Scariest of all was the fact that Dan Redding had fired his gun straight at them while so many people looked on. You couldn’t get more obvious than that. And he had set it up with the badly fitting hood so that no one would suspect a thing!
A cold chill crept down Nancy’s back. She leapt out of the director’s chair and grabbed Bess and George by the arms. “We’ve got to get to the Atheneum Theater right away!” she cried.
“Why?” asked Bess. “What’s wrong?”
“I should have realized it!” Nancy said. “All the clues were right there. I just didn’t put them together.”
“What are you talking about?” George asked.
“Dan Redding!” Nancy said. “It was him all along.”
“Dan Redding?” George asked. “How do you know?”
“I’ll explain it all in the cab,” Nancy said. “If we don’t get to the theater fast, Will and Sally will never film another episode of ‘Nightside’ again—because they’ll be dead!”
15
The Sands Run Out
“Get us to the Atheneum Theater as fast as you can!” Nancy told the cab driver.
The driver stepped on the accelerator. The cab began to pick up speed, taking the girls back into the Loop.
“Oh, no! Not again!” Bess cried, sinking down into her seat.
“Please, Bess,” Nancy pleaded. “We’ve got a lot more important things to worry about than the speed of this cab.”
“So?” George asked. “What makes you think it was Dan Redding?”
Nancy went over the clues for Bess and George. “And the rest of it fits together too,” Nancy added. “Remember the first note? The kidnapper said, ‘Watch the rerun as history repeats itself.’ The real clue was rerun.”
“Rerun of what?” Bess asked, sitting up. Thinking about the clues was taking her mind off the cab ride.
“ ‘The Sands of Time,’ ” Nancy said. “The episode we saw in the film clip. The killer had Sally and Will trapped in a theater, hanging from a net above the stage. And he was just about to burn the cord.”
“You don’t think Dan Redding would do that for real?” George asked fearfully.
“We already know he was holding them in the Atheneum Theater,” Nancy said. “And the second note said, ‘Will and Sally will go down in history. And I mean down.’ I have a scary feeling he meant that literally.”
“He couldn’t let them drop!” Bess cried. “It’s such a long way down.”
“That’s why I hope we’re not too late,” Nancy said as the cab screeched into the parking lot of the Atheneum Theater.
Nancy threw some money at the driver, and the girls barreled toward the side entrance.
“Locked,” George said, tugging on the door handle.
Nancy dug into her purse for her Swiss army knife.
“Hurry, Nancy!” shouted Bess.
Before Nancy could unfold the nail file attachment, they heard a huge thud from inside the theater.
“Oh, no!” George cried. “We’re too late!”
“You two go call the police,” Nancy said, her nail file already inside the lock. “I’m going to try to find Sally and Will.”
“Or what’s left of them,” Bess said grimly.
“Come on, Bess,” George said, leading her cousin away.
Within seconds Nancy had the door open. Once again she stood in darkness. However, as she approached the stage, she saw that a few work lights were on. Their dim light cast eerie shadows on the stage.
Nancy crept a few steps forward to the velvet curtains hanging in the wings. Holding her breath, she scanned the stage for a sign of a net or two dead bodies.
Nancy let out her breath in relief. The stage was empty except for a giant sandbag. That must have been what had fallen earlier. So if Will and Sally were in the theater, they were still alive!
Nancy also wondered if Matt Ziegler was there. He’d said he was coming over to get the theater ready for the awards ceremony.
“Hello!” Nancy called. “Is anybody here? Mr. Ziegler?”
Nancy heard muffled sounds coming from above her head. She looked up and felt as if she was watching a rerun of “The Sands of Time.” Forty feet above the stage was a giant net. Knees and elbows poked out of holes in the heavy mesh, as well as long strands of silky black hair.
It was like the clip, but this time the kidnapper had added a chilling touch. One sandbag was labeled Will, the second was labeled Sally, and written on the third was Nightside.
“Sally? Will? Is that you?” she called up to the net. She heard muffled cries.
Nancy had to try to save Will and Sally. By the time the police got there, it could be too late.
