A Nancy Drew Christmas Read online

  “Don’t let Grant get away!” I shouted, wishing I could get up and give chase myself. “He’s behind the snowmobile attacks!”

  Liz and Brady ran inside after him, along with a couple of staff members.

  “There must be some mistake,” Archie said, looking crestfallen. “Grant wouldn’t try to hurt anybody.”

  “I’m sorry, Archie, it’s true,” I told him. “He didn’t have anything to do with the rest of the sabotage—that was Jackie and Doc Sherman—but Grant and whoever’s been riding those snowmobiles are trying to cover up something big.”

  “There he is!” Carol yelled as Grant burst through one of the lodge’s side doors and started trying to run for the parking lot. I don’t know where he thought he was going in all that deep snow, but he didn’t get far.

  He’d made it only a few feet when he came face to rolling pin with Chef K. One blow from the heavy wooden kitchen implement and Grant was down for the count.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The Twelve Suspects of Christmas

  THAT WAS ONE MORE BAD guy down, but there were still two to go. Everyone was still gawking at Chef K standing over Grant with her rolling pin when Joe tumbled out of the maze and came running clumsily toward us as fast as the snow would let him.

  “Help!” he screamed. “They have power tools!”

  Everybody turned to look as the two enormous thugs burst through the maze after him, snow and evergreen branches flying everywhere as they cut their way through the thick hedges with the chain saws.

  They were dressed head to toe in white again, only this time one of them had lost his mask. When I’d seen their hulking silhouettes from afar, I’d thought it might be Dino Bosley and one of his buddies, or maybe even Sheriff Pruitt. Now that I could see a face, I knew I’d been wrong. It was still a face I recognized, though. I’d seen it on my ride past the protest in town on the way to the lodge that first day. On one of the enormous bodyguards escorting pipeline honcho Larry Thorwald out of the town hall. The same bodyguards Frank said had a reputation for beating up protesters. The ones Joe said were both nicknamed “Tiny.” As soon as I saw the guy’s face, I knew what Grant had written on the note Sheriff Pruitt took when he arrested Frank.

  The two Tinys tore their way out of the maze, ready to pursue Joe with their chain saws, when they looked up to see a small crowd of shocked spectators gaping back at them—including the guy who had presumably called them, who was still lying in the snow from Chef K’s knockout blow. The Tinys put on the brakes, turned to look at each other, then immediately ran the other way.

  Joe heard the chain saws go silent and cautiously turned around to see his pursuers fleeing back through the maze.

  “Yeah, you better run!” he shouted after them.

  Joe trudged up to us, panting, about the same time Berkley arrived to give me my third rescue toboggan ride of the week. I doubt anyone had ever gotten three in one trip before! Grant got a toboggan too. Only his was meant to keep him strapped down so he didn’t run away.

  Archie stood over Grant’s toboggan, looking stricken, as the ski patrollers tightened the straps.

  “I know whose number Grant wrote down on the note after he got off the phone in the lounge,” I said to Joe. “It wasn’t the initials TS for just one person, like you guys thought. It stood for Ts. As in capital T plural. As in the Ts.”

  Joe winced as he unlocked the riddle for himself.

  “The Tinys,” he squeaked. “The phone number for Thorwald’s bodyguards. Now you tell me!”

  “Thorwald’s bodyguards?” Archie asked, trying to make sense of the conversation.

  “Yup, the scary, oversize, chain-saw-toting maniacs who just pruned your maze for you,” Joe said.

  Archie looked near tears as he stared down at his business partner. “Is this true, Grant?”

  Grant had finally regained consciousness after Chef K knocked him out, and now he cracked under Archie’s heartbroken glare.

  “I’m sorry, Arch,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean for anybody to get hurt, but Thorwald threatened to sic his goons on me instead if I didn’t keep everything quiet. The Tinys were only supposed to scare Nancy off during the sleigh ride, not almost kill her!”

  “What do you mean by ‘everything’?” Archie asked hesitantly.

  Grant clammed up again, so I filled Archie in instead. “That big stock purchase and the campaign contributions from the oil lobbyist weren’t a coincidence or because of some campaign manager. Joe and Frank were right about Grant being entangled up to his eyeballs with the pipeline. So by ‘everything’ I think he basically means conspiring with Thorwald and his cronies to force the pipeline through and secretly get rich in the process.”

  “I think you left out lying to voters about his conflict of interest and violating public trust,” Joe added.

  “I’m guessing he was also leaking the truth about the resort’s shaky finances to the pipeline people to help them force you into a deal,” I told Archie reluctantly.

  Archie stumbled back like he’d been hit. “How could you do this to me, Grant? To us! We shared this dream together! Grand Sky Lodge was supposed to show we could build a socially responsible, sustainable resort on our own terms without giving in to corporate greed or harming the planet!”

