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ПРИЯТНОГО ЧТЕНИЯ!
Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories: Volume Forty-Six
The Invisible Intruder
Copyright © 1997, 1969 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.
“Nancy Drew, forget the ghost hunt!” a male voice rasps on the telephone.
Despite the mysterious warning, the pretty teen-age detective and a group of friends start out on a ghost-hunting expedition to investigate five places reputed to be haunted. Danger strikes at once when Nancy tries to overtake the canoe that paddles itself on Lake Sevanee. Thrills and chills mount as the ghost hunters pursue a phantom horse and ghost rider racing across the field that surrounds the Red Barn Guesthouse. During these happenings and other weird events Nancy finds herself pitted against a dangerous adversary, clever enough to operate invisibly.
In a dramatic climax Nancy outwits her enemy in an eerie mansion and traps him in the fantastic Room of Skulls. This unusually intriguing story will delight all Carolyn Keene fans.
CHAPTER I
The Haunted Canoe
“THIS is about the most exciting invitation I’ve ever had!” Nancy exclaimed.
Attractive, titian-haired Nancy waved a sheet of paper toward her lawyer father, handsome Carson Drew, who was seated in a chaise longue beside a high rose hedge in their back yard.
He smiled. “It must be very special,” he said. “Those lovely blue eyes of yours are fairly dancing.”
Nancy explained that the letter was from Helen Corning Archer, a close friend, who had been married a short time. Her husband Jim had read several articles about haunted houses and had recently heard rumors about ghost haunts some distance from River Heights.
“They thought it would be fun to organize a summer vacation group to prove or disprove the stories. They have invited Bess, George, and me to join the ghost hunters.”
“Who else will be going?” asked Mr. Drew. “It seems to me that in a search like that there might be safety in numbers.”
Nancy smiled. “Well, Ned has been asked.”
It was Mr. Drew’s turn to grin. Ned Nickerson was a special friend of Nancy’s, and her father realized how pleased his daughter was to have Ned included.
“And how about Burt and Dave?”
“Yes, they’ve been invited also.”
Burt Eddleton and Dave Evans were special dates of Nancy’s closest girl friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne.
Nancy went on to say that seven couples were included. “Is it okay with you, Dad?” she asked.
“Wait until I read the letter,” he teased. “Hm! Helen says none of them know how to solve a mystery and they want you to take charge. Well, under the circumstances I don’t see how you can refuse.”
“Oh, thank you, Dad.”
Nancy rushed to the telephone and called Helen. “Your invitation is really cool,” she said. “I’d love to go and I’m sure the others would too. I’ll phone them and find out. Helen, could we all meet here at my house this evening so you can tell us our itinerary?”
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Helen said that she and Jim would be glad to come and discuss the ghost hunt with Nancy and her friends. She explained that it was not necessary for the rest of the group to join them because they already knew the plans.
Before their arrival Nancy went upstairs to make a list of the clothes she would take.
“I wonder what Hannah would say about this expedition,” Nancy thought, smiling to herself.
Hannah Gruen was the kindly housekeeper who had lived with the Drews ever since the death of Nancy’s mother fifteen years ago. Mrs. Gruen at the moment was out of town visiting relatives.
Presently the telephone rang and Nancy answered it. A man’s voice said, “Nancy Drew?... I am warning you—beware of the dead! Forget the ghost hunt!”
“Forget the ghost hunt!” a gruff voice warned
“Who is this?” Nancy asked, but the caller had hung up.
Nancy put down the phone and stared into space. So someone wanted to frighten her into staying home! “But who?” she wondered. “And why, and how did the caller know about our trip?” Then, recalling she had told her father the plans in the yard, she realized that there could have been an eavesdropper behind the rose hedge.
“Well, he’s not scaring me out of the ghost hunt,” Nancy said to herself. “This just makes it doubly interesting. And maybe doubly dangerous!” she thought. “I’ll have to watch my step.”
About eight o’clock the Archers arrived. Helen was very pretty, and her tall, good-looking husband was full of fun. Within a few minutes Bess and Dave drove up.
Bess, slightly plump, blond, and pink-cheeked, was a good sport but inclined to be a bit timid. “Hi, everybody!” she said. “This trip sounds scary. Catching villains and turning them over to the police is one thing, but hunting for ghosts—that’s something else again.”
