by Mabel Maney
"That book has the queerest title," Nancy thought. Exotic Entomology Made Easy. When the Chief caught Nancy staring at the book, he quickly turned over the tome and mumbled something about a roach problem in the jail cells.
"If this is some crazy attempt to take the heat off Hannah, it's not going to work," the Chief admonished. "Why, we've got enough evidence to put her away for a long, long time. While I'm impressed you would go so such lengths to free Hannah, this is one scheme of yours that isn't going to work, Nancy."
"This isn't a scheme, Chief Chumley. It's the truth," Nancy gasped in indignation. She jumped out of her chair but quickly fell back when the room began to spin before her eyes. "I told you on the phone.. .my father ...he...it was justifiable homicide!"
"Just as I suspected," the Chief said. "You're drunk, aren't you Nancy? Drunk and imagining all sorts of ridiculous things. Your father was the most upstanding citizen River Depths has ever known. Everybody knows that."
He perched his stocky frame on the edge of his massive oak desk and clasped Nancy's soft, small hands between his large, thick ones.
"Now, you mustn't run around telling wild stories," the Chief chided her. "I think some little girl had too much sherry at luncheon," he said with a wink.
He buzzed for his assistant on his intercom.
"Miss Clue isn't feeling well," Chief Chumley informed his second-in-command, Deputy Dwight Drone. "Deputy Drone, take Miss Clue to Dr. Fraud for a thorough examination," the Chief ordered.
"Oh, no!" Nancy cried. "Chief, you've got to listen to me. You don't understand."
"I understand, Nancy," Chief Chumley replied calmly. "The strain of your father's death and Hannah's trial has caused you to think things that couldn't possibly be true. Why, I hear crazy stories like this all the time. But do they ever check out?"
In answer to his own question, he sadly shook his head.
"And you know why these stories never check out, Nancy?" the Chief said softly.
Nancy shook her head. She was too stunned to do anything more.
"Because there's never any evidence!" Chief Chumley hissed as he leaned forward and peered knowingly into the young sleuth's eyes.
Nancy stared back at the Chief in horror. Tears puddled up in her bright blue eyes. "But my evidence was stolen!" she wanted to blurt out, but she didn't get the chance. Chief Chumley escorted Nancy and the deputy through the station house and out the door.
"If I were you, I wouldn't attempt to tell such horrible lies." He squeezed her arm hard enough to cause Nancy to cry out in pain. "No one would believe you."
With that, Chief Chumley firmly guided Nancy into the back seat of the patrol car and slammed the door shut.
* * *
CHAPTER 34
* * *
A Meddling Matron
"Where could she be?" Cherry wailed as she gingerly slipped her swollen feet into a pan of hot water. They'd been all over River Depths-but no Nancy! "Why, we've been to the police station, the courthouse, and all of Nancy's favorite dress shops," she exclaimed. "Lauren, are you sure that when you managed to slip into the courtroom you didn't see Nancy?" Cherry quizzed the young girl for the tenth time that hour. Lauren assured her that Nancy had not been there. Cherry slumped dejectedly in her chair. "There's nothing we can do but wait," she sighed.
Velma put a kettle of water on the stove to make coffee.
"I'm starved!" Bess exclaimed, as she rummaged through the icebox for something to eat. "Here's some cheddar cheese, and I know there's a whole loaf of bread in the bread box," she planned out loud. "Yummy. Grilled cheese!"
"Sounds great," Midge said. "Let's eat and then plan our next move."
Although Cherry was certain she was much too worried to eat, she quickly changed her mind when she smelled the scent of fresh coffee and the delicious aroma of bubbling cheese wafting from the grill. "Nourishment will help me think more clearly," she decided, tucking a linen napkin over the collar of her dress as Bess put a platter of sizzling sandwiches on the table.
"These are great," Lauren said, gulping her sandwich in three bites. Bess passed her another. "There are two apiece, and I can make more," she said.
Cherry did feel a little better after devouring two of the savory sandwiches, but not much. She was still awfully worried about the whereabouts of her chum. "Where could Nancy be?" Cherry worried aloud. She checked her watch. "It's almost supper time. What if there's been an accident and Nancy's wan dering around hurt and dazed? What if she doesn't even remember her name? I hope she's carrying proper identification."
