by Mabel Maney
"It means the triangles on the map we found are caves," Jackie cried.
"You found the map?" Frank gasped.
"Thanks to Uncle Nelly," Joe grinned. Uncle Nelly beamed with pride. It was the least he could have done! "You just have to know what it is you're looking for," he said modestly.
Frank poured over the diagram. "There appear to be three ways into the caverns," he announced. "The one we found, which is unfortunately blocked, one at the River Depths Sanitarium and another at a house on Shady Lane. Joe, get me the map from our car." A moment later, Frank had his answer. "The third entrance is at 37 Shady Lane."
"That's the address of the Meekses' palatial summer home," Nancy announced. She had had a quick bath and was now clad in a comfy mint-green terry cloth robe several sizes too large and had a matching towel wrapped turban-style around her trademark titian hair. Even in a borrowed bathrobe and a simple towel Nancy still looked picture-perfect.
Nancy filled them in. "In the mid-1940s, Myra Meeks received an unexpected inheritance from a distant relative that allows her and her family to live a lavish lifestyle far exceeding a judge's salary. The first thing she did was buy the lake home on Shady Lane. Funny thing is, the same publicity-mad Myra Meeks, who invites reporters to visit her suburban home every time she redecorates, refuses to let anyone step inside her summer house."
"Maybe it's where she goes to get away from the demands of being a successful society matron," Cherry guessed.
"I hear she has eggshell-white carpet," Uncle Nelly said in a knowing tone.
"So there's little chance she'll let us dig up her floor to look for an entrance," Joe sighed.
"Not even a matter of the utmost national security would convince Myra Meeks to let us inside that house," Nancy shook her head. "I know because once, when I was working on The Case of the Lost Lawn Ornaments, I tried to take a shortcut through her property and was almost eaten by fierce dogs."
"Besides, you know she's the biggest gossip in town. Why, if we tell her what's going on, in a matter of minutes it will be all over Lake Merrimen that our parents have been kidnapped by Russians," Frank warned.
* * *
CHAPTER 29
* * *
A Dire Warning!
The doorbell rang, then a thin yellow envelope shot under the door. It was a telegram for the Hardly boys!
"A telegram at eleven o'clock at night; it must be important," Cherry cried.
"Perhaps it's from Chief O'Malley," Joe said hopefully, "with a vital clue for our investigation." He eagerly ripped open the flimsy envelope and read the brief missive aloud.
"To Hardly boys. Stop. Stay away from secret caves! Stop. Danger! Stop. Signed, a friend. Stop."
"This cinches it! " Frank cried. "Someone's trying their best to scare us away, but it's not going to work!"
"But how are we going to get down there?" Joe groaned.
"Frank, would you agree that if there's one underwater cave leading to a tunnel, there just might be another?" Nancy wondered.
"That's exactly what I was thinking, Nancy," Frank admitted. "Those underwater formations often occur in multiples. Joe, let's strap on our new scuba gear and make a thorough search of the lakeshore wall for another cave," he proposed.
"We'll cover more ground by breaking into pairs," Nancy agreed with a furtive look Cherry's way.
"Nancy's right," Jackie added. She took her gold detective's shield from her pocket and pinned it to her tee-shirt, then checked to make sure her gun was loaded. It was. "I'm going to the Lake Merrimen jail and interrogate that thug. We haven't time to sit around and wait for the chief to question him."
"Right!" Nancy enthused, relieved to be getting the dashing detective out of her just-washed hair.
"That guy might need a nurse when I get through with him," Jackie added, looking straight at Cherry.
"You know I'll go wherever the call to duty takes me," Cherry cried. "But first, let me get my sweater."
"Wait!" Nancy cried. "I have a-- er-plan, and I need-uha nurse in order for it to work! "
"I'm a nurse!" Cherry gasped.
Jackie crossed her muscular arms over her broad chest and looked annoyed. What was Nancy up to? "Oh, really?" she asked Nancy in a suspicious tone. "What's this plan of yours?"
"Cherry and I are going to search for a way inside those hidden caves, too," the quick-thinking detective replied. "We're going undercover at the River Depths Sanitarium!"
"Are we both going to be nurses?" Cherry wondered. Golly, if she had known this was going to happen, she would have packed two Travel Nurses' uniforms.
