In Search of a Clue

When Nancy appeared in the kitchen the next morning, Hannah Gruen said cheerily, «Good morning. There's a letter for you. I think you'll want to see right away.»

Nancy went to the hall table to get it. A glance at the handwriting caused her pulse to quicken. The letter was from Ned Nickerson! Nancy eagerly opened the envelope. She missed her special friend who had gone to South America on a school project.

Ned wrote, «I'm doing some interesting work, but I miss you and the fun we had solving mysteries. I'll bet you're head over heels in one this very minute!»

«Right you are, Ned!» Nancy smiled happily as she tucked the letter away for another reading. Mr. Drew came downstairs and said they should eat at once and then leave. Nancy suggested that they stop at Mrs. Fenimore's house. She wanted to ask a question about Juliana.

«All right,» Mr. Drew agreed.

Mrs. Fenimore said she was happy to see Nancy again and pleased to meet her father. «We're en route to Hampton,» Mr. Drew explained. «I've given your sister's strange disappearance considerable thought. Apparently she abandoned her career very suddenly.» «Oh, Juliana loved her work!» Mrs. Fenimore protested. «Of course, she was tired, but a few weeks' rest should have restored her to good health.»

Nancy remarked. «But after leaving here, Juliana never danced again - at least not under her own name. She may be doing some other kind of work. Did your sister have any special aptitudes for something besides dancing?» Mrs. Fenimore shrugged. «She loved gardening.»

There was nothing more the woman could tell the Drews, so Nancy and her father said good-by. «You know,» the lawyer commented as he led the way to the car, «Juliana may have married.» «But, Dad, she was engaged to Walter Heath!» «True. Well, perhaps in Hampton we'll find a clue to her disappearance.»

Mr. Drew got into the car. Nancy was about to follow when she observed a thin, sharp-faced woman with unkempt hair hanging clothes in the yard adjoining the Fenimore house. «That must be Teddy Hooper's mother,» she thought. Her attention was not centered on the woman, but on the clothes she was pinning to the line. A blue shirt looked familiar to Nancy. «If that isn't George's stolen shirt, it's just like it!» she decided. On impulse she ran over to the yard. The woman saw her coming and eyed the girl suspiciously.

«Is Teddy here?» Nancy inquired.

«No. He's at school, same as every day.» Nancy asked Mrs. Hooper if Teddy liked to go boating on the river.

«All boys play around the water,» the woman answered. Then she added quickly, «He ain't been on the river lately, though.» Nancy was convinced Mrs. Hooper was not telling the truth. «That's a lovely shirt,» she went on.

«Ain't I got a right to have nice things, like other folks?» the woman demanded defiantly. «Why, certainly,» Nancy said evenly. But she was still sure the shirt belonged to George. «You must be another one of those snoopy policewomen!» Teddy's mother snapped. «Well, I won't talk to you!» She snatched the shirt from the line and hurried into the house. Nancy returned to the car and related the conversation to her father. «I must talk to Teddy when we get back,» she added.

The Drews started for Hampton. An unexpected detour extended the trip by many miles, and a lunch with slow service delayed them. They did not arrive until two-thirty at the Hampton Motel.

«Meet me here at six, Nancy,» the lawyer said and drove off.

The young detective decided there was no use going to the usual places to make inquiries about Juliana, since the police had investigated them years ago.

«If Juliana wanted to live here incognito, where would she go?» Nancy asked herself. She felt that inconspicuous tourist homes might be the answer.

She hurried to the Chamber of Commerce and obtained a list of guesthouses. With the photograph of Juliana for identification of the dancer, she walked from one house to another. Some of the owners recognized the woman in the picture, but none had rented a room to her. Finally Nancy rang the doorbell of the last place on her list. After a few minutes a small, gray-haired woman appeared.

«If you're looking for a room, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you,» she said before Nancy could speak. «I don't take guests any more.» «I don't want a room,» Nancy replied with a smile. «I came to ask about someone who might have stayed with you at some time.» She showed the photograph.

«Come in,» the woman said cordially. «I think I can help you!»

Nancy's heart leaped. Could it be true? «I'm Mrs. Delbert,» the woman said as she led her caller into a neat, old-fashioned living room. «You are-?»

«Nancy Drew. I'm a stranger in Hampton. What name did your guest give you?» «Let me think. I remember now. She was Miss Flower. Julia Flower. Is she a friend of yours?» «Mrs. Delbert, if she really was the person in this picture, she was a famous dancer who disappeared ten years ago. I know her sister.» It was Mrs. Delbert's turn to look shocked. «My, my!» she said. «How dreadful! It was ten years ago that she was here.»

«Just one more question: Did Miss Flower say where she was going after she left here?» «Yes, she spoke of staying on a farm between Hopewell and Plainville, but she didn't tell me the name of the people.»

«Is it far from here?» Nancy asked. «About thirty miles. Miss Flower said she'd take the bus and walk into the farm from the main road. All she had was a purse and a small suitcase.»

