The Crash

Carolyn Keene

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories: Volume Eighteen

Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion

Copyright © 1971, 1969, 1941 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

This is revised text, 1971

A friend of Carson Drew’s has been arrested and charged with sending a truck loaded with explosive oranges into the Space Center complex at Cape Kennedy. Knowing that Mr. Billington could not possibly be guilty of sabotage, Nancy and her father rush to the defense of the accused man.

During the Drews’ investigation Nancy becomes suspicious of an old, spooky mansion. Behind a high, steel-mesh enclosure fierce African wild animals roam over the extensive grounds. Through a ruse the clever teen-age detective discovers that something besides the training of wild animals is going on at the mysterious moss-covered mansion estate.

Many dangerous moments await Nancy before she proves Mr. Billington’s innocence and thwarts the plans of treacherous subversives bent on undermining the U. S. space program.

CHAPTER I

The Crash

THE Drews’ living room was in semidarkness as Nancy walked in. Only one lamp was lighted. Under its glow her father sat absorbed in a single sheet of newspaper which lay across his knees.

On the table next to him were a pad and pencil. Figures, letters, and symbols were scrawled on the top sheet.

Nancy stopped beside his chair. “Crossword puzzle? ” asked the reddish-blond haired girl.

Mr. Drew, a tall, good-looking man, glanced up at his attractive, eighteen-year-old daughter and smiled. “No, it’s not a crossword puzzle. Actually it’s a message in a personal column from this Florida newspaper.”

“A personal? ” Nancy repeated. “But why are you making all these hieroglyphics on the pad? ”

“Sit down and I’ll show you, ” her father said.

Nancy pulled up the chair from the opposite side of the table. Her father was the leading attorney in River Heights where they lived and she was sure he was puzzling over some problem in connection with his work.

She asked, “Dad, are you busy on a regular case or one with a mystery? ”

Mr. Drew laughed. “A case with a mystery. I sent to Florida for newspapers of several weeks back, thinking I might pick up a clue from them.”

He handed the paper to Nancy and pointed out an item in the personal column. “What does my detective daughter think? ” he asked.

Nancy studied the unusual message. Finally she read the ad aloud:

“‘Son of fruit grower wishes forgiveness. Will return money.’ ”

The young sleuth was silent for several seconds, then she frowned. “This could or could not be suspicious. Maybe some father and son had a difference of opinion and he ran away, taking some of his dad’s money. He put this ad in the paper, expecting his father to see it and forgive him.”

Mr. Drew did not reply. He picked up a sheet from another newspaper dated several days later. He pointed to it and said, “Do you think this one makes as much sense as the other? ”

The second ad was longer. It said, “Natural color oranges best antidote for grower’s son’s special kind of chronic asthma.”

“This one sounds more like a code than the first, ” Nancy remarked.

Her father asked, “Do you see any connection between the two messages? ”

“Yes, one. Both items contain the words son and grower.” Nancy looked up at her father. “Dad, do you know what it means and are you teasing me to see if I can figure it out? ”

Mr. Drew chuckled. “Such a thing would have been a temptation, ” he said, “but this time I confess I haven’t the faintest idea what these personals mean. The fact that the words son and grower appear in both makes me suspect that they’re code messages.”

“And you have a hunch they may relate to your case? ” Nancy inquired. Her father nodded.

Nancy picked up a sheet of paper and began to jot down letters and numbers. Mr. Drew watched her, always intrigued by the way his daughter tackled a code. Nancy had made a study of codes and he was sure she would soon find the answer to this puzzle.

There was silence for a minute, then suddenly Nancy exclaimed, “Here’s a hidden message that makes sense! ”

As she leaned across the table to show it to her father, they heard a terrific crash directly in front of the house.

“Oh! ” said Nancy. “A car accident! ”

She was already dashing across the room to the front door. Mr. Drew followed her through the spacious hall and outside into the autumn night. They could vaguely see two cars locked together. The Drews raced down their curving driveway to the street.

Nancy and her father were appalled by what they saw. One car had smashed through the hood of the other. The lone occupant, a man, was slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious.

Looking into the other car, Nancy exclaimed, “Bess! George! ”

Bess Marvin and George Fayne were cousins and Nancy’s closest friends. Their parents had gone away together for a few days and Bess and George had come to the Drews to stay.

“Girls, how dreadful! ” Nancy cried out. “We’ll get you into the house right away and call a doctor.”