Nancy's Mysterious Letter Page 9

  As Ned walked back into the huddle, he was still wincing with the pain in his chest. The teams faced each other. State’s linemen were poised, ready to spring forward at the snap of the ball.

  The ball was passed low to Frank. He set it up for the kick. Ned’s leg came forward, his toe hit the ball, and sent it sailing into the air as the spectators rose to their feet. There was dead silence for an instant, then a deafening roar.

  No good! The referee’s motion indicated that the ball had missed by inches.

  “That’s a shame,” Marian said.

  “What happened to the great Nickerson?” a State fan yelled. “He better go to another college where he can learn how to punt.”

  Nancy was concentrating on Ned. “Oh dear, I hope nothing has happened to him,” she said to Marian. “He was limping a little.”

  Suddenly Nancy’s hand flew to her mouth as she stifled a shriek. “Oh no!”

  Ned Nickerson had collapsed on the green turf.

  CHAPTER XVI

  Mistaken Identity

  INSTANTLY Frank called for time out. The water boy rushed onto the field, followed by the Emerson trainer. Nancy rose from her seat, excused herself as she stepped in front of other spectators, and finally made it to the aisle.

  Worried, Nancy hastened down the concrete steps toward the field. By the time she reached the railing, Ned was being carried from the field by Frank and the trainer.

  “Ned! Ned!” she cried out, but he did not hear her as the trainer eased him carefully onto the bench. Players crowded around quickly and Nancy lost sight of her friend.

  Marian came to stand at Nancy’s side. “I’m sure he’ll be all right, honey,” she said consolingly. “Ned has been hurt before and always managed to return to the game.”

  Suddenly Nancy saw Frank walking away from the bench toward the field, where the men were waiting to resume play.

  “Frank, is he all right?” Nancy cried out. The fullback turned and waved at the two girls, but said nothing.

  “Come on. Let’s get back to our seats,” Marian said.

  Nancy only half-watched the game. Her mind was on Ned. But nothing spectacular happened. It was a defensive battle with each side gaining a few yards, then being forced to kick to its opponent.

  During the half-time period, the marching band performed, but the colorful formations were lost on Nancy because she was worried about Ned. But when the players trotted back, she relaxed. Ned was among them!

  “Oh!” she said with a sigh of relief. Ned, however, remained benched. Emerson’s defenses could well have used him the two periods that followed. State’s backfield gained momentum. Finally they were on the two-yard line of Emerson.

  “Hold that line! Hold that line!” Nancy screamed along with the Emerson rooting section.

  But on the next play State scored. Now the cry arose, “Block that kick! Block that kick!”

  The teams lined up. Toe met ball. Good! The score stood 7-6 in favor of State U.

  Nancy and Marian screamed themselves hoarse as the autumn shadows settled over the stadium and a brisk wind began to blow across the field.

  “Oh dear,” Nancy said. “Only three minutes left, Marian.”

  The score was still 7-6. The Emerson substitute quarterback was doing a good job, but lacked Ned’s field generalship. The boys tried, but it was obvious to all that they were tiring. At last Emerson worked the ball down to State’s thirty-five-yard line. It was fourth down.

  “They’ll have to kick,” Marian said.

  “Wait! Look!” Nancy cried.

  On the sideline Ned was trotting back and forth. After a quick word from the coach, he snatched his helmet and put it on as he ran onto the field.

  “A kick!” the spectators yelled. “Nickerson’s going to kick!”

  As the two sides lined up, every spectator in the stadium rose to his feet, cheering. The distance to the goal post seemed impossible!

  Ned braced himself. The ball was snapped. Frank placed it down.

  Thud! The ball arched high and sped through the air. Would it make the crossbar? Would the wind blow it to one side?

  The answer came in a deafening roar from the Emerson side. Ned had scored! Three more points went up on the scoreboard—Emerson 9, State U 7. Colored streamers flew down from the stands, and confetti rained over the delirious spectators.

  “Ned did it!” Nancy screamed. “He won the game!”

