Foreword: Okay, here is the beginning of the revelation! I know most of you didn't even care who the killer was, but I'm glad at least someone made a guess. Anyway, here is the first part of the disclosure, where Nancy is trapped with the killer in an old abandoned barn. Oh, before that, a message for Nancy Nickerson:

Well, quitting is always the last solution. You can write a little by little during your freetime and update once a month. Or you can wait until winter and spring vacations to write a lot. Whatever you do, keeping the readers hanging is the worst thing, especially when you are writing a mystery. In my opinion, all other forms of fictions have somewhat predictable endings (Sorry if this offends anybody), but mystery doesn't, since the readers need to know who the criminal was and how/why they killed somebody, etc. If you are feeling like you have a writer's block, then you can rest your fingers for a few days and then find some free times to write more. If you really want to quit, just finish the story you already started and then you can quit. But I think you have many good ideas and would like to read more of the story soon.

Okay, in this chapter, the detectives chase after the killer who seemed to have kidnapped another person to be the next victim. Will they stop the killer?


14

Disclosure #1: Hide and Seek

The car kept running without stopping. Frank looked at the time. It was already close to ten o'clock. "Where is that person going to?" he murmured. "At this rate, we'd be going to the stateline!"

Joe groaned. "That's why I never wanted you to drive. If I were you, I'd be driving just inches away from that vehicle!"

"But I never feel safe around you, Joe," Frank said. "Whenever I go with you to chase a criminal, I always get the feeling that my end is near."

"Exaggerating a bit too much, big brother?" Joe asked. "Besides, that time was one of the only times you've ever caught the criminal without his getting away just because you drove too slow."

"I don't care," Frank returned. "We always caught criminals before, and we'll catch one again. Besides, I value my life more than catching those lawbreakers."

Joe snorted. "Fine, bro. Have it your way and let him get away."

"Joe, please!"

It was George. She was looking at the car that was almost disappearing from out of sight. "Can you drive a little faster, Frank?"

Frank grimaced. "I don't know. This car is a van, after all."

The concrete road was turning into gravel driveway. The detectives heard the familiar crunching under the wheels. The car rocked side to side at a steady speed, making George a little nauseous. She looked out the window and saw almost nothing but darkness after darkness. The woods nearby were creepy at night, and she definitely didn't want to spend a night there. Silently, she prayed for the car to not run out gas. She just wished they could just go home, but she knew catching the crook was important to at least three people in the group. She just kept quiet and tried not to hurl.

It was actually unusual for an athletic girl like George to feel that queasy, but the long car ride in that condition would have made anyone sick. If she were Bess, then she would have already thrown up in the car a long time ago. The other four members seemed unaffected, but after a while, Nancy let out a sigh.

"I hope the driver knows where he's heading to because I'm getting kind of sick from riding in a bumpy road for nearly twenty minutes! If I'm right, we've been driving for an hour ever since leaving Miami to chase after that black car."

Just as she finished the sentence, she saw the car turned abruptly right. The detectives were unprepared for this, so they couldn't make the turn. Instead, their van went into the grassland.

Grunting, Frank turned the wheel just seconds before the car hit the tree nearby. The car turned left and got on the same road as they had been on for an hour. Then, the detective made a huge U-turn and headed after the black car.

But when they got there, they could see no sign of the car! It disappeared!

"No way!" Ned shouted in disbelief. "We lost him?"

Joe grunted. "The car is black, so I figure he just turned the lights off and drove as fast as he could into the darkness somewhere."

As the detectives looked around, they were in an old and abandoned farm. The word "abandoned" wasn't always Nancy's favorite, and this farm definitely wasn't a great place to stay when the car ran out of gas. Thankfully, it didn't.

The detectives looked at each other. "Okay," Frank said. "We'll need to separate into two groups and search the area. Nancy, George, and I will be in one group, and Joe and Ned will be in another. Since all of us know some way to defend ourselves, we won't leave anyone in the van."

The others nodded. But Ned wasn't happy with the idea of his investigating with Joe and not Nancy, but he didn't complain; this was no time to complain, since they had no time to waste.

"Oh, no, wait!" Joe suddenly shouted. "I need to go back into the car to get my flashlight! Can I borrow the key from you?"

Frank sighed. "All right. Here."

After getting the car key, Joe quickly went to the van and opened the door. In there, he found the flashlight he always carried with him. After locking the door, he put the key into his pocket and went to the barn.

The first group went and investigated the barn; the other group searched around the area.

After they separated, the group with Nancy, George, and Frank went to the door of the barn. It wasn't locked, so they opened it. It opened with a huge creaking sound. Getting in, the detectives turned their flashlights on and shone it around. The barn was filled with dried grass and tools used to carry them. There were also many ropes lying around.

Nancy already knew who the killer was. But she still couldn't believe it. She had solved the mystery and knew what the evidence might be that could get the killer locked up for life. But something in her mind told her that the person wouldn't do such a thing. At least, she didn't think the killer had the motive to kill that victim. Was there to this mystery that she had thought?

The darkness was overwhelming. Even George, who was usually very brave and sometimes foolhardy, felt a chill when she stood in the piles of dried grass. The smell wasn't very pleasant, either. It seemed like the barn was abandoned years ago. It seemed like the owners just vanished, just like the suspects. George shone her flashlights around. She knew where Nancy and Frank were because she could see the lights from the flashlights moving around the area. But there was no way for her to know which one was Nancy and which one was Frank. It was just too dark to distinguish between them, even though their height and clothing differed a lot.

