A/N- Thanks for the reviews! Please keep reviewing, I love reading them.
Actually, Furry Creature 1, cyanide is not only a poison. It is found in vitamin B12 and used in photography, and in chemical, metal, and plastic production, among other things. Still, don't ask me what its doing in a hospital. I have no idea, it's just there, all right? (Actually it isn't there. It was stolen.)
************************************************************************
Nancy woke with a jolt. Glancing at the digital clock, she saw that it was just after 3 am. She could hear George breathing softly on the other bed. She sat up. She thought she heard rustling in her father's room. Had her father returned? She heard a dull thud as something fell in the other room. Then it was silent, except for her own heavy breathing. "Dad?" she muttered uncertainly. A man poked his head through the connecting door. He was dressed in black. He certainly wasn't Carson Drew!
The man quickly withdrew his head and ducked back into Carson's room. Nancy could hear him fumbling with the doorknob that led to the hall.
Nancy swiftly and silently crept out of bed. She walked noiselessly to the door and turned the knob slowly, pushing the door open gently so it didn't make a sound. She stepped into the hallway at the same time as the intruder. The man glanced at her for a split second, and then ran in the opposite direction.
Nancy chased him down the corridor. He ran through the lobby, which was empty except for a stuffy looking receptionist in a black suit. "Stop him!" she cried. The receptionist looked startled and moved slowly. By the time he got up, the intruder had disappeared through the front door. Nancy followed, only to see him jump into a dark colored sedan which had been waiting by the curb. The sedan raced off before Nancy could get a plate number. She stared after it for a minute, then reentered the lobby.
The receptionist scurried up to her. "Is something the matter, Miss?" Nancy shook her head, not bothering to report the prowler. It wasn't worth it, she decided. She couldn't remember the last time hotel security had been helpful. She headed back to her room. She was on her own.
Back at the room, Nancy realized with a glance that her father had not returned. She flipped on the light in her father's room and frowned. The trash can had been knocked over, spilling a few papers, tissues, and wrappers onto the floor. That accounted for the thud, but nothing else had been moved. Nancy looked around in confusion. What had he been looking for? Maybe she had woken before he could take what he wanted. He was wearing gloves, so she knew there would be no fingerprints. She glanced at the phone and briefly considered calling Frank, then turned away. She was fine. Nothing had been stolen. No point in waking him at this time. She locked both doors and slid the chain into place. This time she remembered to change into her nightgown before she slipped into bed.
************************************************************************
The next morning at eight thirty Nancy opened her eyes. She sat up so fast that her head spun. "My father! Is he here?"
George was getting dressed. She looked at her friend sympathetically. "Sorry Nan. He isn't here."
The phone rang. Nancy picked it up and heard Frank's voice. "Hi Nancy. Did your father get back?"
"No. But we did have a mysterious prowler in our room last night!"
"What!" Two voices chorused. One voice was Frank's. The other's was George's, who was standing stunned in the corner, her mouth hanging open. "Last night?" she cried.
"Yup." Nancy replied matter-of-factly. "But he didn't steal anything. I chased him to the lobby but he got away." Her voice was annoyed.
"Are you okay?" Frank sounded alarmed.
Nancy assured him that she was fine. "I'm worried about my father, though."
"It's too early to report him missing." Frank observed. "Look, can you meet us for breakfast?"
Nancy agreed that she and George would meet the Hardys for breakfast in twenty minutes.
************************************************************************
After breakfast, the group headed to the hospital. Dr. Greene provided them with a list of the hospital staff and their shifts. Frank realized that there were over forty staff members alone who could have stolen the supplies. He didn't even want to think about the patients, although it was a long shot that they could have gotten a key to the supply closets. The locks hadn't been picked; there were no scratches on the doorknobs. It was probably an inside job.
As the group pored over the list, the blonde nurse who had caught Nancy in the closet poked her head in the door. Joe recognized her as Valerie, the girl he had talked to yesterday at the front desk. "Dr. Greene? Can I talk to you for a minute?" she requested urgently.
