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  “Take it easy, Rachel,” Josh murmured into his sister’s hair. “It’s okay. You’re home now. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Slowly the girl’s sobbing stopped. Her shoulders only moved gently up and down. “Why don’t you tell us what happened?” Nancy asked. “It’ll make it easier if you talk about it.”

  Rachel swallowed and shuddered one last time before beginning to talk. “Dennis and I were in hiding at his sister’s house,” she explained softly. “Last night we went by his apartment to pick up some things he needed. Peter Henley and a couple of the other guys caught us there. I told them I had to go to the bathroom. I wrote a note and put it in my jacket and hoped you’d find it. Then they dragged us to the Kat Club.” A haunted look reappeared in Rachel’s eyes. “They locked us up in the attic.” Her eyes brimmed with fresh tears. “Dennis is still there.”

  “He’s still there? How did you get away?” Nancy asked.

  “Jessica untied me so I could use the bathroom,” Rachel answered. “There was some kind of scuffle downstairs. When she went to see what it was, I grabbed her from behind. I put my hand over her mouth and pushed her into a closet.” She paused, paling as she relived the experience. “She was kicking and yelling, but the music was so loud, nobody could hear her. I put a chair under the knob so she couldn’t get out.”

  Nancy nodded. “And Dennis? Where’s he?”

  Rachel looked miserable. “Someone was coming up the attic stairs, so I took off. I decided it would be better to go for help than get caught again. I climbed out a window and down a tree.” She dried her eyes with the back of one hand. “I’m so afraid of what Peter and the others will do to Dennis when they find out I’m missing.”

  “I’ll call Mom and Dad,” Josh said gently. “They’ve been crazy. We’ll get the police to help Dennis.”

  Rachel reached out and grabbed his arm when he started to walk away. “No. Please. I can’t face Mom and Dad until I’ve done everything I can to make this right, Josh. That’s why I left in the first place.”

  Ned did walk over and dial the police. He left instructions for Heller with the address of the Kat Club.

  “Rachel,” Nancy began. “Why did you and Dennis take off? What is it you have to make right?” she asked gently.

  The girl was silent. She looked uncertainly from Nancy to Ned to Josh. “I can’t explain,” she said finally. “We have to get back there as soon as possible.”

  “First I’m letting Mom and Dad know you’re back,” Josh said firmly. “And where we’re going.” He headed for the door.

  “No! Please, Josh!” Rachel started to cry again.

  Nancy stepped in. “Hold it a second, Josh.” She turned to the girl. “Rachel,” she said gently, “why are you so afraid to tell them you’re back?”

  “Because then I’ll have to explain why I left. And I can’t do that until I make everything right,” she repeated.

  “Why did you leave?” Nancy prodded.

  “And why on graduation day?” Ned asked. “Was something going to happen?”

  Ned’s question set the wheels turning in Nancy’s mind. “Were the Kats about to frame you and Dennis?” she asked.

  The look of surprise and fear that passed over Rachel’s face told Nancy she was right. “Tell us about it,” she prodded.

  “Beth told me Peter was going to plant stolen equipment in Dennis’s car,” Rachel explained in a rush. “Stuff from Sound Performance. Ralph had already fired him to set it up.”

  “Why would Peter do that?” Nancy asked.

  Rachel bit down hard on her lower lip. “I think he knew Dennis and I were . . .” The girl’s voice started shaking, and she had a hard time going on. Rachel’s predicament was obviously tearing her apart.

  “Did Peter think you were going to rat on the Kats?” Ned asked.

  “About what?” Josh asked. “I’m still confused about what’s going on here,” he said, raking a hand through his hair in frustration.

  Nancy explained, going on her hunches and what the girl had said so far. “Rachel and Dennis were going to tell the police that the Kats were behind the robberies in Beverly Hills. They knew because they had taken part in them. Am I right?” she asked Rachel.

  The girl lay down her head on the breakfast counter. A slow nod was her only answer.

  Josh was obviously shocked. Instinctively, he reached over to stroke his sister’s hair. “It’s okay, Rach. Don’t cry. It’ll be okay.”