«You have a terrific memory,» Nancy said. Mrs. Delbert smiled. «Julia Flower was the most beautiful guest I ever had!» Nancy got up and put an arm around the woman. «Thank you so much,» she said. «You've been a great help.» After saying good-by, Nancy hurried back to the motel and told her father what she had learned.

«You've done well, Nancy, and picked up an excellent clue. You should have a reward for that good bit of detecting.»

Nancy grinned. «As a reward, will you take me to Plainville when you finish your work here?» «Yes, indeed. I'll be through by noon tomorrow.»

The Drews checked out at twelve o'clock the next day and drove toward Plainville. When they came to Hopewell, Nancy suggested they inquire at police headquarters about the missing dancer. She spoke to a middle-aged sergeant and showed him Juliana's picture. He looked at it thoughtfully and finally said:

«I don't know that this will help you, but about ten years ago another officer and I were called on an accident case. A young woman had been struck by a car on a side road and was found unconscious and badly bruised. Hit-and-run driver and no witnesses. She was taken to a hospital in Plainville. No identification or purse or luggage.»

«Probably stolen,» Mr. Drew commented. «She looked a little like the person in this photograph,» the officer went on. «A funny thing about the case was, when nurses undressed her at the hospital, they found several thousands of dollars on her.»

«Did the police find out why?» Nancy asked. «No. She insisted she had drawn it from her savings account because she was traveling. Why don't you stop at the hospital? Maybe they can answer your questions.»

Nancy said she was grateful for this good lead. She returned to the car and told her father. They set off at once for the hospital.

The superintendent received them courteously. After hearing their story, she showed them some old records. No one by the name of Juliana or Julie Johnson had been a patient at the institution, but a Julia Flower had been! Only the word «traveler» had been written in the space for the home address.

The superintendent anticipated Nancy's next question. «Where did she go after she was released from here? I don't know.»

Seeing the girl's disappointment, she said, «You might talk to Joe. He's been our maintenance man for twenty years. A friendly fellow. And his memory tor patients is amazing.» While Mr. Drew waited in the lobby, Nancy went to the basement to find Joe. When she showed him the photograph, a wide grin spread over his face.

«Indeed I remember that girl. She called herself Julia Flower. I felt sorry for her when she left here in a wheelchair. She was crying her eyes out as the nurse rolled her to the elevator.» «Why was she crying?» Nancy asked. «I overheard Dr. Barnes tell Miss Flower she'd never be able to walk properly again.» «Is Dr. Barnes still with the hospital?» «No. He went to New York to head up a large clinic.»

«How about nurses who took care of her?» Nancy inquired.

«I remember one. She was nice - Miss Emily Foster. I don't know what became of her.» «Do you have any idea where Miss Flower went?»

Joe shook his head. «She didn't say.» The man's information threw new light on the mystery. Nancy thanked him and hurried back to her father.

«Such an injury could have prevented Juliana from ever dancing again,» she said. Mr. Drew nodded. «The thought of her admirers feeling pity for her may have been too much for Juliana to bear. Perhaps she dropped out of sight on purpose!»

«She probably took an assumed name in order to avoid publicity, then disappeared because she didn't want to be a burden to her sister,» Nancy said. «Juliana's pride kept her from marrying Walter Heath.» Nancy paused a moment. «Oh, Dad, we're really getting somewhere!» At the main desk Nancy and her father tried to obtain the doctor's and the nurse's address. «Dr. Barnes died three years ago,» the receptionist said. «As for Emily Foster, I have an old address, but I understand she left the place some time ago. However, the people who live there might be able to tell you where she is.» While Mr. Drew registered at the local motel for his daughter and himself, Nancy hurried on foot to the designated address. To her disappointment she found the residence occupied by new tenants who had never heard of Emily Foster. «Another blind alley!» Nancy sighed as she started back to join her father.

As she walked along the street Nancy became aware of a man walking a little distance behind her. At first she thought nothing of it, but after three blocks she concluded someone must be following her.

Nancy quickened her pace. After six blocks, she still had not shaken the person and decided to get a good look at him. She dropped her handbag on purpose. As she turned to pick it up, Nancy gazed directly at the man. He wore a brown suit and had a sharp, angular face and dark eyes.

When he realized that Nancy knew she was being followed, he wheeled around and turned down a side street.

«He was tailing me!» Nancy thought. She had never seen the man before and wondered why he was trailing her. She was eager to tell her father, but found that he had invited a client to dinner. By ten o'clock, after the caller had gone, she had stopped thinking about the incident.

Before retiring, father and daughter sat down in Mr. Drew's bedroom to discuss the mystery. «Isn't Emily Foster our best lead yet?» Nancy asked.

Mr. Drew did not answer; in tact, for several seconds he had not been paying strict attention to Nancy's conversation. Now, so suddenly that the young detective was startled, he tiptoed to the door and yanked it open.

A man in a brown suit crouched just outside. Thrown off balance, he fell forward into the room.