Nancy shook her head. "You'll be a private nurse traveling with Miss Darcy New, a movie actress who's suffered a recent nervous collapse."
Joe was puzzled. "Who's this Darcy New, and can we trust her to keep a secret?" he wondered.
Nancy giggled, slipped on dark glasses and clip-on earrings from her pocketbook and said, in a husky tone, "You mean you don't remember me from my starring role in the smash hit Chit Chat?"
Joe was impressed. Using just a few props and her own innate abilities, Nancy had transformed herself into a glamorous actress!
"It's an alias I used while returning to River Depths," Nancy further explained. "In Dust Bin, Nebraska, we fooled some nosy reporters into believing that I was an actress suffering from a nervous breakdown, headed for the worldrenowned River Depths Sanitarium, and not girl detective Nancy Clue headed home to confess to the murder of my father."
"And I said I was her nurse, which wasn't really a lie since I am a nurse," Cherry added.
"As a nurse, you can move through the sanitarium virtually unnoticed," Nancy pointed out, "while I'll be able to mingle with the patients and subtly quiz them about secret tunnels. It's the perfect solution, but I'll need a Companion Nurse to cinch the charade."
"I'm your girl," Cherry promised. "I mean, I'm your-ernurse," she hastily amended when she saw the pained expression in Jackie's eyes.
"It's too dangerous," Jackie objected. "I don't want anything to happen to you, Cherry," she added in a softer tone.
"Cherry will be in good hands with Nancy," Frank reassured Jackie.
Jackie was none too happy to hear that. A look of fierce determination spread across her face. If she could crack this case tonight, she could stop this sanitarium misadventure of Nancy's from ever starting! "I'll be back-and soon," she told the others as she raced out the door.
"Good-bye and good luck," Cherry called as she flicked on the porch light and waved to the departing detective. Jackie hopped into Joe's jalopy, gunned the motor and pulled out of the driveway. A few seconds later, the car screeched to an abrupt halt, the back door flew open and a chagrined-looking Midge and Velma tumbled out of the back seat. Midge exchanged a few quick words with Jackie, then the car roared off, leaving the bedraggled couple standing on the front lawn holding their shoes.
"Midge! Velma! Where have you been?" Cherry cried as she raced over to her chums. She hadn't seen them for hours!
Midge looked a little sheepish. "During the party, we snuck away to take a nap in the back seat of Joe's jalopy and when we woke up, we were here," she explained, adding, "Wherever this is." She tucked the tail of her short-sleeved shirt into her trousers and buckled her thin leather belt. Velma ducked into a dark corner of the porch to smooth on her stockings and otherwise straighten her mussed outfit.
"What's happened?" Midge quizzed Cherry. "Why is Jackie going to talk to the poodlesnatcher now? She looked pretty upset."
"Nancy and I are going to the sanitarium," Cherry reported.
"Things are bad," Midge muttered. She shook her head. And everything had been going so well at the party. "Honestly, we can't leave you kids alone for a minute," she sighed.
"You don't know the half of it, Midge," Cherry exclaimed. "The Hardly parents have been kidnapped by Russian agents, Frank and Nancy fell through the closet floor, and now we're all searching for a way into some secret caverns where we believe there might be e
ven bigger secrets."
Midge stared at Cherry. "Is that all?" she asked dryly.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Cherry cried. "It turns out Frank and Joe's father, Mr. Hardly, is really a girl," she said confidentially. "Only don't mention it in front of Frank, as it seems to have upset him."
Nancy poked her head out the door. "Oh! Midge, Velma. Where have you two been?"
"In another world, apparently," Midge shook her head.
"Tell me all about it later," Nancy cried. "Cherry, we need you in here now. We're scheming." Cherry eagerly obeyed.
Midge raised one eyebrow in alarm and shot Velma a worried look. Velma calmly took out her compact and applied powder to her shiny nose. Then she snapped it shut. "Don't interfere," she warned Midge as she went into the house, adding, "You've got lipstick all over your neck."
Midge hastily scrubbed her neck with her handkerchief. Once inside, the boys, busy testing their scuba gear, quickly brought Midge and Velma up to date.
"What can I do?" Midge wondered when she realized the gravity of the situation.
