The Secret in the Stars, page 1
Contents
* * *
1 Shadow in the Woods
2 Who Are You?
3 A Voice in the Dark
4 A Closer Look
5 The Stalker
6 Bess Makes a Promise
7 A Sudden Blaze of Light
8 A Creak in the Night
9 Star Sightings
10 Nabbed!
11 Stealth, Lies, Videotape
12 A Clever Trail
13 Friend or Foe?
14 Time Runs Out
15 Cooped In
16 Starlight, Starbright
1
Shadow in the Woods
“What a perfect night for stargazing!” eighteen-year-old Nancy Drew remarked as she turned off the interstate at an exit marked River Heights State Park. Nancy had the top down on her Mustang convertible, and the breeze whipped through her reddish blond hair. Ned would love this, Nancy thought as she reached up to tuck a strand of hair back into her ponytail. She wished her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, hadn’t already gone back to Emerson College for the new semester.
It was nearly ten on a balmy mid-August Friday night. Nancy was driving her friends George Fayne and Bess Marvin to the park for a “star watch” party hosted by the famous radio personality Dr. Stars. As Nancy headed north on the narrow county road, the sky was already studded with thousands of stars.
“I’m so glad you found that flyer announcing Dr. Stars being in town this weekend,” she said to George.
“Me, too,” George said from the front passenger seat. She raked her fingers through her short dark curls. “I missed his radio broadcast last weekend when I was hiking. I didn’t even know he’d be in the area. This is a great chance to look through a serious top-of-the-line telescope.”
“I haven’t for ages,” Nancy admitted. “We’ll get to brush up on the constellations. On his broadcasts Dr. Stars makes you feel as though stargazing is the start of an adventure,” Nancy added, glancing briefly at George, her blue eyes bright.
“Wrong!” Bess muttered from the backseat. “Feels like boring! At best.”
Nancy bit back a smile. George and Bess were first cousins who not only looked completely unrelated—Bess was short and curvy with pale blond hair and huge blue eyes, while George was tall, athletic, and dark haired—but were as different as the sun and moon. Bess’s idea of a good time was hitting the mall, shopping until she dropped, and topping the whole experience off with an ice-cream sundae, whereas George preferred playing basketball, racing on her in-line skates, or rock climbing.
“Bet you’ve never even heard of Dr. Stars or listened to his show on the radio,” George said to her cousin. With that she switched on the car radio. “He’s probably on right now,” she remarked, checking the illuminated dial on her sports watch. She tuned the radio to a popular local talk-show station, then wrapped her arms around her long legs and settled back to listen.
“I thought he was supposed to be in the park,” Bess commented.
“The program’s probably taped ahead of time,” Nancy pointed out, blinking in the glare of oncoming headlights. “Why are so many cars heading back to town?” she wondered. Before she could give the traffic another thought, a husky male voice with a pronounced Texas twang boomed out of the car speakers:
“This week’s celestial happening is one of the big ones, sure to impress you whether you’re an old hand at stargazing or about to take your first gander at the wonders of the night sky through a telescope. In just two nights fireworks—or should I say starworks—will explode above your head big time: the Perseid meteor shower. Until next time, this is Dr. Stars, wishing you night after glorious night of star hunting! And check my Dr. Stars Web page for listings of the upcoming stellar events—and for the next location of my Star Van tour. This week, River Heights. Next week—maybe your hometown!”
As strains of New Age electronic music rose above the announcer’s sign-off, Nancy switched off the sound.
“What do you think Dr. Stars will look like?” Nancy asked. “It’s hard to imagine the face that goes with that deep, twangy voice.”
“Not for me,” Bess remarked. “The guy sounds like he’s ancient. Gray haired, pudgy, definitely short!”
“Oh, I don’t know,” George teased. “He could be tall and athletic with great biceps.”
“Maybe,” Bess conceded, “but don’t you remember the guys in the astronomy club in high school? None of them ever made me very interested in stargazing—at least not this kind.”
