"Sounds impressive," Bess said. "Can we have a tour of the cabin? You know, see the important things, like the kitchen—"
"Bess, if you're going to be a sailor, you're going to have to call it the galley," Parker corrected. "And on a sailboat, the bathroom is called the head."
"You'll have to remember there's no right and left either," Andy chimed in. "Only port for left and starboard for right."
Bess clapped her hands to her ears. "Enough! Can we just go down into the galley, please?"
"Okay, everyone on board for a tour/' Andy said, taking Bess's hand. "Ms. Marvin/' he said in a mock formal voice. "To board, step over the lifeline—that's the line of rope in front of you— and grab hold of the shroud." He pointed to two taut wires that angled down from the top of the boat's mast and attached the mast to the deck. "Then jump onto the deck."
Bess nodded. With a boost from Ned, she stepped over the lifeline, which ran around the edge of the deck. Reaching forward, she grasped the shroud and swung her other leg over the lifeline.
Suddenly Nancy heard an ominous groan above her. Stepping back, she looked up into the night sky. With a start, she realized that the main mast was tilting slightly to the left!
Nancy opened her mouth to warn Andy. But before she could, the mast came hurtling through the air—straight at Ned's head!
Chapter Three
"Ned, look out!" Nancy screamed. She dove for him, catching hold of his shirt and yanking him backward. The two of them fell flat onto the dock, and Nancy felt her breath knocked out of her.
A split second later, the mast crashed across the deck of the boat and onto the dock with a thunderous whack, narrowly missing the two of them. Wires slapped against Nancy's arms and legs, stinging her. She scrambled sideways and bumped into Ned's shoulder. He pulled her to his chest and hugged her tight.
"Are you okay?" he gasped into her hair.
Numbly, she nodded. "Yes. What about you?"
He caught his breath. "All in one piece, thanks to you."
"Hey!" An anxious cry from the boat made them both look up. Bess and Andy were waving from the starboard deck. "Everyone all right?"
Nancy nodded as she looked at the boat. The mast had ripped through part of the sailboat's lifeline. The boom had fallen with the mast, hitting with such force that it had dented one section of the metal rail.
"Are you guys okay?" Parker called. He was standing safely on the other side of the fallen mast, but his face was pale.
"Yeah," Ned replied.
As he and Nancy got up, Nancy was relieved to see that the people at the party were too busy laughing and talking to notice the accident. Nodding toward the fallen mast, she asked Andy, "What happened?"
Andy was stooped on the deck of the Skipper's Surprise, inspecting the damage. "I'm not sure," he replied. "But whatever it was, it shouldn't have happened. Masts don't just fall by themselves."
"It was all my fault!" Bess exclaimed. Nancy, Ned, Parker, and Andy all swung to look at her. Bess was sitting on the top of the cabin, which was slightly raised from the deck. Her face was pale. "I must have pulled the mast down when I grabbed those shroud things."
"No way, Bess," Andy said. "The wires are held taut by the turnbuckle—that's the fitting you screw the shroud lines into. The lines don't come loose, unless . . ."
His voice trailed off. Frowning, Andy climbed over the top of the cabin and bent down on the other side of the boat.
Ned and Nancy glanced at each other. "What's going on?" Nancy wondered out loud. Holding on to Ned's shoulder, she jumped onto the deck to see what Andy was doing. He was fiddling with the U-shaped clamp that attached the turnbuckle to the deck. When he looked up at her, his face was white.
"Somebody deliberately unscrewed the turn-buckle," he said in a low voice. "That means the shroud lines were barely supporting the mast on this side. When Bess pulled on the lines on the opposite side, the mast fell over."
By now Parker, Ned, and Bess were clustered around Nancy and Andy. "See, it was my fault," Bess repeated, looking miserable.
Parker put his arm around her shoulder. "Anyone boarding the boat could have grabbed the shroud lines."
"Even Nick Lazlo," Nancy said. "Maybe this is what the person arguing with him meant by saying he'd do anything to win." She hesitated, then added, "Though to be honest, I couldn't tell for certain if the voice was a man's or a woman's."
