084 Choosing Sides Read online

  "But in the meantime, his incinerator would be belching out pollution," Nancy argued.

  Filanowski nodded, a guilty look in his eyes. "At the time, it seemed like a small price to pay for a badly needed library that the city's budget just couldn't aflford. I can see now that I was wrong. I guess I had become arrogant. I thought that after fifteen years in ofl&ce, I knew better than anyone what was best for River Heights.

  "Anyway," he continued, "as mayor, I have control over who gets awarded contracts. My friend's plan made sense, so I agreed to go along with it and look the other way when his incinerator took in too much garbage."

  Nancy's eyes widened with shock. The mayor had just admitted to breaking the law! "But why would you . . .*' Before she even finished asking her question, she knew the answer. "He paid you oflf, didn't he?'' she guessed. "That's how you can afford to retire to that expensive place in Florida."

  Filanowski looked surprised. "You are a good detective, aren't you? I didn't take any money at first. That came later, after my heart attack, when my doctor told me I couldn't stay on as mayor much longer. When my friend realized that the next mayor might be Caroline Hill, a strong environmentalist, he bought me that condo and convinced me to turn my back on Caroline and withhold my endorsement of her."

  He let out a weary sigh. "He convinced me that it would be in the best interests of River Heights in the long run. I convinced myself that the money was just a generous gift from an old friend, but now I see it for the bribe that it was. I was desperate," the mayor said. "I had lost all my money a year ago, and I was being forced to retire. I swear to you, I had no idea that my friend would take it so far."

  "You mean when he made up the fencing ring story, don't you?" Nancy asked.

  The mayor nodded. "When I saw that article on Monday, I knew it was a lie. I asked my friend if he knew anything about it, and he admitted that he'd thought the story up,'' he explained. '^I told him he was crazy. Then, when I read in the paper that Bobby Rouse had been murdered, I realized that he truly is insane."

  Nancy could barely contain her excitement. The mayor was telling her that the same person was responsible for setting up Caroline and for killing Bobby Rouse! "Who is it?" she asked urgently. "You have to tell me!"

  Mayor Filanowski hesitated, then said, "I could have just given you his name right away, but I wanted you to hear—"

  Suddenly the mayor took a sharp breath, and his eyes bulged out. As Nancy watched in horror, his knees buckled and he toppled backward. He fell face up at the base of the rock.

  When Nancy saw the dark red stain spreading across his left shoulder, she realized what had happened.

  Sam Filanowski had been shot!

  Chapter Fifteen

  FOR A MOMENT, all Nancy could do was stare at Mayor Filanowski lying at the base of the rock. She was about to bend down, to see if she could find a pulse, when she heard a zing as a piece of rock chipped off next to her feet. Now someone was shooting at her!

  Nancy glanced around wildly. Another bullet whistled over her head, and she leapt off the rock, landing on her hands and knees in the mud, next to the mayor. At least now the big rock was between the shooter and her and the mayor.

  She felt a rush of relief when she heard him groan. "Thank goodness you're alive! Hang in there," Nancy said.

  The mayor tried to sit up, but Nancy gently rested him back against the rock. She yanked a handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed it to the wound on his shoulder. Within a few seconds the handkerchief was saturated with blood.

  Mayor Filanowski groaned again, and his eyes flickered. Nancy's eyes searched frantically around her, and she tried to ignore the panic that was building inside her. How was she ever going to get them out of there?

  Suddenly Nancy heard a car roar up to where she'd parked. There was the squeal of brakes and then the sound of a car door opening and slamming shut. She tried to stifle her fear. Did the shooter have an accomplice?

  "Nancy Drew!'' a familiar voice rang out a moment later. ''Where are you? I know all about your lies!''

  "Brenda!" Nancy breathed in disbelief. "What are you doing here! Stay down!" she cried out.

  Keeping low, Nancy edged along the rock and peeked around it. Brenda was standing on the edge of the road next to Nancy's car, holding an umbrella.

  "Brenda, get back in your car!" Nancy shouted. "Someone is shooting at us."

  Brenda didn't seem to have heard her. "Where are you?" Brenda demanded, looking around. "You're in big trouble, Nancy. You'd better come out!"

