Over the Edge

  Bess didn’t even shut her eyes when Nancy took the bends around the cliffs of the coast road at high speed. She was as eager as the other two to get there.

  “I just hope we’ve made it in time,” Nancy called out as she slammed the jeep to a halt in front of the main building several minutes later. Leaping out, she raced toward the front door.

  “Tell me,” she asked the girl at the front desk, “has the rock-climbing class left for Devil’s Rock?”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Drew.” The girl looked up casually from the romance novel she was reading. “But, yes, they’ve already left. But you’re not able to take that class, anyway. It’s advanced—”

  “You don’t understand,” Nancy broke in firmly. “And I don’t have time to explain. Just tell me, how long ago did they leave?”

  “Nancy, hi.” Gil’s voice reached her ears as she felt him touch her arm. From the tense set of Nancy’s face, he must have been able to tell something was wrong. “Marva?” he asked with slight dread. “Has something happened to her?”

  “Not yet—I hope,” Nancy replied, purposefully controlling her tone. “But we’ve got to hurry to prevent something from happening to her.” Taking his arm, she pulled him, running and filling him in at the same time.

  “And I think he intends to kill her at the same place where he murdered his partner,” she finished at the jeep. “Is there a way to get up there, other than the hiking trail? A way I could drive the jeep?”

  “I don’t know—” Gil scowled. “Yes, I do remember. There’s an old fire road that goes up the back of Devil’s Rock, but I don’t know what shape it’s in. It might be overgrown—” He stopped. “What are we waiting for? Let’s get going!”

  “You’d better stay and show the police how to find that fire road.” She pulled open the door and hopped in.

  Bess and George were sitting inside, waiting for her. Nancy turned the key and ground it into gear as Gil gave her directions. A few seconds later they spun out, heading for Devil’s Rock.

  Gil was right, she thought as she reached the fire road. There was barely any resemblance to a real road left—just the bare bones of one as it wound up the steep, rocky hill. Nancy shifted into first and kept her foot steady on the gas. The thick brush was hood-high in several places. Still, they were making better time than if they’d tried to catch up with the class on foot.

  They had nearly reached the top when George, who was leaning out the passenger side to guide Nancy, yelled a warning. “Watch out, Nancy. You’re about to hit—”

  Crunch! The sound of metal scraping and tearing was followed by silence as the jeep’s engine sputtered and died.

  “—a big rock,” George finished lamely.

  Nancy tried the ignition. Nothing. The jeep was out of commission. She paused long enough to consider the situation, then pulled on the hand brake and put the gearshift lever into first, so the jeep wouldn’t roll back down the road. Leaping out, she started at a run up the final stretch, George and Bess right behind her.

  The sight that greeted Nancy as she reached the top sent adrenaline shooting through her.

  Marva was about to rappel, or climb down, over the side of the cliff.

  “Marva, stop!” Nancy screamed as loud as she could. Half-running, half-flying, Nancy dove toward Marva, grabbing for her.

  She managed to get ahold of Marva’s hips and pull her back to the safety of solid ground.

  With a surprised grunt, Marva wrestled herself free from Nancy’s protective hold. “Nancy, what’s wrong? Have you gone crazy?”

  It was then that Nancy spotted the crucial instrument of Al’s plan. She saw that Marva’s carabiner—the metal ring used to hold her safety rope—had been filed nearly in two. If Marva had attempted to rappel down the face of Devil’s Rock, the carabiner would have snapped under her weight. Marva would have fallen to her death.

  Before she could point that out to Marva, Nancy saw Al rush at her. Hunt knocked Nancy to the ground hard. As she gasped for breath Nancy saw him slip a safety line around his waist. A second one hung around his neck.

  In front of Nancy’s horrified eyes, Al grabbed Marva. Before she had time to react, he pulled her rope off and slipped the second rope over Marva’s head and down to her waist, cinching it tight. Dragging the frightened Marva with him, he headed for the edge.

  “He’s going to kill her!” Bess yelled in terror.

  They watched, frozen, as the crazed man plunged headfirst over the face of Devil’s Rock, taking Marva with him.

