Maggie’s Secret

Sweeney Flint! So the fake publicity man was the same person who had tried to attack Madame Arachne’s- and was very likely also the squint-eyed thief Nancy had caught tampering with Kim’s golf bag!

Another thought struck the girl sleuth. Maybe the object which the thief had dropped in the grass had been a red toy spider!

If her guess was right, he must have intended to slip it in the pocket of the golf bag as a warning to Kim not to talk. And the cobwebbed racket had been an even stronger warning!

Wrenching her thoughts back to the present, Nancy looked at Brett Hulme. “So much for Kim’s story. Would you like to tell us now whatever you know that might help? ”

Brett nodded. “First of all, Nancy, you’re right. I did design that jeweled spider brooch for Madame Arachne. She wanted it to be as realistic as possible, and she also wanted it to be a ruby spider, since that was her birthstone.” He chuckled wryly. “So I researched various kinds of red spiders, but I still wound up mostly using my imagination! ”

However, Brett continued, he knew nothing about Jack Vernon’s part in the theft of the brooch until recently, when Simon Shand walked into his shop one day and commissioned him to design a silver cobweb necklace.

“He said he wanted it made so that Madame Arachne’s ruby spider would fit on it, as if the two had been designed to go together. I asked him what was the point, since the jeweled spider had been stolen three years ago.”

“And what did Mr. Shand say? ” Nancy asked.

“He just chuckled nastily and said, ‘That’s what the public thinks, but I happen to know that so-called robbery was just a scam! The whole thing was cooked up by a slick con artist named Sweeney Flint.’ He said Madame Arachne had needed money at the time, so she sold the jeweled spider to a wealthy collector named Oscar Larue-”

“She sold the jeweled spider? ” Nancy broke in.

“So Shand said. And also that she had a fake robbery staged in case any reporter or photographer started asking embarrassing questions about what had happened to her beautiful ruby spider brooch. He also mentioned that Flint had tricked a fellow named Jack Vernon into pulling the robbery, and that Jack was the famous golf star’s brother and was now running for State Assembly. Shand talked as if it was a joke! ”

“But how did he learn all that? ” asked Kim with a shocked expression.

“From the wealthy collector, Oscar Larue. He said Larue had recently suffered a fatal illness, but before he passed away, he’d agreed to sell the jeweled spider to Shand – provided he would promise not to let any word about the phony robbery leak out. In fact that’s partly why Shand was having me make the silver cobweb necklace.”

Nancy frowned. “I’m not sure I follow you.”

“To keep the jeweled spider from being recognized, I mean. You see, Shand’s engaged to a Broadway showgirl. He wanted to give her the ruby spider as an engagement gift, and he figured no one would recognize it as Madame Arachne’s brooch if it was mounted on a silver cobweb necklace.”

“But wouldn’t he be taking a chance? ” queried Nancy. “What if someone did recognize it? ”

Brett Hulme shrugged. “That didn’t worry Shand. He claims he has a written bill of sale to cover its purchase from Oscar Larue, and that Larue, in turn, had a written bill of sale to prove he bought the spider from Madame Arachne.”

Brett went on, “Needless to say, I hadn’t much taste for designing the cobweb necklace under those circumstances. But I agreed to do so, if only to keep any other jewelry designer from learning how the spider came into Shand’s possession. However, after that rock was thrown through my window, I got a mysterious phone call.”

“From whom? ” said Nancy.

“I don’t know, ” Brett puzzled. “It made no sense at first. The caller demanded to know what happened to the jeweled spider. He warned me I’d better tell the truth, or I’d get something a lot worse than a rock aimed at my head – and next time he wouldn’t miss! ”

“So what did you say? "

“I told him Simon Shand had the brooch. Then he snarled, ‘Don’t give me that! All Shand has is a cheap glass imitation! ’ Well, I kept telling him I knew nothing more about it. I guess I finally convinced him. Anyhow, he hung up.”

Nancy mused, “Could the car bombing have been a follow-up to his phone threat? ”

“I doubt it.” Brett explained that last night’s bomb blast had been followed by another menacing phone call – but this time the voice was entirely different. “And he said his name was Sweeney Flint! ”

Nancy’s eyes widened with excitement. The mysterious con man’s name seemed to be cropping up in all sorts of connections! “What did he have to say? ” she asked.

“Apparently he’s also looking for the jeweled spider. And he too knew that the one Simon Shand has is just a glass fake.”

“But why is he calling you? ” Nancy persisted.

“Because he figured Jack Vernon and I were the only other two people besides himself who knew anything about the phony theft. Therefore, it must have been one of us who’d arranged to switch a fake spider for the real one. But I kept telling him I knew nothing about it, just as I’d told the first caller, so finally he hung up.”

Nancy mulled over what Brett Hulme had just told her. With these latest frightening developments, it seemed as though the puzzle was becoming more complicated than ever!

“What about Simon Sand himself? ” she said, looking up at Brett. “Did he sound as if he knew about the glass counterfeit when he phoned you to cancel the order for the silver cobweb? ”

“Definitely! That’s why he canceled the order.” Brett replied. “He was pretty sore about getting stuck with a fake. But he also seemed convinced that the spider Oscar Larue sold him was genuine― in other word. That someone had stolen it from him later on and substituted a glass imitation.”

“Did he notify the police? ”

Again Brett grinned wryly. “No way! His business crowd’s a pretty tough bunch, I guess, and he didn’t want them to find out he’d been cheated. He was afraid that if news leaked out, it might make him look like an easy mark. It would also be embarrassing to him.”

