Free The Scarlet Slipper Mystery by Carolyn Keene

working some scheme together—something to do with Henri’s paintings.” Nancy speculated. “It’s even possible that they’re enemies and the Fontaines are in the middle.”
    The lawyer laughed, pleased at his daughter’s knack for quick deductions. “So what’s your next move?”
    “I think I’ll go down and place an ad in the Gazette for a painting of a ballet dancer. Maybe I can locate some of Henri’s work. Dad, please tell Hannah I’ll be back in time for dinner.”
    The next morning Nancy’s advertisement appeared in the local newspaper. She called Bess and George and asked them to come to her home as soon as possible.
    “We’ll go to the Gazette office at about three,” she told the cousins a short time later. “I have a hunch that one of the suspects may mail or send a note and come to see who put the ad in the paper. I’d like you two to keep an eye on anyone who may be standing around when I go in to pick up the mail. See whether anyone seems particularly interested.”
    That afternoon Nancy drove downtown, parked near the entrance of the Gazette, and strolled in. Her two friends were waiting at vantage points near the large pillars inside the building.
    Nancy handed in the receipt for her box number and received three letters. Suddenly Bess signaled frantically and pointed out the window.
    Johann Koff was watching Nancy intently!
    Nancy stuffed the three letters into her handbag and went outside. Mr. Koff had not moved. Before she could speak, he smiled pleasantly.
    “How are you?” he asked. “I just happened to see you crossing the street, and waited to speak to you.”
    The man explained that he and Millie had just returned to the Claymore after stopping overnight on the way back from the Cliffwood. He wondered whether there was any news on his case.
    Nancy, taken aback, could not feel sure about the man. “Have you received any more threatening messages from Mr. Judson?” she asked.
    “No. Perhaps that letter I sent about retaining your father on the case reached Mr. Judson and discouraged him from suing me.”
    Nancy, still slightly suspicious, asked, “Are Renee and Amien friends of yours?”
    “I never heard of them.” Suddenly Mr. Koff laughed. “Miss Detective, were you trying to trap me? Are these men enemies of the Centrovian underground?”
    As Nancy merely smiled and did not reply, he added, “I have heard nothing concerning my own briefcase. I am terribly worried.”
    “I wish I could help locate it,” Nancy said. “And I’ll tell Dad I saw you.”
    Joining her friends in the car, Nancy learned that no other suspicious characters had been spotted in the Gazette building. The young detective asked Bess to take the wheel so she could read the answers to the ad.
    As they drove off, Nancy laid two of the letters on her lap. She opened the third. As she spread the sheet, both she and George gasped in astonishment.
    “What is it?” Bess demanded, stopping for a traffic light.
    Nancy held up the paper for her to read. On it had been sketched the familiar scarlet slipper insigne. In printed letters, similar to those on the note received by the Fontaines, were the words:
    STOP YOUR DETECTIVE WORK AT ONCE OR YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF IN GRAVE PERIL!

CHAPTER XI
    Signs of Tampering
    BESS did not pull ahead when the traffic light turned green. She was too shaken by the threatening message Nancy had just received.
    Horns began to sound and George urged, “Move, Bess!”
    Bess drove on, then said worriedly, “Whoever wrote that note means business, Nancy. Oh, please give up the case before you run into real trouble.”
    “This doesn’t scare me,” Nancy declared. “Writers of anonymous notes are always cowards, and I don’t intend to be frightened by one!”
    Bess turned to George for moral support, but her cousin agreed with Nancy. She suggested that her friend open the other two notes.
    “Oh, I hope they’re not the same kind!” Bess said fearfully.
    Nancy quickly