Nancy quickly pulled on her father’s old top coat and traded her sandals for a pair of his worn tennis shoes. She had to lace the shoes extra tight to keep them on her feet. Next she stuffed her shiny hair up into a wide-brimmed hat. She dug through the bag and found a green scarf, which she pulled over the hat and knotted under her chin to help hide her face, then smudged some dirt on her cheeks.
Rod was almost to the bench now, so she turned the coat collar up and grabbed the paper bag. She glanced around the park one more time. There was no sign of the FBI.
Nancy began to shuffle down the concrete walk, keeping her eyes on the ground as though searching for trash or recyclables. She hoped Stormy and Rod would dismiss her as a bag lady, scavenging in the park.
Nancy felt a surge of adrenaline as she neared the bench where Stormy was sitting. She could hear the faint murmur of them talking. With great effort she kept her steps slow. As she approached, Nancy spotted a trash can beside the bench and headed straight for it, ignoring the two suspects.
“Don’t get mad at me—you’re the one who wanted the job,” Stormy said, raising her voice slightly.
Nancy set her paper bag beside the trash can and began to rummage around inside it, trying hard to avoid the worst of the garbage.
“I don’t like seeing you during the series. Someone might spot us,” Rod said as Nancy pulled an aluminum can from the trash and dropped it into her bag. She could hardly believe her ears.
“No more notes and no more phone calls,” he went on. Nancy pulled her head out of the garbage can, so she could hear Stormy’s response. She was so focused on her suspects that she accidentally kicked her bag. It fell over in a loud crash, and Stormy swung around to stare at her.
Nancy’s heart skipped a beat.
If either of them recognized her, Sean might never see his daughter again.
Chapter
Fourteen
WATCH IT!” Nancy said, pretending to accuse them of knocking the bag over. Once again she leaned into the can and began rummaging through the garbage.
“Sorry,” Rod said, obviously thinking she was crazy.
Nancy didn’t react but continued to paw garbage for several minutes before pulling her head out of the can. The bench was empty. Stormy was already in her car, and Rod was halfway to his, covering the distance with long, angry strides.
Nancy breathed a sigh of relief. She picked up her paper bag and started back toward her car, giving up the slow shuffle as soon as Stormy and Rod had driven away.
Nancy was walking past the row of shrubs when she heard a voice.
“Is there anything you don’t do?”
Nancy jumped, but then relaxed when Victor Delgado came out from his hiding place in the bushes. He studied her from head to toe, smiled, and shook his head slowly.
“It was the best I could manage on short notice,” Nancy said wryly.
“You could have caused real problems with that stunt,” Delgado said. “What if they had recognized you?”
“But they didn’t,” Nancy said. “And wait until I tell you what they said.”
Victor followed Nancy back to her car and listened carefully as she repeated Rod’s words while taking off her disguise.
“They’re definitely in on something together,” Nancy said.
“You’re right.” Victor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “And we wouldn’t have gotten it without you. More than that, what you did took guts. I guess it’s time to tell you that you’re a good detective, Nancy Drew.”
“That’s nice to hear from the FBI,” Nancy said, smiling. “You’re not bad yourself. Now, what are we going to do about Caitlin?”
“Unfortunately, we still have to let our suspects make the next move,” Victor said. “Even if Rod and Stormy are involved, we don’t have anything on them that would stand up in court. And if we arrested them now, they could refuse to talk, meaning we might never find Sean’s daughter.”
“So we just keep waiting and hope one of them leads us to Caitlin?”
“I’m afraid so,” Victor answered. “In the meantime, I think I’ll get some sleep. Following you has worn me out.”
• • •
It was just a few minutes past one the next afternoon when Nancy left her house for the Falcon’s Roost. She had spent a good part of the morning on the phone giving updates to George and Bess, whom she was meeting at the stadium. She knew George would have filled Luke in, and Victor had promised to talk to Sean. Nancy had also spoken with Chief McGinnis and been assured that Delgado’s men were watching both Rod and Stormy.
