Nancy Clue Mysteries 3 - A Ghost in the Closet

by Mabel Maney

  At this, a clever look came into Velma's eye. "I have an idea," she said. "I'll need a sharp knife, some string, that bolt of silver fabric over there, those portraits from the hallway and seven glass fishbowls."

  Midge grinned. She had a feeling this was going to be good!

  * * *

  CHAPTER 49

  * * *

  "It's John Glenn!"

  "Why, it's the Mercury 7 astronauts come to pay us a visit!" a scientist cried. He put his work aside and waved hello to the brave men who would someday ride their rockets into space.

  "Look, everyone! It's John Glenn! " someone else exclaimed. A cry went up throughout the caverns. Men everywhere put down their clipboards and rulers, protractors and compasses and blinked their eyes in profound disbelief. The seven bravest men in America, wearing their shiny silver suits and protective bubble-shaped headgear, were walking through their rocket rooms, accompanied by Agent Anderson!

  Voices rang out. "Hi Wally!" "Hi Gus!"

  A mathematician began to clap, and within minutes, the room was thundering with applause. The astronauts waved manfully before getting into the transport elevator.

  "Did you see? Scott Carpenter looked right at me! " a rocket chemist beamed. "Now I'm too excited to get anything done today."

  "Come back to Earth, Chip," his chum teased. "We've got that big launch tomorrow. You want to come out on top, don't you?"

  The rocket chemist shook his head. "I still think it's premature to launch the MaxxThruster this early in the game. We're going to look like awful fools if this thing doesn't fly, plus we'll lose the public's confidence, and we can't afford to do that."

  "Don't worry," his chum assured him. "You don't think they'd let it go up if it wasn't a tight ship, do you? Besides, if the government wasn't one hundred percent confident, do you think they'd bring the Mercury 7 fellows here?"

  * * *

  CHAPTER 50

  * * *

  To the Rescue!

  "I can't wait to get out of here and into some fresh air and open sky," Midge complained as she yanked off her glass headgear and pushed up her John Glenn mask. "Phew. That's better. I'm beginning to feel claustrophobic from being down here, especially with this thing over my head."

  "Better put your disguise back on, in case someone gets on the elevator," Joe warned.

  Midge complied.

  "Velma, you are brilliant," Jackie said through the air holes in her mask. "I've always suspected as much, but now I'm certain of it. Why, putting these photographs of the Mercury 7 astronauts over our faces was a stroke of genius."

  "Finding that map and making your way into these caverns took acts of brains and courage far exceeding anything you've ever done," Mr. Hardly said to his sons. "I want you boys to know that I've never been more proud of you." Mr. Hardly's voice was thick with emotion. "I'm proud to be your father."

  "We'll always be proud to be your sons," Frank assured him. Father and son exchanged strong, silent glances. No words were necessary.

  "Father," Frank then said softly.

  "Yes, son?"

  "Father, I've got some things to tell you. So much has happened since I saw you last. You need to know-Father, I'mI'm-not the boy I used to be."

  Mr. Hardly glanced at the handsome fellow by Frank's side and smiled. "And I'm not the man you think I am," he told his eldest son. "As soon as we're back home, safe and sound, we'll have a good long talk over a piece of your mother's famous peach cobbler."

  Frank smiled happily. Somehow he just knew everything would be okay!

  "We're here," Agent Anderson spoke out as the elevator came to a halt. "Now, our aim is to get to the tunnel headed northwest. That's the direct link to the sanitarium. Word has no doubt spread that the Mercury 7 astronauts are visiting, so remember to wave but move quickly."

  "People really like these guys," Midge remarked as men jumped out of their path, pointed and waved their handkerchiefs.

  "In these get-ups, we could probably eat free anywhere in town," Jackie replied in a low tone.

  "Or rob a bank," Midge chortled.

  Agent Anderson gave them a look of mock horror.

  Frank grinned. "You'll get used to these two," he whispered.

  "I hope I have the chance," Agent Anderson murmured back. Frank turned scarlet under his Scott Carpenter mask.

  Just then a green flashing light went off. "Intruders dressed as astronauts escaping cave. Intruders dressed as astronauts escaping cave," a voice cried over the loudspeaker.

  "We've been found out," Agent Anderson gasped as they shed their costumes. "Now, quick-go!" He pointed to some motorcycles at the mouth of the tunnel leading to the sanitarium.