Helen looked surprised. “Do you want to back out? There’s still time.”
Dave answered for her. He was a blond, rangy boy with green eyes. He gave a hearty chuckle and said, “You know perfectly well Bess isn’t going to back out. She wouldn’t miss helping to solve a mystery for anything. And as a matter of fact, I wouldn’t either. But if Bess won’t go, that means I can’t.”
Bess made a face at him. “You people are all so serious. Can’t I have a little fun pretending to be scared?”
Before anyone could answer, George and Burt walked in. George was Bess’s cousin but very unlike her. She enjoyed her boy’s name, wore her hair short, and liked simple clothes. She was always ready to help Nancy solve a mystery. Burt particularly admired George’s adventuresome spirit.
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He was a good athlete, and shorter and huskier than Dave and Ned. All three were on the football team at Emerson College.
The last one to arrive was Ned Nickerson. “Greetings,” he said. “I’m sorry I’m late.” Turning to the Archers, he added, “Say, thanks for including me in the ghost hunt.”
Nancy felt that this tall, good-looking boy was just about everything a girl could wish for. He was wonderful company, lots of fun, yet serious and practical whenever the young detective enlisted his aid on a case.
Because the summer evening was warm, Nancy served lemonade. Then she said, “Now that you’re here, there’s something you ought to know.” She told about the warning telephone call.
Ned gave a low whistle. “Sounds as if we’re walking into trouble.”
“I knew it!” Bess exclaimed. “I just knew it!”
Burt grinned. “Anybody want to chicken out?”
There was a chorus of noes, which Bess joined a little late. Then Helen and Jim began to tell about the proposed ghost hunt.
“Our first stop,” Helen explained, “will be at Pine Grove Camp on Lake Sevanee. It’s a delightful small resort. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the boating and swimming.”
“And where or who is the ghost?” Ned asked.
Jim answered, “It’s not really an apparition. There’s a haunted canoe on the lake.”
“Haunted canoe!” George exclaimed. “How could a canoe be haunted?”
“You won’t believe this,” he replied, “but the canoe propels itself.”
Burt shook his head. “Sounds impossible to me. Something must make it go.”
“Spooks,” Helen replied. “Now I’ll tell you about the next place where there’s a mystery for us to solve. It’s at a medium’s prophecy hut. People say that during seances it always thunders.”
“You mean that there’s a thunderstorm?” Bess asked.
Helen and Jim shrugged. “No,” Helen answered. “The people inside hear thunder.”
Bess looked nervously from one to another. “I don’t like the sound of it,” she said finally.
Nancy, intrigued by the mysteries that lay ahead, had made no comment. Now she urged Helen and Jim to continue. “How many places are we going to visit?”
“Five in all,” Helen answered. “The third place is the Red Barn Guesthouse. Several persons have seen a phantom horse racing across a field at night, with a ghost rider running after it.”
Dave burst into laughter. “This I want to see. A ghost horse that dumped its rider!”
Everyone laughed but became serious a moment later when Jim said that the fourth stop was at a mountaintop inn. “It was once an old fort and the ghosts of prisoners are reported to be flitting around,” he announced.
George’s eyes sparkled. “This trip gets more interesting every minute. And now let’s hear about the final place. It’s probably a dilly.”
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Helen explained that they would not be staying at the place because it was a private home. “The owner is a skull and shell collector. We couldn’t find out anything except that the house is set in a huge estate and night after night there’s an invisible intruder in the mansion.”
“An invisible intruder?” Burt asked.
Once more the two leaders of the ghost hunters shrugged. “We’ll have to track down that story,” Helen replied. “Well, do you all still want to go?”
“More than ever,” Nancy answered quickly. “If we accomplish all this, we’ll be solving five mysteries in one trip!”
“That’s right,” Helen said. “Can you be ready early Monday afternoon?”
All said they would be and it was decided that the six of them would use Nancy’s car.
Two days later the whole group met at the Archers’ house. Nancy and her friends were introduced to Bab and Don Hackett, Rita and Rod Rodriguez, and Ann and Bill Blanchard. Nancy liked all of them.