Andy stood up. "Nick is usually the one fooling with the boat. This is the first time I've been on it for a week. But why would someone want to hurt him?"
"I don't know." Nancy took one last look at the turnbuckle, then straightened. "But if you're saying that the turnbuckle was deliberately unscrewed, then it couldn't have been an accident."
"I don't know how else to explain it," Andy said. "Nick would never do anything this sloppy or dangerous."
Ned gave Nancy a probing look. "So you think this was meant for Nick?"
"After hearing that threat, it would make sense. After all, a mast falling on your head would certainly keep you from winning the race."
"I don't know, Nancy," Parker said doubtfully. "I think the argument you and Ned heard at the party was just hot air. The mast falling is serious."
Nancy took a deep breath. "That's what worries me. If this was no accident, then whoever loosened the shroud must have been deadly serious. I think we'd better warn Nick."
The group headed back up to the party. When they didn't see Nick, Parker and Bess volunteered to check the house. Andy, Ned, and Nancy found Annabel stretched out on a cushioned lawn chair by the pool.
"The mast fell?" Annabel asked after Andy explained what had happened. Her eyes brightened with the first glimmer of interest Nancy had seen all night. "Too bad I wasn't there. It would've livened up this dull party."
Andy let out an exasperated sigh. "This is serious, Annabel. Someone could've been hurt."
"Like me," Ned added soberly.
Nancy was curious about Annabel's reaction. The mast could have fallen on her husband, yet she didn't seem at all concerned.
"We have to warn, Nick," Andy continued. "Did he come back to the party?"
Annabel shrugged. "Who knows? I haven't heard any loud boasting, though, so I assume he's not here."
Ned and Nancy exchanged glances. It was obvious that Nick and Annabel wouldn't win the Couple-of-the-Year award. Nancy wondered what was going on between them. Did Annabel hate Nick enough to hurt him and his prize sailboat?
"I'm going inside to give him a call," Andy said, abruptly taking off for the house.
After he'd left, Annabel stood up and ran her long fingernails through her short, streaked hair. "Well, it's been fun," she said sarcastically.
"Annabel," Nancy began, not wanting her to leave so fast, "you don't seem to care much about Nick and Andy's boat."
Annabel snorted in amusement. "I find it totally boring the way sailors slobber all over their pieces of fiberglass."
"But you must have known Nick was an avid sailor when you married him," Nancy said.
Stepping closer to Ned and Nancy, Annabel poked a red nail at Nancy's face. "At least Nick is a real sailor. But all these other people?" Annabel waved at the crowd. "After twenty years of boating with my father, I can sail rings around them!"
For a second, Annabel's golden eyes narrowed. Then her face fell back into its bored mask. "But who wants to? Nick's the only person I ever met who could sail better than I can. Too bad he's such a . . ." For a second, Annabel seemed at a loss for words. Then, with a shrug, she turned and sauntered away.
"Wow," Ned said. "What was all that about?"
"Beats me," Nancy replied.
Just then Andy came jogging across the pool deck. "There's no answer at Nick's. I hope he's all right." Stopping in his tracks, he looked around. "Where's Annabel?"
"Uh, she left," Ned said, glancing at Nancy.
Andy looked at Nancy and Ned, then nodded his head knowingly. "I get it. Annabel departed with her usual charming gr
ace, right?"
Nancy laughed. "You seem to know her well."
"I should," Andy said quietly. "A few years back we were dating. Then Nick came into the picture, and she dumped me for him. It wasn't long after that that they got married."
"Oh." Nancy didn't know what else to say. It was obvious Andy had been hurt when Annabel
left him for Nick. And judging by the attention Annabel gave Andy, it looked as if she might be regretting her decision to marry Nick.
"No big deal," Andy added quickly. "Hey, Annabel's really okay. She's had it rough the past two years. Her dad, whom she idolized, died. And then, well, I guess she started having second thoughts about Nick."
"Why?" Nancy asked.
"Nick will always like boats, sailing, and himself more than any other person," Andy replied. "We've been friends for so long that I'm used to it. And of course his passion for boats has made him a talented and dedicated designer. But marriage?" He shrugged. "Annabel needed emotional support after her dad died, and Nick was never around."
