163 The Clues Challenge Read online

  out.”

  Ten minutes later Nancy turned her Mustang into

  the parking lot of the Sports Complex. She waved to

  Randy and George, who continued down Campus

  Road toward the Student Center in Randy's Jeep.

  “Here goes.” Nancy parked, got out of her car, and

  started toward the glassed-in atrium.

  If anyone knew where Dennis was, it was Mel

  Lorenzo. He had been keeping track of each team's

  progress during the Clues Challenge. Nancy knew she

  had to be careful not to arouse his suspicion, though.

  That was why she, George, and Randy had decided it

  would be best if she went alone to talk to Mr. Lorenzo

  while they went to the Student Center to bring the rest

  of the team up to speed.

  Nancy pulled open the door to the atrium and went

  inside. Mr. Lorenzo looked up at her from his table,

  then glanced curiously behind her. “Did you lose the

  rest of your team?” he asked.

  “I thought they might be here, solving the last clue,”

  Nancy fibbed. She pretended to be surprised not to see

  her teammates. “They didn't already head out to get

  the banner, did they?”

  “Man, oh, man. No one's gotten that far,” Mr.

  Lorenzo said, letting out a laugh.

  “I guess we'd better hurry then, if we want to keep

  ahead of the other teams,” Nancy said. She quickly

  scanned the equipment—then blinked when she saw

  the melted snow that dripped from the Sigmas' cross-

  country skis. “The Sigmas already got the clue from the

  old oak tree?” she asked.

  Mr. Lorenzo nodded. “Skied back about ten minutes

  ago,” he told her.

  That was fast, thought Nancy, checking her watch. It

  had only been two and a half hours since Mr. Lorenzo

  had blown the whistle to start that day's competition.

  Yet the Sigmas had managed to get the clue from

  outside the administration building, solve it, and ski all

  the way to the old oak and back. It seemed next to

  impossible.

  Unless Dennis already had the answers to the clues,

  Nancy thought.

  “Everything all right?” Mr. Lorenzo's voice cut into

  her thoughts.

  Nancy shook herself and forced a smile. “Fine,” she

  told him.

  At least now she had a better idea of where Dennis

  might be. He and his teammates were probably solving

  the last clue.

  So our best chance of finding Dennis, she thought,

  is to solve the clue ourselves and catch up to him

  where the banner is hidden.

  “See you later, Mr. Lorenzo!” Nancy called.

  She sprinted for the door. But as she burst out into

  the cold air, she felt his watchful eyes upon her.

  No sooner did Nancy enter the Student Center than

  she heard someone call her name.

  “Nancy! Over here.”

  Ned waved to her from a bank of computers that ran

  along the wall just inside the massive wooden doors.

  He, George, C.J., and Randy crowded around a

  terminal while Grant sat at the keyboard. “We've got

  the answer to the last clue!”

  “Great!” Jogging over, Nancy read the clue that lay

  right next to the keyboard:

  REJ - 29

  BP - 30

  LS - 42

  HL - 63

  SM - 66

  High atop their Hall of Fame

  The victory banner lies.

  Beyond the vents, beneath the snow,

  Our happy-sad medal marks the spot.

  Go quickly, challengers, find your way in.

  Good luck to all, and may the best team win.

  “We figured out those letters are initials,” C.J. said.

  “At first we thought they were top players in some

  sport, and that those numbers were from their jerseys.”

  “That would fit with the reference to the Hall of

  Fame,” Nancy said.

  George pointed farther down the list of clues. “But

  look here, at the part about the happy-sad medal,” she

  said. “That made us think about the Drama Club.”

  “Right!” said Nancy. “The happy and sad masks are

  the symbol for theater.”

  “We found out that the Drama Club has their own

  Hall of Fame,” Grant explained. “I checked their Web

  site. In 1929 Rose Ellis Johnston was voted in. In 1930

  it was Brian Peters. Linda Schmidt in 1942 . . . You get

  the idea.”

  Nancy ran her finger down the list of initials at the

  top of the clue. “REJ, BP, LS . . . You guys are bril-

  liant!” she crowed. “According to this, the banner is

  somewhere high up, where there are vents and snow.”

  “The Drama Club Hall of Fame is in the MacClaren

  Performance Center,” Ned said. “We were just waiting

  for you to get here so we can head over there and look

  on the roof.”

  Nancy grabbed the clue and shoved it in her pocket.

  “Excellent! I found out that Dennis's team is working

  on solving the last clue, too. Let's hope we can catch up

  to him at the performance center.”

  “Randy told us about how he thinks Mr. Lorenzo is

  that guy Papazian—and about how Dennis might be

  blackmailing him.” C.J. frowned as he pulled on his

  parka and zipped it.

  “We need to find out for sure,” Nancy said.

  As she pulled on her team hat, she caught sight of

  Dede, Krista, Rosie, and the rest of the Kappa team.