“Helen told us about your mysterious warning, Nancy,” said Bab. “You haven’t any idea who it could have been?”
“No.”
“Sounds kind of scary,” said Ann. “We’ll have to keep our eyes open.”
The ghost hunters reached Lake Sevanee late in the afternoon. It was such a hot day Ned suggested that he and Nancy, Bess, George, Burt, and Dave go swimming off the dock of Pine Grove Camp.
“We girls will meet you in a jiffy,” Nancy said. “Won’t even take time to unpack.”
She was assigned to a cabin with Bess and George. Ned, Burt, and Dave were in the next cabin, while Helen and Jim and the other couples were in their own cabins nearby.
A few minutes later the three couples were diving and swimming in the lake. Bess looked very happy. She declared that the water was perfect.
“I just can’t believe that this place is haunted,” she said. “It’s too nice a spot for ghosts.”
But a moment later she cried out in excitement, “I see it! Over there! The canoe! It’s paddling itself!”
The others gazed toward the middle of the lake. A long, sleek, aluminum canoe with a blue stripe along the gunwale was actually paddling itself across the water!
Nancy called, “Let’s swim out and overtake it!”
She made a long shallow dive and began swiming furiously underwater. Ned, George, and Burt followed.
CHAPTER II
Strange Whispering
As the foursome raced along through the water, Ned took the lead.
“I’ll bet there are a couple of spoofers under that canoe!” he called.
He and Burt reached the moving craft at about the same time and dived under it. To their surprise no one was there. The canoe continued to glide through the water.
“That’s strange,” Ned thought.
The two boys surfaced, planning to grab the paddles which were digging in deep and fast. But with a sudden spurt the canoe shot far ahead of its pursuers.
Meanwhile, Nancy and George had caught up to the boys and watched in amazement as the craft sped away.
With a sheepish grin Ned said, “No one was underneath. I guess the canoe is haunted!”
The unexplainable incident sent a tingling sensation down the spines of the four frustrated swimmers. There was no earthly explanation for the strange event!
“Let’s swim back to the dock and take a motorboat,” Nancy suggested. “Maybe we can catch up with the canoe.”
When they reached shore, Bess and Dave were waiting. “Did you solve the mystery?” Bess asked.
“No,” Nancy admitted, and explained that the canoe did indeed propel itself. “We’re going out in a motorboat to look for it. Want to come along?”
“Sure thing,” Dave replied.
Ned ran to the lobby in the main building and obtained permission and a key to the boat. Within a short time the entire lakeside had been investigated. There was no sign of the haunted canoe.
“Do you suppose somebody took it away on top of a car?” George asked.
“Could be,” Burt replied. “Or a truck.”
George went on, “Anybody have an idea as to what made the canoe propel itself? There has to be a reason.”
No one answered, but an idea was forming in Nancy’s mind. She did not express it aloud because at the moment it seemed too far-fetched.
“But it just might work,” she said to herself.
By the time the six searchers returned to the camp dock, they had to hurry to dress for supper. A bell had already sounded, announcing the meal. The ghost hunters were given a large round table in the center of the dining room.
As soon as they were seated, Bab said, “I hear some of you tried to catch the phantom who paddles the canoe.”
Nancy smiled. “There must be two—one fore and one aft. Two paddles were working at top speed.”
“So the story is true,” Rita spoke up. “You people don’t want to believe in ghosts, but I’m not ashamed to.”
Rod laughed. “Don’t mind my wife. She’s a student of the occult, but she has never convinced me about phantoms.”
The others laughed, but made no comment because a waitress came up to take their orders.
“We have roast beef tonight,” she said. “How do you like it?”
The girls chose medium, while the boys wanted it rare. Burt grinned. “Raw meat for the he-men.”
“You’ll need it to conquer the spooks,” George commented.
“No, all we need is Nancy Drew,” Ned said with a smile. He reminded the group of the many cases she had solved, beginning with The Secret of the Old Clock. The latest had been the exciting Spider Sapphire Mystery. “This one could be even more of a dilly than the rest,” he added.
There were few other guests in the dining room and Helen said, “I was talking to the desk clerk. He told me almost no one has registered for the summer. The story about the haunted canoe and other strange happenings in the area have made people afraid to go out on the lake.”
