Dare to read: Нэнси Дрю и Братья Харди
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ПРИЯТНОГО ЧТЕНИЯ!
Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories: Volume Thirty-Eight
The Mystery of the Fire Dragon
Copyright © 1989, 1961 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.
When Nancy Drew begins to investigate the disappearance of a young lady, she and her friends are drawn into the intrigue and danger of a smuggling ring that leads them from New York City to Hong Kong.
CHAPTER I
Mystery in New York
“WHAT else does Ned say, Nancy?” Mr. Drew asked. He was listening intently to a letter his daughter was reading.
“Ned likes being a college exchange student in Hong Kong, and he has actually learned to speak some Cantonese, Dad!”
“Excellent. That, together with his study of Chinese culture, should make him very valuable in a number of fields,” Mr. Drew commented.
Nancy nodded. “He’d like to go into the United States Intelligence Service.” Suddenly her serious mood changed. “Dad, listen to this.” She read, “‘Nancy, can’t you find a mystery to solve in this far-off colony, so I might show you around?’ ”
Mr. Drew’s eyes twinkled. “Mystery or no mystery, Nancy, you just might get to Hong Kong sooner than you think!”
“What!” the attractive, blue-eyed girl exclaimed. “You mean—?”
Before Nancy could finish the question, the telephone rang and she went to answer it.
“Aunt Eloise!” Nancy cried out. “How super to hear from you! Are you in New York?”
“Yes, right in my apartment. I want you to rush here. A most peculiar thing has happened. A real mystery for you to solve.”
The young blond detective was intrigued and could hardly wait to get the details from her aunt.
Miss Eloise Drew, sister of Nancy’s father, lived alone and taught school in the city. Her large old-fashioned apartment had been converted into two separate apartments. Each had its own entrance from the hallway.
“Two wonderful Chinese people moved in next door to me a few weeks ago,” Aunt Eloise began. “We’ve become good friends. That’s why I want to help them. There’s a darling old man we call Grandpa Soong and his granddaughter Chi Che, an orphan. She’s eighteen, and a student at Columbia University here.
“This afternoon, when I returned from a teachers’ meeting, I found a strange note on the floor. It had been shoved under the locked door between my apartment and the Soongs’.”
“And what did it say?” Nancy asked eagerly.
“It was short and unfinished,” Aunt Eloise went on. “I’ll read it:
Grandpa must think I am visiting student friends from Columbia. The police must not be notified I am away or Grandpa will be harmed. I am in grave danger because I have found out that—’ ”
“The note ends there?” Nancy asked.
“Yes, unfortunately. Well, you see why I need you here. I feel that Chi Che is depending on me to help her but I don’t know where to begin. I thought you might bring Bess and her cousin George with you.”
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“I’d certainly like to, Aunt Eloise, but Dad has just been talking about a trip to Hong Kong. Hold the phone while I ask him about his plans,” Nancy requested.
After hearing the story, the tall, distinguished-looking lawyer smiled and said, “We won’t be leaving for Hong Kong for a week. In the meantime, go to New York if you wish.”
Nancy hurried back to the telephone. “I’ll come tomorrow, Aunt Eloise. What time will you be back from school?”
“Between four and four-thirty.”
“I’ll get in touch with Bess and George right away,” Nancy promised. “And, in any case, I’ll come.”
“Good,” her aunt said. “I’m really terribly worried about Chi Che. If much more time goes by, it may be too late to help her.”
After saying good-by to her aunt, Nancy dialed the number of the Marvin home. “Hi, Bess!” she said. “How about a quick trip with me to visit Aunt Eloise?”
“Sounds nice, Nancy. But why the big hurry? Don’t tell me! I know—a mystery has popped up and the trail leads to New York City,” guessed blond, slightly plump, Bess.
“You’re partly right.” Nancy laughed. “There is a mystery, but it started in Aunt Eloise’s apartment.” She briefed her friend on the details.
“Oh, dear, this really does sound dangerous!” Bess exclaimed. “Do you think we should—”
“Of course I think we should try to help Chi Che,” Nancy declared. “We’ll take the early afternoon plane tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at one-fifteen.”
“Okay. I’ll be ready,” Bess answered. “It’ll be fun just to go to New York—shops, theater—”
“Bess,” said Nancy firmly, “we have a job to do. Chi Che’s in danger!”
