Chapter XIV: Finishing Touches

Nancy

As soon as I hung up the phone from talking to Joe, I started right in on working on the manuscript. I first sketched a few practice designs on a regular piece of paper before I chose one that I liked. Then I started sketching it very carefully onto the parchment.

It was about seven thirty in the morning when I started – Bayport and River Heights are in different time zones, so it was later than that there when Joe called me. By the time I had chosen my design for the manuscript, it was almost nine. Hannah had called me for breakfast before that, but I didn't want to take any more time away from my work than I had to.

Soon after I had begun, Bess and George dropped in. They had gotten a little behind on what was going on, so they were surprised when I told them what I was doing.

"I know you're good at painting and drawing, Nance, but do you really think this plan is going to work?" George asked.

I lowered my pencil and frowned. "Honestly, I don't think there's a very good chance. I've tried this sort of thing before and it worked once – with that stone tablet, remember? But once isn't a very good batting average."

"Then why didn't you just tell Joe you think it's a dumb idea?" George asked.

"It's a last resort sort of plan, in case the police don't find Callie before the deadline," I told her. "In that case, what else can you do?"

"It sounds risky to me," Bess commented. "But I guess you're right, unless someone comes up with a better plan."

"We could steal the page from the library here," George suggested. When Bess and I stared at her, she grinned and said, "Just kidding, guys."

"If you want to help, George, could you see if I can still get a reservation on a plane to Bayport tomorrow?" I suggested.

"Sure thing," George agreed and got to work on her phone. After a few minutes, she said, "There's one leaving at six in the morning tomorrow. There's a connection in New York with a two-hour layover, and then it gets into Bayport at quarter to eleven their time."

"Sounds fine," I said.

By that evening, I had gotten most of the color applied to the parchment. I still hadn't figured out how to put gold leaf on or where to get the gold leaf in the first place, so I decided I'd have to do without. Ned found a shiny gold paint, and I hoped that that would do the trick.

My flight came in a little later than it was scheduled, so it was almost ten past eleven when I arrived in Bayport. Frank and Joe met me at the airport. Joe gave me an enthusiastic welcome, and while Frank tried to, I could tell his heart wasn't in it.

"How are you guys doing?" I asked, looking more at Frank than Joe. I couldn't help but think of the time that Ned had been kidnapped and how sick I'd been until I'd found him.

Frank shrugged. "Okay. How's the parchment coming?"

I blushed a little. "I'm sorry, guys. I've done the best I could. It's not going to fool anybody for more than two seconds."

"That's all the more we need," Joe assured me. "We spent all day yesterday outlining our plans with Dad and the police. It will work."

"Maybe," Frank added.

"It will work," Joe repeated himself. "Dad thinks it will."

"He thinks it might," Frank said. "The police think it's crazy, and I have to agree."

"Olaf's the one who thinks it's crazy, and he'd say that about any plan that we'd come up with," Joe replied.

"Look, guys, maybe this isn't the place to be talking about this," I broke in. "Let's get to your house first and then we can go over the whole plan."

When we got to the Hardy house, Frank and Joe's parents and their aunt Gertrude were waiting for us to come. I'd met them a time or two before this, and they greeted me cordially.

I began taking out the parchment and my supplies. "I need to finish this," I explained. "Tell me your plans while I work."

"That looks great, Nancy," Joe said when he saw the parchment. "It'd fool anybody."

"Anybody who doesn't have a clue what they're looking for," I replied. "I hope your plan doesn't involve the kidnappers getting a chance to look at this closely."

"It doesn't," Frank said.

"Here's what we're gonna do," Joe said. "The police aren't going to let us go through with the plan until they're satisfied they can't find Callie. So, the last day before our time's up, Olaf is going to send a bunch of plainclothes detectives to patrol the area around the address the kidnappers gave us. It's on the waterfront, and there's always lots of people milling around there. A few hours later, when it's starting to get dark, Frank's going to go down there. He'll give them just a glimpse of the parchment. Between getting only a glimpse and it being partly dark, the kidnappers shouldn't notice that the parchment is a fake. Then, he'll insist that they let Callie go before he'll hand the ransom over. As soon as Callie's safe, the police'll come in and round up the kidnappers."

"Sounds simple," I commented.

"Simple enough for even Olaf to handle it," Joe replied.

