Ghost Stories, #2 (Nancy Drew) Read online

  ''Guess what?" Nancy heard the nurse say to someone. **We have the famous girl detective here, with a pain in her right side. What do you want to bet that she has appendicitis? And the only available room is haunted!"

  *T know," a man replied. 'The goings-on in that room are strange, all right. I never believed in ghosts before, but Room 513 is something else! What really bothers me is that Edinburgh is the surgeon on call. I don't like the idea of having him operate on her. I hear Nancy Drew is a fine young lady, and she deserves better than that. But so do all the patients."

  "Shh," the nurse hissed. "You'll get us all in trouble."

  A young, dark-haired man in a white jacket walked in. "Miss Drew," he said, "I'm Dr. Daniels. If you'll lie down, I'll examine you. The nurse told me you have pain in your right side. Have you ever had trouble with your appendix?" As he spoke, he wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm.

  "No," she said, then paused. "Doctor Daniels, did I hear the nurse say that one of the hospital rooms is haunted?"

  "Haunted? I should think not! You don't believe in ghosts, do you, Nancy?"

  Nancy was confused. She could see that the doctor did not want to discuss hospital ghosts. But he was the man whose voice she had heard before!

  The Phantom of Room 513

  "Do you really think it's my appendix?" she asked. She had a date with her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, that weekend!

  The doctor gently poked at her abdomen. ''Does this hurt?" he asked.

  "A little."

  "We'll have to do some tests," he went on. "It may turn out to be nothing."

  He continued to examine her, then a nurse came in to take a blood sample. While Nancy was waiting for the results, another nurse entered the room.

  "Lisa!" Nancy cried, delighted to see her friend Lisa Scotti, who had shared an adventure with her in The Swami's Ring.

  "Hi, Nancy," Lisa said and hugged the young detective. "I just found out the problem is not your appendix. They don't really know what it is, so they want to keep you here and do some tests."

  Nancy nodded. "It really hurts."

  "I'm going to give you something for the pain as soon as we get you checked into a room. It'll also make you sleep so you'll feel better in the morning."

  "Does my dad know?" Nancy asked while Lisa gave her an injection.

  "Yes. I told him. He wanted to come in to say goodnight, but I discouraged him so you could get some rest. He said he'll call you in the morning."

  "Are you going to put me in that haunted room?"

  "Of course not. We'll find you another one. Dr. Daniels is working on that right now."

  "Tell me what's going on."

  Nancy Drew Ghost Stories 2

  "I will, tomorrow. Maybe you could even—"

  Nancy giggled. "Check it out, you mean?"

  "Well, this may be our opportunity to get rid of the ghost," Lisa replied. "With you around, he doesn't have much of a chance!"

  "I'm looking forward to meeting the ghost," Nancy said.

  About twenty minutes later, Nancy was in her hospital room resting. But despite the medication the young nurse had given her, Nancy woke up in the middle of the night. The room was small, and some light filtered in from the hallway, through the slightly opened door. There were two beds in the room, and a gray-haired lady was snoring peacefully next to Nancy.

  Just then, the girl heard loud thumping. She looked around to see if something had fallen. Everything was still. Eerie. Nancy pulled herself up to rest on her elbows.

  The thumps grew louder, turning into crashing noises, and then she heard a woman's pitiful moaning. Though she couldn't make out any distinct words, it sounded as if the poor woman was in terrible distress.

  Nancy blinked her eyes. She was still sleepy, and wondered for a moment if she were dreaming.

  "Help me! Help me!" the voice wailed.

  Nancy sat up straighter. Her roommate opened her eyes. "Who are you? What are you doing in my room?" she asked the young detective.

  "My name is Nancy Drew. I'm going to have some tests done tomorrow."

  "This is a private room," the woman grumbled. "Oh

  The Phantom of Room 513

  well, maybe there wasn't any other place to put you. I wish that racket out there would stop. It's hard to sleep here."

  **Is a patient making all that noise?" Nancy asked.

  "No, it's the ghost," the woman answered.

  Nancy closed her eyes and lay back. Ghost or no ghost, her stomach still hurt somewhat, and she was sleepy.