“Ah, and what other kind of stargazing might you be interested in?” Nancy prodded, eyeballing Bess in the rearview mirror.
Bess’s full lips drew up into a smile. “Right, like you have to ask. You know perfectly well that Will Ryder—my favorite movie star in the entire world—is supposed to be in town. I read it in Exposé when I was at the supermarket this morning.”
Nancy shook her head. “Bess, you can’t believe a word they write in those tabloids. None of it’s true.”
“Oh, some is,” Bess insisted. “Last week’s issue reported that Will was engaged to Isabel Ramos-Garcia, and then the announcement was on the regular TV news that night.” Bess heaved a sigh. “That’s one time I wish the tabloids had been wrong.”
“Whatever,” George said. “Just because Will Ryder might be in town doesn’t mean you’re going to run into him, Bess.”
Bess hitched up the strap of her halter top. “Maybe, maybe not. But I’m sure he’s more likely to be out dancing at a club like High Fives than hanging out at a state park with a bunch of astronomy freaks.”
“Where there are sure to be lots of guys,” Nancy pointed out. “It’s a fact. More guys than girls go to these star parties—guys who aren’t already engaged to a top Latina pop singer and actress. Available guys, Bess.”
Bess stared out the window. “We’ll be lucky if any guys are there tonight. How come all the cars are coming back toward town, and no one but us is headed for the park?”
Nancy frowned. “There should be some cars going our way. George, are you sure the flyer said the Star Van would be in the parking lot just inside the main entrance?”
George rummaged in the red backpack on the floor and pulled out a yellow flyer. She unfolded it as Nancy turned on the interior light. “Says right here—tonight’s the first night of his visit to the River Heights area. He’s setting up his telescope near his Star Van in the parking lot off this road, a quarter-mile inside the main entrance gate. We’re on time, too,” George said, checking her watch again. “It says any time after nine-thirty, with stargazing beginning at ten P.M. for ‘early birds,’ ” she concluded with a chuckle. “One thing your club scene has in common with the astronomy crowd, Bess—you’re all night crawlers.”
“Watch it, Nancy!” Bess suddenly called out, gripping the back of Nancy’s seat. “Look at those police lights!”
“I see,” Nancy said, braking for the state trooper’s car that straddled both lanes. Its blue and white warning lights spun on the roof, bathing the forest in an eerie glow.
“Do you think there’s been an accident?” George wondered aloud.
Nancy peered past the police car and shook her head. “Looks more like a roadblock,” she answered.
An officer approached and waved his flashlight at the convertible. At the sight of Nancy his expression brightened. “Nancy Drew!” he greeted her.
“Trooper Caruso.” Nancy smiled back. She had met the officer before when she had been working on one of her cases. Nancy was well-known as a talented young detective. “What’s happening?” she asked.
The officer tilted his hat back and nodded politely at George and Bess. “We’ve had to set up a roadblock. There’s been a prowler reported on this side of the Woody Acres Estate. We’re diverting all traffic while we search the area.”
“We were headed for the park for Dr. Stars’s sky watch tonight,” George said, handing the officer the flyer. “Can we still get there?”
Officer Caruso nodded. “Sure—the park’s not blocked off. You can make a U-turn and either head back to the interstate and take the first exit on the way back toward town. Or, if you know the back road through the park, you can take the first left onto Pinecrest, then another left into the park. Do you know your way to the parking lot from that entrance?” he asked Nancy.
“I do,” Nancy assured him as she waved goodbye.
Nancy made her U-turn, then backtracked down the road. “Maybe this roadblock explains some of the traffic heading toward town. People aren’t familiar with the back entrance to the park.”
Several miles later Nancy turned off the two-lane park drive onto a smaller one-lane blacktop. It was a moonless night; leafy trees arched over the road, blocking the starlight. Except for the narrow beam of light cast by Nancy’s headlights, the road was pitch-black.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Bess asked, leaning forward. Peering into the dark tangle of brush and trees, she shuddered. “Like, shouldn’t there be a sign or something?”
