163 The Clues Challenge Read online

  Contents

  ____________________________________________________________

  1 Winter Wonderland

  2 Cyber-threat

  3 Deadly Medicine

  4 You’ll Be Sorry

  5 A Cry for Help

  6 Cross-Country Catastrophe

  7 Elusive Clues and Slippery Suspects

  8 Look Out!

  9 After-Hours Sleuthing

  10 Blackmail

  11 An Unfair Judgment

  12 Close Call

  13 Into Thin Air

  14 Caught!

  15 Over the Edge

  16 A Desperate Plan

  1. Winter Wonderland

  “Don't you love all this snow!” George Fayne remarked

  as her friend Nancy Drew drove her blue Mustang

  beneath the stone arch that marked the entrance to

  Emerson College. “The campus looks like someone

  spread a fluffy white blanket over the whole place.”

  “You mean, a blinding white blanket.” Nancy had

  been squinting into the bright afternoon sunlight all

  the way from River Heights. On the campus snow cov-

  ered every roof and tree, and drifts reached as high as

  the first-floor windows of the brick and stone buildings.

  “It is beautiful, but I can hardly see a thing. Especially

  with the wind blowing all the new snow around.”

  “I love it!” George said. Her short brown curls

  danced around her face as she opened the passenger

  window and leaned out to catch a snowflake on her

  tongue. “Talk about perfect weather for the Big Chill

  Clues Challenge.”

  “I'll say.” Nancy tossed her reddish blond hair over

  the shoulders of the blue cable-knit sweater she wore

  over her jeans. “It'll be great to see Ned. But I still

  can't believe I agreed to spend two days competing in

  an all-out, outdoor treasure hunt with sports nuts like

  Ned and you.”

  “You know you'll love it,” George said. “Besides, we

  sports nuts need a clues maniac like you if we're going

  to win the Clues Challenge.”

  Ned Nickerson, Nancy's longtime boyfriend, was a

  student at Emerson. When he called to ask if she and

  George wanted to join the Clues Challenge team from

  his fraternity, they both had said yes right away.

  “I know it'll be fun,” Nancy agreed. “The three other

  sororities and frats competing are really athletic, and

  the clues are tough. You know it's a tradition to hide

  them in places that are practically impossible to get to.”

  “Didn't Ned say one of the clues last year was hid-

  den at the bottom of an old well?” George asked as she

  rolled her window back up.

  Nancy nodded. “Everyone had to cross-country ski

  five miles through the woods just to get there,” she

  said, laughing. “Then they had to use climbing gear to

  get down to the clue. One guy actually got stuck and

  had to be rescued by Ned's team.”

  “Sounds like my kind of treasure hunt,” George said,

  her brown eyes gleaming.

  Nancy wasn't at all surprised to hear that. George

  was crazy about sports and the outdoors.

  “It will be cool to actually compete in the challenge

  ourselves,” Nancy admitted. “Usually Ned's whole frat

  wants to compete, but we were lucky that just about all

  of the guys were tied up this weekend.”

  “And that the Clues Challenge rules allow outsiders

  to compete,” George added.

  Nancy turned onto a side road that led to the west

  side of campus. Students were colorful splotches

  against the snow as they walked along paths that were

  still being shoveled. Up ahead was a cluster of colonial-

  style brick buildings. Even from a distance, Nancy

  spotted the green-and-white banner that bore the

  Greek letters of Ned's frat, Omega Chi Epsilon. As

  Nancy maneuvered around a snowplow and pulled up

  in front of the building, she saw snowballs flying and

  people darting in every direction.

  “Snowball fight!” Nancy grabbed her red parka and

  got out, dodging a snowball that landed on the

  windshield with a splat.

  “Think fast, Drew!” called a familiar voice.

  Nancy turned to see Ned scoop a handful of snow

  from a heaping mountain piled in front of the frat.

  Ned's cheeks were bright red, and snow was matted in

  his brown hair and all over his green parka and jeans.

  He let the snowball fly, a huge grin on his face.

  “Hey!” Nancy jumped to the left, and the snowball

  caught only her sleeve. “This means war!” she yelled

  back, yanking on her parka, then reaching for a handful

  of snow.

  She barely had time to crunch the snow into a ball

  before Ned reached her and buried her in a snowy

  hug.

  “I'm glad you could come,” he said, burying his face

  in her hair.

  Nancy leaned back to grin up at her boyfriend. “Me,

  too,” she said.

  She jumped as another snowball caught her in the

  middle of her back. A hailstorm of snow, shrieks, and

  laughter came at her and Ned from all corners of the

  Omega Chi Epsilon yard.

  “Um, guys?” George said as two more snowballs

  were lobbed from a corner of the frat. “In case you

  haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a war zone.”

  “Truce!” Ned shouted. He pulled off his scarf and

  waved it like a flag.

