A Threat Revealed

IN River Heights the long absence of Nancy and Bess had begun to cause alarm. Hannah Gruen knew something had gone wrong because Nancy had not returned to dress for her date with Ned, Frantic with worry she had telephoned the Marvin home several times but had always received the same answer—there had been no word from Bess.

At seven o’clock Ned arrived. Hearing that Nancy had not come home, he frowned in concern.

“I was afraid of this. She becomes so completely wrapped up in a mystery. Now something’s happened.” He began pacing the floor.

“Mr. Drew won’t be home until late, ” Hannah informed him. “I’ve tried to reach him by phone but I can’t. I don’t know what to do about Nancy and Bess.”

Tearfully she disclosed that the two girls had been seen last at the Fayne home. At that time they had told George that they might drive out to a place called the Blue Iris Inn.

“But nobody seems to know where it is. The inn’s not listed in the phone book.”

“I never heard of the place until Nancy mentioned it, ” Ned admitted. “And she didn’t say where it was.”

“Oh, Ned, can’t you think of something we can do? ” the housekeeper pleaded.

“I’ll go out to the inn as soon as I find out where it is, ” the young man promised. “Maybe George can give me a clue.”

He drove at once to the Fayne home. George was up and dressed, but in a near state of collapse from anxiety over the girls’ disappearance.

“Oh, I knew this would happen! ” George moaned. “I warned Bess and Nancy not to go, but they wouldn’t listen to me. Now the dreadful threat may be carried out.”

“Threat? ” Ned demanded. “What threat, George? ”

“Tell us quickly! ” Mrs. Marvin urged. “Nancy and Bess’s safety may depend on what you can tell us.”

The words stunned George and suddenly brought a marked change in her attitude. The old fire came back into her eyes and the color returned to her cheeks.

“Well, ” George began, “after those kidnappers drugged me I seemed to lose my nerve. That woman’s words just burned into my brain. She warned me that if I didn’t make Nancy drop the case, great harm would come not only to her but to Mrs. Gruen and Mr. Drew and my family and Bess’s.”

“Oh, George, you should have reported this to the police, ” Mrs. Fayne cried.

“I didn’t dare. But now we must find Nancy and Bess.”

“What else did the kidnappers say? ” Ned asked. “It might be a clue to what happened to Nancy and Bess.”

“Well, at the end of the threats, the woman said, ‘We’ll put Nancy on ice in the flour cellar! ’ I’ve wondered ever since what they meant by that.”

“A flour cellar? ” Mrs. Marvin murmured. “What significance would that have? ”

“I never heard of a flour mill around here, ” Ned said thoughtfully. “George, maybe they meant f-l-o-w-e-r cellar.”

“That might have been it, ” she agreed. “Do you suppose there’s one in the Blue Iris Inn? Wait! Nancy told me about a real-estate agent who has been wanting to buy that place for someone. I’ll ask him.”

Excitedly, and now apparently completely recovered, George ran to the telephone and called Mr. Harris. When she rejoined the group in the living room, her face was worried but determined.

“I’ve learned a lot, ” she said. “Mr. Harris told me the inn once had a small greenhouse specializing in blue iris. The cellar of the inn was used for sorting bulbs and arranging cut flowers.”

“Nancy and Bess probably are prisoners in that cellar! ” Ned cried. “But where is it? ”

“Mr. Harris gave me directions, ” George replied. “And listen to this. He also told me that he had arranged today to buy the inn from Mr. Tombar for a client.”

“Tombar! Nancy suspected him all along, ” Ned cried.

“Mr. Harris was supposed to have paid Tombar at his office, but he had trouble raising the money on such short notice, so he told Tombar to return Monday.”

“Maybe Tombar went back to the inn! ” Ned exclaimed. “If he did, we can catch him and find out about the girls! ”

“I’m going too, ” George announced with spirit. “No, don’t try to stop me, anyone! Nancy and Bess are in danger, and I want to help.”

The rescue party, Ned, Mr. Marvin, George, and her father, assembled quickly. As they were ready to drive off, Mrs. Gruen telephoned that she finally had reached Mr. Drew.

“He has notified the State Police and is on his way to the inn himself right now, ” she said. “Oh, get there as fast as you can! ”

At the Blue Iris Inn, Ned’s party learned from Mr. Drew that Nancy’s parked car as well as tire tracks of a truck and another car had been found. The officers had broken into the boarded-up building and searched in vain for the missing girls.

“Let me look, ” Mr. Drew said, borrowing a flashlight from one of the policemen.

It was not until he went to the cellar of the inn that Mr. Drew found a clue. He pointed out that some of the footprints on the stairway had been made by the type of shoes Nancy wore.

“And look at this! ” George exclaimed, picking up the button that had fallen off Nancy’s dress. “This was on the dress Nancy was wearing when she disappeared! ”

“This was on the dress Nancy was wearing when she disappeared! ”

“Now we have something to work on, ” one officer said excitedly. “No doubt the girls were taken away from here in the car or the truck. We’ll try to trace the tire tracks.”

By inspecting the marks the police figured that the truck and the car, leaving the inn, had gone toward River Heights.

“They came from that same direction, too, ” remarked one of the troopers.

“It’ll be impossible to follow the tracks on the highway, ” another pointed out.

“The best thing to do is broadcast a general alarm for Tombar’s green car, ” Mr. Drew declared. “You may be able to stop it somewhere.”

“We’ll do everything we can, ” the officer promised. “But the girls may be in the truck and we have no description of that. And don’t forget, those thieves have a good head start. They may be a hundred miles from here by now.”

“On the other hand, they may be only a few miles away, ” Ned put in. “Nancy believed that the Velvet Gang planned to pull a last big job tonight. If she’s right, they won’t leave town until they have the loot.”

“Her theory is a good one, ” the officer conceded. “It won’t help us rescue her and Miss Marvin, though. By the time we get a report on the robbery, the gang will be on their way to another place.”

“And taking Nancy and Bess with them! ” George exclaimed.

“All the more reason why we must set up roadblocks, ” Mr. Drew urged. As he started for his car he noticed that Ned had remained behind.

“Hurry, Ned! ” he called.

The young man shook his head. “I’m staying here. There’s an outside chance that the gang may come back tonight.”

“But we’re trying to save the girls.”

“They may bring Nancy and Bess with them.”

“You’re going to stay alone? ” Mr. Drew said dubiously.

“I’ll be okay, ” Ned insisted. “Maybe no one but Tombar will show up.”

“But he may be armed, Ned, ” Mr. Drew pointed out. “It seems to me you’re taking a dangerous chance. Better come along with us.”

“I’ll watch my step. I have two good fists, ” the athletic young man said grimly, “and I’m used to tackling opponents on short notice.

“What’s more, if I ever meet that fellow who nailed me in the basement of the Dwight house, I have a score to settle with him! ”