Lost in the Everglades

  that guy might have been? If it was a guy, that is. I'm

  not a hundred percent sure.”

  Susan shook her head. “No idea. I didn't see him.

  Did you catch his hair color or anything like that?”

  “No,” Nancy said. “Whoever he was, he was listening

  in on our conversation about Jade.”

  “That is so spooky,” Bess said, shuddering. “I

  wonder why he's interested in Jade?”

  “Kidnappers, eavesdroppers—this could be intense,”

  George remarked.

  “I don't know why the guy was so interested in what

  we had to say about Jade. But if he eavesdrops on us

  again, I plan to find out,” Nancy said firmly.

  Then she remembered the silver key chain. She held

  it up in the air. “Susan, do you recognize this, by any

  chance?”

  Susan stared at the key chain and frowned. “No. It's

  not mine, anyway.”

  “What's up with the weird shape?” Bess asked,

  pointing to the top part of the key chain. “It looks like a

  lightning bolt.”

  “Kind of looks like a country,” George observed. “Or

  maybe a state.”

  “A state!” Nancy turned the key chain over in the

  palm of her hand. “George, you're brilliant! This is the

  state of California, and”—she paused and turned to

  Susan—“and Jade is from California, right?”

  Susan gasped. “Right.” She grabbed the key chain

  from Nancy. Then she pulled a key out of her pocket

  and held it up against the muddy key.

  “This is the key to our room,” Susan announced.

  “Which means that this is definitely Jade's key chain.

  Whoever was eavesdropping on us had Jade's room

  key.”

  “Could it have been Jade herself?” Nancy asked

  Susan.

  Susan's eyes widened. “You mean—you think Jade

  might have dropped it? But why would she eavesdrop

  on us? If she's alive, why wouldn't she let us all know?”

  “This is getting way, way too weird,” Bess said with a

  shudder.

  Early morning sun streamed through the gauzy

  curtains and flooded the cabin bedroom with light.

  Nancy stirred and rubbed her eyes. She blinked

  sleepily at the travel alarm clock on her nightstand.

  “What time is it?” George mumbled from her bed,

  which was across the room.

  “Ten after seven,” Nancy replied.

  Bess, whose bed was right next to George's, pulled

  her covers over her head. “Way too early,” came her

  muffled voice. “Going back to sleep now. G'night.”

  Nancy smiled. Typical Bess, she thought.

  Nancy propped a couple of pillows behind her back

  and sat up. She stretched lazily. Despite the fact that

  she was in a strange place, she had slept well.

  The cabin was simple but comfortable. It was ca-

  sually furnished, with the three beds and a table and

  chairs and a couple of old lamps. The only decorations

  were a copy of an eighteenth-century map of the

  Everglades and a framed photo of a manatee, which

  looked like a cross between a hippopotamus and a

  whale. There was a small living room off the bedroom.

  Susan had arranged for the three girls to stay in the

  cabin. It was convenient, because the dorm was just

  fifty feet away.

  Nancy noticed just then that there was a broom

  propped up against Bess's nightstand. “Um, Bess?

  What's up with the broom?”

  Bess's blond head popped out from beneath the

  covers. “Isn't it obvious? To protect us from alligators.

  In case one gets into our cabin.”

  George chuckled. “The alligators would have had to

  knock first, Miss Scaredy-cat. Our door was locked.”

  “Better safe than sorry,” Bess explained. She re-

  arranged her pillows, then nestled deeper under her

  covers. “Anyway, I'm going back to sleep. I don't know

  about you guys, but I couldn't sleep last night. It was so

  loud outside, with all those animals and bugs making all

  that racket. Plus, it was hard to relax knowing that. . .

  that weirdo eavesdropper was out there somewhere. I

  mean, what if he's the one who kidnapped Susan's

  friend Jade?”

  “If Jade was kidnapped,” Nancy reminded her. “We

  don't know for sure yet.”

  “Or what if it was Jade herself?” Bess added. “In a

  way, that's even weirder.”

  George sat up in her bed. “I just thought of

  something. Did you say ten after seven, Nancy? Didn't

  we tell Susan we'd meet her at seven-thirty?”

  “Oh my gosh, yes!” Nancy exclaimed. “Come on,

  Bess, get up. We've got to meet Susan for breakfast in

  twenty minutes.”

  “Did someone say breakfast?” Bess flung her covers

  off and jumped out of bed. “Last one dressed is a

  rotten egg!”

  The cafeteria was crowded with park employees and

  volunteers eating breakfast. As Nancy, Bess, and

  George walked in, they were greeted by the delicious

  aroma of coffee, eggs, and bacon.

  Nancy had dressed quickly in denim cutoffs and a

  pink T-shirt. Bess had put on white shorts and a yellow

  top, and George was wearing khaki shorts and a red

  tank top.

  The three girls went through the line, piling their

  trays with granola, yogurt, muffins, and fresh fruit.