“Nothing yet,” McGinnis had said. “But we’ll find Caitlin soon, Nancy, and it will be thanks in large part to you.”
The praise, first from Victor, and then from Chief McGinnis, had felt good, but Nancy couldn’t help thinking that it was premature. As she drove toward the stadium, she kept hearing Sean’s words in her mind.
“If we lose tomorrow, the series will be over,” he had said. “The kidnappers won’t need Caitlin anymore.”
Tomorrow had come. In just half an hour the game would start. Stormy and Rod were her prime suspects, but not the only ones. She hadn’t found anything much on Rebecca. If she was involved, who was helping her?
Her brain boiling over with questions, Nancy brought her Mustang to a halt at the same red light where she had avoided a collision on her way to the second game of the series.
She shifted her car into reverse and eased it back to make room for a flatbed truck trying to make a wide turn. It was empty, and Nancy guessed it was a lumber truck coming back from a construction site west of town.
As the truck squeaked past the front fender of her Mustang, Nancy noticed something. Mashed into the tires of the truck were mounds of soft gray clay.
The possibility that it was from the same place as the clay she’d seen at Sean’s house was a long shot, Nancy knew, and even if she had wanted to chase it down, this truck was coming back from the site, not going to it. She was considering a way to find the source of the clay when a concrete truck whizzed through the intersection heading out of town. Nancy seized the opportunity and pulled in behind it. The Falcon’s Roost could wait, she decided.
The street soon narrowed from four lanes to two, and sidewalks gave way to gravel shoulders. Nancy was beginning to wonder if she was on a wild-goose chase when the truck slowed and pulled into an unpaved drive at a barren construction site. On one side of the site stood a large stack of lumber and out front a sign declared, Future Home of Marshall Manufacturing.
Nancy pulled her car to the shoulder of the road and got out. There was clay in the ruts of the driveway, but there was no building big enough to hide a child in. She got back in her car and drove past the construction site, taking a side road that led toward the back of the lot. It had deep ruts and was partially overgrown with weeds. About a hundred yards along Nancy stopped and got out of her car. There was gray clay on this road, too, and some of the weeds had been crushed as though a vehicle had recently gone through.
Nancy surveyed the land. The construction site was on her left now. To the right were open fields, and straight ahead the dirt road disappeared into a large stand of trees and heavy brush. A good place for a hideout, she thought, but if she was going to investigate, it would have to be on foot. In her car she couldn’t hope to take anyone by surprise.
Nancy got back in her car and inched it forward. When she was close to the trees, she pulled off the dirt track, parked in the weeds, and continued down the road on foot.
She checked the ground again and found more gray clay in the ruts of the road. All her instincts told her she was on the right track. As she walked carefully along the edge of the road, her only wish was that Victor was still tailing her. She wondered if the workers at the construction site would hear her if she called for help. She guessed they wouldn’t, and as the trees thickened, Nancy was very aware that she was on her own.
Her nerves were on edge when she came to the end of the ro
ad. It stopped at a small clearing, barely large enough to turn a car around in. There, pointed straight at her, was a battered green sedan—the very kind Sean had said Rebecca owned. Nancy walked up to it and peered in the window. Inside, on the floor of the backseat, were a tattered doll and an empty Yummy Bunnies box.
Caitlin! The word was a silent scream inside Nancy’s head. She was sure now that the little girl was close, but where? Nancy scanned the clearing and spotted a narrow path heading off to the right. It led to a small, run-down cottage. What had once been a driveway was now overgrown, but the grass around the front door had been trampled.
Nancy watched from the trees for a moment and then edged her way toward the rickety front porch. She was about to climb the steps when the front door opened. Nancy held her breath as a red-haired young woman led a small child onto the porch. Nancy recognized them immediately from their pictures as Rebecca and Caitlin.
The baby-sitter gasped.
“Good afternoon,” Nancy said, acting friendly.
Rebecca pulled Caitlin to her, then froze. “What do you want?”
