The Clue Of The Tapping Heels Part 10

She continued to pound her fists on the door and yell as loudly as she could. But the orchestra was still playing a lively number and it drowned out her frantic cries.

"Maybe there's another exit from the prop room," Nancy told herself.

Though the smoke was now thick, she went back down the stairs. Her smarting eyes caught sight of another fire extinguisher hanging on the wall. She grabbed it off the hook.

Before using it, Nancy ran into the powder room and held two towels under a faucet. When they were soaking wet, she hurried to Ned's side and handed one to him. He quickly tied it over his nose and mouth, while Nancy put the other one across hers.

"Are the firemen coming? Let's get out of here!" Ned said grimly.

"We can't! The door's locked! And n.o.body heard me yelling."

Ned did not answer. He grabbed the new extinguisher, which was more effective, and played it on the flames. Nancy sprayed a stream with the one he had used. Finally the blaze began to die down.

The couple started looking for another exit but there was none. As they went up the smoke-filled stairway, the door to the corridor suddenly opened. There were exclamations of dismay from above.

"There's a fire in the prop room!" a man exclaimed. "Call the fire department! Quick! Call the police!"

Nancy and Ned scooted up and explained to them what had happened.

"You put out the fire?" a girl asked unbelievingly. "Why, it's Nancy Drew! Oh, I think you're wonderful! I could never be that brave!"

"This is my friend Ned Nickerson," Nancy said. "He discovered the fire and should get the credit."

Other members of the cast and the director now crowded around the couple and demanded to hear the whole story. Nancy and Ned quickly explained, then asked who had locked the door to the bas.e.m.e.nt. Everyone denied having done it, or having been downstairs.

"I'm sure," said Nancy, "that the fire was set deliberately."

"What!" Mr. s.k.a.n.k cried out.

By this time firemen and police had arrived. After an examination of the prop room, they agreed that the fire was of an incendiary nature. Someone had deliberately placed costumes in a heap on the floor, oil-soaked them, and started the blaze.

"How wicked!" a young woman cried out.

Nancy and Ned had been whispering about the possibility that the pudgy man might have been the one who had done it. They speculated that possibly he had sneaked into the building while the actors and actresses were arriving. The couple queried each one in the cast, but none of them had seen anyone who fitted that description.

"We have no leads at all," Nancy said, disappointed.

"One may turn up," Ned replied. "The police will probably find something."

The firemen and police were sure that the arsonist had escaped. Nevertheless, each cla.s.sroom was thoroughly searched. But they found no one.

One officer said, "What I'd like to know is his motive for starting the fire. It's rather farfetched, but it is possible that someone who was turned down for a part in the play became disgruntled and wanted revenge. Mr. s.k.a.n.k, do you by any chance know of such a person?"

"No," the director answered quickly. "But I understand there's a gang of firebugs around here. I'm inclined to think those bad boys are responsible."

By this time the odor from the smoke had permeated the stage. Between this unpleasantness and the fact that many of the players were upset by the unfortunate affair, the director dismissed them all for the night.

"I'm glad to go," Nancy said to Ned. "I couldn't possibly have rehea.r.s.ed my part. All I want to do is get home and shampoo my hair. It smells of smoke and my clothes do too."

Then she changed the subject. "If the arsonist was Gus, why do you think he did it? And why did he take such drastic measures?"

Ned reminded Nancy that a person with Gus's reputation was unpredictable.

"He could be capable of almost anything. It's my guess he's trying to harm you or me, Nancy, so you won't be able to continue with the case. Then he'd be free to carry on his tapping without interruption."

Nancy frowned. "You mean he would go so far as to hope you'd run downstairs to the fire and I'd follow? If we didn't, he'd let the fire eat up through the stage and maybe harm people?"

"Who knows what that idiot had in mind?" Ned remarked angrily.

"Do you think he locked the door?"

"Yes."

When they reached the Drew house, Nancy's father was just driving in from a meeting he had attended. He was amazed that the rehearsal was over so early, but even more amazed when he heard the reason for it.

"I don't like what's going on," Mr. Drew said. "By the way, I have learned nothing more about Gus Woonton or his parents or the whereabouts of any of them."

Nancy suggested that they look through Gus's diary to see if they could find any clues. She brought the book down from her bedroom and the three took turns reading from it while they ate some cookies and c.o.ke Nancy had brought in.

"I'd say Gus is lucky to be out of prison," Ned remarked, after reading several items. "Man, the things he pulled, even as a kid!"

Mr. Drew nodded. "I don't see how his parents stood it. And Gus was pretty cool about it all. Listen to this item:'August 28-We're still at the Grand Hotel and everybody in it bores me. This morning I sneaked off before breakfast and helped myself to a motorboat. Boy, did I have fun! Scared a lot of people on the lake half out of their wits. I pulled in near a dock where I saw a man's clothes. Guess he'd gone swimming. And there was a wallet; just waiting for me to take it!'

"I'd say the guy is an egomaniac," the lawyer added.

The last notation in the diary, Mr. Drew pointed out, had been written four years before on the day Gus had been taken to the Beverly. This puzzled Nancy. If Gus had recently visited his old home, why hadn't he written this in his diary?

"Maybe it's a friend of Gus's who comes there," she said. "Dad, would you find out from the Beverly whether Gus had a pal who might have left there about the same time he did?"

"I'll do it tomorrow," her father promised.

Ned said he must leave. "Nancy, if you don't need my car any more, I'll take it."

"All right. I guess there's no use in my trying to fool anyone."

The following morning Nancy hurried down to the kitchen to prepare her father's breakfast. While the oatmeal was cooking, Nancy decided to check a couple of items in the diary. She had put it on a table in the living room.

"Why, it's gone!" Nancy exclaimed when she saw the book was not on the table.

After a moment's thought she decided that her father probably had taken it upstairs when he went to bed. But a few minutes later, when he came down to breakfast, Mr. Drew said he had not carried it to his room.

"I didn't touch it."

Father and daughter stared at each other for several seconds. "It must have been stolen!" Nancy said slowly.

The Drews quickly checked doors and windows. All were locked and chains on the front and back doors were in place. Nothing else had been taken.