Haunting of Horse Island Page 9

  “And you were the ghost staring into the window,” added Nancy.

  “Whoever locked that kitchen door was pretty smart,” said Steve. “I had some plans that were going to scare the three of you out of this house and into the storm.” He chuckled ruefully. “But I was the one who got stuck outside. So I made the best of it and pretended to be a ghost.”

  “You’re responsible for all the creepy things that have been going on, aren’t you?” said Nancy.

  “I had a little help,” Steve said, a tight smile creeping across his face.

  “Oh?” said Nancy. “Who was that?”

  Steve shrugged. “You’re so smart, you tell me.”

  “Okay,” Nancy said. “How about Rodney Starr?”

  Steve’s mouth dropped open. “How’d you—”

  “You needed someone who knew about horses, didn’t you?” Nancy said.

  “Yup. Rodney’s my man. He did his share of the dirty tricks. He set up the dummy and started the fire, though they were both my ideas.”

  “I’ll bet it was you who tried to drown me, though,” Nancy accused, instinctively knowing that Steve was the more brutal of the two men.

  “If I had wanted to drown you, I would have,” Steve said angrily. “I was hoping a warning would be enough. But apparently it wasn’t.”

  “You stole Teresa’s bandanna to make it look as if she was the one who tried to kill me.”

  “I thought I’d get rid of two problems at once,” said Steve.

  “What sort of problem was Teresa?” Nancy asked. “Was she investigating you?”

  “I don’t know what she knew, or who told her,” Steve admitted. “But she was snooping around the island, and I didn’t like it. I broke into her cabin and found the story she had written for a newspaper. I poured some red ink over every page, hoping to scare her.”

  “She didn’t get scared, though,” said Nancy.

  “No. It’s a shame, too. After I’m done with you, she’ll be the next to meet with an accident. Two mysterious accidents in one summer. That should finish off the Steadman Resort.”

  Nancy tried not to let his words panic her. More than ever before, she needed to stay calm. “Why are you out to close the resort?” she asked. “It has to do with the horses, doesn’t it?”

  Steve laughed. “Right again, super sleuth. I discovered that there were wild horses here last summer. There’s a fortune in horses here for the taking. The only thing standing between me and the horses is that stupid resort. Once the Steadmans are out of business, there will be no one around for miles who will be able to see what I’m doing.”

  “And what exactly will you be doing?” asked Nancy coolly.

  Steve hesitated for a moment. “Well, I guess you know too much already. You’re not going to be around to tell anyone, anyway. I’m going to continue capturing the horses and then sell some of them to breeders. Then, with the money, I plan to buy the resort from Steadman and start a dude ranch of my own.”

  “He’ll never sell his land to you,” Nancy said disdainfully.

  “He will after I’ve ruined the reputation of his place. Once the business dies down, he’ll be willing to sell the place for next to nothing. I started out hoping no one would get hurt, but I’ve come too far to turn back now. I’ve been poor all my life, and I’m sick of it. These horses are going to bring me a fortune, and nothing’s going to stop me.”

  “Why did you dig those pits?” Nancy asked.

  “To keep nosy people like you and Teresa away from the center of the island. So you found one of them, huh?”

  “Teresa did,” Nancy said. “I helped her get out.”

  “Too bad,” Steve said. “Now I’ll have to come up with a foolproof plan for taking care of Miss Diamond.”

  “Those shots we heard,” Nancy said. “They weren’t hunters, were they?”

  Steve laughed. “What a great story that was!” He seemed proud of himself. “It served two purposes: We scared away a lot of people who might’ve come over to the island to explore, and we used the shots to startle the horses and get them running where we wanted them to go.”

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “It was very clever.”

  “But now that you know everything,” said Steve, “I can’t let you go back to the resort and tell everybody.” He smiled. “I guess I’m going to have to arrange a little boating accident for you.” His grin widened. “Maybe your ghost will be haunting this island, too.”

  “Those ghost stories came in handy for you, didn’t they?” Nancy said, making an effort to stay calm. “You used them to help scare people away.”

  Steve laughed again. “Those ghost stories have been around for years. People believe what they want to believe.” He got up and stretched. “Well, I’m going out to tend to the horses. I’ll be back later to set you up for your little accident.” He disappeared into the dining room. A few moments later, Nancy heard him go out the kitchen door.

  Immediately she set to work trying to loosen her bonds, but the knots were expertly tied and wouldn’t budge.

  Nancy slumped back against the couch and tried to come up with a plan. The ticking of the old clock was the only sound in the quiet room. That’s it! she thought. The clock.

  Wriggling to her feet, Nancy hopped to the mantel across the room. She looked up at the clock. It was a shame to damage the antique, but she had to.

