“George is planning to help Luke give some of the ski lessons today,” Bess told Nancy. “There are a lot of opportunities for accidents on the slopes, aren’t there?” She rubbed her aching legs. “Well, I guess Gunther and I had better sign up for those classes,” she said bravely. “That way I can watch Luke and keep my eye on things for you.”
Nancy nodded. “This is creepy, though, Bess. Michael might give Luke the benefit of the doubt, but after what happened to Ned and me, I wouldn’t call what’s going on here just coincidences. Three accidents, one of them fatal—and Luke involved in all of them. He’s got to be doing it on purpose!”
Bess looked at Nancy, frowning. “But what’s Luke’s motive?”
“That’s what I have to find out. Ned and I are going over to the hotel again today to look for Michael and to see if we hear anybody talking about Luke Ericsen. How long did Liz say he’s been here? A few weeks? That’s long enough for people to have started noticing anything odd.”
As soon as breakfast was over, Nancy and Ned decided to head for the Overlook. But when Nancy turned the key in the ignition of her car, the engine wouldn’t turn over.
“Maybe it’s just too cold,” Ned suggested.
“I don’t know. It was colder last night than it is now, and the car was running fine then.” Nancy tried the engine several more times but got no response.
“Want me to call a service station?” Ned asked.
Nancy shook her head. “Let me talk to Liz first.”
When Nancy found Liz in the office and explained her predicament, Liz promptly took a key ring from a wall hook and tossed it to her. “Take Luke’s old Jeep,” she suggested. “He won’t be using it until late this afternoon because of classes, and he leaves the keys here in case someone needs emergency transportation.”
Nancy thanked Liz. “We’ll take good care of it,” she said. Then she and Ned were soon on their way.
At the Overlook, Nancy and Ned found the hotel’s indoor swimming pool empty of swimmers, with no one around except a bored lifeguard. “We’ll check the Jacuzzi out later,” Nancy said with an enticing smile, “but right now, we’ve got work to do.”
“How about this?” Ned suggested. “You check the hotel for Michael. I’ll go spread my charm around the lobby and try to get the story on Luke. If he has such a bad reputation, then people should have something to say about him. We can meet in the coffee shop at noon.”
“Okay,” Nancy agreed. “Good luck.”
Nancy started her search by asking for Michael at the front desk. He was registered, but the clerk wouldn’t give Nancy his room number. She tried calling him on the house phone, but there was no answer. She checked the bar, the coffee shop, and the main dining room, all without success. Then she headed for the skating rink.
The rink, like the rest of the hotel, was plush. The roof was open to the icy sky, but walls of tinted glass held off the wind. There were lots of spectators, and Nancy guessed that many of the Overlook guests passed by just to watch.
She leaned against the rail and studied the skaters for a moment. With a start, she realized that one of them was Michael. An idea popped into her mind, and without a second thought, she rented a pair of skates herself.
Nancy laced them up, stepped onto the ice, and began a few warm-up tricks. She liked the music that was playing. It had a beautiful Latin beat to it. Gradually, Nancy added a few spins and easy jumps to her graceful movements.
Pretty soon a small group was watching Nancy and applauding. But all she saw was another skater at the far end of the rink—Michael Price.
As if feeling Nancy’s eyes on him, Michael looked up. Then he bowed, his eyes glinting with mischief, and skated smoothly over to her.
“Shall we dance?” he inquired.
“Sure. How do you feel about talking after we skate?”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Luke Ericsen.”
“Okay,” Michael said. “But I’ve already told you what I know about him.”
Nancy had to admit that skating with Michael was great fun. He had a natural sense of grace and ease, and he knew a lot of tricks. But she was much more interested in getting some answers.
After a few minutes, she took Michael’s hand and skated over to the railing. “So let’s talk,” she said.
“What do you want to know?” Michael asked.
“Well, for starters, why have you and Luke been pretending you don’t know each other?”
Michael grimaced. “Quite frankly, after what happened with my friend, Luke and I can’t stand the sight of each other. Neither one of us ever wants to see the other again, and I guess we both feel the less said, the better.”