  Midge jumped on the nearest motorcycle and switched on the starter. The bike throbbed under her as she gunned the motor. "Hop on, Velma," she cried.

  "It's three miles to the sanitarium," Agent Anderson said in a crisp, efficient tone. "Just follow the white marker lines on the tunnel wall. You'll end up in the mouth of a cave hidden in the roots of a big oak. From there, you'll see the entrance to the sanitarium. I'm going to the rocket ship to dismantle the bomb. Are you with me, Fennel?"

  All three Hardly men responded in the affirmative.

  Frank tossed Jackie his watch. "Use this to find Nancy and Cherry," he said. "We'll rendezvous at the sanitarium."

  Mr. Hardly helped his wife onto Jackie's motorcycle and then kissed her tenderly. "Hold on tight," he said.

  "Be careful, darling," Mrs. Hardly murmured. Jackie started her engine.

  "See?" Midge said to Velma as the fellows slipped away. "Mrs. Hardly doesn't give her husband any gruff when he goes off to investigate."

  "Mr. Hardly will get a good tongue lashing later," Mrs. Hardly promised with a little smile. Velma giggled.

  Midge cleared her throat. "Well, now that that's cleared up, let's go get Jackie's girl out of trouble."

  Jackie fervently hoped she still had a girl! With Mrs. Hardly holding on tight, Jackie hummed along on her motorcycle. Suddenly a terrible thought entered her mind. What if they got to the sanitarium only to find Nancy and Cherry in a compromising position?

  * * *

  CHAPTER 51

  * * *

  To Tell the Truth

  "A-r-e yo-o-o-u f-r-e-e-z-z-z-i-n-g t-o-o-?" Cherry chattered through ice-cold lips. Cold water rushed over her bare limbs. Only a tarp stretched taut on top of the tub kept her naked body from view. Except for the crisp cap perched on her curls, Cherry was entirely unclothed!

  "N-u-r-s-c-e-e C-C-C-r-a-m-p, w-e'-r-e c-c-c-o-l-d!" Cherry pleaded to the stern-faced nurse sitting in the corner reading a magazine. The dour woman ignored Cherry's cry for help.

  "If only I could reach the hot water spigot," Cherry thought, but it was no use. The only part of her body sticking out of the tub, besides her head, were her toes, and neither was doing her much good at the moment!

  Nancy shot her a helpless look. "C-h-e-r-r-r-y," she chattered. "W-e m-u-s-t n-o-t t-e-1-1 t-h-e-m a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g"

  "I can hear you," Nurse Cramp sang out. "Scheming won't do you girls any good. You'll just have to sit tight until the doctor arrives."

  "B-B-B-u-t-" Cherry protested. Their hydrotherapy treatment was quickly turning to hypothermia! "A m-m-i-st-a-k-e-"

  Nurse Cramp looked annoyed. "There's been no mistake. While you were out snooping your chum here had one too many martinis and bragged quite a bit about her sleuthing skills."

  Nancy looked frankly chagrined and a little hung over. Then she hiccuped. Cherry shot her an understanding look. She didn't blame Nancy one little bit. Why, anyone could have slipped with that much inducement!

  "Next time you go snooping, remember to take off your distinctive cap," Nurse Cramp cackled.

  "Y-o-u-'r-e h-o-r-r-i-d!" Cherry cried. "W-W-W-h-a-t ab-o-u-t y-o-u-r n-n-n-n-u-r-s-i-n-g v-o-w?"

  "S-s-s-hut up!" Nurse Cramp mocked her, throwing her magazine down on the wet tile floor. Just then Dr. Fraud walked in, briskly strode over to the t
ubs and turned on the warm water. Cherry sank back in relief. Dr. Fraud had come to save them from the clutches of this nurse gone mad!

  "Prepare them for their injections, Nurse," Dr. Fraud ordered.

  "W-h-a-t i-n-j-e-c-t-i-o-n-s?" Cherry chattered.

  "Nothing to worry about, Nurse Aimless, if that is your name. Just a little shot of truth serum and we'll have this nasty business cleared up in no time at all. Nurse, turn on the hot jets."

  Dr. Fraud efficiently injected first Cherry, then Nancy. "In a few minutes, we'll know everything," he smiled at Nurse Cramp.

