A Secret in Time

by Carolyn Keene

  “Of course,” said Ms. Jennings. “I’ll take care of it.” She hurried past the rows of exhibits to a microphone at one side of the gymnasium. Even though she was wearing high-heeled black patent-leather pumps, she deftly climbed up three rows of bleachers so that everyone in the gym could see her.

  “Attention, please,” Ms. Jennings said, and paused as the crowd looked up toward her. “There’s been a robbery,” she continued. “The police have sealed the gymnasium and will need to conduct a search. This might take some time, so I apologize for any inconvenience.”

  A collective groan rose from the floor, followed by the loud buzz of voices.

  Nancy looked around at the huge, bustling crowd. “Some time could mean the better part of the day, with all these people,” she said to Bess. “And the thief might already have escaped.”

  Bess nodded. “I saw a snack bar near the entrance to the gym. If we’re going to be here for a long time, I’d better stock up. I noticed they had some chocolate croissants.”

  Nancy had to laugh. Bess’s mind was never far from food. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to let them search me now and get it over with.”

  Unfortunately, almost a hundred other people had the same idea. A long line had already formed by the bleachers, turning at the corner of the gym around the perimeter of the exhibits. Standing on tiptoe, Nancy looked over the crowd and saw Sergeant Rudinsky climbing up the bleachers to join Mary Lou Jennings.

  To the right of the bleachers, a young police officer was standing by the blocked entrance. As Nancy watched, he lifted his walkie-talkie to his ear, nodded, and opened the doors to allow four more officers in. When they spotted Sergeant Rudinsky, the officers headed toward her. Nancy couldn’t hear what the sergeant said, but she could see the officers nodding. Then they stationed themselves along the floor in front of the bleachers.

  Sergeant Rudinsky took the microphone from Ms. Jennings. “We’ll try to get through this as quickly as possible,” she said. “When an officer has released you, please proceed to the exit.”

  As Nancy headed for the end of the ever-growing line, Bess turned toward the snack bar. “Want me to get you anything?” she asked.

  It would be an hour’s wait, at least. Shooting her friend a smile, Nancy said, “I’ll take a chocolate croissant.”

  • • •

  Two hours later the croissant was a dim memory. But at last Nancy reached the front of the line. Sergeant Rudinsky efficiently patted Nancy down, then went through her purse. “Thank you,” the officer said. “You’re free to go.” She gestured toward the gym doors on her right. “Through there, please. We can’t have anyone lingering.”

  Suddenly Nancy remembered her clock. She couldn’t leave without it. “I have something on display that I’d like to take with me,” she said to Sergeant Rudinsky. “Could I get it?”

  The sergeant gave Nancy a careful once-over and asked, “Which display?” Nancy told her, and Sergeant Rudinsky spoke briefly into her walkie-talkie. “I guess it’s okay,” she said, clicking off the walkie-talkie. “That booth has already been searched. It’s clean.”

  Nancy noticed that the police were carefully controlling the traffic of people through the gym. The people and displays that hadn’t yet been searched were being kept separate from those that had. It made a lot of sense, Nancy realized. Otherwise, whoever stole the brooch could hand it to someone the police had already searched.

  Bess was next in line, so Nancy headed back to Henry Gordon’s booth. Mr. Gordon and Lydia were packing the antiques into cardboard boxes. In one of the boxes, Nancy could see the top of her clock poking up through a nest of Styrofoam chips.

  “I’m sorry about the way this turned out,” Nancy said to Mr. Gordon. “I guess this wasn’t very good for business.”

  Mr. Gordon sighed. “It’s a shame when you can’t trust people long enough to turn your back.”

  Nancy nodded. “Thank you for doing such a beautiful job on my clock,” she told him. “How much do I owe you for repairing it?”

  “No charge,” Mr. Gordon said.

  Nancy started to protest, but Mr. Gordon held up his hand. “It took me less than five minutes to fix the winding mechanism. And your clock was a wonderful conversation piece. It attracted a lot of people to my booth. Despite what happened today, our sales were excellent.”

  Lydia smiled at Nancy from behind some cardboard boxes. “Don’t argue with the man.”

