The Mystery at Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene Page A

a table. Absently Nancy looked at the first page. Suddenly her eyes widened. With interest she read a report about a red panel truck having been stolen two days before.
    “An identifying mark,” she read further, “is a chrome eagle ornament on the hood. The truck is believed to be in the vicinity of Benton.”
    Was this the truck which had forced her car into the ditch? Lieutenant Brice must have pursued her lead, and found out that the vehicle had been stolen.
    “No wonder the driver was in such a hurry!” Nancy thought as she left the cottage.
    On the way to join the others, Nancy had a sudden hunch. Mary Mason had left the inn abruptly, with the flimsy excuse that the place was haunted. “I never pursued that lead,” the young sleuth told herself. “Anna was here then. Maybe she knows where Mary Mason is.”
    Before joining her friends, Nancy hurried to the kitchen to talk to Anna. The waitress was not there. A strange girl came up to her, and introduced herself as Jean Holmes. Jean’s complexion was very pale, and her brown hair thick and combed close to her face. She wore heavy glasses.
    “Can I help you?” she asked, smiling shyly.
    Nancy inquired where Anna was. Jean said she had gone to the storage cellar. Nancy went downstairs and found Anna bringing out a supply of preserved fruits and jellies.
    “Anna,” Nancy said, “I’m trying to locate Mary Mason who used to work here. Do you know her home address?”
    Anna shook her head, but said she would inquire among the other waitresses who had been there when Mary was.
    “Thank you,” said Nancy, and went to join her group on the patio.
    She noticed that Maud Potter was not present. At the first opportunity, she asked Helen about this.
    “Oh, Maud’s been very exclusive. She stayed in her room all afternoon.” Helen added dryly, “She hasn’t been missed.”
    Maud did show up later and went to the dining room with the group. Nancy asked John if he had been rewarded in his sleuthing.
    He shook his head. “I saw no ‘sharks,” and no one here admits to having used the canoe.”
    This reminded Nancy of the fisherman she had seen on the river. Because of his hat, she had not been able to tell if his hair was crew cut. But she wondered if he might be the man Helen had seen after the girls’ canoe had capsized.
    At the supper table Nancy confided this idea to her friend in a low tone. Helen wrinkled her brow. “From the general impression I had of Mr. Crew Cut, Nancy, he could be the same one. But of course I only saw him from a distance.”
    Both girls became aware that Maud was eying them closely. “Planning another skin-diving excursion, Nancy?” the woman asked sarcastically.
    Mrs. Willoughby hurriedly put in, “Oh, yes. I told Maud the latest—er—troubles.”
    “I should hope so!” Maud said sharply. “If there are dangerous people lurking around here, I’d like to be warned.”
    “Nancy’s the one in danger,” Emily reminded Maud coldly.
    To change the subject, Nancy observed, “The new waitress, Jean Holmes, seems to be very efficient.”
    Maud tossed her head. “I do have an instinct about people, you know.” But she was clearly pleased at Nancy’s remark.
    After supper Nancy was leaving the room with the others when Anna came up behind her. “I have some information for you, Miss Drew,” the waitress whispered. “Mary Mason mostly kept to herself, but Kitty, one of the girls, thinks Mary commuted to Dockville every night. She also remembers that Mary once worked for a Mrs. Ernest Stonewell in River Heights.”
    “You’re very helpful, Anna,” Nancy said. “Thank you.”
    Nancy went to the hall desk and picked up a telephone directory. There were several Masons listed in Dockville, which was near River Heights. The young sleuth dialed the number of each Mason. Nobody knew Mary, the waitress. Nancy now looked up Mrs. Ernest Stonewell’s address.
    “I’ll call her tomorrow.”
    The rest of the evening Nancy spent