Circle of Evil Page 9

  Chapter

  Sixteen

  NANCY TRIED TO pull her arm back, but the hand only grasped tighter, the fingers digging into her arm and pushing it painfully against the sharp metal lip of the locker.

  It would probably do her no good, but Nancy yelled, anyway.

  “Hey!” a voice cried out. “Pipe down. This place is like an echo chamber, and you’re breaking my ear drums!”

  Ignoring the voice, Nancy started to yell again, and then a flashlight blinded her. Gasping, she put her free hand over her eyes.

  “Well, well,” the voice said. “You do get yourself into the strangest predicaments, Ms. Drew.”

  Nancy gasped again, not because of the light but because she had suddenly recognized the voice. It was Detective John Ryan’s.

  Nancy let out her breath in relief. She wouldn’t have to go poking through any more lockers, and she wouldn’t be the victim of some “tragic accident” after all. She was safe.

  After a moment, though, she realized that Ryan was still gripping her wrist and shining the flashlight in her eyes. She was relieved and happy that he was there, but she couldn’t help feeling annoyed with him.

  “Since you know who I am,” she said, “why don’t you stop trying to break my arm? And while you’re at it, you might turn that flashlight off. I’ve been in this dungeon for hours, and my eyes have become very sensitive.”

  The detective immediately let go of her wrist and turned the flashlight away from her eyes. Nancy could see the knot of his dark red tie and the cleft in his strongly shaped chin, but his handsome face was in shadow. Then she heard a dry, throaty sound, and she realized that he was giving his imitation of a laugh.

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” she said wryly. “Do you want to share the joke, or is it private?”

  “I’m afraid it’s very private, Ms. Drew,” he said. “In fact, I’m laughing at myself.”

  “Oh?” Nancy was surprised. Detective Ryan didn’t seem as if he were the kind of man who could laugh at himself.

  He didn’t explain, though, and Nancy decided not to waste any time asking about it. “Never mind about the joke—whatever it is. How did you find me?”

  “I got a call,” he said.

  “An anonymous call?”

  Nancy saw his head shake.

  “No, this one was very un-anonymous,” the detective said. “Three people called me, and they all identified themselves. Bess Marvin, George Fayne, and Ned Nickerson. I assume you know them all?”

  Nancy smiled. “Yes, I know them,” she said. “They’re my friends, and they called you because they knew I was in trouble.”

  “So they said,” Detective Ryan commented. “Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Nancy could hardly believe it. She’d been threatened with a gun, tied up, and thrown in a dark, dusty passageway, and all he could say was “I told you so.” She took a deep breath. “Aren’t you interested in what I’ve found out?”

  The detective’s head moved up and down in a quick nod. Nancy decided he was just too proud to admit that she might have solved his case and that his nod was the only hint she’d ever get that he really did want to know what had been going on. Quickly, but without leaving out any important details, she told him everything.

  “Fletcher Electronics,” Detective Ryan said when she’d finished, sounding completely disgusted. “It was right in front of my eyes.”

  “Mine, too,” Nancy said. “Anyway, all I care about now is catching those creeps. How about getting me out of here so we can do it?”

  The detective nodded, and after Nancy told him about the door in the weight room, he had it open in about three minutes.

  “I think I know what solitary confinement means now,” Nancy said as she stepped into the weight room. “Thanks for getting me out.”

  “Right. So give me a description,” Detective Ryan demanded.

  Nancy sighed. The detective obviously wasn’t going to apologize for ignoring her for so long or thank her for helping to solve his case. Well, she told herself, I guess that’s not as important as catching the thieves.

  “I’m waiting,” he said.

  Quickly, Nancy described Zach and Rita and Max. “Listen, I know you’ve got a job to do. But we could finish it together. I think we ought to try to cooperate, at least until it’s over. Deal?”

  “Deal,” he said after a couple of seconds. Together, the two of them raced for the stairs.

  When they reached the lounge, they stopped and checked to see if Zach was at his usual place behind the bar. He wasn’t.

