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Fake Message?






 

Because of her worry, Nancy woke very early and went down to use the telephone in the kitchen to call River Heights. Hannah answered on the second ring, making it clear that Nancy hadn’t awakened her as the young sleuth feared that she might.

“I’m so glad to hear from you, ” Hannah said. “I was worried when you didn’t return my call last night. You aren’t doing anything dangerous, are you, Nancy? ”

Nancy thought momentarily of the careening, runaway stagecoach and the wicked horns of the bucking bull, then banished all such memories. That was over now.

“Everything is very much under control here, ” she assured the housekeeper. “I just got back to the house quite late and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“You might as well have called for all the rest I’ve gotten since Chief McGinnis phoned here and the letter came, ” Hannah told her.

“What do you mean? ” Nancy asked, her fears growing stronger than ever. “Has something happened to Dad? ”

Hannah sighed instead of answering right away. “I just don’t know, ” she finally admitted. “The chief said he tried to reach you but when he couldn’t, he phoned me instead. It seems that the Canadian police told him Chain Creek Lodge has been closed for a couple of years.” “What? ” Nancy gasped.

“That’s not all. Let me read you the letter and see what you think I should do.” There were a few sounds of papers being moved, then Hannah began to read:

 

Dear Hannah,

I’m writing to ask you to do a favor for me. My lead here in Canada at Chain Creek has come to a sad end. Clarinda Winthrop is dead, leaving no heirs.

I will have to stay a few more days to finish up all the details, but I’d like to ask you to contact Mr. Winthrop and give him the news.

The country up here is lovely and...

 

“What? ” Nancy broke in. “What did you say about Clarinda Winthrop? ”

“He said that she was dead, ” Hannah replied. “That’s why I called you, Nancy. I just didn’t feel that I should be the one to talk to Mr. Winthrop about something like that.”

“Oh, Hannah, I don’t understand, ” Nancy murmured, her mind spinning.

“It’s just that Mr. Winthrop isn’t at all well, ” Hannah continued, not understanding Nancy’s confusion. “News like that could make him worse. I was going to call Mr. Mathews, but...” She paused. “Don’t you think the news could wait till you and your father get home? ”

“It can wait a lot longer than that, ” Nancy snapped. “Thank heavens you didn’t call.” “What do you mean? ” Hannah asked. “Hannah, I talked to Clarinda Winthrop on the telephone last night. Her daughter and granddaughter are here in this house right now. My little friend Jennifer is Arlo Winthrop’s great-granddaughter.”

“But your father says...” Hannah protested, her tone telling that she was as confused as Nancy was.

“What else is in the letter? ” Nancy asked. “Did he say anything else about where he was or what he is doing up there? ”

“There is about a page of description of the mountains, the flowers, and a lake that is not far from the lodge. It sounds like he copied it from a travel brochure.” She paused, then added, “Nancy, he never even mentioned your name. Did he call you and tell you to stop your part of the investigation? ”

“I haven’t talked to him since that time I told you about, ” Nancy answered, then asked, “Was it his handwriting? ”

“I’m pretty sure it is, ” Hannah answered. “That was the first thing I thought of when I read the letter. I mean, it didn’t sound like anything he’d write, so I got out some of his old notes and things and compared them the way you do and it sure looks like his writing.” Nancy gnawed at her lip, fear twisting through her. “How long ago was the letter mailed? ” she asked.

“Three, no, four days now.”

“And he said he was going to stay a few more days? ”

“That’s right, ” the housekeeper confirmed, then asked, “What do you want me to do, Nancy? ”

Nancy thought for a second, then made her decision. “Absolutely nothing, ” she replied firmly. “Pretend you never got that letter.” “You’re sure? ” Hannah paused, then recalled what Nancy had said earlier in the conversation. “You’ve solved the case? You’ve really found Clarinda Winthrop? ”

Nancy explained quickly about Lorna’s imprisonment and their rescue the night before, ending, “That’s why I don’t want you to contact Mr. Mathews at all. I want Clarinda’s arrival to be a surprise to everyone.”

“Her arrival? ”

Nancy outlined the plans they’d made, but her thoughts were still on her father. The fact that the man at the lodge had told her that her father had checked out, while the letter he’d written said he was staying on, made her shudder with fear.

“What are you going to do? ” Hannah asked when she finished.

“As soon as Ned leaves to drive Lorna and Jennifer to Denver, I’m going to catch a plane for Canada. I’m going to Chain Creek Lodge and find out what has happened to my father.”

“Oh, Nancy, I don’t think...” Hannah began.

“I’ll call you from Canada tonight, ” Nancy told her, “or tomorrow night at the latest.” Within an hour, Nancy had made her plans over the protests of both Grace and Ned, who didn’t like her doing things alone. Still, when she stated the urgency and the need for complete secrecy, they had to agree that, in many ways, it would be safer than if she waited.

“Grace has a whole collection of wigs in the attic, ” Nancy said, explaining her plan to everyone. “I saw them the other day when we were up there looking for a hat to go with the dress I wore in the parade. There’s one that

Lorna can wear so she’ll look a little bit like me—at least from a distance.”