  “I didn’t mean to do anything wrong, Arch!” Grant said plaintively. “I just thought if I could get you to see how the lodge would benefit from leasing the land for the pipeline, it would be a win-win for everybody. It’s just a tiny sliver of land, and we’d be able to pay all our loans, and you’d have plenty of extra money to use on more environmental projects. And it would help me politically. It’s not like I meant to do anything illegal.”

  “You mean like insider trading?” Joe asked, cocking his eyebrow.

  “Buying All Alloy’s stock and lying to your business partner about it may not be illegal,” I explained. “But buying it knowing you were secretly about to do something to personally drive up the price—”

  “Like leasing a key piece of land to your buddy Thorwald’s company so he could build an oil pipeline and buy lots of All Alloy parts,” Joe clarified helpfully.

  “That is illegal,” I said.

  Grant opened his mouth like he wanted to protest, but all that came out was, “Oh.”

  “And don’t forget criminal conspiracy and accessory to every one of the ten or so violent crimes the Tinys committed trying to cover it up for you,” I informed him.

  “Things kind of spiraled out of control,” Grant mumbled. “I was going to tell Thorwald I was done after what happened to Nancy on the sleigh, I swear, but . . .”

  “But?” Archie demanded when Grant went silent again.

  “Someone snuck back into my suite and left a blackmail note saying they knew what I’d done,” Grant said, looking away in embarrassment. “And I panicked and called the Tinys to take care of it.”

  “Wait a second. We didn’t leave the note in your suite!” said Joe.

  “Oh that,” I said, remembering I still hadn’t gotten to fill Joe in on the full details of my run-in with Jackie before she tossed me out the window. “Jackie flipped the script on our script flip and left her own note for Grant, hoping he’d show up for the meet in the maze and we’d pin the sabotage on him instead—or he’d just have his friends take us out and save her the trouble.”

  “I didn’t know it would be a teenager in the maze,” Grant protested meekly.

  “And that makes it any better?!” Archie yelled.

  “My whole political career is at stake, Arch!” Grant whined.

  “You’re going to lose more than just your career, representative,” I said. “You’re going to lose your freedom.”

  Ski patrol dragged Grant off to the clinic to get checked out for a concussion and then lock him up somewhere safe until police could get there. Doc Sherman pushed my empty wheelchair out the hotel door a moment later, saying he had Jackie—who was going to need medical attention as well after getting con
ked on the head twice in one day—tied up in my suite and that he planned to cooperate fully.

  “I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused everyone,” he said, and chewed on his lip again. “If it’s okay, I’d like to return to the clinic for now to treat everyone. I’ve caused enough harm, and it’s about time I did something to help.”

  Archie looked to me.

  “We can trust him,” I said.

  Archie nodded. “We should get you down to the clinic too, Nancy.”

  “No way,” I said. “Not yet. It’s possible that I broke my leg again, but I’m already in a full leg cast anyway. I want some hot cocoa by the fireplace first.”

  “One hot cocoa coming up!” Henry said, marching back inside in his winter boots and jammies.

  “Make that two hot cocoas, please,” added Joe.

  “With lots of marshmallows, please!” I called after him.

  Soon I was nice and toasty and sipping hot cocoa by the lobby fireplace with Joe, watching the snow fall peacefully outside while we recapped the case.

  “We’ve got Jackie and Doc Sherman cold on a treasure-hunting sabotage rap plus Grant for the pipeline conspiracy, along with plenty of evidence to send Tiny One, Tiny Two, and Thorwald down along with him,” Joe said, taking a satisfied gulp of cocoa.

  “Not bad for a night’s work,” I said, taking a satisfied gulp of my own.

  “We sure have had a lot of suspects on this case,” Joe commented.

  “Clark, Marni, Carol, Dino, Sheriff Poo-it,” I said, counting off the others.

  “Don’t forget Frank!” Joe said, laughing.

  “Hey, it’s like the twelve suspects of Christmas!” I said.

  We both looked up as the grandfather clock across the lobby dinged midnight.

  “Hey, do you know what that means?” I asked Joe, suddenly remembering this wasn’t just any midnight. “It’s officially Christmas Eve morning!”

  “Merry Christmas, Drew,” Joe said with a grin, raising his cup for a hot cocoa toast.

  “Merry Christmas, Joe,” I said, clinking cups. “There may not be any presents under the tree, but we sure did wrap up the bad guys!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  All Wrapped Up

  I WOKE UP THE NEXT morning to sunshine and a brand-new full-leg cast, courtesy of a very apologetic Doc Sherman the night before. Liz and Brady’s quick thinking may have broken my fall, but it didn’t keep me from breaking my femur for real this time. Luckily—if you could call it that!—it was just a small fracture and I really would be in a walking boot soon.

  A gift-wrapped leg wasn’t exactly the present I was hoping for. Luckily—for real this time!—Archie had a surprise for me. First-class tickets for George, Bess, and Ned to join me at the Grand Sky Lodge for Christmas! My dad, Hannah, and Fenton Hardy were joining us too!

