Contents
1 Festival Weekend
2 Suspended Animation
3 Hearts and Daggers
4 Threats and Menaces
5 Trouble at the Bazaar
6 A Switch in Time
7 Sugar and Spice
8 In-Tents Danger
9 Walkout After Walkout
10 Paper Chase
11 A Mountain of Charges
12 Piles of Cash
13 Virus Attack!
14 A Shocking Plot
15 Facing the Music
1
Festival Weekend
Nancy Drew spotted the green-and-white sign she’d been looking for: Exit 9A—Emerson College. She put on her blinker and steered her blue Mustang convertible off the interstate onto the exit ramp. As she neared the intersection, the light changed to red. She braked to a halt and tucked a strand of reddish blond hair behind one ear.
“We’re almost there,” she announced.
From the backseat, Nancy’s friend Bess Marvin said, “Good thing. I’m starved!”
Bess’s cousin George Fayne was in the front passenger seat. She laughed at Bess’s announcement. “Duh,” she said. “Admit it, Bess—you’re always starved!”
Nancy glanced over her shoulder. The warm breeze had tousled Bess’s long blond hair and put a gleam in her bright blue eyes.
Bess folded her arms across her chest and gave a little shiver.
“Are you chilly?” Nancy asked with concern. “Should we put the top up?”
“Chilly? No way!” Bess replied. “I’m excited, that’s all. I love world music, but I practically never get to hear any of it live. Why don’t we have a festival like this back in River Heights?”
“Nobody to organize one, I guess,” George said. She pulled her red-and-blue cap a little lower over her dark brown curls.
The light changed. Nancy turned right onto Campus Road.
George leaned forward to switch radio stations. A burst of syncopated drumbeats sounded over a thumping bass, and then a high voice wailed in a language Nancy didn’t recognize. After a few moments the music faded.
“It’s Friday and you’re tuned to ECR, Emerson College Radio,” the announcer said. “And that was the Rai Rebels, from Algeria.”
“Wow!” Bess exclaimed. She grabbed George’s shoulder. “I’ve got their CD. They are awesome!”
“The Rai Rebels are just one of the big attractions at this weekend’s Worldbeat Festival,” the announcer continued. “We’ll tape all the performances for future broadcast. But if you want to hear them and all the other fantastic bands live, better get your tickets today. They’re going fast!”
“Uh-oh—I hope we can get in,” George said.
“Don’t worry,” Nancy replied. A tune with a strong Latin beat came on. “Ned took care of getting tickets. He lined up places for us to stay, too.”
Ned Nickerson was Nancy’s longtime boyfriend. He was a student at Emerson College.
“I didn’t know Ned was such a fan of world music,” George remarked.
“He’s not especially,” Nancy told her. “But the president of the club that’s sponsoring the festival is a friend of his—a guy named Cyril. He’s from Australia.”
“An Aussie?” Bess said. “Cool. Is he cute? Does he have an accent?”
“Does he have a pet kangaroo?” George joked.
