Deep Secrets

  Chapter

  One

  NANCY HELP ME!” George Fayne’s voice was frantic.

  Nancy Drew sprang forward and skillfully caught a plate full of nachos that was slipping from her friend’s left hand. Then she surveyed the collection of snacks George was still balancing in her right hand. “Did you leave any food for the other guests?” she inquired with a dimpled smile.

  George returned the grin. “I left a little, but Gary took everything else. Look at him—he’s carrying three glasses of soda and two plates with only two hands. What a goof!”

  Nancy laughed. George’s boyfriend, Gary, was inching through the crowd toward the terrace, hunched protectively over the food and drink he had collected. He turned to look at them and grinned, then twirled gracefully to avoid a girl’s outflung hand.

  “What a move! He should be dancing at the institute,” Nancy joked. Her blue eyes twinkled as she moved forward to help Gary.

  “Whew!” Gary greeted the girls. “When Emily Terner throws a party, she really packs ’em in! The people never end—and there are more out by the pool and down on the beach. I managed to find you two again, but I had some hairy moments. Here, have some food, everyone.”

  “My hero.” George took the plates and glasses from him and set them down on a low table. Then, her dark eyes glowing, she planted a kiss on his lips. Nancy couldn’t help smiling in delight. George and Gary were very much in love, and she was thrilled for them.

  “A couple of the guys from Jetstream are here,” Gary told the girls after they ate. Jetstream was the airplane-manufacturing company Gary worked for—he was a test pilot. “They don’t know too many people, so I thought I’d introduce them around. Want to help out?”

  “I’ll pass,” Nancy replied. “I’m happy right here, just looking at the moon and ocean.”

  George and Gary moved away to join Gary’s pilot friends. Nancy leaned her elbows on the balcony of the terrace and let the gusty sea breeze ruffle her red-blond hair. What a gorgeous night!

  It was Thursday, and they were at Emily Terner’s palatial beach house, enjoying one of the last parties of the summer. A summer I’ll never forget, Nancy told herself with a wistful sigh.

  Nancy and George were staying with Nancy’s aunt in the Hamptons, a group of exclusive Long Island, New York, beach towns. Usually Eloise Drew spent the summer at her cabin in the Adirondacks, but this year she’d switched houses with a friend. When she had asked Nancy, George, and their other friend, George’s cousin Bess Marvin, to spend the summer with her, they’d jumped at the chance.

  The summer had been incredibly exciting. The girls had been on the go constantly and had even solved a couple of mysteries. In fact, George barely knew Gary Powell when he was falsely accused of stealing plans from Jetstream. It had taken all of Nancy’s skill as a detective to get to the bottom of that case.

  Of course, it hadn’t been all work and no play. The girls had also found time for quite a few beach parties, clambakes, boating trips, picnics, and nights at dance clubs. George had fallen in love with Gary, and Bess had found a serious boyfriend of her own, Tommy Gray.

  And Nancy had met Sasha Petrov.

  Nancy hadn’t been looking for romance when she arrived in the Hamptons. She already had a steady boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, back home in River Heights. But romance seemed to have found Nancy, in the shape of a handsome nineteen-year-old ballet dancer from the Soviet Union.

  Sasha was in the States to perform with an international dance company. Talented young dancers from all over the world had been invited to the Hamptons to take part in the two-month event. Sasha was one of the stars of the ensemble.

  Eloise Drew was Sasha’s official sponsor. That meant that Nancy and her friends often saw the dancer. Since they met, Sasha had been convinced that he and Nancy were meant to be together.

  Nancy had thought he was just flirting, that his constant attention didn’t mean anything, but Sasha had persisted. And these days, even though Ned was due to visit in less than a week, Nancy found her thoughts filled more and more often by a pair of intense blue eyes in a lean, high-cheekboned face. Sasha’s face.

  Am I really falling for him? Nancy wondered for the hundredth time. She picked up her glass and sipped, staring pensively out at the distant line of breakers glimmering in the moonlight.

  “Hey, Nancy! We’ve been looking for you!” a girl’s voice said. Nancy swiveled around to find Emily Terner. Emily’s pretty face was wreathed in a smile. She held the arm of a tall, good-looking stranger. The guy seemed familiar, but Nancy couldn’t place him.