  Minutes later it was all over. Emerson fans flooded onto the field. They hoisted Ned to their shoulders and carried him to the dresssing room.

  Nancy was waiting by the door as Ned stepped out later. “You were simply magnificent,” she said.

  The next second Nancy’s expression changed completely. Ned noticed it at once. “What’s the matter?”

  “Oh, I don’t want to take away any of the glory from the celebration,” she said, “but I just saw a man over there who looks like Edgar Nixon!”

  Burt and Dave, who had come out with Ned, offered to dash across to where the man was and detain him until Nancy could get there.

  “Ned, please wait here,” Nancy requested, and sprinted after the two boys.

  But by the time she reached them, the man they had stopped was laughing. Nancy heard him say, “No, I’m not Edgar Nixon.”

  Burt turned to introduce Nancy. “This is the young lady who thought you were someone she’s looking for.”

  “I’m terribly sorry,” she said. “From a distance you looked like a man named Edgar Nixon.”

  The man continued to grin. “You know twice today I’ve been mistaken for that person. And both times by very pretty young ladies.”

  Nancy blushed as she asked who the other young lady was.

  The stranger replied, “I don’t know her name but she said she was an actress.”

  Nancy was puzzled. If the person was Nancy Smith Drew and had met Edgar Nixon at the guesthouse in Ridgefield, surely she would know what he looked like.

  The man she had detained was saying, “I’d like to meet this double of mine someday.”

  “When did you talk to this actress?” Nancy asked.

  “Just before the game. She said her date was supposed to meet her for lunch at the hotel. I’m staying there.”

  “Is Mr. Nixon there too?” Dave spoke up.

  “I don’t know.”

  When Ned heard the story, he insisted upon accompanying Nancy downtown and inquiring at the hotel for Edgar Nixon and Nancy Smith Drew. To her disappointment, she found that neither was registered.

  “If Edgar Nixon is in town, he’ll probably be at one of the guesthouses or motels,” Ned suggested.

  “Ned,” Nancy said quietly, “you were hurt in the game today. Don’t you think you ought to go back to your room and rest?”

  The football player shook his head. “I’m all right now. The wind was knocked out of me and I got dizzy and faint for a while. No, I insist upon going with you on this hunt.”

  Nancy beamed at him. “You’re certainly a good sport.”

  Ned laughed. “I don’t want to lose my girl to some kook. If you do come across Edgar Nixon while you’re alone, he may harm you.”

  Nancy and Ned’s errand proved to be futile. Neither the suspect nor Nancy Smith Drew was known at any of the places where they asked. To be sure that he was not using an alias Nancy showed the picture she had borrowed from Ira. In each case the person she consulted insisted that no one who looked like him had stayed there recently and most of them did not recall ever having seen him.

  On their way back to the campus, Nancy said, “Ned, let’s stop at Mrs. Roderick’s. She may have some word about Miss Drew.”

  Nancy fervently hoped that the actress might even be there. Again she was disappointed. Mrs. Roderick said that Miss Drew had not returned.

  “She must have filled her suitcase with new clothes and left Emerson. After what you told me, I just haven’t been able to stop worrying about Miss Drew.”

  Nancy mentioned the possibility
that the actress and the man she planned to marry had left Emerson to go to London. “May I call the airline and find out more about it? I was cut off when talking to them this morning.”

  “Certainly,” Mrs. Roderick said. “I only have one phone. It’s in the kitchen. Help yourself.”

  This time Nancy was able to put through a satisfactory call. She learned that a Mr. Edgar Nixon had a reservation on the nine-thirty Monday night plane to London. His wife had canceled.

  “Thank you very much,” she said. “Now will you please look and see if you have a reservation for a Miss Nancy Smith Drew?”

  After a few minutes she was told that the airline did have a reservation for a person by that name. Nancy hung up and walked back to the living room where Mrs. Roderick and Ned were waiting. She reported what she had learned.

