Nancy Drew- The Missing Gown.

Chapter 7- A Chase

Nancy paused for a while then she spoke in a crystal clear voice “Maybe…” she looked at Bess and told her “It’s just a possibility.” She paused and took a deep breath and told quickly “I think it is Christie Andrew!”

 Bess quickly defended her new friend “No way! She … she… I don’t know it just can’t be her!”  Nancy gave Bess a sympathy look and continued “Bess I am sorry, but it has to be her!! You know she has blue eyes and black hair. Neither Stella nor does the man whom so ever he is have blue eyes and black hair! It has to be Christie!”

She completed her sentence and waited for everyone to respond to it. Bess gave a puzzled look and asked Nancy “But how do you know that the thief is from Stella’s store?” Nancy gave a smug smile and continued “Right now Ms Jones told us a shop of cloth something with N…” Then Nancy laughed and told Ms Jones “It is Needle and thread!”

Ms Jones laughed and told “Yeah! That’s what I meant!” Ned got serious and spoke “Guys, we need to get serious.”

Nancy continued what was her theory “                No one has seen an attack happen on her. So that’s the way she spoke lies.” Bess shrieked “No!! I just can’t imagine her stealing stuff like that! She is innocent!” Nancy tried to comfort Bess and told “Actually, we are jumping to conclusions. We have no actual proof that she is the culprit. We cannot accuse someone like that.”

Nancy told everyone “Um…actually yes. In a way Bess has a point. Christie isn’t a person of that sort. She must have been attacked.” 

Ms Jones coughed and asked for some attention she spoke in a firm voice “Uh…we aren’t jumping to conclusions. Till my information the culprit has come in by the fake name “A-N-D-R-E-W.” He spelled it out so he doesn’t pronounce it like N&T. Ned looked at Ms Jones “why didn’t you tell us that at first?” Ms Jones laughed and said “if you’ll have let me I could tell you that.”

Suddenly Bess balled and went all ballistic. Nancy, Ned and Ms Jones chorused “What happened?” Bess spoke really slowly “Uh… I have some real bad news!” Again they all chimed in together “What?”  Bess started shaking her head and said “I am afraid that Christie is leaving for Dubai today early morning around 4:00am and she told she will come back in a few days. But if she is the culprit she won’t!”

Nancy looked at her wristwatch she pulled Bess and Ned and said “We need to leave now! It is 1:05am already!”

They all rushed towards Ned’s Mustang. Bess asked Ms Jones “You want to come in the car or by your bike?” Ms Jones ran towards her bike and shouted from there “I will go by my bike. It is much faster.”

They were in the airport at 1:30. They had already called inspector Jenks. He was already there waiting for them. They all were trying to search Christie but she was nowhere to be seen. Nancy thought that she could be sitting home and doing online checking. But suddenly Bess cried “Oh! There she is near the washroom.” Everyone could now see Christie texting on her phone. She was not far away from them. She was standing and messaging. Jenks said “maybe she is with one of her gang members on the phone.” But then they knew who she was texting. She had messaged Bess. It said

Hi. Come to say goodbye to me? Thanks so much I will come there in a second

Christie was wearing a short tight mini skirt, and a shocking pink t-shirt. She was wearing sunglasses she was walking towards us when she spotted the police and ran in the opposite direction.

The security guard did not let anyone enter beyond the meeting point.  Inspector Jenks and some other police constables were allowed to enter. Nancy begged them that she was a detective and it was very important to go in and catch a thief. At last the security guard allowed only Nancy and Ned. Nancy asked Bess to stay there and told her “If, Christie tries to run away from the airport, you try to catch her.” Bess agreed and waited there.

Christie looked back and saw everyone charging towards her. She ran and dodged Jenks. She was going to board the aeroplane. Suddenly Ms Jones came out of nowhere and pounced on Christie. She tried to free herself by biting on Ms Jones wrist but she did not let her go. Christie was too exhausted to run anymore. She was upset. She humped on a nearby bench.

Bess was furious with Christie she kept on murmuring to herself. She balled and said loudly “How could you Christie? I was so close to you.” Christie smirked and replied to Bess in a nasty way “That’s what you think. But we were never close. Never. You are such a “wannabe” Bess.” Bess got even angrier at being called a “wannabe”.

Nancy asked Bess to calm down. She asked Jenks and Ms Jones “Uh…please can we take her to N&T?” Jenks nodded his head. They all got into Ned’s mustang. He drove all of them to N&T.

Stella and her nephew, Larry ‘O Keefe were sitting glumly on the table. They all went in and Jenks announced “Mrs. Cupcake we have caught the thief. I think you might be interested in seeing her.”