Carolyn Keene. Stay Tuned For Danger
Carolyn Keene. Stay Tuned For Danger
Chapter One
“Nancy, you’re driving me nuts! Would you please finish that sundae? Our plane leaves in an hour!” Bess Marvin looked longingly at her friend’s dessert. Then she pulled a pink beret over her straw blond hair and reached for the matching pink jacket that was hanging on the back of her chair.
Nancy Drew looked at Bess, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement. “Take it easy, Bess. We’re five minutes from the airport. George’ll get us there in plenty of time.”
Nancy and Bess were flying to New York City to visit Nancy’s aunt, Eloise Drew, and George was dropping them off. It was early, so they had decided to stop for ice cream near the airport.
“Admit it, Bess,” George Fayne said with a laugh, throwing an arm around her cousin’s shoulders. “You’re just jealous because Nancy’s eating that fantastic, splendiferous, mouth-watering—”
“Mmmm. And it’s so-o-o good,” Nancy said, licking her lips.
“Quit teasing, you guys,” Bess muttered. “I swear I gain weight just looking at something that fattening.”
“It does look good,” George said, wistfully agreeing. She and Bess were cousins as well as best friends, but they couldn’t have been more different. With her tall, athletic figure, her dark hair and eyes, and her levelheaded approach to life, George was her cousin’s opposite in every way.
“When you two get back from New York, we’ve got to come here again,” George said. “You can fill me in on your trip, and by then I’ll be able to order something disgustingly rich and gooey. Just like those banana splits we had at that wonderful restaurant, Rumpelmayer’s.” George sighed. “I wish I were going with you.”
“I’ll never understand you,” said Bess. “How can you pass up a chance to go to New York, the most glamorous city in the world, just so you can run in some stupid race? What’s the big deal?”
“Don’t be dumb, Bess. I’ve been training for this race for months. It may only be the River Heights marathon, but it’s important to me.”
“Yummm,” Nancy savored one last mouthful of ice cream before putting down her spoon. “Okay, I’m ready,” she said with a toss of her reddish gold hair.
Bess eyed the remains of Nancy’s sundae hungrily. “No,” she told herself, “I refuse to blow my diet before we even get to New York. I mean, you never know who I might meet,” she said, looking at her friends. “In New York, anything’s possible.”
Nancy and George exchanged knowing smiles. Bess was sure to find cute guys in the Big Apple, just as she did in River Heights.
“Well, if I know Nancy,” George said, “you two will probably wind up in the middle of an adventure. Remember the last time we were in New York? We didn’t even have time to go shopping!”
George was right. Intrigue and mystery seemed to find Nancy wherever she went. At eighteen, she was already a rising star in the world of detectives.
“No way,” Nancy protested. “This time I’m just going to be a tourist. I’m going to spend some time with my aunt, Eloise, do some shopping, see a Broadway show—”
“A Broadway show? Are you kidding? There are at least six that I’m dying to see!” Bess exclaimed.
“Hey, you two,” Nancy declared, looking at her watch. “Now we had better hurry.”
And with that, the three girls paid their bill and filed out of the ice cream shop.
“Here we are,” Bess said, staring up at the elegant old apartment building. “This street always looks like a movie set of ‘old New York’ to me. Like it’s a hundred years old, at least.”
It was true, Nancy thought. The street had old-world charm, from the tall gingko trees with their fanlike leaves to the old-fashioned gas lamps along the sidewalk that fronted the many brownstone buildings.
“Did I tell you my aunt bought her apartment last year when— Oh, look, there she is!” Nancy cried, waving to her aunt, who was coming out the front door. Tall and elegant, Eloise Drew was a female version of Nancy’s father, Carson. They had the same lustrous brown hair and aristocratic features.