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Prisoners’ Retreat






 

Ned let the men finish speaking before he took Mr. Drew aside. The festival manager glanced gruffly at the boy as the officers made a few final statements.

“What’s up, Ned? ” Mr. Drew said, adding, “I assume that you dropped Nancy off at the house.”

“No, sir. I-I don’t know where she is.”

The lawyer could see a visible tremble in the boy’s body. “Tell me everything that happened, and don’t leave anything out, ” he said.

But before the young collegian could complete his story, the festival manager and the police began to leave the building.

“Everybody out, Mr. Drew, ” Mr. Hillyer said sharply, leading the way to an exit.

“We’ll talk again tomorrow, ” the attorney informed the man.

“Not if I can help it, ” he said.

“Well, I’m afraid you may not have a choice in the matter, ” one of the officers said from behind.

When they were all outside, Mr. Drew requested the policeman join him and Ned.

“I couldn’t help overhearing the discussion about Brady Tilson, ” Ned told the young officer.

“Do you know him? ”

“No.”

“But my daughter Nancy apparently had an encounter with him last night, ” Mr. Drew put in.

“That’s right, ” Ned continued. He explained the sequence of events in the sound booth just as Nancy had related them to him. “But when we came to see Mr. Hillyer this morning, he ignored us.”

“As you can see, officer, ” the attorney went on, “Mr. Hillyer refuses to listen to anything from the lips of anyone named Drew.”

The policeman nodded. He would have called Hillyer back from the parking lot, but following Mr. Drew’s remark, realized he would just be inviting another unproductive scene.

“When can we talk to your daughter? ” the officer inquired.

“That’s another problem, ” Ned answered for Mr. Drew. He displayed the welt across his neck and told how he had been struck from behind.

“Nancy’s been hard at work on the kidnapping of that young amnesia patient, ” Mr. Drew said, assuming the disappearance was well-known in the River Heights police department. “Tonight she and Ned went on a small excursion to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Flannery.”

The officer seemed puzzled. “What’s their connection? ” he asked.

“Well, I think Nancy suspected Mr. Flannery of being the person who attacked Cliff in the hospital, ” Mr. Drew said. “She wasn’t absolutely positive, however. Did you run into the man? ” he asked Ned.

“Yes and no. We overheard him mention Nancy’s name, but we didn’t see the face, so I’m not a hundred percent sure he’s the one we saw at the lodge.”

“Any idea who gave you the welt? ” the po liceman questioned

“That’s what I’ve been leading up to. I have a hunch it could be Brady Tilson, ” Ned answered.

“And not Flannery, ” Mr. Drew interposed.

“No, definitely not. He and his wife were still inside when I was hit.”

The young man blinked his eyes wearily, and he swayed off one foot as the adventures of the evening swirled through his head.

“We’ll search the Flannery place now, ” the officer assured Mr. Drew. “Maybe your daughter’s still there.”

Although Ned was positive Nancy had been taken away by someone, he knew he had no evidence to prove it. No one had come to the door when he knocked and rang, but that didn’t mean the young detective wasn’t trapped inside.

“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? ”

 


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