The impostor took off running into the forest. Nancy was surprised, and didn’t follow immediately. The next moment, she was taking off after her adversary. But that moment’s hesitation was all the impostor needed and disappeared into the forest. Nancy tried to pick up her trail, but there was nothing to find. Feeling a little disappointed, Nancy returned to her car and practically ripped off the wig in frustration. She almost had the culprit! She hit the steering wheel and let out a breath. Well, there will be a next time, and next time Nancy will be well prepared to catch her adversary. After taking a few breaths to calm herself down, Nancy started up the car, and went home. She went back into the house the way she left, managed to change into her pajamas in the dark, and crawled back into bed. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, but not without thinking first that she definitely had to get a costume and come up with a better plan to catch the impostor. One more thought hit her right before her eyes gave way to sleep, trying to catch the impostor without anyone else knowing where she was and without back-up was pretty stupid. She needed to work on that.
The next morning, Nancy was up around nine, surprised that Hannah hadn’t come to get her yet as breakfast was served at eight in the summer. Nancy let out a yawn before getting out of bed, put on her robe, and walked downstairs. Her father and Hannah had apparently just finished eating breakfast.
“Good morning,” said Nancy with a yawn.
“Good morning,” said Hannah.
Carson put down his coffee. “How was your little excursion last night?”
Nancy was about to pull out a chair, but she paused and glanced at her father in surprise. He merely took a sip of his coffee. “You, you know?”
“Wasn’t hard, you weren’t exactly that quiet,” said Carson, shooting her a look.
Nancy sighed as she sat down. “I know, I know, it was stupid of me, and reckless. I should have told you. I really don’t know why I didn’t. I’m sorry.”
It was Carson’s turn to be surprised. “What’s this I hear? Is it possible that my daughter is growing up?”
Nancy shot him an annoyed look. “Dad, I’ve been growing up.”
He smiled. “I know, but this is the first time I’ve heard you admit something was reckless and stupid on your own.”
Nancy winced. “Am I being called off the case?”
Carson shook his head. “Absolutely not, you’ve already made some good progress, why stop now? No, I was trying to decide if talking with the Hardys would be a punishment, though I guess considering them as your babysitters definitely would be.”
Nancy gasped. “My babysitters? Dad!”
Carson chuckled slightly. “That’s what I thought. You are a very independent-minded and strong-willed young woman, which is a good thing, provided you make the right decisions. I do appreciate that you understand what you did last night was reckless and stupid, so . . . we’ll call this strike one. Get to strike three, and I will ground you after you’ve solved this mystery, understand?”
Nancy bobbed her head vigorously. “Perfectly.”
“Good, now, what did you find out last night?”
Nancy told them everything that happened while she served herself breakfast.
Hannah gasped. “Someone’s impersonating you?”
Carson’s eyebrows furrowed. “An uncanny likeness of you?”
Nancy nodded. “Yes.”
“This has to be reported to McGinnis immediately.”
“I’ll call him after breakfast,” Nancy promised solemnly.
Carson nodded. “Good. Now, either you are getting closer to figuring out their plans than you think, or they’re afraid of you figuring out everything before they’ve had a chance to get away. Point is, they’re afraid of you. It’s a good thing, and a bad thing.”
“How so?” asked Nancy.
Carson raised a finger. “It’s a good thing because they’re more likely to mess up which will get them caught.” He raised a second finger. “It’s a bad thing because they might end up going out of their way to harm you. These are criminals, they don’t care about the law, until it catches them.”
Nancy nodded. “And they don’t want the law to catch them.:
“Exactly.”
Nancy smiled at Carson. “I promise to be more careful.”
Carson stood up and patted her back. “Good. Well, now that that’s settled, I should get to work.” He kissed the top of Nancy’s head. “Good luck on your sleuthing today.”
Nancy’s smile grew wider. “Thanks Dad. I plan on getting an old costume and scaring her off for good. At least her role as the ghost. I’ll have to figure out to scare her completely away from posing as me, but, one challenge at a time.”
Carson grinned. “Good to hear. Again, good luck.” He turned to Hannah. “And Hannah, be ready to call the Hardys if need be.”
Hannah saluted him. “Aye aye, Captain.”
Carson rolled his eyes, though a smirk was pulling at his lips. “Thanks.” He waved to them both. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Nancy waved back. “Bye Dad!”
Hannah waved too. “Have a good day at work!”
Carson smiled. “Thanks!” He grabbed his briefcase and left the house.
