The Wrong Chemistry

  Chapter

  Six

  NANCY! I’VE BEEN LOOKING all over this place for you.”

  Startled, Nancy dropped her magazine. She looked up to see Ned towering over her.

  Nancy gasped. “Ned,” she cried, “you look terrible. Something’s happened. What is it? What’s wrong?”

  Ned’s face was grim. “It’s Angela,” he said. “She’s gone.”

  “What are you talking about?” Nancy leapt to her feet, magazines slipping to the floor. “What do you mean she’s gone?”

  “Angela came to the frat house late last night and talked to Mike. He said she was pretty upset. When he asked what was going on, she gave him a message for me. She said, ‘Tell Ned I’m doing the right thing. Don’t worry.’ And today, when I went back there, this note was waiting for me.”

  Ned held up a piece of typing paper. “She says her belief in POE is destroying our friendship and she can’t argue with me about it anymore. So she’s left school. She’s going to give all her time to them.”

  “Let me see that.” Nancy took the paper from Ned and read it quickly. There was something about it—

  “Wait a second, Ned, does Angela always type her letters?”

  “As a matter of fact, she’s taking a typing course right now. She’s been typing everything all semester.”

  “Still”—Nancy shook her head—“she sounds very emotional. I wouldn’t sit down and type a letter like this, would you?” She handed the letter back to Ned. “Why don’t we pay this group a little visit?”

  Ned grinned slyly. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Ned helped Nancy shove the books and magazines back on the shelf. Then they made their way across campus as fast as possible.

  The headquarters for POE were across a road from the Emerson campus, in an abandoned business complex. Ned and Nancy followed a driveway that wound through the wooded grounds and ended in front of a large double-story building. Five smaller buildings were scattered among the trees along the road.

  The gravelly driveway crunched under Nancy’s feet as they approached the main building. No one came out to greet them. In fact, the place seemed deserted.

  Ned glanced at Nancy. “Weird, huh?” he asked in a low voice.

  Nancy nodded, slipping her hand securely into his. “You said they went on survival campouts on weekends. Maybe they left early.”

  The door to the main building was half open. It swung in noiselessly when Nancy pushed it. They stepped in.

  Nancy and Ned found themselves in one large room, in what looked like a warehouse. There was a small, makeshift podium off to one side, with a stack of straw mats piled near it on the bare concrete floor. A delicate iron stairway was built in against the opposite wall, seeming to lead underground. The air inside was cold and smelled of forest dampness.

  Twenty feet up on the walls, a catwalk circled the inside of the warehouse. A spiral staircase dropped to the main floor. Beyond the catwalk at one end, Nancy could see small rooms leading off from it. The center of the main room was open to the roof. As Nancy and Ned surveyed the area, a small figure appeared on the catwalk.

  “Can I help you with something?” Nancy recognized Karen Lewis, the girl she had met in the arboretum.

  “We came to see Angela Morrow.” Ned’s voice sounded hollow in the large space. “Can you tell us where to find her?”

  As Karen headed down the spiral stairs, Nancy thought she saw a shadow lengthen along the wall of the room the girl had emerged from, but no one came out. As she approached, Karen looked at Nancy quizzically.

  “Don’t I know you?” she asked Nancy. “You look very familiar.”

  “I ran into your ‘rehearsal’ in the woods yesterday,” Nancy reminded her.

  “Oh, right.” Karen flushed. “Nancy Drew. And now you’re here about Angela?”

  Nancy nodded, but Karen kept staring at her, as if she were waiting for her to talk about something else.

  Ned shifted impatiently. “Yes,” he prompted, “Angela Morrow. Can we see her?”

  Karen turned her attention to him. “Right. Angela,” she said, repeating his question. “She’s not here, I’m afraid. I can leave a note for her if you’d like.”

  Nancy couldn’t help thinking that Karen seemed distracted and a bit confused.

  Ned locked eyes with Karen. “Angela left me a note saying she was coming to live here.”

  His words seemed to pull Karen out of her thoughts. She folded her arms across her chest. “As a matter of fact, she will be joining us here. But when students move off campus, they need parental consent. Angela went home to discuss it with her mom and dad.”