  “We finally got the clue from the administration

  building,” Dede said, holding up a slip of paper with a

  grin.

  “Good luck,” Nancy told her. She headed for the

  doors, then paused with her hand on the carved wood.

  “Have you guys seen Dennis?” she called back to the

  Kappas.

  Krista rolled her eyes. “That guy is so full of himself.

  He practically bowled us over outside the ad-

  ministration building just now. He just kept going. No

  sorry. No excuse me. Nothing.”

  “Which way was he headed?” Grant asked.

  “East,” Dede said. “Toward the dorms.”

  Grant took the campus map from his backpack and

  looked at it. “The MacClaren Center is in the total

  opposite direction from where he was going,” he said,

  frowning.

  “We'd better split up,” Nancy said. “Grant, you're

  the best climber. You'd better head over to the Mac-

  Claren Center to get the banner.”

  “I'll go with him,” C.J. offered.

  “The rest of us can look for Dennis on the east side

  of campus,” Nancy said. She took the map Grant held

  out, then pushed through the wooden door into the

  bright sunshine. “Let's go!”

  “What about the police? Shouldn't we tell them

  what we suspect?” George asked.

  “Let's wait till we find Dennis,” Ned said. “He's the

  one we need to talk to.”

  Nancy scanned the map of the campus as she, Ned,

  George, and Randy headed east. Grant was right about

  the MacClaren Center, she realized. It was on the far

  western side of campus, not far from Fraternity Ro
w.

  Dennis must have been going somewhere else. . . .

  “But where?” Nancy murmured. She ran her finger

  over the buildings on the east side of campus. One of

  the dorms? The Academic Quad?

  “What's this?” she asked, pointing to a square on the

  map that wasn't labeled.

  Ned glanced over Nancy's shoulder at the spot.

  “That's the old theater building. It's been abandoned

  for years, but I heard the college is planning to turn it

  into rehearsal space for the music department.”

  “There's an old theater building?” Nancy pulled the

  clue from her pocket and skimmed it. “Oh, my gosh . . .

  Look at the years next to the initials. The most recent

  one is 1966. How old is the MacClaren Center?”

  Ned frowned. “It just opened last year.”

  “Which means the Clues Challenge banner isn't

  there. It's on the roof of the old theater building!”

  George picked up her pace, jogging forward on the

  snowy path. “We'd better hurry if we want to catch up

  with Dennis.”

  Ten minutes later they angled around the bell tower,

  and the building came into sight. It was five stories tall,

  with boarded-up windows and crumbling bricks.

  “That fire escape is ancient,” George said, jogging

  through the snow toward the building. “It looks like it's

  rusted totally through in some spots. I don't know if we

  should risk climbing it.”

  Nancy's eyes flew over the area, taking in every de-

  tail. “Footprints!” she said, following the prints off the

  path. “They go around to the other side of the

  building.”

  She, Ned, George, and Randy kicked through the

  snow, following the footprints. As they rounded the

  corner of the building, Nancy's eyes fell on a thick rope

  dangling from the roof.

  “Someone's up there, all right,” George said.

  “It's got to be Dennis.” Randy reached into his

  jacket pocket, then frowned. “I've got a cell phone in

  my Jeep,” he said. “I'll call the police.”

  Nancy watched him jog back the way they had

  come. Then she took hold of the rope and started to

  climb. She placed a boot carefully against the wall and

  pulled herself up with the rope, angling her body out

  from the bricks.

  “Steady,” George called as Nancy's boot slipped on

  the snowy wall.

  Step by snowy step, Nancy made her way upward.

  Wind whipped her hair over her eyes, and her fingers

  felt stiff and numb. But finally she grabbed the top

  bricks and pulled herself on to the roof. As soon as she

  let go of the rope, it went taut again. It would just be a

  few minutes before Ned and George made it up to join

  her, but Nancy decided not to wait for them.

  She looked out over the roof. A series of vents and

  towers blocked her view. Nancy followed the foot-

  prints, circling around the obstacles until she was fi-

  nally able to see the far side of the roof.

  “Dennis!” she called.

  He was bent over a wooden crate near the far wall.

  “Huh?” Dennis jerked upright, shooting a surprised

  glance at Nancy. In his left hand was a wooden

  medallion, with two masks painted on it in gold, one

  happy and one sad.

  Nancy's mind raced a mile a minute. She still didn't

  know for sure that Dennis was behind the blackmail or

  the sabotage. But she decided to take a chance.

  “Tell me something, Dennis,” she said. “When did

  you realize Mr. Lorenzo was really Andrew Papazian?”

  she asked.

  Dennis's mouth fell open. “How did you know?”

  Yes! thought Nancy. Dennis's slip confirmed it. Mr.

  Lorenzo was Andrew Papazian. And Dennis definitely

  knew his real identity.

  “Blackmail is a serious crime, Dennis,” she went on.

  “One you're going to jail for,” Ned added, appearing

  next to Nancy.

