Bess and George were completely shocked by the news of Nancy’s abduction. Angela was equally astounded by the connection unraveling between the Flannerys and her own sister’s disappearance.

  “And what about Cliff?” Bess said.

  The detectives wondered if they were on the right track. Had the retreat really become a hideaway for prisoners?

  Mr. Drew followed the group in his own car, having left a strict message with Hannah not to reveal their destination to anyone. He did, however, pass the word along to Chief McGinnis.

  The most pressing concern at the moment, though, was how to reach the retreat. Since their harrowing experience on the trail, Nancy and Ned had not returned to hunt for a road.

  “Even so,” Ned told his friends, “somebody near the lake must know if one exists. If not, we’ll have to traipse through the woods.”

  “Uh-oh,” Bess said, glancing at her bare ankles. “Hope we don’t get bitten along the way.”

  “You should’ve thought of that sooner,” her cousin said.

  “Well, I can’t think of everything, George Fayne.”

  Dave interrupted unexpectedly. “It seems to me that you two enjoy picking on each other,” he said.

  “We’re not picking on each other,” Bess said defensively. “George is merely looking out for my best interest.”

  Her friend pursed his lips, swallowing his words, as George giggled. Burt, meanwhile, had asked to look at the road map Ned kept in the glove compartment.

  “Swain Lake isn’t far from the airport,” Ned told him, which helped the Emerson boy locate it more quickly.

  “As I recall,” Burt remarked, “there’s a road that runs up into the hill around that area.”

  “You’re probably thinking of the one Nancy and I were on the other day,” Ned said. “It leads to the lodge, but not to the retreat, which I assume is somewhere at the foot of the lake.”

  “Come to think of it,” George said to Bess, “don’t you remember Nancy saying that Cliff was found near the airport?”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Bess said excitedly. “It’s possible that he was on his way back from the retreat!”

  “Or on the way to it,” George said. “At the moment, it really doesn’t matter which direction he was heading—just that he was in the vicinity.”

  “I vote we go to the airport,” Bess told Ned.

  “I agree,” Angela said.

  “Maybe we will find an access to the retreat, after all,” Dave encouraged their driver.

  “You could be right,” Ned replied, and when signs for the airport came within view, he followed them.

  The airport itself had been modernized during the past year. New terminals had sprung up, and according to all reports, another one would be under construction shortly. Mr. Drew was temporarily bewildered as he kept his car in line with Ned‘s, wondering why they had veered off in this direction. Nonetheless, when the young man waved in the rearview mirror, the lawyer knew there was a reason.

  It did not reveal itself, though, until the travelers climbed a steep road that curved away from the airport and into a densely wooded area. The road sloped toward a gully, weaving a thread of narrow pavement around it that unraveled along a large fork of water.

  “Look! This has to be Swain Lake!” George exclaimed to her companions.

  She let her eyes trail out over the deep blue pocket, catching sight of a tan car parked by a large cabin. If it hadn’t been for the car, she might have missed the building because of its dark log frame that blended against the trees. As Ned drove closer, the girl detective thought she spied a blue racing stripe on the trunk!

  “Isn’t that Dev Singh’s car?” George asked her cousin.

  Although neither of them had ever seen it before, it fitted Nancy’s description.

  “I’m beginning to get jealous,” Ned said in a joking tone.

  “Of what?” George inquired.

  “Well, you both seem more tuned in to every little detail about this case than I am.”

  “Not every detail,” Bess said. “After all, who got to investigate the lodge?”

  “And visit Mrs. Flannery,” her cousin added.

  Ned grinned. “I have a headache to prove it, too!”

  He slowed the car, motioning Mr. Drew to look in the direction of the lakeside cabin.

  “We’re sure that’s the swami’s retreat! ” Ned exclaimed. “Stick close, okay?”

  20

  Intriguing Discovery

  Mr. Drew followed the line of Ned’s pointing finger and settled his eyes on the cabin. It stood at the foot of a small, sandy incline several feet from the water, and the attorney concluded that theirs was a back view of the building.

  As Ned drove farther, he, too, realized that the cabin was nestled beneath an embankment, carefully concealed by a thickness of trees. Ned almost passed it, but the sound of a sputtering car engine below made him stop.

  Was it the tan car George had spotted? the young detectives wondered.

  Their driver pulled ahead instantly, burying the car behind a roadside shelter. Mr. Drew followed suit and waited with the young people as the distant engine continued to churn and then stop abruptly.