  “Emily! Hi!” Nancy felt her face break into an answering smile. Emily’s perpetual high spirits were infectious.

  “Great outfit,” Emily said approvingly, taking in Nancy’s silky white tank top and full white skirt that swirled around her slim legs.

  “Thanks. Great party!” Nancy responded.

  “Well, you wouldn’t know it from the look on your face,” Emily scolded her. “What’s the matter—isn’t Sasha coming?”

  Nancy blushed. “He had a late rehearsal. I think he’ll be here soon,” she responded. “I was just . . .thinking.”

  “Well, stop thinking,” Emily said. “Start mingling. I want you to meet Jeff. Jeff, this is Nancy Drew, the detective I told you about.”

  “Oh, no, what did she say about me?” Nancy asked in mock horror.

  Jeff grinned. “Only nice things,” he assured her. “But I was already sold, even before Emily started singing your praises. I want to thank you. You got my mother out of a bad situation.”

  “Your mother?” Nancy was mystified.

  “Cynthia Gray,” Emily explained. “Jeff’s her other son.”

  “Oh!” Understanding dawned. Nancy had just solved a complicated case involving the art gallery Cynthia Gray owned. Among other things, the gallery manager had been cheating Cynthia out of large sums of money. Nancy had discovered the thefts and trapped the man into a confession.

  “Well, you’re welcome, I guess,” she said to Jeff. “I can’t take all the credit—I had a lot of help, and not the least of it from your brother, Tommy.”

  Nancy took a closer look at Jeff, then said, “No wonder you looked familiar—there’s a strong family resemblance. I’ve heard from Tommy that you’ve been working in Maine all summer. Oh, he’s dating my friend Bess, you know.”

  “I’ve heard, and I can’t wait to meet her. Tommy hasn’t talked about much else since I got home. I’ve never seen my little brother fall for a girl so hard,” Jeff told Nancy.

  “You should see the way Bess has fallen for Tommy,” Emily put in, laughing. “You couldn’t pry those two apart with a crowbar. Well, love is in the air these days. Right, Nancy?” She shook her thick honey-colored hair out of her face and gave Nancy a meaningful look.

  Nancy felt an uncomfortable stab of guilt. Had her attraction for Sasha become that obvious?

  An angry male voice broke in. “How would you know, Emily? You’re so busy bouncing from guy to guy, you don’t even have time to look around you.”

  Emily spun around. A muscular, black-haired boy with smoldering dark eyes stood behind her, glaring at her. Nancy recognized him—Keith Artin, Emily’s ex-boyfriend. From what she’d heard, the breakup hadn’t been Keith’s idea. Uh-oh, Nancy thought. Trouble.

  “Keith.” Emily’s voice was cold. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Nancy, Jeff, you remember Keith, don’t you?”

  “Good to see you again,” Jeff said, holding out his hand. Keith ignored it.

  “Remember me?” He sneered, still looking at Emily. “You were hoping everyone would just forget me as fast as you did? Uh-uh, Emily, I’m not going to fade away that easily. You owe me.”

  “Owe you what?” Emily asked, taking a st
ep forward. Her green eyes were beginning to flash with anger. Nancy tensed.

  “Keith, chill out,” Jeff said in a warning voice. He laid a hand on Keith’s arm.

  Keith shook Jeff’s hand aside. “Don’t touch me,” he snarled. Spinning on his heel, he stalked away and disappeared into the crowd.

  Nancy let out the breath she had been holding. “Well,” she said, “I’m not even going to ask what that was about.”

  Emily shook her head. The color was still high in her cheeks. “He thinks he owns me,” she said. “Dating him was like—I don’t know, like being a pedigreed dog, or an expensive car, or something. No, I take that back; he spent more time on his car than he did on me. Anyway, I think it really took him by surprise when I broke up with him. It was like his chair had just talked back to him.”

  “He seemed pretty mad,” Jeff noted.

  “Well, he’ll have to get over it,” Emily said firmly. “Let’s talk about something interesting. Like Roland Lyons and his condominium scam. Now, Nancy, don’t look bored. I know I’ve chewed your ear off about this, but it is important.”

