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

sharply.
    “Nothing,” he replied in a sullen voice. “I thought this room belonged to a friend.”
    “That’s hard to believe, but easy enough to check. What’s his name?”
    “None of your business.”
    “I can turn you over to the police.”
    Nancy spoke up. “I can report to them that you trailed me today!”
    The stranger squirmed uneasily in the chair. “You can’t prove anything!”
    “This man followed you today?” Mr. Drew asked his daughter in surprise.
    “Yes. I forgot to tell you about it.”
    “That settles it,” the lawyer said. “We’ll turn him over to the police for questioning.”
    “No, no! Don’t do that! I’ll tell anything you want to know—except my name,” the stranger said.
    “Very well.” The lawyer nodded. “Why were you following my daughter?”
    “Because I was paid to do it.”
    “By whom?”
    “I don’t know the guy’s name.”
    “What were your instructions?”
    “To make a complete report on where Miss Drew went, whom she talked to, and what she did.”
    Mr. Drew turned so that the man could not see him full face. With a wink and a quick movement of his hand he signaled Nancy to step into the adjoining room. For a moment the young detective was puzzled. Then it dawned upon her that her father wanted her to slip quietly downstairs and arrange to have the stranger followed.
    “So you won’t tell us your name?” Mr. Drew repeated, facing the stranger once more and walking up so close to him the man could not see Nancy.
    “No. I won’t,” the man replied.
    Nancy stole noiselessly into the adjoining room. She hastened downstairs and used a public telephone to call police headquarters. After identifying her father and herself, she said, “Please send a plainclothesman at once. I’ll meet him in the lobby and explain everything when he arrives. How will I know him?”
    “He’ll pretend to have a bad cold,” the officer said.
    Nancy was worried that the detective might not reach the hotel in time. But in less than five minutes a man entered coughing uncontrollably. She told him why he had been called and asked him to trail the eavesdropper.
    “Here he comes now!” she whispered as the brown-suited stranger emerged from an elevator. “He must not see me!”
    She hid behind a pillar and noticed with satisfaction that the eavesdropper did not realize he was being followed from the hotel. Then she went upstairs.
    Mr. Drew praised his daughter for having interpreted his signals correctly. “By the way,” he asked, “have you called Hannah since we left home? There may be some messages for us.”
    At once Nancy dialed the Drew number. Hannah Gruen answered.
    “I’m glad you phoned,” she said. “I tried to reach you in Hampton, but you had already left.”
    “Is anything wrong?”
    “Mrs. Fenimore called this morning and wanted to see you.”
    “Mrs. Fenimore?” Nancy echoed in curiosity. “Did she say why she called?”
    “She wouldn’t tell me over the phone,” Hannah resumed. “When I told her you weren’t home, she said you had to be warned to be careful.”
    “Careful of what?”
    “She thinks you’re in danger. Oh, Nancy, I’ll be so relieved when you’re home again safe and unharmed.”
    “We’ll be back tomorrow,” Nancy assured her. “Don’t worry.”
    After completing the call Nancy speculated on why Mrs. Fenimore thought the young detective was in danger. Could the woman have learned that Nancy was to be shadowed? It was too late, she decided, to call Mrs. Fenimore. “I’ll see her tomorrow.”
    Nancy and her father waited until midnight to hear from the plainclothesman. When he failed to return to the hotel, they telephoned headquarters. The officer had not checked in yet.
    In the morning there was no word either, so Mr. Drew requested that a full report be sent to him in River Heights.
    After Nancy arrived home in the afternoon, she lost no time calling on Mrs. Fenimore. The woman was reclining on a couch. She was