Shadow of a Doubt (14 page)

Authors: Carolyn Keene

Nancy sent a swift karate kick into Allard's chin as he tried to get up. He groaned and rolled over. Dennis Allard was trapped at last.

Still shaking, Nancy knelt down and spoke softly to her father. “You're okay, aren't you?” she asked.

Carson sat up and managed a weak smile. “I'm fine, Nancy. A little bruised, but fine.”

Cheryl came over to Nancy and Carson, a dull kitchen knife in her hands. “I found it in one of the boxes,” she explained, working at the clothesline tying Nancy's hands together.

With a few moves, Nancy's hands were free. She cut Cheryl's bonds, then Cheryl went to work on Carson's and soon had them untied as well.

Chris Gleason approached Nancy, holding out the spare clothesline. Nancy looked over at Nicodemus and saw that Chris had already tied the man's hands behind his back.

“Do you want the honors?” he asked, pointing to Allard.

“I think you can probably manage,” she said, taking a deep breath. She watched as Chris wrapped the rope around Allard's wrists and made several strong knots.

“Now let's get out of here,” she said when Chris was finished. Then she turned to give her father a hug.

“I was worried there for a little while,” Carson said, holding her in his arms.

“Me, too, Dad. Me, too,” Nancy said, smiling up at him.

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A few hours later they were all sitting in the Drews' living room. Bess and George were there, too, along with Hannah.

“So Allard and Nicodemus were in it together all along?” George asked.

“It looks that way,” Carson said, putting his arm around Nancy's shoulder. “The two of them thought they'd gotten away with it, too, until Robert Gleason came looking for that evidence.”

“But that's just incredible,” Bess said, nibbling on a pretzel. “He was just going to sit back and let your career be ruined!”

Nancy stretched. It had been a long day. “I don't think Dennis Allard really cared about that. The only thing that mattered was that no one ever came after him again. Nothing was going to stop him.”

“Now he'll be out of our lives,” Chris said. He was sitting on the couch with his arm around Cheryl. “And we know finally that my father wasn't a criminal.”

“Nancyâ” Kate began.

“You don't have to say it.” Nancy smiled. “I understand why you acted the way you did. It's okay.”

“But I just have to thank you for believing in us, despite the trouble we caused you,” Kate insisted.

Carson smiled for the first time since they had been back home.

“There's something you don't understand,” he said. “Something I've only begun to appreciate.” He went over to Nancy and put his arms around her.

“What's that, Dad?” she asked.

“That nothing can stop my daughter. Not when she happens to be River Heights's most persistent detective.”

Nancy smiled. George laughed. Hannah chuckled. Bess giggled. Chris hugged Cheryl again. And soon everybody was laughing.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.