Nancy hesitated. She wasn’t going home without Caitlin, but she didn’t want to frighten Rebecca into doing something desperate.
“I was just looking around,” Nancy said with a smile. “I thought there might be a stream in these trees—and then I saw your cottage.”
“I’m afraid there’s no stream,” Rebecca said tersely. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’re in a hurry.” She pulled the door closed and led Caitlin down the steps, turning her back on Nancy.
Nancy saw her opportunity. “Run, Caitlin!” she yelled as she lunged at Rebecca. She pushed Caitlin aside as she threw her forearm around the kidnapper’s neck. Instantly Rebecca jerked forward, flipping Nancy onto her back on the hard ground.
Before Nancy could catch her breath, Rebecca had her foot on Nancy’s chest. “Who are you?” she growled.
Chapter
Fifteen
NANCY RAISED her eyes in time to see Rebecca glaring down at her, her foot digging hard into Nancy’s chest. Before she could say anything, Caitlin began to sob.
“You said you’d take me home,” the little girl wailed. “I want to go home.”
Rebecca glanced toward the child, giving Nancy the opportunity she needed. She quickly twisted out from under Rebecca’s heel, grabbing the kidnapper’s leg and pulling hard. Rebecca came down heavily as Nancy sprang up. Now the tables were turned—Nancy was standing over Rebecca, with her foot on the sitter’s stomach.
“I’m a friend of Sean Reeves, and I’m here to take Caitlin home,” she said.
Behind her she heard Caitlin cry, “I want my daddy!”
“Caitlin,” Nancy said as she twisted toward the sobbing child. “I’ll take you to your daddy, but I need your help first.”
The little girl wiped her tears away with dirty hands.
“Do you know where there’s a rope?” Nancy asked.
Caitlin immediately began to sniffle.
“It’s not for you,” Nancy said, keeping a sharp eye on Rebecca. “I promise. I just need you to bring it to me.”
Caitlin hesitated, her eyes growing wide. Finally she walked slowly up the steps of the cottage and disappeared inside. When she returned, she had a piece of clothesline in her hand, which she dropped in front of Nancy.
It took Nancy only a few minutes to tie Rebecca’s hands. Nancy forced her through the trees toward her car. Caitlin followed several paces behind them.
“You’d better let me go,” Rebecca commanded as Nancy pushed her along. “If you do, I won’t tell the cops how you tied me up and kidnapped me.
“You’re the kidnapper,” Nancy said. “And it will be better for you if you tell me all about it.”
“I’m not telling you anything,” Rebecca snapped.
“How about who your accomplice was,” Nancy said as they neared the Mustang. “I know you couldn’t have pulled this off all by yourself.”
“I want a lawyer,” Rebecca said flatly. Nancy shoved her into the backseat and tied her feet. She had already decided to take Rebecca to the FBI mobile command center. She was anxious to get to the Roost, and the police department was too far out of her way.
Nancy glanced at her watch and realized the game was already well under way. She would have to hurry to get word to Sean before he threw another game.
“Your dad’s been looking for you,” Nancy said gently as she helped Caitlin into the car. “Have you been at that cottage the whole time?”
“Uh-huh,” Caitlin said, her big brown eyes fixed on Nancy. “She wouldn’t even let me go outside, and it got really boring once the Yummy Bunnies were gone.”
“Did she hurt you?” Nancy asked, reaching out to stroke Caitlin’s hair gently.
“Just when they took me away from the house,” Caitlin said. “I didn’t want to go.”
“Were you sleeping?” Nancy asked.
“No. It was right after Dad left, and I was playing with my dolls,” Caitlin said. “But then a man came and started throwing things around the house. I cried and Rebecca took me to her car on the side of the house.”
Nancy shook her head grimly and sighed. Obviously Rebecca had been in on the kidnapping all along. Caitlin hadn’t been taken from her bed while she napped between twelve-thirty and one-thirty. She had actually been kidnapped much earlier in the day, and the house had been deliberately wrecked to make it look as if there had been a struggle.