“All right, Detective Drew. Deputy Marvin signing off. See you tomorrow.”
Nancy chuckled as she called George Fayne. She was Bess’s cousin but as unlike her in looks and interests as two people could be. Slender, with dark, short hair, tomboyish George was always ready for adventure.
Upon hearing Nancy’s invitation, George was eager to fly to New York. “The mystery sounds intriguing,” she said excitedly. “And, by the way, Nancy, how about talking your dad into including me in the trip to Hong Kong?”
“I’ll do my best.” Nancy smiled as she hung up and returned to her father. “The girls can go with me,” she said. “I’ll make reservations, then please tell me about Hong Kong.”
Ten minutes later father and daughter were again seated in front of the log fire which felt cozy on this crisp October evening. Presently they were joined by the Drews’ housekeeper, Mrs. Hannah Gruen. She had lived with them for fifteen years since the death of Mrs. Drew, when Nancy was only three.
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“Do sit down,” Mr. Drew invited her. “I’d like to tell you about a case that may take Nancy and me to Hong Kong.”
The pleasant-faced woman seated herself. “Oh, my! This sounds so exciting!” she commented.
“I have been retained,” the attorney said, “to try to locate several people named as beneficiaries in a will which is being contested here. Their last known address was Hong Kong, but they don’t answer letters sent to them by the executors.
“I’ve decided that the best way to find out what’s happening is for me to go there. Naturally I’d like my detective daughter along to help me if necessary.” He smiled. “And, naturally, a certain Ned Nickerson who is studying at Chung Chi College outside Hong Kong would like—”
Hannah Gruen laughed and Nancy blushed as her father left the sentence unfinished. Then he continued, “Nancy, I’ll come home from the office to lunch tomorrow and drive you and the girls to the airport. And now, if you two will excuse me, I’ll say good night.”
Promptly at one-fifteen the following afternoon Nancy and her father were at Bess Marvin’s home. A few minutes after that they picked up George Fayne.
At the airport Nancy hugged her father, who wished the three sleuths luck. “We’re ready for anything,” George announced. “We even have our birth certificates with us in case we have to identify ourselves!”
“Good!” Nancy applauded. “I’ve learned while sleuthing to be prepared for anything. I always carry mine with me.”
The girls waved as they boarded the airliner, then settled down for the flight to New York. When they reached the terminal in the city, Nancy led the others to the taxi exit, where they took a cab to Miss Drew’s apartment house.
“Four-twenty,” Nancy announced, as she pushed the vestibule bell to her aunt’s apartment. The inner door clicked open. “Oh, I’m glad Aunt Eloise is home.”
The tall, attractive woman met the three girls as they emerged from the third-floor stop of the self-service elevator. “You all look wonderful!” Aunt Eloise exclaimed.
Nancy kissed her aunt a second time. “That’s from Dad, and Hannah sends her best wishes, too.”
As soon as they had entered the apartment, and the door was closed, the young sleuth said, “Aunt Eloise, don’t keep us in suspense. Tell us everything about Chi Che and what happened.”
Miss Drew produced the note the Chinese girl had written. At once Nancy noticed that in the lower right-hand corner of the stationery was a small hand-painted dragon in an Oriental shade of red. She pointed this out.
“It may be a clue,” the girl detective remarked.
Aunt Eloise could add little to her story, except to say that the Soongs appeared to be very fine people and very fond of each other. They rarely had guests, because Grandpa Soong was at present spending most of his time writing a book.
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“Let’s call on Grandpa Soong,” Nancy proposed, eager to start work solving the mystery.
Her aunt agreed. As Nancy opened the apartment door, she noticed a figure running toward the stairway. The person wore dark trousers and a loose coat.
Nancy stepped into the hall. At that instant something in front of her exploded with a loud bang!
Something in front of Nancy exploded with a loud bang!
CHAPTER II
The Dragon Clue
INSTINCTIVELY Nancy put both hands over her face and stepped backward into the doorway. Despite her quick move she was showered with a spray of paper and sandy particles.
“What happened?” Aunt Eloise asked excitedly. “Are you hurt?”
“I—I guess not,” Nancy answered, as brownish-black smoke spread throughout the hallway.
