Dance Till You Die (12 page)

Nancy muttered to herself. She considered continuing her pursuit of Tom, then decided against it. She was beginning to worry about having left Bess and George back at the club. She turned around and drove back to the Edge.

It was almost midnight, and the Halloween party was beginning to wind down. Nancy found
Bess and George near the DJ's booth, talking to a couple of cute guys. She tapped Bess on the shoulder.

“I really hate to drag you away, but we need to talk,” Nancy said. “Let's go to the dressing room.”

After making sure they weren't being observed, Nancy led them through the lobby and down the tiled hallway to the dressing room. “What was Tom up to after he left?” Bess wanted to know.

Nancy shrugged. “I lost him in traffic, unfortunately. But if he's our man, I have a hunch he'll be back tonight at two
A.M.
But right now, frankly, I'm more suspicious of Lucas and Lonnie.”

“Lonnie? And Lucas the doorman?” George gasped. “What would be their angle on the kidnapping, and Etienne's death?”

“That's what I'm hoping to find out tonight,” Nancy replied.

“What should we do right now?” Bess asked.

“We need to hide out in the club somewhere until it closes,” Nancy said. “Etienne had a notation in his day planner that he was going to meet someone here at two
A.M.
I want to see who keeps that appointment.”

“What if no one shows?” George asked.

“I'm betting that someone will,” Nancy replied.

“This would be a good place to hide,” Bess said. “I don't think anyone ever comes in here.”

“Good idea,” Nancy said. The girls tucked themselves into various corners of the room, clicked off the light, and waited for two
A.M.
to roll around.

• • •

“I think I have to go to the bathroom,” Bess whispered plaintively. Pressing the light on her wristwatch, Nancy saw that it was one-twenty
A.M.

“Great timing, Bess,” George groaned.

The three friends had been hiding in the dressing room for almost two hours. Nancy's neck was beginning to get stiff and sore, and she longed to stretch her limbs. “Just a little while longer, Bess,” she whispered. “If no one shows up, we'll get out.”

The minutes felt as if they were stretching into hours. Nancy checked her watch again—it was two
A.M.
There wasn't a hint of a sound or movement anywhere.

A few more long, tense minutes passed. Just as Nancy began to think that her hunch was wrong,
they heard the sharp clang of metal crunching metal. The sound was coming from the room next door.

Running her hands along the connecting wall, Nancy groped around for the latched access window she'd seen earlier. She slid back the latch and opened the window a tiny crack.

Light flowed through the crack from the brightly lit room next door. Peering through the window, Nancy could see Lonnie Cavello and Lucas the doorman. The two men were fiddling with a valve on the water tank.

“Are you sure this is going to work, Lonnie?” Lucas was asking the club owner.

Lonnie shook his head impatiently. “Of course it's going to work,” he said, holding a wrench on the valve. “I've managed to damage the water tank's safety valve in a way that will look totally accidental. When enough pressure builds up in the tank later tonight, this place will blow like the Fourth of July.”

“And then you'll split the insurance money with me, right?” Lucas looked anxious.

“Of course, of course.” Lonnie waved an impatient hand at the doorman. “With Etienne out of the picture, there'll be plenty left to split.”

Nancy sat back, her heart thumping like mad. She tried to digest what she'd just overheard. The conversation between the two men made it perfectly clear—Lonnie and Lucas were getting ready to blow up the Razor's Edge for the insurance money!

G
EORGE AND
B
ESS
huddled around Nancy's shoulders, trying to figure out what was happening. “This sounds bad,” George whispered. “Can they possibly blow up the club like they say?”

“Yes, I'm afraid so,” Nancy replied.

“Oh, Nancy!” Bess's blue eyes went round with fear. “What'll we do?”

Nancy was thinking fast. “While they're busy working in the pump room, I think you two should get out of the club and contact the police. B.D. told me he'd keep extra patrol cars in the vicinity. I'll stay here and try to figure out what to do about Lonnie and Lucas.”

“Are you sure, Nan?” George asked anxiously.
“I don't like the idea of leaving you here by yourself.”

Nancy looked through the window crack again. Lucas had disappeared. “I'll be fine,” she said swiftly. “Hurry now, before Lonnie comes out. And watch out for Lucas. He's skulking somewhere around here.” George and Bess slipped silently from the dressing room.

Lonnie was absorbed in putting the finishing touches on the valve work. Those finishing touches, Nancy knew, would soon spark a massive explosion that would destroy the building they were standing in.

Nancy knew she didn't have much time. Worried that Bess and George might not locate the patrol car, she decided to risk leaving the dressing room to call B. D. Hawkins from Lonnie's office. She crept from the dressing room and tiptoed down the hall toward the lobby. She strode across the carpeted floor to Lonnie's office.

Nancy picked up the phone and dialed 911. When the police dispatcher answered, Nancy opened her mouth to report an emergency. Before she could utter a word, she felt a sharp blow across the back of her neck. Then everything went black!

• • •

When Nancy woke up, she felt rough ropes cutting into her wrists and ankles. She was lying on the floor of the dressing room next to Bess and George, who were also tied up.

“Nancy, I'm so glad to see you wake up.” George sounded relieved. “Bess and I were afraid they'd really injured you.”

Nancy shook her head to clear the bright spots that were swimming in front of her eyes. “What happened, George?” she asked weakly.