  “The question now is whether this is the Edgar Nixon I’m looking for. And is Nancy Smith Drew the real one or a person who is going to present herself as the heiress?”

  Mrs. Roderick shook her head. “What a dreadful mess this is! Well, I hope you are able to settle it.”

  “I’m afraid,” said Nancy, “that Edgar Nixon intends to marry the Nancy Smith Drew who will inherit the money, but I’m hoping I can prevent the marriage.”

  “How in the world can you do that?” the woman asked.

  Ned spoke up with a smile. “I can guess,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Nancy intends to take off for New York and stop the couple from flying to London.”

  Nancy giggled. “How well you know me! That’s exactly what I have in mind.”

  “Well, I wish you luck,” Mrs. Roderick said. “And when you have a chance, do drop me a postcard and tell me how everything comes out.”

  “I’ll do that,” Nancy promised. She thanked the woman for being so cooperative.

  It was dark when Nancy and Ned came out of the house. They were pleased it was a clear crisp evening for the dance.

  When they reached the fraternity parking lot, it was full. “We’ll have to leave your car in the street,” Ned remarked.

  Nancy, who was at the wheel, turned around and headed down the street. Parking was allowed only on one side and she had to go to the next block before finding a space.

  Ned teased her by saying he was sure she would never squeeze her convertible in such a tight parking place. However, after several skillful twists of the wheel, Nancy maneuvered the car in the vacant spot. Ned admitted he could not have done a finer job.

  Nancy locked up the convertible. Then she and Ned started walking on the side of the street where no cars were allowed to be parked.

  About halfway back to the fraternity house, they suddenly became aware of bright lights behind them. The two turned automatically. To their horror, a car had raced up over the curb and was heading directly at them!

  CHAPTER XVII

  Fake Summons

  THOUGH terrified, Nancy and Ned reacted quickly. With a tremendous leap they managed to get out of the way of the oncoming car. The couple landed on some tree roots and lost their balance.

  Suddenly it was dark around them. They realized that the driver of the car which had almost hit them had turned off his headlights. In a second the car roared back into the street and sped away.

  Nancy and Ned picked themselves up and stared after the vehicle. By a street light they caught a glimpse of the car. It was red in color.

  The driver deliberately tried to run us down,” Ned stormed. “That was your enemy, Nancy.”

  “I’m afraid so,” she agreed. “Ned, we must report this to the police at once. Let’s go back to my car and drive downtown.”

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Ned asked solicitously. “You don’t want to go back to the fraternity house first?”

  Nancy assured him her nerves were steady now. “I’m just mad,” she said. “The person in that car was either Edgar Nixon or one of his henchmen. I’m going to keep after him until he’s brought to justice!”

  Ned laughed. “That a girl!” he said, patting her shoulder.

  At police headquarters they talked to Captain Krate. Ned told of the recent near-accident, then Nancy went on to reveal her suspicions about a man named Edgar Nixon who ran a Lonely Hearts Club.

  “Lonely Hearts Club, eh?” the captain repeated. He turned the pages of a large book on his desk. “I have a notation here to be on the lookout for such a person. We’ve had complaints from two women who said that an Edgar Nixon promised them a husband. But he never produced any.”

  “How did the club operate?” Nancy asked.

  Captain Krate said that the total sum for finding a husband was one hundred dollars which was paid on the installment plan of twenty-five dollars a month.

  “These poor women sent their last payment but never heard from Nixon again. When they made inquiries at the houses where he had lived, they learned that he had moved away and left no forwarding address.

  Nancy reported how she had come upon one such address and seen a couple of letters, each one containing twenty-five dollars. “But by that time he had moved.”

  “That’s always the pattern,” Captain Krate remarked. “Do you know the names of any of his victims?”

  “Possibly one,” she replied. “Her name is the same as mine. That’s how I became mixed up in the mystery.”

  Nancy told him about the actress by the name of Nancy Smith Drew. “I’m so afraid she’s not only a victim of Edgar Nixon’s dishonesty, but that he intends to marry her and help himself to an inheritance she’s going to get.”