Bess and George dashed from the apartment to look around for the cause of the explosion. Nancy joined them and a few seconds later held up a small tube. “I believe it was a giant firecracker someone set off.”
“A firecracker!” Bess repeated, thinking that mysteries for Nancy Drew had started in many unusual ways but never before with a giant firecracker.
Ever since the time Mr. Drew had asked his daughter to help him unravel The Secret of the Old Clock until recently, when Nancy had solved the mystery of The Clue in the Old Stagecoach, she had been in many precarious situations. The giant firecracker might have injured the young detective badly.
Nancy was staring at the Soongs’ door. Was the explosion some kind of warning to the Soongs? Or, by chance, had someone learned that Nancy was interested in the mystery and used this means to scare her off the case?
By this time all the doors along the hallway of the apartment house were being opened and curious, frightened faces looking out. When the tenants found that no damage had been done and no one had been hurt, they closed their doors again.
The last apartment to be opened was the Soongs’. An elderly man, with a long beard and wearing a black Chinese suit, looked inquiringly at the girls.
Miss Drew stepped up and said, “Hello, Grandpa Soong. I want you to meet my niece, Nancy Drew, and her friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne.”
Mr. Soong bowed low. “It gives me deep pleasure to meet the relative and friends of my very fine neighbor. I was on my way to answer the buzzer when I heard a loud explosion. Can you good people tell me what happened?”
“Mr. Soong, we think that a giant firecracker was set off,” Nancy replied. “Would you possibly know why?”
Grandpa Soong looked startled. “I know nothing about it. You think perhaps that because most firecrackers are made in Chinese territory I should know the reason?”
“Oh, no,” Nancy replied quickly. Then she told about the figure she had seen running down the hall just before the explosion.
Grandpa Soong smiled. “Without a better description, I could not identify such a man or woman. But I am sure I would not know him, anyway.”
The young sleuth went from door to door along the hallway, asking the various occupants if they had noticed the running figure. Each denied having seen anyone around.
When Nancy returned to the group, Aunt Eloise invited Mr. Soong into her apartment so that the girls might become better acquainted with him. Under the strong light of a reading lamp the elderly Chinese stared at George Fayne.
Suddenly he said, “Please forgive my rudeness, but you remind me very much of my Chi Che. Of course she is Chinese and you are American, but your hair, your flashing black eyes—even your dress reminds me so much of my granddaughter who is away visiting.”
George was startled, not only because Grandpa Soong did not suspect that anything unusual had happened to Chi Che, but also that she herself looked so much like the missing girl. She glanced at her clothes and had to admit that her mandarin-collared overblouse did indeed look Oriental.
Aunt Eloise and the others seated themselves and almost at once Grandpa Soong began to talk about his writing. “My book has been many years in preparation,” he said. “I spent much time in the interior of China gathering very valuable archaeological data. I hope my work will be of great benefit to mankind.”
“I’m sure it will be,” said Aunt Eloise. “Grandpa Soong, did Chi Che give up her after-school job at Stromberg’s Bookshop?”
“Oh, no,” the elderly man answered. “She loves her work and her studies. They mean much to her. I presume she has asked for a leave of absence from the shop while she is away visiting.”
Nancy asked, “Did Chi Che leave you a note, Mr. Soong?”
“Yes.” As he took one from the pocket of his jacket, he said, “I would cherish the idea if you girls would call me Grandpa Soong,” and they nodded.
The note was written in Chinese characters and Grandpa Soong began to translate it. “ ‘Going on holiday with college friends. Home-coming indefinite.’ ”
Nancy had listened intently, but now her attention was drawn to a hand-painted dragon in the lower right-hand corner of the stationery. Curious, she mentioned it.
“This stationery is not the kind used by my Chi Che,” Grandpa Soong explained. “It must have been given to her by the friend she’s with.”
He laid the note on the table, then went on, “The dragon is a very old and sacred symbol of China. The ancient name of the dragon was Lung and children believed in Lung just as Western children believe in Santa Claus.
“Legend tells us also that the dragon is the god of thunder. He appears in the sky as clouds which are said to be formed by his breath. Logically, then, the dragon is good because he produces rain and that, in turn, makes good rice crops, which are so necessary to the life of Chinese people.”
The elderly man’s audience was fascinated. Presently Nancy said, “So often when I have seen pictures of dragons they are accompanied by strings of pearls on the beasts or on the frames. Is there any significance to this?”