"It can't be all Nick's fault," Ned put in. "She seems to have a mean streak herself."
"She can be tough," Andy agreed, but at the same time, a smile tugged at his mouth. Nancy had to wonder if he was still in love with Annabel Lazlo.
"Wasn't it luxurious having a maid serve us tea and croissants in bed?" Bess said the next morning. "It almost made getting up early worth it."
Nancy laughed. "Mmm. I could get used to living like this."
The two girls were walking down the dew-soaked lawn to the dock. They were both wearing jeans and jackets but had packed bathing suits and shorts in their backpacks.
"Hey, it looks as if the guys beat us," Bess said, waving. Parker and Ned were already on the dock, both dressed in shorts and jackets. When Ned saw Nancy, he gave her a welcoming grin.
The mast had been raised, Nancy saw. As she climbed aboard, she checked the damage. The lifeline had been restrung, but the rail and deck were still damaged.
Dropping her knapsack on the deck, Nancy turned to Andy. "Okay, what should we do?"
For the next fifteen minutes, the teens were busy stowing gear and supplies and getting the boat's sails ready to be raised. At last Andy gave a satisfied look around and announced, "We're ready to go. While we wait for Nick, Fm going to make a run to the convenience store down the road and pick up some sodas and chips." He checked his watch. "I wonder what's keeping him?"
"There's no rush," Bess said from the bow. She had taken off her jacket and was stretched out on the deck. The morning sun was starting to warm the air. Nancy thought that later they might be able to put on their suits after all.
"Some R and R sounds great to me, too," Ned said, slipping off his windbreaker and joining Bess.
Andy jumped from the boat onto the dock. "Okay. I should be back in half an hour. Let's hope Nick's here by then."
But when Andy returned, Nick still hadn't shown up. Andy went into the guest house to call. When he returned, he was frowning. "I woke Annabel up. She said he wasn't there."
"Did she get a chance to tell him about the mast?" Nancy asked.
Andy shook his head. "She says she never saw him last night. She vaguely recalls his coming home after she went to bed, but he wasn't there now—I heard her calling him."
Just then, the phone in the guest house rang. Parker bounded up the steps to answer it. "Andy!" he called a minute later from the porch. "It's Annabel. She just checked their dock, and the Neptune's gone. Lazlo's probably on his way here."
"The Neptune?" Nancy questioned.
"It's Nick's twenty-four-foot sailboat," Andy replied. "Since their house is on the river, too, Nick often sails over here instead of driving."
"Why don't we motor out in the powerboat and see if we can find him?" Parker suggested, having overheard the conversation as he returned to the dock.
"Good idea." Andy led the foursome down to the end of the dock, where a small powerboat was moored. They all climbed in, and Andy started the engine.
The motor was so noisy that no one spoke, which was fine with Nancy. She wanted a minute to think. Ever since Andy had mentioned that Nick was late, she'd had a knot in her stomach. First the threat, then the falling mast. To her, those two things added up to trouble. She just hoped Nick Lazlo hadn't met more trouble that morning.
Andy headed downriver, picking up speed. "There's his boat!" Andy suddenly shouted from behind the powerboat's steering wheel. Nancy stood up next to him and gazed in the direction he was pointing.
A solitary sailboat bobbed in an isolated curve of the river, about a hundred yards from the shore. Beyond the boat, steep, rocky cliffs soared dramatically upward to dense woods.
"That property belongs to Annabel's mother," Andy explained. "It's one of the few undeveloped tracts of land around."
"It's beautiful," Nancy commented. And deserted, she added silently. No docks or homes were visible. If something had happened, no one would have been around to notice.
"I don't see him," Parker added as the motor-boat approached the Neptune. "It looks as if the boat's anchored."
Ned stood up next to Nancy and put his arm around her waist. "Try not to look so worried, Nan," he whispered in her ear. "He's probably down in the cabin."
Andy cut the motor, and the boat drifted to the stern of the Neptune. Parker reached out and grabbed the nylon ladder that hung over the sailboat's side. "Fm going aboard," he said.
"Me, too." Nancy was right behind him.