"I thought the kidnappers said that Frank had to come alone," I said.

"They did," Frank confirmed. "We're hoping that they won't realize the police are police if they get there so much earlier than I do."

I set to work on the parchment some more. For the most part, the Hardys left me to work alone. In a few hours, I had the illustrations finished. Then I set it aside so that it could completely dry before I began the aging process.

The next morning, I used the coffee and baking process to make the parchment appear old. I also dripped water on it, tore it, burned the edges, and basically did anything that either Joe or I could think of to make it look as damaged as possible.

"Does it look as beat up as the real one?" Joe asked Frank, holding the parchment up so that Frank could see.

"I guess," he replied. "It doesn't really matter, though. The kidnappers didn't see the real one."

"True," Joe agreed. "Well, I guess we're as ready as we'll ever be. Here's hoping the plan works."

"You do have a backup plan in case it doesn't?" I asked.

"Well, ideally, Frank and Callie will be able to walk right out of there before the action starts," Joe explained. "Frank's not going to go past the doorway, though, and the police will be right there. If anything goes wrong, Frank can get out of there fast. The kidnappers will chase him, and the police will catch the kidnappers. Olaf's a real loser, but the other officers are dependable enough to carry through."

"Except they'll leave at least one of the kidnappers inside the building to guard Callie, and then that one will have a hostage," I pointed out.

"There is that," Joe admitted.

"It's not a great plan," Frank said. "It's not even a good plan, and I'm afraid it's not going to work. We don't have a lot of choice, though."

I nodded. It was a tough situation. Frank and Joe didn't have any leads to Callie that the police weren't in a better position to follow up on, so there was nothing more any of us could do. We all sat around the Hardys' living room, glumly thinking over the plan and trying to convince ourselves that it would work.

"What about those three guys?" I asked suddenly. "The ones who stole the manuscript page. Have you looked into them at all?"

"Not really," Joe told me. "They don't seem to fit in anywhere. At first, we were afraid they might be the kidnappers, but the kidnappers haven't contacted us in any way since then, so we think they probably aren't. The guy who stole the copies of the journal wasn't one of them, so they might all be involved together or they might not."

"Then there's most likely two sets of criminals after the manuscript pages," I mused. "There's also my prowler in River Heights, Myron Kelting, and the guy from the library. By the way, did you guys ever get a chance to ID him?"

"No," Joe said. "We've been too busy. Do you think he has anything to do with this?"

"It could be," I replied. "He could also be Myron Kelting. I didn't get a good look at the prowler."

"He sounds a little bit like our burglar," Joe said. "But what was he after? He could have been trying to steal your photos of the pages – it would be way easier for him to get those honestly."

"Maybe he was just trying to learn if I'd found anything out yet," I suggested. "Although the tactics seem a little extreme for that, too."

"Come on, Frank, you always like to act like you're the brains." Joe turned to his brother. "What do you think? Are Nancy's villains part of our villains' gangs or not?"

"They could be," Frank admitted. "I think the bigger question is how are Sinclair and Miller tied up in this? It can't be a coincidence that they asked us to work on these cases so close together, and they've both acted strange since day one."

"But it doesn't make sense for them to be behind what's been going on," Joe protested. "They wouldn't have to steal or kidnap or burglarize to get the manuscript or the messages in the manuscript pages. We were going to hand those over all along."

I ran my fingers through my hair, thinking. "What if they are behind it, but they're working together?" I said. "Sinclair hired Kelting to find out what I know, and Miller's behind the trouble here to get the manuscript page from you two."

"But we don't think the kidnappers and the crooks who took the page are working together," Joe reminded me.

"That's right," I agreed. "What about the address that the kidnappers gave? Did you or the police check it out?"

"The police did," Frank said. "It's just a warehouse along the waterfront. The kidnappers don't seem to be using it as a hideout or anything, so it must just be a drop point."

Before any more ideas could be thrown out, Joe's phone started ringing.

"Hello?" he said into it. His brows furrowed as he listened to what the caller was saying. He hung up without saying another word and then turned to Frank and me with a serious expression.

"The kidnappers?" Frank guessed.

"Right," Joe said. "They somehow found out that we found the manuscript, although they don't seem to know that it was stolen. They've moved up the timetable. They want the ransom tonight."