The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - Carolyn Keene [10]
Bess opened the door of a closet in Chi Che’s bedroom. “Here’s the dress.”
As she removed the dress from its hanger she remarked how pretty it was. “And ummm, what a sweet sachet it’s scented with—like incense.”
“And now to find Chi Che’s eyebrow pencil and rouge and lipstick, if she has any here.”
George opened the drawer to Chi Che’s dressing table. “We’re in luck again,” she said. “And look, here’s a key. It might be a duplicate to the hall door. I’d better carry it, so I can let myself back in.”
Nancy tried the key in the lock. “This is it all right. Well, let’s go back to our own apartment now and fix you up, George.”
It was easy to apply the make-up and have George slip into the dress, but changing her hairdo proved to be a difficult task. The ends just would not turn forward and stay in position.
“What do you put on your hair, anyway?” Bess chided her cousin. “Varnish?”
“No, cement,” George replied impishly. Then she said the best thing to do would be to rinse her hair with water and set it while damp.
“But that will ruin your make-up and this dress,” Bess objected.
“Not necessarily,” said Nancy. “Come with me, George.”
She led the way to the bathroom, put a towel around George’s shoulders, and told her to lean over the basin. Quickly and carefully Nancy rinsed her friend’s hair and partially dried it before George raised her head. Now Nancy found it easy to arrange a hairdo very similar to Chi Che’s.
When she finished, Bess exclaimed in wonder, “I can’t believe it! You really do look like the girl in this picture, George.” Suddenly she made a low bow. “Delighted to meet you, Chi Che Soong!”
The girls giggled for a few moments, then became serious and discussed the route George was to follow. She would leave the Soong apartment, take the elevator down, dawdle in the lobby until Nancy and Bess appeared, then stroll out into the street. She was to walk directly to the hospital, as if she were going to visit “her grandfather.”
“But when you get inside the hospital, hide in the gift shop,” Nancy directed. “Bess and I will really call on Grandpa Soong and find out how he is. Wait for us to come back downstairs.”
“Then after that,” said George, “I’m to stroll on to Columbia University and walk around the campus. If somewhere along the line a suspicious person speaks to me or follows me, you two girls will do the rest.”
“That’s right,” Nancy replied. “Let’s go!”
Almost from the moment George appeared on the street, with Nancy and Bess following at a safe distance, people began to stare at the attractive “Chinese” girl. But no one stopped to speak to her or seemed to be following.
Nancy and Bess were beginning to think that perhaps their experiment was going to be a failure, when Bess suddenly grabbed her friend’s arm. “Look at the man in that car!” she whispered tensely. “See how slowly he’s going! And he’s sure staring at George—I mean Chi Che.”
The car, a dark-blue hardtop, was hugging the curb. The driver was about twenty-five years old. He was slender and dark, but not an Oriental. He drove slowly as far as the hospital, watched “Chi Che” go in, then drove off.
“Do you think he might be connected with the case?” Bess asked Nancy.
“I don’t know. We can’t very well follow him, but I did get his license number.”
The two girls walked into the hospital. They stopped at the desk to inquire the number of Mr. Soong’s room, received passes to see him, then took the elevator upstairs.
The elderly man looked better and expressed his delight at seeing the callers. He said the doctor had told him he must remain in the hospital at least a week, maybe longer.
“Since I must stay here, I am asking you, Nancy, to bring my mail to me. And will you please answer my phone? There may be word from Chi Che. So far I have had none and do not know where to reach her.”
“I’ll be very happy to do that,” Nancy answered. Grandpa Soong told the girls