  “I guess that would have been too easy,” the detective remarked. “Let’s start checking the rest of the place.” Without waiting for Nancy, he headed for the sliding doors that led to the pool.

  At first, Nancy was so glad to be outside, breathing fresh air, that she couldn’t decide what to do or where to begin looking for the culprits. For a moment, she just stood still, enjoying her freedom. When a hand touched her arm, she jumped and yelped.

  “Steady,” Ned said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “I’m one of the good guys.”

  “That’s for sure,” Nancy said, hugging him. “Thanks for calling the detective. I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d have before Rita and Zach came back for me.”

  “So it is those two,” Ned said with a frown. “When that lifeguard came back outside, I gave him the third degree, but he had about fifty witnesses to prove that he’d just gone to the locker room for some zinc oxide for his nose. George stayed with Cindy the whole time, and the girl didn’t try to make a move. I figured it must be the bartender, but by that time it was too late.”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” Nancy said. “But it’s three people, not two. The third one is Max Fletcher, and he’s the brains behind the whole thing. Tell George and Bess, so they can look for him, too.”

  “Right,” Ned said. “I’m going to check downstairs again, just to make sure they didn’t slip back in there while we weren’t looking. You might as well look around outside, but it’s not going to be easy, Nan. It’s almost time for the fireworks, and this place is a madhouse.”

  “Don’t worry,” Nancy said. “If they’re here, we’ll find them.”

  After Ned took off, Nancy looked around again. Now she knew what he meant by madhouse. The lounge, the deck around the pool, parts of the golf course, every place was filled with people waiting for the fireworks to begin. They weren’t waiting quietly, either. Some were milling around with paper plates in their hands, some were dancing, some were swimming, and they were all talking and laughing at the top of their lungs.

  The whole area was lit by torches, and Nancy knew she’d have trouble picking out specific faces in the flickering light, but she stepped into the crowd, anyway. They have to be here, she told herself. They were planning to come back for her when the party was over, and they wouldn’t want to go too far while they waited. Besides, Zach was the bartender. He had a job to do. And if he wasn’t doing it in the lounge, then he must be outside, passing around trays of drinks.

  As Nancy was edging her way through a knot of people, someone put a hot dog in her hand. She gratefully ate it while she continued searching. She saw Detective Ryan over by the swimming pool and caught his eye. Shaking his head, he gave her a thumbs-down signal.

  Turning around, Nancy walked back to the lounge door, hoping that maybe Zach had returned for a refill. He hadn’t, but on the far side of the room she saw Bess and George. When they spotted her, they waved and smiled, glad to see that she was okay. Nancy quickly joined them and explained who the thieves were. But neither girl had seen them, so Nancy decided to move on to the golf course.

  Wishing she had another hot dog, Nancy pushed her way through clumps of people and finally made it to the smooth grass of the golf course. She stopped a second to take off her sandals, just in case she had to do any running. Carrying them in her hand, she started wandering through the happy crowd, checking every face but never f
inding the right ones.

  Suddenly, the noise of the crowd seemed to get even louder. A cheer went up, and everyone started clapping. A man said, “This is the biggest one ever. I bet they’ll see it as far away as Chicago.” Looking to where he was pointing—at a small hill just a short distance from the crowd—Nancy could see where the fireworks display had been set up, and she realized it was about to begin.

  Frustrated, Nancy turned around, and that was when she saw them. Two of them, anyway. Standing close together, Zach and Rita were looking at the hill, too. Zach raised his hand to point something out to Rita, and then he caught sight of Nancy.

  Slowly, he lowered his hand, watching Nancy the whole time. Not taking her eyes off him, either, Nancy started moving in their direction. She ignored the jostling crowds around her.

  Suddenly, when she was about ten feet from them, Nancy stopped walking. Zach hadn’t taken a single step, and now she saw why. In his hand, barely hidden by a jacket tossed over his arm, was the gun. He raised it and pointed it straight at her. In a flash, Nancy realized that he was waiting for the fireworks to start before firing it. It was a perfect cover. Between the exploding firecrackers and the screams of the crowd, no one would hear a single silenced shot that would leave her lying on the ground.

