Strangers on a Train (12 page)

CHAPTER TEN

New Connections

ACTING ON INSTINCT, I LUNGED FOR COVER
behind the shed as another gunshot exploded out of the woods. Leaping across the clearing and into the trees, I ran for my life.

My breath came in ragged gasps, making it hard to hear whether anyone was following me. But no more shots came. Finally I dared to slow to a jog and glanced up at the moon, trying to gauge which direction I needed to go to return to the lodge. I made my best guess and circled around that way, hoping I wasn't too far off. If I went the wrong way, I could end up hopelessly lost in countless acres of Alaskan wilderness.

It wasn't a comforting thought. I ran as fast as I dared, trying not to make too much noise. After a while I found myself on a trail. Was it the same one I'd taken in? I had no idea. The trees all looked the same, and I couldn't see the moon anymore through the thick canopy overhead.

Just as I was starting to fear I'd gone the wrong way, that I was racing ever deeper into the forest, I caught a glimmer of light through the trees ahead. Could it be the lodge? I ran faster, glancing back over my shoulder for pursuers. . . .

CRASH!

I let out a shrill scream as I smashed into something.

Make that some
one
. “Nancy?” a familiar voice said.

Glancing up, I blinked in surprise. “S-scott,” I stammered.

Panic grabbed me for a second. Was Scott the person I'd followed? Had that light come from the flashlight he was using to track me? Was he about to finish the job he'd started back in the clearing?

Then I blinked as I realized we were standing at the edge of the woods. The lodge was right there on the other side of the meadow, and there was a light on in one of the cabins—that was the glimmer I'd seen through the trees. Scott wasn't holding a flashlight. He wasn't wearing a dark hoodie, either—just jeans and a T-shirt.

I slumped with relief, gulping in deep breaths of air to try to catch my breath. “Sorry I crashed into you,” I said as soon as I could talk again.

“It's okay.” Scott looked concerned. “What are you doing out here this time of night? I saw you wandering into the woods a little while ago.”

“Y-you did?” I glanced at those nearby cabins. Several had windows facing onto this meadow, just like mine. More lights were blinking on in some of them now. Obviously my scream had awakened people. Oops.

Scott nodded. “I got dressed and came out to see if I could catch up to you,” he said. “I was afraid you might not realize how dangerous the Alaskan wilderness can be, especially at night.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” I took a deep breath, looking back at the dark forest. “Um, did you hear gunshots a few minutes ago?”

“Gunshots? Come to think of it, I guess I did. Probably some locals hunting or something. Why? Is that what scared you?”

I hesitated, not sure whether to trust him with what had really happened. By then I could see several people hurrying across the meadow toward us. In the lead was a big, beefy guy in a security guard's uniform.

“What's going on out here?” he asked in a deep voice.

I glanced at his name tag, which identified him as Hank. “Sorry,” I said with an apologetic smile. “I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk.”

Bess and George arrived moments later. George was rubbing her eyes, looking less than half awake, but Bess pushed her way forward. “Nancy, are you okay?” she exclaimed. “We heard a scream, then realized you were gone. What happened?”

“I went walking in the woods and stumbled across a shed out in a clearing.” I waved a hand in the general direction of the forest. “There was a box inside, and I was about to open it to see what was inside when someone shot at me.”

Gasps came from all around. “Shot at you?” Hank the security guard said. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. The bullet landed close enough for me to see it.”

Hank looked grim. “I'd better go out and have a look around,” he said, patting the holster at his waist.

“I'll come with you,” Scott offered. “I want to know what's going on out there.”

A couple of other men also volunteered to go along. Soon the group was tramping off into the woods, following my vague directions to the clearing.

“Come on, Nancy.” Bess put an arm around my shoulders. “Let's get you inside.”

We went into the main building, where one of the hotel's night staff rustled up some hot tea. Some of the other people I'd awakened were there too, so I couldn't tell Bess and George the rest of the story, though they kept giving me curious looks. Half an hour later, the men finally returned.

I jumped to my feet and hurried over. “Well?” I asked Hank.

“We found your shed,” he said. “But there was no box there. And no sign of the shooter.” He shrugged. “Did see a coupla fresh bullet holes in the wall, though.”

“The box was gone?” My heart sank, though I supposed I shouldn't be surprised. Instead of chasing me, the shooter must have grabbed the box.

“We'll notify the police just in case,” Hank said. “But chances are it was a hunter who mistook you for a hare or something.”

“Okay,” I said. “But that doesn't explain the box.”

“Hmm.” Hank didn't quite meet my eye. “Maybe it was a cooler of beer or something.”

“It definitely wasn't any kind of cooler,” I insisted. “It was a cardboard box, about this big.” I made a shape with my hands. “It smelled really weird, like whatever was inside had been stored in a moldy basement or something.”

“Well, I'll let the cops know about that. Now you'd better get to bed, miss.”

I frowned, annoyed, as I realized he didn't care about the box or what may have been in it. Why would I make up something like that?

Still, it wasn't as if I could prove anything. So I let it go. Maybe my friends and I could hike back out there in the morning and look around.