  Chapter

  Sixteen

  WITH BESS’S SCREAM still echoing in her ears, Nancy pulled herself to her feet and rushed to the side of the cliff to look over.

  Seventy or eighty feet below her, she could see Marva struggling with Al Hunt. They were locked together on one of the wide rock ledges that formed the devil’s face.

  As she watched the two figures scuffling below her, Nancy knew what the desperate killer was considering next.

  Al Hunt had jerked Marva’s safety rope back over her head and was trying to wrestle the young woman to the edge. Nancy had to get down there before he succeeded in pushing Marva to her death.

  Nancy caught sight of the first safety rope that had been around Marva’s waist and now hung free. It was bouncing against the cliff face. The rope still had to be secured to something at the top, Nancy thought. Yes, there it was, anchored securely to a large, solid boulder. Maybe she could rappel down to Marva.

  Turning to the group of students who were now clustered at the edge watching the scene below with horrified fascination, Nancy took control. “Can someone show me how to use this rope to get down to that ledge?”

  At first no one answered. The ones who had heard her just stared at her as if she were crazy. A slender boy of about seventeen finally answered her. “Look, if you have to ask us, you don’t have any business trying to rappel down any cliff.”

  “Jerry’s right. You’d only kill yourself doing it,” a girl behind the boy spoke up.

  Just then, another boy—one of those who’d never taken their eyes off what was happening below—yelled out, “Did you see that? Old man Hunt has really flipped out. Someone’s got to save Ms. Phillips before she’s history.”

  Nancy was feeling desperate. I’ve got to do something, she said to herself. I can’t just stand here and let Marva die.

  “Maybe if someone ran for help,” the boy named Jerry suggested. “I could do it. I’m in track at school.”

  “There isn’t time for that,” Nancy blurted out. “We’ve got only seconds, at best.”

  “Nancy! Look!” A yell from George got her attention. “Up there!” George was pointing overhead. “Maybe that’s help.”

  Bending her head back, Nancy shielded her eyes to look up in the direction George was pointing. Not far above, one of the club’s hang gliders was circling the rock.

  “It’s Gil!” Bess said excitedly. “He’s come to rescue Marva.” She waved up at the hang-glider pilot. “Way to go, Gil!” she called.

  Nancy held her breath as she watched Gil expertly manipulate the glider. Nancy guessed what Gil had in mind. He was going to attempt a landing on the ledge!

  All the others were watching now, riveted to the colorful glider. A sudden flash of light from the ledge below made Nancy look down. With a sinking feeling of horror, she realized the flash had been the sun’s reflection off the barrel of a gun. A gun Al Hunt had leveled at Gil.

  Helplessly, Nancy watched as the killer fired once, then fired again. The first shot must have missed Gil. But the second one found its target. A small patch of red appeared on Gil’s right shoulder. Gil flinched, and his hands jerked on the control bar. The glider’s nose shot up too sharply, and it lost the lift—the crucial pressure of the wind under the sail—needed to keep it aloft. The sail began to flap dangerously.

  A girl beside Nancy screamed. “Ohhhh—no!” Gil’s body had sagged into his harness, his head drooping to one side. It looked as if he was losi
ng consciousness.

  “He’s going to crash,” Jerry said with a sharp intake of breath.

  Just as it seemed Gil was going to take a dive, a sudden gust of wind caught the underside of the huge sail, billowing it up. The glider evened out on its own. Another gust sent the glider toward the top of Devil’s Rock, in the direction of Nancy and the others.

  “Catch it!” Nancy yelled as she ran to the center of the ledge. They had to intercept the runaway glider—it was their only hope!

  Nancy’s action triggered Jerry and George to run with her. They caught up with the glider and its unconscious pilot as it was about to sail on past them. Jumping easily, they grabbed the glider’s frame and pulled it to them.

  Down below Marva had managed to wedge herself between a large boulder and the cliff face. Having lost all connection with reality, Al Hunt was rocking the boulder back and forth like a man possessed. Soon he would reach his prize.

