Nancy shook her head. “I knew there was something about Milhaus I should have recognized. He must have given Steghorn the trick pen. Then Steghorn accidentally dropped it in the feed booth when he planted the threatening tape.”
“If they’re father and son, then why would Steghorn and Milhaus have different last names?” Ned asked.
“Steghorn could have divorced Milhaus’s mother when he was very young,” Nancy said, working it out in her mind. “And Milhaus could have taken his stepfather’s last name—that’s not so uncommon.”
Nancy stuffed the brochure into her pocket. “I’ve got to show this to Hal Taylor and Otto Liski. As engineer, Steghorn could easily have rigged the live-wire booby trap that almost killed Hal. And it would have been easy for him to create the threatening tape.” She frowned, then added, “I still need more proof of Steghorn’s involvement in the attacks, though. Something that will stand up in court.”
Ned had been looking around the gated parking area while Nancy spoke. “That leaves us with just one problem—how do we get out of here?” he asked. “They’re not exactly going to throw us a bon voyage party when we try to get past the gate.”
Nancy sneaked a peek through the truck’s window. In the distance, she could see two of Milhaus’s workers leaning against the locked gate. Glancing around the truck’s cab, she spotted a pair of mirrored sunglasses and a baseball cap that was imprinted with the KSM logo. “Ned, do you think you could drive this truck?” she asked.
“I think so,” he said. “I drove one of those big rental trucks last summer when I was moving some stuff for my parents. I could probably fake it. What do you have in mind?”
Nancy handed him the hat and sunglasses. “Put these on,” she said. She stifled a giggle as he obeyed. “Ned, you really do look like a truck driver,” she said. “Now you’ll have to play the part to get us out of here.”
She quickly described her plan to Ned. “We’ll drive this truck right out of here—just long enough to make our getaway,” she said. “When we get to the gate, just tell the workers that Merrick wants you to move the truck. He’s that crazy foreman I told you about who attacked Bess and me. I don’t think they’ll question an order from him.”
“Okay,” Ned said, climbing into the driver’s seat. Nancy hunched down onto the floor so that she couldn’t be seen from the ground. “Here goes,” he said, turning the key in the ignition.
The truck’s engine roared to life, but it drew little attention from the workers standing by the gate. They were obviously used to the sound of trucks coming and going.
“So far, so good,” Ned announced. He shifted the truck smoothly into gear, then drove it up to the gate.
“You new?” Nancy heard a deep voice ask. The man didn’t sound very interested.
When Ned nodded, a second voice asked, “Why you headin’ out without a load?”
Ned shrugged. “Merrick says move the truck, so I gotta move the truck,” he replied.
The men chuckled, and Nancy heard them unlock the gate. “That Merrick’ll drive you nuts with all his goofball orders,” the first, deep voice said.
A moment later Ned waved his hands and drove through the gate. “Whew!” he exclaimed as they rounded the corner. “That was too easy.”
Nancy scrambled up into her seat. “Great, Ned!” she cried. “You should win the Academy Award for that one.” She glanced behind the truck as Ned pulled slowly away from KSM Express, but the two men had already forgotten about them.
As soon as they were out of view of the KSM workers, Nancy and Ned turned onto the street where Ned had left his car. Bess was waiting behind the steering wheel, her expression anxious.
“Let’s go!” Nancy said to Ned as she opened the door of the truck. They jumped out of the truck and dashed back to Ned’s car.
“Thank goodness it’s you two,” Bess said, giving a sigh of relief. She scooted over to let them in on the driver’s side. “I thought that truck had swallowed you up and was coming back to finish me off!”
Ned glanced back at the truck. “Boy, will they be mad when they find that truck is missing from the parking lot,” he said.
“What happened back there, anyway?” Bess asked.
“I think I’ve found our culprit. It’s Bill Steghorn, the engineer. I’ll have to fill you in on the details later,” Nancy said. “Right now I need you to drop me off at my car so I can head back to the station.”
Ned shot Nancy a warning glance. “Do you think that’s wise? We already know Steghorn could be dangerous,” he started to protest, but Nancy overruled him with a firm shake of her head.
