Author's Note: Thank you so much to Cherylann Rivers, max2013, EvergreenDreamweaver, and BMSH for your reviews on the last chapter!
Chapter XXI
Nancy hesitated in the doorway when she saw the woman sitting on her bed, staring at her in a half-annoyed, half-gloating manner. For a moment, Nancy's first thought was to retreat, but she thought better of it. The woman may have accomplices, and it may be safer to wait and see what the situation was exactly.
There was one thing Nancy did think of to do, which she considered might be of some use. Her phone was in one of her coat pockets. There was an app on it that would begin recording sound as soon as she opened it. She had used it often enough that that she could find the shortcut for it without looking at the screen, so she casually put her hands in her pockets and opened the app.
"You don't seem so taken off guard," the woman observed. "Surely you didn't expect this?"
"No," Nancy admitted. There was something in the way the woman spoke and her expressions that was familiar.
"Well, then, you have rather a talent for staying composed," the woman said. "I suppose it comes in handy in your detective work."
"Sometimes," Nancy replied, suddenly recognizing the woman. "You're very good with disguises. That must be useful in your line of work, Lynn. Or should I say Helena?"
A smile crept over the woman's face. "I'm impressed. And you're right. A good knowledge of make-up and such is very useful for my line of work."
Nancy took a step farther into the room. "You know, I'm not entirely sure what you're line of work is. Arranging other people's revenge?"
Again, a bemused expression crossed the woman's face. "So you haven't guessed? I thought you might have by now. I'll let you continue to think about it. You might figure it out."
"Then why are you here?" Nancy asked. "Please say you didn't just come here to gloat about how clever you are."
"No," the woman said. "No, fun as that might be, that's not why I'm here. I need to ask you a question and I need to ask it face-to-face. Did Moriare help you and your friends escape from the castle?"
The abruptness of the question startled Nancy. She hesitated a moment and then said, "Do you think he would have?" The moment the words were out of her mouth, Nancy silently berated herself. She might as well have just said yes.
The woman nodded. "I see. That's all I needed to know. After all, if there is a traitor in the midst of my operation, he'll have to be dealt with."
"That's all you wanted to know?" Nancy asked. "And you're just going to believe me, just like that? Interesting. It's not what I would have expected."
"No, I suppose not," the woman replied. "But I know you're not lying, not unless you're much better at acting than I believe, but I don't think so."
The woman made a move to get up, but Nancy asked her, "Why did you tell the police about Robin and then blame it on me?"
"Why not?" the woman asked. "It's what I said I would do, and you hardly think I would use my own name in tipping the police off. Besides, you think enough of him that you didn't want the police to catch him. It seemed fitting to me to arrange it so that he would sit in prison, thinking the worst of you. It's a little added satisfaction, considering that I'll have to put my plans aside for a while now."
Nancy raised an eyebrow. "You are? Why? And most of all, why would you tell me?"
"I think you'll figure that out before all is over," the woman replied. She stood up and walked toward the window. "Until we meet again, Nancy Drew."
"Wait!" Nancy took another step forward, not wanting to allow the woman to escape. "Who are you?"
The woman had her back to Nancy by this time. She flashed a smile over her shoulder as she opened the window. "If you knew that, you would never stop hunting me until one or the other of us were dead." With that completely unsatisfactory answer, she climbed out the window.
Nancy dashed after her, eager to see which way she went when she climbed down. She couldn't help but feel a shudder when she saw the strange woman nowhere either below or above the window. Not only that, but Nancy could see no place that anyone could climb along the side of the building, particularly not in the dark and in the icy cold. Shaking her head in utter bewilderment, Nancy took her phone from her pocket, turned off the recording, and called the police.
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The police found no trace of the woman or of Dan Moriare or Terry Shanth or Clarissa Margot either that night or in the weeks that followed. All of them seemed to have vanished. Nancy had also tried to find some lead, but all her efforts were unrewarded.
At least, all of her efforts to find the woman and her accomplices were unrewarded. Nancy spent a great deal of time in the weeks after the woman's disappearance thinking over everything that had happened and everything she had learned. With alarming rapidity, things started falling into place. Who this woman was and how she and Terry and Clarissa fit into the case all came together. Then, with a cold feeling of either anger or dread, a possible meaning to the woman's parting words dawned on Nancy. She couldn't tell anyone else – not even Ned or Carson – but she swore to herself to learn the truth.