Nancy nodded. “Okay, I’ll buy that. But there’s something else. We’ve had a prowler around our lodge, a prowler who leaves some very frightening messages in the snow. . . . You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
Michael coughed. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nancy.”
There was a moment of awkward silence. Nancy could tell by the look in his eyes that Michael was lying. She understood why. Creeping around someone’s yard in the middle of the night wasn’t the kind of thing you’d want to own up to. What puzzled Nancy was why, if neither Luke nor Michael ever wanted to see each other again, Michael had gone to all the trouble of leaving that message. What did he hope to gain by it?
Nancy was beginning to get the feeling that Luke and Michael’s history was just a bit more complicated than Michael was letting on.
Nancy saw Michael glance over her shoulder. “Speak of the devil,” he said, “here’s Luke now.”
Luke marched up to the railing, his face grim. “You have some nerve helping yourself to my Jeep,” he said tersely to Nancy. “It’s meant for emergencies only. Coming over here doesn’t count as one, so hand back the keys!”
“I don’t have them,” Nancy said hastily. “I left them with Ned. I think he’s in the coffee shop.”
“Fine. I’ll get them. I do not want you driving the Jeep back to the lodge.” Luke swung around.
“Just a minute,” Michael called. An odd smile touched his mouth. “Luke—Ericsen, is it?”
Luke turned back and fixed his eyes on Michael. A peculiar expression was on his face. Hostile? Not exactly. It was more like . . . confusion, as if he were looking beyond Michael, seeing someone else.
Nancy felt confused as well. She had been certain that Michael and Luke already knew each other, but they were acting like virtual strangers.
“We used to have a mutual friend,” Michael continued. “Dieter Mueller. Remember him?”
Luke just stood there, unmoving; but slowly, in a delayed reaction, his eyes began to bulge and his face went white. Nancy decided he looked completely terrified, as if he were watching his own funeral.
Then, all at once, Luke was running as fast as he could away from the skating rink, away from Michael—or from his own past?
As Nancy watched Luke racing across the snow, she turned to Michael—and found that his face had paled, too.
“You came over here in his Jeep? The old, beat-up one with the ripped top I saw parked out back in the lot?” he asked.
Nancy nodded. “We didn’t realize he’d mind.”
“I’m glad you won’t be going back in it,” Michael said. “And I’d advise you to stay away from anything else belonging to that guy. You saw what happened when your boyfriend used his skis!”
“Michael,” Nancy asked bluntly, “who was Dieter Mueller?” She had to be sure.
For a minute, silence hung between them. “Can’t you guess?” Michael said finally. “He was my friend, the one who borrowed Luke’s skis.”
“Michael, I’m sorry,” Nancy said comfortingly.
“Yeah. Me, too,” Michael replied. “Hey, are those people over there friends of yours?”
Nancy turned to see Bess and Gunther waving to her from across the rink. She and Michael skated over. ??
?Where’s George?” Nancy asked.
Bess shrugged. “She told me to get lost, in so many words. She’s probably waiting for Luke back at the lodge. Or working off some emotion on the ski jumps!” She shook her head. “They had a date to go for a ride. Luke absolutely hit the roof when he found the Jeep was gone!”
Michael frowned. “That sounds very dangerous.”
“Oh, George knows what she’s doing where sports are concerned!” Bess said, laughing. “I think she could be an Olympic contender if she wanted to. Sometimes, I actually think she’s going to go for it—she keeps such a close eye on all the tryouts.
“Besides,” she went on with a grin, “if there is any danger, she has the perfect bodyguard—Nancy Drew, the fabulous detective!”
Everybody laughed. But underneath the laughter Nancy felt a tenseness. The sensation lasted for only an instant. Almost immediately, Michael and Gunther were laughing at Bess’s teasing. When Nancy looked at Michael, his eyes were warm with admiration. “I thought you were more than just a tourist! You’re here on a case, aren’t you?”