  “I’m not bored,” Nancy protested with a grin. Emily had chewed everyone’s ear off about Lyons. “I agree with you. But I don’t think there’s anything you can do. Lyons is going to build those condos whether you like it or not.

  “Lyons is a real-estate developer from Montauk,” Nancy explained to Jeff, who was looking lost. “He managed to buy up a lot of land surrounding this town—I think they call it a green belt—and now he’s offering it to the community board in exchange for a strip of beachfront land. He wants to build condos. And Emily’s dad says the board is going to go for it. They vote Monday.”

  “Roland Lyons is a crook,” Emily burst out. “All he’s doing is lining his own pockets—and ruining the most beautiful beach on Long Island!” She stamped her foot. “Someone’s got to stop him.”

  “Emily, it’s not a crime to make money in real estate,” Nancy pointed out gently.

  “Then it should be,” Emily retorted. “And even if it’s not, I’m positive Lyons is doing something shady.”

  “Like what?” Jeff asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Emily said impatiently. “But he’s slime. He’s got to be up to something. Once I find out what, Lyons had better look out.”

  “Wow! Remind me not to get on your hit list,” Jeff teased. He grinned down at Emily, his hazel eyes crinkling at the corners.

  “Be good and I’ll cross you off.” Emily smiled back. It was a full-blast, thousand-watt smile, Nancy noted with amusement. Jeff didn’t have to worry. Emily liked him a lot!

  He looked dazzled. “Come on, let’s dance,” he said, grabbing Emily’s hand. “Excuse us, Nancy.”

  “Have fun.” Nancy laughed. Emily was right—romance really was in the air!

  She craned her neck, trying to find George or Bess in the crowd. Bess was nowhere in sight, but Nancy finally spotted George’s dark curls and crimson silk blouse down the terrace by another set of glass patio doors. She weaved her way through the crowd to join her friend and Gary.

  “Have you seen Bess?” George asked, greeting her.

  “I was about to ask you that,” Nancy replied. “I’ll bet she’s somewhere with Tommy.”

  “No doubt.” Gary grinned.

  “Hey, I saw you and Emily talking to Keith Artin,” George said. “I can’t believe Emily invited him tonight. I mean, they just broke up!”

  Nancy shrugged. “I’m not sure she did invite him. I think he just showed up.”

  George shook her head. “He never struck me as a very nice person,” she said. “Cute, yes, and charming sometimes, but kind of selfish. I—” She broke off as a sudden commotion erupted from the far end of the terrace. “What’s that?”

  “I don’t know.” Nancy frowned. She could hear two male voices shouting at each other. “We’d better go see.”

  Nancy led the way through the party crowd. Music was still playing, but no one was dancing anymore. Instead, everyone was staring at Keith Artin, who was being held by two big guys in football jerseys. Keith was panting.

  Across from him, Jeff Gray was sitting on the flagstone floor, rubbing his jaw. Emily knelt by him. She glared at Keith. “You jerk!” she cried.

  “Turn me loose,” Keith ordered the guys holding him. “Let go. I won’t hit him again.”

  The two boys released Keith’s arms. He walked over to Emily.

  “This is all your fault,” he said through clenched teeth. “But sooner or later you’ll get what you deserve!”

  Chapter

  Two

  THE MUSIC ENDED just at that moment, and there was a tense silence. Keith stalked across the side lawn to his red sports car and drove away. As Emily scrambled up and ran into the house, Nancy saw tears in her eyes.

  “Nancy!” A hand on her bare shoulder made Nancy turn around. Sasha stood beside her, his golden brown hair still damp from his afterrehearsal shower. “I just arrived. What has happened here?” he asked.

  “It’s complicated.” Nancy smiled at him. His hand on her shoulder felt good. “George, can you and Gary see if Jeff’s okay?” she asked her friend. “Come on, Sasha, let’s find Emily. She’s a little shaken up.”

  Nancy and Sasha weaved through the crowd of dancers. Someone had put on a tape, and the pounding bass rose above the hum of nervous chatter.

  They found Emily in the darkened den. She was standing by a glass slider at one end, gazing out at the night sea.

  “Emily?” Nancy said softly. “Are you all right?”

  She made no response other than a long indrawn breath. Then finally she said, “Yes, I guess so. I’m just steaming mad at Keith!”