  Before Ned could reply, Nancy laid a hand on his arm to silence him.

  “When people come here, where exactly do they stay?” she cut in, smoothly changing the subject. “I don’t see any signs of people living here.”

  “This is just our meeting hall. There are a few offices up there on the catwalk, but no one lives here. We house people in the surrounding buildings. Right now, we have thirty full-time members,” Karen boasted. “And we’re still growing.”

  “Karen?” a deep voice boomed from the mezzanine.

  They all turned toward the man who appeared on the catwalk.

  “That’s Philip Bangs,” Nancy told Ned in a low voice. “The environmentalist. Angela talked about him the other night, remember?”

  Philip Bangs swaggered down the stairs toward them. “Thanks, Karen, for letting me use your phone,” he said. “I finally got ahold of the people at Saint Marks University and my speech is on for tomorrow. I appreciate your letting me stay but I have to leave for California now.” Bangs turned to Nancy.

  “It’s Nancy Drew, right?” he said. Nancy was again struck by the force of his personality. She nodded.

  “And I’m Ned Nickerson,” Ned said, maneuvering himself between Bangs and Nancy. “Nice to meet you. We’re looking for one of your members. Angela Morrow. Maybe you know her?”

  Bangs laughed. “My members? I’d love to take the credit, but this is Karen’s group. She founded POE. Actually, I’ve never seen or heard of another group like it. I’m just here because my lecture ran over yesterday and I missed my plane. She’s got a great group of kids here,” he said generously, clapping Karen on the shoulder warmly. “Earnest, committed—a wonderful group!”

  Nancy watched Bangs curiously. For all his smooth manner, he didn’t strike her as sincere.

  Karen blushed at Bangs’ compliment. “Philip, you remember Angela. The thin girl with the short black hair? You saw her off today when she went home.”

  Bangs furrowed his brow slowly. “Oh, yes! Great kid. Very knowledgeable about politics, too.”

  “You saw her off?” Nancy interrupted. “You don’t remember if she said anything, well, unusual, do you? Or if she left a message for anyone?”

  “No, nothing unusual,” Bangs replied. “She just jumped into her car and said she’d be back tomorrow.”

  Karen squared her shoulders and turned to Bangs. “Philip, before you go, I want to schedule another lecture sometime in the spring.” The blond girl turned back to Nancy and Ned, dismissing them. “I’m sorry Angela isn’t here, but we do expect her back tomorrow. I’ll tell her you came by.”

  Nancy could see that Ned was about ready to burst. She led him outside quickly.

  “Angela’s father died when she was six years old!” Ned said furiously. “How could she be getting his permission? I don’t believe a word they say. What if they’re holding her against her will?”

  Nancy hesitated. “Angela seemed ready to join them last night. Besides, what would they have to gain by holding her? Does her mother have a lot of money?”

  Ned shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

  “Look, Ned, I hate to say it,” Nancy pointed out quietly, “but it might mean nothing. Why would Karen know if Angela’s father was alive or not?”

  “It doesn’t fit,” Ned insisted.

  Nancy n
odded. “You’re right. I don’t like this, either, but we won’t know more until we talk to Angela.”

  “I could call her at home.”

  Nancy took Ned’s arm. “Ned, you talked your heart out last night and it didn’t work. I don’t think you’ll change her mind now. Let’s wait and see what happens when she gets back.”

  Nancy walked Ned to his history class. He still seemed moody and distracted. Stopping to let the boisterous crowd of students pass them, she gave him a quick kiss and made him promise not to worry. As Nancy watched Ned disappear into the gray stone building, she couldn’t help thinking something was wrong with POE. She ached to help him find out what it was, but she was here at Emerson to solve a different mystery and she’d better get started.

  Heading for the science building, Nancy spied Professor Maszak shouting into a pay phone. Seeing her, he lowered his voice and turned his back on her.

  Nancy drifted into one of the phone booths a few feet away, lifted the receiver and pretended to dial. She strained to hear what Maszak was saying but his words were too soft. Then, just as she prepared to give up, he raised his voice.