“Caitlin, what did the man look like?” Nancy asked, keeping her voice gentle.
“He was big,” Caitlin said.
“What color hair did he have?” Nancy asked.
“I don’t remember,” Caitlin said. “Besides, he had a hat on. It was blue.”
A big man in a blue hat. Not much to go on, Nancy thought. “Would you know him if you saw him again?” Nancy asked Caitlin, hopefully.
“Yes,” Caitlin said without hesitation. “He was mean. He broke the flowers I cut for daddy.”
“Good,” Nancy said. “I have a plan.” She knew there was still not enough evidence to arrest Rod or Stormy, but she had an idea that might flush Rebecca’s accomplice out. To make it work, she had to get to the Roost before Sean took over for the starting pitcher.
When she reached the city limits, Nancy steered her car toward the parking lot where Victor had sent her the day before. As she rounded the corner, Nancy saw that she was in luck. The FBI’s mobile command unit was still there. She pulled up beside it and got out of the car.
“Where are we?” Rebecca demanded as Nancy opened the back door.
“We’re going to have a little visit with the FBI,” Nancy said, untying Rebecca’s feet.
“The FBI?” Rebecca said with disbelief. For the first time Nancy saw real fear in her eyes. “Look, I—I didn’t mean for this to be such a big deal,” she stammered.
Nancy pulled her out of the car and led her to the door of the van. She knocked, then stepped aside as the door swung open and Victor peered out. He acted shocked as his eyes moved from Nancy to Rebecca to Caitlin.
“A little present,” Nancy said, smiling. “Meet Rebecca Carter and Caitlin Reeves.”
Victor called to his assistant, who quickly read Rebecca her rights and took her inside the van.
“I guess I stopped following you too soon,” he said to Nancy. “I’m going to need to know exactly what happened.”
“I’ll be glad to tell you,” she answered with a smile. “But right now I’d like to get to the Roost so I can stop Sean from throwing another game.”
“I’m all for that,” Victor agreed.
“And since Rebecca’s not talking, we still need to force her accomplice into the open. If Sean starts pitching well, he or she may get nervous,” Nancy said. “But it might be even easier than that. Caitlin saw the man who helped kidnap her. She can’t give much of a description, but she’s a bright little girl. I think she could recognize him.”
“That would be enough for an arre
st warrant,” Victor said. “Let’s give it a try.”
“Will you help us?” Nancy asked, looking down at Caitlin.
The little girl gripped Nancy’s hand and nodded. “Then can I see my daddy?” she asked.
“You bet,” Nancy said with a gentle smile.
“Let’s go, then,” Victor urged. He scrambled into the backseat of Nancy’s car. Nancy helped Caitlin into the front seat again, and within moments the three of them were on their way to the Roost.
• • •
“Good work!” Chief McGinnis said when Nancy got out of her car in the stadium parking lot. “I heard all about it on my police radio and came right over.”
Nancy quickly explained her plan to the chief.
“If we’re in time, Victor can talk to Sean before he goes onto the field,” Nancy said.
“And I’ll find the mascot,” McGinnis said.
The four of them hurried toward the entrance. Chief McGinnis showed his badge to the young woman taking tickets, and all four passed quickly through the gates.
Nancy took Caitlin’s hand and headed toward the section of the stands where she and George had sat at both games earlier that week. She was just about to start up the ramp when she heard a familiar voice.
“I think you know more than you’ve been telling, Nancy Drew, and I’m going to stay with you till I get the whole story.”
Nancy turned around to see Brenda hurrying to catch up to her.
“I really mean it,” Brenda said. “I’m going to stick to you like glue.”
Nancy couldn’t believe Brenda’s timing. She had to think of a way to get rid of the reporter, and fast.
“I promise to tell you everything after the game if you’ll leave me alone for now,” Nancy said, trying to smile.
“Then you do have a story!” Brenda exclaimed.
“Yes, and it will be worth the wait,” Nancy said. “But you have to agree not to follow me.”