  Chapter

  Seventeen

  AS QUICKLY AS she could, Nancy glanced over her shoulder. The group of people in charge of the fireworks display had broken apart, and one man was checking his watch. Nancy realized that it was only a matter of seconds.

  Looking back, she saw that Zach and Rita still hadn’t moved. They were just waiting for the right moment.

  Although there weren’t crowds of people around her, there were people nearby. And Nancy knew that if she tried to protect herself, either she could lose Zach and Rita, or some innocent person could get hurt, or both. It wasn’t worth the risk. She dropped her sandals and tossed her hair out of her eyes, but she stayed where she was.

  The spectators became quieter. Shrieks of laughter died down to giggles, and loud conversations faded to soft murmurs. Nancy knew it was time for the fireworks—if she was going to do something, she had to do it then.

  Before the first burst of a firecracker and the whoosh of a Roman candle shooting into the sky, Nancy ran and closed the gap between Zach and herself. And at the exact same moment that the club’s most spectacular and biggest display got underway, Nancy leaped on him, both hands grabbing the arm that held the gun and forcing it straight up into the air.

  The gun went off, its bullet shooting harmlessly into the sky, which was now filled with multicolored lights and bursting stars that glowed and then disappeared.

  Nancy let go of Zach’s arm with one hand, using it to dig her fingers into his throat. At the same time, she brought her knee up, giving him a sharp kick in the stomach.

  Zach gasped and doubled over, and when he raised his head again, Nancy hit him on the jaw. Unconscious, he fell sideways onto the grass.

  Breathing hard, Nancy looked for Rita, who was scrambling out of the area as fast as she could. Nancy stretched out her hand to grab the gun, when someone planted a foot on her wrist, pressing down hard and painfully.

  Nancy looked up into the pale eyes of Max Fletcher.

  “That was very exciting,” Max said as he surreptitiously picked up and pocketed the gun. “But I’m afraid we’ve all had enough excitement for one night,” he said to a couple of people who had glanced over to watch the antics on the ground.

  Aiming the gun at her through his jacket pocket, Max said, “Come on, sweetie. Enough fooling around.”

  Slowly, Nancy got to her feet, keeping her eye on the gun.

  “Oh, I’ll use it all right,” Max whispered into her ear. “Smile at anyone who looks at you, and walk nicely, or I will have to kill you.”

  Beside her, Nancy heard a low moan and realized that Zach was coming to. Rubbing his jaw, Zach got shakily to his feet and joined Max.

  “Let’s go now, shall we, sweetie?” Max said, smiling.

  The fireworks were going strong; the sky was lit up for miles, and the air reeked of gunpowder. Amazing, she thought, that just a couple of people even noticed what had happened. And they thought she and Zach were just goofing off.

  As soon as they got close to the clubhouse, Nancy scanned the crowds for someone who knew her. If she could spot Detective Ryan, Ned, Bess, or George, she’d be all right. They’d know she was in trouble.

  “Keep going,” Max ordered, still in a whisper. “Around by the pool.”

  The crowd was thickest around the pool area, and Nancy hated the thought of getting into the middle of it. There wouldn’t be room to try anything if she was packed in. But with a gun at her back, she didn’t have much say in the matter.

  As the three of them moved slowly through the crowd, a sudden shout went up. Nancy didn’t pay much attention at first; it was probably just another reaction to the fireworks. Then she realized that the shout wasn’t quite the same as the others she had been hearing. People weren’t screaming in amazement over some fabulous pyrotechnic display. They were yelling because something completely unexpected had happened.

  “I knew this was going to be a wild night,” Nancy heard someone say. “But I still can’t believe it. I mean, first the girl jumps into the diving pool with all her clothes on, and then the guy follows her, tie and all!”

  A tie? Nancy thought. The only person who could possibly be wearing a tie to a Fourth of July party is Detective Ryan. And the only reason for him to be in the pool is that he’s after Rita.

