you, Nancy?”
She removed the pearl from her purse and
asked the curio dealer what it was worth.
“Well, well,” he said, examining the object
carefully, “it’s nice, but river pearls are not
valuable.” He named a modest sum. “I’ll buy it
if you’ll bring me the shell from which it was
taken. I want to display the pearl with the shell.”
Nancy promised to return with the shell the
next day. Then she put the pearl in her pocket-
book and left the shop. She started walking the
few crowded blocks to police headquarters.
As Nancy stopped to look in the window of a
department store, a boy drew close to her. Then
suddenly he jerked the purse from beneath her
arm and fled!
CHAPTER II
Heath Castle
It took Nancy a moment to recover from her
astonishment. By the time she whirled around,
the purse snatcher was already running down the
street. Nancy dashed after him, but tried to avoid
bumping into pedestrians.
“What’s the matter?” asked a man she side-
stepped just in time to avoid a collision.
“My purse-”
He took up the chase with her. As word spread,
other people followed. But the boy was running
fast. Nancy caught a glimpse of him as he dashed
into a narrow alley between two buildings. When
she reached it, there was no sign of him.
“Well, there goes my pearl,” she thought un-
happily.
Besides the pearl, her purse had contained her
driver’s license, car registration, some credit
cards, money, and cosmetics.
“I suppose I should be thankful I didn’t lose
more,” Nancy said to herself ruefully.
She thanked the stranger who had tried to assist
her, then hurried down the street to headquarters
and was taken into Lieutenant Masters’ office.
After greetings were exchanged. Nancy said,
“I want to report two thefts.” First she told about
the boy who had snatched her purse.
“Can you describe him?” the policewoman
asked.
“I didn’t get a look at his face,” said Nancy,
“but I think he was about ten or twelve years old.
He was stocky with tousled blond hair and wore
blue jeans and a tee shirt.”
“Many boys could fit that description,” Lieu-
tenant Masters commented. “We’ll do our best,
but I doubt that you’ll get back your bag with the
contents.” Then she frowned. “Did I hear you say
‘two thefts’?”
“Yes,” said Nancy, and told about the missing
rosebushes.
The officer’s dark eyes gleamed with interest.
“I think I can give you the answer to the second
one right away,” she said. “The culprit is prob-
ably little Joan Fenimore.”
“Oh no!” Nancy said in dismay.
“Yes,” said the officer. “I told you she had
been in difficulty with the law. Just before I came
to see you I was checking into another report of
flowers stolen from your neighborhood. The
woman of the house caught a glimpse of the child
and described her.
“Joan has a passionate love for flowers,” Lieu-
tenant Masters went on, “and an amazing knowl-
edge of them. I arranged for her to join a nature
study class at the museum, but I’m afraid that my
rehabilitation program backfired. Recently she
has taken plants and shrubs from other homes.”
“What a shame!” Nancy said.
“Joan’s father is not living,” the young officer
resumed. “Her widowed mother is ill and very
poor.”
Nancy listened sympathetically as the police-
woman went on, “I’ll see that Joan returns the
bushes to your garden. Mrs. Fenimore will insist
upon it, anyway. She’s greatly distressed by her
child’s behavior.”
Lieutenant Masters stood up. “Come along,”
she said. “We’ll go there now and you can hear
everything firsthand.”
The two rode to the Fenimore house located
in a run-down section of the city. The tiny yard
was a mass of colorful flowers, however, and vines
half-covered the unpainted, weather-beaten porch.
As Nancy and the officer went up the flagstone
walk, the policewoman called attention to two
young, newly planted rosebushes.
“Are these yours?” she asked.
“They look like the ones that were in our
yard,” Nancy said. “But-”
She broke off, because a little girl in a faded
pink dress had just come around the corner of