XIX + 

In the Storeroom + 

Carrying an oil lamp, Mary Mason entered the storeroom, and with only a casual glance about went directly to the window. As she passed the packing box, Nancy held her breath, fearful lest she be discovered. + 

“I don’t remember leaving a window open,” the girl muttered to herself. “Why, the floor is sopping wet.” + 

Hearing the words, Nancy was assailed with a new fear. Undoubtedly, in moving about the storeroom her clothes had dripped water, leaving a trail wherever she had gone. If Mary were at all observing she would realize that an intruder had entered the house! + 

Evidently, the girl was too intent upon closing the window to notice the floor particularly, for Nancy heard her working with the fastening. Before she could accomplish her task a sudden flash of lightning caused her to give a little scream of terror. Recoiling, she dropped the window down so quickly that the glass rattled. + 

“Say, don’t make so much noise,” an impatient voice called from the next room. “Do you want to have the police down on us?” + 

“I suppose you want me to be struck by lightning!” Mary retorted crossly. + 

“Let that window go,” Tom Tozzle ordered. “We’ve got to get away from here.” + 

“I’m coming,” the girl responded sullenly. + 

To Nancy Drew’s relief, she left the storeroom without so much as a glance toward the packing box. + 

“That was a close shave,” Nancy assured herself grimly as she climbed from her hiding place. “It was lucky I heard her coming.” + 

Moving softly across the floor, she again took up her position near the door. Already she had heard enough to be convinced that Mary and her friends were mixed up in an underhand scheme, and she intended to learn everything there was to learn. If only Mary would say something which would definitely prove that she had stolen the Crandall jewels or knew something of their disappearance! + 

Peeping through a tiny crack in the door, she saw the girl seat herself at a table opposite the two men. Tom Tozzle sat facing the storeroom and Nancy could see the calculating, greedy look in his eyes. + 

“Now Mary, you might as well be reasonable,” she heard him say in a wheedling tone. “It don’t get us nowhere to argue. I wouldn’t ask for two-thirds if I hadn’t earned it.” + 

“That’s a good joke!” Mary returned scathingly. “I could have pulled off this job better alone.” + 

“Yeah? And how would you have got rid of the stuff? Just answer me that!” + 

“I don’t see that you’ve done so well yourself, Tom Tozzle. You wasted a whole day at Winchester and didn’t come home with a cent of money.” + 

“I was followed,” the man whined. “I’d have been a fool to have gone direct to the pawnshop. I’d have been arrested with the goods.” + 

“Who followed you?” Mary demanded sharply. + 

“A girl. Never saw her before, but she looked like a detective.” + 

“Afraid of a girl!” Mary returned scornfully. “It was probably your imagination anyway.” + 

“Tom may be right,” Bud interposed. “I hear the detectives are getting pretty active⁠—especially that girl of Carson Drew’s.” + 

“How I hate her!” Mary spit out vehemently. “She always sticks her nose into business that doesn’t concern her. Well, she’d better not come fooling around me!” + 

“The quicker I get out of this town the safer I’ll feel,” Bud said uneasily. + 

“Before we stir from this house we’re going to have an understanding about shares,” Mary replied firmly. She turned to Tom Tozzle. “What did you do with the jewels you took with you to Winchester?” + 

“I put ’em back in the secret compartment of the boat. I’d ’ve pawned ’em, but I was afraid to after that girl followed me.” + 

“Have we enough money to make our getaway?” + 

“Sure! That last jewel brought a tidy sum. The money we got from it ought to take us a long way from here. Everything’s settled except how we’re to divide.” + 

“Why worry about that now?” Bud demanded. “As long as most of the jewels haven’t been converted into cash⁠—” + 

“I’ll not stir a step until it’s definitely understood that we’re to share equally!” Mary interrupted angrily. “Why, I’m the one that should have two-thirds and not Tom Tozzle! If it hadn’t been for me, you two wouldn’t have known about the jewels.” + 

“You sort of stumbled on to ’em accidently yourself,” Tom reminded her unpleasantly. + 