Nancy quickly finished eating her breakfast and called McGinnis’s office. He wasn’t in, so Nancy left a message. After she hung up, she helped Hannah clean up.
“Will you just be checking out what Evelyn has, or are you going to try out all thrift stores as well?”
Nancy shrugged. “Depends on what Miss Walters has. If she has what I need, I won’t go to the thrift stores. Why do you ask?”
Hannah shrugged. “Oh, just curious. I was planning on going to the mall anyway. I’m in charge of getting prizes for the Book Club this month.”
Nancy nodded. The Book Club used to be just for the women of the community who wanted to read and discuss books, but it had expanded to include everyone, though they were still split by age groups. Sometimes everyone in the club would read the same book, or up to five books were done, one per group. The adults were assigned to get prizes for each group, usually for those who had the book mostly finished and participated in the discussion. “I’m pretty sure Miss Walters will have what I need though.”
“Great! Well I shall finish up here while you go get dressed.”
“Oh, right!” Nancy chuckled and gave Hannah a quick hug before dashing up the stairs to her room and getting dressed. She freshened up, brushed her teeth, and made sure Togo had food and water. The trip to the mall reminded her that she still had to mail the present she got for the Hardy boys. Hannah promised to stop by at the post office on their way back home. A couple of minutes later, the two were on their way to the mall. Once they got there, Nancy and Hannah split up, planning to meet in the food court around noon.
Nancy walked towards the shop with determination and a slight, excited bounce to her step. She caught herself looking around for someone following her, but she quickly shook it off. Who could be following her? The Tophams were out of town. She paused. Or were they? Maybe Isabelle was the one impersonating Nancy! Nancy pursed her lips as she continued walking. But something wasn’t right with that notion, even if the Tophams had proved to her that they weren’t the most honest of people and were definitely working with Jane to get Emily’s inheritance. At least, that’s the conclusion Nancy had come to. It was the only logical explanation thus far. Still, Nancy didn’t think Isabelle could pull off posing as her, much less posing as anyone else. Was there another member to their party, a fourth member? If so, who was it?
Nancy had to put her musings on hold as she entered Evelyn’s Embroideries and Etchings. It was like she had entered another world. The walls were a pale blue with white , cloud-like symbols of sewing and arts and crafts scattered across the four walls, while the floor was a velvety green carpet. Off to one side were several racks of clothes separated by size, most of which were costumes. The other side was an arch that led into a room full of arts and crafts supplies, a few tables, and a few sewing machines. Nancy smiled as she looked through it. Evelyn taught sewing in that room, Nancy was one of her students a few years back. It was a fun experience. Nancy drew herself away from the arch, and the memories, and went to look at the clothes racks. She found her size and began looking for any clothes that dated back to before the 1950s.
“Nancy!” Nancy turned and smiled before rushing into the open arms of Evelyn Walters. “It’s really good to see you! What are you doing back so soon?”
Nancy pulled back from the hug with a huge grin. “I need a ghost costume.”
“Anything in particular?”
“Preferably a dress from before the 1950’s.”
Evelyn pointed at the racks. “Didn’t find anything on the racks?”
Nancy shrugged. “Nothing that seemed to pop out at me, or really seemed ghostly.”
Evelyn thought a moment before snapping her fingers. “I think I have just the thing. It’s in the back. Give me just a minute to dig it out.”
“Of course! You’re the best!”
Evelyn grinned and winked. “Don’t I know it.” Nancy laughed as Evelyn dashed to the back of the store. Nancy went to peruse the other items for sale, though her thoughts went to the present for the Hardys that was still in her purse. She smiled, she hoped they would like it.
“Aha, there you are Miss Drew!” Nancy turned at the sound of the voice and was grabbed by a sales associate from another store.
“What? What do you think you’re doing? Let go of me!” Nancy wriggled her way out of the man’s grip.
“Don’t touch her!” came Hannah’s stern command. “You leave her alone and explain this nonsense right this minute!”
Nancy let out a breath, Hannah might sound like she’s panicking when things were out of order in their house, or stolen, but she was certainly no one to trifle with when Nancy or Carson was in danger or threatened. She was standing in the doorway with a few other sales associates from other stores, but she seemed to be the one in charge with the way she had her hands on her hips.
“But Miss Gruen, she stole merchandise from us!” said the sales associate with a whine. Nancy’s eyes widened. What? She stole from them? She blinked as it hit her. Her impostor! Nancy glanced at his name tag and it said his name was Caleb Collins.
“When was this, Mr. Collins?” asked Nancy.
He turned to her, eyes wide. “You see, she did! She knows my name!”