  Half a dozen guys and girls tumbled out from be-

  hind trees, cars, and snowdrifts. Nancy waved hello to

  Grant Dempsey, a guy with short brown hair and a

  round face. She and George knew him from previous

  trips to Emerson. Most of the other faces were unfa-

  miliar.

  “Nancy, George, this is C. J. Thompson,” Ned said

  as a guy with tousled black hair and blue eyes came up.

  “He's an Omega pledge, and—”

  “C. J. Thompson?” George repeated, gaping at him.

  “The C. J. Thompson? The cross-country skier who

  broke the world record in the twelve thousand meters

  last year?”

  C.J. gave an embarrassed laugh. “I guess you've

  heard of me,” he said. Shaking the snow from his

  gloves, he held out his hand.

  “C.J. is our secret weapon in this year's Clues

  Challenge,” Ned went on. “I figure someone who's

  headed for the Olympics will definitely give the

  Omegas an edge in the Clues Challenge.”

  “You guys will need all the help you can get,” said

  one of the girls. She was a few inches shorter than

  Nancy's five feet seven inches, with high cheekbones,

  black hair down to her shoulders, and the most

  infectious smile Nancy had ever seen. “We Kappas are

  going to pulverize you guys,” she said.

  Nancy detected a challenge in the girl's dark eyes.

  There was also a special sparkle whe
n she looked at

  C.J.

  “This is Dede Mallone, my girlfriend,” C.J. said to

  Nancy and George.

  Ah, thought Nancy. That explains the sparkle. The

  three girls with Dede introduced themselves as Krista,

  Rosie, and Denise. All four were members of the

  Kappa Rho sorority.

  “Nice to meet you,” Nancy said. “Let me guess.

  Kappa Rho is competing against the Omegas in the

  Clues Challenge?”

  “You got it,” Grant told her. “The four teams that

  always compete in the challenge are from Omega Chi

  Epsilon, Kappa Rho, Sigma Pi, and Delta Tau.”

  “Which means that for the next two days, you and I

  are enemies,” Dede said, giving C.J. a playful punch on

  the arm.

  “Speaking of the enemy . . .” Ned said under his

  breath.

  He nodded toward a girl who was just passing on the

  freshly shoveled path. Long blond hair fell over the

  collar of her red parka. She held a notebook in one

  hand and a bundle of blue-and-white fabric in the

  other. The expression on her face was serious.

  “That's Joy Swenson, the president of Delta Tau,”

  Ned said. “The Deltas won the Clues Challenge last

  year.”

  “Hey, Joy! I hope you Deltas are ready to say

  goodbye to the banner,” Grant shouted to her.

  Joy paused on the path and called back, “You wish.”

  She shook out the blue-and-white fabric in her arms;

  the words Clues Challenge Champs were spelled out in

  bold white letters on a blue background.

  “Take a good look. This is as close to the banner as

  you're going to get,” Joy said.

  “What is that?” Nancy whispered to Ned.

  “The banner is the final prize of the treasure hunt,”

  he explained. “The winning team gets to keep the

  banner until next year's challenge.”

  “I'm taking the banner over to SportsMania now so

  Mr. Lorenzo can hide it along with the other clues,”

  Joy said.

  She whipped it back into a shapeless wad, which she

  balanced on top of her notebook.

  “You've got your chemistry notes?” Dede said, gap-

  ing at Joy's notebook. “How can you even think about

  studying for a midterm with the Clues Challenge on?”

  “As if I'd let anyone or anything stop me from win-

  ning,” Joy said. “See you guys later.”

  George watched until Joy disappeared behind a

  snowdrift. “She sure seems confident,” she com-

  mented.

  “Joy is the kind of person who can be captain of the

  field hockey team, president of her sorority, and still

  ace every class she has,” Grant said. “She's all business

  when it comes to the Clues Challenge.”

  “Who's Mr. Lorenzo?” Nancy asked.

  “The owner of SportsMania, a sporting goods store,”

  Ned told her.

  “The company that used to sponsor the Clues

  Challenge went out of business, so Mr. Lorenzo agreed

  to take over,” C.J. added. “He makes up the clues and

  judges the challenge.”

  “Sounds like someone we want on our good side,”

  George commented, blowing warm air onto her hands.

  C.J. laughed. “Unfortunately Mr. Lorenzo is totally

  impartial. But he's a nice guy. And his store is

  amazing.”

  “You and George can see for yourselves,” Ned said.

  “Our team still has to register for the Clues Challenge.

  Now that you two are here, we can head over there.

  We'll make a stop on the way to drop off your stuff at

  Centennial.”

  “Isn't that the dorm where we stayed last time we

  were here?” George asked.

  Ned nodded. “My friend Penny and her roommate

  are away this weekend. They said you can stay in their

  room.”

  “Great,” said Nancy, heading for her car.

