little later I was sorting the mail at the ranger
station when I came across a letter from
Trainey about the marmot study. I saw my
chance right away and volunteered to serve as
liaison to the project.”
“And you managed to get Richard and Piker
hired as maintenance men in spite of their
forged references,” Nancy guessed.
“You hear that, guys?” Jack said mockingly.
“She’s onto you.”
“Come on, enough chitchat,” Richard said.
“Let’s pack up and get out of here.”
Anger flashed across Jack’s handsome face.
“I’m the one who makes the decisions around
here,” he growled. “Get those cages into the
truck. I’ll make our guest comfortable.”
While Piker and Richard started carrying
cages out of the cabin, he took some rope and
tied Nancy’s wrists behind her back, then
tugged her toward a door in the comer of the
room.
“Hey, Prof,” he called, shoving it open,
“here’s some company for you.”
Trainey was sitting on the floor of the small
storeroom, his hands tied behind his back. His
face was caked with dried blood from a gash
on his forehead. “Are you all right?” she asked
as Jack pushed her down beside him.
He nodded. “I’m sorry they got you, too,”
he said in a low voice.
“I’m sorry we got either of you,” Jack cut in.
“I don’t like complications. I did my best to
convince you to stay out of our way. But you
wouldn’t listen, so you have to pay the price.”
Keep him talking, Nancy told herself. “How
did you manage to steal so many marmots?”
she asked.
“Easy!” Jack bragged. “I had Piker and
Richard steal some cages, then I got a printout
of the transmitter signals. I knew the counts
were done in the afternoon, so we started
trapping right after dark on Tuesday and
worked all night. We hauled them up here and
removed the transmitters long before the col-
lege crowd was even awake.”
“You missed Spike,” Nancy commented.
“Spike,” Jack spat out. “That friend of
yours is really something. She is cute, though,
I’ve got to give her that.”
Nancy wanted to punch him.
Just then Piker and Richard returned for
more cages. As they gathered up a second load,
Professor Trainey asked, “Why did you try to
kill Brad?”
Jack scowled. “I didn’t,” he said, robbing
the scar on the back of his hand. “All I wanted
to do was discourage him, so I rigged the
stove.”
“But you were giving a slide show during the
time it was sabotaged,” Nancy said.
Jack gave her a self-satisfied smile. “Hey,
that’s right. I guess I didn’t do it after all!”
Nancy thought quickly. “Alicia used the
stove to make hot chocolate at about six-
thirty, and Brad came on duty at seven-thirty.
So the stove had been rigged by then.”
Jack leaned back against the door frame.
“You’re pretty good. Nancy. But you should
have checked that out more. The narration for
the show was taped. I started it, then slipped
back to the campsite.”
Nancy nodded.
“Borrowing the professor’s coat and hat was
a nice touch, you’ve got to admit,” he went on.
“If anyone saw me, they’d suspect it was him.”
“Except for the fact that one of the time-
lapse cameras caught you leaving the hut,”
Trainey said dryly. “The moment I saw it, I
realized it was you who had tampered with the
stove.”
Nancy turned to Trainey. “How? I found the
picture in your tent but couldn’t tell who it
was.”
“I had an advantage over you. Nancy,”
Trainey explained. “I remembered that Jack
had been bitten on the nose by a marmot and
wore a bandage for a few days.”
“The white spot!” Nancy gasped. “So that’s
what it was.”
There was a loud crash outside, and Jack
rushed out the door.
The moment he was out of sight. Nancy
started struggling against her rope. Pain shot
through her wrists, and she could tell she was
getting nowhere. “How did he capture you?”
she asked Professor Trainey.
“Sheer stupidity,” he replied. “When I saw
that picture, I got mad and rushed off to find
him. I met up with him at feeding station two,