The Silver Cobweb Page 9

  Glancing at her watch, Nancy said to herself, “Well, I’m on time. Now where is Jack Vernon?”

  She walked slowly down the graveled path well into the park without seeing anyone on any of the park benches. There seemed to be no one within sight or sound. It was growing darker as nancy turned and headed back toward the park entrance.

  “Oh!” Suddenly she stopped short with a horrified gasp. Her sharp eyes had just glimpsed a sprawled form behind one of the benches, almost hidden by the shrubbery.

  She ran quickly to the unconscious man and, taking a flashlight from her purse, shone it on his face. It was Jack Vernon, badly bruised!

  15. Three-Way Meeting

  Nancy gasped in horror. She tried to revive the unconscious man, but soon gave up – he had been too badly hurt.

  Her pulse racing anxiously, Nancy stood up. She remembered passing a booth on Park Drive just before reaching the park entrance. Nancy ran there and dialed the police.

  “Don’t worry about calling for an ambulance, Miss, we’ll send one,” the desk sergeant responded. “Just give me the location.”

  Nancy thought of Kim Vernon and took time to phone her. Kim was badly shaken by the news, but was grateful for the call. After arranging to meet her at the hospital, Nancy ran back to where Jack Vernon lay injured.

  Within minutes, she heard the wail of sirens and saw the flashing lights of a police patrol car. Then an ambulance pulled up behind it. Police Chief McGinnis also arrived.

  “Oh, Chief, I’m so glad you’re here!” Nancy exclaimed. ‘I was going to call you!”

  “The desk sergeant alerted me as soon as he realized who the victim was,” McGinnis replied. “Politicians are public figures, and a case like this can really give River Heights a bad name!”

  The young sleuth quickly filled him in. “Mr. Vernon and I were going to discuss the case I’m working on, so he suggested we meet here for privacy. I suspect someone wanted to stop him from telling me something.”

  “This was no ordinary mugging, then?”

  Nancy shook her head. “I don’t think so. Otherwise, why would the attacker have bothered to shove his victim out of sight? I believe whoever did it knew I was coming and hoped I wouldn’t notice Mr. Vernon lying behind the bench. I almost didn’t!”

  It was Chief McGinnis’s turn to frown. “If the attacker knew about your meeting, that raises the question of how he found out. Where and how did you make the appointment?”

  “In person, at his campaign office.”

  “Hmm. Sounds like someone eavesdropped – or his office might be bugged.” Chief McGinnis said he would call the Bradley police and have them make an electronic sweep of the premises.

  The teenage sleuth drove to Riverside Hospital. There she found a frightened Kim waiting anxiously for word on her brother’s condition. Presently the emergency room doctor said he was in no danger. “But he’ll have to stay here for further tests and observation.”

  Since Jack had been sedated, Nancy gave up any hope of questioning him that evening. She left Kim sitting by his bedside and went home.

  The next morning Chief McGinnis called to report that the Bradley police had discovered an electronic listening device in his desk lamp.

  “There’s no evidence his political opponent had the bug placed,” McGinnis said, “but we’ll investigate that angle. Incidentally, we’ve had no luck so far, Nancy, in tracing that squint-eyed hood who attacked your housekeeper.”

  This reminded Nancy of the intruder who had invaded Eugene Horvath’s island estate on Tuesday night. She told McGinnis about the incident and said, ‘If Mr. Horvath’s right, that crook’s name could be Sweeney Flint. Does that ring any bells?”

  “Hmm.” Chief McGinnis was silent for a while.

  “I’m not sure, but it does sound vaguely familiar. Let me check it out and get back to you.”

  “Thank you, Chief. I’d appreciate that.”

  Nancy was just finishing her breakfast when Bess Marvin dropped in. The plump blond girl was all agog for details of her friend’s exciting unpleasant adventure the night before.

  Nancy was surprised. “How did you hear about it?”

  “On the morning newscast. After all, you’re Nancy Drew, the famous girl detective, and Jack Vernon’s running for state office – that’s the stuff headlines are made of!”

  “Oh, Bess.” Nancy chuckled. “Come and have a cup of coffee and I’ll tell you all about it.”

