Nancy's Mysterious Letter Part 11

"Yes."

"Well, I think it's pretty abrupt when you have been so nice to make overseas phone calls to him."

Mr. Drew smiled. "Cables cost money. Perhaps Mr. Bates-Jones will follow his message with a letter of explanation."

Nancy thought this over. Intuition told her that there was something quite unnatural about the whole thing.

"What's on your mind?" her father asked.

"Well, I think something phony is going on."

"You mean the cable?" her father asked.

"No. But I just have a strong hunch that there might be a fake Nancy Smith Drew posing as the real one."

The matter was discussed later with Hannah Gruen, who was inclined to agree with Nancy. "Call it woman's intuition if you like," she said. "If I were you, I wouldn't let it drop here."

"Perhaps you're right," Mr. Drew said. "I'll telephone to Mr. Bates-Jones in the morning and see if he will give me more details."

"May I be there when you make the call?" Nancy asked.

The lawyer smiled. "I'll make it from here before I leave for my office. I'd like you to hear what's said."

Directly after breakfast the following morning Mr. Drew put in the call to London. He had to wait several minutes before being connected with the lawyer there. Mr. Drew explained that he and Nancy did not want to go against Mr. Bates-Jones's wishes, but were calling to find out if the real Nancy Smith Drew had been located.

"We have some good leads to her ourselves," Nancy's father said, "so your cable was a great surprise."

Nancy, who was seated near the phone, could hear the answer plainly.

"We appreciate your great interest and all the trouble you have gone to," Mr. Bates-Jones said, "but we have had a communication from an American detective agency that for a fee they will tell us the secret whereabouts of the heiress."

Mr. Drew frowned. "But how did they learn you're looking for her?"

"That we don't know, but we have no reason to believe the firm is not telling the truth."

"Perhaps I could be of help to you," Mr. Drew said, "by looking up this agency. It's just possible that a thorough investigation might be to your advantage."

There was a long pause. "Well," the London lawyer finally said, "I think it best not to divulge the name."

Nancy and her father looked at each other. This certainly was a brush-off!

Before saying good-by, Mr. Drew added, "Frankly, Mr. Bates-Jones, my daughter and I are very suspicious about this. I advise you not to part with any money until the whole thing has been thoroughly investigated."

There was a loud exclamation at the other end of the wire. Finally the London attorney said, "Thank you for your advice, Mr. Drew. I will talk to my partner about the case and let you know the result."

When the conversation had ended, Mr. Drew said he must hurry off. After he had gone, Nancy settled down in a big chair to think. Intuition told her she must not give up the case. Yet what else could she do?

Suddenly she remembered something and thought, "I still have another case-Edgar Nixon and the money stolen from Dad's registered letter, I can work on that."

CHAPTER IX.

"He's Not a Suspect!"

THE ringing of the telephone brought Nancy out of her meditation. The caller was Ira Nixon. He sounded very weak.

"Is something the matter?" Nancy asked quickly, fearful that the mail carrier had taken a turn for the worse.

"Will you please come over right away?" the old man asked.

Nancy promised to leave immediately. She went to the kitchen to tell Mrs. Gruen where she was going.

"I hope he isn't worse," the housekeeper said. "The poor fellow's probably starved. Nancy, I want you to take him a jar of the fresh vegetable soup I prepared for tonight's dinner."

"I'll be happy to," Nancy said.

Hannah ladled some of the soup into a jar. She then put it in a paper bag, but before handing the package to Nancy, she said, "And don't forget to take that old shoe out of here."

Nancy laughed. "It's going to police headquarters as fast as I can get it there. But I must go to Ira's first."

Fifteen minutes later she arrived at Ira Nixon's little white house. The front door was unlocked and she let herself in. The mail carrier, haggard and worried-looking, sat in a rocker near the fireplace. He explained that he had had a chill and one of his neighbors had come in to build a fire.

"Everybody is so kind to me except-except my brother. He gives me orders every time he comes here."

Nancy sat down. "Did he come to get money from you?"

Ira Nixon shook his head. "Not this time," he said. "And that's why I sent for you. Here's what happened.

"Edgar came here about an hour ago. As soon as he'd gone I tried to get you on the phone but it was busy. My brother was all dressed up as usual and he has a new car. It's red."

Nancy made no comment about the new car, but she was thinking hard. "Yes?" she urged Mr. Nixon, who had stopped speaking. "Go on."

"Nancy, that boy had nothing to do with my hard luck, I'm sure of that now." The postman continued. "He said he came here as soon as he heard about the mail robbery. He was as sympathetic as you are. Wanted me to give him some.of my inheritance to hire a private detective and clear up the whole matter."

"Have you received all of your inheritance?" Nancy asked.

"Not a cent. I told him that."

Ira Nixon went on to say that Edgar had tried to talk him into handing over any money he had on hand. "He said he would take care of all the details of hiring a detective, but some cash would help a lot."

Nancy had her own idea of just how much detective hiring Ira would have received for the money, but she said nothing.

"So you see," Ira continued, "you were all wrong about Edgar. He's not a suspect. He knew nothing about the stolen mail. He's too dictatorial to suit me, but I certainly can't say he's a thief."

Nancy made no comment but asked, "Did your brother happen to say where he's staying?"

"Oh yes. There's no secret about that," Mr. Nixon went on. "He's boarding up in Ridgefield. He even gave me his address. I have it written down here. Wait a minute-