  Just then another shot ricocheted off the rock a few inches from Nancy, and Nancy ducked. This time, she could tell where the shot had come from: the trees just to the right of the cars and about fifteen feet to Brenda's left.

  Nancy sneaked a second quick peek and saw Brenda gingerly putting one high-heeled foot forward into the muddy tire tracks. The shooter was using a silencer, so Brenda had no idea that she was in danger. In a second she was going to walk right into the line of fire!

  "Big trouble is right,'* Nancy muttered. "Brenda," she shouted again, "stay back, or you'll get shot!"

  "What?" Brenda called, taking another step into the mud. Nancy glanced over her shoulder at Filanowski propped against the rock and groaning slightly. What a mess! The mayor was wounded, and Brenda could get shot any second. Nancy knew she couldn't just stay behind the rock forever. She had to do something.

  She took a deep, steadying breath. "Here goes," she muttered. Shedding her rain slicker so it wouldn't get in her way, she darted out into the clearing, running in a jagged line with her head and shoulders tucked down. It seemed to take her hours to cross the thirty feet to Brenda, who was looking at Nancy as if she had gone crazy. Nancy grabbed Brenda's arm and yanked her around.

  "Hey! What—" Brenda's objection was cut short as a bullet pierced her umbrella, knocking it out of her hand.

  "Come on, Brenda, or you'll get killed," Nancy said through clenched teeth. She pulled Brenda ten feet back, to the safety of her Mustang. Nancy threw open the passenger door, pushed Brenda in, then ran around the back of the car and jumped in the driver's side.

  "Wa-was that a gunshot?'' Brenda stammered, hunching low in the seat.

  "Yes, it was," Nancy said, revving the engine of her Mustang. *'Keep your head down."

  Her tires splattered muddy water as she threw the car into gear and plowed across the clearing to the other side of the rock. Brenda gasped when she saw Filanowski lying there.

  "Oh, my gosh, he's bleeding!"

  Nancy had already jumped out of the car, "Quick, Brenda, give me a hand," she called. "We have to get him to a hospital right away!"

  Filanowski was barely conscious and was shivering from shock as they tugged and pulled him to the Mustang. Nancy didn't know how they managed it, but somehow she and Brenda got the mayor into the backseat. No sooner was he inside than he lost consciousness. Please let him be all right, Nancy silently begged.

  Two more gunshots whistled over their heads as Nancy unlocked the trunk of her car and thrust a blanket at Brenda. "Here, get in the car and cover him up with this," she said urgently. "We have to get out of here before we all get killed!"

  For once, Brenda was speechless. She quickly did as Nancy asked. Seconds later, they were all back in the car, and Nancy sped out of the clearing.

  "Nancy, who was shooting at us?" Brenda asked. Her hazel eyes were wide with fear, and her face was white.

  "I'm not sure," Nancy replied. It seemed clear to her, though, that the "friend" the mayor had told her about wasn't such a good friend after all. She shuddered at the thought. She was dealing with a crazed, evil man. Nancy gazed worriedly at the mayor in the rearview mirror. Until he regained consciousness, she couldn't find out who the person was.

  It seemed an eternity before Nancy pulled up at the emergency entrance of the River Heights General Hospital. A team of medics rushed the mayor inside.

  Nancy knew she would have to answer the staflfs questions, but first
she needed to make a phone call. She hurried to a pay phone in the emergency room, then called Kyle at her father's law office.

  "Hi, Nan, what's up?" Kyle asked cheerfully.

  "Kyle, I need you to drop everything you're doing," Nancy told him. "Tap into the state's computer records on businesses incorporated in River Heights in the last year. Look for Greenwood Incorporated, and find the name of the person who filed the incorporation forms. Can you do that?"

  "So that's what Greenwood means!" Kyle exclaimed. "No problem. Nan. I should be able to find that out right away.''

  "Great," Nancy replied. "Then, see if you can find Bess and meet me here at R. H. General. Someone just shot Sam Filanowski, and I don't want to leave until I'm sure he's going to be all right."

  Next, Nancy called Caroline Hill at her campaign headquarters. By now it was a little after nine, and Caroline was there waiting for Nancy. After telling Caroline what had happened, Nancy asked her to hold oflF on giving her brother an answer about dropping out of the election. "If we can just wait until the mayor tells us who's behind the fencing story, then we can confront Wayne with facts he won't be able to deny."

