Confessions of a Teen Sleuth Read Online Free PDF

seeing what she believed to be a dirigible behind the Hardy house moments before we disappeared from the
     funeral gathering. Ned called Burt, who worked at the War Department, and Dave, who was unemployed, and together they put
     together the pieces and quickly commandeered passage into Berlin.
    "Well, I for one am glad you did!" I exclaimed, beaming.
    "But what about the nutcracker?" asked Frank.
    Joe chimed in. "The countess was just starting to tell me when the Nazis burst in."
    We all turned to the countess. "My great-grandfather was the Russian jeweler who made the nutcracker," she began. "He was
     a frustrated mathematician and he developed a code that could not be broken. The nutcracker is hollow. The code is inside."
    "And now it's in the hands of the Nazis!" Frank fretted.
    The countess smiled. "My grandfather thought that something like this might happen. So he made two nutcrackers. One was sold
     to a rich fat man in Zurich. The other was kept in the family." She stood up and walked across the attic and pressed a panel
     of wood on the wall. A door sprang open, and the countess removed a parcel wrapped in cloth. She unwrapped it. It was the
     nutcracker!
    "The Nazis almost burned it right along with us," Joe marveled, shaking his head.
    The countess placed the precious nutcraker in my hands. "You take it now," she told me. "Take it, and let us hope that it
     does some good in ending this war."
    Two weeks later we were all again gathered in the large, comfortable Hardy living room.
    "So how did you ever get out of Germany?" Laura Hardy asked, amazed.
    "It's a long story," Frank laughed.
    Joe Hardy sat between his mother and his wife, Iola, on the floral print sofa. Mrs. Hardy squeezed his hand. "I'm just glad
     you're okay," she smiled.
    "So what now?" asked Fenton Hardy.
    "Well," I responded, "Burt is going back to the War Department. Dave is joining the Merchant Marine. Frank is going back to
     Washington, Joe will get his next assignment in a few weeks, I suppose, and Ned and I are going to move back to River Heights."
    "River Heights? Really?" Frank asked.
    "Ned and I were talking on the sub ride back," I explained, my eyes dancing. "And I think it's time he got out of the meat-inspecting
     business. Everyone needs life insurance, especially during wartime, and my father knows people at R.H. Mutual. Besides, River
     Heights is a really nice town. And a great place to start a family," I winked.
    "Why, Nancy!" Laura Hardy exclaimed.
    The men stood to shake Ned's hand, and Frank gave me a courtly peck on the cheek. "Congratulations," he whispered. He put
     his face close to ear. "For what it's worth," he told me, "I wish it were mine."
    I forced myself to smile graciously. I had spent the last few weeks confused and elated, guilty and jubilant. I had never
     imagined myself as a mother, but I wanted this baby more than anything. I loved Frank. But the country needed him, and who
     knew how long the war would rage on, or what danger he might face before it was over? Ned could offer me stability in the
     form of a brick colonial and a new roadster every year. My own Ned.
    I glanced at him now, beaming at me with pride, and then at Frank, who had stepped back into the shadows. I did not know what
     the future would bring. But one thing I did know was that Ned would never find out what went on in that hayloft.

IV THE MYSTERIOUS MRS. DREW, 1944
    N ed Junior wailed beside me as I sped to my father's downtown River Heights office, leaving a cloud of dust and gravel
     in my wake. When my father, the handsome, world-famous attorney Carson Drew, had phoned and asked me to come by as soon as
     possible, I had, in my haste, nearly driven off with Ned Junior on the hood.
    I adored Ned Junior. He was like a stolen heirloom and a secret treasure all rolled into one. But sometimes when I looked
     at him he reminded me of all that I was missing. I resented him. And this consumed me with guilt. Some mornings, I had difficulty