The Clue In the Crumbling Wall by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: &NEW, Mysteries (Young Adult), Fiction
Published: 2011-07-06T18:48:40+00:00

CHAPTER XI

A Warning

"So you were eavesdropping!" Mr. Drew said

sternly as he pulled the man to his feet.

"No, that's not true!" the fellow stammered.

After recovering his balance, he tried to retreat.

Mr. Drew blocked the doorway. "Sit down!"

he ordered the man into the room. "We want to

talk to you."

Nancy recognized the man as the one who had

followed her.

"What were you doing outside my door?" Mr.

Drew asked him sharply.

"Nothing," he replied in a sullen voice. "I

thought this room belonged to a friend."

"That's hard to believe, but easy enough to

check. What's his name?"

"None of your business."

"I can turn you over to the police."

Nancy spoke up. "I can report to them that you

trailed me today!"

The stranger squirmed uneasily in the chair.

"You can't prove anything!"

"This man followed you today?" Mr. Drew

asked his daughter in surprise.

"Yes. I forgot to tell you about it."

"That settles it," the lawyer said. "We'll turn

him over to the police for questioning."

"No, no! Don't do that! I'll tell anything you

want to know-except my name," the stranger

said.

"Very well." The lawyer nodded. "Why were

you following my daughter?"

"Because I was paid to do it."

"By whom?"

"I don't know the guy's name."

"What were your instructions?"

"To make a complete report on where Miss

Drew went, whom she talked to, and what she

did."

Mr. Drew turned so that the man could not see

him full face. With a wink and a quick movement

of his hand he signaled Nancy to step into the ad-

joining room. For a moment the young detective

was puzzled. Then it dawned upon her that her

rather wanted her to slip quietly downstairs and

arrange to have the stranger followed.

"So you won't tell us your name?" Mr. Drew

repeated, facing the stranger once more and walk-

ing up so close to him the man could not see

Nancy.

"No. I won't," the man replied.

Nancy stole noiselessly into the adjoining room.

She hastened downstairs and used a public tele-

phone to call police headquarters. After identify-

ing her father and herself, she said, "Please send

a plainclothesman at once. I'll meet him in the

lobby and explain everything when he arrives.

How will I know him?"

"He'll pretend to have a bad cold," the officer

said.

Nancy was worried that the detective might not

reach the hotel in time. But in less than five min-

utes a man entered coughing uncontrollably. She

told him why he had been called and asked him

to trail the eavesdropper.

"Here he comes now!" she whispered as the

brown-suited stranger emerged from an elevator.

"He must not see me!"

She hid behind a pillar and noticed with satis-

faction that the eavesdropper did not realize he

was being followed from the hotel. Then she went

upstairs.

Mr. Drew praised his daughter tor having in-

terpreted his signals correctly. "By the way," he

asked, "have you called Hannah since we left

home? There may be some messages for us."

At once Nancy dialed the Drew number. Han-

nah Gruen answered.

"I'm glad you phoned," she said. "I tried to

reach you in Hampton, but you had already left."

"Is anything wrong?"

"Mrs. Fenimore called this morning and

wanted to see you."

"Mrs. Fenimore?" Nancy echoed in curiosity.

"Did she say why she called?"

"She wouldn't tell me over the phone," Han-

nah resumed. "When I told her you weren't

home, she said you had to be warned to be care-

ful.

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