“That’s a shame,” Bess spoke up. “But I can’t say I blame them. Helen, you should have seen that canoe paddling itself up the lake—as if it were in a race.”
Jim put in, “I wish I had. The owner of this camp, Mr. Leffert, has gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to make it an attractive place. He said that if things keep on the way they are, he’ll have to sell it.”
“But who would buy it now?” Dave asked.
Ann spoke up. “We’ll solve this mystery and everything will be all right,” she declared.
Her husband Bill added, “I’ll bet we’ll be off to our second ghost hunt before you know it. Won’t we, Nancy?”
“I don’t think it will be that easy,” she replied.
When everyone finished eating, Bess got up from the table with a sigh. “I hope you’re right. But that phantom paddler is pretty clever.”
Everyone filed out of the dining room. The evening was chilly, and Mr. Leffert had had a roaring fire built in the huge fireplace at the lounge end of the lobby. The ghost hunters gathered around it and continued to discuss the mystery
Presently George remarked that she thought they should take time out from the mystery of Lake Sevanee and talk about something else. “Anybody know a good joke?” she asked.
“I’ll oblige,” Jim Archer answered. “Ever hear about the cowboy who had a record for finding strays? Nobody could figure it out. It seems one of the cows told him where they were, after he’d learned to moo their language.”
“That’s terrible,” Don said with a groan.
“Got a better one?” Jim asked.
“Sure. About the cow who jumped over the moon and came down via the milky way.”
The ensuing laughter had barely subsided when the outside door to the lobby burst open and a blast of wind rushed in. Papers were sent flying off the tables and desk.
The gust hit the fireplace with such force that sparks and ashes whirled across the room. There was a mad scramble by the young people to stamp out the sparks and rescue some papers which had blown toward the fire.
“This is horrible!” Bess exclaimed.
As abruptly as it had begun, the inrush of air stopped. Nancy, suspicious, dashed to the door. It was a moonlight night, calm and clear, with bright shining stars. There was practically no breeze.
“Someone deliberately caused that blast,” she thought, and ran outside.
She was just in time to see a man sprinting toward the woods, a huge object under one arm.
“Ned! Everybody! Come here quickly!” Nancy cried out, and sped off in pursuit.
Ned soon overtook her and asked what she was after. She explained quickly and they dashed off together.
“What did he look like?”
“I don’t know except he was tall.”
Although moonlight filtered down among the trees, it was too dark to pursue the fleeing figure. In a few moments he was out of sight.
Nancy and Ned stopped running just as a car’s motor started up in the distance.
“He made a getaway,” Ned said in disappointment.
George, Bess, and the others came up breathlessly. “What happened?” they questioned Nancy.
She told them, and added, “A man was carrying a bulky object under one arm. Maybe when he knew we were after him, he dropped it in order to run faster. Let’s look along this path.”
Carefully the seven couples proceeded through the woods toward the road. In a few minutes Nancy came upon an object stowed behind a tree. It proved to be a large bellows.
George looked at it with a frown. “So that’s what made the sudden wind in the lobby. The man must be crazy. Why would he want to do such a thing?”
Bess gave a great sigh. “To annoy us. I’d say he’s trying to get rid of us.”
“But why?” Dave asked. “Does he have something to do with the strange canoe?”
Rita Rodriguez spoke up. “We have no proof of that. I’m sure the canoe incident was supernatural.”
Her husband laughed. “Honey, this moonlight has got you.” He turned to the others. “Forgive me, but I can’t go along with Rita and her belief in ghosts.” To make amends for his remark, Rod put an arm around his wife. “Let’s go back and forget the whole thing.”
Nancy suggested that in the morning they try to find out more about the canoe and also the man with the bellows. The ghost hunters said good night to one another and went to bed.
As Bess flopped onto her cot, she said, “I’ve had enough chasing to last me a week.”
About two o’clock Nancy awakened. Everything was quiet except for the slight sighing of pine trees. A soft breeze had sprung up.
Intrigued by her surroundings, Nancy got out of bed and went to the window. She stood there admiring the beautiful scene that lay before her. Beyond waving boughs she could see the lake shimmering in the bright moonlight.
