The Clue Of The Tapping Heels Part 24

Before Nancy and Mrs. Bealing left, Miss Carter again thanked them for all they had done.

"I'll try not to be any trouble to Bess and George," she said. "If they get too lonesome, I'll try to cheer them up by quoting a few humorous lines from plays I've been in."

"That'll be great," Bess replied with a giggle.

She felt unusually happy this morning. It was a clear day and birds were singing cheerily. She had succeeded in playing Cupid for Toby Simpson and Miss Carter. And in a few hours her favorite date would arrive.

"You look," George said to her cousin, "like a satisfied cat who has just finished off a poor mouse."

"Yes? Well, how about you doing a little grinning?" Bess retorted. "Burt'll like that."

Nancy and Mrs. Bealing said good-by and left the house. As they rode along, Mrs. Bealing said, "This is a beautiful morning, isn't it? We're having special services at our church. I'm so glad Miss Carter gave me the day off."

Suddenly she asked Nancy, "Do you always go to church?"

"As often as I can," she replied. "This morning Dad and Hannah and I will go to service together."

"That's nice."

When Nancy reached home, Mrs. Gruen insisted that she have a second breakfast-at least some of her homemade coffee cake.

Nancy laughed. "I can't very well refuse that, although I did eat a big breakfast."

After church Nancy helped with dinner preparations and by one o'clock she and her father and Mrs. Gruen were sitting down to a delicious meal of roast lamb, mashed potatoes, fresh peas, and strawberry shortcake.

"Marvelous dinner," Mr. Drew said.

Directly afterward Nancy put the plates, gla.s.ses, and silver into the dishwasher. Meanwhile the housekeeper had begun preparations for a cold supper which Nancy would take with her. By this time Mrs. Gruen knew the favorite foods of the three boys who were coming to Miss Carter's.

"This evening there'll be chicken sandwiches, sliced tomatoes, and apple pie with ice cream," she announced.

"Perfect," said Nancy.

An hour later the telephone rang. Mr. Drew answered. He talked a long while and then came out to the kitchen.

"That call was from St. Louis," he said. "Here's big news. As soon as the Woonton estate was settled-and there were no complications-W. F. Bunce, the money and the stocks and bonds vanished."

"Oh dear!" Nancy exclaimed. "Does this mean he stole them?"

The lawyer shrugged. "It certainly makes everything harder to figure out."

Nancy knit her brow. "If Bunce stole them, why did he take a chance on getting caught by ignoring the Beverly? It seems to me it would have been smarter if he had paid Gus Woonton't board. Then no one would have become suspicious."

"You're absolutely right, Nancy," her father agreed. "And this also doesn't explain why, if Miss Carter's neighbor is W. F. Bunce, he came to live in Berryville where the old Woonton house is. According to the reports, there was a lot of money in the estate and I should have thought he would have gone as far away as possible."

The discussion was interrupted by loud banging on the kitchen door. Nancy opened it. Her young friend Tommy Johnson was standing there. His eyes were large and he was so excited he could hardly talk. He stuttered and stammered something unintelligible.

"What is it, Tommy?" Nancy asked. "Say it slowly."

The little boy pointed toward the garage. "I just saw a man sneak out of there, and now I can hear something ticking!"

CHAPTER XVIII.

Spikes of a Human Fly

As the Drews raced toward the garage, Nancy's father cried out, "It could be a bomb! You'd better stay here!"

"Oh, Dad, please!" she begged. "You mustn't run into danger either."

The two reached the garage at the same moment. The ticking was loud. It was definitely coming from beneath Nancy's car. Mr. Drew grabbed a rake and began to pull the ticking object from beneath the automobile.

"It isn't worth risking your life, Dad," Nancy cried out.

With a deft sweep of his arms, her father swung the bomb onto the lawn. It rolled away.

"The ticking is dying down," he said. "I'm sure the bomb's not going to explode. In rolling it over, I probably partly deactivated it."

A few seconds later the ticking stopped entirely. Mr. Drew walked over and began taking the object apart.

"Why, Dad-" Nancy began, alarmed.

The lawyer laughed. "A few years ago I took some instructions in deactivating bombs," he explained. "I thought it might come in handy some time, but I admit I never thought it would be right in my own garage."

Mr. Drew confirmed his guess that by rolling the bomb he had moved a switch on the inside. It had slowed the ticking.

"Dad, if you hadn't disarmed the bomb, when would it have gone off?"

"I can't be sure, of course," her father replied, "but from this timer in her I'd say in about ten minutes."

Suddenly Nancy remembered Tommy who had given them the warning. Where was he? Just then he came out the back door with Mrs. Gruen.

The little boy began to complain about Hannah. "She wouldn't let me come out and see the fun," he said.

"And she did the right thing," Mr. Drew spoke up. "Tommy, it's a good thing you noticed the ticking sound or Nancy's car would have been blown to smithereens."

"What!" Tommy cried out. "Was it a bomb I heard?"

"It sure was," Nancy replied. "Tommy, you said you saw a man sneaking away from the garage. What did he look like?"

Tommy could not give a very detailed description of him, but it tallied closely with that of Fred Bunce. If it was he, what had he hoped to gain by blowing up her car?

Upon reflection Nancy told herself, "It would be a little hard for me to get around without a car. But then I could have rented one. I believe Fred Bunce had some other reason for coming here."

She could think of none and turned to Tommy. Putting her arms around him, she said, "You're a brave little detective, Tommy. Keep it up and maybe someday you and I can solve a big case together."

"Really? You mean it?" the little boy asked. "That would be groovy."