Read The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book for Free Online Page B

Detective Club, “I think we’ve cornered the arsonist. Dad’s coming with the police.”
    “What!” Sue exclaimed. “Tell us about it.”
    “I will, but first we must be sure the suspect won’t guess what’s going on and try to escape. You girls pretend to be strolling around the house and guard all the entrances. If anyone comes out, yell.”
    Within fifteen minutes, Mr. Drew and a detective arrived in Nancy’s car. Behind them was a coupe with two plainclothes policemen. Nancy hurried to meet them and reported the girls’ discovery.
    “I made moulages of the strange unmatching shoe prints,” she added. “Those shoes and some clothes smelling of gasoline are on the back porch. Suppose I show Dad where the articles are, and he can bring them to you.”
    After Mr. Drew had left the porch, Nancy knocked on the door again. Josie opened it. Nancy requested that the wide-eyed child awaken her mother gently and ask her to come downstairs to meet the visitors. Josie hurried out of the kitchen and returned five minutes later with a sweet-faced woman. By this time the police had compared the moulages with the shoes. They matched perfectly!

    “This is Nancy Polly. Could you pick us up? Hurry, please!”
    Mr. Drew was introduced to Josie and her mother. “Is your son at home, Mrs. Stedman?” he inquired.
    “Yes,” she replied. “Why are you asking?”
    “He’s suspected of arson,” the lawyer said and, in a low voice, related the circumstances. “The house that burned down belongs to Judge Ryman. Does that name mean anything to you?”
    The woman nodded, and tears came to her eyes. “After Bobby was found guilty of stealing, Judge Ryman sentenced him to a reform school. My husband and I offered to take him here on a trial basis. He’s a good farmworker but is absent a lot. Oh, this is dreadful. Poor Bobby!”
    At this moment the group heard footsteps on the stairs, and a dark-haired youth of seventeen appeared, dressed in a clean shirt and jeans. Without waiting for an introduction, he cried out, “Where are my clothes and shoes?”
    “Calm down, Bobby,” said Mrs. Stedman gently. She looked straight at him. “The police have proof that you set Judge Ryman’s house on fire.”
    Bobby screamed, then became defiant. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    By this time the officers and the rest of the Detective Club had come into the kitchen. Detective Closter explained how a neighbor had seen a figure wearing a raincoat and rain hat running from the rear door of Ryman’s house, and how the girls had made moulages of his unmatched shoe prints and followed them to the farm.
    “If I’m not mistaken,” he said, “you took off the unmatched shoes in the woods and are now wearing the pair you had on underneath.”
    Sue opened her handbag and showed several photographs to the detective. “I made pictures,” she said.
    Detective Closter looked at her admiringly. “Good work.” Then he turned to Bobby. “Let me see the bottoms of your shoes!”
    Despite his protest, the young man was made to sit down, and his soles were examined. The pattern matched that in the pictures perfectly!
    Bobby, realizing that he had been caught, flopped down into a chair and covered his eyes with his hands. “I just had to do it!” he cried. “I hate that judge. He sent me away! He deserved to lose his house.”
    Mrs. Stedman put an arm around the boy. “I suppose you’ll have to go back to reform school. It’s too bad you didn’t keep to the straight path you started to follow here. Hatred never pays off, and retaliation only gets you into trouble.”
    “How right you are, Mrs. Stedman,” Detective Closter said. “Come along with us, Bobby.”
    Mr. Drew went with the police and their prisoner. The girls climbed into Nancy’s car and on the way home talked excitedly about the case they had solved.
    “Nancy, how did you manage to tell your father to bring the detectives?” Sue asked.
    Nancy smiled. “Dad