Carolyn Keene - Nancy Drew by The Twin Dilemma Read Free Book Online

don’t mind. We’re searching for a man whose name we don’t know.”
    “What’d he do?” the sergeant asked.
    “Impersonated a client of ours who doesn’t want any publicity about it. We promised to try finding the man on our own.”
    “I see. Well, go ahead. Take a look at our file.”
    He led them into a room and provided the photographs they had requested.
    “Thanks,” the girls chorused almost in unison.
    “Let me know if you recognize the guy!” The sergeant grinned.
    For several minutes, the young detectives pored over the pictures, stopping once in a while to stare at a face that seemed familiar. A couple of the men bore similar features to the impostor—a bald head, for instance, but the shape of the eyes or nose was different.
    “Hey!” Bess said suddenly as they reached the bottom of the pile. “Look at this!”
    The girls stared at a photograph of a man in his late thirties, maybe early forties, whose eyes were pinched together under thick, straight brows. His nose was long and slim, the mouth full, and the face was framed by blondish hair.
    “It’s Russell Kaiser!” George gasped. “Not the bald man who bought the medallion and who we assumed to be the impostor. It’s the man who approached Nancy and asked us to help him!”
    “His real name is Pete Grover, and he’s wanted for check forgery in the State of California,” Bess added. “It says so right here under the picture.”
    “Maybe the sergeant has more information about him: Let’s ask,” George suggested.
    The officer was very interested when he heard that they found a man in the mug shots who resembled someone they had met the night before.
    “Now, you say you saw him at an auction,” the sergeant asked. “Did he buy anything?”
    “No,” George replied, “but he bid on a medallion. He didn’t get it, though.”
    The policeman nodded. “We’ll look into it.”
    “What do you think is going on?” Bess asked her cousin on the way out.
    “Beats me, but I have a hunch we’ll have to do a little more investigating before we find out. Pete Grover’s hair was a little different, but I’m sure he was the man we met last night.”
    The girls headed for the dress shop on East 67th Street. It was small and stocked with expensive, imported clothes.
    “No wonder Jacqueline comes here,” Bess commented. She thumbed through the hangers, pausing to look at a gold lamé jumpsuit. “These pants are meant for sticks to wear.”
    George laughed. “Well, that lets you out!”
    “Very funny,” said Bess, who was used to being teased by George about her waistline. She shoved the suit along the rack. “Now, here’s something. Oh, I want to try it on.”
    Before George could get a close look at what it was, Bess dashed into a dressing room in the back of the store. Within a few minutes, a clerk went after her, then returned to the rack for a larger size.
    George sat down on a velvet cushion, preparing for Bess’s entrance. She heard peculiar noises from the dressing room—sighs, and then giggles.
    “Ready or not,” Bess called out at last.
    She stepped into view, watching the frozen look in her cousin’s eyes.
    “Like it?” she asked gaily.
    George gulped.
    The one-piece pants suit was a shimmer of silver and black that ballooned over Bess’s figure, ending in a tight hug over her ankles. Bess turned in front of a mirror and grinned at George.
    “Cat got your tongue?” she asked.
    “Mm-hmm,” George said. “You’re a true vision.”
    “Thanks,” Bess replied, evidently pleased. “How much is it?” she asked the clerk.
    “Only four twenty-five.”
    “Four hundred and twenty-five dollars?” Bess gasped. “Oh, and I do love it! ”
    “Well, maybe you can find a dressmaker in River Heights to sew something like it,” George consoled her.
    “These are one of a kind,” the clerk insisted haughtily.
    “I’m sure,” George replied. “Let’s go.”
    “I’m so disappointed,” Bess said when they were