Lorna frowned. “How will that help? ” she asked.

“The Mathews brothers won’t think it is odd if they see you and Ned going out in the car, ” Nancy said. “Or rather they won’t think anything of it if they believe it’s me with Ned. Jennifer can lie down in the back seat till you get out of town.”

“You’re sure they’re watching us? ” Ned asked.

Nancy nodded. “They always seem to be where we are, ” she reminded him. “Anyway, I don’t think they’ll bother following you beyond the city limits. They’ll be sure you’ll come back here.”

Ned and Grace nodded reluctantly. “What will you do? ” Grace asked.

“I’ll put on a long, dark wig and go next door and can a taxi to take me to the airport to catch my plane. That way the Mathewses won’t suspect anything till it’s too late for them to cause any more trouble.”

“But what about you? ” Ned asked. “I know your father wouldn’t approve of you flying to Calgary all alone.”

“Once you hear from Mrs. Greenfield that she is safely with her father, you can catch the next plane to Canada, ” Nancy told him. “The important thing now is to make sure that no one hurts Mr. Winthrop and the only way we can be sure of protecting him is to keep the Mathewses from knowing that we’ve discovered their plot. I’ll call the River Heights police before I leave, and let them know exactly what’s going on. They’ll have to keep an eye on Mathews without making him suspect anything.”

“Could I go with you to Calgary? ” Grace offered.

Nancy hugged her. “I’d love to have your company, but you have to stay here and pretend that you still have two houseguests. Thank you for offering.”

The plan went forward with apparent success. Nancy, watching from the attic, saw the pale car pull out of a nearby driveway and move behind Grace’s car into traffic.

Once they were out of sight, Nancy took a deep breath and went downstairs. Hoping that she was doing the right thing, she donned the dark wig, put on a dress several sizes too large, and, carrying the small suitcase she’d packed for the trip north, went down to the main floor of the house.

Grace had already called and arranged for a taxi to meet Nancy at the neighbor’s house. She had only to cross the rear yard and enter the back garden of the house next door. The lady who admitted her to the house gave her a rather odd look, Nancy thought, but wished her a cheerful, “Have a good day, ” as she left for the airport. Grace had obviously asked the woman not to ask any questions.

Nancy watched behind the cab all the way to the airport and lived in constant fear of discovery until the moment she boarded her plane. Only when the plane lifted off the runway did she feel she had escaped detection and was on her way.

But to what? What would she find when she finally reached the lodge? Was her father still there? And what could she do if he wasn’t?

The questions tormented her on the long, smooth flight north, but she’d found no answers. As the plane landed in Calgary, she could only hope that she was doing the right thing.

She went directly from the plane to a car rental agency, secured a car for herself and gained her first bit of information. Her father had rented a car from the same agency when he landed—and he hadn’t returned it yet.

The man behind the desk at the agency wrote out the license plate number of Mr. Drew’s car and also offered her a map of the area, tracing the route to Chain Creek Lodge for her. “I don’t know why you want to go out there, ” he said, handing the map to her. “The place isn’t open.”

“I know, ” Nancy said, without adding any explanation. “Thank you for all your help.” She picked up her suitcase, the map, and keys. Once in the small car, she put the map on the seat beside her and set off through the warm afternoon, determined to find out what had happened to her father before the sun set.

The country was as beautiful as her father had said in his letters, but Nancy was in no mood to enjoy it as she followed the ever- narrowing roads into the rugged country. It was very late in the afternoon when she finally found the sign that announced that Chain

Creek Lodge was just three miles ahead down the rutted road.

“Well, this is it, ” Nancy said aloud to herself as she bounced along the road, not slowing her pace till she caught a glimpse of red-painted roof through the trees.

Pulling off the road immediately, Nancy parked the car deep in the shadows of a grove of pines. Still in the car, she changed into a dark shirt and jeans; then she set off on toot toward the lodge, keeping carefully to the trees and brush so that no one inside would see her approach.

It took quite a while to circle the entire building, but Nancy was rewarded by seeing two cars parked in the rear. One was an all-terrain vehicle, the second a car that appeared to be the twin of the one she’d rented—and bore the license number of the car her father had rented.

Nancy retreated to the shadows of several small firs. “So he is here, ” she whispered to herself. “But where? ”

As if in answer, a door opened at the rear of the lodge and a man came out. “Ready for dinner, Mr. Drew? ” he asked, the sound carrying clearly in the still mountain air.

Nancy started nervously and peered across the open area, seeing for the first time that there was, indeed, someone lying in one of the lounge chairs that sat on the stone terrace. To her horror, her father’s voice came dreamily from the chair. “I guess so. What do we have? ” “I fixed the fish I caught this morning, ” the man went on. “You want to eat out here? ”

“All right.” The answer was without interest—almost a singsong—and her father didn’t move.

“I’ll go get your tray, then you have to take your sleeping pill and come inside.”

“No more pills, ” her father whined. “I’m so sleepy now. No more pills, please.”

Nancy covered her mouth to keep from crying out. Her father was drugged and helpless! Somehow she had to free him!

 


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