  Nancy laughed. “Thanks, Mr. Gordon. That’s really generous of you. Well, if you’re done with the clock, I guess I’ll take it home.”

  “Now, why should you go to the trouble of lugging it home?” Gordon asked, patting the box. “Let me deliver it to your house tomorrow. We’ll be making a run in your neighborhood—”

  “No,” Nancy said quickly. “It’s enough that you’re not charging me for the clock. The least I can do is take it home myself.”

  “It’s really no trouble,” he said.

  “No,” Nancy repeated. “I can do it. My car is parked right outside.”

  Mr. Gordon shrugged. “Well, at least let me seal the box for you.” Taking a tape gun from a tool chest, he fastened down the cardboard flaps.

  “Thanks,” Nancy said, lifting the box.

  As Nancy met Bess at the doors, she heard the familiar sound of Russell Brown’s frantic voice. Peering over the top of the box, Nancy saw he was with Sergeant Rudinsky.

  “What do you mean, everyone is clean?” he demanded. “Someone here has got to have my brooch.”

  “It’s possible the thief escaped before we conducted the search,” Sergeant Rudinsky said calmly. “But I assure you the police department will do everything possible to recover your property.”

  “Everything possible?” Brown yelled. “This never should have happened in the first place! That brooch was worth thousands.”

  “Take it up with Chief McGinnis,” Sergeant Rudinsky said stiffly. Then she walked away.

  Bess shook her head. “I guess Mr. Brown is pretty upset.”

  “Yeah,” Nancy agreed. “But that brooch was worth a lot of money.”

  “Well, at least it’s not your headache,” Bess said. “This is one case you won’t have to solve.”

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Nancy said. She shifted the cardboard box in her arms. “This thing is heavy. Let’s get out of here.”

  Following the crowd, Nancy and Bess made their way down the hallways to the exit. Then they threaded through the line of slow-moving cars trying to get out of the parking lot. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they edged out of the lot and onto the street, the clock sitting on the back seat of Nancy’s car.

  “What an afternoon,” Bess said, putting on her sunglasses. “Phew!”

  Nancy felt the cool breeze on her face as the car sped along the road. “Maybe tomorrow we should try for something a little more fun,” she said. “How about the lake?”

  “Sure,” Bess replied. “I’ve been dying for an opportunity to show off my new bathing suit.”

  “Maybe George can come with us. Is she working tomorrow?” Nancy asked.

  “Ill give her a call,” Bess replied.

  A few minutes later Nancy dropped Bess off at her house and drove home.

  “Hi, Hannah!” she called as she carried the box inside. Hannah Gruen, the Drews’ housekeeper, had lived with Nancy and Nancy’s father, Carson Drew, ever since Nancy’s mother died, when Nancy was three. Hannah was one of the family, and Nancy couldn’t imagine what their household would be like without her.

  A woman in her sixties with graying hair poked her head out of the kitchen door and smiled. “Did you have fun at the expo?” Hannah asked.

  “It’s a long story,” Nancy said, heading for the stairs with her box.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Hannah asked. “There wasn’t any trouble, was there?”

  Nancy smiled at the concerned note in the housekeeper’s voice. Hannah was always watching out f
or Nancy. She didn’t like it when Nancy’s cases put her in danger.

  “Don’t worry, Hannah,” Nancy called over her shoulder. “This time it doesn’t have anything to do with me. I’m just going to put my clock back on the dresser. Then I’11 help you with dinner.”

  Nancy went up to her room and placed the box on her bed. Then, after slicing the tape with her pocket-knife, she carefully lifted the clock out of the box. Even in the fading afternoon light, it gleamed like new. Mr. Gordon had done a thorough job of restoring it.

  As Nancy placed the clock on her dresser, she heard a distinct rattle. That’s funny, she thought. I’ve never heard that noise before.

  She shook the clock slightly, and again she heard the rattle. There was no mistake—the noise was coming from inside. But how could this be? Nancy wondered, thinking that Mr. Gordon was a very careful man. He never would have returned the clock to Nancy if a piece inside were loose.

