Flannery Foolery

While the group followed the stretcher out, the festival manager hurried briskly toward his office.

“Boy, he’s unfriendly, ” Bess said as they stepped out under the dark sky.

He was more than unfriendly, Nancy thought. He was downright antagonistic.

Since the performance had been cut short, the young people decided to stop somewhere for a light snack, giving them a chance to discuss a plan of action.

“Come to think of it, ” Nancy said, “I’ve yet to meet Dr. DeNiro.”

“Young or old? ” Ned asked.

“Young, ” Bess smirked, causing a mock frown to form on her listener’s face.

“And rather nice-looking, ” George said.

“I thought you said you wanted to go to the Flannery house, ” Ned said to Nancy.

“Oh, that too.”

“Well, I’m free tomorrow, if you want company, ” the young man offered.

“I could use an extra pair of eyes, ” Nancy teased.

“How about my sunglasses, then? ” George said in a laughing voice.

“I’d rather take Ned, thank you, ” Nancy grinned.

As the conversation faded into light banter, the group temporarily forgot about the latest developments in the mysteries. When Nancy’s telephone rang early the next morning, however, she was surprised and happy to hear Angela Pruett’s voice.

“I’ve been so concerned about you! ” Nancy told the harpist.

“I’m sorry. I should have called you sooner, ” Angela said, wavering as she went on. “But I received a short message from Phyllis.”

“Yesterday? ” Nancy interrupted.

“Yes, and she said she wanted to meet me at Swain Lake Lodge in the afternoon.”

Nancy listened intently as Angela explained how she had waited almost two hours for her sister to arrive, but she never did.

“I finally inquired at the desk, ” Angela said. “That’s when I discovered a second message from Phyllis. All she said was that she couldn’t come after all.”

“Were both messages handwritten? ” Nancy questioned.

“No. The first one was, but it was scribbled. The second one was phoned in by a woman, the clerk said.”

“But not necessarily by Phyllis, ” Nancy remarked in a suspicious tone.

She immediately revealed her own experience at the same lodge, which now more than ever seemed integral to the mysteries she sought to solve. She described Lal and asked if Angela had seen him.

“No, I haven‘t, ” the harpist replied, pausing. “Now I’m wondering if I should go back to the lodge today. Phyllis said she might be able to come.”

Somehow, the idea did not sit well with Nancy.

“The whole business seems very odd to me, and I have a feeling you’ll just find a third message, ” she sighed. “Anyway, don’t you have a performance tonight? ”

“I’m not sure, ” Angela said. “There’s been some talk of canceling the rest of the week.”

She had not yet heard about the catastrophe the night before, so Nancy gave her the details.

“Then I’m sure everything will be postponed, ” Angela said. “The festival has really turned into a fiasco, and what worries me most is that I may be out of a job sooner than I anticipated. I’d have to go home, and I can’t. I just can’t.”

“We’ll find Phyllis before that happens, ” Nancy assured her. “As a matter of fact, I’d like to see Mrs. Flannery. Do you have the address handy? ”

Nancy refrained from telling the woman about the man identified as Flannery, whom she had seen at the lodge and later realized was the person who had attacked Cliff. There was no point in further upsetting Angela, Nancy decided.

So when the harpist gave her the information, the young detective merely thanked her and said she would be in touch. Ned was to arrive within the hour, so Nancy hurried to get ready.

When the doorbell rang, she greeted the young man in a new summer skirt and puff-sleeved blouse that complemented her lightly tanned complexion.

“Hi! ” Ned smiled. “I gather we’re not going on a hike in the woods today.”

“Not in these I’m not, ” Nancy chuckled, taking a glance at the bare, white sandals she wore. “I’d probably wind up with a terrific case of poison ivy! ”

“And who wants itchy feet when you’re chasing down kidnappers! ” Ned said, leading the way to the car.

They found the Flannery house without too much difficulty, and to their delight, Mrs. Flannery was there. She was at least twelve or fifteen years older than her visitors, a judgment they drew based on the line of her face. Her figure, on the other hand, was taut like an athlete‘s, and she exuded energy as she spoke.

“Yes? ” she said crisply when she opened the door.

Nancy and Ned introduced themselves and said they were looking for Phyllis Pruett.

“She hasn’t been here for a week, ” the woman said. “I haven’t the vaguest idea where she went, and—”

“Did you call the police about her disappearance? ”

“Who said anything about a disappearance? ” Mrs. Flannery charged back. “She’s only been gone a few days. I don’t keep tabs on her, anyway. She pays me rent, and she comes and goes as she likes.”

She started to close the door, but Nancy moved forward.

“May we come in for a minute? ” she asked sweetly.

“Look, I have a lot of errands to do.”

“It will only take a moment, ” Ned added, knowing that Nancy was hoping to pick up some clue to the whereabouts of the missing girl.

“I’d like to see her room, if you don’t mind, ” Nancy said.

The woman rolled her tongue over her lips, then drew in air, hesitating to reply.

“You have no objection, do you? ” the girl detective continued.

“No, why should I? Except maybe I don’t know if Phyllis would appreciate letting strangers into her room.”

“We’re not really strangers, ” Nancy said quickly. “I’m a personal friend of Phyllis’s sister, Angela, and she knows I’m here.”

“Oh, uh-huh.”

Still, the woman hung on the door, allowing less than foot space for anyone to enter. It was true that someone else might have reacted similarly to the girl’s request, but Mrs. Flannery seemed unusually reluctant. Nancy would have inquired about the man whose name was the same as hers, except that she thought it unwise to reveal too much now.

Mrs. Flannery pulled the door back at last.

“Okay, come in, ” she said, “but you can’t stay long.”

She led the couple up a stairway and into a corridor that connected to a room at the end. The door was open, and the woman explained the layout.

“She had her own hot plate, as you can see, a small bathroom, bed, stereo, TV—everything she wanted.”

But Nancy was less interested in the furnishings than in the disarray of clothing left on a chair.

“It looks like she left in a hurry, ” the girl remarked.

“You think so? ” Mrs. Flannery said. “To me, it’s just a typical teenager’s mess.”

Nancy and Ned looked at each other, reserving their answer.

On the desk was a brochure with a photograph of someone attached. Nancy stepped toward it, but Mrs. Flannery sidled in front of it.

“Are you done? ” she asked, slipping her hands along the edge of the blotter.

“I’d like to see that pamphlet.” Nancy said.

“Pamphlet? What pamphlet? ”

“The one you’re trying to hide, Mrs. Flannery, ” Ned replied.

“I’m not doing any such thing, ” she sputtered, permitting Nancy to pick up the pamphlet. “I just don’t think it’s right for you to come snooping in here.”

Nancy, in the meantime, was studying the cover, which was entitled, The Most Important Discovery Of Your Life!

Clipped to it was the picture of an aging man in a long, printed tunic. His stringy, gray hair hung sparsely around his wrinkled face. He was painfully thin, perhaps from frequent fasting, and as she read a few short passages inside the booklet, she realized her assumption was correct.

The man was the ascetic whom Phyllis had chosen to follow. He was Ramaswami!