“No,” Mr. Drew admitted, “but if she’s the
person we’re looking for, we have important in-
formation for her.”
Nancy pulled out Juliana’s photograph, and
showed it to the men, who stared at it. Finally
one of them said, “It’s her, all right-when she
was younger. But she’s not here!”
“Where is she?” Nancy asked.
“Well, usually she never leaves the place on ac-
count of being such a cripple. But when that gov-
ernment man came for her last night, she had to
go. He took her away in a car.”
“What government man?” Mr. Drew asked
quickly. “Did he give his name?”
“He probably told Miss Fleur. We didn’t hear
it.”
“Did she say why she had to go with him?”
Nancy asked.
“It was something about income tax. Miss
Fleur always thought she paid the government
every penny she owed. She’s very honest. But the
man claimed she’d made a false report and might
have to go to prison.”
“This seems very irregular to me,” Mr. Drew
commented. “Even if Miss Fleur made a mistake
in the amount of her tax, she would not be sen-
tenced without a hearing. The usual procedure is
to notify the accused by letter and have the person
call at the tax office to explain his or her side of
the matter.”
“Dad,” Nancy said, “it looks as if someone was
very eager to get Miss Fleur away from here. We
must End her!”
“First of all, we’ll check with the Internal Rev-
enue Service; that is, if I can use a telephone.”
The two gardeners, sensing that Nancy and her
father were sincere, invited them into the farm-
house. Mr. Drew called. When he finished, he
looked grim.
“Just as we feared,” he revealed. “The Internal
Revenue Service has no case pending against
Juliette Fleur, Juliana Johnson, or Julia Flower.”
“Then it was a hoax!” Nancy exclaimed.
Yes. The man who came here was an im-
postor.”
The gardeners suddenly looked alarmed. One
of them said, “Are you saying Miss Fleur maybe
was kidnapped?”
“Possibly,” Mr. Drew replied.
The two workmen were speechless. “Oh, find
her!” one said. “We think an awful lot of her.”
“Have you any idea where she may have been
taken?” Nancy asked. Both men said they had
told her everything they knew.
They spread the news of the incident to Miss
Fleur’s other two employees who came in from
the fields. Their faces became sad.
“Those kidnappers may hurt her!” one of the
gardeners said.
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Mr. Drew said
to comfort the man. “Miss Fleur probably will
receive good treatment. But unfortunately she
will lose a fortune unless she can be found.”
“But how? Shall we call the police?” the man
asked.
“We’ll stop at headquarters on the way home,”
Mr. Drew said, and promised the gardeners he
would do everything he could to find Juliette
Fleur.
“Tell me, what did the alleged government
man look like?” he asked.
The gardeners’ description was not very help-
ful.
“He was tall and slender,” one said, “and wore
dark glasses. He had a beard and a mustache.”
“Probably a disguise,” Nancy concluded.
After the Drews had told their story to the local
police, they returned to the Hampton Motel. On
their way to the dining room, Carson Drew pur-
chased a copy of the River Heights newspaper.
A startling headline caught his eyes:
FAMOUS DANCER RETURNS IN
TIME TO CLAIM HEATH FORTUNE
The article stated that after a long search,
Daniel Hector had found the missing Juliana,
who now was staying at the Riverview Hotel in
River Heights. For many years the famous dancer
had been fulfilling professional engagements in
South America under another name.
“So that’s what Hector has been up to!” Nancy
said hotly. “He had the real Juliana kidnapped
to be able to present this impostor!”
“It certainly seems that way,” Mr. Drew agreed.
“If Daniel Hector can establish the impostor as
the heiress, he will probably pay her well and
then take over the estate.”
“Let’s hurry back to River Heights,” Nancy
suggested.
After hastening through lunch she and her
father checked out of the motel, and soon were
driving along the road toward home.