“I’ll try to talk to her one more time,” Debbie said. “She needs to go back to McKinleyville, but if she’s forced to go back against her will, she’ll just run away again.”
Just then Nancy heard a noise. The window behind the drawn curtains was being raised. Both she and Debbie froze. A slender arm parted the curtains. A girl with spiky blond hair poked her head through.
“Hello, Jamie,” Nancy said calmly.
Jamie’s mouth dropped open as she stared at Nancy. Then she ducked back out the window.
“Jamie!” Debbie cried. Nancy dashed out of the room, and through the kitchen into the yard. She spotted Jamie racing down the street and started after her, Debbie on her heels. The two girls chased the runaway down to Main Street, where she ducked into a small shopping arcade. Nancy and Debbie tore through the arched entrance, but Jamie was gone. “We lost her!” Debbie wailed.
“Keep looking,” Nancy ordered her firmly. “You’re the only one Jamie will listen to.” Nancy watched Debbie disappear into the crowded arcade. Nancy believed Debbie was telling the truth, which meant she had nothing to do with the theft. That left Bryan as the prime suspect. Nancy remembered that Bryan had a dinner date with Ian Sanders that night. Maybe Bryan stole the painting for Sanders. Nancy had to find it before they met tonight. Bryan and George were having lunch now, so this was her chance to search his room. Nancy needed to call Ned to ask for his help.
Back at Theta Pi, Nancy headed toward the house phone. Rina’s roommate, Terri Beck, was just hanging up the receiver. She looked upset. “What’s wrong?” Nancy asked.
“Rina didn’t come home last night,” Terri replied. “And she didn’t show up for her shift at the café this morning. Rina’s difficult, but she’s very responsible. She never misses work. I’m worried.”
Rina’s disappearance was suspicious, Nancy thought. “Where does Rina usually hang out?” Nancy asked.
“I don’t know,” Terri answered. “Rina doesn’t share her personal life with me, or anyone.”
Nancy felt pulled in two directions—she wanted to find Rina, but Bryan’s room had to be searched. Nodding goodbye to Terri, she dialed Omega Chi. Ned answered the phone. “I just walked in the door,” he said. “What’s up?”
Nancy briefed Ned and he immediately agreed to help. Nancy was grateful because she knew this was painful for Ned. Bryan was a friend.
When Nancy arrived at Omega Chi, Ned told her that Bryan shared a room with Howie Little at the end of the second-floor hall. “Howie’s working on his car in the parking lot, so make it fast, Nan,” Ned cautioned. With Ned standing lookout, Nancy bounded up the stairs. The room wasn’t locked.
Half the room was neat, the other half a mess. Ned had told her Howie was a slob. Starting on the neat side, Nancy searched the drawers, the bedding, the closets. She even tested for loose floorboards. First Kiss wasn’t in the room.
Dejected, Nancy rejoined Ned. “Where else would Bryan keep his things?” she asked.
“We have lockers for extras in the garage,” Ned said.
“So let’s go.” On their way to the garage, Howie Little waved hello, then ducked back under the hood of his car. A raindrop fell on Nancy’s nose. She glanced up and saw the sky darkening.
Ned unlocked the combination lock on the garage door. A vintage convertible was parked on one side. The rest of the place was filled with old furniture. A bank of lockers hugged one wall.
“Ned,” Howie called. “I need your help.”
“I’ll just be a minute,” Ned promised.
With no time to waste Nancy scanned the names on the lockers until she came to Barbour. She heard Ned behind her. “I’ll hurry,” she whispered.
Suddenly someone grabbed her arm, jerked her around, and shoved her back against the bank of metal lockers. Nancy looked up into Bryan Barbour’s angry green eyes.
Chapter
Thirteen
WHAT ARE YOU DOING looking at my locker?” Bryan bellowed. “I reported my gear stolen. My job’s probably on the line now. What more do you want?”
Nancy let her body go limp, and Bryan loosened his hold. Seizing her moment, Nancy squirmed out of his reach.
“What’s going on here?” George cried, walking into the garage. Ned was right behind her.
“Nothing,” Nancy said quickly. She turned to Bryan. “If you’re innocent, then you won’t mind if I check your locker.”