  Cherry was sure now that she and Nancy would never leave the sanitarium. "We'll end up like that poor woman I met earlier; all locked away with no one to talk to!" she thought wildly. A sob caught in her throat. There was still so much she had left to do in her life! "I still owe Mother a letter-I never repaid that loan of five dollars I borrowed from Midge in San Francisco-Jackie has no idea how much I-" but before she could finish her thought, Dr. Fraud pulled his chair next to her tub. He leaned over Cherry.

  "What's your real name?" he asked.

  "Cherry Aimless, Registered Nurse," Cherry said without a moment's hesitation. Dr. Fraud frowned. The truth serum hadn't kicked in yet!

  He waited a minute, then asked another question. "Who's this girl?" he asked, waving his hand at Nancy.

  Cherry frowned. She had been asking herself that very same question for the past two weeks. Who was Nancy, really? Was she Cherry's one true love, or just a summer infatuation?

  "I don't know!" was Cherry's truthful response.

  "Nurse, are you sure you gave me truth serum?" the doctor wondered.

  "Cherry, try not to say anything more," Nancy urged her. "You do have a tendency to prattle on a bit, you know."

  "Don't I, though?" Cherry laughed. "I'm trying to keep my mouth shut but I just can't! Oh, Nancy, I've kept a terrible secret to myself these last few days. It's been burning in me and now it's just got to come out!"

  Dr. Fraud grew all excited. "What's the secret?" he urged.

  "I'm afraid, Doctor, the truth is I don't love her anymore!" Cherry announced.

  "What?" Dr. Fraud cried.

  "There. I finally said it. What a relief! " Cherry added happily.

  "A relief?" Nancy cried. "Cherry, you can't possibly mean that! Why, girls everywhere want to be my girlfriend!"

  "But they don't know you the way I do," Cherry pointed out. "I love you like a sister, and I'll always remember our night of passion, but I'm in love with another girl. I am truly sorry, but our romance has fizzled."

  Nancy started to cry big fat tears that plopped onto her tarp and rolled down the side of the tub. "But I love you, " she wept. "Oh, I've told lots of girls that I loved them, but I never meant it before. Now I really, truly am in love, and the one I love doesn't love me back! How could this have happened to me of all people?

  "It's because I kissed that nurse earlier after they got me tipsy, isn't it?" she demanded to know.

  "Not Nurse Cramp?" Cherry cried in horror.

  "Actually, a pretty little student nurse," Nancy smiled wickedly. "I think she likes me. Oh, but I'm too distraught over losing the love of my life to even think of another girl right now."

  Cherry smiled. "Do you mean the brunette who was hanging around the front desk when we checked in? I noticed her, too."

  "She was awfully cute, wasn't she?" Nancy boasted. "But you've already got a new girlfriend. You're going to move to San Francisco and play house with Jackie!"

  "Play hospital," Cherry corrected her, "for you know no matter where I go and who I love, first and foremost I'll always be a nurse."

  Nancy sighed. "Is there anything I can do to make you change your mind?" she wondered. "How about a nifty convertible?"

  "Nancy, you can't buy love," Cherry scolded her.

  "Fine," Nancy scowled. "Go ahead, live in some cold-water flat and spend your nights ironing Jackie's uniform."

  Cherry smiled dreamily. Nancy had read her mind! "But if we don't get out of here, Jackie will never know how much I love her," Cherry fretted aloud. "Now that I think about it, I must have been in love with her right from the moment we fell through that tunnel in the convent during The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse, and I landed right in her lap."

  Dr. Fraud and Nurse Cramp exchanged looks of alarm. What was in that injection he had given them?

  * * *

  CHAPTER 52

  * * *

  Hurry!

  "Do you think Cherry and Nancy have been found out?" Jackie asked as the little group crept closer to the sanitarium. They had arrived at their destination with great speed and were now formulating a plan to get inside.

  "Nancy's a pretty good detective, and Cherry really is a nurse so their cover is foolproof, if you ask me," Midge assured her. They had reached the entrance and could see a nurse sitting at a reception desk. Three more nurses were lolling about, chatting over charts.

  Jackie checked the receiver strapped to her wrist. "They're in there all right. Now we just need a way to distract those four nurses. Mrs. Hardly, how do you feel about jumping a nurse?" she asked, smiling.