“I have to wrap this up before Steghorn really hurts Hal,” she said. “I know Steghorn’s involved, but I need more proof. I promise to be careful.”
“All right,” Ned agreed reluctantly. “But I’ll be waiting by the phone for you to tell me what happens.”
Fifteen minutes later Ned and Bess dropped Nancy off at the service station where she had left her car. She drove quickly back across town to the TV station. By the time she reached the newsroom, the evening news was just ending. She was surprised to see that another reporter, not Hal Taylor, was anchoring the news with Marilyn Morgan.
“Where’s Hal?” Nancy asked Marcus Snipes, who was delivering a stack of tapes to an editor.
Marcus shrugged. “Someone said he took the night off. I don’t know where he went,” he replied. “It’s been sort of quiet around here tonight. I haven’t seen Otto Liski since early this afternoon, either.”
Nancy thanked him and continued down the hallway. She went to the control room and checked the engineering schedule. Steghorn wasn’t supposed to be at work that night, she was relieved to note.
Before heading back to the newsroom, Nancy ducked into an empty office and called both Otto Liski and Hal at home. Neither man answered, so she left urgent messages on both their answering machines, asking them to call her back at the station.
For the next several hours, Nancy hid out in an editing booth, pretending to be working on a news assignment. What she was really doing was waiting for the staff to clear out so that she could look for more evidence about Steghorn’s involvement in the threats against Hal.
As soon as the late-night news broadcast was finished, most of the remaining reporters and production people left. At midnight, Nancy emerged from the editing booth.
She walked down the long hallway to the front lobby. Everyone was gone except for the night security guard. He sat with his feet up on the reception desk, reading the sports section of the River Heights Enquirer. The guard glanced up from his newspaper when he saw Nancy. “Working late tonight?” he asked.
“Yes,” Nancy said. “I have some work to catch up on, and I just wanted you to know I was back there.”
“Well, don’t work too hard,” the guard said, and returned to his newspaper.
Nancy’s steps echoed in the dim hallways as she made her way to the back, to Steghorn’s locker. The empty corridors had a spooky feel to them in the middle of the night, and Nancy had to go down several of them before she came upon Steghorn’s locker. She glanced around quickly just to make sure no one was around. Then she jimmied the padlock.
Inside Steghorn’s locker, Nancy was again struck by all the photographs of Marilyn Morgan. On the floor, she found another KSM Express pen. “That clinches the fact that he’s connected to Kurt Milhaus,” she muttered to herself.
Tucked in the back of the locker she found a small squirt can of lighter fluid. Nancy picked up the can and shook it. It was half-empty.
“Steghorn must have used this to start the fire in Hal’s office,” she mused.
The last item that caught her eye in the locker was a minicassette recorder. It was sitting in the bottom of Steghorn’s locker next to a box of tapes. The tapes were organized by dates, Nancy saw.
She popped the most recent tape into the recorder—and was stunned to hear her own voice discussing the case with Hal Taylor. The conversation was th
e one she’d had over the phone with Hal Taylor earlier that day, Nancy realized with a start.
“He’s been wiretapping the phones at the station!” she exclaimed softly. That was why the attacker seemed to know her every move!
“That’s right, Nancy,” a deep voice spoke up just behind her. “Too bad you had to find out about it.”
Nancy whirled around, letting the tape recorder drop into her jacket pocket. Bill Steghorn was standing just a few feet away from her. He was holding a gun, and it was pointed straight at her!
Chapter
Sixteen
NANCY TOOK a deep breath, trying not to focus on the gleaming metal gun barrel. But the cold glimmer in Bill Steghorn’s eyes was an equally sinister sight.
“Such a lovely young girl,” the engineer said slowly. “Too bad you had to get yourself mixed up in all of this.”
“By ‘all of this’ I assume you mean your attacks on Hal Taylor?” Nancy asked. She wanted to get as much information as possible out of Steghorn while she stalled for time.
