The Wrong Chemistry (4 page)

Nancy spotted Ned sitting at a table in the corner, his face bent close to a thin, dark-haired girl next to him. One tray of mostly eaten food sat between them. Nancy was happy to see Ned was wearing a coat and tie. Maybe she could salvage their dinner plans after all.

Ned looked startled as Nancy reached their table. Undaunted, she slipped into a chair and put her hand on his arm.

“Nan, I didn't really mean for you to come over here. But . . .” Ned gave her a brief, although distracted, smile and turned back to the other girl.

“Angela Morrow, this is Nancy Drew.”

Angela's face was pale against her jet-black hair. As she swung her head to greet Nancy a single bronze earring in the shape of a snake slapped gently against her neck. It was the same kind of earring Karen Lewis had been wearing, Nancy noted.

Angela was nervously twisting a piece of paper.

“Excuse me, Angela,” Nancy said, “but that earring—are you a member of . . .” Her voice trailed away as Ned shot her a warning look.

“Nancy met some members of POE today,” Ned told Angela softly. “She ran into them in the arboretum behind my frat house.” Ned
turned to Nancy. “Angela's going to be initiated into the group tonight. I'm trying to talk her out of it.”

“Ned!” Angela's voice was surprisingly soft. “I've told you, POE is a wonderful organization, a community of people working together to protect our planet. Why is that so hard for you to understand?”

“Angela, look.” Ned's voice matched the exasperation in Angela's, and Nancy sensed they had had this conversation before. “I don't trust POE, no matter what you say. Some students in the group are moving off campus to live together in a commune. They've stopped going to classes. They spend all their time in private meetings at POE headquarters, and there's something secretive and nasty about the whole thing.”

Angela appealed to Nancy. “We do a lot of good,” she insisted. “We have great speakers come to campus—reputable people. And we have a tremendous recruiting effort.”

“My point exactly! If it's such a great group, why do you have to work so hard to recruit new members?”

Nancy looked at Ned in surprise. She realized he was genuinely worried about Angela's safety, but he was making her feel very awkward—as if he cared more about Angela than about Nancy herself. Embarrassed by her jealousy, she tried
to be more reasonable. There was nothing wrong with Ned having Angela for a friend.

“Ned,” she began uncomfortably, “I know you feel strongly about this, but Angela has a right to do what she wants.”

Ned glared at her angrily. “I have nothing against free speech, or the right to peaceful protest,” he snapped.

Nancy felt helpless. “Have you been to many of their meetings?” she asked.

“Never!” Angela fumed. “He hasn't been to a single one, but he thinks he knows what it's all about!”

“The meetings are useless,” Ned argued. “You can only find out what's really going on if you're initiated.”

Nancy shrugged helplessly. “Then Angela
should
be initiated. If there's anything wrong with the group, she can find out before getting more involved.”

Ned's eyes narrowed. “Right. But what if, once you're initiated, you don't like what you find out?” His voice dropped. “I've never heard of anyone quitting,” he warned.

Angela rolled her eyes impatiently. Nancy squirmed self-consciously in her seat. She picked up a book of matches from the glass ashtray. On the cover was an ad for Reiko's, the Japanese restaurant she was hoping Ned would
take her to. It didn't seem likely now. Sighing, she slipped the matches into her purse.

“I give up,” Angela exclaimed. “Try talking to someone else. Like Philip Bangs. He came to speak to us today. He's a world-famous environmentalist. You'd believe him, wouldn't you?”

Philip Bangs—the man in black in the woods. Nancy felt Angela staring at her curiously.

“I—I met Mr. Bangs today,” she explained. “He was quite impressive.”

Angela beamed in triumph. “There! Nancy believes me. Bangs is terrific. He studied to be a doctor and is also a computer specialist. He has the medical and scientific training to know what technology is dangerous. He's really inspiring.”

Ned growled in disgust, but Angela nodded eagerly at Nancy. “He traveled all over the world and finally settled in South America. But he felt a great need to help people, so he came back to America.”

“Angela,” Nancy interrupted, “when I met Bangs today he was with a group in the arboretum, playing some kind of game with water guns. He said it had to do with Senator Claiborne coming. Do you know what that was all about?”

Angela lowered her eyes, and for the first time she looked slightly uncomfortable. “POE is
going to protest Claiborne's views on national parklands.”

“With water pistols?” Ned snorted. “Are you planning to drown him?”

Nancy hid a smile.

“Are you a student here?” Angela asked abruptly.

Nancy didn't blame Angela for trying to change the subject. She'd never seen Ned acting so unreasonably.

“Yes, I recently transferred here,” she began, but Ned cut her off.

“Angela,” he pleaded, “I'm sorry if I'm acting crazy. I'm worried. Can't we talk about this some more?” He smiled. “I even promise to listen with an open mind.”

Angela pushed her chair back and got up. “There's nothing more to talk about,” she said lightly, giving Ned a quick peck on the cheek. Then she turned to Nancy. “Nice meeting you. If you want to know any more about POE, just give me a call.”

“Angela, wait,” Ned said, standing up. “Let me walk you back to your dorm.” He turned to Nancy. “Nan? Do you mind? About dinner, I mean.”

“No, I guess not,” Nancy said.

Relief flooded Ned's face. “I'll call you later. We can have dessert or something,” he promised vaguely.

Disappointed and upset, Nancy watched them go. It certainly wasn't the evening she'd had in mind. What was Ned's problem with POE anyway? Why was he getting so upset about a simple college group? There had to be something he wasn't telling her, and Nancy resolved that she was going to find out what it was.

