Nancy heard "Drop it!" from the corridor. She dashed back to the inside of the stadium in time to see the bat-wielding Falcon mascot facing an empty-handed Victor Delgado.
Already a few curious spectators were peering around corners in the corridor. Nancy knew that Victor would risk his own life before he'd pull a gun in this situation.
"Put it down," Victor said again.
Nancy glanced around for some kind of weapon but spotted nothing. Her only hope was that with the costume on, Barrows wouldn't see her coming from behind. She took two swift steps toward him and used a roundhouse kick to knock both his feet out from under him.
Feathers flew as the mascot threw the bat into the air and crashed to the ground on his shoulders.
Nancy was quickly on top of him.
"Good work," Victor said, finally pulling his gun and training it on Barrows. "Now let's see who this guy really is."
"It's Bill Barrows," Nancy replied smoothly. "Caitlin remembered his birthmark." With that, she grabbed a handful of fabric and feathers on each side of the mascot's head and pulled.
"You're right again, Nancy Drew," Victor said as the feather costume gave way to reveal an angry Bill Barrows.
Nancy noticed Sean and Luke staring down at him.
"I suppose you have an explanation for this," Victor said to the pinned man.
"For what?" Barrows snapped. "Wearing a mascot costume at a baseball game?"
"For kidnapping," Victor said soberly, pulling Barrows to his feet. "And extortion."
"But why would you want your own team to lose?" Sean blurted out, his face red with anger. "And why did you take my daughter?"
"Is money a good enough reason for you?" Barrows snapped as Victor handcuffed his wrists behind him.
"But there was no ransom demand," Nancy said.
"I made a bet on the series," Barrows shot back defiantly. "I bet the Rangers would win.
And they would have, if Sean hadn't shown up. He was about to ruin everything, and I had orders to play him three innings a game no matter what. When he hired Rebecca to baby-sit, I knew it would be easy. She likes money as much as anybody."
"So you knew she used to work for the Falcons?" Nancy asked.
"Yeah, I keep an eye on the personnel files."
Nancy was watching Barrows's face when she heard Sean gasp.
"Daddy!" Caitlin yelled.
She turned to see the little girl and George breaking through the crowd that had gathered around them.
"Caitlin!" Sean cried. Before he could run to her, the girl had broken free from George and dashed across the concrete floor. She leaped through the air and landed in her father's arms.
"Oh, Caitlin, you're safe," Sean said as he wrapped his arms around her.
Cries of approval rose from the crowd. Sean lifted his head to see the spectators smiling warmly and clapping their hands. They didn't really understand what was happening, Nancy knew, but the affection between Sean and his daughter was so strong that it was hard for anyone to keep from cheering.
Finally Sean lowered Caitlin to the ground and placed her hand gently in Nancy's. "Daddy has one more thing to do," he said, squatting down to look Caitlin in the eye. "Is that okay?"
Caitlin nodded bravely and, guessing what it was, added, "Pitch good, Daddy."
Sean tousled her hair as he rose to his feet and motioned to Luke. "Come on," he said. "We have a game to win."
More applause rose from the spectators, who then quickly returned to the stands as Luke and Sean marched onto the field.
Nancy and George led Caitlin back to their front row seats to watch the end of the game.
"Do you think they can do it?" George asked as they took their seats.
"I hope so," said Nancy.
Sean threw strike after strike, retiring one batter after another in both the eighth and ninth innings.
Luke added a two-run homer to clinch the Falcons' victory. The league championship would come down to the fifth game on Thursday.
The sun was setting on Thursday evening when George, Nancy, and Ned walked onto the baseball field where the River Heights Falcons were accepting the league championship trophy.
"That was a great game," Ned said as they showed their special passes to the attendant at the entrance to the playing field.
"And great company," Nancy added, smiling up at her handsome boyfriend. "Fm glad you got home in time to see the Falcons win."
"And Fm glad your case is wrapped up," he said. "Maybe we'll finally get some time together."
"I'd like that," Nancy replied.
"Am I too late?" Bess called from behind them. "Carolyn said she'd clean up tonight so I could watch the awards. I'm hoping to see Sean smile. I bet he's a knockout when he smiles."
"You never change, do you, Bess?" Nancy couldn't help but grin as she shook her head at her friend.
"And I bet you don't, either, Nancy Drew."
Nancy turned around to see Victor Delgado wearing a stylish business suit with a forest-green tie. His dark hair was neatly combed and he looked very much like the all-business FBI agents Nancy was used to seeing on the news. He stood beside her on the grassy field.
