The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - Carolyn Keene [25]
“That may be Grandpa Soong’s manuscript!” she told herself. “Do I dare try getting it away from him?”
Just then she heard Mr. Stromberg’s voice in the bookshop. The intruder jammed the stack of papers into the bag he was carrying, and went to the trap door. Silently he descended and closed it behind him.
Nancy was thinking fast. She decided to avoid Mr. Stromberg if possible and follow the man with the manuscript. “And I’ll notify the police about both of them,” she told herself.
Nancy wriggled from under the desk, then tip-toed across the room and cautiously raised the trap door. Lying flat on the floor, she gazed into the cellar below. A bright light in the ceiling gave her a clear view of the place. No one was in sight.
“That man must have gone out the cellar door to the street,” the young sleuth concluded. “Well, I’ll do the same thing!”
Quickly she let herself down onto the narrow stairs and closed the trap door after her. Nancy descended and made her way to the front of the cellar. As she came out on the sidewalk Nancy felt sure that the manuscript thief could not be far away. She looked up, then down the street just in time to see the slender man disappear around the corner. She started running after him.
“Nancy!” cried a voice behind her, and a second later Bess and George caught up to her. “You had us scared silly!” Bess scolded. “What’s going on?”
Nancy stopped short. Over her friend’s shoulder she caught sight of Mr. Stromberg who was standing in the door of his shop looking at her angrily. Bess and George had revealed her getaway!
At once Nancy decided to give up the chase. “I can’t explain now,” she said. “Bess, go across the street to that drugstore and telephone Captain Gray. Tell him I have pretty good evidence that Mr. Stromberg is involved in some racket and ask him to send detectives here at once. Meanwhile, George and I will guard the store and cellar exits, so Mr. Stromberg can’t get away.”
By this time the shop owner had gone back inside. Bess hurried off to do the errand, as George and Nancy took up their posts. But Mr. Stromberg did not reappear. Within ten minutes two officers, Willet and Fisher, arrived. Nancy quickly explained the situation.
“We’ll go in and talk to Mr. Stromberg,” Officer Willet said. They entered, but were back in two minutes. “Mr. Stromberg isn’t there,” he reported.
Nancy frowned. “Did you look in the cellar? He may be hiding.”
“Yes, we looked down there. Nobody around except that clerk in the shop. She’s scared out of her wits and says she doesn’t know where Mr. Stromberg went.”
“There’s only one answer,” said Nancy. “There must be a secret exit.”
While Officer Fisher remained to guard the street doors of the bookshop, Officer Willet accompanied the three girls into the shop. They went at once to the back room.
“There’s a wall safe behind that carton,” said Nancy. “Maybe there’s another opening behind something else.”
Against the far wall stood a very tall packing case. Nancy dashed over and peered behind it. “Here’s the answer,” she said. “There’s a door leading outside. Mr. Stromberg must have escaped this way.”
The officer and the girls squeezed behind the packing case and opened the door. They found themselves in the rear yard of a department store. They ran across it and went into the service entrance. No one was around.
“Luck was with Mr. Stromberg,” Officer Willet said grimly.
The service entrance opened into the shipping room piled high with packages awaiting delivery. No shipping clerks seemed to be on duty. The officer and the girls rushed ahead until they came to swinging doors which opened into the first floor of the department store.
“Mr. Stromberg made an easy getaway,” Willet remarked. “We may as well give up the chase and find him by some other method.”
“You mean at his home?” George asked.
The officer nodded. He and the girls walked around the block until they came to the front of the bookshop. Officer Fisher was amazed to see