  Placing the clock on the bed, Nancy opened the glass door. Then she used the screwdriver attachment on her pocketknife to remove the screws around the clock face. Nancy pulled off the two hands of the clock and swung the face open. A small object fell onto her comforter.

  As she saw the gleam of red and green gems, Nancy realized what had been inside the clock. It was the missing rose brooch!

  3

  A Very Healthy Suspect

  For several moments Nancy stared at the beautiful brooch lying on her comforter. Though it was flat, it really did look like a rose. The petals were outlined in gold and filled in with tiny rubies. The graceful stem was formed with emeralds. A single emerald leaf extended from the stem.

  No wonder Mr. Brown had been so upset, Nancy thought. The brooch was breathtaking and clearly very valuable. He’d certainly be happy to hear she’d found it. Nancy frowned as she wondered who could have hidden the brooch inside her clock.

  It was easy for Nancy to figure out why the piece of jewelry had been stashed. Whoever had tried to steal it hadn’t gotten out of the gym before the police began their search. In the confusion while everyone was lining up, the thief had hidden the brooch inside the clock, planning to retrieve it later. After all, Mr. Gordon had displayed the clock with the face open to reveal where the notebook from her first case had been hidden. Anyone could have dropped the brooch inside and closed the face.

  It wasn’t as easy to answer the more important question of who the thief was. Nancy tried to recall the faces of the people she’d seen near Russell Brown’s display when he had cried out. There had been a couple of women and a heavy man, but she couldn’t recall any specific features. With a sigh, Nancy realized the thief could have been almost anyone.

  Taking a handkerchief from her dresser drawer, Nancy wrapped up the brooch, She was careful not to smudge any fingerprints that might remain on it. Then she lifted the receiver of the telephone extension in her room and dialed the number of the River Heights police station.

  “Chief McGinnis, please,” she said to the officer who answered. “It’s Nancy Drew.”

  The chief of police got on the phone right away. “Don’t tell me you’re on another case,” he said.

  Though Nancy couldn’t see him, she could tell Chief McGinnis was smiling. He had often worked with Nancy’s father, Carson Drew, who was a lawyer in River Heights. And Nancy herself had worked with the police chief on several cases.

  “Not exactly,” Nancy replied. “But I think I may have solved a case I wasn’t even working on. I found the piece of jewelry your officers were looking for at the antiques expo.”

  “Already?” Chief McGinnis sounded surprised and pleased. “That’s got to be a record, even for you. How did you find it?”

  Nancy told him about discovering the brooch inside her clock. Then she explained her theory of how it might have ended up there. “Do you want me to bring it to the station?” she asked.

  She heard Chief McGinnis sigh. “I’11 tell you,” he said, “we’re going crazy here right now. We’ve got a holdup at the liquor store, a missing child, and a hit-and-run. Since the brooch has been found and is in good hands, I think we can wait until tomorrow. Have you got a safe place to store it?”

  “My father’s safe,” Nancy said. “It’s heavy-duty.”

  “Good. Put the brooch away and come by the station late tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I’ll call the owner and tell him we’ve got it. I’ll see you and the brooch tomorrow.”

  After Nancy hung up, she carefully lifted the handkerchief-wrapped brooch and took it downstairs to her father’s study. She unlocked the safe, placed the piece inside, then closed the door securely. There was just one more thing she had to do. She walked down the hall and paused outside the kitchen door.

  “Hannah?” The housekeeper turned from the piecrust she was preparing, and Nancy said, “I’d like to make a quick visit to Bess and George. I’ll be back in time to help with dinner.”

  “Go ahead,” Hannah said. “I wasn’t going to start for another half hour at least.”

  “Thanks,” Nancy said, giving Hannah a kiss.

  • • •

  Nancy found her two best friends sitting on the porch in front of George’s house. As Nancy walked up the front path, she saw that the girls were eating red, white, and blue Popsicles.

  “Are those Frosty Freeze specials?” Nancy asked as she climbed the porch steps.

  “It’s Fr-fr-fr-fr-frosty good,” George Fayne said, reciting the company’s advertising slogan. Her long, lean frame was stretched out in a wicker chair. She still wore her Frosty Freeze uniform, a smock and a white nylon baseball cap, which covered most of her short brown hair.