Dr. Greene and Valerie stepped into the hall. Seconds later Dr. Greene came back alone. "Another break-in." he said grimly. "The closet in the maternity wing was robbed last night."
"Great!" Joe said enthusiastically. Everyone but Frank stared at him in confusion.
Frank rolled his eyes. "What my verbally-gifted brother meant was that now we can narrow down the suspects by cross-checking the first list with the list of staff members who were on duty last night."
"Well, he's right." Nancy replied tiredly. "I shoulda picked up on that." Frank looked at her with concern. He could tell that she was really worried about her father, but she couldn't do anything about it until he had been missing for twenty-four hours. She looked pale and haggard, and he knew she hadn't gotten much sleep.
George stepped forward. "Well, can you get us a list of the staff that were here last night?" she directed the question at the doctor.
"Yes, yes, of course." The doctor left the room.
Nancy started pacing back and forth across the room impatiently. Her friends watched her silently.
"Nan..." George started to say something, but was sidetracked when Dr. Greene returned with the list of employees. Joe grabbed both lists and started to compare them. Eventually the list of forty-five people had been narrowed down to twenty-six.
"That's not too bad," Joe observed. "We'll just split up the list and question everyone separately."
"Hmm... let's see, four into twenty-six..." George said sarcastically.
This time Joe rolled his eyes. "It's six point five, okay? But unless you want to interview six and a half people, two of us are going to have to do seven."
"Gotcha." George said with mock understanding.
Dr. Greene interrupted their teasing with a warning not to disrupt any important procedures. Nancy realized that it would not be good for the hospital if they went around questioning doctors who were in the middle of surgery. The patients probably wouldn't like it either, she thought wryly.
The group divided up the list of suspects. The Hardys both had seven people, and the girls each had six. (They had decided against the six and a half people thing.) Then they split up to find their questionees. (A/N- "questionees" isn't a word, but it should be.)
************************************************************************
Nancy's first interview (if it could be called that) did not go successfully. She had spoken to Rosalie Rodriguez, a pretty, petite Spanish girl who spoke only a little English. Nancy had wondered how a hospital could hire someone who didn't speak English, but she reminded herself that Rosalie's job consisted mostly of making hospital beds and mopping the cafeteria floor.
Her talk with Rosalie had gotten her nowhere. Nancy only spoke a little high school Spanish and had understood very little of what the girl was saying beyond, "Hola! ¿Cómo lo puedo ayudar yo?" (Hi! How can I help you?)
Nancy had tried to ask her about the thefts, but she understood none of it and Nancy's Spanish teacher had never bothered to teach her how to interrogate people in Spanish. She sighed. Nothing was going her way today.
Nancy shook her head. "Yo no comprendo." (I don't understand.) She then pulled her last resort out of her purse- the glove. "¿Suyo?" (Yours?) she asked, holding out the glove.
"No." the girl shook her head. Nancy didn't even try to ask if she knew who it belonged to. It wasn't worth the frustration. Using her limited Spanish she thanked Rosalie for her time and left.
She glanced at the next name on her list and made her way up to the third floor, where she spotted the office of Doctor Marilyn Henshaw. Dr. Henshaw was an obstetrician, so she would hopefully have some information on the closet that was just broken into. She knocked softly on the door, then turned the knob.
Dr. Henshaw was a tall, large boned woman with wispy brown hair and a gentle face. She was seated behind a desk looking through some file folders.
"Dr. Henshaw?" Nancy asked.
"Yes, that's me." said the woman. "What can I do for you?
Nancy thought the woman might be sorry she asked, but she went ahead anyway. First she tried the glove, hoping that she could find out whose it was. After all, it was their only clue. "Excuse me, but do you know who this belongs to?"
"Well, it isn't mine. Sorry young lady, but I can't help you there." Dr. Henshaw replied.
Nancy decided to level with her. "Actually, ma'am, I'm looking for information. I'm Nancy Drew, and I'm a private detective. I'm investigating the thefts at the hospital. Since maternity is your department, I was wondering if you could help me get a look at the crime scene."
Dr. Henshaw's expression changed from congenial to distrustful. "How do I know you are who you say you are?" she asked skeptically. "And who hired you?"
