Note from author: Thanks for the 25 reviews! I have the rest of the story all planned out, but it would take additional six or seven chapters to tell all. And I will guarantee you that the ending will be a surprise. I hope you'll enjoy the newest chapter, and don't forget to post a review after you read it!

11

Hide and Seek

The detectives ate lunch at the restaurant next to the gas station where they spotted Kendall. Nancy's mind was on the so-called detective.

Why is he following me? she wondered. And who is he, if he's not a detective like he said? Did he follow me when I was at the Dilworths' house.

Dilworth! Nancy had forgot about them for an entire day!

"We should go to the Dilworths' house to check if they are all right," she suggested. Frank finished his hamburger and nodded, while Joe was still ordering an apple pie for dessert. As Joe finished his dessert, the threesome exited the premises and drove straight to the Dilworths'.

Nancy was the one who knocked on the door. "Hello? Mrs. Dilworth?"

The door was opened forcefully. Mrs. Dilworth came out from inside the house. She was holding a fishing rod and a towel. It seemed like she was cleaning the fishing rod. She was surprised to see the three detectives, but she was also glad. "Why, Nancy! Have you found evidence pointing toward that rotten girl's crime?"

Nancy was immediately maddened by the woman's rudeness and her doggedness for not believing that Bailey was innocent. However, she did not show that on her face. She simply asked with a straight face: "Have you any problem concerning your other antique items in your house? Was anything else stolen?"

"Heavens, no!" the middle-aged lady said. "I have been keeping an eye out for anything that comes into our house. That vase is the only thing missing from the house."

"Is that the most prized possession you have?"

"Well, if you put price on it, it would easily be auctioned off at a price of ten thousand dollars. But I have other antiques worth twenty thousand dollars or more in the collection room located on the second floor, right beneath the room with the broken window. There are ruby rings, paintings by famous artists…"

"I see…" Nancy said. "Did you personally call the police when you found that the vase was missing?"

"Why, yes. Who else could have called the police?"

"Okay, I guess that's it. Thank you for your time."

Mrs. Dilworth did not return the farewell. Instead, she closed the door as the young sleuth finished her sentence.

"Friendly neighbor," Joe muttered sarcastically as he watched the woman's actions.

Frank sighed. "What do we do now?"

Nancy looked around to make sure nobody was watching. She then said out loud, "Well, I guess that's it for the day, you guys. Let's go home."

Frank looked at Nancy with unbelieving look. "Do you seriously mean that you are going to quit the case?" the look said.

Nancy eyed him the look that said, "Trust me. Just go along with it."

Joe caught on and nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I think this case is too complicated for us. Too bad for bailey, but I think we should give up."

The three detectives went into the car and drove far enough so the Dilworths' house was out of sight. Then, Nancy stopped the car. Getting out of the driver's seat, she walked to the back of the Higgins' garage and watched as the Dilworths got out of the house.

Mrs. Dilworth looked around as if she was checking to see if anybody was watching them. Unaware that she was spied, Mrs. Dilworth got into the car after her husband. She was carrying the fishing rod.

Nancy smiled. "Come on, let's follow them!"

The three sleuths got into the car and followed the middle-aged couple in their car. The Dilworths' car turned around the corner and into the highway.

"Nobody can hide from me!" Joe said as he drove skillfully through the maze of cars. "There they are!"

Nancy saw the Dilworths' car immediately. After staying on the road for about an hour, they went into a forest preserve far away from the city. There were less and less cars now, making the Dilworths' car easier to spot. The detectives did the same.

Nancy couldn't believe how different the surroundings were. In New York City, she was surrounded by buildings after buildings, but here, they were surrounded by trees. There was no leaf on any of the trees, since it was midwinter and the air was about ten degrees below freezing point.

"So, Nancy," Frank asked Nancy after a while. "Why are we following them, exactly?"

"Because I noticed some irony in the Dilworths' statements."

"Irony?" Joe asked.

"Yeah. When she said that there were many valuable stuffs in the house, she also said that she called the police herself."

After thinking for a while, Joe shook his head. "I don't get it. What's the irony?"

"Oh, I get it now!" Frank shouted. "When someone has valuable stuffs nowadays, what would they do to keep those valuables safe?" he asked Joe.

"Uhhh… I would set up alarms around the house."

"Yeah. But these alarms that are sold these days are made so they could alert the police right away."

Joe nodded. "Oh, right! So when she said that she called police herself, that meant that she didn't have alarms set up around the house that could alarm the police right away. A person having many valuable things in her house would always set up alarms, especially when she goes on vacation."

"Exactly," Nancy said. "I think she did this because she wanted to prepare for the 'performance.' In other words, those Dilworths were the thief who stole the vase. They wanted to set up the footprints and the hook so they could fool the police and then call them, so the situation would seem more believable."