  “Rachel,” Nancy began, “I know this isn’t easy, but you’ve got to tell us everything. How did you get involved in the first place?”

  Josh continued, “Nancy’s right. You made a big mistake, but you’ve got to tell us the whole story.”

  “I can’t,” Rachel moaned softly.

  “It’s the only way out,” Ned said. “Tell us who put you up to it. Was it Ralph?”

  Rachel’s head shot up. “Ralph! How do you know about Ralph?”

  “You just said he fired Dennis to help set up Peter’s frame,” Nancy pointed out. “We saw him tonight at the Kat Club. Just how is he involved?” she asked.

  Rachel paused for a moment and looked at the three of them. “He sold the stuff we took,” she admitted finally.

  It all made sense. Ralph fenced stolen equipment from his store, selling it as new. He must have erased the serial numbers, replaced them with phony ones, and used his connections to get empty boxes to put the equipment in. His customers never knew they were getting used equipment. The warranties were probably forged, too. “And it was his idea for you to steal it in the first place?” Nancy asked.

  “We didn’t have any choice,” Rachel said in a whisper.

  “I don’t understand,” her brother said, confused.

  Rachel’s words echoed in Nancy’s ears. They didn’t have any choice. “Did Ralph have something on you?” she asked on a hunch.

  “Yes, he did,” Rachel admitted quietly.

  “What was it?” Ned asked, sensing they were about to get to the bottom of Rachel’s trouble.

  “I guess I’ll have to show you,” she said in a resigned voice. “You know everything else.”

  With that, she led the way out of the kitchen and into the den, where Nancy and Ned had watched a movie. She went to the shelf of neatly filed movies and ran her finger over the backs of the cases until she found what she wanted. Rachel pulled out the Casablanca tape. When Nancy had tried to play it, she had thought it was blank.

  Rachel put the tape into the VCR and turned on the machine and the TV. There was nothing but snow on the screen until Rachel pressed Fast Forward, stopping about halfway through the tape. She pressed Stop and Play, and a shadowy scene took shape.

  Nancy watched closely, unable at first to figure out what was going on.

  Then she recognized the inside of Sound Performance, the stereo equipment store. There were five shadowy figures moving around, picking up different items and carefully carrying them to the back of the store.

  Nancy took a step closer to the screen. One by one, Nancy identified the people—Jessica, Beth, Mike, Peter, Rachel, and another, whom she assumed to be Dennis.

  She realized that what they were watching was the store security tape—showing the members of the Kat Club stealing from Sound Performance!

  Chapter

  Fifteen

  WHEN THE TAPE went blank again, Josh reached out and punched off the VCR. Nancy could tell that Ned’s friend was in shock. Rachel covered her face with both hands. “I—I don’t know what to say, Josh,” she whispered. “I never meant for any of this to happen.”

  Nancy put a hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “What exactly did happen? Why did you rob the store?”

  Rachel gazed at Nancy with miserable, red-rimmed eyes. “I didn’t want to do this, and neither did Beth. But the guys—Mike and Peter—kept pressuring us. They said it was a practical joke they wanted to play on Ralph—Mr. Lindenbaum.”

  “You didn’t think you’d be caught?” Ned asked in a sur
prised voice.

  “Beth and I figured nobody would get in trouble if it was only a joke. Besides, the guys told us that since we knew about it, we were already involved.” She paused and tossed her long hair back over one shoulder. “I know it was stupid, but we went along,” she added, her voice shaking.

  “Tell us about the rest of it in the car on the way back to the club,” Nancy gently suggested.

  “We carried the things outside to a truck parked in back,” Rachel continued in the back seat. “Mike said we were going to give everything back after Mr. Lindenbaum stewed for a bit. Since he worked there, I guess he suspected Ralph was already selling stolen stuff. He didn’t think Ralph would have the guts to report our robbery to the police. We didn’t take much—only enough to worry him.”

  “What made Mike want to do it in the first place?” Josh asked.

  “He’s into dares,” Rachel explained. “At least he was, before this. When Peter suggested it to him, they thought it would be kind of fun. Shake Ralph up a bit.”