“Probably, but the story is lost in antiquity,” Grandpa Soong replied. “The combining of pearls with dragons in decorative designs is an ancient custom, and while used principally in China, it was also used in the East Indies and Japan.”
Grandpa Soong smiled. “I have heard that originally every self-respecting dragon had a pearl embedded under his chin! This gave him a special rank.”
Nancy was thinking that all this information was extremely interesting, but the subject was not furthering her endeavors to glean any clue as to why Chi Che had left the note for Aunt Eloise implying she was in danger.
Finally Nancy said, “Grandpa Soong, have you a good photograph of Chi Che?”
The man’s eyes twinkled. From a pocket of his coat he pulled a picture of a most attractive Chinese girl, dressed in a greenish-blue brocaded Chinese silk dress, with an inch-high tight collar.
“Chi Che does resemble you, George,” Bess spoke up. “Of course her hair is arranged a little differently, but she certainly looks like you.”
Grandpa Soong laid the picture on the table next to the note. Deep in thought, he paced up and down Aunt Eloise’s living room, his hands behind his back and his gaze on the ceiling. Finally he turned to the group. “You will excuse me, I am sure,” he said. “A thought just came to me which I must put in my manuscript.”
Without another word he went to the door and out to the hall. “Oh, he forgot Chi Che’s picture! And the note!” said Bess. She picked them up and started after him.
Nancy took hold of Bess’s arm. “Wait! I’d like to keep the picture and note for a little while,” she said. “An idea just came to me.”
“A brain storm?” George asked, chuckling.
“I guess you might call it that,” Nancy replied, smiling. “I think the dragon is a definite clue. But before I tell you any more of my plan, I have another suggestion. I feel sure Mr. Soong as well as Chi Che may be in real danger. The person who lighted that giant firecracker rang Mr. Soong’s buzzer. Perhaps he planned to have the baby bomb go off in the poor man’s face. It might have blinded him! Anyway, I believe we should protect him as well as try to find Chi Che.”
“I agree with you a hundred per cent,” Aunt Eloise declared. “What do you suggest?”
Nancy said she thought they should obtain Mr. Soong’s consent to keep the door between the two apartments unlocked. “We can run in every once in a while and see if he’s all right. Also, being alone, he may not eat properly. How about inviting him to share meals with us?”
“I think that’s a splendid idea,” said Aunt Eloise. “But before I ask him, what is this other scheme you have up your sleeve, Nancy?”
The young sleuth smiled. “It’s a very daring plan, I warn you.”
CHAPTER III
Campus Sleuthing
“GEORGE FAYNE,” Nancy said, “you are about to become Chi Che Soong!”
“What!” George cried out.
Nancy smiled. “I’m sure that with a little change in your hair style, you could pass for Chi Che. We’ll shape your eyebrows and make them heavier. We’ll place a bit of rouge high on your cheekbones and change that boyish hairdo of yours into a pixy cut.”
Nancy picked up the picture of Chi Che. “Look at this photograph and tell me what you think.”
After the others had studied it a moment, Bess gave Nancy a hug. “You’re a genius. It wouldn’t be hard to do at all, and if George puts on the dress Chi Che’s wearing in the picture, I’ll bet people will think she’s Chi Che, at least from a distance. Nancy, what do you have in mind for George to do?”
Nancy said that first they must get Grandpa Soong’s consent to keep the door between the two apartments unlocked. After George was made up, she was to leave by way of the Soongs’ entrance. “Bess, you and I will follow at a distance and see if anyone is trailing her.”
“You mean I’m just to walk up one street and down another and wait to be hit on the head?” George asked with a grin.
“Oh, do be sensible,” Nancy begged. “I haven’t decided yet where I’d like you to go. But please don’t leave this apartment until you go out dressed as Chi Che Soong.”
“I won’t mind,” said George. “There are some good books here to read. But you know me—I like action. So don’t make it too long.”
Bess now spoke up. “I was under the impression, Nancy, that you thought Chi Che was a prisoner. But if George is going to parade around the streets,” she added, “this puts a different light on the mystery. You don’t think Chi Che is being held after all, do you, Nancy?”
Nancy said she had not reached a conclusion as yet. “Chi Che may be a prisoner, or she may only be in hiding. But if the person from whom she’s hiding thinks he sees her on the street, we may be able to find out something worth while.”
