"I don"t know what to think," Nancy said.
"They"ve been together every day for two and a half weeks now. But I"m sorry I said what I did-even if I meant every word of it!"
Nancy heard footsteps. Hoping it was Ned, she spun around eagerly. It was Professor Trainey. She couldn"t help letting out a sigh of disappointment.
Trainey nodded to her and gave Bess a distracted glance, then bent down to peer inside the cage. "This must be the little fellow Jack told me about," he said.
"He"s so cute," Bess announced. "Maybe in my next life I"ll come back as a marmot."
Trainey actually smiled at her-it was the first time Nancy had seen him happy.
Bess turned to Nancy and said, "Come on, let"s go check out a few sights while the light"s still good. We"ll have plenty of time to eat dinner and change before the square dance."
Nancy sighed and said, "I"ll probably skip the dance."
Bess gave her a sharp glance, then replied, "We can discuss that later. Right now, what do you say to a waterfall?" Without waiting for an answer, Bess hooked her arm in Nancy"s to lead her down to the car.
After a few minutes of driving. Nancy said, "Bess? I think somebody"s following us. A dark blue car"s been right behind us the whole time." All at once the car pulled off at a scenic overlook.""So much for that," Nancy said with a laugh. "I guess I"m getting paranoid."
Bess reached over to touch her shoulder.
"Nancy?" she said in a tentative voice. "Are you positive that the professor is involved in the poaching?"
"Positive? Of course not," Nancy replied, surprised by the question. "I don"t have evi- dence to prove it either way. Brad says he saw him just before his accident-but he wasn"t positive. And then there was that Phi Beta Kappa key."
"Then he is your chief suspect."
"Well," Nancy said slowly, "no one is in a better position to set up a poaching operation than he is. ..."
"What happens if we don"t find the missing marmots?" Bess asked. "Or if more of them disappear?"
"I guess the study will be ruined-and so will the professor"s career," Nancy answered.
"So poaching and selling marmots wouldn"t exactly solve his problem," Bess went on. "In some ways, it would only make it worse."
Nancy nodded. "I see what you mean, Bess." Nancy"s thoughts were churning. Was she focusing too hard on Trainey? In that case she owed Ned an apology-if she could ever get him to listen to it.
She slowed the car down. "There"s a sign for the falls," she announced.
After finding a spot in the crowded parking area. Nancy and Bess followed a sawdust- covered path through the woods. As they walked, they heard a low, persistent rumble in the distance. When they emerged from the trees at the base of the falls, the sound was overwhelming.
Bess tapped Nancy"s arm. Nancy turned and saw her friend"s lips moving but couldn"t hear anything above the roar of the water. Bess pointed up the path and raised an eyebrow.
Nancy nodded and followed her friend to an observation platform perched a dozen feet above the river, just beyond the reach of the spray.
She craned her neck to peer up at the top, where the water cascaded over a ridge of red and yellow volcanic rock. The constant mo- tion of the water made her feel a little dizzy, so she clutched the railing for support.
Bess leaned her head close to Nancy"s.
"Would you like the binoculars?" she shouted, holding them out. Nancy took them and could see the individual droplets of water splashing into the river. Along the banks, bright wild- flowers grew.
A large group of sightseers jostled onto the platform behind Nancy. Two middle-aged women pushed up and flanked her. As her gaze swept farther down the riverbank, she noticed a man with black hair. Frowning, she focused the binoculars to get a clearer image. She let out a gasp because she was looking at Dan Trainey, who was holding a marmot trap!
Nancy focused in tighter and realized that Trainey was talking to someone who was part- ly hidden by a tree trunk. All she could make out Were the other person"s hands gesturing to Trainey.
She wanted to get a better view, so she started edging her way along the railing. She had almost reached the comer of the platform when someone shouted, "Look! A red-tailed hawk!"
As the crowd on the platform surged for- ward, Nancy felt someone put both hands on her back and give her a powerful shove. A moment later she was falling over the rail into the swirling river below.
Chapter Ten.
Nancy gasped as she hit the icy water. She had just enough time to fill her lungs and clamp her mouth shut before the river swirled over her. She fought her way to the surface and tried to make it to the nearest bank, but the raging current pulled her downstream.
As an eddy spun her around, she got one last glimpse of the platform she had just been pushed from and saw Bess frantically making her way through the stunned crowd, trying to reach the riverbank.
The current tumbled her again, pushing her into a somersault. Nancy flailed her arms wildly and managed to keep her head up, but she didn"t know how much longer she could hold on.
Downstream, a boulder rose up above the surface about half a dozen feet from sh.o.r.e. If only she could get to it, she thought, she might have a chance of saving herself.
Nancy put all the energy and determination she had into powerful strokes and kicks. Just as she was sure she couldn"t keep it up any longer, the rock was right in front of her. She wrapped her arms around it and took a deep breath.
"Nancy! Over here!"
Startled, she looked over and saw Gerald Turkower standing on the riverbank near her.
"Hang on!" he shouted, cautiously stepping off the bank. He inched forward, the water swirling around his knees now, then leaned forward and stretched out his hand. Nancy reached out and grasped it. Gerald steadied himself, then reeled Nancy in to the bank as if she were one of those cutthroat trout he had talked about at lunch.
Nancy"s legs were numb and wouldn"t hold her up. "Thanks," she said to Gerald through chattering teeth.
"Nancy! Are you all right?" Bess demanded, running up.
"C-c-cold" was all Nancy could manage.