  Nancy noticed the same thing happening that had

  happened at dinner the night before. George got a lot

  of curious stares from the park employees and

  volunteers. Obviously, people noticed the resemblance

  between her and Jade Romero.

  They found Susan sitting at one of the tables by the

  window, working on a plate of French toast and fresh

  mango slices. The window overlooked the bay, which

  was dotted with sailboats and fishing boats. Susan was

  dressed in her park volunteer outfit.

  “Hey, good morning,” Susan called out. “Did you

  guys sleep well?”

  “Some of us did,” Nancy said, grinning at Bess. “And

  you?”

  “Like a rock,” Susan replied. “I've been working

  super-hard lately. Plus, I've been training for a

  triathlon. So getting to sleep at night is no problem for

  me!”

  Nancy and her friends set down their trays on the

  table and sat down. Nancy took a sip of orange juice,

  then said, “Susan, about Jade's disappearance. How do

  you want us to go about getting to the bottom of it?”

  “I'm all tapped out of ideas,” Susan admitted. “What

  do you think we should do, Nancy?”

  “Maybe we could start out by talking to other park

  volunteers who worked with her,” Nancy suggested.

  “And how about her friends? Did she have any here,

  besides you?”

  “Not too many,” Susan replied. “Jade was kind of

  shy, she kind of kept to herself. There was one guy,

  though.”

  Susan glanced around the room, looking for

  someone. After a minute she said, “There he is! Jade's

  boyfriend. Or he was,
whatever. Let me introduce

  you.”

  Susan waved to a dark-haired guy who was just

  getting up from a table across the room. She gestured

  for him to come over.

  While the guy was walking over, Susan leaned across

  the table and whispered, “I was thinking, Nancy. About

  that key chain. I can't believe it was Jade who was

  eavesdropping on us. That just doesn't make sense.”

  “If it wasn't Jade, it was someone who had her key,”

  Nancy pointed out. “And either she gave it to the

  person or the person stole it from her.” She added,

  “Still, we can't rule out the fact that she may have

  dropped it, either last night or at some other time.

  Maybe even before she disappeared.”

  “Hey, did you want me?”

  Nancy glanced up. The guy Susan had called over

  was standing at their table. Nancy saw that he was

  really cute, with curly dark brown hair and blue eyes.

  He was dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt.

  He glanced at Nancy and Bess, then his gaze

  stopped at George. His jaw dropped. “I—I don't

  understand,” he stammered. “Susan, is this some kind

  of a joke? Because if it is, I don't appreciate it.”

  “I know, the resemblance is uncanny, isn't it?” Susan

  said to him, smiling softly. “Obviously it's not Jade,

  though. It's my friend George Fayne. And this is Nancy

  Drew and Bess Marvin. They're visiting from up

  north.”

  “Wow” was all the guy could manage, still staring at

  George.

  “Girls, this is Griffin Carey. He's a fellow park

  volunteer, and he's training to be a ranger.” Susan

  turned to Griffin. “Nancy and her friends are going to

  help me—help us—try to find Jade. Nancy has a lot of

  experience solving mysteries.”

  Before Griffin had a chance to respond, Nancy said,

  “You might be able to answer some questions for us,

  Griffin.”

  Griffin frowned. “Questions? About what?”

  “About Jade,” Nancy explained. “Like, how was she

  acting around the time she disappeared?”

  “D-disappeared?” Griffin repeated dumbly.

  “Do you have any idea what might have happened to

  her?” George spoke up.

  “Nancy's a super detective,” Bess said with a smile.

  “If anyone can find Jade, it's her!”

  Griffin's face began turning red. He clenched his

  hands into fists. “I can't believe you're asking these

  questions!” he exploded all of a sudden. “Jade is dead.

  She didn't disappear,' she's D-E-A-D, dead. Let her

  rest in peace and drop your crazy investigation!”

  4. A Strange Clue

  “Did you hear me? I said, drop your crazy investiga-

  tion!” Griffin repeated.

  Nancy stared at Griffin. He was furious, acting as if

  he was going to start throwing things.

  Nancy was really taken aback. Why had he reacted

  this way? she wondered. She would have thought that

  Griffin would be happy to have the case “reopened,” so

  to speak.

  Bess smiled nervously at Griffin. “I think you've got

  us all wrong. We're trying to help.”

  Griffin whirled around and glared at her. Nancy

  decided that asking him more questions about Jade

  would not be a good idea, at least for the moment.

  “Look, Griffin. I'm sorry, we didn't mean to upset

  you—” Nancy began.

  Then Griffin seemed to come out of it. He shook his

  head quickly and even managed a sheepish smile. “I'm

  sorry; it's my fault. I didn't mean to take it out on you.”

  “It's my fault, Griffin. I should have explained

  sooner. See, I invited Nancy and her friends to come

  down here. I was hoping they'd help me look for Jade,”

  Susan said.

  Griffin glanced at her. Then he turned to Nancy.

  “No, really, I shouldn't have reacted like that. It's just

  that . . . well, since Jade died . . . I haven't been myself.

