The Scarlet Slipper Mystery Read Online Free

behind her did the same.
    “Oh, dear,” Nancy thought, “this may mean trouble!”
    On the spur of the moment she decided to switch to a side road with many curves. It was just around the next bend, and by hurrying Nancy knew she could turn into it before the other car reached the curve. Turning off the convertible’s headlights, Nancy hoped that the driver trailing her would not suspect her ruse.
    Unfortunately the side road was rutted and bumpy, and she was forced to slow down, with the result that the pursuing driver spotted the convertible’s brake lights and came after her. Nancy rolled up the windows and locked the doors. She drove as fast as she dared, but the other car finally overtook the convertible and forced it so close to a ditch that she was compelled to stop.
    From behind the wheel climbed the sinister-looking man she had suspected of being a spy at the airport! He came to stand beside her window.
    “You’re Miss Drew?” he asked with a decided French accent.
    Nancy did not reply.
    “I am a friend of the Fontaines,” the man said brusquely. “Where are they going?”
    Still, Nancy did not answer. The man shook his fist at her. “If you do not tell me, it will go badly with you. You are playing a dangerous game, mademoiselle.”
    Nancy’s heart was pounding, but her voice was calm as she said, “I have nothing to say. Please move your car out of the way!”
    “I will not!” the man cried. “You’re going to answer my question or—”
    He stopped speaking because suddenly he was outlined in the headlights of a car coming up behind them. Apparently fearful of being caught, the man hurried back to his car and got in. But he called back, “You haven’t heard the last of this!”
    He geared his car and roared away. The approaching automobile slowed down. A young couple was in it, and the girl called anxiously to Nancy, “Are you all right?”
    “Yes,” Nancy assured her. “But I’d like to follow you into River Heights, if you don’t mind.”
    “Okay.”
    On the way Nancy wondered if her well-laid plan might be falling through and the stranger would pick up her trail again. But no car followed. Finally she reached the railroad station and parked in the shadows across the street as prearranged with the Fontaines.
    “Hannah and the girls must be wondering where I am,” Nancy thought. “I wish I dared leave the car and phone them. Here’s hoping the train won’t be late and delay me any longer.”
    Presently it loomed down the tracks. Nancy looked around for suspicious persons who might be watching, but the station area seemed to be deserted. The engine ground to a halt and a few passengers alighted. The Fontaines climbed down from the last coach. Henri’s hat was pulled low and the scarf on Helene’s head obscured her face.
    They found the car quickly, got into the front seat without saying a word, as formerly agreed upon, and Nancy drove off. After they had gone two blocks, Henri said, “Did everything go all right with you?”
    Nancy did not want to frighten the couple, but she felt that they should know every detail of the case, and so she told them what had happened.
    Helene gasped. “Oh, Nancy, our enemies mean to harm us, even though we tried to make them think we obeyed their command!”
    “Perhaps not. They may want to know where you are only to be sure you’re not planning to return to River Heights,” Nancy said reassuringly.
    She described the man, but neither Henri nor Helene could identify him as anyone they had known in France or had met in the United States.
    As Nancy turned into her own street, she noticed a man just barely visible in the shadows. He was strolling on the sidewalk opposite the Drew home and looked suspicious. There was no sign of Bess or George. Fearful that the man might be a spy, Nancy drove around the block.
    When she returned, the man was not in sight. Nancy sighed with relief when she spotted Bess and George standing in the driveway, motioning