  The older woman laughed. "I wouldn't mind, but I'm not sure how Mr. Hardly would feel about that!" she said.

  "I've got a plan," Velma said. She shook out the contents of her purse. A compact, two bottles of nail polish, a cake of eye liner and several tubes of lipstick fell to the ground. "Mrs. Hardly and I will pretend to be door-to-door cosmetics salesladies and see if we can distract those nurses long enough for you two to slip past."

  Mrs. Hardly readily agreed. Midge and Jackie held their breath as Velma and Mrs. Hardly entered the sanitarium and engaged the nurses in conversation. Soon Velma was showing the front desk nurse her eyeliner tips, and Midge and Jackie were able to creep through the lobby, using a potted rubber tree plant as cover.

  "In there," Jackie whispered urgently as she spotted a bevy of nurses coming down the hall towards them. They ducked into a nearby linen closet. Jackie opened the door a crack and assessed their situation. "It may be a while before we can get out of here, unless-" her eyes lit up when she spied a stack of crisply starched pink and white striped uniforms.

  "Unless what?" Midge gasped. She had a funny feeling she wasn't going to like what it was!

  "Unless we change into these outfits so we can move freely around the sanitarium."

  Midge groaned. She knew it!

  "I liked being an astronaut better," Midge complained as she shed her trousers and shirt and slipped on a ghastly pink and white striped uniform with a Peter Pan collar, scoop neckline and short puffy sleeves. Even the biggest uniform she could find was still pretty snug, especially around her biceps.

  "Nice tattoo, Midge," Jackie exclaimed as she spied Velma's name in a heart on Midge's upper right arm. "Goes great with your dress."

  "I almost can't look," Midge moaned as they stood in front of the mirror. She peeked through her fingers. "Eek! " she said. "We're candy-stripers!"

  "Don't forget the little cap," Jackie smiled. "Lean over and I'll pin it on."

  "No cap!" Midge declared.

  "You're going to attract attention without it," Jackie pleaded. "First they'll notice your cap's missing and then they'll see the tattoo and finally those wing tips."

  Midge rolled her eyes. "Do it and do it quick!" she ordered tersely.

  "What did I tell you?" Jackie smiled a few minutes later as they rushed through the hospital carrying flowers they had stolen from a sleeping patient. Nurses nodded as the two earnest-looking candy-stripers strode past. Jackie checked her receiver-watch. "Turn left, then right, down these stairs, then through this door-darn it's locked!"

  "Can I help you girls with something?" a pleasant-faced nurse inquired.

  "We're supposed to deliver these flowers," Midge replied in a highpitched feminine voice.

  "Girls, the basement's off limits to candy-stripers. Didn't they cover that in your training?" the nurse wondered.
/>   "We forgot," Jackie admitted.

  "I'll take those flowers down myself," the nurse offered. "In fact, Dr. Fraud is just about to perform a shock treatment on a new patient and I was going to observe-" she quit talking when the lights dimmed for a split second. "There-he's testing the machine. I'd better go. It's the saddest case, really. A brand new nurse has had a complete and utter nervous breakdown. Those flowers must be for her." The nurse took her keys from her pocket and opened the door. "It's such a shame, too," she added. "I worked with her earlier in Ward B and she was an awfully sweet girl. Why, the patients loved her, although she did seem a little confused at times and had a tendency to go on about the silliest things."

  Jackie gasped. She was talking about Cherry! She whipped out her gun and said, in a low tone, "Don't make a sound or I'll shoot! Get through that door." The nurse did as she was told.

  "Now take us to that nervous nurse," Jackie ordered. "And hurry! "

  * * *

  CHAPTER 53

  * * *

  "Say Cheese! "

  "This is the perfect place for my photograph to be taken," Myra Meeks exclaimed as she barged into the sanitarium with Uncle Nelly in tow and pushed past the Receptionist Nurse. Around his neck was a camera and on his face was a look of frank alarm. He feared his charade had gone too far!

  Myra and Uncle Nelly had spent the afternoon driving around to local picturesque spots looking for suitable locations in which to show Myra Meeks in the best light. Unfortunately, Myra thought the sanitarium seemed like the perfect spot, and Uncle Nelly had been unable to convince her otherwise! "What if she sees Nancy and Cherry and gives them away?" he thought worriedly.