“Bess and I got delayed when we tried to get out of the club because there was a chain fastened to the front door,” George explained. “When we tried to sneak out the back exit, Lucas heard us.”

“Yeah, that big oaf.” Bess spat out the words. “When he brought us back to the dressing room, we saw you lying on the floor.”

“I was trying to get through to the police,” Nancy said, rubbing her head. “But I didn't get a chance to tell them what was going on.”

Lonnie Cavello, flanked by Lucas, entered the dressing room. “I see you're finally awake, Nancy,” he observed. Then he sighed. “It probably would have been easier if you had just stayed unconscious, when you consider what's in store for you.”

“What's in store for us, Lonnie?” Nancy asked boldly. “Blowing up your club?”

“With you in it, my dear.” Lonnie's words sent a chill creeping up Nancy's spine. She had no doubt that he meant what he said. There was an unsettling deadness of expression in his eyes.

Nancy knew she had to stall for time. “Are you blowing it up for the insurance money?” she asked. She cast covert glances about the room, looking for anything she might use to escape.

Lonnie caught her glance. “Forget it, Nancy. There's no way you're going to escape. You and your meddling friends will be the unfortunate victims of a tragic commercial accident. I'd be surprised if they even manage to identify your bodies.”

Nancy could hear Bess moan softly in the corner of the room. “How about Etienne?” she asked. “Was he an ‘unfortunate victim' as well?”

Lonnie's face twisted into a ghastly smile. “Etienne was not entirely innocent, as you might have guessed. He helped me devise this plan to blow up the club in a way that insurance investigators would not suspect as sabotage. He was pretty hard up for money, and he thought this would be an easy way to score some major cash.”

“Was he in on the plot to kidnap Bess, as well?” Nancy asked.

Lonnie nodded. “Bess stumbled into the room with the water heater and caught me talking with
Lucas about our plot, so I ordered Etienne to cut the power and Lucas to knock her out with some ether and take her to my house.”

“I had no idea what you were doing,” Bess said, shocked. “There was no need for anything like that.”

“I didn't want to take any chances, Bess,” Lonnie said. “But I realize now that I panicked unnecessarily on that one. While I was debating how to get rid of you, Etienne came over to my house and argued that you couldn't have seen anything and should be let go. I guess he had a change of heart when he realized someone might get hurt. I refused, but he came back and sneaked you out and let you go on his own.”

“So Etienne must have released Bess after he left George and me at the amusement park,” Nancy said. “That's why he was in such a hurry. He knew that George and I were heading back to the Razor's Edge, and he wanted to get there first, with Bess.”

“Exactly,” Lonnie said. “After that, Etienne started having second thoughts about our entire plan to blow up the club.”

“So you killed him.” George's voice rose with anger.

“I'm afraid so,” Lonnie said. “I took care of
him myself. Just like I'm going to get rid of the three of you.”

Nancy interrupted him. “What about after Bess was released,” she asked. “Was that you who tried to break into her house?”

“No, that was me!” Lucas admitted.

Lonnie nodded. “My loyal doorman felt so bad about letting Bess get away that he tried to fetch her back. Once again, however, you thwarted our plans, Nancy.”

Lonnie chuckled. “I admire your courage. It's truly a pity you have to die.”

Lonnie turned and left the dressing room, with Lucas dogging his heels. Nancy heard them get to work in the room next door. Then Lonnie stuck his head through the access window. “And in case you're wondering, Nancy, we've turned up the water pressure to maximum capacity. Enjoy your last thirty minutes.”

Half an hour! That didn't give them much time. Nancy heard Lonnie and Lucas leave. She wriggled and flopped her way across the floor until she reached the spot where George was lying. “George, do you still carry around your penknife key chain?” she asked.

“Sure do,” George replied. “It's in the back pocket of my jeans.”

“Swing around until your back is pressed against mine, George,” Nancy directed her. “I'm going to try to get the knife out.”

George twisted around until she and Nancy were sitting awkwardly back to back. Nancy put her hands into George's pocket, grasped the penknife, and gradually slid it out. She had to move slowly to avoid dropping the knife. Finally she pulled it free. “I'm going to put the knife in your hand and open it, George,” she explained. “Then I'll rub the rope against the blade until it breaks.”

George caught the knife in her hand and held it while Nancy pried it open with her fingernail. Then she put the knotted rope against the blade and started rubbing it back and forth. The rope began to fray.

“How much time do you think has passed?” Bess asked anxiously. “Lonnie said we had only thirty minutes.”

“Too much time, I'm afraid,” Nancy replied tensely. They could hear a gurgling sound coming from the room next door, followed by an even more ominous rumbling. Nancy doubled her efforts to cut the rope. She winced as the blade slipped at one point, cutting into her skin.

With a final push against the knife, the rope
suddenly fell apart. Nancy hurriedly untied her feet, then freed George and Bess.

The rumbling sound from the room next door had become a frightening, high-pitched squeal, as if thousands of pounds of water pressure were straining to rip loose.

“No time to try to stop it. Let's get out of here,” Nancy shouted. She, George, and Bess scrambled down the hall, through the lobby, across the dance floor and out the rear exit into the alley. Bess stumbled, skinning her knee. Nancy and George helped her to her feet, then they continued running to the end of the alley.

Now the rumbling sound could be heard outside too. Nancy glanced over her shoulder just in time to see a huge fireball rip through the building. The Edge was exploding!