Nancy assured her that those things could be verified by a quick call to Dr. Greene's office. After the doctor got off the phone, she smiled cheerily at Nancy and led her to the supply closet, keeping up an endless stream of talk. "Sorry about not trusting you, dear, but you must understand that my nerves are so frazzled after these thefts that I have to be cautious..."
Normally Nancy would have listened politely to Dr. Henshaw's friendly chatter, but she was so preoccupied with her father's disappearance that she kept zoning out. As they reached the closet, she focused her attention back on the doctor.
"...I'm so glad they finally brought someone in to deal with this, because I'm so worried that these chemicals might fall into the wrong hands..." the doctor was saying as she opened the door with a small gold key.
The door swung open and the pair stepped inside. Nancy asked, "What was stolen?"
Dr. Henshaw told her, "Mostly anesthetics." She chuckled. "But they left us the diapers and the baby food!"
An announcement came over the loudspeakers. "Would Doctor Henshaw please report to room three-oh-two? Doctor Henshaw to room three-oh-two."
Marilyn Henshaw turned to Nancy. "Well, I have to go, but feel free to poke around in here." She turned to leave. "Good luck!" She called over her shoulder.
Nancy surveyed the closet. Dr. Henshaw was right- the blankets, diapers, and other baby supplies were untouched. The shelf which had once held anesthetics and painkillers was nearly clear. Nancy winced when she thought about what criminals could use the powerful drugs for. (Use your imagination.)
The closet was also very clean. There were very few traces of dust, with the exception of some dried mud on the floor. Nancy stooped over to get a closer look and realized that the dried mud had come from the cracks in someone's sneakers. It was also an odd reddish color. Nancy scooped it up and put it in another plastic bag. As she stood up, a flash of silver caught her eye. She picked up an earring backing off of the floor. Nancy sighed. Well, that's helpful, she thought. Now we know that the thief is missing a glove and an earring, and they have dirty sneakers.
After combing the closet thoroughly and finding nothing else, Nancy decided to move on to her next employee.
************************************************************************
It had been a long morning for Joe too. He had trekked all over the hospital looking for Dr. Kildon, only to finally find that it was his day off. After that, he had asked nurse Janet Peters if she had lost a glove, which she scornfully suggested he put in the lost and found. He had just talked to Nathan Phillips, a long-haired boy who wore a black tee shirt and a silver chain around his neck. He wore spikes on his wrist and a stud in his left ear. Basically, he looked about as punk as you can be and still work in a hospital. Joe could only assume he was doing some kind of community service.
It was around one o'clock when he bumped into Nancy. Nancy was showing him the earring and the mud from the maternity ward closet when George appeared as well.
Nancy looked around at her friends. "Where's Frank? I haven't seen him all day."
Joe explained that Frank was going down to the boiler room to check out the maintenance staff.
George shivered. "I'm glad I don't have to go down there." she said. "It's creepy how it's so cold, and there's never anybody around..."
Nancy grinned at her friend. "Relax, George. It's the basement, not the Twilight Zone!" She teased. Then she shook her head. "We'd better get moving if we want to talk to everyone. I still have three people to go!"
************************************************************************
Nancy's fourth questionee turned out to be in surgery. The next name on her list was Ronald Shwalt, Engineer. She walked though the double doors leading to the stairwell that went to the basement. It was eerily quiet. "You have now entered... The Twilight Zone." she muttered to herself. As she opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, she heard footsteps softly echoing at the end of the hall. She stepped into the corridor and saw two rows of closed doors. The one at the end to the right was slightly open.
Nancy walked quickly and silently to the end of the hall. She wasn't sure why she felt like she was sneaking around. She peered through the door into a closet and saw a black clothed figure wearing a ski mask, her back to Nancy. It was obviously a large woman. As if that weren't creepy enough, she had a large hypodermic needle full of amber liquid in her hand and was flourishing it in a menacing manner.
Nancy peered around her, feeling grateful that the woman was too preoccupied to notice. Any good feelings dissolved when Nancy saw who was being threatened. At the woman's feet, bound and gagged, was Frank Hardy.