  Minutes later, the phone rang. When Nancy answered it, she got another surprise. The caller was Brett Hulme. He sounded tense.

  “You’re right, Nancy. It’s time to talk. A bomb was planted in my car last night. It went off as I opened the door to get in. Luckily it was a dud, or else the wiring was bad. Anyhow, the damage was only slight.”

  “Thank goodness for that,” nancy breathed. “Brett, if you’re ready to talk, I think someone else should be in our discussion – Kim Vernon. Would you agree to all three of us meeting?”

  “Of course . . . if she wants to see me.”

  “I’m sure she will!” Instantly Nancy hung up and dialed Kim, hoping to catch her at home. The golf star answered and eagerly agreed to a meeting that very morning.

  When all was arranged, nancy turned to Bess. “Whew! You heard all that? I think we’re really going to get somewhere now.”

  “Let me know how everything comes out, Nancy. And by the way, can you drop me off at home on your way to Kim’s?”

  “Of course.”

  Just as the two girls were starting out the door, the busy telephone pealed again. Tad Farr was on the line, sounding upbeat and excited. “Good news, Nancy! Mom’s made a full recovery!”

  “Oh wonderful, Tad! She can talk now?”

  “You bet! And she’s anxious to talk to you. Any chance you could make it over to New York?”

  “What about later this afternoon?”

  “Great, I was hoping you’d say that!”

  “I’ll be there,” Nancy promised. Hanging up, she told Bess, who was more eager than ever to be kept informed of the progress of the case.

  “I’ll keep you posted.” Nancy grinned as she stopped her car in front of the Marvin’s house.

  “Call me before you leave New York, okay?” Bess asked.

  Nancy agreed and was soon on her way to Kim’s riverside cottage.

  Kim was alone when Nancy arrived. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, from nervousness. In her rose pink T-shirt and faded jeans, with her dark hair curling about her face, she looked to Nancy more like a shy, pretty high-school girl of her own age than a famous golfer.

  Brett Hulme rang the bell moments later, and Kim went to answer the door. From their words and manner, it was apparent to Nancy that both were deeply moved and happy to be seeing each other again, despite the unpleasant circumstances that had brought them together. The young detective felt surer than ever that they were still in love.

  “Suppose you begin first, Kim,” said Nancy as they settle themselves to talk – Nancy in a chintz-covered armchair, Brett and Kim on the sofa. “Tell us whatever you know that may have led up to last night’s attack on your brother.”

  Kim’s voice trembled slightly as she told how she and Jack had lost their parents in an accident soon after she turned pro. With her golf winnings, which were still meager at that time, she had helped to put him through graduate school, where he was majoring in political science. But their financial situation was precarious, and Jack felt guilty about living off his sister’s generosity. “That’s really what led up to all the trouble.”

  “By ‘trouble,’ do you mean the theft of Madame rachne’s jeweled spider?” Nancy asked gently.

  Kim was startled that Nancy knew about the theft, but merely nodded, her expression tense and unhappy. “Yes. You see, my brother was the one who stole it! I was playing in a tournament near Oceanview when it happened. Jack came to me late that night and told me the whole story.”

  Kim related that he had been attending th
e festival with his university glee club. He told her he had been approached by a man who claimed to be a publicity agent working for Madame Arachne. The opera star’s career was fading, it seemed, and she was no longer receiving the acclaim she craved and felt was her proper due.

  ‘The publicity man told Jack he was secretly arranging a fake jewel robbery to put her back in the headlines. The plan called for Madame Arachne to stage a loud emotional scene when she discovered that her jeweled spider was gone. The police and TV news reporters would then be alerted immediately. But the brooch would e ‘found’ soon afterward as if the thief had accidentally dropped it.”

  “Wait!” put in Nancy. “Are you saying this so-called publicity man wanted your brother to commit the robbery?”

  “Exactly – but only as a hoax. He said everything would be arranged to make it easy. The door of Madame Arachne’s dressing room would be left open, and so on. And if Jack would carry out the plan, he would be paid a lot.”

  Kim stifled a sob. “It was terribly foolish! Jack should never have agreed to the scheme. And he soon regretted it! But he was struggling to finish his studies, and this seemed like an easy way to earn some money.”