“Not from this end,” George pointed out. “Except for some rental cabins, this part of the park is pretty rugged and undeveloped.”
“We’re still a couple of miles from the main gate,” Nancy interjected, then caught her breath. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something darker than the surrounding shadows dart upright through the dense shrubbery into the trees.
Before Nancy could draw her next breath, the shape had vanished, blending into the deep leafy darkness of the forest. “What was that?” she cried, just as Bess shrieked, “Did you see it? It looked like a bear!” Bess pointed off to the left where the shadowy form had vanished from the side of the road.
Nancy slowed down a little. “A bear?” She shook her head. “No way, Bess. This is River Heights, not Yellowstone.”
“Bess might be right,” George interjected. “Last time I was here one of the rangers said black bears are coming back to the area. They’ve spotted one around the park. Once or twice maybe—they’re pretty rare. Actually, I’d love to see one.”
“Have you lost it or what?” Bess demanded. “I didn’t come here for a bear-watch. Bears eat people—at least in all the stories you read. Let’s just get out of here, Nancy. I mean, do you really think it’s a good idea to hang around while something deadly lurks in the bushes?”
“Something—or someone,” Nancy said, thinking of the prowler. She knew Bess was right, and yet she couldn’t help being intrigued by the possibility of a mystery. She was tempted to stop the car and investigate.
Before Nancy could say another word, a deer bounded out of the bushes to the left, dashing across the road right in front of the car. Jamming on the brakes, she swerved onto the shoulder. The car jerked to a halt.
“A deer,” Bess gasped in relief. “It was just a deer.”
“Is it all right?” George asked, anxiously staring at the shoulder of the road. There was the sound of something breaking through the brush. Then silence. “Too dark to see anything—but I think I heard it.”
“George, I’m sure I didn’t hit it. It was able to run,” Nancy reassured her friend. But Nancy couldn’t take her eyes off the thicket to her left. The deer had bolted from the woods seconds before, but she was sure—or almost sure—she’d just heard something rustling through the leaves. Another animal, she told herself. But something inside her wondered if it was the two-legged kind.
Nancy put the thought out of her mind, took a deep breath, and pulled back onto the road.
A few minutes later they approached the main parking area. A sign at the entrance read Day Use Only, but the iron gate was open, and as Nancy steered through the gate, her headlights illuminated one of Dr. Stars’s yellow flyers fluttering from the gatepost. Lampposts bordered the lot, but the lights were out.
“Weird!” George exclaimed as Nancy drove past the open-sided shed that sheltered a park map and visitor information. “No one’s here.”
“No one but Dr. Stars,” Nancy said, motioning toward the far end of the lot where a full-size van was parked. As Nancy drew closer her headlights illuminated the area around the van. A raccoon rooting in a trash can looked up startled, its eyes huge in the glare of Nancy’s lights. For a moment it remained frozen, then bolted into the tall clumps of goldenrod and weeds in the meadow beyond the parking lot.
Nancy noticed that a few camp chairs had been set up around a long metal portable table. “I don’t understand where everyone is,” she said, pulling into a space near the van. She grabbed a flashlight from the glove compartment, shouldered her bag, then pocketed her keys. She got out of the car and George followed.
“Just as I predicted—some party!” Bess complained, climbing out, too.
Outside the car Nancy tugged down the legs of her slim black cropped pants and tucked in her sleeveless white blouse, then made her way toward the van. Her cobalt blue canvas sneakers muffled the sound of her steps as she walked.
She turned on her flashlight to check out the display set up on the table. A black cloth covered the surface. Stacks of handouts, flyers, and star maps were arranged neatly along one edge, each stack held down by a small rock. Nancy directed her light toward the far end of the display: a poster was propped up on a portable easel. The poster featured a cartoonlike drawing of a chubby astronomer peering comically through a telescope at the sky. Right above him the Big Dipper was tilted at a weird angle and looked as if it was dripping milk on top of his bald head.