Aunt Eloise and the cousins approved Nancy’s idea and George said she would be willing to undertake the experiment.
“Then the next thing,” said Aunt Eloise, “is for me to go next door and make the arrangements with Grandpa Soong.” She left and the girls continued to talk about the mystery until her return.
“I had no trouble at all,” Miss Drew reported. “Grandpa Soong was delighted to accept our invitation, and incidentally we are to call him when supper is ready. The door is unbolted now on his side. Come, I want to show you something exquisite.”
Aunt Eloise went to the connecting door and unlocked it from her apartment. Directly behind the door hung a large silk scroll which reached to the floor.
“This is a perfect screen,” Miss Drew remarked. “Anyone coming into the Soong apartment wouldn’ t know there is a door behind it.”
Nancy and her friends squeezed past the scroll and stepped into the Soong living room. The elderly man was not around and Aunt Eloise whispered that he was writing in his bedroom.
“What a gorgeous hand-painted scroll!” Bess remarked, gazing at the lovely ancient Chinese garden scene with men and ladies strolling about.
Before leaving the apartment, Nancy and the other girls took a quick glance around. The room was tastefully furnished with a Chinese teakwood table, chest, and chairs. There were hand-painted parchment shades on the lamps, and the floor was almost entirely covered by a heavy Oriental rug richly colored in blue and tawny yellow and bordered with a floral design.
“There are two bedrooms and a kitchen,” Aunt Eloise explained. “Grandpa Soong does all his writing in his bedroom.”
Quietly the visitors went back to Miss Drew’s apartment and the girls unpacked their clothes. Presently preparations for supper were started, and when everything was ready, Miss Drew went to call Grandpa Soong.
As she brought him in, the teacher teasingly remarked that it was hard to get him away from his writing. “Perhaps we shouldn’t ask,” she said to him, “but if we promise not to tell, will you give us an idea of what you were adding to your manuscript this afternoon?”
The elderly Chinese smiled, put his fingers together, and looked into space. “The manuscript is finished but I want to write a foreword. I am sure there is no harm in revealing the material I inserted. It is known to many people. In my archaeological work I dug up an ancient frieze. Until my book is printed no one will know its exact origin.
“On the frieze,” he continued, “is pictured one of the early heroes of Chinese history—Fu Hsi. He lived over 4,800 years ago.”
“Whew!” George cried out. “He’s a prehistoric man, no less! What did he look like?”
Once more Grandpa Soong’s eyes twinkled. “Fu Hsi had the head of a man and the body of a dragon!”
“Ugh!” Bess remarked. “I’m glad there aren’t any such people around today. What did this man do?”
“Legend tells us that he was the king. He had six counselors, all of them dragons. In fact, there was a line of kings, called the Man Kings, who had faces of men and bodies of dragons. This probably explains why China has often been called Dragon Land.”
“Where is this frieze now?” Nancy queried.
“In a museum in China.” Grandpa Soong suddenly looked pensive. “I hope to be able to go back home sometime and see it.”
As soon as the group had finished eating supper, Grandpa Soong expressed his thanks for their hospitality, then said he would like to return to his own apartment and do more writing.
By ten-thirty Miss Drew and her guests were sound asleep. All were up early the next morning. After Miss Drew had left for school, Bess said to Nancy, “What’s on our girl detective’s calendar?”
“I thought you and I might go to Stromberg’s Bookshop and see if we can pick up a clue about Chi Che. If we fail, then George can take over.”
The two girls set out, and after walking a few blocks, came to Stromberg’s Bookshop. There was one woman customer inside, but no salesclerk. Seeing the girls, the woman, who was portly and unbecomingly dressed in a ruffled blouse and bouffant skirt and carrying her coat on her arm, came up to them immediately.
“This is most annoying!” she complained. “I don’t know where Mr. Stromberg can be and I’m in a great hurry. I come here often and it’s always the same story. Nobody to wait on me!”
Nancy and Bess merely smiled, wondering why the woman bothered to come back if she were displeased with the service.
As if reading their thoughts, she said, “But Mr. Stromberg has such a fine collection of foreign books that I hate to go elsewhere.” She smiled in a tolerant sort of way, however, and said, “But Mrs. Horace Truesdale is not one to lose her temper. No doubt Mr. Stromberg has a good reason for not being here.”
