Loot for Sale

NANCY felt it would be cruel to leave the man who lay unconscious on the ground. Yet she wanted to return to the suddenly darkened house. She was sure another robbery was in progress!

As Nancy leaned over the stranger, she noticed a peculiar sweet-smelling odor on his clothing. Instantly she thought of George’s experience on the train.

“This man has been drugged just as she was! ” Nancy decided. “And by the same people! They must be in the house! ”

Repeatedly she called for help but no one came. Probably the people in the house could not hear her. Minutes later the lights went on again.

“If only someone would come here so I could leave! ” Nancy thought unhappily. “The thieves are probably making a getaway this very minute.”

She hoped that members of the Velvet Gang would try to escape through the parking area, giving her a chance to intercept them. But time passed and no one came that way.

Nancy chafed the stranger’s wrists and presently he groaned. “Help! ” he cried out feebly. Then he noticed Nancy and stared blankly into her face. “Where am I? ” he mumbled.

“You’re in the parking area at the Claytons’, ” Nancy told him. “Can you sit up? ”

“I think so, ” he said weakly. Carefully she helped him to a sitting position.

“That’s better, ” he muttered. “I’ll be all right.”

“Can you recall what happened to you? ” Nancy asked.

“It’s coming back now, ” he said, brushing a hand across his eyes. “As I got out of the car I was grabbed from behind. A handkerchief with a peculiar odor was pressed to my face.”

“Your wallet. Do you still have it? ”

The guest fumbled in his pocket. “Gone, ” he admitted ruefully. “I’ve been robbed.”

“Did it contain anything besides money? ” Nancy asked.

“Yes—several cards, including the lecture invitation.”

The stranger identified himself as Albert G. Brunner and said he had come alone. Nancy introduced herself and told him of her suspicions. She offered to help Mr. Brunner into the house, saying a doctor should be summoned.

Nancy managed to assist the man the short distance to the house. There she was relieved of his care by two solicitous servants.

Instantly Nancy sought Mr. Lightner. But even he believed the darkness had been a temporary power shutoff.

An investigation was started at once. It revealed that valuable silver pieces and figurines were missing from the first floor and jewelry from the second.

“This will ruin me! ” Mr. Lightner confided to Nancy.

“Surely it isn’t that bad, ” Nancy said soothingly. “By the way, where is Mr. Tombar? ”

“I haven’t seen him. I suppose he’s out looking for those thieves.”

Nancy decided to find out for herself. Checking room after room, she finally located him in the kitchen, giving instructions to the caterers. Nancy watched Tombar until he was free, then casually started talking to him about the theft.

“I was outdoors and didn’t see a thing, ” she said chattily. “How about you? ”

“Say, what is this, a third degree? ” Tombar snapped at her, and stalked off.

There was nothing more she could do. The police had arrived and taken charge. Nancy listened as they made the usual checkup. The same robbery pattern as before! Not a clue left by the wily party thieves!

On the way home Nancy thought about the Velvet Gang. They would never be caught by ordinary methods. They were too clever at anticipating the traps laid for them,

Nancy’s thoughts also turned to Tombar. The man was an enigma. He was certainly faithful to his job, and since he knew nothing about the marked invitations, he could not have tipped off the thieves about them.

“Still I don’t trust him, ” Nancy said to herself. “I wish I could go to that wedding Friday night. Then I could watch Tombar myself. But I can’t refuse to attend Helen Tyne’s dance at this late date. And Ned would never forgive me if I disappointed him.”

Next morning at breakfast Nancy was turning over several plans of action in her mind when Bess Marvin arrived.

“Hi, Nancy! she said but did not smile.

“Hello, yourself, welcome back. What’s wrong, Bess? You don’t usually get over here so early.”

“It’s George. The doctor says she’s still suffering the effects of that frightening kidnapping episode. Personally, I think it’s more than that. George is scared out of her wits about something.”

“She never was frightened of anything before.”

“I know, ” Bess admitted soberly. “Something strange has come over her—it’s as if she were under a spell. Won’t you talk to her? For some reason, she’s especially troubled about you.”

“Me? ” Nancy echoed, surprised. A few minutes later they left the house to call on George.

The girl did not look ill, although she was propped against pillows in a living-room chair. After Nancy had chatted with her a few minutes, however, she knew that Bess was right.

“What happened last night? ” George asked anxiously. “I read about the robbery in the paper. I’m sure you were there.”

“Yes.”

“Nancy, I asked you to give up the case! You don’t understand what you’re up against. Those fiends will stop at nothing—nothing—” George cried out hysterically.

Bess and Nancy soothed their friend as best they could, but Nancy would not promise to give up her sleuthing completely. Mrs. Fayne came in to attend her daughter, and a few minutes afterward the girls left.

“Just seeing me seems to excite poor George, ” Nancy remarked when she and Bess reached the sidewalk.

“We must avoid talking about the mystery when we’re with her, ” Bess suggested.

“But she’s the one who always brings it up, ” Nancy said with a sigh. “Bess, this is awful.”

“I know. Maybe you ought to give up the case —or at least pretend to. Then maybe George will get better.”

“I’ll follow your advice, ” Nancy promised. “I’ll do a good pretending job. Right now, I’m going to Taylor’s. Want to come along? ”

“Sure.”

They called on Mr. Johnson to ask about the return of employees’ charge plates.

“Not many more have come in, ” he reported. “We’re too busy to go around collecting them. Sorry. I’ll let you know what happens.”

Nancy was deeply disappointed by his lack of interest. “I can’t understand it, ” she told Bess. “He doesn’t seem to care whether he has a thief working for him or not.”

As they passed the jewelry counter, Nancy caught sight of Alice Tompson, a former class-mate, who had recently taken a job at Taylor’s. The three girls chatted for a few minutes. Nancy asked Alice if she had turned in her charge plate as requested by the management.

“Why, no, ” Alice replied. “I was going to, but then a note came around changing the order.”

“Changing it! Why? ”

“I don’t know. It just said we weren’t to send the plates in after all.”

“So that’s why so few were returned, ” Nancy mused. “I wonder if Mr. Johnson himself sent out the order.”

Curious to know the truth, she and Bess immediately returned to the credit manager’s office. Mr. Johnson was elsewhere in the store, but his secretary assured the girls that the order had not come from him.

“If I were you, though, I wouldn’t bother him about it, ” she advised. “He has an important conference today. The entire matter is annoying to him.”

Nancy felt completely frustrated. It was such a good chance to catch the thief and it was being thrown away!

“I guess I’ll have to give up the idea, ” she admitted to Bess.

“Oh, you’ll think up some other scheme, ” her friend said loyally.

With time on their hands, the girls walked idly through the store. Bess looked at blouses and selected one. Finally they returned to the jewelry department to purchase a birthday gift for Mrs. Marvin.

“A new assortment of art objects just came in this morning. I’ve been arranging them in a showcase, ” Alice told Bess. “We have a lovely miniature painted on porcelain. I’ll show it to you.”

“I’m afraid that would be too expensive—”

“Not this one.” Alice smiled. “The price, in my opinion, is ridiculously low. In fact, I was amazed when I saw the tag. Come and look at it.”

She led the girls to a counter on which a number of small gifts were displayed. One of them was a miniature of Marie Antoinette.

Nancy drew in her breath, stunned. She could not believe the sight before her eyes. The lovely picture looked exactly like the one which had been stolen from Gloria Hendrick’s home!