“Be my guest,” Bryan said, and opened it. Inside was a skateboard, boxing gloves, and a tennis racket.
“Satisfied?” Bryan asked.
“Thank you.” Nancy closed the locker.
Bryan noticed Ned. “You think I’m a thief, too?”
“No, but Nancy has to investigate everyone.” George moved to Bryan’s side. “Haven’t you got enough proof now?” she said to Nancy. “He’s innocent.”
Nancy felt terrible, but she had to tell the truth. “I don’t know that yet.”
Brian groaned. “I told you. I’ve been framed. Someone wants it to look like I stole First Kiss.”
“So you claim. But who’d frame you?”
“I’m not accusing anybody, but there’s only one person I know who’d want to hurt me and that’s Rina.”
“You think Rina stole your equipment and robbed the museum?”
“I don’t know,” Bryan said, his expression troubled. “Especially now with the forgery, I just don’t know. Rina wouldn’t do a copy again.”
“What do you mean ‘again’?” Nancy suddenly felt a prickly sensation at the back of her neck. Could this be the lead she’d been waiting for?
“Rina’s done copies before. She’s fantastic at it. When an exhibit from the Morgan Museum in Vancouver came to Emerson last spring, she copied some paintings. They were good enough for the museum gift shop to sell as reproductions. Even Dr. Morrison asked her to copy a picture in the Morgan exhibit for him. But after that, she stopped. She told me she’d never do a copy again.”
“Did she say why?” Nancy asked.
“No,” Bryan replied. “But Rina’s really determined to paint in her own style—so maybe that’s why she’s not interested in copies. She wouldn’t talk about it.”
“Has Rina done any climbing?” Nancy probed, trying not to sound too excited. “Could she lower herself into the museum?”
“Sure,” Bryan said. “We used to climb a lot in high school, back in Colorado.”
“Rina didn’t return to her room last night,” Nancy told him. “Any idea where she is?” Bryan thought for a moment. “Rina’s aunt has a cabin out in Lincoln Valley. Rina used to go there to paint and be alone.”
“Can you give me directions?” Nancy asked.
“Yeah.” Bryan scribbled in the notebook Nancy took out of her backpack.
“I should go with you, Nan,” Ned said.
“Don’t be silly. What could Rina possibly do to me? Don’t you have to study?” Nancy said lightly.
“I’ll come,” Bryan offered.
Nancy shook her head sharply. “No. Rina hates you. I won’t be able to get a thing out of her with you around.”
George glanced at Bryan and then back at Nancy. “I’m game,” she volunteered.
“I’d like to stop at the museum before we go to Lincoln Valley,” Nancy told George after she waved goodbye to Ned and Bryan. The rain was coming down steadily as they crossed the Theta Pi lot and climbed into Nancy’s Mustang.
“You want to check on Bryan’s story about Rina.”
Nancy tried to ignore the disappointment in George’s voice. “I have to. But I think he’s telling the truth,” she said.
Nancy parked the car. “I’ll be right back.” Nancy dashed through the rain into the museum. Dr. Morrison was in his office, studying computer printouts. He looked up with bleary eyes when she knocked on the open door.
“Good news?” he asked expectantly.
“Not yet,” Nancy said. “But I’ve got some questions about Rina. I understand she did a copy of a painting f
or you last spring.”
“Why, yes, she did,” Dr. Morrison replied, obviously surprised by the question. “It was of a painting that was here on loan.”
“Could Rina have forged First Kiss?”
Dr. Morrison’s eyes glinted. “Yes. I’d say so.” He paused. “So you’re suggesting Rina—”
“I’m not suggesting anything right now,” Nancy cut in. “I’m just asking questions.” She turned to go. “Excuse me, Dr. Morrison. I have to run.
On the way to Lincoln Valley the rain picked up until sheets of water cascaded over the windshield. Nancy had to lean forward over the steering wheel to see the road.
“So Dr. Morrison thinks Rina is good enough to have forged First Kiss,” George commented, wiping the fog off the inside of the windshield with her sleeve.
