Carolyn Keene - The Ringmasters Secret

Nancy sat lost in thought for a few moments. This was a turn of events she had not expected. Who was this young Lola Flanders? Was she a relative of Lolita's, perhaps?

"Where is the dancer now?" Nancy asked the police captain.

"She's working on the West Coast," he replied. "I've made a check. The story is correct—as far as it goes."

The captain said that the police were watching the mails. The suspected package from Danford had not arrived yet. As soon as it did, it would be Impounded and x-rayed.

"Are you going back to River Heights at once?" Captain Smith asked.

Nancy replied that she was staying with her aunt and gave Miss Drew's address. The police captain said that he would call as soon as the package had been examined. She returned to the apartment and waited for the call.

Just before noon, Captain Smith telephoned.

"The package is here," he told her. "Can you come right over to headquarters?"

"Indeed I can," said Nancy. "I'll be there in a jiffy."

When she reached Captain Smith's headquarters, he pointed to a bracelet lying on his desk.

"Is that yours?" he asked.

At first glance Nancy thought that it was, but when she picked it up, she changed her mind. Although it was very similar to hers, this bracelet had six horses on it. Furthermore, the bracelet was much darker in color and looked older.

"I'm afraid this isn't mine," Nancy said, considerably embarrassed. She told him why.

Captain Smith took the bracelet from her. He walked to a window and looked at it in the strong light.

"I'm no expert at judging jewelry," he said, "but I'd say this bracelet might have been tampered with to change its appearance."

Nancy hurried to the window and examined the bracelet more closely herself. "It does look as if this one horse had been attached recently. It's in the place where the charm on my bracelet was missing."

Captain Smith said that it was a trick among jewel thieves to change the appearance of jewelry by darkening or lightening the color of it. It was his guess that this had been done to the bracelet.

"May I use your telephone and call Chief McGinnis?" Nancy asked him. "I'd like him to check with the girl at the circus who has a necklace with a horse charm on it similar to these."

"Go ahead," the captain said.

He left Nancy and she put in a call to River Heights. After talking with Nancy a few minutes, Chief McGinnis promised to get in touch with the police in the town where the circus was now staying.

"I'll call Captain Smith as soon as I have the answer," he said.

Nancy was sure that the reply would not come for several hours, so she went home to have luncheon with her aunt. They had just finished eating when the telephone rang. Captain Smith was reporting that Lolita still had her horse-charm necklace.

"Captain Smith," Nancy said, "will you go with me and my aunt to the shop where she purchased the bracelet? I'm sure that the owner will be able to identify the one you're holding if it is the original."

The officer said he would be glad to accompany them. He made arrangements to meet Nancy and her aunt in twenty minutes.

At the appointed time the three walked into the shop. After hearing their story, Mr. Abrams, the shop owner, made a quick examination of the bracelet and confirmed the captain's theory that it had been tampered with recently.

Using a special powder and a piece of chamois, he began to rub the bracelet. Presently the stain which had been used on it began to rub off. In a few minutes the bracelet looked exactly as Nancy remembered it, except for the addition of the sixth horse.

"Whoever put this one charm on," said Mr. Abrams, "was an amateur. This was a hurried, clumsy job."

Nancy's thoughts flew at once to Mr. and Mrs. Kroon. Had the woman attached it and wrapped the bracelet for mailing while George and Little Will had been acting as lookouts at the trailer? Had the Kroons stolen the original charm from Lolita's necklace some time ago and kept it, hoping to locate the valuable bracelet and attach the missing horse, and sell the jewelry at a high price?

"Mr. Abrams," said Nancy, "would you mind looking in your records and telling me where you purchased the bracelet?"

"I'd be very glad to," the shop owner said, smiling.

He disappeared into a back room and was gone for some time. Finally he returned and handed Nancy a piece of paper.

"I purchased the bracelet from a London pawnshop," he said. "Here's the name and address."

Nancy and the others thanked Mr. Abrams for his information and left the shop. When they reached the sidewalk, Captain Smith gave Nancy the bracelet. She thanked him and asked the captain if he would cable the shop in London and find out who had signed the pawn ticket.

"Certainly," Captain Smith said, "only I believe I'll do it through the London police. But it will take hours."

The following morning Nancy waited impatiently for a call from Captain Smith. He telephoned her about eleven o'clock.

"It begins to look as though you were getting somewhere in your mystery, Miss Drew," he said. "The pawn ticket was signed with a nervous scrawl which was hardly legible. The pawnshop owner thought it looked something like Laura Flynn."

"Oh, it could have been Lola Flanders!" Nancy cried excitedly.

"I believe you're right," the captain agreed. "The ticket was signed three years ago. The shop keeps things for only two years. That's why they were able to sell it."

After putting down the telephone receiver, Nancy continued to think about this latest news. Suddenly her eyes sparkled. She picked up the telephone and dialed long-distance. Nancy gave the operator the number of her father's office. When he answered, she told him what she had discovered since her arrival in New York. Then suddenly she said:

"Dad, will you fly to London with me right away?"

CHAPTER XX A Vicious Trick

There was an exclamation of surprise on the other end of the telephone as Mr. Drew asked Nancy if he had heard her correctly.

"Did you say 'Let's fly to London?'"

"That's right, Dad. How about it? You need a vacation, anyhow, and you can help me solve the mystery. Who knows, we may find Lolita's mother and bring her back with us."

The lawyer laughed. "You're very persuasive, Nancy. Let me think a minute."

Nancy could hear her father mumbling. Here and there she caught a word which she recognized as the names of various clients. Presently Mr. Drew said:

"All right, Nancy. We'll go. I have some important things pending, but they can wait a week or so."

"Oh, Dad, you're a sweetheart!" Nancy told him. "When can you get here?"

"I might as well leave right now," he said. "I can catch the night plane from here. Suppose you see if you can get reservations for tomorrow."

Nancy said she would call him back as soon as she found out.

"In the meantime, Dad, will you please try to find out if there have been any new developments in Sims' Circus?"

"I can answer part of your query right now," her father replied. "Bess called here a little while ago. She said that Lolita had been in touch with her. The poor girl is very unhappy. Kroon is keeping her virtually a prisoner. What's worse, he has dismissed Pietro."

"That is bad news," Nancy remarked. "Where is Pietro?"

Mr. Drew said that he did not know. Kroon did not permit Lolita to receive mail or telephone calls of any kind. She had made the call to Bess through Erika.

"Lolita is hoping that Pietro will get in touch with Bess, and that Bess will be able to forward the message to Erika."

Since this was all the information the lawyer could give Nancy at the moment, they said good-by. Nancy at once got in touch with the airport to find out about reservations. She was told that there were no seats available, but that she would be notified should any cancellations come in.