Disheartening Request

As Nancy pitched forward she made a wild grab for the banister of the stairway. Though she swung around and almost lost her grip, Nancy managed to keep from falling.

"How stupid of me!" she chided herself, and went on down the stairway.

Nancy looked at the big rip in her lovely dress. Could it be mended without showing? "Oh, I hope Hannah can do something with it!"

She finally reached the bottom step and went on to the front door. When Nancy opened it, she was greeted by a grinning little boy.

"h.e.l.lo," said Tommy Johnson.

"Hi, Tommy!" Nancy replied. "What are you holding behind your back?" she asked.

"A surprise," he said.

"For me?"

"Maybe. You know you promised me a'tective badge for helping you."

"So I did," said Nancy. "Come in, Tommy. I'll get it for you right away."

Nancy hurried off to the dining room where there was a closet that held all sorts of knickknacks. Among them was a toy detective badge which someone had given her at a party for a joke. She carried it to Tommy, who took it but still kept one hand behind his back.

"Do you like it?" Nancy asked.

"Sure I do. Would you put it on me, Nancy? After that, I'll show you what's in my other hand."

She pinned the badge onto his heavy sports jacket, then asked, "Have you brought me something exciting?"

"It's-what you say a clue," Tommy replied stoutly.

From behind his back he took out a man's rather worn shoe. Tommy explained that his little friend Billy down the street had picked it up.

"He saw it fall out of the yellow-coat man's car trunk," the little boy explained. "He just told me about it. I thought you might want the shoe, so I promised him some candy if he gave it to me. Do you have some candy?"

Nancy laughed and patted Tommy on the head. "Indeed I have and you shall have some as well as Billy. This is good detective work, Tommy. Keep it up and maybe someday you'll be a police chief."

"Oh boy, that would be something!" Tommy replied.

Nancy went to get two small jars of hard candy. She called them her emergency treats for just such occasions.

When she returned, Tommy's eyes expanded. "You mean I can have one whole jar, and Billy can have the other?"

Nancy nodded. "I think you both earned this reward."

Tommy went off, declaring that he was going to hunt for more clues to the yellow-coat man.

"I hope you don't catch him too soon," he called over his shoulder and Nancy giggled.

After she had closed the door, Nancy looked at the shoe thoroughly. She could see no identification of any sort. "But probably the police can find something," she thought. "I'll call Chief McGinnis and see what he has to say."

Fortunately he was in his office. "I'd say it's an excellent clue," he told her. "But don't bother to come down here now. Tomorrow will do."

Then Nancy climbed the stairs and showed Hannah the rip in her dress. The housekeeper said she was glad Nancy had not been hurt. She looked at the tear for some time.

"You really made a good job of this while you were at it," she commented. "Well, take the dress off and I'll see what I can do with it."

Nancy said first she would slip on shoes with heels to see if the length of the dress was all right. She found it was, then took off the dress. Hannah turned it inside out.

"Good thing this rip is near a seam. It won't hurt to make the skirt a little narrower. I'll just put in a whole new seam."

"Oh, you are a darling!" Nancy said, and gave the housekeeper a kiss on the cheek.

Then she told Mrs. Gruen about the shoe. "It dropped out of the car that we think belonged to Edgar Nixon."

"Hm!" the housekeeper said. "I hope that shoe gets out of here in a hurry. I'm sure it's contaminated with bad luck."

"Why, Hannah, I've never heard you speak like that before."

"I can't help it," the housekeeper replied, starting to baste a new seam in the dress. "The man is no good, and I don't want any of his belongings around here."

When she finished sewing, Hannah laid the dress down and announced that she would have to start dinner. Nancy went downstairs to help her. She set the table and prepared a salad of tomatoes and cottage cheese.

"I won't put the steak on until your father comes," Mrs. Gruen remarked.

Nancy heard a step on the back porch. "I guess you can broil the steak now," she said, moving toward the door.

She opened it and her father entered. He kissed her, said good evening to the housekeeper, then beckoned for Nancy to follow him.

After he had hung up his coat and hat in the hall closet, he led the way into the living room. The two sat down.

"You have news?" Nancy queried.

"Yes. It's a mystery to me. Maybe you can figure it out. I had a cable late this afternoon from Mr. Bates-Jones."

The lawyer hesitated and Nancy sensed that what he was about to say was not going to please her. Finally he told her.

"You and I have been discharged," he said.

"Discharged from what?" Nancy asked.

"The Nancy Smith Drew Case."

"You mean they've found her?" Nancy cried, astonished.

Mr. Drew shook his head. "That's the mystery. The cable said someone else was putting them in touch with Nancy Smith Drew and that you and I could give up the case."

Nancy was amazed. "That's all the cable said?"