Gerald took off his fleece-lined leather jacket and draped it around Nancy"s shoulders.
Bess turned to him. "Where did you come from?" she asked curiously.
His eyes flickered. "I was in the woods, taking pictures."
Nancy looked sharply at him and struggled to find her voice. "Was anybody with you?"
she asked after a second.
Gerald shook his head. "Come on. Nancy, I"ll help you to your car. You need to get in and turn the heater on full blast. How did you happen to fall in?" he asked as they walked.
"I didn"t," she replied. "Somebody pushed me."
"What?" Gerald"s face registered shock, "Are you sure? Couldn"t you just have been jostled?"
Nancy shook her head. "I distinctly felt two hands shoving against my back. It was no accident, take my word for it. Did you see anything, Bess?"
"No. I"m sorry," Bess replied on the verge of tears. "I was looking-at the falls."
"Don"t worry about it," Nancy said. "You had no reason to think somebody was going to push me in."
As they reached the car, Gerald told Nancy to go back to the hotel and take a hot shower.
"I"ll drive. Nan," Bess offered. "You relax."
Nancy gave Bess the keys, then thanked Gerald again for rescuing her.
"I"m glad I was there to help," he replied, holding the door for her.
Bess turned on the heater, and soon Nancy stopped shivering. "It was a man who pushed me," she said. "As I went over the railing, I got an impression of his hands. They were too big and hairy to belong to a woman. Oh, Bess,"
Nancy said, interrupting herself. "Your binoc- ulars! They must have fallen into the river with me. I"m so sorry."
"Do you think I care about some old binoc- ulars when I just watched you nearly drown?"
Bess scolded.
As Bess turned into the hotel parking lot, she continued, "Who could have pushed you?"
"I don"t know. I just don"t know. In fact, I don"t know what to think anymore."
A large, shiny bus was stopped in front of the hotel entrance. People were spilling out of it onto the sidewalk.
"Look, Nancy," Bess said excitedly, point- ing out the bus, which said Randy Dean Pro- ductions. "Do you think Randy"s with them?"
she asked.
Nancy smiled. "I doubt if a big star like Randy Dean would arrive on a bus," she said.
"He"s probably coming by private helicopter."
"I guess you"re right," Bess said, parking the car. "Come on, let"s get you inside and warm."
Nancy"s legs felt like lead as she climbed the steps to the hotel lobby. "All I want to do is lie down in a warm tub and soak for a month or two," she announced as Bess unlocked the door to their room.
Bess gave her a concerned look. "Are you sure you don"t want to see a doctor?"
"I"m sure," Nancy replied firmly. "After a hot bath and a little rest, I"ll be as good as new."
At Bess"s urging, the girls had dinner in their room. As the waiter took away the tray, Bess gave Nancy a close look and said, "You look a lot better. You may not be up for an evening of square dancing, but at least you can sit and watch."
"You really think I ought to go?" Nancy asked.
Bess was now standing in front of the mir- ror, smoothing the waist of her knee-length denim skirt. "You want to see Ned, don"t you?"
"Of course I do," Nancy replied, then paused. "But I don"t know what to say to him."
Bess spun around, went to Nancy, and sat beside her on the bed. "First you"ll tell him you"re sorry," she stated flatly. "Then you"ll say that you love him. Then he"ll take you for a moonlight drive ..." Bess giggled. "And I"m not going to say what happens after that."
Nancy shook her head sadly. "I only wish it could be that easy."
Bess gave Nancy a hug. "Stop worrying. It"s going to be fine."
While Nancy pulled on a full-skirted blue corduroy dress, Bess went on. "I talked to Jack while you were napping. He"ll meet us in the lobby at eight."
""Us"?" Nancy repeated.
"Well, sure," Bess said. "This is a group event, you know, not a date."
When they reached the head of the stairs, Bess began searching through her purse. "I forgot my compact," she said. "I"ve got to go back."
"Okay," Nancy said. "I"ll meet you in the lobby."
Jack, in worn but perfectly fitting jeans and a red plaid shirt, was standing near the foot of the stairs. He saw Nancy coming and gave her a warm smile. "I called Bess after you got back to the hotel, and she told me what happened,"
he said, concerned. "Are you all right?"
"Good as new," Nancy said. "Bess will be down in a minute."
She took in the transformed lobby. All the furniture had been cleared away from the central area, and a small stage had been set up near the windows. Paper lanterns dangled from the log rafters, and bales of hay had been placed along the walls.
"They did a great job of decorating this place, didn"t they?" Jack said, and led the way to a table at the edge of the dance floor. "I"m glad you felt well enough to come. I"ve been really looking forward to the dance," he added with a glance full of meaning.
"So has Bess," Nancy replied pointedly as she spotted her friend coming down the stairs.
Jack sprang to his feet as Bess approached.
"Hey, you look terrific!"
Bess blushed becomingly and threw in a little curtsy.
The other tables were filling up. Two men and a woman in matching shirts climbed up on the stage and started tuning a guitar, fiddle, and string ba.s.s.
A woman in a fringed leather vest joined the trio on stage and picked up a microphone.
"Okay, folks," she said. "We"re going to start out real easy this evening. You don"t need a partner for this one. Don"t be shy, just form two long lines, gents on the left and ladies on the right. The name of the tune is "Rabbit in the Peapatch.""
"Come on, you two," Jack urged, springing up. As the band launched into the rollicking tune. Nancy saw Ned and Jennifer come in the door. Jennifer was pulling Ned toward the two lines of dancers.