  “Here goes,” she muttered as she pushed the clock off the mantel with her tied hands. Smash! The glass face of the clock shattered on the floor.

  Nancy stooped and picked up the largest shard of glass. Its edge was razor sharp. Clasping it in her fingers, she began sawing at the ropes around her feet. In five minutes her feet were free.

  Cutting the ropes binding her hands was more difficult. It was hard to get the glass at the right angle. She had just finished when a noise at the back door made her look up.

  Steve Matheson was returning!

  With the front door boarded over, the only way out was the back door. But that escape route was impossible now.

  Nancy hurried to the front foyer and up the wide staircase to the second floor. When she got to the top of the stairs, she heard Steve walk into the parlor and cry out when he discovered that she was gone.

  Nancy heard him as he began searching the main floor.

  It was only a matter of time, Nancy realized, until he would come upstairs to look for her. She had to find a hiding place.

  Quietly she crept into the first room at the top of the stairs, the room with the steps leading to the tower.

  She looked at the door leading to the tower stairs. The old iron key was still in the lock. That gave her an idea. It was a risky, desperate plan, but it might work.

  “Here goes,” she said to herself as she slammed the bedroom door that led to the hallway. That was sure to alert Steve. She listened. Almost immediately she heard his steps running up the stairs.

  Next she slipped the iron key into her pocket and hurried up the stairs to the shadowy tower. A quick fluttering of bat wings from the room above made her shudder, but she kept climbing the stairs. It was day, the time when the nocturnal creatures would be sleeping. Nancy moved as quietly as she could. Her plan depended on not disturbing the sleeping bats.

  At the top of the stairs was a round, dimly lit room. Dusty boxes and trunks were the only furniture. Looking up, Nancy saw that the rafters of the old room were crowded with bats. “Perfect,” she whispered, fighting down a quiver of revulsion.

  Come and get me, Steve, thought Nancy, crouching behind a large, upright trunk near the stairs. “Come on up,” Nancy whispered as she kept a close watch on the bats above.

  The door to the tower opened. Nancy held her breath and hoped Steve didn’t discover the bats too soon.

  Nancy heard his steps coming closer, but she didn’t dare peek out from her hiding place. She had to wait until he was in the tower. Her gaze fell on an old pincushion sitting in the dust at her feet. She picked it up. It was just what she nee
ded.

  Steve was now at the top of the stairs. Nancy could see his head over the old trunk.

  He walked into the room, looking for her. He saw a pile of boxes on the far side of the room next to a window and moved toward them. “I know you’re—”

  But before he finished the sentence, Nancy hurled the pincushion at a group of bats roosting in the rafters. They immediately dropped into the air and began swooping around the tower room. Steve cried out and covered his head with his hands.

  Nancy was ready for this chance to escape, and she jumped up, running out from behind the trunk and straight down the stairs as fast as she could.

  “Nancy!” he cried out. Still covering his head, he started after her.

  Nancy reached the bottom of the stairs, slammed the door, and locked it. Steve reached the other side of the door almost instantly.

  “Open this door!” he hollered, banging with his fist and kicking. Nancy looked at the rattling doorknob with alarm. It was very old. Would the lock hold?

  Nancy didn’t intend to wait and find out. She flew out of the empty bedroom and took the front stairs two at a time, her heart beating frantically all the way. At the bottom of the staircase, she ran through the foyer, toward the back door. But the sound of a creaking door opening into the kitchen caused her to skid to try to stop from entering the room.

  Who could it possibly be? Nancy wondered, just as Teresa, Rodney, the sheriff, and a deputy walked into the room.

  16

  Now . . . for the Vacation

  “Well,” said Bess, raising her glass to Nancy, “I’m glad the scary stuff is over so we can relax for a couple of days! I think I’ll spend all day tomorrow lying in the sun at the swimming pool.”

  “You girls deserve it!” said Henry Steadman. “In fact, I’m going to treat you three to an extra week.” Nancy, Bess, and George beamed. “I am indebted to you girls for the excellent work you did tracking down the source of all our troubles. Especially you, Nancy.”

  Nancy grinned and looked around the large round table in the corner of the dining room. Henry sat in the corner spot with his arm around Ruth. Nancy thought the couple looked happier and more relaxed than they had at any time since she and the girls had arrived at the resort. Teresa, Bess, and George sat in the other chairs at the table. For the first time, Teresa was smiling broadly and chatting with the girls. She, too, appeared to be relieved that the tension of the past several days was over.

  “There’s one thing I still don’t understand,” Bess said to Teresa. “How did you know about the plans Steve had for the horses on the island?”

