Trail of Lies Read online

“I guess I’m more involved in this than you know,” Amanda said. She looked at Nancy.

  Nancy flashed her a warm smile. It couldn’t have been easy for her to come to the Wilcox house, but here she was.

  “Amanda gave me the last clues,” Nancy told her father and Henry. “It’s because of her telling me about the cabin that I was able to find George.”

  Amanda’s smile was bittersweet. “At least one good thing came out of losing my ring.”

  “Your ring? What happened?” Lindsay looked at her friend’s hand and exclaimed, “You loved that ring!”

  It was Amanda’s turn to explain, and she made no attempt to excuse herself for her mistakes. “I guess I was lucky that Mr. Feder was willing to buy the ring,” she said.

  Henry slipped quietly out of the room.

  “There’s still one thing I don’t know,” Lindsay said with a long look at George. “Why did Craig kidnap you in the first place?”

  “I guess you could say I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” George told her. “I woke up early, but Nancy had already gone into Anchorage, so I decided to go out to the barn. I found Craig there, loading ivory figurines into the bags of dog food.”

  “He knew George would tell me about it,” Nancy continued, “so they struggled and he knocked her out. Then he put her on the sled, disguised as cargo.”

  George looked at her wristwatch. “Where are they?” she asked in a worried voice.

  “Steve will be okay,” Nancy answered with more confidence than she felt. By now the police should have found both Craig and Steve.

  “What if the fire goes out in that cabin?” Amanda asked. “It’s so cold outside. If the fire goes out, Steve could . . .” Henry walked back into the room, and she broke off.

  “You don’t have to mince words with me, Amanda,” Henry told her. “I’m well aware of the dangers of an Alaskan snowstorm. But I also know my son. He’s a winner.”

  Henry spoke with such pride that everyone in the room smiled. Nancy wished she had a tape recording. Better yet, she wished Steve were there to hear his father praise him.

  Henry smiled at Amanda. “I suggest you visit Mr. Feder tomorrow. I’m going to arrange for him to sell me your ring.” A look of wonder crossed Amanda’s face as Henry continued, “You and I can work out the terms of repayment.”

  Amanda’s smile said more than her words could. “Thank you,” she cried, hugging Henry Wilcox until he flushed with embarrassment.

  Carson rose and tossed another log onto the fire. As he did, they heard the sound of someone leaning on the doorbell. Then the front door opened.

  “Anyone home?” Steve yelled.

  Within moments the den was empty, as everyone ran into the hallway. Steve and two police officers stood inside the front door, stomping the snow off their boots.

  “You’re safe!” Henry clasped his son to him, then held him at arm’s length and studied him.

  Steve sighed happily. “It feels great to be back, I can tell you that.” When he saw Amanda, the smile on his face told Nancy he was ready to put their past problems behind them. Then his eyes moved to George. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, thanks to you,” George replied. “Nancy told me everything that happened, and I know I might not be standing here now if it weren’t for you.”

  Nancy couldn’t hold her questions back any longer. “Steve, what happened back at the cabin?” she asked. “How did Craig get free? When I saw him, I was afraid . . .”

  “You don’t need to say it.” For a moment Steve’s face looked haggard. “It was pretty scary.

  “I guess Craig was only momentarily stunned after I tripped him,” Steve went on. “I don’t know how he got free of those ropes, but just as I finished harnessing the dogs, he came after me. We struggled, and he knocked me out—for real this time. He left me lying in the snow and locked the cabin door—I guess he figured I’d die of exposure. Lucky for me, when I came to I was able to jimmy open a window and get back inside. After that all I could do was wait for someone to find me. Boy, was I glad when these guys turned up on their snowmobiles!” He grinned at the two police officers.

  “We got a little lost in the forest,” one of the officers put in, “but we got there eventually.”

  “How’d you get the dogs back?” Amanda wanted to know.

  “I drove the team,” Steve said modestly.

  “After all you went through, you were still able to mush?” Amanda gave him an admiring look.

  “Didn’t I tell you my son’s a winner?” Henry demanded jovially.

  A grin of pure pleasure crossed Steve’s face as he led the way back into the den.

  “Did you find Craig?” Carson Drew asked one of the police officers.

  “Sure did. Steve spotted him lying beside the trail. Miller’s in custody, and he’s already started talking. He told us about his accomplice in Seattle and about how he distributed the ivory here in Anchorage.”

  The other officer nodded. “By tomorrow night we’ll have this smuggling ring disbanded.”

  Carson turned to Nancy. “It looks like this case is closed.”

  “Nancy, I don’t know how to thank you,” Henry told her.

  Nancy shook her head. “There’s no need. I was glad to help.”

  After the police left, Carson and Henry went to the study. Steve turned to the four girls. “I want you all to be my witnesses, because what I have to say is very painful.”

  He paused. Then he turned to Lindsay and grinned. “You were right. Your dogs are better than mine.”

  Lindsay raised one eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

  “Look at how well an amateur like Nancy did driving them,” he responded. But the teasing look he gave Nancy told her he didn’t mean the comment maliciously.

  George put both hands on her hips and glared at Steve. “Did it ever occur to you that Nancy might be a natural dogsledder?” she demanded loyally. “It could be Nancy’s skill, not the dogs, that got us back here.”

  Steve looked thoughtful. “You might be right,” he admitted. As Nancy watched, a speculative expression crossed his face. Turning to her, he asked, “Would you like to race my dogs in the Solstice Derby?”

  Nancy pretended to consider Steve’s offer. Then she grinned. “No thanks, Steve. I’ve already had the ride of a lifetime!”

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  Cover illustration by Penalve