A moment later she became aware of two voices whispering not far from her window. Was this what had awakened her? Had one of the ghost-hunting couples gone for a moonlight stroll? She dismissed the idea almost at once. Everyone in the group had been very weary and it was unlikely they would be out walking at this hour.
“I wonder if the man with the bellows could have come back with a buddy,” Nancy thought.
Deciding to investigate, she put on a robe and slippers. She stepped quietly out of the cabin and cautiously walked along the side in the direction of the voices.
Just before reaching the corner Nancy stopped to listen. A singsong voice kept repeating:
“Ghosts own Sevanee Lake. Go away while there is time!”
CHAPTER III
The Floating Ghost
NANCY stood very still. The singsong voice had stopped speaking. Had the person who had given the warning left? Continuing to move cautiously, she peered around the corner of the cabin. No one was in sight. She looked down the line of cabins, then hurried to the next corner and peered around it. Still she saw no one.
Suddenly Nancy realized that the bright moonlight made her a target for an attack. “I’d better get out of sight,” she said to herself.
The shadow from the next cabin offered some protection. Nancy scooted over to it and hugged the rough wall, while still looking in the direction from which the strange voice had come.
At that moment a filmy white figure floated from the woods. It seemed to be the ghost of a woman in a long flowing garment. The young detective’s heart began to beat faster. Was this a hoax? Or was there some truth to the legends about Lake Sevanee?
“Shall I go out and confront it?” Nancy asked herself. “Or will it come to me?”
In the meantime Bess was awakened by the moonlight which suddenly shone full in her eyes. In turning over to avoid it, she noticed that Nancy’s bed was empty.
“Now where did she go?” Bess wondered. “Nancy must have gone sleuthing, but she shouldn’t be out alone. I’d better find out where she is.”
Bess went to the window and looked outside. Not far away was the ghost. It was floating slowly in her direction. Bess shrieked.
The cry awakened George who jumped up. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “And where’s Nancy?” she added, noting the empty cot.
“I—I don’t know.”
Bess pointed a trembling finger toward the filmy figure.
George’s pulse quickened. “Let’s go out and see what it is.”
“Not on your life,” her cousin declared. Then she remembered about Nancy. “But we must find Nancy. She may be in danger from t-that spooky thing!”
Within seconds the camp was in a turmoil. All the ghost hunters emerged from their cabins, talking excitedly.
“What happened?”
“Who screamed?”
Bess explained, but everyone looked around in disbelief. The ghost was gone!
“Are you sure you weren’t having a nightmare?” Dave asked her.
“Certainly not,” Bess replied indignantly.
Just then Nancy walked up to the group and told what had happened. Her story sent shivers through her listeners.
“I’m sure it was not a supernatural incident but someone playing a joke on us,” she stated.
“Joke!” Bess exclaimed. “Aren’t you going to take that warning seriously?”
Nancy put an arm around her chum. “Not until I find out who or what was responsible. We can begin by scouting the woods where I first saw Lady Ghost.”
She and her friends hurried along the same wooded route the man with the bellows had taken.
In a short time Burt called out, “You win, Nancy. Here’s the lady.”
He picked up a mass of white chiffon. Rita stared at it in disappointment.
“How can we be sure this was the ghost?” she argued.
“We can’t,” Nancy replied, “but I feel pretty sure about it. Let’s carry this to the lodge and examine it.”
When they arrived the door was locked, but Mr. Leffert had heard their voices and came to open it.
“I thought I heard a scream,” he said. “Were you people disturbed by something?”
As they trooped inside, Nancy told him what had happened and showed him the mass of chiffon.
“Amazing,” he remarked. “Just another in a long series of strange goings-on here.”
Nancy said, “I want to examine this carefully.” She began to lift up the layers of chiffon. Underneath them was a long balloon.
“I guess when this is blown up it will be a woman’s figure,” Burt said. As he clasped the object, he eyed George and grinned. “My new doll,” he said, then spoke directly to the balloon. “How about a date tomorrow night?”
The others laughed. Jim blew up the balloon. Nancy carefully fitted the chiffon robe and veil over the “doll.”
“This is exactly what I saw,” she said.
“Me too,” Bess added. “Isn’t it ghastly? But what made it walk?”
“Maybe,” said Nancy, “the bellows man urged it along.”