  I don't know if Susan mentioned it to you, but Jade was

  my girlfriend.”

  “You don't have to answer this question. But why are

  you so sure she died?” Nancy asked him.

  Griffin's smile disappeared. His eyes filled with

  tears. He brushed them away with the back of his

  hand. “Some people are saying she ran away and didn't

  want anyone to find her. That's totally wrong. She had

  absolutely no reason to run away—none. She was

  happy here, she was happy with her life.”

  “Then what do you think happened to her?” Nancy

  asked him gently.

  “What happened was, she went backcountry

  camping alone,” Griffin replied. “Not the smartest

  move in the world, I'll grant you, but she had a mind of

  her own, and you couldn't talk her out of something

  once she'd decided on it. And while she was camping,

  she must have—something terrible must have

  happened to her. The Wilderness Waterway is very

  tough canoeing. And it's full of stingrays, sharks,

  alligators.”

  He turned his head away and dabbed at his eyes

  again. He clearly couldn't go on talking about Jade.

  Bess's eyes filled with tears, too. “That is so awful,”

  she murmured, sniffling. She broke a cranberry muffin

  in half and started munching on it. “So awful. Griffin,

  you must be totally heartbroken. Here, have a muffin.”

  She extended the other half of the cranberry muffin to

  him.

  Griffin shook his head. “No, thanks. But you're right,

  Bess, I feel totally heartbroken. Which is why I lost my

  temper a minute ago. I really, really apologize.”

  Griffin fixed his eyes on Nancy. “Still, I meant what

  I said. You should drop this investigation. You need to

  let Jade rest in peace, and you can't put the people who

  cared about her through more pain and heartache.”

  “Do you think Griffin is hiding something?” Nancy

  asked Susan.

  It was after breakfast, and the four girls were taking

  a walk along Florida Bay. They were on a wooden

  boardwalk that was bordered on one side by massive

  mangrove trees. Sunlight shimmered on the water, and

  dozens of fishing boats dotted the horizon. Seagulls,

  pelicans, and great blue herons swooped through the

  air and dove into the briny waves, doing some fishing

  of their own.

  “Hiding something? Nancy, he's grieving for his lost

  love!” Bess protested.

  Susan adjusted her green baseball cap and frowned

  at Nancy. “I'm not sure I understand your question.

  You mean, about Jade? Why would Griffin hide

  anything about Jade?”

  “Did the two of them get along?” Nancy asked

  Susan. “Did they fight a lot? Was she planning to break

  up with him or anything?”

  George stared at Nancy. “Are you thinking Griffin

  might have had something to do with her disap-

  pearance, Nancy?”

  Nancy shrugged. “Anytime anyone starts telling me

  to drop the investigation,' I get a l
ittle suspicious.

  That's all.”

  Susan looked thoughtful. “Jade and Griffin got along

  fine. They'd been dating for six months, something like

  that. I think she was planning to invite him to go to

  California with her, to meet her parents. So it was

  pretty serious.”

  She added, “I don't know, Nancy. From what I can

  tell, Griffin is a nice guy. I can't believe he had

  anything to do with what happened to Jade.”

  The four girls continued down the boardwalk. They

  passed a park ranger leading a group of high school

  students on a walking tour. “Male alligators can grow to

  sixteen feet in length,” she was saying to the students.

  “Just what I needed to hear,” Bess muttered to

  Nancy

  Nancy smiled, but her mind was on Jade. She tried

  to sort out her thoughts about Griffin. It was weird that

  he had insisted that the investigation be dropped—on

  the other hand, Nancy had no reason to think that he

  was guilty of foul play.

  As they walked, Susan pointed out various trees and

  plants, like mahoganies, bromeliads, and orchids.

  “See that tree over there?” Susan said, pointing to a

  short, slender tree. “That's a gumbo-limbo. The

  nickname for it is the tourist tree, 'cause it has a red,

  peeling bark.”

  Bess frowned in confusion. “Huh? Run that by me

  again?”

  Susan laughed. “You know, like tourists who come to

  Florida and don't wear enough sunscreen and get real

  bad sunburns.”

  “Oh, I get it,” Bess said, nodding. “Well, in case

  anyone is wondering, this tourist brought lots of

  sunscreen. SPF fifteen, SPF thirty, SPF forty-five, you

  name it.”

  Just then Nancy noticed a nest of baby birds cradled

  in the branches of a red mangrove. “What kind of birds

  are those?” she asked Susan.

  “Ospreys.” Susan smiled wistfully. “It's sad. The

  Everglades used to have hundreds, even thousands of

  native species. Now, in part because of the shopping

  malls and housing complexes and other buildings that

  have gone up around the edges, the park has all sorts of

  terrible problems. We're losing birds, animals, fish,

  insects, and plants faster than we can count them. We

  have water management issues, pollution . . .”

  “You mean, cute little birds like that are becoming

  extinct?” Bess asked, staring at the osprey nest.

  “Not just birds but all sorts of other creatures, too,”