"But we don't have any proof. The police won't believe that even if we go up there and tell them that."

"That's why we're following them," Nancy said. "When I saw the fishing rod, I knew they must have a cabin somewhere, since that fishing rod seemed pretty old and used pretty often. And if I were to hide something, I would choose the cabin or lodge that I have that is located miles and miles away from my home. I believe that's where they are going. I did see her carrying the fishing rod into the car."

Frank shook his head in amazement. "You never fail to amaze me, Nancy. Your observation skills and logic is way beyond me. I couldn't even figure out the part about their having a cabin. You are a really amazing detective!"

Nancy blushed. "Thanks for the compliments, Frank. We'll need to report them to the police as soon as we find the vase in their cabin."

"I'll bet they are doing this so they could get the insurance money on the vase," Joe said in disgust, "and getting Bailey in a big trouble by making her look like she was the thief when she was just a scapegoat!"

The titian-haired detective agreed. "Look! They are parking their car next to that cabin!" She pointed to the cabin where the car was parked by.

The cabin looked fairly new. It seemed like it was there for just a few years. Nancy observed that there was a lake. What surprised Nancy was that the lake was frozen solid.

"It seems like they were not going to fish after all. They probably just brought the fishing rod to play billiards with," Joe muttered.

Quietly, the trio went to the cabin and looked inside. The curtain obscured their view, but they managed to hear the conversation.

"Do you have it?" It was Mr. Dilworth.

"Yes, brought the rod with me," said Mrs. Dilworth.

"Good. Give that to me."

A weird noise followed by. It seems like a door was opening. After a while, the door closed and the couple came out of the cabin. The detectives immediately ducked under the bushes. The Dilworths got into the car and drove off, leaving the detectives free to search the cabin.

Frank put his hand into his picket and took out a small box. "This is the picking kit to pick locks with. I mastered the art of lock-picking a long time ago."

Nancy giggled. "Now can you open the door for me?"

"I'll get it open in less than a minute," Frank said as he kneeled down and looked at the lock. "Uh… Forget what I said."

"What's wrong?" Nancy asked.

"Well, apparently, this is one of those special keys that cannot be duplicated. Therefore, the keyhole is different and the usual lock-picking kit won't work."

Joe groaned. "Okay, so we just have to watch as they get away with insurance fraud?"

Nancy wasn't so easy to give up. "I'll try the windows."

She walked to the side of the cabin and looked at the windows. She picked up a stick from the ground and slid it between the windowpanes. With a tug, the window was unlocked and open in no time.

"Who says technology is the best tool?" Nancy said, smiling at Frank and Joe.

"Good thinking!" Joe said, giving her a thumb-up.

The detectives got into the house and looked around. The cabin was empty. There was a desk, a chair, a closet, and a bed. Except for those furniture, the room was completely bare.

"I see the Dilworths weren't coming here for a long time," Frank said, noticing how much dust had settled on the desk. He also saw the fishing rod on the bed. "They left this."

"I've gotten myself into many cases involving old mansions and castles," Nancy said. "I think we need to do something with this rod and open a secret passageway or a secret compartment. Let me see…"

Nancy picked up the fishing rod. It was a normal one you could buy at any store. It was not necessarily expensive, but it was made of fine materials. It was quite hard.

Then, the girl detectives looked up. There was a single lamp hanging from the ceiling. Other than that, the ceiling had nothing interesting.

Nancy thought, Wait… A lamp?

Nancy noticed a small hole right next to the lamp. She took the chair and got on it. It wobbled a little, but it stayed still after a few seconds. She reached for the ceiling but her hands couldn't touch the ceiling. Nancy got down and used the rod. After putting the rod into the hole, she pushed the rod up.

Click!

They all heard the noise. As they looked up, they heard the closet swing go the left, hitting the wall. It was like the bookshelf at the secret annex where Anne Frank and her family and friends were hiding in. It swung and revealed a secret entrance to the attic. This worked like that as well. They could see a secret compartment big enough to fit three people. Nancy looked into the compartment.

Bingo! she thought.

There, in the compartment, was a vase one foot high and about eight inches wide.

"I knew it!" Joe said. "They were aiming to get the insurance money and then sell this vase in the black market!"

Nancy nodded. She was about to take the vase, but stopped. "No, we can't take this. We didn't even have a search warrant when we looked inside this cabin. First, we have to get to the police station and explain to them what happened and try to get a search warrant. But we better move fast. I have the feeling that…"

Nancy's feeling was right. The detectives all stopped as they heard the car park nearby. Then, the key turned. The Dilworths were back!

Nancy's eyes went to the window. No, if they go out, the Dilworths would surely see them. But then, there was no other way out.

Frank, Joe, and Nancy all froze in the middle of the room. They were trapped!