  “That didn’t happen, though, did it?” Nancy asked, turning to look at Josh and Rachel.

  Rachel choked back her tears. Josh reached out and drew his sister to him for the first time since he’d seen the tape. “Go on, Rachel,” he said calmly.

  “No, it didn’t,” Rachel said, with her brother’s arm securely wrapped around her. “Ralph called each of us and told us we’d better be at his store that night at closing time or we’d end up in jail.”

  “So you went?” Ned prompted gently.

  Rachel nodded. “We were scared not to. When we got there, we found out we were in big trouble.”

  “So he put you up to robbing houses?” Josh asked, his anger evident.

  “He showed us the tape,” Rachel explained. “We hadn’t thought about it.”

  “How did you get the tape?” Ned wanted to know.

  “Dennis stole it the night before we went into hiding,” Rachel explained.

  “So Ralph used the tape to blackmail you into burglarizing houses,” Nancy concluded.

  Rachel nodded again glumly. “Yes.”

  “You were perfect for the job: You all came from this area, except for Dennis, so you knew which houses had alarms and how to beat some of them,” Nancy went on.

  “Why would this Lindenbaum character want a bunch of kids to steal for him?” Josh demanded.

  “He knew how to doctor the serial numbers,” Nancy explained, “so he could sell any stolen stuff in his store. Since he had something on them, the Kats were useful to him. Am I right?” she asked Rachel.

  “Yes,” the girl confessed quietly.

  “That still doesn’t explain why you ran away,” Josh said to his sister.

  “I think she wanted to get out of the ring, Josh,” Ned said from the driver’s seat. “Along with Dennis.”

  “When Beth told me Dennis was going to be framed,” Rachel explained, “we got scared. We decided to run away until we had proof against Ralph and Peter.”

  “Why didn’t you just come to us?” Josh asked. “Mom and Dad would have helped.”

  “Sometimes people don’t think rationally when they’re scared,” Nancy said, glancing at the clock on the dashboard. “Speed it up just a bit, Ned. We should get to Dennis quickly.”

  Rachel’s eyes took on a haunted look. “I don’t know if they’ll hurt him. When they found us, they couldn’t decide what to do with us. But now when they find out I’m gone . . .”

  “I hope Lieutenant Heller is there already,” Nancy said. “You did tell him to meet us, Ned, didn’t you?”

  Ned nodded. “I didn’t talk directly to him. I only left a message,” he added.

  “What about all those other kids who were at the party tonight?” Nancy asked Rachel. “Were they blackmailed into stealing, too?”

  Rachel swallowed hard. “Some of them were into it—like Jessica. They thought it was a kick. You know how it is.” At that, she lowered her eyes for a moment, finding it difficult to face Nancy. “My mom and dad are just going to die when they find out what I did.”

  Nancy reached out and took Rachel’s hand for a moment. She told her about how her room had been broken into. “Do you think one of them was looking for the tape that showed you robbing the store?” she asked.

  After a long time Rachel nodded. “Probably. It could have been Peter. He turned Dennis’s apartment upside down trying to find it while we were there. We told him Dennis didn’t have it.”

  “He must have known you needed it to take to the police,” Ned pointed out. “To prove that Ralph was blackmailing you.”

  “I guess,” Rachel said, nodding.

  Ned took the Beach Drive exit and brought the car to a stop in the same place where he and Nancy had parked earlier. All but three cars were gone from the front of the club. The music had been turned off, but lights were still on inside the beach house.

  Rachel scanned the cars. “Mike and Ralph and Peter are still here,” she said.

  “We’ll have to be really careful,” Nancy said. “By now they must know you’re gone. They’ll be looking for us. I wonder where Lieutenant Heller is. Why wouldn’t the police be here by now?”

  After a short conference the four decided the basement window would be the best way to get in. Ned crawled through first, then Nancy, then Josh, and finally Rachel.

  “Come on,” Nancy said, heading toward the stairs. Ned was right behind her, with Rachel close behind him.

