004 Smile and Say Murder

  Nancy was forced to tie Ned’s feet and Sondra’s hands and feet in the same way. After that, Yvonne tied Nancy’s herself. “Well,” she said, once she was finished, “I hate to spoil the party, so I’ll leave. But first I’ve got to fix you kids some refreshments.”

  Yvonne walked over to the cabinet near the darkroom sink where the chemicals were stored and pulled out a few bottles. She opened them and dumped the chemicals into a large bowl, mixing up a vile brew.

  “With all the chemicals stored in darkrooms,” Yvonne said nonchalantly, “fires start so easily.” She sloshed the mixture along the floor, leaving a large puddle in front of the door. “This stuff should light up like desert brush in the dry season.”

  Yvonne took the tape with her confession on it and deftly deposited it on the worktable. “I can’t think of anything nicer to do with this than start a bonfire,” she said. She produced a book of matches from her pocket and lit one. “All right, my friends, don’t get too hot under the collar.”

  Yvonne walked to the door and stepped just outside it. Then she pitched the match into the puddle of chemicals. They went up in a whoosh of flame. Yvonne slammed the door shut, and Nancy heard her lock it from the outside. The fire began to spread quickly.

  Nancy tugged at the ropes that bound her hands. No use—Yvonne had done a professional job. “Ned, Sondra,” she cried, “can either of you pull free of your ropes? It’s our only chance.”

  “You kidding me?” Ned asked. “Houdini couldn’t get out of these.”

  “Or these,” Sondra called.

  “Then that’s it,” Nancy said finally. “We’re trapped!” Slowly the fire inched closer to the three teenagers.

  Chapter

  Seventeen

  WHAT ARE WE going to do?” Sondra cried, dangerously close to hysteria.

  “Not sit here and burn up, that’s for sure,” Nancy replied. But as if to taunt her, the flames licked her toes. Nancy pulled her legs up to her chest.

  “Calm down,” Ned told Sondra. “Nancy’s gotten out of worse situations than this.”

  “Well, what are you going to do?” Sondra whispered fearfully.

  But Nancy didn’t answer. She was too busy thinking. She knew that somehow she had to get free of the ropes that tied her hands and feet. Otherwise, all three of them were going to be burned crisper than a batch of overdone French fries. But how?

  Ned had mentioned Houdini, the great escape artist. He’d been able to get out of complicated knots, metal chains, locked chests—sometimes while submerged in a tank of water! Of course, legend had it that Houdini had been killed when one of his tricks had failed— but that was after thousands of successful escapes. Come on, Houdini, help us out! Nancy prayed.

  Suddenly Nancy realized the answer! Houdini had sometimes untied ropes with his teeth. Nancy had never done it before, but she was about to try!

  “Sondra, Ned,” Nancy shouted, “I’ve got it! Sondra, twist around so that your hands are facing me.” Sondra did so, while Nancy scooted toward her. Meanwhile, the darkroom was growing hotter by the millisecond.

  Nancy was so close to Sondra that she could smell her perfume over the scent of burning chemicals. With one more push, she had reached her, her face shoved up against the stylist’s bound hands.

  Immediately Nancy began to chew the knots with her teeth.

  “Ow,” Sondra shrieked.

  Nancy spit the rope out of her mouth. “Did I bite you? I’m sorry.”

  “No,” Sondra said, terrified. “It’s the flames —they’re getting closer!”

  “Hurry, Nancy,” Ned cried. “I’m about to pass out from the fumes!”

  Nancy redoubled her efforts. Suddenly she felt the ropes loosen!

  “Nancy,” Sondra screamed, “they’re coming undone! We’re going to get out of here!”

  Nancy gave one last jerk at the ropes which held Sondra. “Shake your arms,” she cried. “Shake hard! Get those ropes off before the fire reaches us!”

  Sondra pumped her hands frantically up and down, maneuvering as best she could with her arms pinned awkwardly behind her back. And then, all at once, she was free!