  “Now what?” George asked as she helped her friend unhook Gil’s harness and ease the injured man to the ground. Bess knelt beside him, tearing away his shirt to examine the wound.

  “I guess it’s up to me now,” Nancy replied. “Gil did say I was a natural at this sport. It’s as good a time as any to find out if he was right.”

  “Nancy, no!” George implored. “Please don’t do this—you’ve never taken one up before. You could make a fatal mistake!”

  “I’ll try not to,” Nancy answered grimly. “Now help me turn this thing around so it’s facing the edge.”

  “But what about the harness?” George asked. “Don’t you need that? I’ll get it off Gil.”

  “There isn’t time,” Nancy said as she and George, with the help of the two boys, lifted the glider and turned it. “I don’t need the harness to fly. It’s only a fancy safety belt.” She gestured at the control bar—a triangular piece of aluminum tubing that was nearly five feet high at the center. “I’m going to stand on the base. I’ll use my feet to push it back and forth, instead of my hands.”

  “You’re crazy,” George told her simply. “But I guess nothing I say is going to stop you.”

  “Right,” Nancy said to her friend. “Wish me luck.” Hefting the glider, Nancy ran toward the edge of the cliff and jumped off, swinging her feet up onto the crossbar sail and sending her soaring out over the valley.

  Nancy had to crouch slightly because she was taller than the top of the tubular triangle. She used the weight of her body to bank the glider so she could head back toward the face of the huge rock.

  Peering down at the ledge, what she saw made her cringe inside. Al Hunt had now caught sight of her. His arm was raised, and he had her dead in his gunsight.

  Determined that she was not going to give him the chance to get off a good shot, Nancy went straight for the attack.

  Aiming the glider at the ledge, she pushed the nose down. Diving straight for the burly climbing instructor, she tried to make her body as small a target as possible by crouching very low.

  Marva, who had been momentarily forgotten by Hunt, saw her coming. As Hunt’s attention was drawn to Nancy, Marva kicked out at his gun. She managed to knock it from his hand, where it hit the ledge and slithered across the slick granite out of his reach.

  Good move, Marva, Nancy said to herself. Swiftly taking advantage of the situation, she raised herself up, then pushed the control bar forward as hard as she could. The glider’s nose lifted and went into stall.

  Its colorful sail flapping in protest, the glider descended, with a jolt, onto the ledge.

  But the ledge wasn’t wide enough for the glider, Nancy realized in horror. Slowly it began to inch backward, Nancy with it. Both would plunge to the valley floor, hundreds of feet below.

  Bending her knees, Nancy sprung forward, as the glider began its final dizzy descent, and landed almost directly on top of the astonished Hunt. Before he could recover his balance, Nancy aimed a high karate kick at his jaw. Hunt went over backward, striking his head against a boulder. He lay still, his eyes closed.

  “Is he—” Marva asked, slipping out of her hiding place.

  “Dead?” Nancy bent over the man, feeling for his pulse at the base of his jaw. She looked up at Marva. “Just out cold. He’ll be around to stand trial.”

  “Oh, Nancy!” Marva shuddered a sigh of relief. “I don’t even know how to begin to thank you. You saved my life.”

  “Well, I can think of one way,” Nancy replied with a glance at Al Hunt. “Help figure out how to get us down from here before he comes to.”

  Then Nancy heard a very welcome sound. Police sirens were echoing off the mountains around them. They really would be safe now.

  Chapter

  Seventeen

  THAT WAS a pretty foolish thing you pulled, miss,” the young detective said to Nancy. But his eyes expressed his admiration. “I don’t think I’d be ready to launch myself into space—with only one lesson, you said?”

  “I’m sure you do more dangerous things than that all the time,” Nancy replied graciously. “I’m glad it’s over.”

  “So am I.” Marva breathed happily. “I’m happy to be down and away from that man.” Her glance took in Al Hunt as he was being led away. “This time I hope he’s locked up for good.”

  Hunt halted and turned to face the girls when he heard Marva talking about him. His eyes were unfocused and wild looking. Nancy thought to herself, the man really is crazy—just as Bess had suggested the criminal behind these terrible acts must be.