  When she awoke again, sunlight was potiring in through the window. Lisa walked in with a breakfast tray. She put it down in front of the gray-haired woman, who sat up.

  "I'm sorry if I was grouchy last night," she said to Nancy. "I'm Mabel Greenfield. There's so much commotion here at night, it's hard to get any rest. They took out my gall bladder two weeks ago, and I don't feel any better than I did then. I don't know what to think about that doctor of mine."

  "Who's your doctor?" Nancy inquired.

  "Dr. Edinburgh," the woman replied.

  Nancy frowned. No one had voiced much confidence in this doctor.

  Later on that morning, Bess Marvin and George Fayne came to visit their friend.

  "Nancy, I can't believe you're in the hospital!" tall, dark-haired George exclaimed. She assumed a theatrical pose and gazed into the distance. "And she was so young."

  "Cut it out, George," Nancy said. "My stomach still hurts when I laugh. By the way, look who's here!"

  Nancy Drew Ghost Stories 2

  "Lisa!" George and Bess cried in unison when the young nurse, who had been rolling up Mrs. Greenfield's bed, turned around. ''It's good to see you."

  Lisa smiled. "Keep talking to Nancy," she said. "She's been down in the dumps ever since she missed breakfast this morning."

  "Why can't I have anything to eat?" the young detective asked.

  "You can, as soon as we've done your tests. They must be done on an empty stomach."

  Nancy groaned. "I'm starved. And I do feel better."

  "Good," Lisa said matter-of-factly. "Now, do you want to hear about the haunted room?"

  "Haunted room?" Bess stared at her.

  "A very sick woman was in there," the nurse explained. "She disappeared without a trace. The police have searched, but no one knows what happened to her."

  "Don't they have any clues?" Nancy asked.

  "There's a rumor," Lisa continued, "that her husband killed her. It's just a rumor; there's no proof that she's even dead."

  Mrs. Greenfield joined in on the conversation. "Lisa says that there's no proof. But you heard those moans last night. That was her. She often comes back to the scene of the crime, and sometimes she calls her husband's name. Yes, she calls for Harold. I've heard people say that things move in there by themselves, and she floats around all purple and ghostly looking! Some nights she begs him not to hurt her. Yes, she's dead all right. And her husband is off the hook for what he did!"

  The Phantom of Room 513

  "You may be right, Mrs. Greenfield," Lisa said. "But we don't know for sure. The poHce have questioned him, and all they learned was that he and his wife had big life insurance policies on each other. But he hasn't tried to collect on it." She turned to Nancy.

  *Tt would help so much if you could figure all this out, once you feel better. Patients get scared when the moaning starts."

  "I haven't seen anything about it in the newspapers," George said.

  "They've kept it hush-hush," Lisa explained.

  "If you ask me," Mrs. Greenfield said, "it's because of those doctors. They have the money to keep it quiet. That's why that doctor's brother got away with murder!"

  "Doctor's brother?" Nancy asked.

  "The missing woman," Lisa said, "was Lilith Edinburgh. Her husband was, supposedly, the surgeon's brother."

  "Curious," Nancy said. "The same names keep popping up. Why was Lilith Edinburgh in the hospital?"

  "Unspecified a
ilment," Lisa replied. "We were running a wide spectrum of tests on her."

  "Was there a sign of struggle in the room?"

  Lisa Scotti shook her head. "One day she was there, the next, she was gone. No one knows anything."

  "It doesn't add up," Nancy said. "If her husband wanted to do anything to her, why do it at the hospital, where he would risk being seen. Have the police examined the room?"

  "Thoroughly," Lisa said. "They didn't find anything."

  Nancy Drew Ghost Stories 2

  "How long ago did this happen?"

  "Several months ago," Lisa answered. "The 'ghost' only appears now and then. We haven't put anyone in the room since a young tonsilitis patient screamed in the middle of the night. She said she saw Lilith Edinburgh."

  "What kind of doctor is this Dr. Edinburgh?" Nancy asked. "Is he really as bad as everyone keeps saying?"