  The lodge would be closed for the holiday, so we’d have the whole place to ourselves. And Chef K was staying behind to celebrate with us and cook us our own private Christmas feast.

  More holiday cheer followed in the form of a cleared, avalanche-free road and a state police caravan to drop Frank and Marni off and haul Grant, Jackie, and Doc Sherman away.

  Dr. Sherman actually hugged me goodbye. I couldn’t help feeling bad for him even after everything he had done. He’d been in love with Jackie for years, and she’d promised to leave her boyfriend and run away with him if he helped her find the gold. It looked like he was going to have a lot of time to think about what went wrong.

  The Tinys were picked up by the state police after their snowmobiles ran out of gas on the highway out of town, and hopefully Thorwald was next—after the state’s attorney got through his army of lawyers. Whether Thorwald was in custody or not, it definitely looked like the pipeline was kaput in Prospect, and maybe anywhere else for that matter.

  This probably wasn’t how they saw the trip with their high school environmental club going, but Frank and Joe came to Prospect to stop the pipeline, and with my help, they succeeded. Score a big one for the good guys!

  Sheriff “Poo-it” Pruitt was suspended for misconduct with a full investigation pending, although so far it looked like the laws he’d broken didn’t include being part of the pipeline conspiracy. He’d recognized the area code on the phone number Grant had written down just like the boys had, and he pocketed it and arrested Frank to protect his own self-interest in the pipeline and cover for Grant, not knowing exactly what he was covering for.

  A very sleepy-eyed Carol had a surprise gift for me too: a preview of the feature she’d stayed up all night feverishly writing about how Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys saved the Grand Sky Lodge and stopped the pipeline! She didn’t spare any of the unflattering sensational details, but she also gushed over the lodge’s planet-friendly “eco-lux” amenities and Mountain to Table’s fab food, so everyone came out looking great! Liz’s nonprofit even got a shout-out!

  A van arrived a few hours later with the new guests from River Heights. Bess fluttered her eyelashes and Joe melted. George ignored Frank and Frank melted. Ned kissed me on the cheek and I melted.

  Now that the whole team was together, we had one last unsolved mystery to crack.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  And to All a Good Night

  THE SIX OF US ENTERED the secret chamber turned food pantry under the restaurant armed with the torn parchment treasure map Dr. Sherman had given us. With the blessing of a kinder, gentler, very grateful Chef K, my friends carefully removed all the food from the north wall and disassembled her new custom shelves to reveal the long-hidden door concealed behind them.

  The cobweb-filled tunnel was just wide enough to fit my wheelchair. At first it seemed like nobody had been inside the dusty tunnel in over a hundred years, but the recent footprints in the earthen floor said differently. We didn’t have to follow the trail of footprints far before we saw the old wooden chest.

  The treasure was real! And poor Jackie had been only steps away from finding it before Chef K unwittingly cut her search short by closing off her kitchen to outsiders.

  Everyone gathered around me as I slowly lifted the lid and shone my flashlight inside. A flash of gold sparkled from within, and we all gasped at once. But it wasn’t because of the size of the treasure. Inside the nearly empty ancient chest, a single small gold nugget had been left as a paperweight, holding down a note written on Grand Sky Lodge stationery.

  I pulled out the handwritten note and read it aloud:

  Dear Jackie,

  Turns out you’re not the only one who is good at snooping on people behind their backs. Thanks for leading me to the treasure! Didn’t know I was watching, did you? Look us up if you ever make it to the Caribbean.

  Your newly retired (and filthy rich thanks to you!) ex-boss,

  Mrs. Bos

  I thought about the portrait in the lobby of kooky ex-owner Mrs. Bosley in her Hawaiian shirt and smiled. It looked like she’d found her family’s legendary lost gold and struck it rich at the Grand Sky Lodge after all.

  Dear Diary,

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  THIS IS ONE HOLIDAY SEASON I won’t soon forget. I can’t believe all the false leads there were in this case. And multiple culprits with totally different motives! It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin. I have to admit, it was nice to have help from the Hardy Boys. I can’t believe I once saw them as rivals! Turns out this resort was big enough for three teenage detectives.

  * * *

  * * *

  About the Author

  Carolyn Keene is the bestselling author of the popular Nancy Drew series of books.

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  NANCY DRE
W DIARIES

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  #3 Mystery of the Midnight Rider

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  #5 Sabotage at Willow Woods

  #6 Secret at Mystic Lake

  #7 The Phantom of Nantucket

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  #14 Riverboat Roulette

  #15 The Professor and the Puzzle

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  #17 Famous Mistakes

  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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  First Aladdin hardcover edition September 2018

  Text copyright © 2018 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2018 by Erin McGuire

  Endpaper illustration by Nina Simoneaux copyright © 2018 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.