  She turned to Nancy, and in a few moments Nancy felt the ropes falling off her hands.

  “Sondra, work on your feet!” exclaimed Nancy. “I’ll get Ned’s hands!” Nancy crawled over to her boyfriend. In just a few more minutes the three teenagers were on their feet.

  Sondra stared dismally around the room. The puddles of chemicals were burning brightly. Here and there stacks of photos and paper had caught on fire. “Now what?” she said. Flames danced in front of the door.

  “Nancy,” Ned cried, “the only exit is blocked! This is a darkroom. There aren’t any windows.”

  “I’m not sure how we’re going to get out of here,” she said, “but I do know how we can stall for time!”

  Nancy ran to the sink and filled a plastic bucket. She dashed the water against one flaming wall. But by the time she’d refilled the bucket, the fire was raging once again.

  Suddenly Sondra sank to the floor in a dead faint.

  “It’s the smoke!” Nancy cried. “It can kill you faster than the flames themselves.”

  At that moment one of the walls collapsed in a shower of sparkling embers. Nancy could see something shining in the room beyond.

  “That’s it!” Nancy cried. “Look, Ned! It’s an escape route, made by the fire.”

  Ned looked at the flaming opening in the wall. “Uh, one small problem, Nancy,” he said. “I don’t see how we’re going to get through that hole alive!”

  “Start bailing, Nickerson,” Nancy ordered, tossing Ned a bucket. Together they dumped water on the fiery wall at a frantic pace. They managed to lessen the intensity of the flames, but not to put them out completely.

  “This is the best we’re going to do,” Nancy told Ned. “Get Sondra and yourself out of here!”

  “What about you, Nancy?”

  “I’ve got to find that tape with Yvonne’s confession. Without it, we’re just three careless teenagers in a darkroom, playing with chemicals we don’t know anything about. No jury in the world would take our word about this ‘accident’ against Yvonne’s, believe me.” Nancy gave her boyfriend a push. “Go on. I’m not intending to let myself go up in a puff of smoke!”

  Ned planted a kiss on Nancy’s soot-smudged cheek. “I love you,” he said. Then he picked Sondra up and ran with her across the charred floor. Soon he and Sondra had disappeared through the glowing wall.

  Meanwhile, Nancy was scouring the worktable for the tape. When she saw it, it was inches away from the fire, about to turn into a burnt memory itself. She grabbed it. If the heat hadn’t damaged it too much, it meant she had Yvonne right where she wanted her, and ready for a good long jail term.

  Nancy turned back to her escape route. She took a deep breath. Then, braving the flames that still licked at the charred hole, she scrambled through.

  As Nancy emerged from the flaming darkroom, Ned ran to her and hugged her to him. “Thank heavens you’re safe,” he said, breathing heavily. “I’ve already called the fire department. Oh, Nancy, I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you!”

  All at once the tension and terror of the past few hours hit Nancy. She felt weak. All she wanted was a pair of strong arms around her, holding her. The anger and pain she’d been holding inside for the last few days dissolved into nothing. She sank gratefully against Ned’s chest. “It’s over,” she said at last. Then she pulled away, looking frantically around the room. “Is Sondra all right?”

  “She’s fine,” Ned whispered. “We’re all fine, thanks to you.”

  Nancy smiled into Ned’s dark, tender eyes.

  “Thank you, too, Ned. You kept a cool head in there.” She sighed. “Um, Ned, I’d love to stay with you like this, but the office is on fire, you know.”

  Ned laughed. “I think maybe we’d better get out of here.”

  “I think maybe you’re right!”

>   The two teenagers hurried out of the office, their arms wrapped around each other tenderly. They found Sondra in the lobby, waiting nervously by the elevators. As they stepped into the cool Chicago evening, they heard the musical wail of fire engines.