  “I’m doing it,” she heard him growl. “I’ve been doing it all along, and they haven’t done anything with it! They are the ones wasting time waiting for the processing. You’ll get your money. I’ll go back to them and see what I can do. You can count on me.”

  There was a short silence, then Maszak exploded again. “Don’t tell me this is important. It’s more important to me than it is to you. To me, this is a matter of life or death!”

  Chapter

  Seven

  BEFORE NANCY COULD REACT, Professor Maszak slammed down the receiver and stalked away. She filed the conversation away. What was a matter of life or death? If Maszak was hiding important information from her, she wanted to know what and why.

  Nancy placed the receiver in its cradle slowly. As a good detective, she knew never to rule out any suspect, no matter how innocent he or she might seem. In fact, it was often the people who seemed most innocent who were most guilty. Maszak could be involved in the thefts himself.

  As Nancy hurried after the rumpled professor, she thought about the explosion in the lab. When the beaker blew up, Maszak had been surprisingly understanding about Sara’s clumsy mistake. Was he too understanding?

  Tossing her head back with determination, Nancy resolved to find out as much as she could. If Maszak was lying, he was very good at it. Nancy decided she’d have better luck with Sara.

  Turning, Nancy picked up the telephone again and called student information. In no time she’d found Sara’s dorm and her room number.

  Slipping through the busy lobby, Nancy quietly made her way down the long dorm hallway. Without pausing, she knocked on Sara’s door. There was no answer. “Bad luck,” Nancy murmured to herself. Now she’d have to waste time tracking Sara down. She knocked once more to make sure, and to her surprise the door pushed open.

  Nancy hesitated. Sara wasn’t a suspect in the thefts, but she could be. And she might learn something from a quick search of Sara’s room.

  Inside, the late-afternoon sun bounced off the large mirror over the dresser on one wall. Opposite it, a standard-issue Formica desk was surrounded by posters of animals in the wild. Sara’s bed was neatly made.

  Moving swiftly, Nancy checked the desk drawers. Finding nothing unusual, she flipped through the looseleaf binders lying in neat stacks on the desk. Sara’s notes were written in small, careful script. There was no chemistry notebook, Nancy noted. Sara might have that one with her. None of the other notebooks mentioned Maszak’s experiments or CLT.

  The bright sunshine playing off the dresser caught Nancy’s attention. Among bottles of perfume and makeup samples was a familiar object. Nancy picked it up. A bronze-colored snake earring—the same as the ones worn by Karen Lewis and Angela Morrow.

  Nancy felt suddenly chilled. Sara was a POE member, too. That was one coincidence she hadn’t expected. Was the group somehow connected to Professor Maszak’s research? Even to the theft of the CLT? Had they learned of Maszak’s animal experiments? And were they trying to stop them?

  Nancy stepped up her search, pulling open drawers, looking for anything that might link the CLT thefts to the environmental group. She heard a noise at the door and saw the doorknob turning. She barely had time to shove the drawer shut and whirl around before the door opened. Sara Hughes’s chunky body was framed in the doorway.

  Sara stared at Nancy in confusion. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  “Looking for you,” Nancy answered. Her voice sounded surprisingly calm. “I have some questions I’d like to ask you.”

  “About that story you’re writing, right?” Sara eyed Nancy suspiciously. “Shouldn’t you have called first?”

  Nancy pretended to be a hard-nosed reporter without manners. “Your door was open,” she said, shrugging. “I decided to wait here.”

  “Oh. Well, I guess that’s okay.” Sara waved her hand at the desk chair and Nancy sat down.

  “This is a very important story, Sara,” Nancy said. “I need to know exactly what you do for Professor Maszak. For instance,” she said casually, “what were you doing last night in the chemistry lab?”

  Sara’s face went white. Then, without warning, she burst into tears.

  “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she wailed. “I was only trying to catch up on all my work. I’ve fallen so far behind, and—I don’t know what to do!”

  Surprised at this outburst, Nancy shifted awkwardly in her seat waiting for Sara’s sobbing to subside. “Sara,” she asked gently, “do you want to tell me about it?”