  Glancing back, Nancy saw that Max and Zach hadn’t paid any attention to the comment about the people in the pool. This was her chance.

  Pretending that it was the only way to move through the crowd, Nancy began to make a path closer and closer to the diving pool. If I can get close enough, she thought, maybe Detective Ryan will see me.

  When they reached the edge of the pool, Nancy looked down. In the middle of it, soaked to the skin, were Rita and Detective Ryan. Nancy was just about to call out when Zach spotted them. “Look,” he said to Max. “It’s Rita. She’s been caught!”

  “Too bad,” Max commented. To Nancy, he whispered, “Keep moving. One word and I’ll pull the trigger.”

  Nancy moved, but not the way Max had expected. She whirled around, reached out her arms, and shoved. Losing his balance, Max crashed backward into Zach, and, like two dominoes, they fell into the water.

  In the water, Rita was swimming as quickly as she could toward the edge. But Nancy planted herself in front of her. “You can get out, Rita,” she said. “But that’s about as far as you’ll go.” Then she called to Detective Ryan, “Look out, Detective, one of them has a gun!”

  “Not anymore!” he shouted back. Holding the gun out of the water, the detective motioned for Zach and Max to swim to the side.

  Dripping wet, the three thieves climbed out of the pool, followed by Detective Ryan. By this time, George, Ned, and Bess had joined Nancy, and the four friends watched as the detective put handcuffs on the culprits.

  As he started to lead them away, Detective Ryan turned back to Nancy. “Pretty nice work, Ms. Drew,” he said. Then he left.

  Bess gasped, amazement written across her delicate features. “Is he serious?” she said. “You just caught the crooks for him single-handedly. If it hadn’t been for you, they’d be out of town by now. And that’s all the thanks you get?”

  “Forget it,” Nancy told her. “The detective’s just not the grateful type, I guess. Anyway, the important thing is it’s over. Finally, we can relax a little and watch the rest of the fireworks!”

  • • •

  “It’s just fantastic!” Joanna said, plopping herself into a lounge chair beside Nancy. “I mean, you caught them, you found my necklace, and my parents don’t get back until tomorrow!”

  It was the fifth of July, and Nancy was back at the country club. When she had called Joanna that morning to tell her that the case had been
solved, Joanna had insisted on meeting her at the club. “I’ve been away too long,” Joanna had said. “I need some sun. Besides, I can’t wait to tell everybody what happened.”

  After the last few days, the club was the last place Nancy wanted to be, but she had finally agreed.

  “I didn’t really find out where they kept the stuff they stole,” Nancy said now. “Detective Ryan made them admit that Rita had stashed it in her apartment.”

  “Oh, don’t be so modest,” Joanna said. “If it hadn’t been for you, I’d be in big trouble. But now? As I said, my parents will be slightly mad, but once they know the necklace is back, they’ll be calm about it all.”

  “Do you mind if I give you some advice?” Nancy asked.

  “No, go ahead.”

  “Don’t talk so much,” Nancy suggested.

  Joanna looked insulted.

  “I mean, don’t talk so much about the things you have,” Nancy said quickly. “Especially the expensive things. And don’t let the whole world know when your house will be empty. You never know who might be listening.”

  “Believe me, I’m going to keep my mouth shut from now on,” Joanna said. Then, as she saw the lifeguard coming out of the clubhouse, she cried, “Mike! Guess what? Nancy found my necklace! It’s a good thing I never told Max or Zach or Rita about that safe in the dining room, isn’t it? That’s where my parents keep cash, and I’m not talking about small bills, either!”

  Shaking her head, Nancy decided to leave. Joanna would never change, but if she was lucky, maybe she’d never run into another Zach or Rita.

  As Nancy walked toward her car, she almost bumped into Detective Ryan. He was wearing a striped tie, but otherwise he looked the same—grimly serious.

  “Hi,” Nancy said. “How did everything go after I left last night?”

  “By the book,” the detective said. “I just came to tell Ms. Tate that her necklace will have to be used as evidence, so she won’t get it back as soon as she thought.”