Nancy Drew: 2 . The Hidden Staircase

Messy Rooms

Nancy rushed to check the other rooms, and gasped upon seeing the room she shared with Helen. It too was in disarray! But the other rooms were untouched. Why? Was the ghost looking for some clue as to what made Nancy tick, or scare her off the case? She bit her lip. Maybe this so-called ghost wasn't really pretending to be a ghost so much as just using whatever means necessary to scare everyone. She thought of the police officer Chief McGinnis had sent and went off in search of him.

"Nancy, wait!" Nancy heard Don following her, but did nothing to stop him. She walked out the front door and paused to wait for him. "Where are you going?"

"I called Chief McGinnis and asked him to post an officer on the grounds. I want to make sure he's alright, and see if he saw anything."

"You didn't tell the others?" he asked.

She began walking off into the surrounding forest with a shake of her head. "No, they wanted me to take a break and not think about it at all, but I wanted to be cautious. Besides, if the officer didn't see anything, then this dumb ghost has been getting in another way." She bit her lip. "And maybe it is from Lilac Inn."

"Say what?"

Nancy told him everything they had found out from the Caldwell letters, how there was a tunnel connecting both houses and the clues to finding the entrance was in the book of poems written by Jim Caldwell that was at Lilac Inn, but was stolen, most likely by the men behind all this.

"Who do you think is behind all this?" asked Don as they walked around the yard, looking for the officer.

Nancy pursed her lips. "I'm pretty sure Nathan Gomber has something to do with this. I don't think he'd be the one actually trying to scare Aunt Rosemary and Aunt Flora out of the house, I think he's hired someone to do all the dirty work."

"You already have a prime suspect?"

Nancy nodded, letting out a huff. "That's not the hard part in this mystery, the hard part is actually finding out how they're doing everything and finding some hard evidence that can be used against them in court." She glanced around nervously. Where was the officer? Had something happened to him? Was he only coming by every now and then to check up on the house and as such wouldn't be there? Or was he just hiding really well? She really hoped it was the last option. Maybe, hopefully, he had seen something, or if anything, this was just proof that the so-called ghost was in fact using the tunnel from Lilac Inn. They had to take a look there next. But first things first . . . "Where is the officer?" Nancy asked as she paused to look around, worried.

"He could be on the other side of the house," said Don, trying to ease her worry."

"Walking at the same pace as we are?" Nancy asked. She gave a little shake of her head. "That might seem to be the logical solution, but, I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this."

Don glanced around the yard, his eyes pausing at the thick forest that lay just around the perimeter of the property. "I am too, but I'm just thinking positive."

"I know, I thank you for it, but if we can't find him, we'll have to call Chief McGinnis and see if he's heard anything from him."

"That won't be necessary." The couple yelped and spun around. Stepping out from behind a tree was a police officer. He had sandy blonde hair and striking hazel eyes. He tipped his hat. "Tom Patrick, at your service. Miss Drew, I presume?"

Nancy nodded. "Nancy Drew, a pleasure to meet you Officer Patrick." She presented Don. "And this is my friend, Don Cameron."

Don and Tom Patrick shook hands. "Nice to meet you," said Don.