“But you did find out something about Lola Flanders?” Nancy asked.
“Yes. She’s a young dancer and uses the stage name of Millie Francine.”
“A young dancer!” Nancy repeated. “Then this Lola Flanders is not the person I’m looking for.”
Nancy sat lost in thought for a few moments. This was a turn of events she had not expected. Who was this young Lola Flanders? Was she a relative of Lolita’s, perhaps?
“Where is the dancer now?” Nancy asked the police captain.
“She’s working on the West Coast,” he replied. “I’ve made a check. The story is correct—as far as it goes.”
The captain said that the police were watching the mails. The suspected package from Danford had not arrived yet. As soon as it did, it would be Impounded and x-rayed.
“Are you going back to River Heights at once?” Captain Smith asked.
Nancy replied that she was staying with her aunt and gave Miss Drew’s address. The police captain said that he would call as soon as the package had been examined. She returned to the apartment and waited for the call.
Just before noon, Captain Smith telephoned.
“The package is here,” he told her. “Can you come right over to headquarters?”
“Indeed I can,” said Nancy. “I’ll be there in a jiffy.”
When she reached Captain Smith’s headquarters, he pointed to a bracelet lying on his desk.
“Is that yours?” he asked.
At first glance Nancy thought that it was, but when she picked it up, she changed her mind. Although it was very similar to hers, this bracelet had six horses on it. Furthermore, the bracelet was much darker in color and looked older.
“I’m afraid this isn’t mine,” Nancy said, considerably embarrassed. She told him why.
Captain Smith took the bracelet from her. He walked to a window and looked at it in the strong light.
“I’m no expert at judging jewelry,” he said, “but I’d say this bracelet might have been tampered with to change its appearance.”
Nancy hurried to the window and examined the bracelet more closely herself. “It does look as if this one horse had been attached recently. It’s in the place where the charm on my bracelet was missing.”
Captain Smith said that it was a trick among jewel thieves to change the appearance of jewelry by darkening or lightening the color of it. It was his guess that this had been done to the bracelet.
“May I use your telephone and call Chief McGinnis?” Nancy asked him. “I’d like him to check with the girl at the circus who has a necklace with a horse charm on it similar to these.”
“Go ahead,” the captain said.
He left Nancy and she put in a call to River Heights. After talking with Nancy a few minutes, Chief McGinnis promised to get in touch with the police in the town where the circus was now staying.
“I’ll call Captain Smith as soon as I have the answer,” he said.
Nancy was sure that the reply would not come for several hours, so she went home to have luncheon with her aunt. They had just finished eating when the telephone rang. Captain Smith was reporting that Lolita still had her horse-charm necklace.
“Captain Smith,” Nancy said, “will you go with me and my aunt to the shop where she purchased the bracelet? I’m sure that the owner will be able to identify the one you’re holding if it is the original.”
The officer said he would be glad to accompany them. He made arrangements to meet Nancy and her aunt in twenty minutes.
At the appointed time the three walked into the shop. After hearing their story, Mr. Abrams, the shop owner, made a quick examination of the bracelet and confirmed the captain’s theory that it had been tampered with recently.
Using a special powder and a piece of chamois, he began to rub the bracelet. Presently the stain which had been used on it began to rub off. In a few minutes the bracelet looked exactly as Nancy remembered it, except for the addition of the sixth horse.
“Whoever put this one charm on,” said Mr. Abrams, “was an amateur. This was a hurried, clumsy job.”