Captive Witness Read Online Free PDF Page A

feet away.
    “A little service, please,” he rumbled.
    “What is it, Herr Gutterman,” the manager inquired icily.
    “I wanted to know if you have obtained rooms for my friends on Professor Bagley’s tour. If not, I shall escort these unfortunate people to my hotel and see that they are treated as all guests in Salzburg should be treated. I tell you, Herr Schoenburg, your hotel is a disgrace to the nation. A disgrace!”
    “Weasel!” hissed the hotel manager. “How dare you come in here and behave this way. Bruckner! Bruckner!” A tall, strong young porter came striding across the room. “Escort Herr Gutterman out of the hotel.”
    Herr Gutterman, flashing his fat smile, held up both hands. “That won’t be necessary. I am leaving. But you, my friends,” he said, turning to Professor Bagley and his group, “can meet me on the sidewalk after this incompetent gives you his bad news.”
    With a flourish, Herr Gutterman waddled away through the doors and into the street. The manager, flushed with embarrassment, turned to the professor.
    “Sir, I am chagrined to have to tell you that I cannot find you accommodations. Believe me, if I could do anything to make up for this terrible mistake, I would.”
    The professor nodded and rubbed his chin. “What do you suggest we do? We must sleep. Tomorrow we begin our tour here in this city.”
    The manager passed one hand over his eyes. “Much as it pains me,” he said, “I think you had better accept Herr Gutterman’s offer.”
    Reluctantly, the professor agreed and the forlorn group filed out onto the sidewalk where Herr Gutterman, completely unperturbed by his recent dismissal from the hotel, was waiting with a smile and a bear hug for the professor.
    “Now,” he rumbled, “you come with me and you will be treated as honored guests.” Subdued, the group followed Herr Gutterman down the street, instructing the bus driver to bring their bags as soon as possible.
    To their surprise, the hotel, though small, was clean, neat, and pleasant in appearance. Nancy, Bess, and George were assigned a large room with bunk beds. Their bags arrived as they were testing the mattresses and checking whether the water faucets worked.
    Leaving the other girls to unpack, Nancy went downstairs to make her long-delayed call to her father. But when she reached the phones in the lobby, she found they were in use and would be for some time since there was a long waiting line ahead of her.
    The clerk on duty motioned her to come over to the desk and told her that if she was in a hurry she could use the pay phone on the street half a block away. Nancy thanked him and hurried out the door, turning left and walking along the quiet, dimly lit street until she saw the booth. It was on the opposite side built against a high stone wall. Nancy entered, fumbled for her Austrian coins, and then dialed the number of her home in River Heights.
    “Hello!” It was the cheerful, deep voice of her father, Carson Drew.
    “Hi, Dad!”
    “And who might this be?”
    “Very funny. Who else calls you Dad?”
    The lawyer laughed. “How are you, dear? How do you like Austria?”
    “Beautiful. But so far our bus driver was kidnapped, a car almost ran over Ned, a man tried to steal the professor’s luggage, and somebody canceled our hotel reservations.”
    Her father groaned. “Well, it sounds like a typical trip for my Nancy. Do you know why all these things have been happening?”
    Nancy hesitated. Dr. Bagley had sworn her to secrecy about the orphans, and she couldn’t violate her promise. “Well,” she said, “let’s say I’m working on it, Dad. But tell me about Vienna and the stolen film. It sounds fascinating.”
    Carson Drew proceeded to outline the case. Kurt Kessler, a noted film director from an Eastern European country, had defected to America more than a year before. He had managed to smuggle out several valuable reels of film, which he had since edited into a documentary condemning the