Free The Eskimo's Secret by Carolyn Keene Page B

said.
    “Where’s your father?” Miss Haggler asked. “Has he arrived there?”
    “He’s in Victoria,” Nancy began, “but he isn’t at the hotel.”
    “Have you talked to him?”
    “I’ve heard from him,” Nancy replied, choosing her words carefully, trying to avoid an outright lie, yet also wanting to keep the real situation from the woman.
    “Nancy, give me a straight answer,” Helena snapped. “Have you seen your father?”
    “No.” Nancy couldn’t keep her tone from showing her desperation.
    “Has he been kidnapped?”
    “Kidnapped?” Nancy swallowed hard. “What makes you think that, Miss Haggler?”
    “So something has happened to him.” The woman sounded as weary and discouraged as Nancy felt.
    “They warned me,” Miss Haggler said. “They said to drop the investigation or accept the con-sequences. I expected maybe another warehouse fire or an interruption in a shipment from a foreign port. I never dreamed they would strike so close to home.”
    “Who?” Nancy demanded, recovering her senses. “What are you talking about?”
    “I’m talking about the men behind Investors, Inc., of course. Why do you think I told your father that I wanted to call off the investigation. I was trying to buy some time, time to build up my security at all the shops, time to warn all my import people, my foreign buyers. I just wanted time to set up some sort of trap.”
    “Is that what you and Dad were going to dis-cuss?” Nancy asked. “Had you told him?”
    “I was going to tell him when he got here,” Helen Haggler answered. “I don’t ordinarily discuss things like that over the telephone.” “Did anyone else know what you were planning?” Nancy asked, her frown deepening.
    “Just my board of directors. I had to tell them about the new threat, but surely none of them would betray me.” Her tone had changed to one of speculation.
    Nancy hesitated for a moment, her mind whirling. She didn’t know what to say.
    “Where is your father?” Miss Haggler asked again.
    “He’s being held somewhere,” Nancy replied, making her decision. “He’s safe as long as I don’t call in the authorities and do what his kidnappers want.”
    “What do they want?” Helen asked. “Is it my corporation?”
    “No, no, it has nothing to do with you,” Nancy answered. “It’s another matter entirely, something that I was working on here in Victoria. I’m making ransom arrangements now, so please, Miss Haggler, for Dad’s sake, don’t do anything to jeopardize them. Just wait and he’ll be calling you himself.”
    “You can’t deal with that sort of person,” Miss Haggler warned. “You can’t trust them, Nancy. You need help.”
    “I have it,” Nancy replied, stretching the truth a little. “I have friends with me now, some of the people involved in the case, so it will be all right. Please trust me.”
    There was a long moment of silence and Nancy held her breath, well aware that her father’s safety could depend on Helen Haggler’s cooperation. Finally the woman sighed. “I’ll give you until this time tomorrow night,” she said. “If I don’t hear from Carson by then, I’m going to report his disappearance and stir up a manhunt that will put all these crooks out of business for good.”
    “Midnight tomorrow night,” Nancy murmured, closing her eyes for a moment to offer a silent prayer that it would be long enough. “I’ll be in touch before then.”
    “Not you, Nancy,” Miss Haggler corrected. “I want to talk to Carson before that. Understand? I don’t care what other cases he’s working on.
    He was on his way to talk to me and I feel re-sponsible for his disappearance.”
    “He’ll call you,” Nancy promised, hoping she was telling the truth.
    “You take care of yourself, too,” Miss Haggler continued. “I know how much confidence your father has in your abilities, but this must be a dreadful time for you. If there is anything I can do, just let me know—day or