  The police captain frowned. “This is a complicated case. Well, I shall put out an alarm also for this Miss Nancy Smith Drew.”

  Nancy then left with Ned and went back to the fraternity house. Bess and George were already in the girls’ bedroom and were amazed at the story she had to tell about the near-accident.

  “It seems as if you aren’t safe anywhere,” Bess said. “Nancy, please be careful.”

  “I promise,” Nancy said with a chuckle. “But my enemy seems to strike in such peculiar ways, all I can do is jump out of his path as fast as possible.”

  She hurried to take a shower and get dressed for the dance. Dinner was merry and afterward the couples strolled off to the gymnasium where the dance was to be held.

  Football star Ned Nickerson became the center of attention with congratulations, handshaking, and backslapping the order of the evening. Finally, as the band began to play, he escaped onto the dance floor with Nancy.

  The evening was about half over and Nancy and Ned were seated on one side of the gym when a boy came up and said that Ned was wanted on the telephone. He excused himself to Nancy and hurried off.

  A moment later the band started a lively tune and one by one couples began to go back onto the dance floor. Bess, George, Burt, and Dave waved to Nancy as they passed by. At that moment the music suddenly stopped and the drums began to roll. Everyone became quiet and listened attentively.

  The band leader called out, “Where is Nancy Drew?”

  “Here I am!” Nancy said, jumping up and raising her hand.

  “Will you please step up here,” the leader requested. “The police want to see you.”

  As Nancy hurried forward, a gasp went up around the room. Why did the police want to see her?

  When she reached the band, the young leader said, “I’m sorry I had to call out that way, but I didn’t know you. Hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all,” said Nancy. “Tell me, what’s this about the police?”

  She was told that two detectives were waiting for her on the stage of the adjoining theater. “The student who came to give us the message said that they have news for you of the other Miss Drew.”

  Excitedly Nancy hurried from the gymnasium and down the long corridor which led to the stage in the theater. The entrance door was open and footlights were on. The curtain had been hoisted about halfway up.

  Nancy looked around but did not see anyone. Where were the detectives?r />
  “Hello!” she called out, thinking they might have walked out into the far wings, where the dressing rooms were.

  There was no answer. Nancy was puzzled and turned to look out over the darkened seats. As she stood pondering directly under the curtain, she heard a noise above her. A sixth sense told the young detective to move in a hurry. She jumped forward just as the heavy curtain crashed to the floor.

  Terror seized Nancy. She leaped across the footlights to the floor and sped as if on wings to the corridor leading to the gym. She had not gone far when she was met by Ned. Bess, George, Burt, and Dave were following.

  “What’s up?” Ned asked, seeing the look of fright on Nancy’s face.

  Turning, Nancy pointed back toward the stage. “In there! The message was a hoax! Someone tried to kill me by dropping the curtain!”

  Bess shrieked and held onto Nancy. “Don’t go back in there!”

  “She’s right,” said Burt. “You girls stay here. We’ll find out what’s going on in the theater.”

  Nancy, still shaken by what had happened, agreed to wait in the corridor with the other girls.

  The three boys were gone for several minutes, then returned to report they had found no one. Everyone was upset over the incident.

  “Let’s find the person who brought the message to the band leader,” George suggested.

  Ned turned to the other boys. “Isn’t Jim Hankin on duty outside the gym tonight?” he asked.

  “Yes, I think he is.”

  Ned explained that Jim was the guard for the evening to turn away from the dance anyone who was not invited.

  The group went at once to speak to him. Jim said a plainclothesman had come up to him and showed a badge. The detective said he did not want to intrude and asked that a student take the message to Nancy.

  Nancy jumped forward just as the curtain crashed

  to the floor

  “I didn’t know her, so I asked our band leader to do it,” Jim explained.

  He was quickly told what had happened and looked worried. “I don’t think that man will show up around here again, but if he does, I’ll sure hold onto him and yell for help.”