The Crooked Banister Read Online Free

working on mysteries and always proved to be of great help.
    After dropping Mrs. Carrier at her home, the Drews and Mrs. Melody returned to the motel. Nancy immediately phoned George and asked if she and Bess could spend a few days with her in Mountainville to solve a mystery. Nancy mentioned the motel fire.
    “If you girls can come, please call Hannah and have her pack a suitcase of clothes for me.” George said she would do this and let Nancy know the plans.
    During lunch she received a call from George saying she and Bess could come. They were getting a ride with a relative who would pass through Mountainville about five o’clock.
    Nancy told her father the good news. He wished the three girls luck and added with a chuckle, “Mrs. Melody, I always give Nancy hard assignments and always with great confidence that she will come up with the right answers.” He smiled affectionately at his daughter.
    Nancy smiled back, though she did not feel confident about solving this mystery. She had been given the difficult task of learning the whereabouts of a man who had not only disappeared but had left behind a frightening robot!
    She drove her father and Mrs. Melody to a bus stop directly after lunch and then went on a shopping tour to look at fall clothes. If she were going to stay in Mountainville for some time, there might be cool days. For a while Nancy’s mind was taken completely off the mystery as she tried on sports suits. She decided to purchase a tan suit, then bought shoes to match.
    Later, Nancy stopped at the police station and the firehouse to inquire if there was any new information on Rawley Banister or the person who had set the three blazes at the motel. In each case the answer was no.
    Leaving the firehouse, Nancy looked at her wrist watch. She still had plenty of time before Bess and George would arrive, and decided to walk back leisurely to the motel.
    As she gazed into an art-shop window, a man’s voice behind her said, “Hello, Nancy Drew.”
    She turned to face a stranger. Nancy was sure she had never seen him before.
    “I guess you don’t remember me,” said the tall, thin man with a rather pinched face. He was in his thirties, Nancy judged, and the thought also ran through her mind that he could use a good meal!
    He laughed and said, “I met you at Emerson College, where I used to teach. I’m Clyde Mead.”
    Still Nancy could not remember him. Emerson was the school her friend Ned Nickerson attended and she had been to many football games and house parties there. She tried her best to recall this man but failed.
    “You’re not at the college now?” Nancy asked.
    “No.”
    “What do you do?”
    “I’m a professional fundraiser. At present I’m working on an appeal you’ll certainly be interested in.”
    The longer the man talked, the more suspicious Nancy became of his former connection with Emerson College and of his sincerity. She decided to get away from him as quickly as possible.

CHAPTER IV
    The Annoying Salesman
    DETERMINED to end the conversation, Nancy turned and said to Mr. Mead, “I must go back to the motel now.” She looked at her watch. “I’m expecting friends soon.”
    Nancy’s hopes of getting rid of the man vanished. Taking her arm and smiling most ingratiatingly, he said, “Let me take you there. I’m so glad I ran into you again.”
    Not wishing to make a scene on the street, Nancy allowed Mr. Mead to accompany her, but casually shook off his hand. When they reached the motel, he walked into the lobby with her.
    “Oh good!” he said. “They’re serving tea. Suppose you and I sit down and have some. I know you’ll be interested in what I’m doing. I’ll tell you about it. Have you ever been on an Indian reservation?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you know that many of the Indians make only a bare living from farming, and their children lack many comforts of life.”
    Though concerned about the plight of the Indians, Nancy was exasperated by the man’s aggressive