  Nancy was just hanging up when Brenda tapped her on the shoulder. "Nancy, I've told the people in the emergency room all I know. Now I'm going to catch a cab home," Brenda said. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Hospitals give me the creeps!"

  After Brenda left, Nancy was tied up for a half-hour explaining the details of the shooting, first to the emergency room's attending physician and then to the police. She finally managed to break away and flag down a nurse, who told her that the mayor was being moved up to the Intensive Care Unit. Luckily, the bullet had only grazed his shoulder, and he would not require surgery.

  "Where is Intensive Care?'* Nancy asked.

  "On the third floor." The nurse pointed with her clipboard. "It's in the Blount wing.''

  Nancy stared blankly at the woman. "The Blount wing?" she echoed. "You mean the Alan Blount wing?"

  The nurse nodded impatiently. "Just take the elevator and follow the signs."

  That's it! Nancy realized. The mayor had told her that his "friend" had donated a wing to the hospital. It had to be Alan Blount! And that meant that Blount was behind the scheme to get Caroline to back down from the mayoral campaign. Nancy was willing to bet that when Kyle told her the name of the person who was in charge of Greenwood, it would be none other than Alan Blount. She still wasn't sure why Blount had backed Caroline's campaign, but she didn't have time to worry about that right now.

  Nancy picked up her pace as she headed for the elevator. If she could just talk to the mayor right away and get him to admit that it was Blount, then they could call the police to arrest the man before he hurt someone else. There wasn't a moment to lose!

  As she stepped into the elevator car, she heard Bess's voice call out, "Nancy, wait!" A second later Bess and Kyle threw themselves into the elevator with her.

  "We found out who Greenwood is!" Kyle gasped.

  "Alan Blount, right?" Nancy said.

  Bess blinked in surprise. "How did you enow?"

  "I'll tell you later," Nancy said. "Fve got to alk to the mayor, but they won't let us all go into Intensive Care. Follow my lead, okay?"

  Bess and Kyle nodded. When the elevator ioors opened at the third floor, Nancy hurried )ver to the nurses' station. "I've got to see my father, Sam Filanowski," she said urgently. 'Where is he?"

  Glancing behind Nancy at Bess and Kyle, the nurse said, "Your friends will have to wait here." rhen she led Nancy through a set of swinging doors, down a hallway, and into a room with a hospital bed and all kinds of monitors. The mayor was still unconscious and was connected to an intravenous unit and some monitors. A doctor in a surgeon's mask and green uniform stood at the foot of the bed, looking at a chart.

  "Oh, Doctor," the nurse said, "I didn't realize you were in here."

  The doctor turned around briefly and gave them a short nod.

  "I'm afraid you can only have fifteen minutes with your father," the nurse told Nancy. Then she left, closing the door behind her.

  Nancy nodded and turned to the doctor. "I'm glad you're here," Nancy said. "I was afraid he would be all alone."

  "Really?"

  Something about the doctor's deep, gravelly voice made Nancy take a closer look at him. He seemed familiar somehow, , . . Taking in the man's graying blond hair and pale gray eyes, she realized that she did know him.

  "Alan Blount!'' Nancy exclaimed.

  For a split second his eyes widened in surprise-Then, in a swift move, Blount jumped forward and grabbed Nancy by the shoulders, wrapping his arm around her neck in a choke hold. Before she could move, he pressed her against the wall and pinned her arms behind her back. With his free hand, he reached for something on the bedside table. Nancy's eyes widened in terror as she saw what he had picked up.

  "I think there's enough serum in here to finish off both you and the mayor," Blount rasped, holding a hypodermic needle up to her face.

  "I'm not the only one who knows what you've done!" Nancy blurted out. "There's no point in killing me. My friends will still tell the police."

  Alan Blount tightened his hold on her arms. "That may be. But with you out of the way, I can at least buy enough time to get out of the country." In a disgusted tone, he added, "My plans are ruined now, anyway, so there's no reason to stay. I should have done everything myself, instead of counting on spineless men like Filanowski and Rouse."

  "Is that why you killed Bobby?" Nancy asked, her heart racing. "Because you thought he would rat on you after he got arrested?'' Nancy turned her head to see Blount*s face behind her.

