Following a Clue
Although highly elated at what she had learned from the Tophams, Nancy Drew was at a loss to know how to proceed. Undoubtedly, the old Crowley clock was set up in the bungalow at Moon Lake, but to get there was another matter. Nancy was determined to profit by the information, but was confronted with a number of serious problems.
Moon Lake was located among the hills forty miles away, and the roads were not of the best. Nancy did not know the exact location of the Topham cottage. Then, too, she needed an excuse for making the long trip.
“If the Tophams learn I have gone to Moon Lake they may become suspicious,” she counseled herself. “I must think of some excuse to broadcast as a smoke screen.”
But try as she would, Nancy could think of nothing. She took a certain amount of pride in her detective work, and now that she felt she had struck a valuable clue, she did not wish to ask advice from her father. She preferred to solve the mystery herself and then surprise him with the solution.
At dinner that night, Nancy was unusually silent and Carson Drew commented on her preoccupation.
“It seems to me you have been looking troubled lately,” he observed. “Do you feel well?”
“Never felt better in my life,” Nancy laughed.