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THURSDAY, 22 JUNE, 2000, PHILADELPHIA |
[Click for Chapter 1] CHAPTER 2 Nancy Sniffs a Mystery Nancy pulled her roadster into a parking space in front of the Hibiscus-in-Arms tea room. She noted that her girlfriend’s car was already parked in the lot. She often luncheoned with her best friend, Olivia Schwartz, known to her good friends as “Oscar”. On Wednesdays, they liked to visit the Hibiscus-in-Arms for the cucumber sandwiches specially made that day. Nancy strode under the awning and through the doors of the restaurant as if there were paparazzi recording this event for an awards show. “Good afternoon Miss Drew!” cried Whithers, the Maître d’, his face brightening as he beheld the radiant form of Nancy Drew. “Here!” Nancy smiled with real warmth at Whithers as she tossed her coat at him and proceeded into the dining area. She scanned the dining room quickly and saw the familiar bandana that Oscar always tied around her crew-cut head. Oscar and Nancy made eye contact and waved to each other. Nancy began traversing the room with a kick in her step. She slowed however as she approached the table of an extraordinary young lady with the most unlikely appearance. Sunken eyes and dark circles beneath them were offset by great streaks of black and blue mascara and eyeliner. Her long dark hair was teased out to ridiculous lengths and Nancy could see bits of leaves and twigs in the ratted mess. Nancy stared at the woman as she slowly passed her table. The woman was looking down at her teacup in a sullen manner and did not notice Nancy staring at her. “How can someone so mean looking afford tea at the Hibiscus-in-Arms?” Nancy thought to herself. “It is surely a mystery!” As Nancy approached the woman’s table, she sensed her perfume, a bewildering fragrance that inspired confusion and repulsion in her. She hurried on her way to Oscar’s table. “Nancy! You look lovely today in your new frock and blouse!” cried Oscar leaping up to embrace her friend. “That’s so kind of you to point that out to the whole room!” beamed Nancy Drew as she hugged her friend who insisted on kissing her on each cheek. “You always look so funny!” Nancy observed, “with your checkered scarf wrapped around your head, your baggy pants and that fake moustache, I just never know what to think! You’re such a singular character.” The girls giggled and tittered as they relived old memories. A sulky waiter brought the two young women a teapot and two china cups and a plate of cucumber sandwiches. Nancy admitted the pattern of the china was indeed dainty as Oscar poured tea. “Will there be anything else ma’am?” asked the sulky waiter. Nancy, her gaze fixed upoon Oscar’s face, waved him away with a smile. “Look at these adorable sandwiches! I do wonder how they make them!” cried Nancy with glee. Oscar examined one as if it were a rare specimin of insect. “I imagine,” she ventured, “they put cucumbers between bread, then cut the crusts off.” “That’s simply too interesting!” cried Nancy studying the sandwich with new eyes. “Did you see that odd looking character towards the entrance when you came in Nancy?” “Indeed I did!” said Nancy. “She is a queer duck if ever there was one. I have a suspicion that there’s a mystery about her.” “Well you would certainly know about it!” said Oscar, referring to the number of mysterious cases Nancy Drew had a habit of solving. “I’m surprised you’re not over there right now, trying to get the goods on that one.” “Oh Oscar!” laughed Nancy, “what possible glory could knowing that woman’s story bring me?” The two girls smiled at each other knowingly and bit into their cucumber sandwiches. “For the love of Mike, Nancy, you’ll never guess who’s here,” whispered Oscar in a scandalous voice. “Who!?” whispered Nancy back, anxiously. “Betty Benson! Right over there!” “Betty Benson! From our high school! I haven’t seen her in an age!” said Nancy. “I wonder how she has the means to luncheon at the Hibiscus-in-Arms. Has she come into some surprise inheritance? There’s something of a mystery at hand here. I must go say hello at once!” Oscar watched wistfully as Nancy got up from the table and wiggled over to Betty sitting at a table in the corner with a handsom boy whose name Nancy did not know. “Why Betty Benson, I certainly wasn’t expecting to see you here!” Betty’s gaze had been fixed upon the eyes of her beau. On the table between them were two fifty-dollar bills. Upon hearing her name, she jumped with a start and looked up at Nancy. “Oh. Ummm, Nancy, right? Nancy … Drew? Yah, I remember you. You were in, like, all those clubs and committees at our high school, right? You were a cheerleader or something? President of … this or that? Whatever.” “Oh Betty it’s so good to see you again!” cried Nancy, spilling over with warmth and generosity, for as everyone knew, Betty Benson came from the wrong side of the tracks. She was an orphan, and her guardian made hardly enough money to keep up the yacht payments. Poor Betty. Nancy remembered her fondly from high school as one of those peripheral creatures with whom she rarely deigned to speak. Nancy looked Betty over and took note of her clothing. A torn black fishnet top underneath a crimson satin tank which hardly covered her formidable chest told Nancy that poor Betty must still be in dire straights, financially speaking. “Still a poor orphan then?” commiserated