  She stepped over and snapped on one of the lamps. Then she sat down on a leather sofa and gestured for them to join her. “Hi, Sasha,” she said with a wry smile. “Fun party, huh?”

  Sasha grinned. “It looked exciting to me,” he said. “I think people will be talking about it for a long time.”

  “What happened?” Nancy asked.

  “I don’t know.” Emily held up her hands. “Jeff and I were dancing, and all of a sudden Keith was there yelling at Jeff to keep his hands off me. Jeff told Keith to mind his own business, and Keith hit him.”

  “I didn’t know Keith was such a violent guy,” Nancy said, leaning forward.

  “He has a terrible temper,” Emily replied. “It was one of the things that made me break up with him. Once we had an argument—it was about Roland Lyons, in fact!—and he got so mad at me that he was practically foaming at the mouth.”

  “You had an argument about Roland Lyons?” Nancy was puzzled.

  Emily sighed. “Yes. Keith worked for Lyons last summer, and he thinks the man’s a financial genius—although how he could figure that out from mowing Lyons’s lawn, I don’t know. He thinks the beachfront development is a fantastic idea.”

  “Well,” Sasha said cautiously, “houses around here are very expensive. Roland Lyons will probably make a lot of money. If you look at it like that, it is a fantastic idea.” He shrugged his muscular shoulders.

  Emily glared at Sasha. Then she turned back to Nancy.

  “Look, I’m really fine,” she assured Nancy. “I just need a couple of minutes to calm down. Go on back to the party—have a good time. For Pete’s sake, I want someone to have fun!” She waved them out of the room.

  “Nancy, let’s walk on the beach,” Sasha said. He took Nancy’s hand and pulled her toward the terrace.

  Part of Nancy wanted to go with Sasha, but part of her hung back. “I should find George and see if Jeff is okay,” she said doubtfully.

  “Jeff? The one who was hit? He was fine,” Sasha said. “Come, walk with me. Tell me what I missed.” He tugged Nancy’s hand again.

  A walk couldn’t hurt, Nancy reasoned. It was such a beautiful evening . . . and Sasha’s eyes were so blue. . . .

  Ignoring the little pang of guilt, she smiled and followed Sasha down the terrace s
tairs to the beach.

  The night was glorious. Waves crashed and foamed at the water’s edge, and wind-whipped clouds raced across the sky, leaving ghostly shadow trails on the moonlit white sand. As they walked Nancy told Sasha about the events at the party, but after a while she noticed that he wasn’t paying much attention. He was just staring at her. She stopped.

  “Earth to Sasha,” she said. “Have you heard one word of this story?”

  Sasha gazed at her as if hypnotized. Then he reached out and gently smoothed a strand of red-gold hair off her brow. “You are so beautiful, Nancy,” he said softly. “In your white outfit, in the moonlight, you look like a statue. But I hope you will not be cold and hard like a statue with me.” His fingers trailed down her cheek.

  “Sasha—” Nancy closed her eyes for a second. Her pulse was pounding wildly. The touch of Sasha’s hand sent a thrill down her spine, reminding her of the moment a few nights earlier when he had kissed her and told her that he loved her.

  That had been their first kiss, and Nancy had told Sasha that it would be their last, too. She’d told him that he shouldn’t pursue her, but even as she was saying it, she knew she didn’t mean it. Sasha knew it, too. So what could she say now? How could she tell him to stop, when all she wanted was for him to kiss her again?

  Suddenly Ned Nickerson’s face swam before hers, his brown eyes full of hurt. I thought we could trust each other, he seemed to be saying. I thought you loved me.

  I do, Ned, I do! Nancy wanted to cry out. But you’re not here, and Sasha is, and—oh, why is everything so complicated?

  She opened her eyes again. “I don’t want to be cold to you, Sasha. I just don’t know what I want,” she told him, her voice trembling. “Give me time to figure it out.”

  “We do not have forever,” Sasha said.

  “Hey, you two, what are you doing out here?” came Bess Marvin’s voice. She and her boyfriend, Tommy Gray, were strolling toward Nancy and Sasha, arm in arm.

  “We were just on our way back to the party,” Nancy said, glad for the interruption.