  Blount grunted in assent. "What a mistake I made, trusting that idiot. It was easy enough giving Rouse's friend Ralph the money to post bail. The guy was happy to get his friend out, so he never questioned who Mr. Greenwood was or why I would fork over thirty thousand dollars to free Bobby. Once Rouse was out of jail, I made sure he'd never spill the beans on me—ever.'*

  Nancy shivered at Blount's cold tone. Somehow she had to buy some time before he decided to use that syringe! "Your fencing ring frame-up was pretty clever," she said. "You're the one who had Bobby Rouse pose in that fake photograph. And then you fed the story to Steve Hill."

  Blount let out a short laugh. "It was clever of me, wasn't it?" he said. "Steve Hill was so ready to believe the story that he didn't even ask any questions. Too bad you had to stick your nose into things and prove the photograph was a fake. I'd covered my tracks so well up to that point— I'd even given money to Caroline Hill's campaign."

  That explained why Nancy had seen him encouraging Patrick Gleason before the debate. He wasn't really for Caroline Hill at all! "I can see why you wouldn't want Caroline to be mayor," Nancy said. "She'd never go along with your incinerator plan. But what makes you think that Patrick Gleason would?"

  "He'd be a perfect mayor," Blount said, "He doesn't have much experience, and he's eager to please."

  Nancy was too disgusted to comment. There was still one piece to this puzzle that she hadn't fit into place yet. "What about Wayne Buckley? When did you get him involved in the scam?"

  "I had to work hard to find out about Buckley. After the paper printed their retraction, I was desperate to ruin Caroline Hill's campaign. Through my professional contacts, I got hold of Caroline's bank statements and scoured them for any scandal I could smear her with. That's how I found out about her payments to Wayne Buckley. A little more checking, and I traced him to Chicago. When I visited Buckley, he told me all about the money she sent him for his kids every month."

  "And you somehow convinced him to pretend that she was sending the money to finance a fencing ring, right?" Nancy guessed. "How did you scare Buckley into blackmailing his sister?"

  "His children, of course! I had that poor jerk convinced that I could report him to the authorities as an unfit father and have them taken away for good." Alan Blount gave a harsh laugh. "It was a great ploy. Only you came a
long and messed everything up! I couldn't believe it when Filanowski told me that you had been asking

  questions. I could tell he was turning chicken. It's a good thing I decided to follow him this morning, or he would have told you everything.''

  "But you—"

  "That's enough!" Blount snapped. He pulled Nancy's head back.

  Nancy felt a drop of sweat roll down her forehead. Out of the comer of her eye, she could see Blount bringing the needle closer to her neck. She felt it prick her flesh.

  She was about to be injected with poison!

  Chapter Sixteen

  NANCY SWALLOWED HARD. She tried to move, but Blount held her against the hospital room wall.

  "Don't do it!'' Nancy said hoarsely. "The nurse will be back any second."

  "There's plenty of time," Blount whispered.

  Just then a faint groan broke the silence of the room. Startled, Blount glanced over at Filanowski and moved the needle a few inches away from Nancy's neck.

  That split second was all Nancy needed. Wrenching her body backward, she pushed Blount oflf balance. He tried to force her against the wall again, but she managed to free an arm and jab him in the ribs with her elbow.

  "Kyle! Bess!" Nancy shouted at the top of her lungs. "Help! Quick!"

  Blount whirled at her again, the syringe poised, but Nancy lashed out with a judo kick, and the needle flew from his grasp. Seconds later Kyle and Bess burst into the room. Kyle rushed at Blount and slugged him in the jaw. Blount staggered backward a few feet, and Kyle and Nancy were able to pin his hands behind his back.

  "I'll call the police!" Bess cried, running from the room.

  Nancy was still trying to catch her breath when she heard the mayor groan again. Lxwking up, she saw him open his eyes and look groggily around.

  "What ...?'' he began when he saw Nancy, Kyle, and Alan Blount.

  Nancy smiled at him. "You can relax, Mayor Filanowski. Everything's under control."

  "I propose a toast to the new mayor of River Heights, Caroline Hill!" Kyle proclaimed, raising his glass of ginger ale.