Actually, Furry Creature 1, cyanide is not only a poison. It is found in vitamin B12 and used in photography, and in chemical, metal, and plastic production, among other things. Still, don't ask me what its doing in a hospital. I have no idea, it's just there, all right? (Actually it isn't there. It was stolen.)
************************************************************************
Nancy woke with a jolt. Glancing at the digital clock, she saw that it was just after 3 am. She could hear George breathing softly on the other bed. She sat up. She thought she heard rustling in her father's room. Had her father returned? She heard a dull thud as something fell in the other room. Then it was silent, except for her own heavy breathing. "Dad?" she muttered uncertainly. A man poked his head through the connecting door. He was dressed in black. He certainly wasn't Carson Drew!
The man quickly withdrew his head and ducked back into Carson's room. Nancy could hear him fumbling with the doorknob that led to the hall.
Nancy swiftly and silently crept out of bed. She walked noiselessly to the door and turned the knob slowly, pushing the door open gently so it didn't make a sound. She stepped into the hallway at the same time as the intruder. The man glanced at her for a split second, and then ran in the opposite direction.
Nancy chased him down the corridor. He ran through the lobby, which was empty except for a stuffy looking receptionist in a black suit. "Stop him!" she cried. The receptionist looked startled and moved slowly. By the time he got up, the intruder had disappeared through the front door. Nancy followed, only to see him jump into a dark colored sedan which had been waiting by the curb. The sedan raced off before Nancy could get a plate number. She stared after it for a minute, then reentered the lobby.
The receptionist scurried up to her. "Is something the matter, Miss?" Nancy shook her head, not bothering to report the prowler. It wasn't worth it, she decided. She couldn't remember the last time hotel security had been helpful. She headed back to her room. She was on her own.
Back at the room, Nancy realized with a glance that her father had not returned. She flipped on the light in her father's room and frowned. The trash can had been knocked over, spilling a few papers, tissues, and wrappers onto the floor. That accounted for the thud, but nothing else had been moved. Nancy looked around in confusion. What had he been looking for? Maybe she had woken before he could take what he wanted. He was wearing gloves, so she knew there would be no fingerprints. She glanced at the phone and briefly considered calling Frank, then turned away. She was fine. Nothing had been stolen. No point in waking him at this time. She locked both doors and slid the chain into place. This time she remembered to change into her nightgown before she slipped into bed.
************************************************************************
The next morning at eight thirty Nancy opened her eyes. She sat up so fast that her head spun. "My father! Is he here?"
George was getting dressed. She looked at her friend sympathetically. "Sorry Nan. He isn't here."
The phone rang. Nancy picked it up and heard Frank's voice. "Hi Nancy. Did your father get back?"
"No. But we did have a mysterious prowler in our room last night!"
"What!" Two voices chorused. One voice was Frank's. The other's was George's, who was standing stunned in the corner, her mouth hanging open. "Last night?" she cried.
"Yup." Nancy replied matter-of-factly. "But he didn't steal anything. I chased him to the lobby but he got away." Her voice was annoyed.
"Are you okay?" Frank sounded alarmed.
Nancy assured him that she was fine. "I'm worried about my father, though."
"It's too early to report him missing." Frank observed. "Look, can you meet us for breakfast?"
Nancy agreed that she and George would meet the Hardys for breakfast in twenty minutes.
************************************************************************
After breakfast, the group headed to the hospital. Dr. Greene provided them with a list of the hospital staff and their shifts. Frank realized that there were over forty staff members alone who could have stolen the supplies. He didn't even want to think about the patients, although it was a long shot that they could have gotten a key to the supply closets. The locks hadn't been picked; there were no scratches on the doorknobs. It was probably an inside job.
As the group pored over the list, the blonde nurse who had caught Nancy in the closet poked her head in the door. Joe recognized her as Valerie, the girl he had talked to yesterday at the front desk. "Dr. Greene? Can I talk to you for a minute?" she requested urgently.
Dr. Greene and Valerie stepped into the hall. Seconds later Dr. Greene came back alone. "Another break-in." he said grimly. "The closet in the maternity wing was robbed last night."