  Lisa looked down at the floor. "That's a tricky question. He used to be an excellent, conscientious surgeon. But then something happened to him. He became—strange. He even looks different now."

  "Is he sued for malpractice often?" Nancy asked.

  "If I don't get better soon, I'll sue him!" Mrs. Greenfield grumbled. "I was in better shape before he took my gall bladder out!"

  "But, Mrs. Greenfield," Lisa said, "according to your chart, you're improving rapidly!"

  "But 1 feel horrible!" the woman insisted.

  "I'll write a special note on your chart," Lisa said. "And I'll tell the doctor. Nancy, in answer to your question, he rarely gets sued. People have complained, but they always back off. Now I'd better take a look at Mrs. Greenfield."

  She drew the curtain that divided the two beds. Just then a man in a white jacket walked into the room.

  "Oh, good morning. Dr. Edinburgh," Lisa said. "I was just going to examine Mrs. Greenfield."

  "I'll take care of that," the doctor said, and disappeared behind the drawn curtain. Lisa waved to the girls and left, and George and Bess stood up.

  The Phantom of Room 513

  "We'd better go," George said to Nancy. "We'll call you later."

  While the doctor was examining her roommate, Nancy took a piece of paper and a pencil from her night table and drew a sketch of the surgeon. She covered it when he rose to leave, and took another look at him. I think I captured his features fairly well, the girl thought, then put the sketch in her drawer.

  A moment later, Lisa came in again. She looked at Mrs. Greenfield's chart. "Everything seems to be fine," she said.

  "Well, it isn't," the woman complained. "But the doctor doesn't seem to be worried. He didn't even examine me properly!"

  Lisa hesitated for a moment, then said, "Let me take a look." A few minutes later, she opened the curtain.

  "May I tell my friend what I found?" she asked Mrs. Greenfield.

  "Please go ahead," the woman replied. "Maybe it'll help."

  Lisa frowned. "Nancy, I don't understand. According to the chart, there is no sign of infection. No fever, swelling, or redness are indicated. But her upper right abdomen, where she had the surgery, is swollen and red and infected. This poor woman must be in a lot of pain. She's hardly been able to eat. And Dr. Edinburgh didn't even note it. Something's wrong here. I'll have to report it!"

  "Lisa, is there someone you can trust to take care of Mrs. Greenfield, without reporting Dr. Edinburgh just yet? I'll need one more day."

  Nancy Drew Ghost Stories 2

  "Sure. What do you have in mind?"

  Nancy pulled out her sketch of the doctor. "Do you think someone else would recognize him from this?"

  Lisa shrugged. "Well, you're a better detective than you are an artist, but this is quite a good rendering. But tell me—"

  "I have an idea," Nancy said. "Let me call Bess and George. I'll need their help."

  That night, Nancy stood in her room and scanned the hallway. She felt much better, and so far none of the tests indicated any problem. Lisa had told her that there were few nurses working the late shift, so that would be the best time for Nancy to investigate.

  The young detective wrapped her blue robe around her and tiptoed down the hallway to Room 513, making sure no one saw her. Gingerly, she opened the door. A gust of air hit her in the face.

  She tried to turn on the light, but to no avail. She looked at the window across the room. It appeared to be shut! Where had the cold air come from?

  Her arms broke out in goosebumps as the room was filled with an unearthly wailing.

  "Ohhh, ohhh, helllp meeee!" the eerie voice moaned. "Haaaarooollld, ohhh, Harrooolld! Hellllp! Don't hurrrrrt meee!"

  In the dim light filtering in through the hallway, Nancy looked around the room. There was nothing but an empty unmade bed, a bedside table, and a chair.

  The gusts began again, wildly blowing her hair and filling her ears with its hollow noise.

  f

  Nancy Drew Ghost Stories 2

  When her eyes had adjusted to the scarce light, she walked to the window and felt it. It was closed securely!

  All at once, a haze of purple lights appeared in the center of the room. They wove in and out of grotesque shapes, then took the form of a woman, much larger than life.

  "Hellp! Helllp!" the screeching continued, and chills ran up Nancy's spine.