“Exactly,” the engineer said. “You have to understand, Nancy. I’m just a father trying to protect his son from having his reputation smeared on network television.”
“So you are Kurt Milhaus’s father—and you’ve been trying to scare Hal Taylor into dropping his story on your son’s bribery payments to Steve Gilbert,” Nancy said. While she was talking, she surreptitiously turned on the minicassette recorder that was in her pocket. Everything they said was now being recorded.
“How did you find out about Hal’s story in the first place?” she asked.
Bill Steghorn shrugged. “There aren’t many secrets in a news station,” he said. “Besides, Hal’s habit of farming out all his work meant that at least a dozen people knew about the story he was working on—including me.”
The engineer advanced on Nancy, keeping the gun aimed at her heart. “At first I thought I could scare him away from the story,” he explained. “That’s why I sent the warning letters and the tape. When that didn’t work, I set the fire in his office and stole the incriminating tape.”
Steghorn took a deep breath and continued. “But Hal still didn’t back off, so I knew I’d have to get rid of him—permanently. My son is the only good thing I have in my life. Besides,” he added, his nostrils flaring, “if you knew how Hal mistreated Marilyn . . . I was taping his conversations, so I know how he upset her when he broke their engagement She deserves better than that. That’s when I realized he had to die.”
Nancy couldn’t believe how cold and callous Steghorn sounded. “How does Clay Jurgenson fit into the attacks?” she pressed. “Has he been helping you?”
“Clay Jurgenson is a free-lance extortionist,” Steghorn said. “He caught me setting the electric wire trap for Hal in the newsroom ceiling, and he threatened to go to Otto Liski unless I paid him twenty-five thousand dollars.”
“So you set up a meeting between him and your son to make the payoff,” Nancy guessed.
Steghorn looked surprised. “So you found out about that,” he said. “You’re a good detective, Nancy. Too good. That’s why you’ll have to die, I’m afraid.”
Nancy felt a surge of fear at the threat. She hoped that the security guard would make his rounds this way soon. She didn’t see any way to make a move with that gun on her.
Bill Steghorn seemed to sense her thoughts. “Unfortunately, you won’t be able to escape like you did earlier today,” he said. “That was some fancy driving you did, though, I have to admit.”
Nancy drew in a sharp breath. “So it was you driving that truck,” she said.
Steghorn shook his head. “Merrick was doing the actual driving. I was the one who searched Hal’s house. I had to take off when you arrived with your friend, but I waited around the corner for you to leave. Then I followed you and relayed your movements to Merrick on my cellular car phone. He caught up with you as soon as you started climbing that hill.”
Nancy glanced again at the photographs of Marilyn Morgan. “And you also tore all the pictures of Hal and Marilyn in half,” she said.
“Yes, that was an indulgence on my part,” he said. “With Hal out of the way, maybe Marilyn and I, you know . . .” Steghorn’s voice trailed off.
His bushy eyebrows drew together suddenly, giving his face a fierce, determined look. He waved the gun at Nancy. “No more time for talking, I’m afraid. It’s time that we departed for our final destination.”
Steghorn jabbed the gun against Nancy’s neck, forcing her to walk ahead of him toward a rear exit doorway that Nancy hadn’t seen before.
“And what exactly is our final destination?” she asked, trying to stay calm.
“For you, the final destination is death, I’m afraid,” Steghorn said in a tone that made Nancy’s blood run cold.
He threw open the exit door, which led to one of the outer parking lots. Nancy felt a rush of cold night air. Just beyond the doorway she could see a panel truck. The back of the truck was open.
Nancy looked into the truck and did a double take. There, with his hands tied together, was Hal Taylor!
“We grabbed Hal when he went home to look at the damage you found,” Steghorn told Nancy. “Then I forced him to call the station with a convincing excuse for not anchoring the news tonight.”
Hal tried to free his hands without success as Steghorn shoved Nancy toward the van. “Nancy, I’m so sorry I got you into this,” Hal said to her.
“We’re not giving up yet,” Nancy told him in a low voice.
