Carolyn Keene - Hit and Run Holiday

Ghosts, Nancy thought. That’s what they were. You’re so far gone, you’re hallucinating. She let her head drop and felt a wave splash high on her back, hitting her shoulder blades.

Then Nancy felt something else, something that made the dark mist evaporate—her feet were loose. Whatever they were tied with had stretched, and Nancy was almost able to uncross her ankles. If she could do that, she could get her feet free. What she’d do then, she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t care. One thing at a time, she told herself, and started to wiggle her feet, ignoring the scrapes on her knees and the ache in her arms.

It seemed to take forever, but finally Nancy did it. Her feet were side by side and she was able to slip one and then the other out of the binding. Her arms felt as if they were going to rip out at the shoulders, and she managed to wrap her legs around the piling. Then what?

The water lapped at her neck, and Nancy instinctively gripped the piling with her knees and tried to push herself up. The sash binding her hands moved up too, just a fraction. That’s it, Nancy told herself. You’ve climbed enough trees, now shinny up this pole.

Inch by inch, Nancy pushed herself up the piling. The tide kept coming in, and she must have swallowed half the ocean, but finally her head was above the waterline, and even though she was still trapped, she knew she was going to make it.

She couldn’t use her teeth on the sash, but when she saw that the cloth wasn’t completely soaked, Nancy began to scrape it up and down on a corner of the piling. At last she felt the cloth begin to give. With a final burst of strength, Nancy pulled her hands free, shinnied the rest of the way up the piling, and hauled herself onto the pier.

The first thing she did was rip the gag from her mouth. Then she lay still, gasping and listening to the water swirl below her. She told herself to get moving, but her body wouldn’t budge. Her mind was working, though, and when she thought of Maria, she was finally able to sit up. For all Nancy knew, Maria was dead. No, Maria had said something about being made to work like a slave. Whoever wanted her, wanted her alive, and Ricardo must have taken her to that person.

Ricardo. Nancy had to find him, not just for Maria’s sake, but for her own. She had a personal score to settle with him. But she wasn’t going to do it on her own, not again. She wanted the police backing her up the next time. It was safer, and besides, she’d need them to keep her from setting fire to Ricardo’s chair while he was in it.

Nancy felt the adrenaline pumping as she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled away from the pier. She even managed to trot a little as she rounded the bend in the beach and came within sight of the all-night partiers. The bonfires were still glowing, but not so brightly, and the radios and cassette recorders were playing softer music. It was getting late. No, it was getting early, Nancy reminded herself; morning couldn’t be far away.

As soon as she reached the main beach. Nancy headed for the street, looking for a public phone. She’d thought of calling from her hotel and then cleaning up while she waited for the police, but she wanted them to see her first. She knew she looked like the survivor of a shipwreck, and if the police saw what Ricardo had done, they’d work that much harder.

When she was halfway down the beach, she spotted a string of phone booths. The adrenaline wasn’t pumping so hard by then, and she felt exhausted, as if she were trekking across a desert, and the phone booth was her oasis.

Nancy had almost reached the booth when a scream rang out. At first she took it to be a good-natured, party-type scream, but then she heard other screams and saw people running toward the water. The tide had washed something ashore. What was it? A shark? A jellyfish?

“It’s a body!” a boy shouted, rushing by Nancy. “It’s a body !”

Maria, Nancy thought instantly. Maria put up too big a fight, and Ricardo or whoever he worked with killed her. Forgetting about the police for the moment, Nancy joined the rest of the crowd heading toward the water. She didn’t want to see a dead body, but she had to find out if it was Maria.

There must have been a hundred people gathered around, and Nancy had to push through them until she was able to see. Someone had thrown a large beach towel over the body. Nancy broke free of the crowd and moved quickly to the towel, wanting to get it over with.

“Poor guy,” a voice said, and Nancy stopped.

“Yeah,” someone else said. “Drowning—what a way for a lifeguard to go, huh?”

“Lifeguard?” Nancy asked.

“Yeah.” A boy nodded grimly. “What was his name? Ricardo, that’s it. Ricardo.”

Chapter Ten

Nancy stepped back from the towel-draped body. “Are you sure it’s Ricardo?” she asked.

“Hey, I helped pull him out of the water,” the boy replied. “And I’ve talked to him every day since I’ve been here. I know what he looks like.” The boy paused. “Hey, you look sick. Were you a friend of his?” he asked.

Nancy shook her head. “No, but I knew who he was.”

“Yeah, well, it’s too bad, huh? And you want to know something? He didn’t drown—he was shot.” The boy held up his hand. “And, yes, I’m sure. I pulled him out of the water, remember?”

Stunned, Nancy pushed her way through the crowd and stumbled back up the beach, trying to figure out what had happened Why had Ricardo been shot? Had he lost Maria, and had the people he worked with killed him for if

When she reached the street, Nancy heard the wail of a siren in the distance. The police, coming to investigate Ricardo’s murder. She knew she should talk to them, but what would she say? The last time she saw him, he was with a girl named Maria, but she had no idea where Maria was She had no idea who Ricardo worked for or who killed him You don’t really know anything at all, Nancy told herself Your main suspect is dead, and you’re back to square one

The Surfside Inn was just across the street, and Nancy decided to go there first, to shower and change Then she’d return to the beach and talk to the police But after she got the key from the desk and let herself into the room, Nancy realized she was too tired to take a shower. She was so wiped out, she was actually staggering. Her eyes were playing tricks on her, too. Instead of two single beds, she saw four, then two, then four again. Stumbling across the room, she bumped into the cot that Bess used, fell onto it, and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

“Look at this!” a voice was saying. “There’s a body on my cot!”

Nancy burrowed her face deeper into the crook of her elbow. “Go away,” she mumbled.

Another voice said, “Look, she didn’t even bother to change. How’s that for lazy?”

“Please,” Nancy groaned, “not so loud.” She yawned and tried to slip back into sleep, but someone sat down on the cot, making it jiggle back and forth.

“Hey, Nan,” Bess said, laughing, “I don’t mind if you sleep here, but don’t you think you’d be more comfortable without my makeup kit poking you in the neck?”

Nancy moaned and shook her head, but it was too late—she was awake. She opened one eye and peered up through her tangled hair. Bess and George were staring down at her, looking extremely amused. “What’s happening?” she asked.

“Why don’t you tell us ?” George suggested.

“Yeah,” Bess said, grinning. “We thought we had a wild night, but it looks like yours was wilder. Couldn’t even bother to take off your clothes before you fell asleep, huh?”

“Wild night?” Nancy croaked. Her throat was bone dry, and her tongue felt too big for her mouth. Swallowing, she pushed herself up on her elbows and turned onto her back. “It was wild, all right.”