  Suddenly, she heard the thud of approaching footsteps. She backed into a closet just before the door opened.

  She crouched in the corner holding her breath. The closet door was open a few inches. As she pressed against the wall to avoid being seen, she felt it give way slightly.

  Nancy stared through the crack in the door. Dr. Edinburgh had entered the room, and the ghost of Lilith Edinburgh wove around him.

  "Hello, Lilith," he said, chuckling. "What brought you out to play tonight?"

  "Helllp meeee," the ghost wailed.

  "You need some rest," the doctor said, as the figure appeared to move right through him! "We'll visit some other time."

  He left the room, gently shutting the door behind him. The ghost immediately disappeared!

  Nancy groped to see if the closet had a light. She found a switch and flicked it. To her relief, it worked.

  She examined the wall behind her and found a panel that slid aside, revealing a small room. A student chair

  The Phantom of Room 513

  with an attached desk top stood in the middle of it, and on it were two stacks of hospital charts.

  Nancy sat down and quickly read through the first few charts on each pile. One seemed to contain accounts of patients whose health had improved as a result of surgery by Dr. Edinburgh. Among them was the chart for Mrs. Greenfield. The second stack contained records of people who had developed complications after surgery.

  Strange, Nancy said to herself. I wonder if Dr. Edinburgh took those charts out of the general file to fix them so all his patients show improvement. Maybe he's already worked on one of the stacks, but not on the other!

  She slipped out of the closet and headed back to her room, anxious to talk to Lisa in the morning. She thought about Bess and George, hoping they had been successful in their mission. Then she went to sleep. It had been a long, tiring day for her.

  George and Bess had been waiting in the Paynes' station wagon near the back door of the hospital. The entrance was brightly lit and they watched the door intently.

  After about thirty minutes, a man in a white jacket and gray slacks walked out.

  "That's him!" Bess said excitedly. "He looks just like the picture Nancy drew!"

  George nodded as they watched the man hurry to a red Buick.

  Nancy Drew Ghost Stories 2

  As Edinburgh drove out of the parking lot, George switched on her headlights and followed. The Buick turned onto the tree-lined avenue leading from the hospital, and the girls stayed far enough behind so the doctor would not notice them.

  After a while, Edinburgh turned right. Bess looked at the crumpled paper she had in her hand. "He's not going home," she declared. "He lives on Woodla
wn Avenue, but he's heading in the opposite direction!"

  Soon they were driving into the countryside, where the houses were spaced far apart. There were no street lights on the narrow road they turned into, and the full moon cast weird shadows from the trees.

  "I'm getting nervous," Bess said. "Maybe we should go back."

  "No," George declared. "Nancy asked us to follow this guy^ and that's what we'll do." Dust billowed from the street as the two continued their surveillance.

  Finally, Dr. Edinburgh stopped in front of a small house.

  George immediately turned off the lights and pulled over to the side of the road. Suddenly, she felt her left front wheel drop down into a ditch.

  "Oh, no!" Bess moaned.

  "Shh!" George said and quickly turned off the engine. The girls watched the man enter the house, then George started the car up again and tried to move it. It would not budge!

  "What'll we do!" Bess whispered in fear. "Now we're stuck!"

  The Phantom of Room 513

  "We'll worry about it later," George decided. "First let's have a look at that house and see what our good doctor is up to."

  Not giving her cousin a chance to object, she got out of the car and walked up to the little house. Bess followed reluctantly. They stopped in front of a brightly lit window.

  Inside, Dr. Edinburgh took off his white jacket. He was laughing and chatting with a woman.

  "Poor Harold!" they heard the woman say. "What are you planning to do with him?"

  Dr. Edinburgh shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I've got plans for him. He tried to meddle in my business and deserves everything he gets."

  The woman poured a glass of orange juice. "I guess it serves him right. He was willing to call the police on you. Now he's getting a dose of his own medicine. And you're getting richer."

  "And so are you, Lilith," Dr. Edinburgh said. "I haven't forgotten your cut of the money. I was willing to cut Harold in, too, when he found out what I had pulled in Chicago. Remember how mad he got when I offered him a trip around the world?"