The hour was late, and Nancy knew that Hannah and her father would be worried about her. She decided to phone them, and was just about to call when Ned thrust his head into the booth.
“Keep your money if you’re calling home,” he advised cheerfully. “I talked to your father a while ago. He says for you to stay here as long as you’re needed.”
“Thanks for calling,” Nancy said. “But I may as well go home. There’s nothing more I can do here.”
“Let’s get Katherine and Jim and go somewhere to eat,” Ned proposed.
“I am hungry,” Nancy admitted. “We cheated ourselves out of most of the supper at the inn. But what about the party there? Shouldn’t Jim go back and get Helen?”
“He phoned soon after we got here, and the party was breaking up then. Bess and Dave were going to take Helen home.”
When Katherine heard this, she consented to go along, and the young people left the hospital.
“Where to?” Ned asked.
“Not many places open at this time of night,” Jim replied, glancing up and down the deserted street. “I know a diner that has good food.”
“Lead on!” Ned commanded. “All we ask is food and plenty of it!”
Jim escorted the party to a place that was open all night. Its only customer was a truck driver seated at the counter.
“I believe I may as well order breakfast,” Nancy declared, scanning the menu. “Orange juice-”
She broke off as the door opened. A man, who was breathing hard, came hurrying in. Almost at his heels was a policeman.
“Hold on there!” the officer exclaimed, grabbing the fellow’s arm. “I’ve got you now!”
“You’ve made a mistake,” the man replied in a haughty voice. “Frequently I am taken for a pickpocket who closely resembles me.”
“Well, we’re looking for him, too.”
“But my name is Dorrance.”
“Doesn’t mean a thing to me.”
Dorrance’s gaze roved about the diner and came to rest upon Nancy. His eyes brightened.
“Here’s a young lady who knows me well, and knows I’m honest,” he told the officer.
Smiling at Nancy, he took a handkerchief from his pocket and waved it.
“Can you identify this man?” the policeman asked her.
“Indeed I can.”
Nancy arose and faced David Dorrance. “Officer, arrest this man!” she said, her words dropping like chips of steel. “He is one of the two pickpockets the police are looking for!”
CHAPTER XIX
DAVID Dorrance stared at Nancy as if unable to believe his ears. He had felt certain she would exonerate him, and instead she had accused him of being wanted by the police.
“Just because I look like another man is no reason for arresting me as a thief.”
“If you’re innocent, you won’t mind being searched,” she told him.
At this remark the color drained from the man’s face. The officer examined his pockets and found a large sum of money. Several bills were marked ones which had been given to a police decoy to trap the pickpockets.
“You’re one of the men we’re looking for, all right,” the officer stated.
“You win,” Dorrance said angrily. “Miss Detective, just how did you figure all this out?”
“I decided that you and your double work together. One of you picks the pocket of a victim, and either makes a quick getaway, or passes the loot to the other man through a window or a door. Then the thief plays innocent, and of course the pocketbook or wallet is never found on him.
“That handkerchief signal proved your undoing. You waved it once too often. Your pal stole a knife from Mr. Faber. In escaping, he nearly forgot to wave his handkerchief at me. Then moments later you tried the same stunt. Obviously you couldn’t have moved from the office building to the store that fast.”
“I didn’t think you’d figure it out!” said the thief as he was led away.
Forgetting their hunger, the young people decided to follow the officer and his prisoner to police headquarters. There Nancy repeated everything she knew about the two pickpockets.
Dorrance waived his constitutional rights to consult a lawyer before answering questions. His double, he said, had stolen Mr. Drew’s wallet. He admitted that both were professional pickpockets. They had met accidentally, and later worked out the partnership. When he would not tell the name of his accomplice, Nancy spoke up.
“Isn’t it Cordova?”
The prisoner nodded. “I suppose that woman in the apartment house on Water Street talked,” he said. “Cordova’s related to her husband.”
Nancy had a sudden hunch. “The husband’s tall and has bushy hair, hasn’t he?” she asked. “And he works with you.”
Dorrance looked surprised. “That’s right. He didn’t want to at first, but Cordova talked him into it.”
“Where is he now? At the apartment on Water Street?” Nancy asked.
“You find out!” Dorrance retorted.
“We’ll round him up,” the police lieutenant said quietly. “His name is Carl Peters.”
In addition to the money in Dorrance’s pockets, a little notebook had been found. It contained two addresses; that of a house on Clayton Avenue and the Alexandra residence.
“The Clayton Avenue place may be Cordova’s hideout,” said the officer. “We’ll search there at once, and also the Water Street apartment. What about this Alexandra address?”
“The man arrested at the Red Lion Inn tonight lived there,” Nancy explained. “I think he’s associated with Dorrance, Cordova, and Peters. The four probably planned the robbery at Mrs. Alexandra’s.”
It was so late that Nancy and her friends did not remain longer at police headquarters. However, the next day the young detective learned by telephone that a successful raid had been staged at the Clayton Avenue house and Peters had been captured. Although Cordova escaped, all of Mrs. Alexandra’s jewels and antiques had been recovered, as well as Mr. Drew’s papers.
On the way to church, she told the story to her father and Hannah Gruen. “And, Dad, you’ll get back most of the money that was stolen from you!”
“That’s good news.” Mr. Drew sighed. “Nancy, I’m proud of the way you handled this mystery.”
Later, when the family was finishing dinner, Nancy said, “As to the clue in the jewel box-well, I’m right back where I started. Prince Michael still has not been found. But I do have a good lead to work on,” she added. “If he is alive, then-”
Suddenly a voice boomed through an open window. “Carson, where are you?”
The lawyer glanced at his watch. “My goodness, Nancy, that’s Mr. Field. I promised to meet him twenty minutes ago. I must be off.”
He kissed her affectionately, said good-by to Hannah, and left the house. Nancy immediately telephoned the hospital. She was glad to hear that Mrs. Alexandra and Anna had improved.
Next she called Katherine and learned that Richard Ellington had not contacted her.
“Oh, Nancy, I worry,” the young woman said. “Richard and I are close perhaps because we are from same country. He is so kind, I do not see how he could-what you say?-break our date. He never do so before.”
“I’ll call his apartment,” Nancy offered.
The same man who had answered the evening before said that Ellington had not come home, and had sent no word.
Deep in thought, Nancy put down the telephone. “What could have happened to Richard?”
She drove to police headquarters to obtain more information about the two prisoners. Nancy was told that the impostor prince’s real name was Stanley Brandette.
“According to his story,” said the lieutenant, “he met the pickpockets, Dorrance and Cordova, about two weeks ago when Cordova stole his wallet. Being a small-time thief himself, he caught on at once to the way the pickpockets’ scheme worked, and told Dorrance so. Whenever Cordova was being chased after having picked someone’s pocket, Dorrance would whistle in a certain way. This was a warning to drop the stolen wallet. Most pursuers would give up the chase and the thief would get away.”