The Wrong Track (5 page)

A short, stocky man in black ski clothes stomped snow from his feet, then stopped as soon as he noticed Nancy. For an instant neither of them spoke. Nancy's eyes widened in recognition.
It was Rob Watson! She'd seen his photograph in a back issue of
Tracks
, and the ruddy face, bright blue eyes, and long, curly white hair were unmistakable.

“What are you doing here?” Nancy demanded.

The man swiveled his head from Nancy to the door behind him.

“What's going on?” Nancy asked again.

Before Nancy could stop him Watson spun around and raced out the door.

W
HAT WAS
Rob Watson doing sneaking, around Tall Pines at night? Nancy wondered, running to the door.

“What's going on?”

Nancy was stopped by Dave Kendall calling to her from the open doorway of his office. “What are you doing here?” he demanded brusquely.

Nancy ignored his question. “Rob Watson was here a minute ago, but when he saw me he ran out,” she explained.

“Watson?” Dave grimaced. “What was he doing here?”

“I don't know,” Nancy replied, shrugging her shoulders. “Maybe he came to check out his competition.”

Rob's appearance at Tall Pines was definitely strange, and Nancy couldn't help wondering whether it was connected to the theft. She
doubted Rob would have stolen the money himself but thought he could be working with a Tall Pines employee.

Kendall brushed off the question with a shake of his head. “I doubt it.” Then he paused and studied her curiously. “Is there a reason
you're
here so late?” he asked Nancy.

“Actually, th-there is,” Nancy stammered, searching for an excuse. The last thing she wanted was for Dave to think she was snooping around his office. She quickly explained about the accident in the sauna.

“I'm sorry that happened to you,” Dave said, showing obvious concern. “I'll tell the attendant to be on guard.” Nancy thought she heard Dave mumble something about “not again.”

“What was that?” she asked.

Dave looked at her carefully, squinting his eyes. “I don't want this to be published—”

“Off the record,” Nancy assured him.

“We have a prankster here at Tall Pines,” Dave confessed. “Nothing serious, but this isn't our first incident. I was just dictating a short memo to Karl about it.”

He opened his mouth as though he was going to say something more but stopped instead and took a breath. When he spoke again his words were measured. “I hope you understand that none of this is to get around,” he said. “If Karl finds out I told you, he'll fire me.”

Nancy nodded. Though she might need to tell Karl about the blocked sauna door, she had no reason to divulge Dave's confidence. Maybe he
was right. Maybe it had just been a prank and not meant specifically for her and Bess.

• • •

Before nine the next morning Nancy met Jody at the rental office to pick up her skis, boots, and poles.

“I wish the new equipment had come in,” Jody said when she handed Nancy her gear. “You'd go crazy over the new boots and bindings. They're state-of-the-art material. Really lightweight. Plus the boots go up over your ankles, which offers extra support.”

“I've heard about them at
Tracks
,” Nancy fibbed. “I've been dying to try them.”

“We're expecting a shipment any day,” Jody told her. “With a little luck it'll arrive before you leave, and I'll make sure you get a set.”

“Morning, Ben,” Nancy said, spotting the instructor in the entrance alcove. “Ready for my lesson?”

Ben smiled and pushed a lock of his jet-black hair off his forehead. “You bet,” he said.

Picking up her skis and poles, Nancy followed him outside to the trail head. A small crowd of guests had gathered by the trail map. Ben greeted several people by name before hooking his boots into the bindings. Nancy noticed that he had new bindings, and his boots were higher than hers.

“Ready?” Ben asked.

“Don't expect a lot,” Nancy said as she slipped her hands into the pole straps. “This is my first time out this season.” She looked down at her
clothes. She was wearing a cherry-red outfit. “When I first learned to ski we wore jeans and parkas. Now it's neon speed suits and high-tech equipment.”

Ben chuckled and led the way to what he said was one of the most popular trails. “I like to ski this one before it's crowded.”

Though a light snow had fallen overnight, the tracks, which had been set the previous day, were still visible. As Ben gracefully skied into the left pair of tracks Nancy placed her skis in the right ones. “Not all our trails have two sets of tracks,” Ben explained, “but it's easier to teach on them.”

Nancy was a little nervous that Ben might notice she hadn't skied in a while. A reporter for a ski magazine should look pretty good on the trails. Although it took her a few glides to get used to her new equipment, Nancy was soon moving at a pretty good pace. “These skis are great!” she exclaimed, noticing that they glided farther than any she'd tried before.

They skied until they were deep in the forest. “You're good at the diagonal stride,” Ben said, referring to the basic cross-country kick and glide. He tugged his zipper pull up, and Nancy noticed that hooked to it was a small thermometer. “The conditions are just about perfect. Do you want to learn to skate?”

Nancy was confused. “I thought this was a skiing lesson.”

“I wasn't talking about ice skating. This is ski skating.” While Nancy watched he took his left
ski out of the track and pushed forward with it and his poles. A second later, he was gliding gracefully along the trail on his right ski.

“Wow!” Nancy said when Ben turned and whooshed to a stop in front of her. “That looks like fun.”

“It is,” he assured her. “Now watch. Your left ski is the skate ski. You push with that one and glide on the other. The trick is all in shifting your weight.”

“You make it look easy.”

Ben grinned. “It is—once you learn how.”

As she practiced the new technique Nancy realized what a good instructor Ben was. Not only was he an expert skier, but he knew how to explain the movements. At the end of a few minutes Nancy felt confident trying to skate.

When they reached a hill Ben suggested she use a herringbone step to climb it.

“I didn't know there were hills around here,” she said as she put her skis in the V position. Instead of gliding she stepped up the incline, keeping the tips of her skis far apart while the tails remained close together to prevent her from sliding backward.

