Free The Mysterious Mannequin by Carolyn G. Keene Page B

at once. He said that since I would not let him come here, would I please meet him on that corner where you saw us.” Tears came into Aisha’s eyes.
    Nancy and Ned looked at each other, wondering just how to proceed with the interview. Ned decided to be straightforward about it.
    He asked, “Did the letter say that Farouk Tahmasp was dead?”
    At the question Aisha burst into tears, raising one arm to her face to hide her emotions from the visitors. She got up, turned her back, and continued to sob.
    But finally she spoke, looking straight at Nancy and Ned. “But how do you know this?”
    Nancy did not answer the question direct. She walked over to the distraught girl, “Aisha, my father is a lawyer. He and I suspect that the letter Arik showed you is a forgery!”
    “I do not understand,” Aisha said. “A forgery?”
    Nancy nodded. “We think Arik wrote that letter himself right here in River Heights. The paper was made in the United States and it’s most unlikely that kind is sold in Turkey.”
    Aisha, who had pulled a handkerchief from a pocket, dried her eyes. “Tell me more of what you think. Tunay said a Greek friend named Seli sent it.”
    Nancy walked back to her chair and sat down. “Aisha,” she said slowly, “we think there’s a good possibility that Farouk Tahmasp is still alive!”
    The Turkish girl looked into space for a moment, then cried out, “How wonderful! Oh, you think this is true?”
    Ned answered. “We all do.”
    Aisha’s whole attitude changed. Color came back into her face and she smiled happily.
    “Where is Farouk now?”
    “We think,” said Nancy, “that he’s in Istanbul.”
    “Istanbul!” Aisha exclaimed. “So that’s where he went.”
    She stared out the window. When her gaze returned to the callers, the sad look had come back into her face.
    “I will tell you the whole story,” she said, and sat down. “Farouk and I were in love and very happy. Then suddenly he got into some kind of trouble about smuggling. He never explained it to me but insisted he was innocent. Finally he ran away. I had a letter from him mailed in Paris explaining that he had decided to move out one night. After that I never heard from him again.”
    “When was that?” Ned asked.
    “About two years ago. For months I waited for another letter but nothing came. I didn’t try to trace him because I thought he had found someone else.”
    On a hunch Nancy said, “Was it at that time Arik began trying to be friendly with you?”
    Aisha nodded and said he was very persistent. “He sent me many gifts and would hide nearby so that when I came from the house he would catch up and walk along the street with me. But I would never go anywhere with him.”
    The girl paused for several seconds before going on. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I may as well tell you more. That day you saw me reading the letter, Tunay said, ‘Now that Farouk is dead, there is no reason for you not to marry me.’ ”
    At once Nancy recalled that she was looking for Arik because he was the one who tried to burglarize the Drew home!
    She said, “Aisha, I think there’s a very good reason why you shouldn’t marry Arik. For one thing, your friend Farouk was proved innocent. My father, who handled his case, would like very much to find him and tell him so.”
    Aisha suddenly clapped her hands. “That is thrilling! Oh, he just has to be alive!”
    Nancy and Ned assured her that they and Mr. Drew would do all they could to prove this.
    “Here is my name and address,” Nancy said, taking a card from her purse. “Now please do the following. Don’t talk to Arik. In the meantime we’ll try to find out if that letter he showed you was definitely a fake.”
    Aisha took the card and glanced at it. “I’ll call you if I hear anything,” she promised.
    She looked so weary that Nancy decided they had better not talk any more. After all, the Turkish girl had been under a great emotional strain.
    Nancy rose and said they