“No way!” Nancy exclaimed and laughed gaily. She managed to send Bess a warning glance as she went on smoothly. “I’ve ruined too many vacations that way.”
Nancy glanced at her watch. It was just past noon. “Speaking of which, I’d better go find Ned. Now that I know where you’re staying and you know where I am, let’s keep in touch. Skating was fun. I’d really like to see you again.”
Nancy’s last comment was no lie. Michael was the only one around who seemed to know anything about her prime suspect. She had to see him again.
“You can bet you’ll be seeing more of me,” Michael said as Nancy stepped from the rink.
“He skates well,” Gunther said, watching Michael glide across the ice as Nancy unlaced her skates and returned them. Then she, Bess, and Gunther headed for the coffee shop.
“What was going on out there?” Bess asked.
Nancy sighed. “I wish I knew. It was weird, though, that’s for sure!” She turned to Bess and smiled wearily. “Listen, I’ll have to explain all this another time. Right now, I think Ned and I need to be alone.”
“Say no more,” Bess replied promptly. “Gunther and I will make ourselves scarce.”
“Thanks,” Nancy said.
“Bye.” Bess waved. “Take it easy.”
Nancy found Ned drinking hot chocolate in a secluded booth in the back of the Overlook’s coffee shop. “How are you doing?” he asked as she made her way toward him.
“I have definitely been better,” Nancy said. She dropped into the seat across from him.
“Maybe we should forget this case,” Ned said, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, “and go on a ski vacation.”
“That would be very funny if I weren’t so upset,” Nancy replied. She signaled to the waitress to bring her a hot chocolate, too. “By the way, did Luke get those car keys from you?”
Ned looked up, surprised. “No. I haven’t seen him.”
“I guess after what Michael said to him he was too angry to come and find you.” Nancy quickly related the story to Ned.
“Wow, that’s bizarre.” Ned’s face was serious when Nancy had finished.
“And Luke obviously feels very guilty about the accident,” Nancy added.
“Yeah,” Ned replied. “Michael really pushed a button in him, bringing the whole thing up like that.
“Oh, well. Since Luke didn’t catch up with us, I guess we can take the Jeep home,” Ned went on. “It would have been a real pain to walk all the way back to the lodge on this bum ankle—and I mean that literally.”
The waitress brought Nancy her cocoa and she began to sip it slowly. “So, did you find out anything about Luke?” she asked.
Ned drained the last of his hot chocolate. “Not much. He’s new to this area, just arrived during the past couple of months. Two college girls who work here part-time were definitely interested in him, but he wasn’t interested in them.
“You know,” he added, “whether the guy’s a creep or a crackpot or a menace to society, I think he really does care for George.”
“I don’t know whether that makes the situation better or worse,” Nancy said darkly.
“Anyway, the opinion of the athletes around here is that Luke’s a very experienced skier. They say he’s obviously had some serious racing training and that he’s good enough to win medals in lower-ranked races—his bad leg would slow him down too much for the high-ranked ones. But he completely avoids all ski competitions, won’t even watch them.
“Hey,” Ned said suddenly, glancing out the coffee shop’s large windows, “it looks like a storm is on the way. Maybe we ought to get going.”
By the time Ned and Nancy had paid their bill and hurried out of the coffee shop, the sky was leaden, the air heavy and damp. Ned handed Nancy the keys to the Jeep, and she turned on the ignition. Soon they were speeding down the drive.
The approaching storm made the wrought-iron gates to the Overlook appear more ominous than glamorous. As the Jeep neared them, two enormous yellow snowplows came rumbling through, heading toward the hotel. Nancy had to jerk the Jeep to the right to avoid them.
“Close call,” Ned commented.
“I know. I haven’t got the hang of this thing yet.”
They passed through the open gateway and out onto the mountain road. The wind whipped through the ripped canvas top. Wet snow began to drift down. “Hang on to your hat!” Ned shouted.
“What?” Nancy shouted back, her eyes intent upon the twisting road.
“I said—” The rest of Ned’s words were lost in the roar of the wind.