Leaving the cafeteria, Nancy impulsively turned toward the lab. The streetlights cast friendly circles of light in the cold darkness that turned Nancy's breath into puffs of white fog. She turned up her collar to give her ears some protection and dug into her pockets for her leather gloves.

Usually, she thought ruefully, something ruined her time with Ned when she was on a case, but usually it was her fault, not his.

Nancy made out the silhouette of the science building against the sky. Counting the stories, she realized there was a light shining on the third floor. As she watched, someone passed in front of the lab's huge windows. Even from a distance, she thought she recognized the figure. Sara Hughes?

Quickening her pace, Nancy hurried to the lab. If Sara was alone, now was the perfect opportunity to ask the skittish lab assistant some pointed questions about Maszak, his experiments, and CLT.

As she approached the front steps of the building, Nancy heard the distinctive sound of a twig breaking behind her.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a low branch of a nearby tree swaying gently. Probably an owl or raccoon, Nancy thought, not fully convinced. Before she took another full step a hand came down heavily on her shoulder, and before she could turn around, something crashed over her head. Everything went black.

C
AN YOU HEAR ME,
N
AN
? Are you okay?”

Nancy opened her eyes to find herself lying in bed in a room flooded with morning light. Ned's face was close to hers, his soft brown eyes full of concern. Her head ached terribly.

“I—I think so,” Nancy said weakly. She put a hand to her throbbing forehead. “Except for this headache. Where am I?”

“In the infirmary. What happened to you?”

“Can I tell you as soon as my head clears and I see less than three of you?” Nancy asked.

Ned nodded and took her hand gently. “I'm glad you're awake.”

Seeing the warmth in Ned's eyes, Nancy was overcome with relief. She pulled herself up, threw her arms around his neck, and held him tight. Wordlessly, he brushed his lips against her forehead.

“Oh, Ned,” she whispered. “What's going on with us? I thought you hated me.”

“Hated you? Never! I was so worried about Angela that I got carried away. It's all my fault.”

“I'm sorry—” Nancy began.

“Shhh.” Ned placed his fingers gently over Nancy's lips. “You rest. I'll do the talking.” He eased his chair up close to the side of the bed.

“I acted like a jerk before, and I know it now,” he admitted. “When I saw you hurt . . .” His face colored with embarrassment. “I remembered just how much you mean to me. I shouldn't have yelled at you about POE. It was wrong.”

Nancy felt tears spring to her eyes. “Oh, Ned—” she began.

“But you don't know what I do about POE, Nan. I know they're in favor of good, sound environmental causes, but there's something wrong with that group. Don't ask me to prove it, because I can't. All I know is, Angela is a very impressionable and trusting girl. Too trusting—she's very easily led. A lot of POE's members are like that. You've got to believe me on this, Nan.”

Nancy nodded, impressed by Ned's sincerity. He hesitated. “I know you're on some kind of secret mission here,” he said. “And I know you're working hard on the case, whatever it is. But I'd like you to help me with this, too. Do you think you can?”

It only took Nancy a second to make up her mind. “If it's important to you, I'll help,” she promised.

Ned leaned over for another hug.

“Ahem,” someone cleared his throat behind them. Ned jumped back.

“How's the patient?” A good-looking man in a security uniform stepped into the room. He swept off his cap and settled into the other chair near Nancy's bed. “You look better now than you did lying facedown in the dirt, Ms. Drew.”

Nancy eyed him curiously. “I take it you found me?”

“Ned and I found you,” he replied, “out cold in the bushes.”

“That's right,” Ned added. “My conversation with Angela wasn't going anywhere, so I decided to catch up with you. You weren't at the dorm, so I guessed you might go to the science building since you said your investigation would begin there.”

“On my security round I saw Ned, and we stumbled on you,” the guard confirmed. “You
were all alone. The guy who decked you was long gone.”

“By the way, Nancy, this is Craig Bergin,” Ned said as the guard stuck his hand out to Nancy. “Craig used to work at the gym, checking people's IDs.”

Craig's hazel eyes twinkled. “And I got to know Ned really well—he always forgot his ID.”

Nancy felt herself smiling at Craig's sunny personality. “Well, thanks for taking care of me.” Nancy winced as a sharp pain shot through her head. She closed her eyes.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Craig asked. “Did somebody try to snatch your purse or something?”

Nancy looked questioningly at Ned, who nodded slightly. “Craig's a good guy,” he told her.

Nancy smiled at Craig. “I don't think robbery was the motive.”

“If you think of anything that might help me catch him, just let me know,” Craig offered.

“I will,” Nancy promised.

“I've got to go finish my report on you now. You can always find me at Campus Police headquarters.”

“I've got to go, too, Nan,” Ned said after Craig left. “My coach called a morning basketball practice.”

“Basketball? But this is football season,” Nancy said, surprised.

“We're playing one exhibition game this fall for charity. It's for a good cause, and I'll come back to see you before lunch.”

“Whoa,” Nancy objected. “I'm not hanging around the infirmary all day. There's someone out there who's pretty anxious to get rid of me. Besides, I've got work to do.”

Ned frowned. “You can't go running around with that headache.”

“There's nothing wrong with me that a few more aspirin won't cure. What do you want me to do? Sit here?”

Ned sighed and shook his head. “Why do I even try to argue? Look, let's compromise. Come with me to practice. That way I'll be able to keep an eye on you and make sure you're okay.”

“Just sit there?” Nancy said doubtfully.

Ned grinned. “Well, you might chat with someone who knows a lot about Josef Maszak.”

“Ned!” Nancy pretended to throw her pillow at him. “You're teasing. Who knows Professor Maszak?”

“Well, it's just a thought,” Ned cautioned, “but I have seen Maszak with Coach Burnett. It's worth a try.”