Nancy Drew: 1. The Old Clock at Lilac Inn

Yet Another Clue

 "Hey, that looks like one of the keys to the employee lockers!" blurted Don.

The girls glanced at each other. "Well, that's good," said Nancy slowly.

"But are you sure?" asked Jenny. "It looks like one of the keys used for the lockboxes at my dad's bank!"

"Well, we're here now," said Nancy, rising. "We can check if it belongs to one of the lockers before heading to your dad's bank."

Mr. Quincey rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Yes, we could check to see if it belongs to one of our lockers," he said slowly, "though I'm of the opinion that Miss Jenny is right and this belongs to her father's bank."

"May I ask why you would say that?" said Nancy.

"Because I'm pretty sure all of those keys are accounted for. The only thing Josiah left with me was that special ball. I mean, we can still check them pretty quickly, just in case, but I'm positive that key doesn't belong here."

Nancy shrugged. "Well, let's hurry up and check, just to say that we did check it and leave no doubt in our minds."

Mr. Quincey nodded. "Fair enough. Follow me please." The group followed him to the employees room. Nancy handed him the key, and he went around trying the key in each lock with the teens following. None of them opened.

Don snapped his fingers. "I was so sure that key opened up something here. It looks remarkably like our keys to the lockers!" He pulled out his key to show them.

"Wow!" said Jenny, her eyes widening. "You're right, they are very similar!"

Nancy thought a moment. "Mr. Quincey, are there any other lockers, or anything locked that doesn't have a key?"

Mr. Quincey shook his head. "I have all the keys that I didn't hand out to my current employees."

Nancy nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Quincey, you've been a great help. Now we'll go try the bank."

Don grabbed her arm. "You'll, um, you'll let us know what you find?"

Nancy pulled her arm away. "I'll think about it."

"Please Nancy!" blurted Richie, his hands pressed together and giving her his best puppy eyes. "I really want to help!"

Nancy blinked in surprise at him, but then laughed. "Oh, alright, I'll let you both in on it." She grinned. "Having a posse of my own might turn out for the best."

"Then let's exchange numbers," said Don, pulling out his phone.

"Alright, let's make it quick." The girls quickly exchanged their numbers with the boys before dashing off to the car.

Emily squealed as Nancy pulled away from the minigolf course. "I think we're finally getting somewhere!"

"It certainly seems like it," said Nancy with a smile. "Jenny, can you call your dad and let him know we're coming?"

"On it!" said Jenny before getting out her phone and calling her father. She quickly explained to her father what was going before hanging up. "He said he'll be waiting for us."

"Good, thank you."

"We still have three other clues to figure out," said Helen. "How are we going to figure those out?"

Nancy took a quick glance at Emily in the rearview mirror. "Is there anything else about Josiah that you remember? Any other favorite places?"

Emily thought long and hard on that one. "I'm not remembering anything else in particular."