“Here goes.” Nancy parked, got out of her car, and started toward the glassed-in atrium.
If anyone knew where Dennis was, it was Mel Lorenzo. He had been keeping track of each team’s progress during the Clues Challenge. Nancy knew she had to be careful not to arouse his suspicion, though. That was why she, George, and Randy had decided it would be best if she went alone to talk to Mr. Lorenzo while they went to the Student Center to bring the rest of the team up to speed.
Nancy pulled open the door to the atrium and went inside. Mr. Lorenzo looked up at her from his table, then glanced curiously behind her. “Did you lose the rest of your team?” he asked.
“I thought they might be here, solving the last clue,” Nancy fibbed. She pretended to be surprised not to see her teammates. “They didn’t already head out to get the banner, did they?”
“Man, oh, man. No one’s gotten that far,” Mr. Lorenzo said, letting out a laugh.
“I guess we’d better hurry then, if we want to keep ahead of the other teams,” Nancy said. She quickly scanned the equipment—then blinked when she saw the melted snow that dripped from the Sigmas’ cross-country skis. “The Sigmas already got the clue from the old oak tree?” she asked.
Mr. Lorenzo nodded. “Skied back about ten minutes ago,” he told her.
That was fast, thought Nancy, checking her watch. It had only been two and a half hours since Mr. Lorenzo had blown the whistle to start that day’s competition. Yet the Sigmas had managed to get the clue from outside the administration building, solve it, and ski all the way to the old oak and back. It seemed next to impossible.
Unless Dennis already had the answers to the clues, Nancy thought.
“Everything all right?” Mr. Lorenzo’s voice cut into her thoughts.
Nancy shook herself and forced a smile. “Fine,” she told him.
At least now she had a better idea of where Dennis might be. He and his teammates were probably solving the last clue.
So our best chance of finding Dennis, she thought, is to solve the clue ourselves and catch up to him where the banner is hidden.
“See you later, Mr. Lorenzo!” Nancy called.
She sprinted for the door. But as she burst out into the cold air, she felt his watchful eyes upon her.
No sooner did Nancy enter the Student Center than she heard someone call her name.
“Nancy! Over here.”
Ned waved to her from a bank of computers that ran along the wall just inside the massive wooden doors. He, George, C.J., and Randy crowded around a terminal while Grant sat at the keyboard. “We’ve got the answer to the last clue!”
“Great!” Jogging over, Nancy read the clue that lay right next to the keyboard:
REJ - 29
BP - 30
LS - 42
HL - 63
SM - 66
High atop their Hall of Fame
The victory banner lies.
Beyond the vents, beneath the snow,
Our happy-sad medal marks the spot.
Go quickly, challengers, find your way in.
Good luck to all, and may the best team win.
“We figured out those letters are initials,” C.J. said. “At first we thought they were top players in some sport, and that those numbers were from their jerseys.”
“That would fit with the reference to the Hall of Fame,” Nancy said.
George pointed farther down the list of clues. “But look here, at the part about the happy-sad medal,” she said. “That made us think about the Drama Club.”
“Right!” said Nancy. “The happy and sad masks are the symbol for theater.”
“We found out that the Drama Club has their own Hall of Fame,” Grant explained. “I checked their Web site. In 1929 Rose Ellis Johnston was voted in. In 1930 it was Brian Peters. Linda Schmidt in 1942 … You get the idea.”
Nancy ran her finger down the list of initials at the top of the clue. “REJ, BP, LS … You guys are brilliant!” she crowed. “According to this, the banner is somewhere high up, where there are vents and snow.”
“The Drama Club Hall of Fame is in the MacClaren Performance Center,” Ned said. “We were just waiting for you to get here so we can head over there and look on the roof.”
Nancy grabbed the clue and shoved it in her pocket. “Excellent! I found out that Dennis’s team is working on solving the last clue, too. Lets hope we can catch up to him at the performance center.”
“Randy told us about how he thinks Mr. Lorenzo is that guy Papazian—and about how Dennis might be blackmailing him.” C.J. frowned as he pulled on his parka and zipped it.
“We need to find out for sure,” Nancy said.