  His first shock, Kim went on to explain, came as he was lifting the brooch from a jewel box on Madame Arachne’s dressing table. An electronic flash went off, and Jack realized that his photo must have been snapped by a hidden burglar alarm device. This probably meant an alarm signal had been buzzed to the theater’s security office or the Oceanview police station, so he didn’t take time to find and destroy the photo. In his panicky state, he felt he had to get away fast.

  Although he had managed to leave without being noticed, and had handedover the brooch to the fake publicity man lurking outside in the darkness behind the stage shell, another shock was in store. The police were called, and television news crews soon arrived, but the jeweled spider was never found as had been promised.

  “By now,” Kim said, “Jack was beginning to realize he’d been tricked into pulling a big-time theft. But no one came to arrest him, so he assumed his face hadn’t been recognized from the alarm photo. That’s why he came to see me – to ask my advice about what he should do.”

  “What did you tell him?” Nancy asked.

  Kim said she had gone the next day to see Madame Arachne in Oceanview and made a clean breast of her brother’s unintentional crime. She promised to pay back the cost of the jeweled spider out of her golf winnings, if only Madame Arachne would not turn Jack over to the police.

  Much to her relief, the prima donna had merely smiled and patted her shoulder, saying, “Never mind, dear. Your brother was a victim too. Luckily my brooch was insured, so let the insurance company worry about paying me back and we’ll say no more about it!”

  But Kim’s relief had been short-lived. A letter was waiting in her mail slot when she got back to her motel. It contained a print of the alarm photo, showing her brother’s look of dismay as the camera snapped him red-handed in the act of filching the jeweled spider.

  “So far,” Kim added, “the thief in the picture apparently hadn’t been recognized as a member of the university glee club. But to me the letter meant just one thing. The fake publicity agent hadn’t only trapped Jack into committing a real robbery – somehow he’d gotten a copy of the alarm photo. So now he had evidence that could convict my brother and send him to prison!”

  Confirming her fears was an enclosed message saying: SOMEDAY I’LL GIVE YU AN ORDER – JUST OBEY IT AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO YOUR BROTHER!

  During the three years since then, while she was perfecting her golf game and gradually rising to top rank among women golf pros, Kim said she had received several nastily playful reminders of her brother’s theft of the jeweled spider.

  Nancy said quietly, “Including a drawing of a spider, and a live red spider in a plastic box?”

  Kim’s eyes widened momentarily. “Russ told you about those incidents, did he?”

  “Yes. What I still don’t know is why you dropped out of the Charleston match.”

  Kim drew a deep, unhappy sigh, her fingers kneading her tea napkin. “Halfway through the tournament, I got another blackmail message ordering me not to win.”

  “Any idea why?” asked Nancy.

  “It’s not hard to guess. By that time I was well in the lead. I’m sure the blackmailer must have placed a big gambling bet at heavy odds – against my winning!”

  Kim had been too proud and honest to throw the match deliberately. Yet she didn’t dare risk ruining her brother’s political career – and perhaps wrecking his expected marriage to Senator Hawthorne’s daughter – by defying the blackmailer. “So I felt the only way out was for me to withdraw from the tournament,” Kim said.

  Nancy pondered thoughtfully for a moment, then said, “Let’s assume you’re right, that the fake publicity agent who trapped your brother is also the blackmailer. Any idea who he might be?”

  Kim gave a helpless shrug. “All I know is the name he told Jack when he first approached him – Sweeney Flint.”

  16. Maggie’s Secret

  Sweeney Flint! So the fake publicity man was the same person who had tried to attack Madame Arachne’s- and was very likely also the squint-eyed thief Nancy had caught tampering with Kim’s golf bag!

  Another thought struck the girl sleuth. Maybe the object which the thief had dropped in the grass had been a red toy spider!

  If her guess was right, he must have intended to slip it in the pocket of the golf bag as a warning to Kim not to talk. And the cobwebbed racket had been an even stronger warning!

  Wrenching her thoughts back to the present, Nancy looked at Brett Hulme. “So much for Kim’s story. Would you like to tell us now whatever you know that might help?”