"Okay. Ned, Bess, and I will check the water and the coastline," Andy said.
Nancy clambered into the Neptune's small cockpit. While Parker went down the narrow stairs to the cabin, she glanced around. A fishing pole lay askew on the cockpit floor as if it had been hastily dropped. A tackle box was open on the seat.
"He's not down there," Parker said, reappearing from the cabin. His mouth was set in a grim line.
Nancy's heart was beginning to pound. Where was Nick?
As she stepped aside to let Parker up, Nancy's gaze caught on something—and she gasped. Several dots of red were splattered in a jagged line from the tackle box to the far edge of the boat.
Hardly daring to breathe, Nancy reached out her finger and touched one of the still wet drops. When she drew her hand back to scrutinize the reddish brown stain, she felt a shiver race through her body.
It was blood.
Chapter Four
"Parker! Look!" Nancy held out a shaky finger, pointing to the trail of blood.
Parker blanched. "Something has happened!"
"No sign of him in the water!" Andy called as he, Bess, and Ned puttered past in the powerboat. "What's going on in there?"
As Nancy turned to tell him what they'd found, her gaze settled on the wooden railing on the starboard side of the cockpit. There was a splintered hole through the railing. When she bent to inspect it, her hands suddenly felt ice cold.
"This looks like a bullet hole, Parker," she said grimly. "Don't touch anything. If someone shot Nick, we have to call the police."
"Come on, Nancy, this is crazy," Parker protested. "I know you look at everything as if it's a mystery, but Nick probably cut his hand on a fishhook. And the hole is, I don't know. . . maybe a woodpecker decided to have lunch," he finally blurted out.
Nancy gazed at him doubtfully. "Let's hope you're right. We'd better get to shore and see if we can find him. That blood's fairly fresh, which means that if he did head home, we should be able to catch up with him."
She and Parker jumped back into the motor-boat and told the others about the blood and the hole in the Neptune's railing.
"Oh, no!" Andy said in a tight voice. "Nick's house is just around the bend. Annabel's parents gave them the property when they got married."
Nancy glanced over at her friends. Bess's face had turned white, and Ned was still frowning in disbelief.
"A bullet hole?" Ned repeated, looking at Nancy. "Do you really think someone shot at him from that far away?" He waved t
oward the deserted cliff. "It's over a hundred yards."
"It's possible. Or the person could have fired from another boat," Nancy said.
Andy pounded his fist against the steering wheel. "That's crazy! People around here don't shoot each other. He'll be at home, you'll see." He gunned the motor, and with a lurch, the powerboat continued down the Severn River.
They reached the Lazlos' small dock ten minutes later. The property was bordered by the same sheer cliffs they'd seen near the Neptune. Wooden steps zigzagging up the side appeared to be the only way up. As they neared the dock, Ned grabbed a piling while Parker tossed a rope over it. Then they all stepped out of the boat.
The five climbed the stairs in silence. At the top, they stepped onto a manicured lawn. Daffodils, tulips, and dogwood trees bloomed in a well-tended garden on one side of a brick and stone house.
"Come on." Andy started for the house at a jog, with Nancy and the others right behind him. They leapt up stone steps to a brick terrace.
"Annabel!" Andy shouted, halting at the french doors and pounding on the glass. "It's Andy." When there was no answer, he turned the knob and went in, the others following right behind.
"Annabel!" he called again.
With hurried strides, Andy went into what looked like a family room and disappeared through a doorway. Nancy could hear him calling Annabel's name.
Looking around, Nancy saw that the room was beautifully furnished in soft, white leather easy chairs as well as antiques. Cut flowers, plants, and several wall hangings added color. Still, the room was so perfectly arranged and uncluttered that it looked as if no one lived there.
From another part of the house, the teens could hear Annabel's muffled voice and Andy's urgent one. Then Andy and Annabel came into the living room.
For a second, Nancy almost didn't recognize Annabel. Without makeup, she looked like a fresh-scrubbed eighteen-year-old. Her short hair was soft and shiny instead of spiked, and she was wearing a nightgown and robe. She must have gone back to bed after calling Andy, Nancy thought.