  It was funny, Nancy thought, how George and Bess were so different, even though they were cousins. Taller and slimmer than Bess, George had the build of a natural athlete. She also had a practical, down-to-earth way of looking at things. It was nice that none of their differences got in the way of their close friendship.

  “Want one?” Bess offered, removing a Popsicle from an ice-filled cooler next to her chair. “They have only seventy calories.”

  “I’m too excited to think about food right now,” Nancy said, sitting down on the top step. “You’ll never guess what I found.”

  “Uh-oh,” Bess said. “Why do I have the feeling that we’re not going swimming tomorrow?”

  “You found the brooch,” George guessed, her brown eyes gleaming. “Bess told me what happened this afternoon. I knew you’d figure it out.”

  Nancy shook her head. “I didn’t do anything except try to put my clock back on the dresser. I heard a rattle, and when I looked inside, I found the brooch.” She grinned. “It wasn’t exactly brilliant detective work.”

  “The old clock strikes again,” Bess said dramatically, taking another bite of her Popsicle.

  “So do you have any idea who put it there?” George asked.

  Nancy shook her head. “It could have been anyone.”

  “Anyone could have stolen the brooch,” Bess pointed out. “But it would have been much harder to hide it inside the clock when Mr. Gordon was right there.”

  “That’s true,” agreed Nancy. “But after Russell Brown let everyone know what happened, there was so much confusion that the thief may have had the chance. And Mr. Gordon was right behind us when we went to help Mr. Brown, remember?”

  George leaned forward. “So since he was with you, he probably didn’t have a chance to hide the brooch.”

  “Well, he might have had time, if he had gone directly to the clock after he stole the brooch. He was the person with the best chance to hide it, except for—”

  “Don’t even think it!” Bess cried. “I know what’s going through your mind, Nancy, and there’s no way it’s possible.”

  “I know you’ve always admired Lydia,” Nancy said, “but she’s got as good a chance of being guilty as anyone else. Think about it. Lydia said she was shopping during the time the brooch was stolen, but she didn’t return with any packages. And she was alone at Mr. Gordon’s b
ooth right afterward. She would have had the perfect opportunity to hide the brooch inside the clock.”

  “Well, what about Henry Gordon?” Bess said. “He knew about the space behind the clock face.”

  “So did Lydia and anyone else who looked at the clock,” Nancy said. “Remember what was printed on the card? And the clock face was open.”

  Bess thought for a moment. “Mr. Gordon’s the only other person who was alone with the clock. And you told me he seemed awfully eager to deliver the clock to you himself rather than have you take it. Maybe he wanted to remove the brooch before he gave the clock back.”

  Nancy had to admit Bess had a point. “I’ll put him on my list,” she said. “Along with several hundred other suspects. Chief McGinnis wants to see the brooch tomorrow morning. Do either of you want to go with me? Maybe we can go swimming afterward.”

  “I’ve got to work,” George said. “But let me know what happens. You can call me on my new mobile phone.” Reaching down beside her on the porch floor, George pulled out a black leather case and removed a slim black phone with an antenna. “Isn’t this great?” she asked. “I can call anyone in the world on this. And other people can call me, wherever I am.”

  “She hasn’t talked about anything else since she bought that thing,” Bess said, rolling her eyes. “I’m surprised she doesn’t keep it under her pillow at night.”

  “No way,” said George, laughing at Bess. “I recharge it at night. Here’s my number if you ever need it, Nan.” George reached into the pocket of her Frosty Freeze smock and pulled out a little card on which she’d already written her number. Nancy took the card and put it in her wallet.

  “I’ll go with you, Nancy,” Bess offered. “What time?”

  “The chief said late morning, but maybe we could go over to Past Perfect beforehand. I’d like to question Lydia and Mr. Gordon. I’ll pick you up at ten, okay?” Nancy glanced at her watch. “Oops, it’s later than I thought. I promised Hannah I’d help her with dinner.” Getting to her feet, Nancy ran lightly down the porch steps. “’Bye, George.” she called over her shoulder. “See you in the morning, Bess.”