  SportsMania was housed in a spacious two-story

  building halfway down the main street. It was about a

  hundred years old, but the windows on both floors

  displayed skis, running gear, and basketball, football,

  and hockey equipment that were state of the art.

  “Wow.” George stepped through the entrance be-

  hind Nancy, Ned, C.J., and Grant. Her eyes flew from

  rack to rack, taking in the displays that radiated out

  from a circular counter at the center of the store. An

  industrial-looking metal staircase rose to an open loft

  area where mannequins modeled sports clothes. “I

  think I want everything!”

  “Man, oh, man. I like the sound of that!” a deep

  voice spoke up from beyond a half-open door at the

  back of the store. Then a man emerged, closing the

  door behind him.

  The man was about forty-five years old, with tinted

  glasses and brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. As he

  came toward them, Nancy saw that he was half a head

  taller than she was. Beneath the long-sleeved polo shirt

  he wore, she detected the solid, muscular build of

  someone who worked out.

  He strode over to them with a grin and reached out

  to shake C.J.'s hand. “How's it going, C.J.? We just got

  some new telemark skis in. Care to take a look?”

  The guy was a natural salesman, thought Nancy.

  Outgoing and very slick.

  “I'm not buying anything today, Mr. Lorenzo,” C.J.

  said apologetically. “We're here to register for the

  Clues Challenge.”

  “Right, right.” Mr. Lorenzo led the way to the cir-

  cular counter and slipped behind it through a narrow

  opening on one side. The blue-and-white Clues

  Challenge banner lay in a heap on the counter, next to

  a computer.

  “Okay,” Mr. Lorenzo said. He pushed aside the

  banner and tapped on the keyboard. “I just need to

  enter each person's name. . . .”

  While he typed in the information, Nancy leaned

  across the counter and said, “George and I didn't bring

  cross-country skis. Ned said the equipment would be

  provided?”

  “Absolutely,” Mr. Lorenzo answered with an easy

  nod. “SportsMania furnishes all the equipment—on

  loan, of course. Everything you need will be in the

  lobby of the Emerson Sports Complex.”

  George glanced over her shoulder at the cross-

  country skis. “That's really generous, Mr. Lorenzo,” she

  said.

  “It's good advertising for the store,” Mr. Lorenzo

  said. “Besides, I'm always glad to support a good ath-

  letic cause. And I came up with some great clues, if I

  do say so myself.” He looked up from his computer

  long enough to arch a warning eyebrow. “You kids are

  in for the challenge of a lifetime.”

  “Bring it on,” Ned said, grinning. “We're ready.”

  Mr. Lorenzo let out a deep laugh. “That's the spirit,”

  he said, still typing. “As soon as I'm done here, I'll fit

  you for equipment and—”

  He broke off and blinked in surprise at his computer

  screen. “Man, oh, man,” he murmured.

  “What
is it?” Nancy asked. She leaned forward to get

  a look at the computer screen.

  The entire middle of the screen was blocked out by

  a large black rectangle. Spirals of blue, green, yellow,

  and purple twisted around the perimeter. But what

  really got Nancy's attention were the words spelled out

  at the center of the rectangle:

  YOU KNOW WHERE AND WHEN.

  DON'T FORGET THE CLUES . . .

  IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU.

  2. Cyber-threat

  “That message sounds like a threat!” Nancy said.

  Ned and the others crowded around; they all looked

  shocked, but Mr. Lorenzo waved them back.

  “No need to get all worked up,” he said calmly.

  “People send all kinds of crazy messages over the In-

  ternet. See? This one is gone already.”

  Nancy looked again. Sure enough, all she saw was

  the list Mr. Lorenzo had typed.

  “Maybe it was some kind of advertisement,” Grant

  commented, glancing over Nancy's shoulder. “I get

  tons of that stuff on my e-mail. I just delete it.”

  “This wasn't like that,” Nancy insisted. “Didn't you

  guys see it?”

  George, Ned, Grant, and C.J. all shook their heads.

  “Let me see if I can remember it.” Nancy closed her

  eyes, then nodded. “ You know where and when,' ” she

  said, repeating the words exactly. “ Don't forget the

  clues . . . if you know what's good for you.' ”

  She popped her eyes open again and gazed expec-

  tantly at Mr. Lorenzo. “Whoever sent that must be

  talking about the Clues Challenge clues,” she said.

  “Has someone been trying to intimidate you into

  handing over the answers?”

  She thought she saw a glimmer of discomfort in the

  store owner's eyes, but then Mr. Lorenzo shrugged,

  and it was gone.

  “You can't take it seriously,” he said.

  Maybe he was right, thought Nancy. But there was

  something else about the message that bothered her.

  “Most junk mail is sent through e-mail,” she said.

  “But this message wasn't. It appeared on your screen

  out of nowhere.”

  “How does someone do that?” C.J. asked.

  “Don't ask me,” George answered. “I'm no com-

  puter whiz.”