“Amy is holding the jade tiger,” the voice continued. “And she’s going to give it to me right now. Because if she doesn’t, that’ll be the end of Nancy Drew.”
16
Case Closed
Nancy winced as the jagged blade pressed against her throat. She had no doubt in her mind who held the knife. She had finally found Malcolm Elgar. And once again he had found the jade tiger.
“Amy, he means it,” Jimmy said quickly. “Give him the bag!”
Nancy watched Amy’s eyes widen with terror. The girl didn’t move, and Nancy knew why. She recognized the man who had kidnapped her, and she was paralyzed with fright.
“No?” asked the menacing voice behind Nancy. “You won’t give it to me?”
“Amy,” Jimmy said sharply, “give it to him now!”
Numbly Amy held out the paper bag. A black-gloved hand reached out and took it.
But Elgar didn’t let go of Nancy. “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen next,” he said. “You two kids are going to go back to the wedding. You’re going to have a good time. You aren’t going to say a word to anyone about what’s happened here. In fact, you’re both going to forget you ever saw me.”
“No,” Amy said, her courage returning. “I’m not going to pretend for you.”
“You will,” Elgar insisted, “because I’m taking Miss Drew here with me, as a sort of insurance policy. If you tell anyone what happened, or if I even suspect that the police are on my trail, she dies. Do you understand?” When neither Jimmy nor Amy answered, Elgar lifted the blade so that it hovered just above Nancy’s skin. “You may speak, Miss Drew,” he said. “Tell them to forget they ever saw me.”
“D-do as he says,” Nancy said, pretending to stammer with fear. And then she drove her heel down hard onto Malcolm Elgar’s instep.
Elgar cried out in pain as Nancy broke from his grip. “Run!” she shouted to Jimmy and Amy.
Jimmy shouted something in Vietnamese, and he and Amy took off in opposite directions. Good, Nancy thought as she ran, they’re scattering. That will make it harder for Elgar. But though Jimmy and Amy were out of reach, Nancy was not as lucky. The high heels and dress she’d worn for the wedding made running nearly impossible. Frantically she kicked off the heels. It helped, but she was still slowed by having to run in stocking feet.
Fortunately Elgar was limping on the foot she had stomped. But when Nancy glanced over her shoulder, she saw that he was gaining on her.
She stumbled suddenly and fell to her knees.
Elgar advanced on her, the knife upraised. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he said.
Nancy felt fear rise in her throat as she got to her feet. She didn’t dare turn her back on him now. He was too close. Slowly she backed away from him, moving toward the barn.
“Not that way,” Elgar said. “Toward the ocean. I think, Ms. Drew, you’re going to have an accidental fall from the cliff.”
Nancy slowly circled, keeping her eyes on Elgar. “Terry’s already called the police,” she told him. “You’ll be facing charges for arson, theft, and kidnapping. Do you really want to add murder to the list?”
Elgar’s eyes narrowed and then widened as he stared at something behind Nancy.
“Murder’s been on his list for a long time now,” Nick Finney said.
Nancy felt Nick’s hand on her arm, gently pulling her out of the way. She saw that he had a gun trained on Elgar. “Go back to the wedding,” he told her. “This is between Elgar and me.”
“Nick, what are you going to do?” Nancy asked uneasily.
“Nothing, as long as my old buddy here doesn’t give me any trouble.”
“I won’t give up,” Elgar said calmly. “You’re going to have to kill me.” He pointed to Nick’s pants leg, which was swollen at the knee with bandages. “Do you really think you can take me?” he taunted.
Nancy heard footsteps behind her, turned, and felt herself relax for the first time since Amy had vanished from the wedding. Terry Kirkland was running toward them, with three police officers close behind.
• • •
Nancy helped herself to a chunk of wedding cake. “Delicious,” she said to Joanne.
“Thanks to all of you,” Joanne said to Nancy, Bess, and George.
“Did you like the ceremony?” Keith asked.
Nancy smiled at her friends. “It was definitely the most unusual wedding I’ve ever seen.” She looked at Joanne’s white silk kimono. “And your wedding gown is gorgeous.”
Joanne lifted one arm, trailing a long brocade sleeve. “It was everything I dreamed it would be,” she said. “Except for that business with Malcolm Elgar. Is that whole mess straightened out now?”
“We’ll find out,” Nancy said. “The police arrested Elgar—and Nick, too, because he had a gun. When Terry found out that Jimmy was trying to give Amy the jade tiger, he insisted on taking them both home to find out what their story was.”
“Who has the tiger now?” Bess asked.
“The police,” Nancy replied. “We’ll get our answers soon enough. But for now, I think it’s time we had some fun!”
“Let’s hit the dance floor,” Bess said as the band started up.
• • •
“It was great of Terry to ask us to stay an extra week,” Bess said the next day as the three friends returned from the beach.
