Free (#22) The Clue in the Crumbling Wall by Carolyn Keene Page A

friendly fellow. And his memory for patients is amazing.”
    While Mr. Drew waited in the lobby, Nancy went to the basement to find Joe. When she showed him the photograph, a wide grin spread over his face.
    “Indeed I remember that girl. She called herself Julia Flower. I felt sorry for her when she left here in a wheelchair. She was crying her eyes out as the nurse rolled her to the elevator.”
    “Why was she crying?” Nancy asked.
    “I overheard Dr. Barnes tell Miss Flower she’d never be able to walk properly again.”
    “Is Dr. Barnes still with the hospital?”
    “No. He went to New York to head up a large clinic.”
    “How about nurses who took care of her?” Nancy inquired.
    “I remember one. She was nice—Miss Emily Foster. I don’t know what became of her.”
    “Do you have any idea where Miss Flower went?”
    Joe shook his head. “She didn’t say.”
    The man’s information threw new light on the mystery. Nancy thanked him and hurried back to her father.
    “Such an injury could have prevented Juliana from ever dancing again,” she said.
    Mr. Drew nodded. “The thought of her admirers feeling pity for her may have been too much for Juliana to bear. Perhaps she dropped out of sight on purpose!”
    “She probably took an assumed name in order to avoid publicity, then disappeared because she didn’t want to be a burden to her sister,” Nancy said. “Juliana’s pride kept her from marrying Walter Heath.” Nancy paused a moment. “Oh, Dad, we’re really getting somewhere!”
    At the main desk Nancy and her father tried to obtain the doctor’s and the nurse’s address.
    “Dr. Barnes died three years ago,” the receptionist said. “As for Emily Foster, I have an old address, but I understand she left the place some time ago. However, the people who live there might be able to tell you where she is.”
    While Mr. Drew registered at the local motel for his daughter and himself, Nancy hurried on foot to the designated address. To her disappointment she found the residence occupied by new tenants who had never heard of Emily Foster.
    “Another blind alley!” Nancy sighed as she started back to join her father.
    As she walked along the street Nancy became aware of a man walking a little distance behind her. At first she thought nothing of it, but after three blocks she concluded someone must be following her.
    Nancy quickened her pace. After six blocks, she still had not shaken the person and decided to get a good look at him. She dropped her handbag on purpose. As she turned to pick it up, Nancy gazed directly at the man. He wore a brown suit and had a sharp, angular face and dark eyes.
    When he realized that Nancy knew she was being followed, he wheeled around and turned down a side street.
    “He was tailing me!” Nancy thought.
    She had never seen the man before and wondered why he was trailing her. She was eager to tell her father, but found that he had invited a client to dinner. By ten o’clock, after the caller had gone, she had stopped thinking about the incident.
    Before retiring, father and daughter sat down in Mr. Drew’s bedroom to discuss the mystery.
    “Isn’t Emily Foster our best lead yet?” Nancy asked.
    Mr. Drew did not answer; in fact, for several seconds he had not been paying strict attention to Nancy’s conversation. Now, so suddenly that the young detective was startled, he tiptoed to the door and yanked it open.
    A man in a brown suit crouched just outside. Thrown off balance, he fell forward into the room.

CHAPTER XI
    A Warning
    “So you were eavesdropping!” Mr. Drew said sternly as he pulled the man to his feet.
    “No, that’s not true!” the fellow stammered. After recovering his balance, he tried to retreat.
    Mr. Drew blocked the doorway. “Sit down!” he ordered the man into the room. “We want to talk to you.”
    Nancy recognized the man as the one who had followed her.
    “What were you doing outside my door?” Mr. Drew asked him