The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene

accidents which might have occurred on trips from Chicago the previous day or on Tuesday night. In each case she was told there had been none.
    “Oh, what shall I do?” Nancy thought in dismay.
    Immediately an idea came to her and she put in a call to the Chicago hotel where her father had registered. Although she thought it unlikely, it was just possible that he had changed his mind again and was still there. But a conversation with the desk clerk dashed this hope.
    “No, Mr. Drew is not here. He checked out Tuesday evening. I don’t know his plans, but I’ll connect you with the head porter. He may be able to help you.”
    In a few seconds Nancy was asking the porter what he could tell her to help clear up the mystery of her father’s disappearance. “All I know, miss, is that your father told me he was taking a sleeper train and getting off somewhere Wednesday morning to meet his daughter.”
    “Thank you. Oh, thank you very much,” said Nancy. “You’ve helped me a great deal.”
    So her father had taken the train home and probably had reached the Cliffwood station! Next she must find out what had happened to him after that!
    Nancy told Aunt Rosemary and Helen what she had learned, then got in her convertible and drove directly to the Cliffwood station. There she spoke to the ticket agent. Unfortunately, he could not identify Mr. Drew from Nancy’s description as having been among the passengers who got off either of the two trains arriving from Chicago on Wednesday.
    Nancy went to speak to the taximen. Judging by the line of cabs, she decided that all the drivers who served the station were on hand at the moment. There had been no outgoing trains for nearly an hour and an incoming express was due in about fifteen minutes.
    “I’m in luck,” the young detective told herself. “Surely one of these men must have driven Dad.”
    She went from one to another, but each of them denied having carried a passenger of Mr. Drew’s description the day before.
    By this time Nancy was in a panic. She hurried inside the station to a telephone booth and called the local police station. Nancy asked to speak to the captain and in a moment he came on the line.
    “Captain Rossland speaking,” he said crisply.
    Nancy poured out her story. She told of the warning her father had received in River Heights and her fear that some enemy of his was now detaining the lawyer against his will.
    “This is very serious, Miss Drew,” Captain Rossland stated. “I will put men on the case at once,” he said.
    As Nancy left the phone booth, a large, gray-haired woman walked up to her. “Pardon me, miss, but I couldn’t help overhearing what you said. I believe maybe I can help you.”
    Nancy was surprised and slightly suspicious. Maybe this woman was connected with the abductors and planned to make Nancy a prisoner too by promising to take her to her father!
    “Don’t look so frightened,” the woman said, smiling. “All I wanted to tell you is that I’m down here at the station every day to take a train to the next town. I’m a nurse and I’m on a case over there right now.”
    “I see,” Nancy said.
    “Well, yesterday I was here when the Chicago train came in. I noticed a tall, handsome man—such as you describe your father to be—step off the train. He got into the taxi driven by a man named Harry. I have a feeling that for some reason the cabbie isn’t telling the truth. Let’s talk to him.”
    Nancy followed the woman, her heart beating furiously. She was ready to grab at any straw to get a clue to her father’s whereabouts!
    “Hello, Miss Skade,” the taximan said. “How are you today?”
    “Oh, I’m all right,” the nurse responded. “Listen, Harry. You told this young lady that you didn’t carry any passenger yesterday that looked like her father. Now I saw one get into your cab. What about it?”
    Harry hung his head. “Listen, miss,” he said to Nancy, “I got three kids and I don’t want nothin’