“I still can't believe someone actually shot at you last night,” Bess said as she slathered butter on a piece of toast.

“You're not the only one.” I glanced around the lodge's homey restaurant. It was early, but lots of ­people from our group were there having breakfast. Scott was among them; he was sitting at a large table with the ABCs and a couple of people I didn't know. As I scanned the room, I caught several people watching me. Was one of them the hooded figure I'd followed into the woods? It was a creepy thought.

George noticed the glances too. “You're the talk of the lodge, Nancy,” she commented. “Everyone's buzzing about what happened last night.”

“Yeah. I can't believe nobody woke me up.” Alan speared a sausage with his fork. “I missed the whole thing.”

“It's okay, sweetie.” Bess patted his hand. “Nancy's fine, and that's what matters.”

The other tables were too close to risk talking about the case, so we spent the next few minutes chatting about the day's plans while we ate. We were scheduled to catch a bus over to the visitor center of Denali National Park in a couple of hours. There, we would split up into several smaller buses for an all-day guided tour.

Finally Bess took one last sip of her grapefruit juice. “I'm stuffed,” she said. “Think I'll take a walk. Want to come?” She smiled at Alan.

He jumped up, dabbing some syrup off his face with a napkin. “Sounds good.”

“Have fun,” George said, reaching for another slice of bacon.

As Bess and Alan made their way out of the crowded restaurant, Wendy hurried in past them. She glanced around, then made a beeline for our table.

“Uh-oh,” I told George under my breath. “Bet I'm about to be interviewed for the next big blog post.”

George smirked, but didn't have time to say anything before Wendy reached us. “Nancy!” the blogger exclaimed breathlessly. “I heard you were in here. Everyone's all atwitter about you, you know. What really happened last night, anyway? I tried to talk to that security guard afterward, but the dude wouldn't tell me a thing.”

“There wasn't much to tell,” I said. “I just wandered into the woods, and I guess someone out there wasn't happy to see me.”

“Oh.” To my surprise, Wendy didn't seem too interested. Shooting a look around, she set her laptop on the table and sank into the seat Bess had just vacated. “But listen, I just figured out who you really are.”

I blinked. “Um, what?”

“You're the big-time amateur detective from the Midwest, right? Don't tell me there's another Nancy Drew out there who looks just like you.”

I exchanged a slightly panicky look with George. “Uh . . .”

“Don't worry. If you're here, like, investigating a case or something, I won't blow your cover.” Wendy waved a hand. “But this totally changes things. I might be willing to share my thing—
if
you promise to give me the scoop for my blog, that is.”

“Your thing?” I echoed.

“Wait,” George broke in. “How'd you figure out that Nancy's a detective?”

Wendy shrugged and reached for piece of bacon. “It wasn't that hard.” She popped the bacon into her mouth, continuing to talk as she chewed. “I've noticed how Nancy always seems to be around when weird things happen. So when I found out about the mysterious stuff going on around here, I wondered if . . . Well, you know.”

Her smile looked a little sheepish. I realized what that meant.
I'd
been one of
her
suspects!

“So anyway, I did a little research after all the excitement last night. Made me miss some beauty sleep, but I didn't want to wait.” She grimaced. “I heard there's not much in the way of wireless access once we're out in the park. We might not even have cell phone coverage.”

“Go figure,” George said innocently.

“Yeah.” Wendy shrugged. “Anyway, it didn't take me long to find tons of info on you, Nancy.”

“Really?” I said. “Like what?”

Wendy opened her laptop and slid it over in front of me. “Here you go.”

My eyes widened. She'd opened up some kind of search engine. There on the screen was a whole page's worth of stories about me! There were articles from the River Heights paper about various cases I'd solved. A write-up of a local service award I'd received last year. Even a link to a video of me standing beside my father while he was interviewed on TV after winning a big case.

“Wow,” I said. “I mean, I know you can find just about everything online. But this is kind of creepy!”

George reached for her coffee cup. “I'm always telling you this stuff is out there, Nancy.” She glanced at Wendy and rolled her eyes. “I swear, sometimes you'd think Nancy was older than my grandma.”

I just stared at the screen. This whole time, I'd been wondering why someone would target me and my friends when we were supposed to be here undercover. But when you came right down to it, we weren't really undercover at all. We were using our real names. Anyone with Internet access could find out who we were with the click of a mouse.

The realization was so overwhelming that it took me a moment to realize Wendy was still talking. “Anyway,” she was saying, “I figured it made sense for us to team up to solve the case, you know?”

“The case?” I gulped. “Um, how did you find out about it?”

Wendy shrugged. “The news is out there—all you have to do is look for it,” she said. “But actually, it was Tobias who clued me in.”

“Tobias?” I shot a confused look at George, who shook her head. “Wait, how did Tobias know about it?”

“I don't know. I guess he saw it online too,” Wendy said. “The kid's really into weird animal stuff, in case you haven't noticed.”

“Weird animal stuff?” George said. “Wait—what case are you talking about?”

“Duh—
my
case.” Wendy sounded a little impatient. “And yours too, maybe, I guess. Are you here to investigate the Alaskan smuggling ring?”