To Nancy Drew’s relief, she left the storeroom without so much as a glance toward the packing box.
“That was a close shave,” Nancy assured herself grimly as she climbed from her hiding place. “It was lucky I heard her coming.”
Moving softly across the floor, she again took up her position near the door. Already she had heard enough to be convinced that Mary and her friends were mixed up in an underhand scheme, and she intended to learn everything there was to learn. If only Mary would say something which would definitely prove that she had stolen the Crandall jewels or knew something of their disappearance!
Peeping through a tiny crack in the door, she saw the girl seat herself at a table opposite the two men. Tom Tozzle sat facing the storeroom and Nancy could see the calculating, greedy look in his eyes.
“Now Mary, you might as well be reasonable,” she heard him say in a wheedling tone. “It don’t get us nowhere to argue. I wouldn’t ask for two-thirds if I hadn’t earned it.”
“That’s a good joke!” Mary returned scathingly. “I could have pulled off this job better alone.”
“Yeah? And how would you have got rid of the stuff? Just answer me that!”
“I don’t see that you’ve done so well yourself, Tom Tozzle. You wasted a whole day at Winchester and didn’t come home with a cent of money.”
“I was followed,” the man whined. “I’d have been a fool to have gone direct to the pawnshop. I’d have been arrested with the goods.”
“Who followed you?” Mary demanded sharply.
“A girl. Never saw her before, but she looked like a detective.”