Chapter
Seventeen
NANCY WATCHED as Chris tried to push the gun aside. It was futile. With his hands tied together he was only able to knock it to the floor.
“You’re crazy,” he said, staring at Allard. “What makes you think I’d kill them?”
“Do you really want to risk it?” Allard leaned down to pick up the gun, keeping the revolver poised on Kate. He handed the gun to Chris again.
“Chris, don’t,” Nancy said desperately. She had to stop him from doing anything rash. “Can’t you see what they’re planning?” She pointed to the can of gasoline. “They’re not going to let any of us go!”
“Listen to Nancy, Chris,” Carson pleaded. “Now that he’s told us he killed your father, Allard’s not going to let you go. You know too much.”
Cheryl looked as though she were about to faint. Kate stared at her brother.
Chris looked over at the can of gasoline and then back at Nancy and Carson. Nancy took a deep breath and tried, despite her fear, to plan some kind of escape.
Her mind was on the door to the alley. There was a slim chance they could all make a run for it if she could get them all moving at the same time.
Suddenly her attention was diverted by Chris leaping at Nicodemus.
The move took Nicodemus by surprise. He let go of Cheryl. She swung both her hands at his gun, sending it flying across the floor. Nicodemus stood there, disarmed and helpless, facing Chris, who was still armed.
Allard was so stunned he almost dropped his guard on Kate. She was about to squirm free when Allard strengthened his grip on her.
“Let her go, or I’ll shoot him,” Chris shouted.
Nancy stared at the gun that had flown out of Nicodemus’s hand. She couldn’t do anything until she was sure that Allard wasn’t going to shoot Chris.
What happened next shocked everyone.
“Go ahead and shoot him,” Allard said.
Nicodemus stared at his business partner. “Dennis, what are you saying?”
Nancy saw her chance. While Allard was concentrating on Nicodemus, she nudged her father, then ran for Nicodemus’s gun on the floor. Before Allard had a chance to react, Carson Drew was on him, pounding away with his two fists at the hand that held the gun.
A shot went off as the gun flew from Allard’s hand. Nancy dashed across the room and in one swift move kicked Nicodemus’s gun farther across the floor.
Then Nancy saw that her father was still wrestling with Allard. She hurled herself at the two men.
“Let go of him,” she shouted.
Allard let go of Carson and looked up at Nancy. He tried to pull himself off the ground, scrambling to run away.
Nancy sent a swift karate kick into Allard’s chin as he tried to get up. He groaned and rolled over. Dennis Allard was trapped at last.
Still shaking, Nancy knelt down and spoke softly to her father. “You’re okay, aren’t you?” she asked.
Carson sat up and managed a weak smile. “I’m fine, Nancy. A little bruised, but fine.”
Cheryl came over to Nancy and Carson, a dull kitchen knife in her hands. “I found it in one of the boxes,” she explained, working at the clothesline tying Nancy’s hands together.
With a few moves, Nancy’s hands were free. She cut Cheryl’s bonds, then Cheryl went to work on Carson’s and soon had them untied as well.
Chris Gleason approached Nancy, holding out the spare clothesline. Nancy looked over at Nicodemus and saw that Chris had already tied the man’s hands behind his back.
“Do you want the honors?” he asked, pointing to Allard.
“I think you can probably manage,” she said, taking a deep breath. She watched as Chris wrapped the rope around Allard’s wrists and made several strong knots.
“Now let’s get out of here,” she said when Chris was finished. Then she turned to give her father a hug.
“I was worried there for a little while,” Carson said, holding her in his arms.
“Me, too, Dad. Me, too,” Nancy said, smiling up at him.
• • •
A few hours later they were all sitting in the Drews’ living room. Bess and George were there, too, along with Hannah.
“So Allard and Nicodemus were in it together all along?” George asked.
“It looks that way,” Carson said, putting his arm around Nancy’s shoulder. “The two of them thought they’d gotten away with it, too, until Robert Gleason came looking for that evidence.”
“But that’s just incredible,” Bess said, nibbling on a pretzel. “He was just going to sit back and let your career be ruined!”
Nancy stretched. It had been a long day. “I don’t think Dennis Allard really cared about that. The only thing that mattered was that no one ever came after him again. Nothing was going to stop him.”
“Now he’ll be out of our lives,” Chris said. He was sitting on the couch with his arm around Cheryl. “And we know finally that my father wasn’t a criminal.”
“Nancy—” Kate began.
“You don’t have to say it.” Nancy smiled. “I understand why you acted the way you did. It’s okay.”
“But I just have to thank you for believing in us, despite the trouble we caused you,” Kate insisted.
Carson smiled for the first time since they had been back home.
“There’s something you don’t understand,” he said. “Something I’ve only begun to appreciate.” He went over to Nancy and put his arms around her.
“What’s that, Dad?” she asked.
“That nothing can stop my daughter. Not when she happens to be River Heights’s most persistent detective.”
Nancy smiled. George laughed. Hannah chuckled. Bess giggled. Chris hugged Cheryl again. And soon everybody was laughing.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Simon Pulse
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Carolyn Keene, Shadow of a Doubt
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