Slowly sweeping the area with her flashlight, Nancy wondered why wide black electrical tape covered the metal parts of all the camp chairs.
“I don’t get it,” George said, walking up. She hooked her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and surveyed the deserted lot. “The star watch has to be on for tonight or he wouldn’t have all this stuff set up.”
“Maybe Dr. Stars took everyone out for a hike, to get a better view or something,” Bess suggested. “Maybe we’re too late and should head back to the car, Nancy. And just in case you guys are going to start tramping off looking for him, I’m not dressed for a hike.” Bess chafed her bare arms. “Besides, it’s cool up here.” She was wearing white shorts, a halter top and platform sandals. She stepped closer to George and Nancy, and looked nervously over her shoulder. “And remember the bears.”
“Something’s wrong here,” Nancy said quietly, ignoring Bess’s pleas. Dr. Stars had gone to a lot of trouble to set up for this night’s stargazing lecture, but no one had come. And to all appearances the astronomer himself had walked out on his own party. Nancy couldn’t shake the feeling that something strange had happened. She decided to check the van. “Let’s see if Dr. Stars fell asleep or something,” Nancy said, making for the corner of the parking area.
“Don’t leave us behind—in the dark!” Bess cried, hurrying after Nancy, George at her side.
Dr. Stars had parked the van close to the guardrail at the edge of the lot. This end of the parking area butted against forest on one side with a small sign marking the head of a hiking trail. Two Dumpsters with animal-proof latches were just to the right of the trail head. On the other side of the van, beyond the guardrail, if Nancy remembered correctly, the area bordered a steep cliff. Nancy couldn’t see it in the dark, but she knew the river ran through the valley below—right through the Woody Acres Estate. Nancy looked over the guardrail and saw the lights from the main house on the estate grounds. From where she stood she couldn’t see the main road or lights from the trooper’s car, if he still had the road blocked. Maybe the prowler had been caught, but if not, he might still be lurking in the area.
No point jumping to conclusions, she told herself. Why would someone prowling around Woody Acres Estate want to hurt an astronomer? Or have anything to do with the mystery of where the stargazers had gone?
Nancy turned back to the van, slowly scanning first the driver’s side, then the back of the vehicle with her flashlight. It appeared to be painted deep blue, with Dr. Stars’s cartoon logo on one side. Curtains were drawn across the side and back windows. Nancy tried the back and side doors, but they were locked. Nancy knocked on the rear door. “Dr. Stars?” she called out. “He’s not here,” Nancy told her friends.
“Maybe he left a note or something on the table,” George suggested. “I’ll go and check. I’ve got a penlight on my key chain.”
While George and Bess headed back for the table, Nancy went to check the front of the van. She aimed her flashlight through the front window on the driver’s side. On the seat she spied a couple of road maps, an open notebook, and an open coffee thermos in the cup holder.
“He sure left in a hurry,” she called back to George and Bess.
Nancy frowned. The van was parked flush up against the metal guardrail. Slim as she was, there was no space to squeeze between the railing and the passenger side of the van. To look in the window on the front passenger side, Nancy would have to climb over the rail. Cautiously, aware of the sheer drop a few feet away, Nancy clambered over the rail. The graveled area slanted downward toward the edge of the bluff. Clumps of tall weeds sprouted out of the stones and scratched at Nancy’s bare calves and ankles. The footing was tricky, and Nancy kept her eye away from the edge of the cliff and on the van. Putting one hand on the door to steady herself, Nancy stood on tiptoe and looked inside.
“That’s strange,” she murmured to herself. “The doors are locked but the window on this side is open.” Nancy reached through the window to pull up the door lock.
Suddenly the gravel crunched behind her. Nancy started to spin around, when a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She staggered backward, the smooth soles of her sneakers slipping on the loose stones, sending her skidding toward the cliff’s edge.
2
