Free The Strange Message in the Parchment by Carolyn G. Keene

studied in Milano and painted on the parchment when she was there?”
    “That’s very likely,” he agreed.
    Reading from his directory, the artist said that the woman’s name was Diana Bolardo. Suddenly he snapped his fingers. “I have the perfect solution!” he exclaimed. “My grandparents live in Rome.”
    Vincenzo Caspari offered to get in touch with them at once. “I’ll phone and ask them to try to find Diana Bolardo.”
    Nancy was thrilled. How she wished she might go to Rome and investigate herself! She realized, however, that this would be expensive and the clue might lead to a dead end.
    “I appreciate this great favor,” Nancy told the artist, “and I can hardly wait to hear the answer.”
    The man smiled. “To tell you the truth, I’m excited to be part of the team trying to solve this mystery.”
    After Mr. Caspari had left, Junie came in to catch up on the news. After telling her, Nancy said, “Junie, would you drive downtown with me?”
    “Of course. But why?”
    Nancy told her she thought the person who had smashed the glass in the frame of the parchment picture might have brought the frame to a shop to have the glass replaced. “Or else, he might just have taken the measurements and will put the glass in himself. Let’s go first to a hardware shop.”
    Junie said there were three in town. They would go directly to the best one.
    Nancy tried to explain to a salesman what she was trying to find out. He said no one had brought a broken picture in for him to fix, or bought a twelve by twenty inch piece of glass.
    Not discouraged, the girls went outside and Junie drove to the next hardware store. As they walked in, Nancy thought this was a likely place for the thief to have brought the parchment picture. One half of the store was devoted to hardware, the other half to pictures and picture framing.
    A pleasant woman listened to Nancy’s story, but shook her head. No one had brought in any pictures that morning to have new glass put in, and no one had bought a piece of glass to use himself.
    “Thank you very much,” Nancy said, and the girls walked out.
    “There is one place left,” Junie said. “It’s not very attractive and it’s in a shabby part of town, but I believe it’s just the kind of place that a thief might go to.”
    She drove a few blocks until she came to an older section of town. Finally she parked in front of what had once been a house and was now a store. A gaudy sign in the window read: IF YOU CAN’T FIND IT HERE, YOU CAN’T FIND IT ANYWHERE. The two shoppers smiled.
    Nancy remarked, “That’s a pretty broad claim. I wonder if the owner can live up to it!”
    Junie giggled. “If he can, your quest is over.”
    The interior of the shop was untidy and badly in need of dusting. A middle-aged man came from the rear room, slid behind the counter, and asked what the girls wanted.
    Nancy noted that he eyed them up and down, as if he were asking the question, “What are girls like you doing in this part of town?”
    Nancy made her request. At first the proprietor shook his head, saying no one had brought in a picture that morning. Then suddenly he added, “Oh, I forgot. A young fellow from town was in to buy some glass.”
    “What size was it?” Nancy asked quickly.
    The man looked at a piece of wrapping paper lying on the counter not far from his telephone. On it was scribbled 12 X 20 inches. He repeated this to the girls.
    “That’s just the size we’re interested in!” Nancy said. “Who was this young man?”
    The proprietor said he did not know, and Nancy wondered whether he was telling the truth or covering up for the thief. Acting as if she believed him, she asked, “What did he look like?”
    “Oh, he was of medium height and kind of tough looking. I did notice one thing about him, though. His right hand had been bandaged as if he’d cut it. I asked him about it. He told me he had injured his hand on some broken glass that he wanted to replace.”
    Nancy and