“There weren't any hills until a few months ago,” Ben told her. “Karl brought in bulldozers to contour slopes. He wants Tall Pines to be the perfect resort.”

“But that's impossible, isn't it?” Nancy asked. This was the opening she needed. “For example, I heard you had a robbery here.”

Nancy could feel Ben's eyes on her. When he
finally did reply, his voice was cold. “It's nothing for you to worry about. I know you reporters like sensationalism, but you don't have to put that in your article.”

“We heard about it around the office,” she pressed, ignoring his comment. “Why do you suppose that girl took the money?”

They had stopped moving and were standing side by side now. Ben's anger was apparent to Nancy. “Did you come here to ski or to ask questions about Rebecca Montgomery?”

He sounded almost hostile now, and Nancy sensed she'd touched a nerve. He certainly hadn't minded bad-mouthing the resort the day before. She didn't know why Ben wouldn't want to talk about Rebecca now, unless he knew something about the theft.

She shrugged. “News is news,” she said. “For example, it might be news to our readers that I heard you talking to both Dave and Karl yesterday, and it was pretty obvious that you felt something's very wrong at Tall Pines.”

Ben studied Nancy for a long time. “Nothing's wrong,” he said. “Nothing a ski reporter would be interested in,” he added for emphasis.

Nancy wondered whether Karl had spoken to Ben, warning him not to talk to her. “Come on, Ben,” she said. “I don't believe that.”

He shrugged. “It's true,” he declared. “Now if you don't mind, I'd like to ski.” The finality in Ben's voice told Nancy that she'd learn nothing more from him that morning.

They made their way back to the school in
silence. As they approached the end of the trail, Nancy said, “I may want another lesson. When do you teach?” What Nancy really wanted to know was Ben's schedule, and if he could have locked her and Bess in the sauna.

Ben smiled. “I'm pretty busy. We'd have to schedule a lesson early if you want to go out again.” He glanced at his watch. “To tell you the truth, Nancy, I don't think you need another lesson. You're good.”

Nancy laughed. “Thanks. I may need some pointers, though, because I want to try all the trails before I leave.”

They skied to a stop, and Nancy released her bindings. “Are you Ben?” she heard a familiar voice ask. It was Bess, dressed in new ski clothes and carrying skis and poles over one shoulder. There was no risk of losing Bess in the woods, Nancy thought with a smile, not with her neon pink pants and green and orange jacket!

“Can you point me to a novice trail?” Bess asked Ben.

He gave her an appraising glance. “Do you have a partner? If you're a beginner, you shouldn't ski alone.”

Bess shrugged. “My cousin deserted me for the day.”

Turning to Nancy, Ben suggested, “Why don't you go with her? You said you wanted the practice.”

“Sure,” Nancy said. Skiing with Bess would give her a chance to find out if her friend had learned anything from Jody. She gave Bess a
knowing look. “I'm always happy to have a ski partner. I'm Nancy Drew,” she said, holding out her gloved hand.

“Bess Marvin,” Bess said.

“Can you suggest a quiet trail?” Nancy turned to ask Ben.

He pulled a trail map out of his pocket. “Take Aerie,” he said, showing Nancy the route. “You'll see a small hut here, and another trail branches off it.” He pointed to the trail junction. “Be careful not to go on that one. You'd be able to handle it, but Cascades is too difficult for a beginner.”

Nancy thanked Ben. “No problem,” he said. Just then Jody came out of the shop and school entrance and pulled Ben aside. “Excuse us,” Jody said, smiling at Nancy.

“Ready?” Nancy asked Bess, who had been putting her skis on with Nancy.

Bess nodded, and the two of them skied over to where the track began. Once they were safely out of sight Nancy asked Bess, “Did you have a chance to talk to Jody?”

“Not very much,” she said. “There were a lot of customers when I went in so we made a date to meet for lunch.” Bess reached forward with one pole and pushed off.

“You're doing well,” Nancy said, skiing up next to Bess. Her eyes were on her friend, but her mind was on the mystery. She was scheduled to be at Tall Pines for only a week, so that gave her six more days to find the thief. Not a lot of time.

“Cross country's not as hard as I expected,
and the clothes are fun,” Bess said, interrupting Nancy's, thoughts.

When they reached the small hut Ben had mentioned Nancy stopped. “Check out the view,” she said. Though it seemed that they'd climbed only a small distance, the forest ended right where they stood, and there was a drop in front of them.

“It's pretty,” Bess agreed as she cautiously slid her skis backward. “I don't like the cliff, though. Let's go. It makes me feel dizzy.”

Nancy looked at the trail signs: Cascade veered off to the right, Aerie to the left. The girls skied left.

“Whew!” Bess said a few minutes later. She was out of breath from climbing a small hill. “This is getting harder.”

Nancy had to admit that Bess was right. For a novice trail, Aerie was very difficult. As they continued the trail grew narrower, and the second set of tracks ended. Instead of leveling out the trail continued to climb. Nancy slid her skis into the tracks behind Bess, calling out encouragement. “Just a little farther,” she said, urging Bess to try the herringbone step.

When they reached the top of the incline Bess raised her poles in triumph. “I made it,” she said, and her skis inched forward.

Before Bess could get her poles down and steady herself she was sliding quickly down the back side of the steep hill. Nancy gasped. The trail made a sharp right turn ahead, just before a skier would fly directly into a stream.

“Bess!” Nancy called.

It was too late. Bess was already careening down the trail, her arms and poles windmilling, headed straight for the rocky stream.

“Help!” Nancy heard Bess cry out. “Help me, Nancy! I can't stop!”