The other two detectives were searching the area around the barn: there were old wagons and a truck nearby. The truck had been there for a long time.

Joe and Ned searched the truck, but they found nothing inside. Then, they found something big right beyond the abandoned car. Surprised, the two went to the spot and shone their flashlights.

To their surprise, there was the black car driven by the person whom Nancy thought was the murderer!

"Is there key in the car?" Joe questioned.

Ned went inside and quickly checked. "No. But the seat is still quite warm. This car had been here for only a short time!"

"But where did the driver and the hostage go?"

The seventeen-year-old blond detective looked around. "There's nobody close by. I think those two disappeared this way!" He then pointed to the footprints that were on the ground. There was also a trace of mark indicating that someone had been dragged after the driver.

When the detectives looked at the footprints, they noticed that they were heading toward a small shed at the back of the barn. They followed the footprints and got right in front of the shed.

"Don't open the shed door yet!" Joe said. "I think the killer is still inside!"

Then, he grabbed a wooden board that was nearby. He thought that he could use it as a weapon just in case the killer attacked them. But he didn't think he needed it: after all, both the detectives were in the football teams and were good at tackling at opponents.

After Joe got hold of the wooden board, Ned opened the door forcefully.

"What?" he muttered.

Nobody was inside. It was just a shed that had tools and machines. Quickly shining their flashlights around for a few moments, they were sure nobody was inside. This puzzled them.

"Okay, so where did the killer go?" Joe muttered.

All of a sudden, the two heard the sound of a dried branch crack. In an instant, they turned around and went outside. Again, there was a cracking noise. It came from behind the shed.

Quietly, the two detectives turned their flashlights off and got outside, Joe was ahead and was the first to go to the back of the shed. Then…

"Ugh!"

Joe let out a moan and stumbled forward. In a second, his whole body went down onto the cold, moist grass underneath their feet. Ned was surprised. "Joe!"

The adversary had a stick as well, but it wasn't like the wooden stick Joe was holding. It was an iron one, and a swing of it on Joe's head knocked him unconscious. From the corner of his eyes, Ned saw the attacker run.

Ned couldn't see the face of the attacker. It was covered with a hat and a handkerchief brought around the face like a mask. There was no way of telling if the person was a man or woman.

"Stop!" Ned shouted. But the person went into the shed. Ned followed and opened the shed. There was no way for that person to get away. But Ned thought wrong.

When the teenager opened the door, the attacker was once again gone.

Back in the barn, George was looking at the side of the barn when she saw a small bag on the ground nearby.

"Hey, Frank! Nancy! Come here!" she called. "I think I found a clue!"

Frank looked up and went to the direction. Nancy was about to do the same when she heard something behind her. "Huh?"

It was like a door opening. But she didn't see a door over here when she searched the area just now. She shone her flashlight at that direction. But suddenly, something cold and hard hit her hand and she lost grip of the flashlight. At that same instant, the door of the barn shut closed!

"What's happening? It's completely dark!" Nancy was surprised at the sudden happenings. She didn't see the attack. The person brought down the iron bar onto her head. Nancy felt the pain.

Frank and George saw the door of the barn shut, and they panicked. Nancy was in the barn with somebody dangerous! The two tried to open the door, but the lock was placed on it, and there was no way to open it from outside. George was hysterical. "Nancy's still in there! She's in there with a killer!"

Nancy didn't black out. After all those incidents where she had been hit on her head, she became used to it. So it took more than a single blow to knock her out this time.

The girl detective looked at her hand. There was no flashlight, but a bruise formed at the place where the attacker hit her hand. "Are you the killer?" Nancy asked into the person in the darkness. She couldn't see a thing.

But then, the moon came out of the clouds and lit the dark place. Lights poured from outside the window and now, Nancy could see the attacker's face. To tell the truth, she wasn't a bit surprised.

"I knew it. I knew it was you," she said calmly.

"Well, well. The famous Nancy Drew figures the killer already! Let's hear how you knew I was the killer and how I escaped from that completely locked room. I must admit, I am quite interested in your explanation." A nasty grin crept over the speaker's face. "That's because this will be your last case."

Nancy grinned. "I knew that you were the killer when I saw the dark red marks on the floor, the fact that you changed your outfit, and from seeing where your room was."

The person laughed. "Oh, really? Please explain to me, Miss Detective."

"First, I found out that the semicircle shapes on the floor were the footprints left behind by the real killer who framed Frank. Because there was a pool of blood on the floor, I figured that you had accidentally stepped on the blood just a little bit and still didn't know because the color of the floor was red as well. When you found out that you had stepped on blood, you panicked. You thought that if the police had found out about this, then it would be obvious evidence against you.

"So you changed your shoe, thinking that nobody would notice. Well, unfortunately, I did. I noticed that you changed your shoes after the killing. So I knew you were the killer. But when I saw where your room was in the hotel, I was sure of it. You used an ingenious trick to escape from the locked room so Frank would be framed and you wouldn't be caught. And it was also because the police would stop the investigation, failing to notice the bloody shoeprints on the floor.

"And you were the one who attacked George and locked her to die in the burning shed because she saw the footprint under your window."

Nancy stopped and looked at the person's expression. It was cold and hard.

After a long pause, Nancy said:

"You are the murderer, Kent Stuart."

Postscript: Next chapter will be Disclosure #2, which explains how Kent Stuart escaped from the locked room and who he had kidnapped to kill next.

Keywords: the power of love, the wickedness of revenge, gunshot wound

P.S. You might be surprised by the last keywords. You'll know what it means in the next chapter! (And yes, someone gets shot, but I won't say who.)