"If that's the case, someone's bound to recognize her," Midge said, trying to calm down the frightened nurse. "She won't get far, not with the way her picture's been splashed all over the evening newspaper."
News had traveled fast that River Depths' favorite daughter was back in town. The River Depths Defender carried a front-page interview with Mrs. Milton Meeks.
"Fearless Socialite Pays Call to Horror House," the headline read. And on the society page was an announcement of the engagement between Nancy Clue and Frank Hardly!
Cherry heard footsteps on the back porch. "Maybe that's Nancy now!" she cried. She dried her feet, slipped into her shoes, and raced to the door, prepared to jump into Nancy's arms. "First a hug, and then a good scolding," she smiled to herself. "Darling, you're home!" Cherry cried as she flung open the door, threw open her arms, and flung herself at her intended. She was shocked to find the recipient of her embrace was a stout older woman, primly attired in a worsted gray suit and a ridiculous little gray felt hat decorated with blue-jay feathers that now sat all askew on her tidy brown curls. In her hands was a casserole dish covered with a blue-checked dish towel. On her face was the most astonished expression.
"It's meat loaf a la king," was all the woman could say.
Cherry turned beet red. "I thought you were someone else," she said shyly.
Bess recognized their visitor. It was Mrs. Thaddeus Tweeds, the president of the Women's Club, a Patroness of the Arts, and a close friend of Bess's mother.
"Hello, Mrs. Tweeds," Bess said, reaching out to help her with her dish. "Won't you come in?"
"Hello, Bettina, dear," Mrs. Tweeds replied as she stepped into the kitchen. "I tried the front door, but no one answered. I saw George's car outside, so I knew someone had to be at home." She took her compact from her patent-leather purse, gave her nose a good dusting, and then spent a few minutes fussing with her hat until she was satisfied with the results. When she was through primping, she gave the group a good looking over. Her eyes lit up when she spied Midge. "You must be Frank Hardly," she gushed, offering one tiny gloved hand. "Congratulations!" she squealed.
"Frank?" Cherry blurted out in a puzzled tone. "Why, that's Midge! "
"That's right, Cherry," Bess jumped in and cut Cherry off. "That's Midge's brother, Frank. She's new here," Bess explained to Mrs. Tweeds. "She's a little confused about who everyone is."
"I didn't know there were any Hardly girls," Mrs. Tweeds said in surprise.
"They're away at girls' school," Midge explained quickly in a surprisingly deep voice. "Back east."
Cherry thought something very queer indeed was going on! Then she realized it was just like at the motel, when Midge was mistaken for a man. "Well, if Midge wants everyone to think she's a fella, I'm not going to say a word," Cherry decided. "I just wish Midge would tell me in advance who she was going to be that day, that's all."
"Who are you, dear?" Mrs. Tweeds turned her attention to the blushing Cherry. "Are you a friend of the family?" Mrs. Tweeds suddenly got all flustered. "Oh, dear, I shouldn't say that word-family, I mean-now that Nancy hasn't one anymore. By the way, where is that girl, anyway? Nobody's seen her, and you'd think with all she has to do with her wedding coming up this week she'd be making preparations and poring over china patterns."
"Her wedding?" Cherry gasped.
"Who is this woefully uninformed girl?" Mrs. Tweeds wanted to know. She turned to Cherry and sp
oke to her in a patient tone that grated on Cherry's already taut nerves. "Dear, Nancy's getting married this very week. Isn't it exciting?"
George choked on her cheese sandwich. Mrs. Tweeds ignored her. Mrs. Tweeds always ignored George.
"Who is she marrying?" Cherry interrupted excitedly.
"Why, Frank here," Mrs. Tweeds said in a impatient tone. "Don't you know anything? It's the talk of the town. Everyone's coming. But I do think it's rather tacky to hold it here, don't you think?" She shuddered and looked around the sparkling clean yellow and white kitchen. She pointed to the shiny white and gold speckled Linoleum in front of the refrigerator. "That's where his body lay," she shivered.