Nancy. “What?” said Betty, growing alarmed. “Well aren’t you going to introduce me to your man friend?” asked Nancy in a chipper voice. “Will you leave if I do?” asked Betty. “Oh you!” laughed Nancy, touching the girl fondly on her arm. Betty forced a pained smile and blinked at Nancy. When it became clear Nancy Drew was not going to leave without a proper introduction, Betty sighed and said hastily, “Hugo, Nancy. Nancy, Hugo. Bye Nancy.” Nancy pooh-pooh’ed Betty Benson’s curt dismissal with an ambiguous wrist motion and extended her hand to Hugo. “Are you two engaged then?” said Nancy with a wink. Betty assumed a cheeriness akin to Nancy’s own and said in an animated voice, “What a nosey-parker we’re being! Let’s keep our own WASP noses out of everyone else’s business, huh? What do you say, Nancy Drew?” “You’re not dining-in-sin, I assume,” Nancy asked of Hugo clucking her tongue in a jaunty display of stern condemnation. “Uh, no lady. Er, at least, I mean, our pants are still on if that’s what you mean. What does she mean, er, ‘Betty’?” “No clue Hugo. It’s been a thrill Nancy. Thanks so much for stopping by our table and interrogating us. I wouldn’t want to keep you from your own man friend over there. See you!” Nancy smiled and waved and left the two young lovers to their tea and sandwiches. Nancy returned to her table and said to Oscar, “The silly nelly — she thought you were a man! Can you imagine?” Oscar sighed. “Don’t you think Betty is really super pretty, Nancy?” asked Oscar. “Oh, I imagine she could be, if she were blessed to be in another station in life. Poor thing really has no fashion sense at all, but we can’t blame the unfortunates for their destined fate can we, Oscar?” “I think combat boots look great on young ladies, don’t you Nancy? Especiallly with hot-pants.” Nancy looked toward Betty and Hugo’s table. Betty was getting up from the table and walking briskly in the direction of the ladies’ room while extracting something from her purse. As soon as Betty had left the dining room, the sullen, big-haired woman Nancy had noticed when she came in got up from her table, applied daubs of perfume from a small bottle, poufed her hair a bit, extracted a leaf from it and crossed the room to Hugo. “Look at that odd woman, Oscar! She’s leaning over the table and getting quite in Hugo’s face. Such a nice young man. What can such an unfortunate creature be saying to him I wonder? I sure wish I could hear their conversation. I’m sure it’s something absolutely mysterious!” The woman was in fact leaning right over the table and whispering in Hugo’s ear. Hugo’s face was at first dazed, then a devilish sparkle overcame him. He mouthed a few words back and stood up. Hugo and the mysterious, tired-looking woman exited the tea room together. “Oh Nancy!” cried Oscar, “this is positively scandalous! I’m loving every moment.” “Oscar how could you!” lectured Nancy. “This is excruciatingly horrendous! Betty Benson was one of my greatest friends in high school. I have a sneaky suspicion that she is being horribly wronged by that woman in black — if only I could prove my theory!” Presently, Betty came back into the dining room. When she perceived that her beau was no longer at the table, she scanned the room quickly and nervously. She ascertained that Hugo was not present, and that the two fifty-dollar bills had been removed from the table. Betty sat down heavily in a chair, lighting a cigarette and smoking despondently. “I must go to her!” said Nancy, her eyes almost welling up with tears. Nancy shot up from the table and fairly ran to Betty’s side. Oscar followed, very concerned. “Oh Betty, you poor sweet orphaned abandoned thing! Hugo has left! With a perfectly horrid woman whom I noticed when I came in. I was suspicious of her from the first, but who could have fortold such a tragedy! Oh my darling!” Nancy grabbed Betty’s arm and looking meaningfully into her eyes. Betty look back at Nancy, nonplused. “Godammit,” she said, “he left me with the check too.” “Did you know that woman sitting by the door?” Nancy asked. “I didn’t recognize anyone when I came in,” said Betty absent-mindedly. “I think that woman had planned the whole episode!” said Nancy with wide eyes. “I like your pants,” said Oscar to Betty timidly. Betty looked at the two girls. “Right,” she said. “Well shit. Gotta go I guess.” “Oh Betty, you’re so strong and wonderful!” gushed Nancy. “I’ve always respected you for that! Holding your head up in a time of crisis. Your dear sweet cherished Hugo, run off with a mysterious woman in black! And you are so composed! I promise to you upon our undying friendship that I will get to the bottom of this mystery.” “Mystery?” said Betty. “Yah, okay, do that. Well, bye.” Betty left the restaurant abruptly. “Come on Oscar! We’ve got to follow that shadey woman at once!” Nancy began pulling Oscar out of the tea room. “But what about the bill, Nancy?” asked Oscar, motioning toward their table. “Oh, don’t worry about that. The management owes me a few favors from when I solved the Mystery of the Mishappen Ladyfinger and saved the Hibiscus-in-Arms from closing down due to the scandal surrounding their shoddy finger foods.” “You certainly are well-connected Nancy Drew,” said Oscar admiringly. “I know! Now let’s get going! There isn’t a moment’s time to waste!” …shall I continue with this?… 
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