The next moment she noted a green sedan some distance ahead. Warily, she slowed down.
Soon the girls neared the old inn. The car ahead turned into the driveway. Nancy wondered if Tombar was in it.
"Oh, we can"t stop there now!" Bess exclaimed in alarm. "We"ll be spotted if we do."
"I"ll drive past and park," she told Bess. "We must walk back without being seen. I want to get a look at that driver."
A moment later the girls sighted the car parked near a side entrance of the Blue Iris Inn. As they pa.s.sed, a man slipped from behind the wheel.
"Peter Tombar!" Nancy exclaimed softly. "If he"s here for the reason I think he is, maybe this will turn out to be my luckiest day yet! Get ready, Bess! We must do some sleuthing."
CHAPTER XVII.
Prisoners
HOPING Tombar had not seen them, Nancy drove a few hundred yards up the road from the Blue Iris Inn. She parked in the shelter of a clump of willows and the two friends tramped back to the deserted building.
"You won"t go too close, promise," Bess begged.
"Just close enough to do some looking. We"ll find out what Tombar"s up to."
The green sedan still stood on the weed-choked driveway, but Peter Tombar was not in sight.
"He must be inside," Nancy said.
"If he catches us prowling around here, we may run into that danger George predicted!" Bess declared uneasily.
"Now don"t get jittery," Nancy begged. "We"ll stay out of sight."
Using the pine shrubbery as a shield, the girls slipped to the side of the inn next to the driveway. Nancy made her way cautiously through the shrubbery to a boarded window.
"You keep watch," she told Bess, and peered through a tiny crack.
"What do you see?" her friend demanded in an impatient whisper. "Is Tombar in there?"
"Someone"s moving around with a flashlight. Yes, it"s Tombar all right! But all the crates and cartons are gone!"
"You"ve seen everything you can," Bess whispered, tugging at her friend"s hand. "Come on!"
Nancy held back. In fascination she watched as Peter Tombar lifted a trap door in the floor of the empty room and disappeared below.
"I can"t leave now," Nancy whispered. "I wonder what is in the cellar."
"Come away, Nancy!" Bess warned. "A truck is turning in here!"
It was too late for the girls to retreat to the road without being seen. They flattened themselves against the boarded side window, hoping not to be observed.
Luck was with them, for instead of coming all the way up the drive, the covered truck halted near the road. As the girls anxiously waited, it backed up again and drove away.
"A Taylor company truck!" Nancy exclaimed. "And the store"s closed today!"
"The driver saw us!" Bess insisted fearfully.
"Maybe not," Nancy replied. "Anyway, we"ll have time to see if Tombar brings up anything from the cellar."
"Let"s go now," Bess urged nervously.
Nancy ignored her friend"s plea. Squinting through the crack again, she waited patiently.
Soon she saw Mr. Tombar emerge through the trap door. He carried something in his hands.
"Oh, that proves it!" Bess whispered tensely. "Tombar is part of the gang!"
"He"s probably one of the ringleaders," Nancy replied. "They"re going to use those masks tonight!"
Bess put her eye to the crack, too. She became so absorbed in watching that she forgot her job as lookout. The girls were suddenly awakened to their danger when Tombar started toward the side door.
"Let"s leave, Nancy," Bess urged. "We may be too late to-"
The sentence was never finished. Nancy heard a crackle back of them. She whirled to face a man and a woman wearing black velvet masks. As Bess screamed, the two threw dark hoods over the girls" heads. Strong arms seized them. Struggling frantically, Nancy almost broke away when crashing sounded in the brush and someone else grabbed her.
"What is it? Who are they?" came Peter Tombar"s harsh voice.
"The Drew girl and her friend," the woman reported.
"So!" Tombar exclaimed. "I know Nancy Drew has been spying on me for days. We"ll deal with her presently. Right now, get "em both out of the way. Harris is coming and I don"t want him to see "em."
Nancy and Bess were hustled into the inn and taken down into the dark, musty cellar. There the hoods were exchanged for blindfolds, and the girls were bound and gagged.
"You see what happens to people who don"t mind their own business?" Tombar taunted as he ascended the stairs.
Though the captives could not speak, see, or move, they could hear plainly what went on in the rooms above. Presently the real-estate man arrived and was greeted cordially by Tombar.
"I"m glad you drove out today, Mr. Harris," he said courteously. "I"ve been thinking over your client"s offer to buy this place."
"Then you"ll sell?"
"If the price is right, and we can make a quick deal. My wife is tired of River Heights. We want to travel. It will have to be an immediate cash sale, though, or it"s all off."
"Give me a couple of hours," Mr. Harris replied. "I think I can swing it."
"Okay. I"ll meet you at your office."
Lying on the dusty, damp cellar floor, Nancy unhappily considered her predicament. Mr. Tombar intended to sell the inn and leave River Heights with his cronies before the police caught up with them.