"Great!" Joe said enthusiastically. Everyone but Frank stared at him in confusion.
Frank rolled his eyes. "What my verbally-gifted brother meant was that now we can narrow down the suspects by cross-checking the first list with the list of staff members who were on duty last night."
"Well, he's right." Nancy replied tiredly. "I shoulda picked up on that." Frank looked at her with concern. He could tell that she was really worried about her father, but she couldn't do anything about it until he had been missing for twenty-four hours. She looked pale and haggard, and he knew she hadn't gotten much sleep.
George stepped forward. "Well, can you get us a list of the staff that were here last night?" she directed the question at the doctor.
"Yes, yes, of course." The doctor left the room.
Nancy started pacing back and forth across the room impatiently. Her friends watched her silently.
"Nan..." George started to say something, but was sidetracked when Dr. Greene returned with the list of employees. Joe grabbed both lists and started to compare them. Eventually the list of forty-five people had been narrowed down to twenty-six.
"That's not too bad," Joe observed. "We'll just split up the list and question everyone separately."
"Hmm... let's see, four into twenty-six..." George said sarcastically.
This time Joe rolled his eyes. "It's six point five, okay? But unless you want to interview six and a half people, two of us are going to have to do seven."
"Gotcha." George said with mock understanding.
Dr. Greene interrupted their teasing with a warning not to disrupt any important procedures. Nancy realized that it would not be good for the hospital if they went around questioning doctors who were in the middle of surgery. The patients probably wouldn't like it either, she thought wryly.
The group divided up the list of suspects. The Hardys both had seven people, and the girls each had six. (They had decided against the six and a half people thing.) Then they split up to find their questionees. (A/N- "questionees" isn't a word, but it should be.)
************************************************************************
Nancy's first interview (if it could be called that) did not go successfully. She had spoken to Rosalie Rodriguez, a pretty, petite Spanish girl who spoke only a little English. Nancy had wondered how a hospital could hire someone who didn't speak English, but she reminded herself that Rosalie's job consisted mostly of making hospital beds and mopping the cafeteria floor.
Her talk with Rosalie had gotten her nowhere. Nancy only spoke a little high school Spanish and had understood very little of what the girl was saying beyond, "Hola! ¿Cómo lo puedo ayudar yo?" (Hi! How can I help you?)
Nancy had tried to ask her about the thefts, but she understood none of it and Nancy's Spanish teacher had never bothered to teach her how to interrogate people in Spanish. She sighed. Nothing was going her way today.
Nancy shook her head. "Yo no comprendo." (I don't understand.) She then pulled her last resort out of her purse- the glove. "¿Suyo?" (Yours?) she asked, holding out the glove.
"No." the girl shook her head. Nancy didn't even try to ask if she knew who it belonged to. It wasn't worth the frustration. Using her limited Spanish she thanked Rosalie for her time and left.
She glanced at the next name on her list and made her way up to the third floor, where she spotted the office of Doctor Marilyn Henshaw. Dr. Henshaw was an obstetrician, so she would hopefully have some information on the closet that was just broken into. She knocked softly on the door, then turned the knob.
Dr. Henshaw was a tall, large boned woman with wispy brown hair and a gentle face. She was seated behind a desk looking through some file folders.
"Dr. Henshaw?" Nancy asked.
"Yes, that's me." said the woman. "What can I do for you?
Nancy thought the woman might be sorry she asked, but she went ahead anyway. First she tried the glove, hoping that she could find out whose it was. After all, it was their only clue. "Excuse me, but do you know who this belongs to?"
"Well, it isn't mine. Sorry young lady, but I can't help you there." Dr. Henshaw replied.
Nancy decided to level with her. "Actually, ma'am, I'm looking for information. I'm Nancy Drew, and I'm a private detective. I'm investigating the thefts at the hospital. Since maternity is your department, I was wondering if you could help me get a look at the crime scene."
Dr. Henshaw's expression changed from congenial to distrustful. "How do I know you are who you say you are?" she asked skeptically. "And who hired you?"
