A week had passed since Alan Blount's arrest. A few days earlier, Caroline had been elected in a landslide. To celebrate, she had invited Nancy, Carson Drew, Hector, Kyle, Kyle's sister Mary, Bess, and Ned to an Italian restaurant.
"To Caroline!" everyone at the table cried, clinking glasses.
"I'm not officially mayor yet," Caroline reminded them with a laugh. "The inauguration is still two weeks away."
"But the hard part is over," Hector said, spearing a cherry tomato with his fork. "After all youVe been through, you deserve to celebrate,"
"It was a rough week on all of us," Caroline agreed- She took a piece of Italian bread and began buttering it. Glancing over at Ned, she said, "I'm especially glad that you came tonight, Ned. I know you believed in Patrick Gleason as a candidate. I respect that you stood by him, yet you didn't let your loyalty stand in the way when Nancy had to investigate him. That takes a lot of strength."
Nancy looked fondly at Ned. She was grateful to Caroline for acknowledging Ned's sticky role in her investigation.
I did want Gleason to win," Ned remarked. But that doesn't mean I don't think you'll be a good mayor. From what everyone tells me, you'll be terrific."
Caroline smiled. "Thank you, Ned."
"What's going to happen to your brother, Caroline?" Carson Drew asked.
Caroline smiled ruefully. "I decided not to press charges for blackmailing—I just couldn't do that to my own brother. But it's going to take a long time for me to trust him again."
"Still, he did go on the evening news to tell people that you were an innocent victim of Alan Blount's scheming," Bess put in. "That must count for something."
Caroline nodded. "It does. Wayne promised that he would volunteer in some community organizations, too, to try to make up for what he did. He also said he finally realized that he needs to take more responsibility to make life better for himself and his children. If he really means that, then we'll be able to become a lot closer."
"And hopefully he'll never let people like Alan Blount take advantage of him again," Bess added.
Caroline took a sip of water, then said, "Alan Blount won't be able to bother anyone for a good long time. I heard from the new D. A. that they're going to ask for twenty years when they prosecute him. And Mayor Filanowski told me that when he testifies in Blount's trial, he's going to tell the jury everything, regardless of how it reflects on him."
"Good for him," Ned said fiercely. "It's the least he could do."
Nancy let out a sigh. "I know what the mayor did was wrong, but I can't help feeling sorry for him," she said. "It took a lot of guts to go public, and he might end up in jail."
"I'm just glad that he decided to make a public announcement about his involvement with Alan Blount before the election," Nancy's father added. "And he's going to sell the condominium that Blount bought him and donate the money to the city. Maybe the court will realize that he's trying to make amends and go easy on him."
"What about Anna Dimitros and Steve Hill?'' Bess asked, wiping her mouth with her napkin.
"They must be disappointed that you weren't involved in that fake fencing ring," Kyle chimed in.
Caroline burst into laughter. Seeing everyone stare at her, she explained, "It just so happens that Anna Dimitros called me this afternoon and said that she wants to work with me."
"What?'' Nancy and Bess chorused.
Caroline nodded. "She said that when she and Steve saw the mayor and Wayne on the evening news, they realized they'd been all wrong about me. Originally, she was planning to write a 'tell-air book about me, but when she realized I'm not the power-hungry person she thought, Anna decided to scrap the book."
"All she told us," Nancy said, "was that it was a nonfiction book. I assumed it had something to do with her trial and imprisonment. So what's she going to do now?"
Caroline smiled. "Anna has a new project. She wants to help me write my autobiography. Can you believe it?" She shook her head and laughed. Pretty nervy, eh?" Speaking of nervy," Nancy said, "I found out from Brenda how she knew about my meeting with Mayor Filanowski last week."
"This should be good," Ned muttered.
Nancy smiled at him. "After Brenda found out that I had, in her words, 'stolen the greatest interview of her life,' she was ready to kill me. So she marched over to my house, but I had just left for Chicago with Ned. She gave Hannah some excuse about leaving something for me in my bedroom. I had saved the mayor's message on my machine, and she, being nosy, wanted to see if there was anything on my machine. She heard the mayor's message about meeting him on Summit Drive."
"Unbelievable,'' Hector said, shaking his head.
"Ahem!" Kyle cleared his throat. "I'd like to propose another toast," he declared.
Bess giggled. "Another one?"
"Yes," Kyle replied. "This time. Yd like to make a toast to Nancy and Carson Drew."
Nancy and her father looked at each other in surprise.
"To Mr. Drew," Kyle said, smiling at Nancy's father, "for hiring me at his law firm one week and then letting me take half the next week off."
"And then making you work overtime the next week!" Carson added with a laugh.
"True," Kyle agreed. "But if you hadn't let me work on Caroline Hill's campaign, I wouldn't have met Nancy. And that brings me to the second part of my toast. Here's to Nancy, who introduced me to Bess, the greatest girl I've ever met." He held up his glass with one hand and reached for Bess's hand with the other.
Bess turned bright red, but Nancy noticed how her blue eyes sparkled as she looked up at Kyle.
"Here here!" Caroline said, and everyone murmured their assent as they clinked glasses.
Watching Bess and Kyle gaze into each other's eyes, Nancy wondered if there was any girl on earth as happy as her friend was at that moment.
Not a chance! Nancy decided.
Carolyn Keene, 084 Choosing Sides
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