"Do you think Nancy would like a nice knife set?" she queried the group when she had regained her composure. "I gave a set to Mrs. Gloon's daughter, Lenora, and she reports back that they're just the thing for married life." Mrs. Tweeds opened her purse and took out a piece of paper. "Here's the shower list, dear," she said to Bess. "As Nancy's best friend and maid of honor, you're responsible for giving it. Now, I've included everyone from the Women's Club, the Garden Club, and the Literary Club. Be sure to seat Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Hellman miles apart; they're having a little tiff over some voile draperies. You won't have time to send formal invitations; if I were you, I'd get on the telephone and call all these people today."
She sighed and shook her head. "This is a terrible time for Hannah to be in jail, what with all the work it takes to put together a bridal shower. You don't think Chief Chumley would let her out for just a few days, do you?" Mrs. Tweeds laughed. "Just to make those cute little finger sandwiches?"
Bess smiled weakly. Cherry looked sick.
"No need to thank me, dear," Mrs. Tweeds said as she snapped her purse shut and marched out the door.
"What did she mean, Nancy's getting married?" Cherry burst out the minute Mrs. Tweeds drove away.
Midge explained the mix-up that morning when Mrs. Milton Meeks had come to call. "She assumed I was one of the Hardly boys, and I didn't correct her," Midge said. "Little did I know that she would make up a story about a wedding and spread it all over town!"
"This mix-up might come in handy," George mused. "Let's keep the charade going. Of course, you'll have to stand Nancy up at the altar. Won't that be a scandal!"
Just the thought of Nancy's even pretending to marry anyone but her made Cherry feel funny.
"It's just a little joke, Cherry," Midge said softly, as if reading Cherry's mind. "Really. I have no interest in any girl but this one right here," she said, pulling Velma onto her lap. Velma blushed happily.
"It's just that, well..." Cherry's voice trailed off. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down.
"What is it?" Velma asked. "Cherry, are you and Nancy having problems?"
"That's just the thing," Cherry said. "I don't know!" A deep red flush crept up her pretty face. "What I mean is, this is my first romance, and I don't know exactly what to expect."
"Well, what do you want?" Midge quizzed her. "That's as good a place to start as any."
A dreamy look came into Cherry's eyes. "I don't know exactly what I want, but each time I think about being with Nancy, I always picture us in a little house somewhere. Oh, I'd still be a nurse and dedicate my life to helping others, but then I'd come home each night and Nancy would be there waiting for me." She blushed some more.
"I guess I want what you and Velma have, and Bess and George, too," Cherry admitted shyly. "Then everything would be perfect. But so far, all I've gotten is one night of romance, and ten days of worry," Cherry sighed unhappily.
"Can we eat the stuff the lady brought?" was all Lauren wanted to know.
Bess took the towel off the top of the casserole. "It looks yummy," she said. She got some homemade catsup from the refrigerator and a stack of plates from the china cabinet.
"You'll get what you want," Velma assured Cherry. "It's just that you don't get it right away. True and lasting love takes time to build."
"But how much time?" Cherry cried anxiously. "We've been together for over a week! You and Midge are like lovebirds, and George and Bess seem perfectly suited."
"I think you and Nancy are perfectly suited, too," Velma declared.
"I don't know about that," Cherry said sadly. "Nancy seems so different from the first night I met her. She was so bold then; now she's so, I don't know-distant and preoccupied. I don't mean to complain," she added hastily. "It's just that I don't know how Nancy feels about me anymore. Did I do something to cause Nancy to lose interest?" Cherry fretted.
"You haven't done anything," Bess said. "Nancy always gets preoccupied when she's on a case. Why, when we were solving The Case of the Pernicious Podiatrist, she wore mismatched shoes: a soft kid ballet flat with a navy blue canvas boating shoe!"
"Nancy hasn't lost interest in you," George reassured Cherry. "She just has an awful lot on her mind right now. I'm sure that's it."
"I agree," Velma said. "As soon as all this is over, you two can get back to the way you were in San Francisco."
"Besides, every couple has bad times," George said soothingly. "That comes with the territory. Why, Bess and I have plenty of problems!"
"We do?" Bess cried, almost dropping the hot casserole dish. "What are they?"
George thrust her hands deep in her pockets and pouted. Her dark brown eyes flashed with anger. "Well, for one, there's your mother."
