The Red Slippers (Nancy Drew Diaries #11)(29)

“Go,” I said. “Show Oscar what you’re made of.” Maggie looked at me, still mystified, but then her face morphed, and I saw the serious dancer. I knew she wouldn’t let anything get in her way.

“Thank you,” she said. She walked toward the stage with a determined gait.

After Maggie had hurried out, I turned to my friends. “Ned and I will stay here with Sebastian, just to make sure he doesn’t try anything else, and then we’ll call the police as soon as the performance is over. I don’t want them bursting in and ending the show. You guys go tell Jamison that he’s going to need to play the piano during the second half.”

After George and Bess hurried off, I convinced Sebastian and Ned to move to the greenroom. The other dancers gave us space. Information spreads quickly among tight-knit groups; I could tell they already knew everything. Sebastian curled up on the couch. I looked at his thin body, which looked small and broken. I knew I should feel victorious—this had been a hard case—but instead I felt sad. This wasn’t how I had wanted it to end.

Ned and I watched Maggie dance her solo on the greenroom’s TV. The video feed was silent, so we couldn’t hear the music, but we could tell that she had nailed it.

As soon as the last dancer had taken her curtsy, I called the police. Ten minutes later, two officers escorted Sebastian out of the building. As Ned and I stood in front of the theater and watched them take him away, I fought back tears.

“Obviously, Sebastian went way too far,” I said. “But I understand why he thought he needed to do it.”

“He was in a tough spot,” Ned agreed. “I feel for him and his sister.”

“Jamison destroyed both of them,” I said.

“It’s freezing,” Ned said. “Let’s get back inside and find the others.”

As we turned around to go back inside, we noticed Jamison standing behind me, watching the patrol car drive away. There was a pensive look on his face, but when I tried to catch his eye, he avoided looking at me.

We found George and Bess in the lobby. A little later Maggie came out.

“Sorry I took so long,” Maggie said. “Jamison pulled us all aside afterward and gave us a speech about how he knows he doesn’t tell us enough that we’re doing well. He wanted us to know that he was proud of us.”

“Wow,” I said.

“Yeah,” Maggie agreed. “Weird coming from him, but nice.” She paused for a moment. “What’s going to happen to Sebastian?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Hopefully he’ll get some help.”

“Yeah,” Maggie said softly.

“Excuse me,” a deep male voice interrupted us.

We turned to see Oscar LeVigne. He held out his hand toward Maggie, ignoring the rest of us. “I just wanted to say that I’m so glad I was able to witness such a breakthrough performance. You are a rising talent!”

“Thank you,” Maggie said, shaking his hand. “I really appreciate you coming out here to see our show.”

Oscar nodded and walked away. As soon as he was out the door, Maggie turned back to us with a huge smile on her face.

After we calmed down, we decided to go out for dessert to celebrate. Maggie even admitted that she had earned it.

We stepped into the cold air and spotted Mike standing on the theater steps with Colin.

“Oh no,” George said. “Not again.”

But as we got closer, we saw that Mike wasn’t yelling. He stretched his arm out and awkwardly placed his hand on Colin’s shoulder. “You were good up there,” Mike said stiffly.

Colin looked at him, shocked, and then broke into a big grin. “You watched?”

“You have a very persuasive young lady for a friend,” Mike explained.

We walked past Mike’s car and saw Fiona sitting inside, watching Mike and Colin nervously. She couldn’t hear them from her vantage point. As we walked past, I shot her a thumbs-up sign. A huge look of relief passed over her face.

Since I couldn’t drive, we piled into Ned’s car.

“I have an announcement,” Bess said. We all turned to look at her. “I signed up for tap-dancing classes.”

“What?” George asked.

“I feel like I’ve quit too many things because I was worried that I wasn’t the best or it wouldn’t lead anywhere, but I realized these past couple of days that it’s okay to do something just because you like it. Of all the classes and lessons I took when I was younger, tap was my favorite.”

“That’s great,” Ned said.

“So, is tap dancing your thing?” I asked Bess.

“Maybe,” she said with a smile. “But if it’s not, I’ll try something else.”

I squeezed her hand, happy for her.

We sat in silence. I looked around the car and felt a warmth spread over me despite the freezing temperatures outside. As much as I loved solving a case, nothing made me happier than being surrounded by my friends. I hoped I never forgot that, no matter how great a detective I became.





Dear Diary,



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MAGGIE GOT AN OFFER FROM the chicago Ballet Company a few days later. She was ecstatic! I guess Jamison’s teaching methods got results. Even so, I hoped Sebastian ended up okay. He had good reasons for confronting Jamison, but he went about it all wrong. The good thing is that Jamison seemed to learn a lesson; he started giving his students positive reinforcement. Even if someone can do better, you should still remind them when they do well.