  Brett nodded. “First of all, Nancy, you’re right. I did design that jeweled spider brooch for Madame Arachne. She wanted it to be as realistic as possible, and she also wanted it to be a ruby spider, since that was her birthstone.” He chuckled wryly. “So I researched various kinds of red spiders, but I still wound up mostly using my imagination!”

  However, Brett continued, he knew nothing about Jack Vernon’s part in the theft of the brooch until recently, when Simon Shand walked into his shop one day and commissioned him to design a silver cobweb necklace.

  “He said he wanted it made so that Madame Arachne’s ruby spider would fit on it, as if the two had been designed to go together. I asked him what was the point, since the jeweled spider had been stolen three years ago.”

  “And what did Mr. Shand say?” Nancy asked.

  “He just chuckled nastily and said, ‘That’s what the public thinks, but I happen to know that so-called robbery was just a scam! The whole thing was cooked up by a slick con artist named Sweeney Flint.’ He said Madame Arachne had needed money at the time, so she sold the jeweled spider to a wealthy collector named Oscar Larue-”

  “She sold the jeweled spider?” Nancy broke in.

  “So Shand said. And also that she had a fake robbery staged in case any reporter or photographer started asking embarrassing questions about what had happened to her beautiful ruby spider brooch. He also mentioned that Flint had tricked a fellow named Jack Vernon into pulling the robbery, and that Jack was the famous golf star’s brother and was now running for State Assembly. Shand talked as if it was a joke!”

  “But how did he learn all that?” asked Kim with a shocked expression.

  “From the wealthy collector, Oscar Larue. He said Larue had recently suffered a fatal illness, but before he passed away, he’d agreed to sell the jeweled spider to Shand – provided he would promise not to let any word about the phony robbery leak out. In fact that’s partly why Shand was having me make the silver cobweb necklace.”

  Nancy frowned. “I’m not sure I follow you.”

  “To keep the jeweled spider from being recognized, I mean. You see, Shand’s engaged to a Broadway showgirl. He wanted to give her the ruby spider as an engagement gift, and he figured
no one would recognize it as Madame Arachne’s brooch if it was mounted on a silver cobweb necklace.”

  “But wouldn’t he be taking a chance?” queried Nancy. “What if someone did recognize it?”

  Brett Hulme shrugged. “That didn’t worry Shand. He claims he has a written bill of sale to cover its purchase from Oscar Larue, and that Larue, in turn, had a written bill of sale to prove he bought the spider from Madame Arachne.”

  Brett went on, “Needless to say, I hadn’t much taste for designing the cobweb necklace under those circumstances. But I agreed to do so, if only to keep any other jewelry designer from learning how the spider came into Shand’s possession. However, after that rock was thrown through my window, I got a mysterious phone call.”

  “From whom?” said nancy.

  “I don’t know,” Brett puzzled. “It made no sense at first. The caller demanded to know what happened to the jeweled spider. He warned me I’d better tell the truth, or I’d get something a lot worse than a rock aimed at my head – and next time he wouldn’t miss!”

  “So what did you say?"

  “I told him Simon Shand had the brooch. Then he snarled, ‘Don’t give me that! All Shand has is a cheap glass imitation!’ Well, I kept telling him I knew nothing more about it. I guess I finally convinced him. Anyhow, he hung up.”

  Nancy mused, “Could the car bombing have been a follow-up to his phone threat?”

  “I doubt it.” Brett explained that last night’s bomb blast had been followed by another menacing phone call – but this time the voice was entirely different. “And he said his name was Sweeney Flint!”

  Nancy’s eyes widened with excitement. The mysterious con man’s name seemed to be cropping up in all sorts of connections! “What did he have to say?” she asked.

  “Apparently he’s also looking for the jeweled spider. And he too knew that the one Simon Shand has is just a glass fake.”

  “But why is he calling you?” Nancy persisted.

  “Because he figured Jack Vernon and I were the only other two people besides himself who knew anything about the phony theft. Therefore, it must have been one of us who’d arranged to switch a fake spider for the real one. But I kept telling him I knew nothing about it, just as I’d told the first caller, so finally he hung up.”