The Hidden Staircase - Carolyn Keene [26]
“I missed my chance this time,” Nancy murmured to her friend. “After this, I’d better not trust what that ghost’s next move may be!”
At nine o’clock Hannah Gruen telephoned the house. Nancy happened to answer the ring and after the usual greetings was amazed to hear Hannah say, “I’d like to speak to your father.”
“Why, Dad isn’t here!” Nancy told her. “Don’t you remember—the telegram said he wasn’t coming?”
“He’s not there!” Hannah exclaimed. “Oh, this is bad, Nancy—very bad.”
“What do you mean, Hannah?” Nancy asked fearfully.
The housekeeper explained that soon after receiving the telegram on Tuesday evening, Mr. Drew himself had phoned. “He wanted to know if you were still in Cliffwood, Nancy. When I told him yes, he said he would stop off there on his way home Wednesday.”
Nancy was frightened, but she asked steadily, “Hannah, did you happen to mention the telegram to him?”
“No, I didn’t,” the housekeeper replied. “I didn’t think it was necessary.”
“Hannah darling,” said Nancy, almost on the verge of tears, “I’m afraid that telegram was a hoax!”
“A hoax!” Mrs. Gruen cried out.
“Yes. Dad’s enemies sent it to keep me from meeting him!”
“Oh, Nancy,” Hannah wailed, “you don’t suppose those enemies that Mr. Gomber warned you about have waylaid your father and are keeping him prisoner?”
“I’m afraid so,” said Nancy. Her knees began to quake and she sank into the chair alongside the telephone table.
“What’ll we do?” Hannah asked. “Do you want me to notify the police?”
“Not yet. Let me do a little checking first.”
“All right, Nancy. But let me know what happens.”
“I will.”
Nancy put the phone down, then looked at the various telephone directories which lay on the table. Finding one which contained River Heights numbers, she looked for the number of the telegraph office and put in a call. She asked the clerk who answered to verify that there had been a telegram from Mr. Drew on Tuesday.
After a few minutes wait, the reply came. “We have no record of such a telegram.”
Nancy thanked the clerk and hung up. By this time her hands were shaking with fright. What had happened to her father?
Getting control of herself, Nancy telephoned in turn to the airport, the railroad station, and the bus lines which served Cliffwood. She inquired about any accidents which might have occurred on trips from Chicago the previous day or on Tuesday night. In each case she was told there had been none.
“Oh, what shall I do?” Nancy thought in dismay.
Immediately an idea came to her and she put in a call to the Chicago hotel where her father had registered. Although she thought it unlikely, it was just possible that he had changed his mind again and was still there. But a conversation with the desk clerk dashed this hope.
“No, Mr. Drew is not here. He checked out Tuesday evening. I don’t know his plans, but I’ll connect you with the head porter. He may be able to help you.”
In a few seconds Nancy was asking the porter what he could tell her to help clear up the mystery of her father’s disappearance. “All I know, miss, is that your father told me he was taking a sleeper train and getting off somewhere Wednesday morning to meet his daughter.”
“Thank you. Oh, thank you very much,” said Nancy. “You’ve helped me a great deal.”
So her father had taken the train home and probably had reached the Cliffwood station! Next she must find out what had happened to him after that!
Nancy told Aunt Rosemary and Helen what she had learned, then got in her convertible and drove directly to the Cliffwood station. There she spoke to the ticket agent. Unfortunately, he could not identify Mr. Drew from Nancy’s description as having been among the passengers who got off either of the two trains arriving from Chicago on Wednesday.
Nancy