"You can come to the lake with us," Joe offered. "I'm sure Mother wouldn't mind if we loaned you one of her bathing costumes."
Midge looked horrified. "I couldn't just go in what I'm wearing?" she asked hopefully, looking down at her rumpled trousers and scuffed wingtips.
Frank shook his head. "Those shoes would sink you in a minute," he said.
"I'll go to the sanitarium with Nancy and Cherry then," Midge offered.
"Me too," Velma piped up.
"No way," Midge said. "It's too dangerous."
"I'm sticking to you, Midge Fontaine," Velma stubbornly declared. "I'll be a nurse. Cherry can show me what to do."
Cherry wondered if this was going to be her last outing as Cherry Aimless, Registered Nurse. What was the penalty, she wondered, for helping someone impersonate a nurse? Would she lose her license? Have her crisp cap and cunning cape taken away? She squared her shoulders and pushed those thoughts out of her head. Her chum Nancy's friends' parents were in trouble and that was all that mattered!
"Midge, you can't come with us because it's a women's psychiatric hospital," Cherry explained. "You'd either have to check yourself in as a patient and submit to a thorough physical examination-"
Midge shuddered.
"-or put on a nurse's uniform and pretend to work there," she finished.
"Me in a dress?" Midge raised one brow in alarm. "Can't I just sneak in and stay close at hand in case you need me?"
"The place is crawling with staff," Nancy told her. "It's a very private institution with the best care and newest treatments." Her mind was racing a mile a minute as she planned a suitable wardrobe for the adventure ahead. Conservatively speaking, she'd need a glamorous travel outfit, several pairs of lounging pajamas, a few cute bed jackets, and sports outfits suitable for prowling the grounds in search of tunnels.
"I guess we're stuck here," Midge sighed to Velma, who gave her a little squeeze. There was no one she'd rather be stuck to than Midge!
"I'll need help manning the Hardly Command Center at the Hardly house," Willy pointed out. Once Willy had explained exactly what that was, Midge readily agreed to be second-incharge of the vital electronic gizmos.
"It's all settled, then," Nancy declared. "I'll go home and select my wardrobe. Since the stores closed hours ago, I'll have to make due with what I've got," she said resignedly. "I'll just have to alter some of my own outfits if I'm going to pass as a glamorous movie star."
"What kind of movie star are you going to play?" Joe wondered as he checked the oxygen level in his air tank. "The bubbly all-American girl-next-door who goes to the big city and gets her heart broken only to realize life on the farm isn't as bad as she thought, or the pretty young ingenue with stardust in her eyes who'll do anything to be that one-in-a-million who makes it in a tough industry?"
"Good question, Joe," Nancy mused. "I'll have to look through my wardrobe and see what I've got."
"I'm a whiz with a needle and thread," Uncle Nelly offered, eager to contribute.
"I'm a pretty good seamstress myself," Velma volunteered. She gave Midge a kiss. "You go play with Willy, and I'll see you later," she directed.
Satisfied that the teams would function like a well-oiled watch, Frank and Joe raced upstairs to don their lake gear. "It seems I've gained a little weight from all that rich French food," Frank admitted to his brother as he wriggled into the wet suit that would protect him from the cold during their pre-dawn plunge into the lake, "not to mention all the wienies I had today." Why, the suit was so snug he couldn't even wear his usual modest bathing costume underneath.
"Golly, my suit's so tight it shows every bulge," Joe cried, finding himself in the same spot. "Well, it's dark and nobody will be able to tell we've nothing on underneath," he consoled himself.
"Good thing," Frank whistled, "as this fits me like a second skin!"
They threw gaily printed cotton beach jackets over their outfits before going downstairs to have a quick cup of coffee with the others. Before leaving for their short walk to their speedy craft, the Sea Princess, Frank pressed a small transmitter into Nancy's hand. "When you get to the sanitarium, hit this switch and you'll appear as a blip on our radar screen," he told her. "That way, we can always find you. Whatever you do, don't let it out of your reach."
"I'll hide it in my muff," Nancy promised, integrating the device into the glamorous outfit she would wear for her entrance at the River Depths Sanitarium. "No one will ever know it's there."
"The minute we find an entrance to the caverns, we'll activate our transmitter," Frank promised Willy. "That way, you'll know we're on the right track."