  Chapter

  Eighteen

  MMM,” NANCY PURRED with satisfaction as she soaked up the rays of the early spring sun. “There’s nothing like a long weekend at the beach.” She smiled happily and gazed across the serene blue waters of Fox Lake.

  Ned laughed and reached out to squeeze Nancy’s hand. “You know, that whole ridiculous fight never would have happened if you’d only been this enthusiastic about the vacation from the beginning!”

  “What can I say?” Nancy asked. “I’m a workaholic when it comes to solving mysteries. I know it’s a little crazy, but, as the saying goes, either love me or leave me.”

  Ned inched closer to Nancy and slipped his arm around her shoulders. “No way! Now that I’ve got you back, I’m hanging on to you. Even if I have to put up with your obsession with detective work.”

  Nancy laughed. She knew it was partly her passion for adventure and her desire to pursue a challenge that made Ned love her, in spite of the difficulties.

  Ned stared seriously into Nancy’s eyes. “I swear,” he said, “leaving you behind in that burning darkroom was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life!”

  “Harder than being tackled by those huge defensive linemen from Notre Dame during that last game?” Nancy teased.

  “Much!” Ned said seriously, then added, “I always knew I loved you, Nancy, but now I really know how much.”

  “Well, I certainly learned my lesson,” Nancy said. “If I want you to understand how much I love you, I’ve got to show it.” She leaned over and brushed her lips lightly against Ned’s. “Like this,” she said softly. “And there’s no time like the present to start.”

  Ned laughed. “Hey, make sure my parents don’t see us. They’ll get embarrassed.”

  Nancy giggled. “I will, too.”

  “Anyway,” Ned said, returning Nancy’s kiss, “I’m just glad we’re finally here together and that everything’s back to normal at Flash—or back to whatever passes for normal there.” He stared up at the high blue sky.

  “Yeah, they are kind of a crazy bunch,” Nancy agreed. “But you know, I actually ended up getting kind of fond of them.”

  “Yeah, me, too,” Ned said, lazily rubbing his hand up and down Nancy’s arm.

  “I’ll say!” Nancy exclaimed. “You got a little carried away with one of them.”

  “Oh no, we don’t have to go through the thing about Sondra again, do we?” Ned asked with a laugh. “I told you, we only kissed each other once.”

  “And that was one time too many! What was it like, anyway?”

  “Weird, actually,” Ned said, “to be kissing anyone other than you.”

  “Did she kiss better than I do?” Nancy asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Ned teased. “Pucker up and I’ll do a comparison test.”

  Nancy laughed and pulled Ned into a playful embrace, meeting his tender lips with her own. It felt good to be close to him, sharing jokes and sharing love. She’d missed that so much over the past two weeks.

  Finally, the couple broke apart. “You’re better,” Ned told Nancy. “Much better!”

  “Smart answer, Ned,” Nancy teased. She really couldn’t be too mad at Ned about Sondra. Nothing much had happened, as it turned out. She figured that both she and Ned had learned a lot from the experience. For one thing, they had learned how much they belonged together. And for another, they’d learned that even though a little fling wasn’t the most horrible thing in the world, it was best kept short and sweet.

  “So what do you think will happen to all those people over at Flash?” Ned asked. He ran his hand gently through Nancy’s silky hair.

  “Well, I figure that Yvonne will get a good long jail sentence. After all, she did try to kill Mick at the Maggie Awards, and there were several thousand witnesses, plus nationwide television coverage!”

  “I’ve got to hand it to Yvonne—when she does something, she does it in a big way.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s Yvonne. She likes to make a splash,” Nancy commented. “She’ll probably have half the prison eating out of her hand by her second week there. Of course, she’s blown her career. She’s going to have to sell her part of Flash to Mick, and I’m sure no one will ever hire her again.”

  “But she’ll have plenty of time to write while she’s in jail,” Ned said thoughtfully, “which is what she really enjoyed doing anyway.”

  “And the market for true crime stories is getting bigger and bigger,” Nancy said with a smile. “I can just see her writing a best seller called I Made a Killing in the Magazine Business.”

