“Maybe there was somebody else up there with them?” Mike said. “I don’t know—do you suppose somebody else pushed Paula over the cliff?”
“And what about his warning to you?” Ned asked Nancy, with a puzzled look. “When Max said that Paula is out to kill you, he was talking like she’s still alive!”
“That’s impossible,” Tod scoffed. “We saw her fall from the cliff and into the water.”
Nancy shook her head, frowning. “We’ll have to wait until Max regains consciousness to be sure that’s what happened. Then we can ask him some more questions.”
“There’s a shed over there,” Ned said, pointing toward a group of weathered, ramshackle outbuildings. “And I see a folded-up tarp just inside the door. Let’s put Max on the tarp and move him into the shed, where he’ll be out of this sun.”
It took a few minutes to move Max. The others stood silently, watching, as if they were afraid Max might come to and attack them.
When Max was lying on the floor of the shed, Mike straightened up and dusted off his hands, looking at his watch. “I’m going to go up to the tower and send off that message,” he said. “It’s nearly three o’clock now. If we don’t let the rangers know right away that we’re here, they might not be able to get us out before dark.”
Nancy, Ned, and Bess decided to stay with Max while the others climbed the tower with Mike. They had been gone for five minutes or so when Max began to stir.
“Max,” Nancy said urgently, bending over him. “Can you talk? Who pushed Paula over the cliff? Was somebody else up there with you?”
Max didn’t answer. After opening his eyes he just stared, then lapsed into a delirious sleep.
“Oh,” Bess moaned, twisting her fingers anxiously. “He looks like he’s going to die.”
“I’m going to go after Mike and tell him to ask the Forest Service to send a doctor with the helicopter,” Nancy said suddenly, scrambling to her feet. She pulled out the tiny notebook and pencil that she always carried and handed it to Ned. “If he says anything you can understand—even if it sounds like nonsense—write it down.”
“Okay,” Ned promised.
Nancy started across the dusty yard of the ranger station toward the tower. She was deep in thought. Max had said that he didn’t kill Paula. “It was the other way around,” he had said. But that could only mean one thing: That Paula had tried to kill him!
The wind picked up suddenly, moaning around the tower.
Nancy began to climb the stairs. She was partway up when she caught a flash of movement below her. A slight figure dashed out of the dense woods that surrounded the ranger station and ran across the yard toward the tower. Staring unbelievingly at the runner, who had already begun to take the stairs toward her, two at a time, Nancy gripped the steel railing.
“Paula!” she gasped.
Chapter Seventeen
“Yes, it’s me,” Paula said, panting and out of breath. She clattered up the stairs toward Nancy. Her long hair was matted and full of twigs and brambles, her cold amber eyes wild and staring. In that instant, Nancy realized that Paula was insane.
“What do you want?” She held Paula’s eyes with her own as she gingerly backed up the stairs.
“I want you,” Paula said over the roar of the wind. “You’re the one I’ve been after all along. I’m going to kill you!”
Nancy sensed that if she could keep Paula talking, she might be able to distract her. At least she could stave off an attack for a few minutes until Paula was in a position where she could be overpowered.
“Why are you trying to kill me?” Nancy said. “I don’t even know you.”
“Are you sure?” Paula asked, baring her teeth in a smile. Her amber eyes glittered like the eyes of the rattlesnake. She came up another step. “Does the name Peter Hancock mean anything to you?”
“Peter Hancock?” Nancy was genuinely puzzled. “No,” she said. “Why should it?” And then she remembered. Suddenly she knew where she had seen those strange amber eyes.