Willy gave each lad a manful handshake while Uncle Nelly wiped away hot tears. "Frank-Joe-be careful," Uncle Nelly begged. "If anything should happen to you boys-" he gasped sharply, then continued in a shaky voice, "-.your father would be devastated."
Frank hugged his uncle to him.
"You know he loves you with all his heart," Uncle Nelly whispered in his ear. Frank gulped. Uncle Nelly knew how hard these adjustments could be!
"Sew as you've never sewn before, Uncle," Frank answered in a husky voice. "Nancy, don't take any unnecessary risks," Frank then cautioned his chum, realizing that his warning would go unheeded. Nancy would do whatever she had to do to crack the case, and Frank knew it.
"Bet you a shiny new penny we get there first," Nancy grinned. Frank could tell she was as taut with excitement as he was.
"You're on," Frank grinned back. Then a look of somber determination settled on his handsome features. "Let's go, Joe!" he told his brother.
The boys left in high spirits, certain that they were close to cracking the case. Why, with the Hardly boys and Nancy Clue on the job, what could possibly go wrong?
* * *
CHAPTER 30
* * *
A Lucky Break!
The quick shrill of the telephone startled Willy, who had been concentrating on the latest issue of Physique Magazine. He snatched up the receiver. "Hardly Command Center," he said in a crisp tone, "Willy speaking." His action awoke Joe's cat, Creampuff, from her nap atop the Radar-O-Scope. She strolled across the Command Center table and hopped in Willy's nap. Willy patted Creampuff on her little head. "State your name and business," Willy said briskly.
"Willy, it's Jackie. I'm at-"
"Jackie! How are you? Any news to report?" Willy asked excitedly. He took his ear from the receiver and called over to Midge, who was chain-smoking and browsing through old copies of Midwestern Spy.
"It's Jackie," he said. "She's calling with news."
"Tell her `hi,' " Midge said.
"Willy-" Jackie's faint voice came through the receiver.
"I'm back," Willy said. "Midge says `hi.' What did you find out?" he quizzed her excitedly. "Did you get that man to talk? Did he tell you exactly where Fennel and Mrs. Hardly are hidden?" Just then, Creampuff jumped onto the table and, with a swish of her lon
g, furry tail, knocked over Willy's cup of hot cocoa.
"Hold on, Jackie. We have a problem!" Willy cried as he threw the phone down, snatched up the cat and quickly sopped up the hot liquid with his handkerchief before it could damage any of the sensitive spy equipment.
"Willy, can you hear me?" Jackie cried out in an urgent tone. "Willy, I need help. I've been-"
"I'm sorry, your time is up," a burly cop with thin red hair and a pasty face announced, yanking the phone from Jackie's hand.
"Wait! This is important!" Jackie cried. "I didn't get through."
"Your time's up," the man repeated. He grabbed Jackie by the collar and propelled her past a row of cells. The prisoners jeered at the girl, calling out names that made even a streetwise officer like Detective Jackie Jones cringe.
"You know the chief won't be at all happy to find the likes of you in his town. Why don't you tell me where you swiped that badge and gun?" the officer demanded gruffly as he shoved Jackie into a cell.
"But I am a detective," Jackie insisted angrily. "Call the San Francisco Castro Street Police Station-" But the sound of the heavy metal gate clanking shut was the only reply. Jackie pounded her fists against the gate until they were bruised, but the only response she got were threats from the other prisoners.
"Quiet!" they yelled.
"I can't believe they took away my badge and gun and arrested me," Jackie fumed as she sat down on the hard cot and buried her head in her hands. She wished now she had insisted Cherry come with her. "But what if they had arrested her, too?" she wondered. As bad as this place was, it would be far worse for someone of Cherry's delicate nature.
"At least we would have had some time alone," Jackie dreamily thought, imagining herself locked in a cell with Cherry and a bed.
Jackie shook her head in disgust. "Here I am a prisoner in a small Midwestern town and all I can think about is unbuttoning the top of a certain nurse's snug-fitting uniform," she scolded herself. "Still, she did look great last night in that sexy number." Jackie closed her eyes and imagined she was running her hands up Cherry's creamy thighs. She knew she should be planning her next move, but she couldn't take her mind off her dream nurse.