Nancy assured her that those things could be verified by a quick call to Dr. Greene's office. After the doctor got off the phone, she smiled cheerily at Nancy and led her to the supply closet, keeping up an endless stream of talk. "Sorry about not trusting you, dear, but you must understand that my nerves are so frazzled after these thefts that I have to be cautious..."
Normally Nancy would have listened politely to Dr. Henshaw's friendly chatter, but she was so preoccupied with her father's disappearance that she kept zoning out. As they reached the closet, she focused her attention back on the doctor.
"...I'm so glad they finally brought someone in to deal with this, because I'm so worried that these chemicals might fall into the wrong hands..." the doctor was saying as she opened the door with a small gold key.
The door swung open and the pair stepped inside. Nancy asked, "What was stolen?"
Dr. Henshaw told her, "Mostly anesthetics." She chuckled. "But they left us the diapers and the baby food!"
An announcement came over the loudspeakers. "Would Doctor Henshaw please report to room three-oh-two? Doctor Henshaw to room three-oh-two."
Marilyn Henshaw turned to Nancy. "Well, I have to go, but feel free to poke around in here." She turned to leave. "Good luck!" She called over her shoulder.
Nancy surveyed the closet. Dr. Henshaw was right- the blankets, diapers, and other baby supplies were untouched. The shelf which had once held anesthetics and painkillers was nearly clear. Nancy winced when she thought about what criminals could use the powerful drugs for. (Use your imagination.)
The closet was also very clean. There were very few traces of dust, with the exception of some dried mud on the floor. Nancy stooped over to get a closer look and realized that the dried mud had come from the cracks in someone's sneakers. It was also an odd reddish color. Nancy scooped it up and put it in another plastic bag. As she stood up, a flash of silver caught her eye. She picked up an earring backing off of the floor. Nancy sighed. Well, that's helpful, she thought. Now we know that the thief is missing a glove and an earring, and they have dirty sneakers.
After combing the closet thoroughly and finding nothing else, Nancy decided to move on to her next employee.
************************************************************************
It had been a long morning for Joe too. He had trekked all over the hospital looking for Dr. Kildon, only to finally find that it was his day off. After that, he had asked nurse Janet Peters if she had lost a glove, which she scornfully suggested he put in the lost and found. He had just talked to Nathan Phillips, a long-haired boy who wore a black tee shirt and a silver chain around his neck. He wore spikes on his wrist and a stud in his left ear. Basically, he looked about as punk as you can be and still work in a hospital. Joe could only assume he was doing some kind of community service.
It was around one o'clock when he bumped into Nancy. Nancy was showing him the earring and the mud from the maternity ward closet when George appeared as well.
Nancy looked around at her friends. "Where's Frank? I haven't seen him all day."
Joe explained that Frank was going down to the boiler room to check out the maintenance staff.
George shivered. "I'm glad I don't have to go down there." she said. "It's creepy how it's so cold, and there's never anybody around..."
Nancy grinned at her friend. "Relax, George. It's the basement, not the Twilight Zone!" She teased. Then she shook her head. "We'd better get moving if we want to talk to everyone. I still have three people to go!"
************************************************************************
Nancy's fourth questionee turned out to be in surgery. The next name on her list was Ronald Shwalt, Engineer. She walked though the double doors leading to the stairwell that went to the basement. It was eerily quiet. "You have now entered... The Twilight Zone." she muttered to herself. As she opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, she heard footsteps softly echoing at the end of the hall. She stepped into the corridor and saw two rows of closed doors. The one at the end to the right was slightly open.
Nancy walked quickly and silently to the end of the hall. She wasn't sure why she felt like she was sneaking around. She peered through the door into a closet and saw a black clothed figure wearing a ski mask, her back to Nancy. It was obviously a large woman. As if that weren't creepy enough, she had a large hypodermic needle full of amber liquid in her hand and was flourishing it in a menacing manner.
Nancy peered around her, feeling grateful that the woman was too preoccupied to notice. Any good feelings dissolved when Nancy saw who was being threatened. At the woman's feet, bound and gagged, was Frank Hardy.