The Clue at Black Creek Farm (Nancy Drew Diaries #9)(28)

George and I settled ourselves in the backseat. Julie and Holly slammed the doors, and there was a loud click as they locked. I reached instantly for the handle on the inside of the door, but it wouldn’t budge; Child locks, I mouthed to George. We couldn’t unlock the doors and get out—even if we were willing to escape a moving car. We had to go wherever Julie wanted to take us.

I glanced out the window just in time to spot Officer Bailey leading two teenage boys out of an alley down the street. I recognized the teens as Toby Farelly and Steve Minerva, two boys who were known throughout River Heights to have a rather colorful history with the law. Each of them was holding two cans of spray paint. Of course, I realized; Officer Bailey must have seen an actual crime being committed and decided to go after the vandals. It only made sense, since he hadn’t exactly been excited to be keeping an eye on me to begin with.

I tried the door handle one more time, then the electric windows, but neither worked. Finally I gave up and just pounded on the window.

“Officer Bailey!” I screamed as loud as I possibly could. “Help us! She’s kidnapping us! Officer Bailey!”

Our car peeled out of its space just as a hand smacked me hard across the face. I blinked and looked up front; Holly had hit me. Julie had both hands on the wheel.

“You’ll pay for that,” Julie said darkly, anger seeming to emanate from her body.

I didn’t doubt that I would. But I had only one chance to get Officer Bailey’s attention.

I looked back at him. He was watching our car speed off.

Did he see me?





CHAPTER THIRTEEN





Into the Woods


“WHAT DO WE DO WITH them?” Holly asked hesitantly. She shot a nervous glance at the backseat, where George and I were watching them curiously.

“What do you think we do with them?” Julie spat. “They know everything, Holly. We can’t just drop them off at their parents’ houses.”

“Maybe . . . ,” Holly said slowly. “Maybe we could take them somewhere and lock them up? My grandparents have a summer cottage I don’t think is being used right now. It’s about an hour away, but . . .”

“That’s not enough, Holly.” Julie’s voice was as sharp as a knife. “They can’t be out there, knowing what they know.”

I looked at George in alarm. They’re going to kill us.

She looked at me and said nothing, but a tear escaped from her left eye.

I felt like my heart might explode. To keep sane, I decided to do the only thing I knew how to do in this situation: get the criminal talking.

“What exactly happened, Julie?” I asked in as gentle a voice as I could manage. “I mean, there must be a reason you did what you did.”

Julie let out a rueful laugh. “Oh, there was a reason,” she said. “I lost my job last year, as you know. It was a very lucrative, high-paying job. Losing it was a pretty huge blow. Jack’s a lawyer, sure, but half the cases he works are pro bono. We burned through our savings really fast. We started having trouble paying the mortgage on our apartment. We couldn’t afford the payments on our cars and had to give one up.” She paused. “Meanwhile,” she said, “my wealthy father-in-law—who, back in the day, had more money than Jack or I could shake a stick at—helped one sick girl’s family and decided to pursue this cockamamie organic farm idea, sinking half his net worth into it. Did I mention that Sam had left Jack half his estate in his will? Jack and I watched our inheritance dwindle for more than a year. Then I got pregnant, and I decided I had to do something about the farm.”

George cleared her throat. I could tell she was scared. “But isn’t this kind of . . . extreme?” she asked. “I mean, if your ultimate goal is just to get him to sell the farm. Now you’re kidnapping us? Maybe . . .”

Hurting us, I finished for her. But George’s voice was gone. She couldn’t say it.

“It wasn’t meant to go this far,” Julie said with a sigh. “I mean, the farm was already struggling. I thought Sam would only need one really disastrous year to realize what a big mistake he’d made. Hence, the contaminate-the-vegetables-with-E. coli plan. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of giving myself E-coli. But I had my family to think about. I figured once word got around that Black Creek Farm was selling vegetables that could actually make you sick, that would do it. But the thing is”—Julie let out a crazy laugh—“Sam didn’t give up.”

“He loves the farm,” I said, wanting to keep her arguing with me.

“He does,” said Julie. “And he kept fighting, and got you and your friends involved. I realized the stakes had to get higher, faster. I knew that Sam was a softie. I knew he wouldn’t put up with danger to his family.”

She suddenly pulled into a parking lot. I looked around. Kepner Park. It was a large park just outside River Heights that had a small pond and hiking trails.

“Anyway,” Julie said, turning back to face us with that same deranged smile, “now we’re going to go for a hike.”

I looked at George. She wants to get us out into the woods and do something to us, I realized. Maybe something so horrible that we’ll never come out.

George looked like she had reached this conclusion as well.

“Come on.” Lifting her phone and giving it a little shake, Julie herded us out of the car and onto the blue hiking trail. I looked around at the parking lot, heart pounding, wondering if this was the last piece of civilization I’d see. But then Julie shoved me along.