“I wouldn’t call it accident. I went to Lilac Inn to ask for work in the kitchen and as I walked past the dining room window I saw Mrs. Willoughby and her friend sitting there.” Mary chuckled evilly at the recollection. “I noticed that big handbag of hers lying on the table, and from the way she was acting I knew right off there was something valuable in it.” + 

At this point, the girl lowered her voice so that it was difficult for Nancy to hear. Determined to find out whether or not Mary was the one who had stolen the jewels, she daringly opened the door a trifle wider. She thought there was no particular danger, for the room was but dimly lighted. + 

“I was wishing I could get my hands on that bag,” Mary continued, growing more boastful, “when suddenly there was a big smash-up down the road. Two automobiles had run together. Someone in the dining room yelled that there had been a bad accident. Everyone got excited and began running around. + 

“This gave me the chance I wanted. When Mrs. Willoughby turned her back I just reached my hand through the window and took the bag. It was the easiest job I ever pulled.” + 

“You might have been caught,” Bud said to her. + 

“Not Mary Mason! I’m too smart for the police. I just hid behind the lilac bushes until the excitement had died down. It sure was fun to hear Mrs. Willoughby carrying on in the dining room and accusing everyone! When I saw my chance, I slipped away without being seen and walked to River Heights. Neat, wasn’t it?” + 

“It was clever work,” Bud admitted. + 

“Forty thousand dollars’ worth of jewels in one haul! Why, that’s more than you and Tom Tozzle have brought in together in the last six years. Now we’ve got enough to put us all on easy street if Tom has gumption enough to convert the jewels into cash.” + 

“I’ll get rid of ’em in a few days,” the man promised. “Give me time. I can’t walk into the first pawnshop I come to and dump forty thousand dollars’ worth of jewels on the counter⁠—not unless we all want to land behind the bars. Now if we can get to Birmingham I know a fence there who’ll turn the trick for us.” + 

“How far is Birmingham?” Mary demanded. + 

“Less than a hundred miles. We can make it easy tonight.” + 

“In this storm?” + 

“Sure!” Tom Tozzle laughed. “I ain’t been a riverman for nothing. I know every crook and turn of this old stream. We’d better get started too, ’cause the storm’s getting worse every minute.” + 

“Will you agree about the shares?” + 

Tom Tozzle hesitated and Nancy saw him study the girl craftily. Evidently he realized that he could not hope to gain his point, for he shrugged his shoulders indifferently. + 

“Have it your own way.” + 

Nancy decided to wait for no more. She had heard enough to prove that Mary Mason had stolen the Crandall jewels and that her brother and Tom Tozzle were confederates. From their conversation she gathered that they were all seasoned criminals and had engaged in a number of questionable deals. + 

“This will clear Mrs. Willoughby and every other person who has been under suspicion,” she thought with satisfaction. “I must get away from here as quickly as I can and bring the police.” + 

But in planning her escape from the old house, Nancy Drew had waited too long. + 

In her eagerness to hear everything Mary and her friends were saying, she had opened the storeroom door a trifle farther than she had intended. Now, as she prepared to make her escape, the conference between the three confederates abruptly ended. Bud Mason pushed back his chair and arose. + 

Alarmed, Nancy shrank back deeper into the shadow. She thought that if she remained motionless she would not be seen, for the oil lamp on the table did not illuminate the corners of the room. Undoubtedly, she would have escaped detection had not Fate played a most unkind trick upon her. + 

At the very instant that Bud Mason turned his face toward the storeroom door, a vivid flash of lightning zigzagged across the sky. It revealed every detail of the room and disclosed poor Nancy, who crouched on the floor. + 

“Who’s there?” Buddy called sharply. + 

Panic took possession of Nancy. For a moment she could not move, so great was her fright. Then, with the speed born of desperation, she bolted for the window. Reaching the ledge, she swung herself upward, but a rough hand grasped her from behind. + 

“Oh, no you don’t, young lady!” a harsh voice hissed into her ear. + 

Before she could cry out for help, her arms were caught in a viselike grip and jerked behind her back. A handkerchief was stuffed into her mouth. She struggled frantically, kicking viciously at her captor, but it availed her nothing. + 

The gag in her mouth choked her and she began to gasp for breath. Then things went black before her eyes and she knew no more. + 