Nancy's Mysterious Letter Part 4

She rushed home. Her father was there and she showed the sheet to him and Hannah Gruen. Both were amazed but unable to decipher the intriguing message.

"Do you suppose somebody in England has left me some money?" Nancy asked.

"It looks that way," her father replied. "But who could it be?"

After staring at the paper for a while, Nancy began to calm down. "I'm sure there must be some mistake," she said. "I'm certainly not going to get my hopes up of becoming a millionaire!"

Her father and Mrs. Gruen laughed and said this was a sensible att.i.tude to take. "But," the housekeeper added, "I hope a copy of the whole letter will come soon. I can't stand the suspense myself."

On Tuesday morning Nancy told Hannah Gruen that she was going on a shopping trip. "You remember I'm going to spend the weekend at Emerson College? I need a few things and this is a good time to get them."

As she was about to pull out of the driveway, Nancy spotted a battered tan car parked down the street. It suddenly occurred to her that Edgar Nixon or whoever had stolen the letters from the Drew home might be watching her.

At this distance the person inside the car was too indistinct for her to identify, but she decided to get a closer look and started down the block. At once the other car moved ahead. As she drew nearer, the driver suddenly turned around. The next second he shot off at high speed.

"He certainly acts guilty," Nancy thought, and gave her own car greater power.

Abruptly the man turned down a side street, went a few blocks without pausing at intersections, and turned left out of sight. Nancy followed as quickly as she dared.

When she reached the spot where he had made the last turn Nancy could see him in the distance. The road proved to be an undeveloped one and had no side streets. She was able to follow more quickly and soon almost caught up to him. Now she could see the license plate. It was TJ12796.

"That is Edgar Nixon!" she thought. "I mustn't lose him!"

In the next few seconds Nancy neared a wooden bridge. She was almost directly behind the fugitive now.

"This bridge looks pretty rickety," she said to herself. "Do I dare cross it?"

Edgar Nixon took the chance and sped over it. He made the distance without anything happening. Nancy went after him but drove cautiously. Her car was much heavier, she knew.

When Nancy was at the halfway mark, cracking sounds came from the dilapidated bridge!

CHAPTER IV.

Doubtful Inheritance

IN a flash Nancy s.h.i.+fted to reverse. The convertible shot backward just in time to keep it from breaking through the bridge.

"Oh!" she said aloud.

Shaken by her experience, Nancy pulled to the side of the road and parked. When her heart stopped pounding, she began to think once more about Edgar Nixon.

"I wonder where he went," she thought.

Nancy turned around and went back to River Heights. She stopped at police headquarters and asked to see Chief McGinnis. The desk sergeant buzzed his superior officer, and after a short conversation to announce Nancy, told her to go into the man's private office.

He smiled at her. "More clues?" he asked.

"Yes, one. I don't know how good it is." She told him about having spotted Edgar Nixon's car. While she was not sure he was the person driving it, Nancy felt it was worthwhile to follow up the lead.

"The road had no signs, but it's the one with the old bridge. He got across but I almost crashed through into the water."

The chief frowned. "Nancy, you must be more careful."

She asked him whether he had any news for her. He shook his head. "Not a single clue to that man's whereabouts," McGinnis said. "But I'll put some men on this new clue right away. Thanks for coming in, Nancy."

Before returning home, she decided to stop at the hospital and visit Ira Nixon. When Nancy arrived at his room, she was surprised to find a strange man in it.

"You looking for the mail carrier?" he asked.

"Yes."

"He's gone home-after the doctor saw him this morning he said Ira could go. Nice old fellow. I hope he gets along all right."

Nancy hoped so too. She looked at her watch. "I'll go to see him at his home after lunch," she told the patient.

By two o'clock she was at Ira Nixon's house, carrying a jar of Mrs. Gruen's homemade stew. When she rang, he called, "Come in." Nancy found him reclining on a couch in his tiny living room. He looked much better than he had on Sunday.

"Hannah Gruen sent you this stew," Nancy said. She smiled. "I can tell you it's delicious."

"That housekeeper of yours is a fine, kind woman," Ira Nixon said. "And she's one of a few people a man likes to confide in."

Nancy did not want to upset the mail carrier so she refrained from mentioning Edgar, but Ira brought up the subject himself.

"Would you like to see a picture of Edgar?"

"Oh yes," Nancy replied.

He brought it from a desk drawer and Nancy gazed at the photograph. As Ira had said, Edgar was handsome, but his eyes were as cold as steel and she instantly felt that he was not a person who could be trusted. She refrained from saying anything, except that he was an attractive-looking man.

Ira Nixon smiled. "The girls always liked him and he liked them, but he never got married."

"May I borrow this photograph?" Nancy asked.

The mail carrier misunderstood her request. He remarked with a grin, "So you like him too-same as the rest of the ladies."

Nancy did not comment. He must not know right now she wanted the picture for identification. She rose, and said she must go.

"I'll put this stew in your refrigerator," Nancy said.

"Thank you. I'll have some for my dinner. And please thank Mrs. Gruen."

Nancy slipped the photograph into her purse, then carried the jar of stew to the kitchen. Driving home, she wondered just how she might use Edgar's photograph to get more information about him. Nancy decided first to find Tommy and went to his house.

Without telling her suspicions, she held up the photograph for him to look at. Instantly he said, "He's the man in the yellow coat!"

Nancy was thrilled-this seemed to identify Edgar Nixon positively as the thief who had stolen his half brother's mail. But before reporting this to the postal inspector, Nancy decided to investigate the gas stations in River Heights and on the outskirts for further proof. She drove from one to another, but none of the attendants remembered ever having seen the man in the photograph.