“That’s because it’s on your name tag,” said Nancy with a roll of her eyes.
He blinked and looked at his name tag. “Oh, uh, right.”
“Well, are you going to answer her question?” said Hannah as she got closer to Caleb.
“Oh, um, well, um, it was yesterday afternoon, late afternoon, almost evening when she came in. She said her name was Nancy Drew and said that she needed to speak to my manager about some items she purchased there. I went to go get her, but by the time we got back, she was gone, and several pieces of jewelry had been stolen!”
Nancy raised an eyebrow. “How could that be? Don’t you keep all the jewelry locked up in those cases?”
Caleb nodded. ‘We do! That’s the thing, we don’t know how you did it!” He glared at her. “So how did you do it?”
Nancy crossed her arms. “I didn’t, and I couldn’t have, I was at home enjoying dinner with Miss Gruen, my father, Chief McGinnis, and his mother!”
Everyone gasped as Hannah nodded. “And we can vouch for her.”
“No Mr. Collins, I’m afraid your jewelry was stolen by the same woman impersonating me to steal my friends jewelry from the bank. Except they know it couldn’t have been me because my friends were with me somewhere else!”
“And how preposterous! To think that Nancy would steal a single thing!” came Evelyn’s voice as she joined the group. “I knew it wasn’t her the instant she stepped into my store!”
Nancy gasped as she turned to Evelyn. “Did she steal anything from you?”
Evelyn shrugged. “I don’t see why she would have, nothing worth a pretty penny here, not like jewelry. She probably got away with a couple of trinkets, but I was watching her fairly closely.”
“But, but you would know it was Nancy Drew!”
“But I know it wasn’t!” Evelyn snapped. “And now if you will be so kind as to let me explain how I know . . . for starters, I have been tailoring Nancy’s clothes for years, I know her measurements.” She pointed to a couple of signs by the door. “I also know that whoever is taller than those signs has to be over five foot four, like Nancy is. The woman who came in claiming to be Nancy had to have been five two or five three, easily. Not only that, but she had the wrong face shape and the wrong body shape too.”
Nancy let out a squeal. “That’s the best clue ever Miss Walters!”
Evelyn winked. “Don’t I know it!”
“What is going on here?” boomed a voice. Everyone turned just in time to see the arrival of a couple of officers and the chief of police.
“Chief McGinnis!”
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here!” said Caleb as he walked towards him. He turned and pointed at Nancy. “Arrest that thief!”
McGinnis sighed and rubbed his temples. “There’s a reason why we haven’t arrested her. She’s completely innocent!”
“But, but . . .”
McGinnis looked at Caleb square in the eye. “Are you going to let me do my job or not?”
“I, I, I . . . yes sir.”
“Thank you. I cleared Miss Drew once I got in the office this morning. I was at her house last night. That, and I know her, she wouldn’t do this. She’s in the crime-fighting department, not the crime-committing department. We’ve already figured out this is in connection with a case she’s working on for a friend of hers.” He crossed his arms and glanced at Nancy. There was a slight, mischievous twinkle to them. “Though, if they wanted to scare you off or get you arrested, they should have come up with something a little better than this. At the rate they’re going, they might as well give themselves up.”
Nancy grinned at him and nodded. “Dad thinks so too.”
“Good. Now I recommend everyone get back to work, we’re already on the trail of this thief and hope to have her captured.” He paused and glanced at Nancy, thinking. “Maybe by the end of this week? Maybe a little later, but we will get them, we promise.”
A few mumbled, “thank you Chief,” before returning to their stores. Caleb glared at Nancy before following them out.
“Well, that was fun,” said Evelyn drily.
“Oh, Chief! Miss Walters has some information you could use!”
McGinnis glanced between Nancy and Evelyn. “Really? OK then, end of the week for sure.” He wagged his finger at Nancy. “I’m counting on you.”
Nancy grinned. “I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Now about this information.” Evelyn gave them everything she had picked up about the impostor, and once they double-checked to make sure they had all the information correct, McGinnis and his officers left.
Evelyn then gave Nancy the dress. “Here, I know this will fit you, but is it what you were looking for?”
Nancy gasped as she fingered the floral-print dress. It looked like it came off the Titanic. “It’s perfect! Thank you!”
Evelyn smiled. “Wonderful, I expect this back in tip-top shape.”
Nancy smiled. “Yes ma’am!”
“Now, if you don’t mind my asking, what’s this for?”
Nancy’s eyes twinkled merrily. “I’m going to give my impostor the scare of her life.”
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