Nancy shot a glance at him out of the corner of her eye. Then the steering wheel gave a convulsive jerk in her hands, and she turned her attention strictly to her driving. They whizzed around a loop in the twisting road, and she brought her right boot down on the brake.
It did not respond.
Was the road slippery? Or was it something worse? With a burning sensation in her throat, Nancy pumped the brake pedal again, negotiating a sharp curve as she did so. The pedal offered no resistance, and the Jeep didn’t slow down even a fraction.
The brakes were gone!
Nancy yanked at the gearshift, trying to put the Jeep into a lower gear, but she couldn’t manage to do it.
Ned poked her sharply. “Slow down!” he yelled.
“I’m trying to!” Nancy shouted back. The Jeep kept gaining speed. “I can’t stop this thing!”
They careened around another curve, and suddenly the road dropped off sharply into a deep gully on the right side. On the left rose a cliff face, a wall of rock.
“Keep left!” Ned yelled, gesturing wildly. “Stay by the rock wall.”
“I can’t!” Nancy screamed. “We’ll be killed if there’s a car coming toward us!”
They roared around another bend, and the road disappeared into an impossibly tight hairpin turn. In front of them, the gully yawned, a bottomless empty space . . . and they were headed right for it!
“Jump!” Ned screamed. He tried to pull himself to his feet as the Jeep hurtled toward the gully beyond the curve.
In that instant, the one thought that leaped into Nancy’s mind was of Ned’s leg. It wasn’t completely healed—he’d never make the jump. No way would she abandon him. She had to make that hairpin turn. Nancy gripped the steering wheel tightly and stuck to the road like glue.
Miraculously, she negotiated the turn. Then she scrutinized the road ahead for any possibility of escaping their situation. All at once, Nancy saw her chance!
The road, for a very short stretch, opened out a bit, climbing uphill. There were trees on either side. And a fallen trunk lay against the cliff face.
Nancy could do one thing, and one thing only. She could try to slow the Jeep and get it under control on that short uphill stretch, then use the tree trunk to stop it completely—before it slammed into the rock wall beyond.
Deliberately, Nancy
yanked the wheel left and sent the Jeep heading straight toward the granite cliff.
Chapter
Eleven
THE JEEP CATAPULTED toward the granite face of the cliff. As it shot ahead, Nancy yanked at the steering wheel with both hands. But her arms weren’t quite strong enough.
Then Ned’s hands closed over Nancy’s with such strength that they crushed her fingers. Together, in unspoken agreement, they forced the Jeep to do her bidding, but they came so close to the cliff that the side of the vehicle scraped against the granite with an ear-piercing shriek.
The Jeep sped up the hill, slowing almost imperceptibly. Then it screeched up onto the fallen tree trunk, recoiled, tipped over, and came to rest on its left side at the edge of the road.
Nancy became aware of Ned’s voice almost sobbing out her name. She was trapped inside the overturned vehicle, but Ned had somehow pulled himself loose. He was kneeling over her, brushing back her hair.
Nancy struggled to get her hand free. She locked it tightly with his. For several seconds they stayed like that, motionless, Nancy inside the Jeep, Ned outside. Then Ned spoke hoarsely. “If you hadn’t tried that, we both would have been killed—”
“Let’s not think about it. Please.” Nancy shut her eyes.
Ned’s fingers tightened on hers, but he spoke with deliberate calm. “We can’t stay here. It’s a bad curve. If a car comes around it fast, we could be in trouble again. How badly are you hurt?”
Nancy fought back an insane impulse to giggle. “It seems to me I’ve been through this before, after the rope tow broke,” she murmured. She flexed her arms and legs, one at a time. “I’m all right. I’ll probably be a mass of bruises tomorrow, but I landed on snow and nothing’s broken.”
“Then hold my hands and see if you can wriggle out.” Ned braced himself against the fallen tree trunk.
Carefully, cautiously, Nancy twisted one way, then the other. It was like trying to get a cork out of a bottle. Slowly and painfully, she emerged. When she was finally free, she and Ned fell into each other’s arms.