  Dennis's mouth hardened into a tight, angry line.

  “Oh, yeah?” he challenged.

  In three powerful strides he plowed through the

  snow to the edge of the roof. He sent a puff of white

  powder flying into the air as he slid his legs over the

  side. For a second he balanced on the edge, with the

  lower part of his body hanging out of sight.

  “What are you doing?” Nancy called over to him.

  “You'll hurt yourself!”

  “You think I'm going to jail?” Dennis countered.

  Sparks of challenge shot from his eyes. “You'll have to

  catch me first.”

  With that, he slipped the rest of the way over the

  edge of the roof and disappeared from sight.

  15. Over the Edge

  “No!” Nancy vaulted toward the spot where Dennis

  had gone over.

  “What happened?” George's breathless voice came

  from behind her. “Where's Dennis?”

  Nancy glanced over her shoulder just long enough to

  see George wade through the snowdrift toward Ned.

  Nancy slid to a stop inches from the edge, weaving

  back and forth to catch her balance. “He's using the old

  fire escape!” she called.

  Just below Nancy, Dennis's black parka stood out

  against the snow-covered fire escape. He gripped the

  rusted metal railing, sending showers of snow into the

  air. The fire escape groaned and shook unsteadily with

  his every step. Nancy gasped when his boot actually

  broke through the brittle metal.

  “Whoa!” Dennis caught himself. Clutching the

  railing, he pulled his boot up, then slipped, slid, and

  stumbled down the creaky iron stairs to the fourth-

  floor level.

  “That things a death trap!” Ned said, coming up

  beside Nancy.

  But she was already lowering herself over the edge

  of the roof. “I'm going after him,” she said.

  She dropped to the highest platform, doing her best

  to ignore the screech of metal as the fire escape pulled

  at the metal pins anchored in the crumbling bricks.

  “Dennis, stop!” she called.

  His head jerked upward. “Not a chance,” he said.

  He moved faster along the rusted metal strips that

  formed the fire escape floor. His steps made the fire

  escape shake even more unsteadily.

  Nancy let out a frustrated groan as Dennis made his

  way down the rickety stairs to the third level. “I've got

  to catch up!” she muttered, clattering down the

  unsteady metal steps to the fourth level. He was just

  one floor below her now. But between the snow and

  the crumbling weak spots . . .

  How can I catch up with him? her mind screamed.

  It didn't seem possible.

  “Unless . . .”

  Nancy crouched down at the very edge of the fire

  escape. The iron there seemed fairly stable. If she was

  lucky, it would take the stress of what she was about to

  do.

  She got her hands around the metal in as firm a grip

  as she could. Holding on tight, she shot her legs out

  into the air, letting her body fall so s
he swung below

  the fourth-floor level.

  For one terrifying moment, her body swung outside

  the fire escape and there was nothing at all to break

  her fall.

  Don't slip, she begged silently. Please don't slip.

  “Nancy!” she heard George cry out. “What are you

  doing!”

  Then Nancy swung back and saw the rusted iron of

  the fire escape below her again. Letting go, she

  dropped to the third-floor level of the fire escape. She

  landed right in front of Dennis with a thud that caused

  the whole fire escape to shudder and shriek.

  “What—?” A look of total shock registered on

  Dennis's face. But it disappeared a split-second later as

  Nancy's left boot broke right through the fragile iron

  floor.

  Even as she whirled off-balance, Nancy was deter-

  mined not to let Dennis get away She grabbed the

  front of his parka and managed to pull her boot out of

  the gaping hole. But as she did so, she pushed Dennis

  into the metal railing.

  With an awful scraping sound the entire railing gave

  way behind him. Dennis began to fall backward, his

  face filled with panic. A huge wave of fear swept over

  Nancy as she felt herself being pulled along with him.

  “Nooo!” she cried.

  Bracing her feet, she angled her body away from the

  gaping hole in the railing. She pulled on Dennis's parka

  with all she had. For a fraction of a second, she wasn't

  sure she could do it. Then they both stumbled back

  against the wall of the building.

  “Everyone all right?” Ned's worried voice called

  down.

  It took Nancy a moment to realize that she and

  Dennis were both unharmed. Dennis was crouched

  next to her, his hands on his knees.

  “Fine,” she called, then turned back to Dennis.

  His dark eyes flew from the gaping hole in the rail-

  ing, to the rusted iron strips of the rest of the fire es-

  cape. Nancy got the feeling he was still gauging his

  chances of getting away.

  “Don't even think about it,” she said. “Randy's called

  the police. They'll be here any minute. It's over,

  Dennis.”

  He shot one last desperate glimpse downward, then

  sagged heavily against the brick wall. “Okay. Okay.”

  Nancy gulped as the fire escape shifted with a

  creaky groan. “Let's get off this thing,” she said.

  She gestured for Dennis to go ahead of her. As he

  started to move, Nancy thought back over all that had