"What's wrong with my mother?" Bess cried indignantly. "My mother happens to be a very nice person."
"Her mother is constantly trying to fix her up," George complained to the others. "Every Sunday Bess goes off to dinner at the Marvel estate and has to fend off some jerk her mother's dredged up while I stay home alone and eat a cold sandwich. How's that for a problem?" George glowered.
"Well, what do you want me to do?" Bess retorted. "March right into my mother's house and say, 'Mother, please stop fixing me up with every eligible man you come across, as I'm already perfectly in love with George, and will love her until the day I die'?"
"You will?" George gulped, turning bright pink.
"You know that," Bess murmured. She was in George's arms in a flash.
"I know," George whispered. "I just like to hear you say it." She kissed Bess with all her might.
Lauren turned bright pink as she looked at the cooing couple. She looked to Velma, but Velma was busy kissing Midge. "I think I'm going to cry," Cherry wailed, jumping up from the table and racing out of the room. "Oh!"
"Me, too," Lauren muttered, running right behind her.
* * *
CHAPTER 35
* * *
Nancy's Return
Cherry awoke with a start, and, for a moment, couldn't remember where she was. "I've slept in so many different beds in the last two weeks, no wonder I'm confused," she thought. She gave in to a luxury hard-working nurses could ill afford-she decided to stay in bed just a minute longer and enjoy the quiet of the dark bedroom.
In another minute, reality came flooding back, and Cherry could no longer lie still.
"Nancy must surely be home by now," was the hopeful prayer running through her head as she hastily donned her dress and raced into the little powder room adjacent to the bedroom. She hurriedly splashed water on her face, combed her mussed hair, and applied a light dusting of powder and a hint of lipstick. She was most anxious to get downstairs and see Nancy!
A good rest had cleared all of the doubts out of her heart. She was sure Nancy loved her. "After all we meant to each other in San Francisco, she's just got to," Cherry decided. She blushed when she remembered how romantic Nancy had been the night they met. "Why, she wouldn't have said all those lovely things to me if she didn't really mean them," Cherry realized. She scolded herself for giving in to her earlier fears about Nancy. She gave her outfit one last look in the mirror, and, satisfied that she presented a pleasing picture, she raced downstairs.
Lauren, Velma, and Bess were at the kitchen table, drinking soda and eating pretzels
. "Lauren's teaching us to play poker," Velma winked.
"And I'm winning, too," Lauren crowed, showing Cherry her pile of pennies. From the looks of things, they had been quite busy during the time Cherry had been asleep. A fragrant stew was simmering on the stove, two pair of men's slacks had been neatly hemmed and ironed and were hanging across the back of a chair, and Bess had changed into a buttercup yellow soft chiffon frock and reset her hair so it curled softly around her fair face.
Cherry was sorely disappointed when she discovered Nancy wasn't home yet. "She's on her way," Velma assured her. "Nancy called about an hour ago and said she didn't want to drive home, so Midge went to get her."
"An hour ago? Where are they?" Cherry cried. "Did Nancy say where she had been all day? Did she ask for me when she called? Is there something wrong with her car? Why can't she drive?" Cherry fretted.
Velma took Cherry by the hand and led her to the living room. "Sit down," she said.
Cherry took a seat on the davenport. Velma sat beside her.
"How much do you know about Nancy?" Velma wanted to know.
"I know I love her," Cherry gulped. "Isn't that enough?"
Cherry could tell by the expression on Velma's face that something was wrong! "What's happened?" Cherry cried.
Velma took a deep breath. "When Nancy called, it was clear she was very drunk," Velma said. "Midge could barely understand a word she was saying."
Cherry was shocked. "Drunk?" she cried. "I can't believe it! Not Nancy!"
"Midge says Nancy's been drinking on the sly since we left Idaho," Velma added. "Lots more than what she has at meals. You didn't know that, did you?" Velma asked softly.
Cherry gasped. It just couldn't be true. Why, she was a nurse, trained to notice such things! "The night I met Nancy, we both had a few cocktails," Cherry explained. "But I wouldn't say that either one of us was really inebriated," she added. "Of course, for some reason, most of that night is a blur.