“Hurry up and keep quiet,” a voice behind her snapped. Kurt Milhaus was impatiently holding the panel truck’s door open, waiting for Nancy to get inside.
“You should have listened to me when I told you to steer Hal away from this story,” he told her. “Now it’s too late.”
Nancy had to do something—anything—to keep the truck from pulling away from the station. “Did your foreman deliberately try to run us down that day at KSM Express?” she asked, still trying to stall for time.
Kurt Milhaus snorted with laughter. “Actually, that was an accident. Too bad Merrick didn’t kill you that day, though—it would have saved me the trouble!”
Bill Steghorn jabbed his gun into Nancy’s back again. “Get in the truck,” he ordered.
Just then Nancy heard footsteps coming around the corner of the building. It had to be the security guard making his rounds, she realized.
Bill Steghorn’s eyes darted nervously around, but before he could do anything, the unsuspecting security guard rounded the corner of the station. His eyes widened with surprise at the sight of the engineer and the gun.
Nancy reacted swiftly. Her leg shot out in a lightning-quick karate kick, knocking the gun out of Steghorn’s hand. At the same instant, Hal kicked the panel truck’s door open with his feet, knocking over Kurt Milhaus. The motion caused him to roll out of the van and onto the concrete, but Nancy didn’t have time to help him.
When Milhaus staggered to his feet, Nancy shoved him into the truck and deftly locked him inside. By this time, the guard had pulled his gun. He was aiming uncertainly at Bill Steghorn.
“What—what’s going on?” the guard demanded.
Nancy helped Hal untie his hands, then she turned to face the confused guard. “We’ll explain everything to you, after we put in a call to the police.”
Chapter
Seventeen
ICAN’T BELIEVE I’m finally getting to meet Hal Taylor,” Bess said as she walked with Nancy into the Channel 9 lobby the following afternoon. Several people were decorating the lobby with garlands and Christmas decorations. Everyone seemed to be in a festive mood.
The night before, the police had arrived quickly to round up Bill Steghorn and Kurt Milhaus. They had arrested Steve Gilbert and Clay Jurgenson at their homes soon after.
Now that the case was solved, Nancy was ready to relax and enjoy the Christmas holiday. Unfortunately, Ned had returned to Emerson that morning for his final exams, but he would
be back before Christmas.
Nancy grinned at Bess. “I’m afraid your timing’s pretty lousy with Hal, Bess,” she said. “It looks like he and Marilyn may get back together.”
As if to confirm her words, Hal walked into the lobby and over to Marilyn, who was hanging an ornament on the tree.
“Let’s forget our breakup ever happened,” Nancy heard Hal saying to Marilyn. Marilyn responded by circling Hal’s neck in a gentle embrace. Then Hal looked up and spotted Nancy standing nearby.
“Nancy!” he called waving to her. He was holding up a videotape. “After the police came last night I stayed up until all hours recutting the bribery story. This one could win me an award—a powerful local corruption story with a socko ending—Milhaus, Steghorn, Gilbert, and Jurgenson in jail! It’s going to air tonight instead of Monday.”
“I’m glad it worked out, Hal,” Nancy said as she and Bess joined the co-anchors. “Hal, Marilyn, I’d like you to meet my friend Bess Marvin.”
“I really admire your work, Hal,” Bess said enthusiastically.
“Well, thank you very much,” Hal said, turning his famous smile on her.
Marilyn tugged at Hal’s sleeve. “Remember, it’s time for your interview, Hal,” she said.
Hal leaned over and whispered in Nancy’s ear. “I think Marilyn and I are back on track,” he said. “Nearly getting killed last night made me rethink my priorities in a big way—especially where Marilyn is concerned.”
For the first time since they’d met each other, Marilyn smiled at Nancy. “Hal told me everything you did to track down the attacker. I can’t believe Bill Steghorn was behind it all along,” she said. “During the past few months I thought of him as a friend, but now I realize my mistake.” She shuddered. “Whoever would have thought he was such a creep!”
“You could clear up one thing for me, Marilyn,” Nancy said. “Why did you have that meeting with Steve Gilbert last week?”