Read The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book for Free Online Page A

the cast of the suspect’s left shoe print.
    “As soon as these dry,” Nancy said, “we’d better follow the stranger’s trail.”
    When the moulages were ready, they were carefully laid in the trunk of Nancy’s car. Then she put the kit on the floor of the backseat before the girls set off on their sleuthing. The prints led to the next block, then veered off into a stretch of woodland. A quarter of a mile farther on, they stopped abruptly.
    “Now what do we do?” Karen asked.
    Nancy did not reply. Instead, she looked carefully around the area. The undergrowth was thick, and it was difficult to detect any marks on the ground. Suddenly she called out, “Come here, everyone! Tell me if you see anything unusual.”
    The club members gazed around. Finally Sue said, “The bushes have been trampled.”
    “Yes. Let’s see where the broken path leads.”
    As the girls climbed across the tangled mass Martie cried out, “Ouch! There are briars in here!”
    Sue giggled. “A good detective never lets a few briars stand in her way.”
    Her friends laughed, then plunged ahead. When they reached the far side of the wooded area, the girls stopped and searched again for the uneven shoe prints. They saw none, but presently Peg, who was in the lead, exclaimed, “I just noticed a different set. They match!”
    Everyone hurried forward to study her new discovery. Nancy remarked, “They’re small enough to belong to a woman.”
    “Maybe the suspect met a woman here?” Karen said.
    “Then what did he do with his own shoes? Carry them and walk in his stocking feet?”
    The girls searched for footprints, but found no extra set. Nancy suggested that the arsonist could have changed shoes at this point. “He probably used the phony ones to go to the house to set the fire. He might even have slipped them on over his regular shoes. Sue, why don’t you take some snapshots of these new prints, and then we’ll see where they lead us.”
    As soon as Sue had finished, the young detectives continued their search. It was reasonably easy to follow the trail across fields to a farmhouse with the name STEDMAN on the mailbox. Nancy went to the back porch and knocked on the kitchen door. A little girl answered.
    “Hello,” the young detective said. “My name is Nancy. What’s yours?”
    “Josie.”
    “Is your daddy or your brother at home?”
    “Not my daddy. He’s at work. My make-believe brother is. But you can’t see him. He’s taking a bath. Did he come home a mess!”
    Nancy’s eyes roved around the porch. On a hook hung a man’s raincoat and hat. In one corner she spotted a pair of pants and a shirt that reeked of gasoline. Underneath lay two unmatched shoes. Did they belong to the suspect? Had he started the fire with gasoline?
    Nancy’s pulse was racing, but she smiled calmly at the little girl. “Why do you say he’s a ‘make-believe brother’?”
    “’Cause he’s not my real brother. Mommy and Daddy brought him here from some school. I don’t like him. He does bad things instead of his chores, like going off without telling anybody. And he teases me. He’s mean!”
    Nancy asked Josie if her mother was at home.
    “Yes, but she’s sleeping. She works nights.”
    There was a long pause, then Nancy asked if she might use the telephone. “My friends and I took a long walk, and we’d like to ride back. If it’s okay, I’ll call my daddy to come and get us.”
    “Go ahead. Mommy won’t mind.” Josie led Nancy to the wall phone in the dining room.
    The young sleuth dialed her father’s private number. When he answered, she said, “This is Nancy Polly. The girls and I are at a farmhouse on Chester Road. The name is Stedman. Could you pick us up? Hurry, please! We left my car in town at Krum and Archer streets. And thanks a lot.”
    She hung up and turned to the little girl. “You’re so sweet. I’ll go and tell my friends we’ll get a ride home.”
    Nancy went outside and whispered to the members of the