“But what made it go back into the woods?” George asked. No one could give an answer.
Suddenly Nancy wondered why there had been no comment from either Ned or Dave. Looking around, she realized they were not there.
“Didn’t Ned and Dave come back with us?” she asked.
“No,” Jim Archer answered. “I saw them dashing through the woods. They must have seen something pretty important.”
Nancy said that she was fearful the person who had rigged up the ghost might have been lying in wait for anyone who followed.
“Do you think we should go look for the boys?” Bess spoke up.
There was no need to do this, because at that moment Ned and Dave walked into the lodge. They stared in amazement at the filmy figure which Burt was holding.
“Is that the ghost?” Ned inquired.
Everyone nodded. “Didn’t you see the pile of chiffon on the ground?” George asked him.
He shook his head and said that he had spotted twinkling lights some distance ahead of the searchers and decided to find out what they were. “I asked Dave to come along.”
“Did you learn anything?” Nancy questioned.
Dave answered. “We didn’t catch anyone but we did see two people. They had flashlights and were running like crazy through the woods toward the lake. Before we could overtake them, they got into a canoe and paddled off furiously.”
“What did they look like?” Nancy asked.
Ned said, “All we can tell you is that they wore slacks and sweaters and had bushy short hair. We don’t know whether they were men or women or one of each.”
Nancy took the ghost doll from Burt and examined the balloon carefully, hoping to find some form of identification. Faint marks on the sole of one foot indicated a name or number.
The balloon was deflated and then she read aloud, “J. B. Newton. Have any of you ever heard of a balloon company by that name?”
No one had, but Mr. Leffert spoke up. “There’s a stationery-and-novelty store in the town of Sevanee owned by Mr. J. B. Newton. Perhaps the balloon came from there.”
Nancy glanced at her watch. It was already three o’clock. “I doubt that anything else will happen tonight,” she said. “Let’s get back to bed.”
“Good idea,” said Bess, yawning.
Mr. Leffert said he hoped there would be no more disturbances. “I guess you’d all appreciate a late breakfast.”
Bill said promptly, “We sure would.”
“Eight-thirty then?”
“Okay.”
As Nancy started for her cabin she told Ned, “See you at eight-thirty breakfast. After that, let’s drive into town and talk to J. B. Newton. Bring the boys, will you? I’ll ask the girls.”
Nancy, Bess, George, and their dates arrived at Newton’s Novelty Shop soon after it opened. The affable proprietor asked, “May I help you?”
Nancy smiled and said she had found a balloon in the shape of a woman’s figure with the name J. B. Newton on it.
“I thought maybe it was purchased here. I’d like to find the owner. Did it come from this store?”
“I reckon it did,” the stout, jolly man replied.
Nancy said, “Could you tell me who bought it?”
Mr. Newton smiled. “I remember the purchase very well. A couple came in here a few days ago. They took a whole box of white balloons in assorted figures. Said they were giving a big children’s party.”
“Do they live around here?” Nancy queried.
“No. I’m acquainted with all the regular inhabitants. I think they’re vacationers and may have rented one of the cottages around the lake. The person for you to ask is Mrs. Jane Tarpey. She’s in the real-estate business. Her office is right up the street.”
“I’ll do that,” said Nancy. “Do you happen to know the names of this couple?”
“They didn’t say, but I can tell you what they looked like. The man was tall and slender and he had the kind of eyes which are real deep set and look right through you. I’d say he’d take no nonsense from anyone. Wouldn’t want to tangle with him.” Mr. Newton laughed.
As Nancy smiled, he described the woman as shorter and “pretty in a tough sort of way.” Both of them had dark bushy hair.
The shop owner went on to say that the woman was very respectful to the man with her; in fact, she seemed to be afraid of him.
Nancy thanked Mr. Newton for the information and the group went to Mrs. Tarpey’s real-estate office. She proved to be pleasant and talkative.
Nancy said they were staying at Pine Grove Camp. Then she asked if any visitors had rented a cottage in the area recently.
“Only one,” the woman replied. “A couple with eight children. They rented a house on the other side of the lake opposite your camp. By the way, the man asked me if Pine Grove was for sale. When I told him no, he muttered, ”I’ll see about that.’”