Read The Mystery at Lilac Inn for Free Online Page A

Insurance,” she said hoarsely. “There isn’t any! I thought the jewels were safe in the bank vault and let the insurance policy lapse!”
    Everyone listening was stunned and tears came to Emily’s eyes. She turned to Nancy and asked in a trembling voice, “What shall I do?”
    It was Helen who spoke up. “Have Nancy take over the case of your missing diamonds, Emily. I guarantee she’ll unearth them!”
    All the others backed Helen’s suggestion eagerly except Maud. The social director merely raised her eyebrows.
    The amateur sleuth smiled. “I’ll be glad to do what I can, Emily, but this is a big assignment. If I don’t succeed very soon, will you promise to notify the police?”
    “It’s a bargain, Nancy.”
    John whistled. “Miss Nancy Drew, detective, you’re not going to have much time for skin diving.”
    Nancy laughed. “I’ll find time.”
    John cautioned the Willoughbys to make sure all first-floor doors and windows were kept locked at night. He himself went outside to make another tour of the grounds. Emily reassured her unhappy aunt and persuaded her to go to bed. Maud said she would follow.
    The three girls decided to check the window and door locks in the various rooms. Emily took the kitchen and offices, while Nancy and Helen headed for the other rooms. Minutes later they met in the lobby to report everything locked.
    Helen gave a huge sigh. “Nancy, aren’t you exhausted after all this excitement?”
    Nancy admitted that she was a bit tired. “Two burglaries in one day and a car mishap are quite enough.” She smiled wearily. “Helen, what’s your theory about the theft of Emily’s diamonds?”
    The dark-haired girl hesitated. “I’m sure it’s an outside job but—”
    “Out with it, Miss Corning,” Nancy urged. “Whom do you suspect?”
    “John McBride!” her friend blurted. “I like him very much, but he was away most of today. Yet Emily said he was here to help fix up the inn during Dick’s absence.”
    “Yes, she did,” Nancy admitted. “But I can’t believe John has anything to do with either the theft or the mysterious happenings at Lilac Inn.”
    The young sleuth’s eyes had been roving back and forth across the floor, since it was instinctive with her to be hunting for clues whenever a mystery confronted her. Something glinted in a corner under a chair. She went to pick it up as Emily came into the lobby.
    “What is it?” Emily asked.
    “Believe it or not, it’s my stolen charge plate!” Nancy answered. “I may be jumping to conclusions, but I’m sure now that my impersonator is the jewel thief. She dropped the charge plate from her pocket or purse, probably when she put the jewel case in it.”
    “This is positively eerie,” Helen remarked. “Maybe that fake Nancy dropped something else.”
    The girls started a search and presently Helen found a tiny envelope, farther under the chair. Nancy’s name and address were typed on it!
    “The charge plate must have been in this and slid out,” she said. “My impersonator must have decided to type the envelope to be sure that she did not make a mistake when the clerks at Burk’s Department Store asked for her address for the sales slips. I notice the letter a is faint.”
    Suddenly Nancy chuckled. “Em, you didn’t want the police notified about the jewel theft, but here’s a chance to get police help without telling them.”
    “How?”
    “Chief McGinnis knows that my charge plate was stolen by an impersonator,” Nancy answered. “With this typed clue, maybe he can find her. And I suspect that when he does, your thief will be caught!”
    Nancy called Chief McGinnis at his home. She told him about the charge plate and envelope, and her suspicion that her impersonator, though not known to the inn’s owners, must have been there.
    “Please send the plate and envelope to me for fingerprint analysis,” Chief McGinnis requested.
    Nancy promised she would and hung up, wishing she could have reported the