Black Widow by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Chapter

Ten

NANCY AWOKE WITH a start. She was lying on cold, hard tiles and couldn’t remember how she had gotten there. Then it came back. Someone had tried to electrocute her!

She tried to get up, but her muscles didn’t obey. Her body was tingling, and her legs felt as if they were made of rubber.

With a groan, Nancy struggled to a sitting position on the bathroom floor. She peered at her watch and gasped. It was past one in the morning. She had been there for an hour!

Painfully, Nancy climbed to her feet. Fetching her evening bag from the bed, she shone her tiny flashlight on the bathroom switch. It was surrounded by black scorch marks, and there were deep gouges in the paint where someone had pried it loose to sabotage the wiring.

A long shudder ran down Nancy’s spine. So now Ribeiro was playing for keeps! It was sheer luck that she had let go of the light switch before the current did any permanent damage.

Moving shakily, she let herself out of her room and made her way to her father’s cabin.

“Nancy!” Carson Drew’s face paled when he saw her at his door. “What happened to you?”

“I—” Nancy staggered and Carson caught her. “Someone rigged my bathroom light switch.” She tried to smile. “I got a pretty good shock, but I think I’m okay.”

“What?” Carson exploded. He picked his daughter up and carried her inside, where he placed her gently on his bed and covered her with a blanket. Then he straightened up, his face dark with anger.

“Who did this? How did it happen?” he demanded.

Nancy sighed. “I guess someone broke in during the ball. Everything was fine when I got dressed earlier.”

“But who?” Carson pressed. “Nancy, do you have any idea who it can be? You’ve got to tell me!”

Nancy’s mind went back to the knife attacker in Mrs. da Silva’s room. It had to have been Ribeiro—but there was something nagging at the back of her mind, some clue that she couldn’t quite focus on. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, but it was no use. Her head was spinning.

Her father noticed that she looked exhausted. “Well,” he said in a gentle voice, “I guess we can talk in the morning. Right now, you’d better get some rest.”

He adjusted Nancy’s blanket and stretched out in his armchair. Nancy was too tired to protest.

Her body aching, she finally fell asleep.

• • •

Nancy had to admit, the world did look a lot better in daylight, after a good breakfast. She reached hungrily for a second piece of toast.

She told Carson her suspicions about Antonio Ribeiro. At first Carson wanted to go straight to Captain Brant, but Nancy pointed out that without any solid evidence, there was nothing they could do. “We need to see what he’ll do next,” she argued. “He will slip up sometime.”

“You’re right, of course,” Carson grumbled. “But I’m not happy about it.”

“Cheer up, Dad. It’s a beautiful day,” Nancy said with an affectionate grin.

Just then, Captain Brant came over to greet them.

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