Mystery at the Ski Jump Read Online Free PDF Page B

come to Mrs. Plimpton’s room and persuaded her to buy the fur stole. “But I didn’t have the five hundred dollars she urged me to invest in her stock,” the woman told her.
    “Lucky for you,” Nancy said, and explained that the value of the stock was questionable. “Mrs. Plimpton, in your conversations with her, did this woman say where she might be going from here?”
    The older woman shook her head. “I understood that she was to stay at Crestview for some time.”
    “Mrs. Channing must have caught a glimpse of me as we entered the hotel,” Nancy thought. Aloud she said, “May I see the stole?”
    “Certainly,” Mrs. Plimpton replied, and brought out a fur piece. There was no label in it.
    “Mrs. Channing must have removed it,” Nancy said to herself. “But perhaps there’s some other way to identify it as stolen goods.” She explained her suspicions to Mrs. Plimpton and asked to use the telephone.
    Nancy called the Masonville Fur Company and learned that every fur piece sold there had MFC stamped on one of the skins. At the time of purchase, the date was added.
    Nancy borrowed scissors and quickly opened the lining of the stole. Near the neckline was the MFC mark. There was no date.
    “I’ll let the fur company know,” Mrs. Plimpton said tearfully.
    “I hope to recover your money,” Nancy said. “By the way, that thief is not Nancy Drew. Her name is Mrs. Channing. If you should ever see her again, be sure to call the police.”
    When Nancy joined her friends in the lobby, Bess suggested that they go to lunch at a tearoom she had noticed a few blocks away. As the three walked toward it, Nancy told what she had learned from Mrs. Plimpton.
    “Has Mrs. Channing been doing this all along? Stealing furs and then selling them as a come-on for her fake stock?” George asked.
    “I’m not sure where she got her first supply,” said Nancy. “But evidently business has been so good that she ran out of merchandise and had to resort to shoplifting.”
    “Well, what next?” Bess asked.
    “Before we leave town,” Nancy said, “I’d like to canvass all the exclusive shops and find out if they’ve missed any furs or—” Her voice trailed away. She had seen an elegantly dressed woman with shiny blue-black hair walking briskly along the opposite side of the street.
    “I’ll be back!” she said quickly, hurrying across the street to follow the woman. Mrs. Channing was moving so rapidly that the girl had no chance to trail her subtly.
    Nancy had nearly caught up to Mrs. Channing when the woman paused to look in a gift-shop window. An instant later she turned, ran down the street, and slipped into a small fur shop.
    “She saw my reflection in that store window!” Nancy thought, and walked rapidly to the fur shop. She gazed cautiously through the window. Mrs. Channing was not in sight.
    Nancy stepped inside. A small, stout man moved briskly to meet her, followed by a smaller and equally stout woman. “Something my wife and I can do for you, miss?” the man asked.
    “I came in to inquire about a woman I saw enter this place a minute ago,” Nancy replied. “A tall woman in a mink coat. She has bluish-black hair.”
    The storekeeper raised his eyebrows and shook his head, at the same time glancing quickly at his wife. “Perhaps you are mistaken?”
    “I saw her come in here,” Nancy insisted. “I must find her.”
    “Who are you, please?” the man demanded.
    “My name is Nancy Drew, and—”
    With a yelp of rage the little man leaped toward the girl, pinning her hands behind her back. The woman threw a dark cloth over Nancy’s head. Despite her resistance, the couple overpowered the young sleuth and dragged her to a rear room.
    “Unlock the closet!” the man directed.
    Nancy heard the click of a door latch. She was shoved among some fur coats. The door slammed shut and a key turned in the lock.
    “You’ll never try to rob this store again!” the proprietor cried mockingly.

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