  “I had an anonymous tip,” Teresa said. “I figured out a few days after I arrived here that it was Rodney Starr who had called me at the paper. Rodney kept avoiding me, and I saw him talking with Steve several times. Rodney had gotten involved with Steve because he needed the money. But when he saw those beautiful horses and realized that he was going to play a part in capturing them, he couldn’t go through with it.”

  “Why didn’t he just tell Steve he’d changed his mind?” Bess asked.

  “Well,” Teresa said, “I think Rodney realized that Steve could become dangerous. I think he was afraid of what Steve might do. So he contacted me and pretended to play along with Steve.”

  “So Rodney did set the dummy in the trees,” George said.

  “Yes. That was harmless enough, although it scared off some of the guests,” Teresa said. “He finally admitted to me that he was the person who had tipped me off. But he wouldn’t tell me exactly what was happening. He just led me along, telling me to visit the island with my camera at certain times. He wanted me to ‘discover’ what was going on while he pretended to play along.”

  “Will Rodney go to jail?” Bess asked.

  Nancy shook her head. “The sheriff said that because of his cooperation with the police, he probably won’t be charged. But you can bet Steve is going away for a long time.”

  “Good,” Henry said.

  “Speaking of the sheriff,” Nancy said, “which one of you decided I needed help and called him?”

  Bess and George both said, “We did.” Then George went on. “We were on shore waiting for you to come back from the island when we heard the gunshots. We called the sheriff, and when he and his deputy arrived, Teresa and Rodney showed up and told them what was going on.”

  “Teresa,” Nancy asked, “was that call you made at the phone booth to your newspaper editor?”

  “Yes,” Teresa said. She smiled. “When you’re an investigative reporter you have to keep everything a secret. I thought you might be a reporter for a rival newspaper trying to get the scoop before I did. That’s why I called from the phone booth in town instead of using the phone in my cottage.”

  “Well,” Henry said, laughing, “I can’t tell you how relieved I am that Otis wasn’t involved in all this. Steve confessed to putting the poison berries in the dessert. Otis had nothing to do with it.”

  “Yes,” Ruth said, “I’m relieved, too. He’s a tyrant, but I was wrong to think the worst of him. He just believes he’s the world’s best cook and thinks his pay should reflect that.”

  “Well,” Bess said, taking a bite of her broiled lake trout, “I would have to agree with him on that point. He is the world’s best! The food here is better than any I’ve ever tasted!”

  “I think maybe it’s time to renegotiate his salary,” Henry said to Ruth.

  “I think you’re right,” Ruth agreed. “He is a brilliant chef.”

  Just then the Burkle sisters walked up to the piano, and the spotlight hit them.

  “Hi, everybody!” Carrie said, tossing back her red curls. “I’m Carrie, and this is my older sister, Ann.”

  “Just a year older,” Ann reminded her.

  “Well, fifteen months,” Carrie said.

  “Okay, okay,” Ann said, and she let out a sigh.

  The diners chuckled.

  “We’re going to entertain you tonight,” Carrie said. Her gaze swept over the audience and stopped at Nancy. “Oh, hey, there’s Nancy Drew!” she cried. “Pete, put the spot on Nancy, will you?”

  Suddenly Nancy was in the spotlight.

  “You see this person?” Carrie said. “She’s a terrific detective. She saved the Steadman Resort from a mean guy who wanted to bring this great place down. Let’s all give her a big hand!”

  The diners applauded, and Nancy’s face grew pink.

  “Now we’re going to do one of our favorite songs,” Carrie said. She introduced their pianist and their first number.

  “Oh, by the way,” Teresa said, leaning over toward Nancy, “when I do the piece about the capturing of the wild horses at Horse Island, you’ll be a big part of the story.”

  “Me?” Nancy said.

  “Sure,” said Teresa. “You were incredible. What I worked on for a whole week, you came along and wrapped up in just a few days! You deserve the credit.”

  “She is the best, isn’t she?” said Bess proudly.

  “That’s our Nancy,” agreed George.

  Henry lifted his glass and grinned. “I thank you, my wife thanks you, and the wild horses of Horse Island thank you,” he teased.

  “My pleasure,” Nancy replied, smiling. “Steve Matheson should have known his plan didn’t stand a ghost of a chance.”

  “Please!” cried Bess, covering her ears. “I never want to hear the word ghost again!” Everyone laughed while the Burkle sisters sang on into the summer night.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A MINSTREL PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

  A Minstrel Book published by

  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 1990
by Simon & Schuster Inc.

  Cover art copyright © 1990 Aleta Jenks

  Produced by Mega-Books of New York, Inc.

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  ISBN: 0-671-69284-4

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4814-0406-8 (eBook)

  First Minstrel Books printing December 1990

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