  “Well, she certainly has an imagination,” Ned agreed. “It’ll probably be a great book!”

  “Anyway, I’m glad Mick’s going to get the chance to run Flash his own way. He’s already given MediaCorp a definite buzz-off signal and he told me he’s going to try and make the magazine a more pleasant place to work.”

  “Getting rid of Yvonne will do wonders as far as that’s concerned,” Ned commented.

  “And I hear that David sent in his resignation,” Nancy told Ned. “I think he was just working at Flash because Yvonne was there.”

  “Yeah,” Ned agreed. “He may have acted like a big slug around everyone else, but I think he actually loved Yvonne!”

  “It must have been terrible for him to find out she was only interested in him for his connections with MediaCorp,” Nancy said.

  “Is he going back to the Law Review?” Ned asked.

  “Yup. It’s a good job. And Mick will get an editor in chief who’s easier to work with. He deserves that. He’s dedicated to Flash, and he’s got a lot of creative ideas. With the Maggie award behind him, he’s going to be a fabulous success.”

  “Creative ideas, huh?” Ned said. “For instance, a cover story on America’s hottest girl detective?”

  Nancy sighed, drawing patterns in the sand with her foot. “That’s my one regret—that I had to turn down the article Mick wanted to do about me. But if I’d accepted, half the country would have found out who I was. It would have made it impossible to find a believable cover for any future cases.”

  “Right,” Ned said. “Fame and sleuthing mix like oil and vinegar. Or like Mick and Yvonne!”

  “Anyhow,” Nancy continued, resting her head on Ned’s shoulder, “I wasn’t about to blow my whole career as a detective for one week in the spotlight.”

  She and Ned sat silently for a moment, absorbing the peace of the lake and the warmth of each other’s company. The trees around the glistening water swayed in the kiss-soft breeze.

  “Anyway, I went back to Flash after it was all over, and things had already changed,” Nancy commented. “Suddenly everyone was crazy about me.”

  “I’m sure it felt good to straighten things out with the Flash staff, right?”

  “Sure,” Nancy said, smiling happily at Ned. “Lots of those guys were really nice. I guess I can’t blame them for being suspicious of me.”

  “I hear the damage to the offices wasn’t too bad,” Ned said.

  “Yeah, only the darkroom and one wall of Mick’s office were badly damaged. Once they air the place out, make a few repairs, and find a new editor, Flash is going to be better than ever.”

  “That’s good,” Ned said, sliding his arm around Nancy’s waist.

  “Hey,” Nancy said suddenly, “you know, I’m supposed to meet Sondra for dinner next Wednesday. She’s taking me to her favorite Italian restaurant.”

  “You’re kidding!” Ned exclaimed. “I thought she made you want to commit murder every time you saw her!”

  Nancy laughed. “I guess she did at first, but it didn’t have anything to do with Sondra herself. Now that I know a little more about her, I think we’re going to be friends. At the beginning, I was just jea
lous.”

  “Then you admit it!”

  “Sure,” Nancy said. “And I’m not proud of it. But I think I have that under control now. Being stuck in that burning room with her definitely brought us closer. She was pretty brave, and I have to respect her for that. I mean, most people would have flipped out in that situation.”

  “Except for you,” Ned pointed out.

  “Yeah, but I’ve been stuck in dangerous places before,” Nancy said with a giggle, “so I’ve had some practice.”

  Ned slipped his other arm around her and gave her a gentle hug. “Well, try not to do too much more practicing. I love you. I don’t want you getting hurt, or even cutting it as close as you did in that darkroom.” He kissed her on each cheek before finding her lips.

  “Okay,” Nancy murmured, “I’ll try to stay out of trouble, because I love you, too, Ned.”

  But the young detective had crossed her fingers behind her boyfriend’s back. I’ll try, she thought, until the next mystery comes along.

  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.

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