"I just wanted to say it's been good working with you," Victor said. "And if you ever want to join the FBI, call me. I'll give you a great recommendation."
"Thank you," Nancy said, blushing a little.
"By the way, we found out that Barrows bet seventy-five thousand dollars that the Falcons would lose the series, and that he got Rebecca to help by promising to share the winnings with her," Victor said. "Barrows helped get Caitlin into Rebecca's car and then followed them to the hideout. That's also where Barrows cut the lock of hair from Caitlin. Unfortunately for them, they were both at the hideout on the morning before the kidnapping. Barrows tracked clay to Sean's, and Rebecca left some at the side entrance and on her own doorstep. She dropped her shopping list near her car when she was putting Caitlin in."
"But why did Barrows get into the Freddy the Falcon uniform?" Bess asked. "Why didn't he just tell Sean what he wanted over the phone?"
"Barrows said he was hoping Sean's pitching would be so bad, he wouldn't have to make the threat at all," Victor said. "Then there would have been even fewer clues to connect him to the crime."
"What about the phone calls to the manager's office?" George asked.
"Rebecca made them on a cellular phone. She pretended to be upset the first time. The second time Barrows just said it was a man's voice to throw Sean off the track," Victor said.
"And we decided Barrows couldn't be a suspect because he was at the stadium when we thought Caitlin was taken," Bess remarked.
"But the kidnapping really happened right after Sean left the house, which gave Barrows time to get to the stadium before he did," Nancy explained.
"It was pretty stupid of Barrows to steal the mascot costume a second time," Bess commented. "And what about poor Anthony Reyes?"
"Chief McGinnis tried to find him as soon as we got to the game yesterday, but it was too late.
Barrows had already gotten to him, knocked him out, and taken the costume again," Victor said. "Criminals tend to repeat themselves," he added, shaking his head. "It's strange."
"Is Anthony all right?" George asked.
"Yes," Victor said. "And we'll be able to put Rebecca and Barrows away for a long time. It's all thanks to you," he added, turning to Nancy.
He shook her hand, said goodbye, and then disappeared into the crowd. Nancy wondered if Brenda would get more details about the case from him. Probably not, she decided. Brenda wasn't very thorough, and she'd already scored a victory of her own with the article she'd written for that morning's paper.
A cheer went up from the crowd as the silver-haired league president carried a large trophy and a microphone onto the field. He was quickly surrounded by Falcon players, with Sean and Rod at the front of the crowd. Both players had pitched excellent games that day, cementing the series victory. As the league presiden
t held out their trophy, each of them took one handle of the large silver cup and held it skyward.
"We want to thank all the people who made this victory possible," Rod said, holding the microphone. "Especially one young detective whom I'm sure you read about in this morning's paper."
A murmur ran through the crowd and Nancy felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.
The Falcon players stepped back as Stormy Tarver pushed through the crowd to accept the second-place trophy.
"It was a good series, but it would have been better if we'd won," Stormy said. Laughter rose from the crowd. "Next year I'm going to take two things away from River Heights. The championship and Rod Sanders! He's agreed to be the Rangers' new pitching coach."
Nancy and George exchanged looks. That explained what Rod and Stormy had been talking about when they met in the park. Nancy could understand why he hadn't wanted the word to get out during the series. He would have looked like a traitor.
Stormy had just left when Luke broke through the crowd and came to George's side.
"Great hitting," George said. She held out her hand with her palm up, and Luke slapped it. "With stats like yours you'll be on your way to the majors in no time."
Nancy smiled at the two of them. George and Luke had a lot in common, and this time it didn't make Nancy feel lonely to see them together. She slipped her hand into Ned's.
"If I do, there'll be somebody there I know," Luke said. "Sean's been called back to the Captains. There was a coach here today who seems to think his pitching problems are all worked out."
"That's an understatement," George said, smiling up at Luke.
Nancy felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Caitlin riding on her dad's shoulders.
"Caitlin has a message for you from both of us," Sean said.
"Daddy and I think you're a good 'tective and we're glad you found me," Caitlin said brightly. Then she held out a handful of multicolored Yummy Bunnies.
"Thanks," Nancy said, taking the cookies. She popped one in her mouth and smiled up at the brown-eyed girl. It had been an amazing baseball series. In fact, Nancy hoped that she'd never see another one as exciting.
Carolyn Keene, 097 Squeeze Play
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