already gone upstairs.”
“So that’s where it went,” the woman said
with a tittering laugh. As she accepted the
sheet of paper she added, “Thanks for return-
ing it.”
“I’m Nancy Drew and this is my friend Bess
Marvin.”
“Gerald and Edith Turkower here,” the man
replied. “Smile!” he said suddenly. Before Nan-
cy and Bess could react, he raised the camera
and took three quick shots of them.
“I wasn’t ready!” Bess protested.
“Gerald, really!” Edith admonished. “He’s
such a camera nut.”
“I couldn’t help looking at that article,”
Nancy said casually. “Those whistling mar-
mots are so cute! Wouldn’t it be fun to have
one as a pet?”
“Oh, yes,” Edith replied. “I know a woman
back home who has three of them.”
“Edith likes owning unusual things,” Gerald
said, shooting a keen glance at Nancy.
“I know there are lots of them here in
Yellowstone. But isn’t it illegal to take animals
out of a national park?” Nancy asked, sound-
ing naive.
Gerald nodded. “Sure.” Then he smiled
knowingly. “But there are ways around that.”
Nancy’s heartbeat quickened. Did this cou-
ple want to buy a marmot? Or were they
somehow involved in the poaching scheme?
She decided to dangle a little bait and see if
one of them took it. “I might consider it, but
only if I was sure I wouldn’t get into any
trouble.”
“Nobody likes trouble,” Gerald said. To
Nancy’s disappointment, he didn’t say more
before they wandered off.
“What do you think, Nan?” Bess asked.
“Could they be stealing the marmots?”
Nancy frowned. “They seem more like buy-
ers than sellers,” she said. “But either way,
we’ll keep an eye on them.”
Somewhere downstairs a clock chimed.
Nancy glanced at her wrist. Eleven o’clock.
She was lying in the comfortable brass bed in
her hotel room.
She realized that she had had her book open
to the same page for almost half an hour. The
thought that kept running through her mind
was that Ned cared more about Professor
Trainey than he did about the truth.
Suddenly she couldn’t stand it any longer
and put her book down, stood up, and got her
jacket from the closet. A little fresh air, maybe
a drive, would clear the cobwebs from her
mind, she thought.
Nancy headed outside. The night was cold
and crisp. As she walked toward the parking
lot, she heard voices that sounded familiar.
Just then the headlights of an incoming car
swept across a small group of people about
fifty feet away. Nancy ducked behind a parked
car.
Edith and Gerald Turkower were deep in
conversation with Richard and Piker, the two
park maintenance men.
Nancy crouched down and began moving
between cars to get close enough to hear them.
But the group broke up before she got there.
She went back to her room and tried to sort
out her thoughts. The only link she could think
of between a rich California couple and two
Yellowstone maintenance men was poaching.
Would any of them know how to track the
marmots on the computer? Nancy doubted it.
Someone in the camp had to be involved.
Someone like Dan Trainey.
Nancy was still thinking when the door
opened and Bess rushed in, her face aglow.
“The disco was great!” she exclaimed. “And it
wasn’t even crowded. We had lots of room to
dance. You should have come.”
Nancy smiled. “Next time.”
“Jack is really something!” Bess fell into a
chair. “He is totally dedicated to his work and
knows absolutely everything about the park. I
just hope I can get him as interested in me as
he is in whistling marmots,” she finished with
a laugh.
Nancy smiled. “I get the feeling you had
a good time,” she said, then couldn’t help
sighing.
Bess stared at her. “What’s wrong. Nan?”
“It’s just that Ned’s upset because Dan
Irainey is on my list of suspects. I guess he
thinks his friends should be exempt from my
investigating them.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Bess said. “Ned knows
better than that. Nancy. He’s just tired and
stressed out. He’ll feel different tomorrow.”
Nancy shook her head. “I hope so,” she said.
“Hey, I know,” Bess continued. “There’s