  Sara took a deep breath. “I’m just so scared,” she confessed, her voice trembling. “My father lost his job this summer and hasn’t been able to find a new one. He’s been doing part-time work, but I don’t know whether he’ll be able to send me back to school next semester.”

  “What does that have to do with the lab?” Nancy asked.

  “Everything!” Sara cried. “I’ve applied for every scholarship there is, but so far I haven’t heard. I’m so upset I can’t concentrate on anything. The more I worry, the more I seem to mess up. Professor Maszak already warned me—if I don’t shape up, I’ll lose my job in the lab.”

  The anguish on Sara’s face was genuine. Her eyes brimmed with tears. “I’ve been so nervous,” she went on. “Between the mistakes I’m making and the thef—I mean, well, I may not have my job for long.”

  “Thefts,” Nancy repeated. “You were going to say thefts.”

  Sara looked at Nancy with alarm. “No one knows about the thefts—only me and the professor.” She drew away suddenly. “Who are you, anyway? I don’t believe you’re a student reporter at all.”

  Nancy took a deep breath. “I’ll be straight with you, Sara, since you’ve already guessed the truth. You have to promise me, though, that this is strictly between you and me. If not, the professor could be hurt. Emerson could be hurt.”

  Sara paled. “I swear, I won’t tell anyone. I’d never do that.”

  Nancy believed her. She had a strong feeling that Sara was no thief. “I’m here to investigate the thefts of the CLT. I’m helping Dean Jarvis.”

  “Are you from the government?” Sara’s eyes widened.

  “No way,” Nancy assured her. “I’m a private detective. I care about Emerson College, and I don’t want to see the school suffer because of the thefts.”

  Sara reddened and went to her desk, drawing a tissue from a drawer. “So that’s what you were really doing in my room. You thought I stole the CLT.”

  “I don’t now,” Nancy said honestly. “Sara—will you help me?”

  “I doubt if I can.” Sara’s voice was flat. “All I know is, the CLT was stolen each time right before we were about to begin the experiment.”

  “Is there something particularly important about that time?”

  “No,” Sara said helplessly. “It’s just another stage in the pro
cess. The professor gets the stuff, he treats it, and then we start the experiment.”

  “Do you help with the treatment?” Nancy asked.

  “No one does,” Sara said. “He’s very secretive about the whole process. I just try to stay out of his way.”

  Nancy nodded. “Who else knows when Maszak has finished the treatment?”

  “The professor, me, and Dean Jarvis.”

  “No one else? No students?”

  “No. But the professor keeps a daily log of the experiment on his computer. I’ve never seen his entries.”

  Nancy felt a faint twinge of excitement. “But someone could get into the program and find out that way,” she suggested.

  Sara frowned. “I doubt it. There’s a secret password. No one but the professor knows what it is.”

  “It doesn’t sound good for the professor,” Nancy muttered.

  “I know,” Sara cried. “Ever since the CLT was first taken, I’ve tried to figure out who did it.” She paused and looked at Nancy pleadingly. “But I know one thing—there’s no reason for Professor Maszak to take it.”

  “You’re probably right,” Nancy admitted. “Maszak has the most to lose if this gets out. And if he needed the CLT for unauthorized experiments, he could have found a better way to get it.”

  Unless, she thought to herself, he got too greedy. Nancy remembered the telephone conversation she had overheard. CLT was rare and valuable—Maszak said so himself. He also had a sick wife whose treatment was very expensive. Nancy didn’t want to alarm Sara, but Maszak had a very good reason to steal the CLT: so he could sell it and pocket the money.

  With Sara eliminated, Maszak became Nancy’s number-one suspect. But that didn’t explain the connection to POE.

  Casually, Nancy rose and picked up the earring from Sara’s dresser.

  “This is a great earring,” she said, holding the bronze snake to her ear and modeling it in the mirror. “I’ve never seen one quite like it.”

  Sara sighed distractedly. “Oh, that’s not mine. I found it in the lab this morning. It must belong to a POE member. I asked around in morning and afternoon science classes and I even put a note on the bulletin board, but no one’s claimed it yet, so I brought it back here.”