“Doesn’t Mr. Stromberg have a salesclerk?” Bess asked Mrs. Truesdale.
“I believe so, but she’s a college student and doesn’t work here full time.”
The girls began to look around at the books on the shelves, trying to conceal their own impatience for the owner’s return. Mrs. Truesdale kept up a constant chatter.
“Have you ever been to the Orient?” she asked the girls.
When they shook their heads, the woman went on, “I’m planning to go myself with one of the tourist groups. That’s why I’m here—looking for books on the Orient.”
Idly she picked several volumes from a shelf and started to leaf through them. “Oh, dear, where is Mr. Stromberg? I’ve been here ten minutes!” When the girls made no comment, Mrs. Truesdale said, “I suppose I’m an idiot to go abroad. Air travel doesn’t agree with me. Besides, I hate being away from my family for such a long time.”
Nancy and Bess smiled in spite of themselves. When Mrs. Truesdale moved away, Bess whispered, “I’ll bet that woman’s a pest. I should think her family would be glad to see her go away for a while.”
Finally Mr. Stromberg came in from the street.
He was about fifty years old, of medium height and build, and had piercing blue eyes, a high forehead, and a prominent nose.
He nodded to Mrs. Truesdale, saying, “I have some books for you. Would you mind waiting a few minutes?”
Turning to the girls, he asked, “Can I do something for you young ladies?”
“Will Chi Che be here soon?” Nancy asked.
“I presume you mean Chi Che Soong. No,” Mr. Stromberg replied. “Chi Che asked for time off—wasn’t certain of her return either, so I can’t tell you when she’ll be in.”
“Well, thank you very much,” said Nancy. “I’ll drop by again and see if she’s here.”
Mr. Stromberg gave a great sigh. “I wish Miss Soong would get back. We deal in foreign-language books and she was a great help to me. You know, Chi Che Soong speaks seven languages!”
“How amazing!” Bess remarked.
“Isn’t there something I can do for you?” the shop owner asked.
“Well, not in the line of books,” Bess answered. “We—ah—wanted to invite Chi Che to a party.”
Mr. Stromberg, not interested in this subject, walked over to Mrs. Truesdale, and the two girls left the shop.
“We didn’t learn anything there,” Bess said.
Nancy frowned and admitted that she was frankly puzzled. Chi Che’s note to Aunt Eloise had indicated that it was written on the spur of the moment and under great stress. Somebody she feared must have been nearby because she was unable to finish the last part of the note. Yet Mr. Stromberg said Chi Che told him she wanted time off and her return was uncertain. Nancy revealed her thoughts to Bess.
“The two things just don’t dovetail,” she said finally.
“It’s too deep for me,” Bess admitted, shaking her head. “Well, where do we go from here?”
Nancy suggested that they make a trip to Columbia University and try to find out something about Chi Che. When they arrived on campus, the girls went to the office of one of the deans. A young woman assistant proved to be most helpful. She suggested that the girls go to the building where foreign students often gathered.
“They may be able to tell you something about Miss Soong,” the young woman said.
Nancy and Bess hurried to the designated building. It was almost lunchtime and the girls noticed everyone heading for the cafeteria in the building. Nancy and Bess stood near the door. Several Chinese young people came in. The American girls smiled at them and asked if they knew where Chi Che was. None did, and one girl added:
“Chi Che has been cutting classes lately. She never did that before. I can’t understand it.”
Nancy said that she had heard Chi Che was visiting college friends out of town. The Chinese student looked surprised. “None of her friends here is away. If she’s visiting, the person must be someone from another college.”
“Would you like to come and have lunch with our group?” the Chinese girl invited.
“Why, thank you very much,” said Nancy. “We’d love it. I’m Nancy Drew and this is my friend Bess Marvin.”
“My name is Amy Ching,” the other girl said.
The three went into the cafeteria and Amy Ching introduced Nancy and Bess to several other foreign students, but none could give any information about Chi Che Soong.
Nancy and Bess returned to the apartment early in the afternoon and brought George up to date on their findings. Nancy remarked, “Frankly I’m worried, even more than I was before. Apparently Chi Che Soong had no idea while at school on the day she disappeared that she was going to be away.”