  Ned took the
lead now with Nancy’s father and crossed the road. They walked behind the trees, keeping the uncovered cabin windows in view at all times. They did not notice any movement until they heard a crackle of twigs and leaves under the steep embankment. Then the group froze.

  Had the person who tried to start the tan car seen them?

  Bravely, Ned went forward, and the crackling noise stopped. He gulped nervously, wondering if someone would suddenly spring at him, but the silence lasted, and he waved the rest of his friends forward.

  “I can’t slide down that,” Bess whispered to George. She gaped fearfully at the deep spur of slippery gravel beneath them.

  “Well, we’ll just leave you here, then.”

  Bess gazed at the forsaken wilderness around her. “I’ll go. I’ll go,” she said, and took Dave’s hand.

  One by one the group, including Angela, who had remained quiet, strung out along the slope, ducking low as large, almond eyes peered out of the cabin window. The face pulled back quickly and the door opened, causing the visitors to drop behind a thick overturned log that lay near the base of the building.

  George’s blood pounded through her veins as she raised her eyes, catching sight of the stranger as he turned in their direction. It was Mr. Jhaveri!

  Had the River Heights jeweler suddenly become a devotee of the swami? George wondered.

  She lowered her head quickly, and they waited, breathless, for the man to go inside again. When he finally did, though, he didn’t shut the door fully.

  Ned scurried to the back of the building, taking Burt with him, while the others remained out of sight. The boys discovered a basement window partially covered by tall weeds. Tearing them aside, they stared in at several unmade cots that sagged over the cold, damp floor.

  “Doesn’t appeal to me a bit,” Burt remarked. He followed Ned to the far corner, where another small window revealed the top of someone’s head resting against the wall!

  Ned pressed his face against the glass, hoping to see who it was, but the hair color eluded him in the glare of sunlight. Burt tugged on his arm for some sort of answer, but Ned merely shook his head.

  “Nancy? Phyllis?” he called through the crack in the frame. There was no response.

  The others, including Mr. Drew, were about to circle in the direction of the parked car when a voice stopped them in their tracks.

  “Now, ladies and gentlemen,” the man said, flashing a mouthful of gleaming teeth, as the group swung to face him.

  “Prem Nath!” Bess exclaimed.

  “Ah, so we meet again,” he said pleasantly.

  He moved out from his hiding place under the embankment and shook the dry earth off his sweater.

  “We heard you coming.” He grinned.

  “We’re looking for our friend, Nancy Drew,” George said. “This is her father.”

  “Oh, I’m honored to meet you, sir.”

  Mr. Drew nodded stiffly. “Where are you keeping her?” he asked.

  “Obviously, there is some misunderstanding, Mr. Drew. Your daughter is not here.” He paused. “We are peaceful people,” he said, but a shout from above broke the calmness in his voice.

  “The police are coming!” someone cried. “I just picked it up on the shortwave radio!”

  “Let’s get out of here! ” another voice yelled, pulling Nath out of his tranquil posture.

  He dived toward the visitors, pushing his way to the front stairs, but Mr. Drew tackled him.

  “Where’s my daughter?” he repeated again. His face flushed in anger.

  “Let go of me!” the Indian rasped.

  Mr. Drew shoved the man back against Bess and George, while Burt and Ned raced to the front, charging into the men who sought to flee the cabin.

  “Oh!” Bess shrieked as Dave tripped one of them, causing him to flip over on his back.

  Ned recognized him instantly as Keshav Lal, the fellow who had steered him and Nancy down the tortuous trail!

  “You creep!” Ned yelled, now aiming for Flannery, who ran down the steps.

  Flannery pushed a fist at the boy’s jaw, but missed as Ned ducked, grabbing his arm and twisting him to the ground!

  Mrs. Flannery, in the meantime, was screaming inside the cabin as Nancy suddenly caught her by surprise. She flung a tablecloth around the woman’s waist and dragged her back, throwing her onto the couch.

  “Nancy!” George and Bess exclaimed when they saw the titian hair.

  They dived past the scuffle on the ground and raced up the steps toward the girl’s prisoner, wrapping the cloth in knots around the arm of the sofa.

  “Phyllis Pruett and Cliff are here, too! ” Nancy told her friends.

  “Speaking of Phyllis, where’s Angela?” George said suddenly.

  “Angela came with you?”

  By now, sirens were approaching the cabin, and within seconds, patrol cars had pulled into view. Officers with handguns poised slid down the embankment, capturing the men who had already been subdued by the Emerson boys and Mr. Drew.

  “Hands up,” a policeman shouted, as the trio slowly got to their feet.