“Right. But don’t forget Dr. Morrison is a suspect, too. Still, he confirmed Bryan’s story about Rina.” Nancy turned down a dirt road that was a muddy mess. “Are you sure Bryan said to turn here?” she asked doubtfully.
“That’s what the directions say,” George assured her, reading from the piece of paper she held. “After the gas station, go right on the first dirt road.”
Nancy concentrated on her driving. The road grew muddier by the second, and the car jerked and swerved as Nancy expertly maneuvered around huge ruts. Then the road turned left, away from a bridge that would take them across a swollen river. It wound through fields beside the river. Nancy hoped they wouldn’t get lost.
Finally a blue farmhouse came into sight. It was just as Bryan had described. About two miles past it, they glimpsed a cabin set back from the road. “That’s it!” Nancy said, spotting Rina’s green sedan out front.
Nancy was surprised to see smoke rising from the cabin’s chimney—though rainy, the day was warm. “I’m going to park by the road,” Nancy told George. “It looks like we could get stuck in that driveway.”
The girls raced up a stone path toward the cabin. Nancy peeked in the front window. Rina stood in front of the fireplace, throwing scraps of paper into the flames.
“What’s she doing?” George gasped. Nancy raced inside, George right behind her.
“Oh!” Rina cried, frightened. Then she looked down at the last paper in her hands and tossed it into the fireplace.
Before the flames touched it, Nancy bounded over to the fireplace and pulled it out. It was a drawing of First Kiss. Nancy looked straight at Rina. “Is this a preliminary sketch? Did you forge First Kiss?”
Rina froze.
“Did you steal the painting, Rina?”
Rina started to shake, and Nancy had her answer. “I was going to return it,” Rina said. Rina’s voice, like her body, was quivering.
“Where’s the original now?” Nancy grilled her.
“I don’t know!” Rina cried. “It was in the trunk of my car. I was going to return it to the museum after they discovered the copy, I swear. But someone stole it from my car. That’s why I got so scared and ran away. Somebody knows what I did and stole the painting. Now I can’t return it!”
“But why did you do it?” George asked bewildered.
“I—I just wanted to prove a point,” Rina stammered.
“What point?” Nancy was incredulous.
Rina’s face changed, her fear transformed to anger. “They thought I wasn’t good enough to win the college art contest,” she said, her voice growing stronger. “I overheard Morrison describe my entry as primitive, awkward. Of course my work looks primitive!” Rina exclaimed. “It’s deliberate. But the three judges—Debbie, Dr. Morrison, Michael Jared—thought I wasn’t talented enough to win the contest. I should have won. I needed that prize. It was a full scholarship to Emerson. Without it I won’t have enough to graduate.”
“So you were getting back at them?” George asked, trying hard to understand.
“I was going to show them,” Rina responded feverishly. “I can paint in any style I want, even Michael Jared’s. I was going to show them, and I did.” Rina seemed crazed with spite.
“But I made sure Michael would recognize the painting as a forgery,” she went on, a nasty gleam in her eyes. “You see, I made little changes, changes that Debbie and Dr. Morrison wouldn’t notice. But Michael would. Debbie and Dr. Morrison were embarrassed—just as I planned.”
Nancy gripped Rina’s hands. “Do you know who took the painting?” she asked.
“No!” Rina cried, breaking away. “You’ve got to believe me.”
The door opened, and a tall red-haired woman of about fifty walked in. “Terrible rain.” The woman shook the water off her slicker. Her resemblance to Rina was striking. “You didn’t tell me we were having guests.”
Glowering, Rina introduced her aunt Rae.
“Would you like coffee or tea?” Rae asked.
Nancy shook her head. “We’ve got to get back.” Nancy asked Rina to walk them to the car.
Outside Nancy took Rina by the arm, gripping her tightly. She stood under the dripping eaves of the house. “Was Bryan in on the theft?” Nancy asked. She heard George catch her breath beside her.
“No,” Rina admitted. “I stole his gear.”
“He could lose his job because of you.” George spoke sharply.
Rina’s eyes were cold. “Fine by me. He deserved it.”
Nancy winced. “You were ushering that night. How did you pull off the robbery?”