  “If it wasn’t for you, Miss Private Snoop,” Hunt spat, “no one would have guessed it was me who was sending those death threats—and setting up all those nice little accidents.” His face cracked in an evil grin. “I should have hung you up with the frozen meat when I had the chance.”

  “How—how could you have pretended to be my friend when all the time you hated me?” Marva asked, bewildered by the change in the man she had considered almost as close as a real uncle.

  “Easy.” The mirthless grin was replaced by a snarl. “It was because I did hate you so much, and still do. You were a horrible little brat who sent me away to rot in jail.” His eyes narrowed into slits. “But it gave me a lot of time to think up my revenge. And I almost succeeded this time—next time . . .”

  “Come on, you!” The officer pulled on Hunt’s arm. “You’ve done enough to this lady. You can shut up now.”

  As Marva and Nancy watched, the man who’d brought terror to Club High Adventure was led to a waiting squad car.

  • • •

  “You know, I still can’t put the two men together in my mind,” Marva said later that evening when they had all gathered in the lounge to discuss the case. “I can’t believe that the awful man at the trial when I was a little girl is the same man I knew and counted on as a friend for the past three years since my dad died.”

  “That was the whole idea,” Nancy said. She stretched her arms and legs, feeling relaxed now that the case was closed. “The death threats and accidents to the other guests were only meant to confuse things so no one would suspect you were the intended victim. I can’t say for certain, but I don’t think he honestly meant for the accidents to the guests to be deadly.”

  “How about Quinn?” George asked. “I mean, sure, we heard that he came out of his coma this afternoon. But he could have just as easily died.”

  “I still think that trap was meant for Marva,” Nancy replied. “That trail’s not for lone guests. He shouldn’t have been there at all. So it was a matter of his being in the wrong place at the right time.”

  “And poor Lisa,” Bess commented. “She’s such a mixed-up kid. It probably didn’t help that we all thought she sabotaged her own glider.”

  “Well, I believe she’s going to be fine,” Marva said, surprising them with her confident tone. “We had a little talk. She admitted that her father’s sending her here was a good idea. I think it’s helping her get over that boyfriend. And she’s ready to go back and try to work things out with her fathe
r.”

  “Oh, I’m glad about that,” Bess said. “I really like her.”

  “You know, it’s funny,” Marva mused. “I kept thinking that it was someone who was trying to ruin me so I’d sell the club.”

  Gil, who was sitting beside her, his arm in a sling to protect his injured shoulder, looked guilty when Marva said that. “I’m really sorry I ever tried to convince you to sell,” he said. “I know you love the club. And I’ll remember that from now on. I promise.”

  “I admit that’s what threw me off at first,” Nancy said. “I thought it was someone trying to scare you into selling as well. I was positive that was the motive. It was only after we found that partially burned photo that I realized I’d been on the wrong track all along. That’s when I decided the motive was personal.”

  “And since the photo was found in Al Hunt’s cabin . . .” George shrugged expressively.

  “It had to be him,” Bess finished.

  “Well, I’m just glad the club’s reputation is safe now,” Marva said happily, and snuggled up closer to Gil.

  “Yeah,” Gil said, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m glad, too. After everything that happened this afternoon, I realized I’ve come to think of the club as home. I just might even end up loving it as much as Marva.”

  “Well, you’d better,” Marva said jokingly, and kissed Gil back. “After all, we’re going to be spending the rest of our lives here.” She turned to Nancy. “Gil mentioned this afternoon that it would be nice if we ran it as a married couple. So I’ll be exchanging this engagement ring for a wedding band. And he’ll be exchanging all his other girls for just one—me.”

  “Marva, how wonderful,” Bess exclaimed. “When?”

  “Soon,” Gil said. “The sooner, the better.” He squeezed Marva’s hand. “Then we’re going on a nice long honeymoon. I think we could do with a vacation.”

  “Oh, that’s funny.” Bess giggled. “A vacation from a vacation resort.”