  Josh stopped Rachel. “Let Nancy and Ned go first,” he said in a low voice. “They’ve had experience at this stuff.”

  Reluctantly Rachel agreed. Nancy started up the steps, her heart pounding. There was a chance their break-in could fail. If they were caught, it would be a matter of stalling for time until the police showed up. Where were they? she wondered again.

  The kitchen light was out, and the door squeaked a little as Nancy pushed it open.

  She waited to see if anyone had heard the sound. When no one came, she pushed the door a little farther. It glided open, nearly crashing against the wall. Moving silently, Nancy crept into the kitchen and looked both ways.

  There was a pantry on the right, but it was empty. To the left was a lighted hallway.

  When Ned, Josh, and Rachel had all joined her in the kitchen, she turned to face them. “We’ll search the first floor,” she whispered. “Everybody, be careful!”

  The first room off the kitchen was cluttered and had a view of the ocean. There was a computer set up on a desk in front of the window. Nancy stole closer and saw a pile of disks. One was clearly labeled Inventory.

  Very efficient, she thought. Ralph Lindenbaum was keeping a record of all stolen merchandise.

  Nancy picked up the small plastic disk and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans. Lieutenant Heller would find it fascinating reading.

  Another room opened off that one, and two more after that. The entire floor appeared to be empty.

  Reaching the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor, Nancy braced herself. Quietly she stole up the stairs, stopping when she heard voices behind a door at the far end of the dark hallway. A slice of golden light shone out from under the door. Just to her left were stairs that Nancy knew must lead to the attic.

  Signaling the others to remain hidden, Nancy sneaked forward until she had reached the door with the light shining around its edges. Drawing a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Nancy crouched and peered through the keyhole. She couldn’t see much, just the back of someone’s T-shirt.

  “I say we get rid of him tonight,” she heard Peter saying. “Rachel got away, and she’s probably spilled the whole thing by now. I don’t know about you two, but I’m taking my share of the money and getting out of here!”

  Nancy’s heart hammered against her rib cage as she heard footsteps in the room moving toward her. At the last second they stopped.

  “I’m going to Mexico,” Mike said dismally. “There are probably warrants out for our arrest right now.”
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  “Don’t be so sure she’s talked,” said Ralph. “She knows we’ve still got Dennis. I bet she hasn’t said a word. She really cares about that guy.”

  “Don’t remind me,” Mike snapped.

  “If she doesn’t talk,” Peter put in, “Beth will. She’s been on the verge of breaking for days.”

  Nancy got up from her crouched position and eased backward along the hallway, keeping her eye on the door the whole time.

  Just then, the door opened.

  Nancy darted up onto the attic steps. Rachel was already there. They could only guess where Ned and Josh were. It was too dark to see, and they didn’t dare move.

  “I’m not going to stick around here waiting for the cops to show up,” Peter said.

  Nancy prayed they wouldn’t decide to check on Dennis right then. If they did, they’d run right into her and Rachel. Rachel’s rapid breathing sounded so loud to Nancy that she was sure it would give them away. She just hoped the three men wouldn’t hear it. They were standing so close that Nancy could have reached out and touched them.

  Ralph was shaking his finger in Peter’s face. One glance to the left, and he’d be looking straight at them. “The trouble with you, kid,” he lectured, “is that you’re too hotheaded. You act first and think later. That leads to mistakes.”

  Nancy’s heart was beating so hard she thought it was going to burst at any moment. She ran her tongue over her lips and waited. Where were Ned and Josh?

  “Like pushing Nancy Drew off the deck at the Beckers’ party,” Mike said with contempt. “And trying to run her and her boyfriend down with a car!”

  “Shut up, Rasmussen,” Peter warned.

  So it was Peter who had tried to scare her off that night at the party. And Peter who had nearly run her and Ned over!

  Lindenbaum slapped both boys on the back and said, “Now, now, no arguing. Let’s go downstairs and figure out a good, solid plan. We’re okay as long as we don’t lose our heads.”

  If Ned and Josh had hidden on the stairs, they were about to get caught. Nancy held her breath. Luckily Ralph and the boys went past them and down the stairs without incident.