“It wasn’t hard,” Rina explained. “I skated most of the way to the museum after the second intermission. Then I took off my skates and ran up the hill. There was just enough time to get back to the theater before the play let out.”
In her mind Nancy saw the hooded skater racing across campus that first night. “So that was you,” Nancy said. “I saw you that night—you bumped into me. You had the painting then.”
Rina nodded. “I had it in my pack. I skated to my car and put my pack in the trunk. Then I ran back to the theater. No one knew I’d been gone.”
“You stuffed First Kiss into a backpack?” Nancy asked incredulously.
“I wrapped it up in a sweatshirt first.” Rina was defensive. “I didn’t damage it.”
“What about the ticket stub?” George asked. “Nancy found an EC ticket stub on the roof.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” Rina said.
“I have to report all this to Sergeant Weinberg,” Nancy told Rina. “But it would be better for you if you turned yourself in.”
Rina gazed down at her muddy boots and nodded her head. “I guess I have no choice. Nobody will understand,” she said bitterly. Nancy hoped Rina made her confession quickly. She was in big trouble, and she had to face up to it.
“At least Bryan’s in the clear.” George gave a big sigh of relief. As they got into the Mustang, Nancy said nothing. Bryan might be in the clear about the museum theft, but they didn’t know who had First Kiss now. Bryan could have it, or even Rina, if she had lied about it having been stolen from her car.
The drive back was terrible. The rain had turned the potholes to ponds, and Nancy could barely avoid running the Mustang into a ditch. Swerving, she barely avoided a bale of hay that had rolled onto the road.
Just ahead Nancy saw a bridge and wondered if she’d taken a wrong turn. Hadn’t they turned before the bridge on the way out? “Is this the right way?” Nancy asked, moving onto the bridge.
“Nancy, look!” George screamed, and a bolt of terror shot up Nancy’s spine. A few yards ahead the bridge abruptly ended. The drop off from it was about thirty feet down—straight into the raging river!
Nancy jammed on the brake, and the car swerved uncontrollably.
Chapter
Fourteen
THE MUSTANG FISHTAILED, SLAMMING into the metal guardrails. Struggling to control the car, Nancy caught flashes of the river below and the drop-off ahead. She finally steered into the skid, and the Mustang hit the railing head on. It bounced across to the other guardrail, then back again. Finally the car came to a stop.
Nancy turned off the ignition, her hands trembling. “You okay?” she whispered.
“Yeah,” George said in a small voice. “I’d call that a little scary, even for us, Nan.”
“Very scary,” Nancy echoed. The two girls sat in silence a moment. Then, very cautiously, Nancy tried her door. Her stomach lurched when she saw that they had missed the end of the bridge by inches.
When the rain let up, Nancy climbed out and surveyed the damage to her car. The sides were scraped, and one headlight and Nancy’s door were bashed in. George got out and checked for damage, too. “Bad luck,” she said.
“More than bad luck,” Nancy replied. “Where are the signs saying the bridge is out? And where are the barricades across the entrance? Let’s look.” It wasn’t long before Nancy and George found the warning signs and barricades stowed in nearby bushes. Someone had deliberately hidden them.
Just then a black-and-white highway patrol car pulled up. A state trooper leaped out. “You girls all right?” he asked.
After assuring the officer they were, Nancy briefed him on the incident. “I was afraid of that,” he said soberly. “When I drove by the first turnoff on the highway just now, I noticed there was no danger sign. I drove down here to check on the detour sign and barricades.” He shook his head in disgust. “Probably kids playing a joke.”
The officer took down their names and the details of the incident before giving the girls directions back to Emerson.
“I have the feeling someone who knew we were heading out to Lincoln Valley didn’t want us to come back,” Nancy told George as she backed the car off the bridge. The officer waited to be sure they were okay. Nancy waved to him, and he took off. George stared straight ahead. Only Ned and Bryan knew they were going to Lincoln Valley. Ned was above suspicion. So that left Bryan. . . .
On the ride back Nancy kept returning to the same questions. If Bryan had figured out that Rina had been responsible for the theft and the forgery, could he have stolen the original from Rina? And were the missing signs and barricades at the bridge supposed to keep Nancy from revealing Bryan’s secret?