Nancy was silent for several moments. Then she mused aloud, “The mystery seems to boil down to two main questions. One: how and when did the glass fake get substituted for the real jeweled spider? If it happened early on, was the brooch Oscar Larue bought from Madame Arachne the real one― or a glass counterfeit? ”

“Since both of them are dead now, how can we ever hope to find out? ” Kim murmured.

“That remains to be seen.” said Nancy. “But the other question’s just as important or maybe more so.”

“What’s that? ”

“Who has the real jeweled spider now? We’re going to have to find the answers to both questions, Kim, if we hope to clear your brother! ”

Nancy drove away from the riverside cottage turning the questions over and over in her mind. After she had parked her car in the train station lot and bought her ticket to New York, she found she had a forty-minute wait until the train was due. Nancy used the time to get a sandwich and milkshake at a nearby luncheonette and arrived back just before the train pulled in.

On arriving in Manhattan, she took a taxi to the hospital. A smiling Tad Farr opened the door of his mother’s room when she knocked.

“Hi, Nancy! Come on in! ” As Maggie Farr, weak but smiling, held out a hand to their visitor, he went on, “We both want to thank you, Nancy. I’m sure the way you tried to help Mom communicate speeded her recovery.”

Mrs. Farr nodded and squeezed Nancy’s Hand. “Tad’s right. I’m grateful to you, my dear. You’re a lovely girl.”

“Thank you.” Nancy blushed and smiled back. “But now we both want to hear your story.”

Tad pulled up a chair for the teenage sleuth, and they both sat down at Maggie Farr’s bedside.

The elderly woman explained that she had been present in Madame Arachne’s hotel suite in Oceanview on the day Kim Vernon came to plead with the opera star on her brother’s behalf.

Nancy was startled. “Then you know about him stealing her jeweled spider? ”

“Indeed I do. Only that’s not what he stole! ”

Tad shot a puzzled glance at Nancy, who had a sudden flash of intuition. “What do you mean, Mom? ” Tad started to ask.

But Nancy broke in, “I believe I can guess. What Jack Vernon stole was just a cheap glass imitation. Am I right, Mrs. Farr? ”

“You bet you are! ” Maggie responded. “That woman, Madame Arachne, was the most extravagant creature you ever saw! She spent money like there was no tomorrow. Cars, clothes, jewelry, gifts for her friends – anything that caught her eye, she’d buy. Money slipped through her fingers like water, so half the time she was flat broke. One day generous, next day mean and stingy as old Scrooge himself! Anyhow, one of those times when Madame O was broke, she sold off her ruby spider to some rich fella named Oscar Larue. That’s why she had the glass imitation made – so no one would know she’d had to raise money by selling her brooch! ”

Nancy was shocked. “Then she deliberately misled Kim Vernon! I mean, she wouldn’t even relieve Kim’s mind by letting her know the brooch Jack took was just a fake of no value? ”

“That’s right, dear. Believe me, that was Madame Arachne all over. Here was her chance to put on a big act – as if she was a generous, kind-hearted, forgiving fairy godmother – so she played it to the hilt. If she’d told the truth, that would have meant admitting she’d pawned her real brooch for cash to stave off the bill collectors. Madame O would have eaten toads first! ”

Once again, Nancy realized what a strange and complex, maddening yet fascinating person Madame Arachne Onides must have been. “Yet I suspect you liked her in spite of everything... didn’t you, Mrs. Farr?

Maggie smiled reminiscently. “Maybe so. She was always good to me, I’ll say that for her – provided I put up with her tantrums. But the way she let Miss Vernon go on thinking her brother had stolen a priceless piece of jewelry – that disgusted me! When I saw that poor troubled girl’s face on TV, I couldn’t help wondering if the past had anything to do with her dropping out of the tournament. I guess it was a crazy idea, eh? ”

“It certainly wasn’t! ” Nancy declared. “You’ve helped Kim Vernon so by telling me this, Mrs. Farr. She’ll be very grateful! ”

Before leaving, Nancy chatted a while longer with Tad and Maggie. Among other things, she learned that Renzo Scaglia had fallen deeply in love with the tempestuous prima donna. When Eugene Horvath became Arachne’s business manager, however, and eventually talked her into marrying him, Scaglia had suffered a cruel disappointment.

Nancy remembered to call her chum from New York before starting home. “My flight will get in an hour from now, Bess. So let’s have dinner, all right? ”

“Super, Nancy! I’m going downtown with Mom Later, so I can meet you anywhere.”

“Then how about the front of Taylor’s Department Store at six o’clock? ”

“I’ll be there! ”

When the girls finally met, Bess observed Nancy’s happy expression. “You look like the cat that swallowed the canary! Good news, huh? ”

“Very good! ” Nancy beamed. “I’ll tell you all about it over dinner.”

“Hey, that reminds me, ” Bess went on. “Chief McGinnis called right after you did. He was trying to get in touch with you. He asked me to tell you that Jack Vernon is well enough now to be questioned.”

“Oh great! Bess, I think I should drop over to the hospital right away. Wan to come along? ”

Bess was more than willing, since this would save time. The two girls hurried to Nancy’s blue car and headed for Riverside Hospital.

Moment later, as she glanced in the rearview mirror, Nancy’s heart gave a lurch.

Dangling close to her right ear by a silken thread from the car ceiling hung a fearsome, deadly-looking spider!