  Having heard Nancy’s voice, Mr. Drew hurried into the cabin.

  “Nancy—you’re all right!” he said.

  “Oh, Dad, I told you I could take care of myself.” Nancy smiled, feeling her eyes grow moist.

  Now Ned and the others surrounded her.

  “You were all so brave,” Nancy told them.

  “It was Ned’s idea,” Bess said, causing the young man to blush.

  He slipped his arm around Nancy’s shoulder, saying, “I thought you had vanished forever.”

  “Me? Never,” she replied, pecking his cheek and gulping as she remembered the other two captives.

  They were already coming up the basement stairs with Mr. Jhaveri behind them. “I freed them, too, Nancy,” he said, as Phyllis and Cliff stood in the room.

  “Cliff!” Bess exclaimed.

  “Correction, please.” He grinned. “It’s Randy.”

  “You mean you’ve got your memory back?” George said gleefully.

  “One hundred percent. The minute I saw this place I remembered everything,” he said.

  Mr. Drew urged everyone to join the police, who had snapped handcuffs on the three men; and before the former amnesia patient could tell his story, the lawyer hurried toward the underhang where Angela Pruett had secreted herself during the capture.

  “We found Phyllis,” Mr. Drew said in a quiet voice.

  Upon seeing her sister, Angela ran forward and slipped her arms around the girl. “You should never have run away,” Angela told her.

  “I know, Angie. I’m sorry.”

  They whispered to each other as Nancy informed the police that Mr. Jhaveri had released her and the other two prisoners.

  “Apparently,” Nancy said, “he was an innocent victim of his cousin’s greed. Keshav Lal had been a disciple of the swami. He was his assistant, as a matter of fact, until recently, when Ramaswami departed for another section of the country. He discovered that Lal had been intercepting valuable gifts to him and selling them through his relative, Mr. Jhaveri.

  “Mr. Flannery here even tried to sell a beautiful gold ring which belonged to Randy. That was Flannery’s big mistake.”

  Nancy’s friends stepped closer.

  “You see,” Nancy went on, “we had told Mr. Jhaveri about the ring on different occasions. He had seen Bess and George hand it over to Flannery, who at the time called himself Dr. DeNiro, and when he was asked to sell it, Mr. Jhaveri panicked.”

  “I know I should have immediately returned it to the girls,” the jeweler said, “but I was frightened, really scared. If I told them how it had come into my possession, I would have had to tell them about Keshav. He had often given me trinkets to sell for him. I never questioned him about them, and he never discussed where they came from. But when he brought in the ring, I realized his friend had stolen it from the girls. So far as I knew, he was Dr. DeNiro from Oberon College, and I ship
ped it back to him, hoping he wouldn’t bother me again.”

  Now Randy spoke. “I had come to the retreat frequently. It was almost like home to me, I suppose, because of my childhood days in India. My parents are still serving as missionaries there, and before I left for the states to study, they gave me a maharajah’s ring. He presented it to them in exchange for all they had done for his people. I, in turn, had been thinking of giving it to Ramaswami to help him with his work.

  “But the last weekend I spent here, I remember feeling very uneasy. I had spoken to Lal about the ring, and I would have given it to him for the swami, except that I overheard Lal’s conversation with Dev Singh.”

  Randy now glanced at Prem Nath. “This man here,” he said. “Believe me, Mr. Singh, I will make sure that Ramaswami gets his ring!”

  So Randy’s kidnapper had cleverly falsified an immigration card to cover up his real identity! How shrewd he had been to have it ready when the young detectives and the police challenged him on River Lane!

  “Anyway,” Randy went on, “I realized Lal had started a little business for himself at the swami’s expense. So I waited for a chance to see Ramaswami alone, and when I did, I told him everything, not realizing that Lal was listening. I left quickly then. I didn’t have a car, so I hitchhiked some distance and cut through the woods toward the airport. Next thing I knew, Lal and Singh had jumped me. They apparently didn’t have time to hunt for the ring in my knapsack.”

  “They left it up to Flannery to retrieve it,” Nancy remarked.

  As she spoke, the captives fixed their jaws angrily and Phyllis offered her story. She said she had run away from home. “I was just mixed up at the time,” she stated. “Angie, you have to believe me. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.”

  “I believe you, Phyllis,” Angela Pruett answered gently, urging her sister to continue.

  “I was so upset,” Phyllis said, “that when I heard about the swami’s retreat, I thought to myself, that’s for me—peace and quiet. It was great, too, until I overheard the Flannerys talking about Ramaswami. They said Keshav was worried he would find out what they were all up to.