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Nancy couldn't remember a case that had left such a bitter taste in her mouth. It had stirred up so many old memories and emotions, and it had changed things that Nancy had hoped would never change. Carson and Ned were far more protective of Nancy after it than they ever had been before, and Nancy began to feel a little bit stifled, although she herself was constantly looking over her shoulder, knowing that her mysterious enemies were still out there. She could find no comfort from Frank and Joe either. In fact, it made it worse to talk to them, because Joe continued to be distant and quiet and content to focus on other things besides mysteries. This change hurt worst of all.
Nancy was able to stay busy in one task, which she felt an obligation to fulfill to the best of her abilities. She had asked her dad to represent Robin when he was tried, as well as Jim, the owner of Jim's Grill, who had hidden Robin's purloined cash and couldn't help but to be implicated once Robin's story came out. Nancy made it her personal mission to find evidence that every penny Robin had stolen had gone to someone in need.
This wasn't easy to do, considering that anyone who had accepted money from Robin knowing that it had been stolen would also be implicated in the crime. Fortunately, Robin and Jim had distributed the money anonymously and those who had benefited didn't necessarily know where the money had come from, and most had been too desperate to question it. Additionally, both Robin's and Jim's financial records checked out, neither showing any income out of the ordinary that could have been from the robberies. It didn't prove matters conclusively, but it was a definite help.
However, all the evidence and witnesses Nancy and Carson could find only reduced the sentence to the minimum – three years. Nancy left the courthouse with tears stinging her cheeks. She had done everything she could, but it hadn't been enough. And to make matters worse, Robin still believed that Nancy had been the one who had turned him in.
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It was an unusually cold day in late March when Nancy met with Frank and Joe in the busy coffeeshop on the first floor of her aunt's apartment building. It was Frank and Joe's spring break, and they had decided to spend a few days together with Nancy in New York.
Nancy glanced behind her as she sat down, but then she stopped herself. With a half-grin, she said, "It's getting to be force of habit."
"It's not a bad habit to have," Joe commented rather dismally.
"Well, let's not worry about it now," Nancy suggested. "It's all I've thought about for months, it feels like. I'm just glad that Dad actually let me come here by myself after the way he's been worrying about me."
"You're not really by yourself, though," Frank pointed out. "You're staying with your aunt, and you came to meet us."
"True," Nancy admitted. "It's better than nothing, though. So, how have you guys been? We haven't seen each other for ages."
There was a brief pause as Frank glanced at Joe and Joe looked away. Finally, Frank said, "Things could be worse. It's been a little slow, but maybe that's not such a bad thing. It turns out senior year of high school is a lot of work."
"Tell me about it," Nancy replied, recalling how busy her life had been a year ago when she had been finishing high school. "At least you're not bored without any cases to work on."
Joe made a face like he was about to respond to that, but he didn't get the chance. Their conversation was interrupted by a loud crash from the lobby of the apartment building and a cry of "Stop! Thief!" Nancy and the Hardys turned around just in time to see a figure disappearing through the lobby doors onto the street.
The three sleuths took a moment to cast questioning glances at each other. Then, understanding each other without saying a word, they all grinned. In a moment, they had gotten to their feet and were in pursuit of the thief.
Author's Note: Once again, thank you all so much for reading, following, and reviewing this story. Thank you in particular to Tinee Dancer, sm2003495, max2013, Iheartninjago2010, Guest, EvergreenDreamweaver, Cherylann Rivers, and BMSH for your reviews on this story. I'm so grateful for your support.
All right. So we've got one more story to go until this trilogy comes to an end. That's the reason for the perhaps less-than-satisfying ending here. It's also the reason why I am not giving very much away about who Lynn Morgan/Helena Markovich is and how she fits in, how Terry and Clarissa fit in, etc. All of that will finally be revealed in Part 3.
Part 3 will be titled A Final Chapter. Yeah, I know, not very original, but it does fit. It will be focused on Nancy and the Hardys fairly equally. As it's going right now, Nancy does actually get a little more focus, but just a little bit. That being said, Part 3 is not complete yet. While my stories generally aren't completely finished when I begin posting them, I do like to have enough done that if work or school or life or whatever keeps me from working on it for a week or so, I'll still have a few chapters to post in that time. That being said, it will probably be at least two weeks before I begin posting it.
Finally, I'd like to thank you all one more time for all of your support!