“Edith and Gerry are agents of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Department,” Trainey remarked.
Bess looked startled. “What?”
“It’s true.” Gerald untied the rope and
snapped the cuffs on Jack’s wrists. “Dan called
us in when the marmot traps began to disap-
pear.”
“Professor Trainey called you in?” Nancy
repeated in surprise.
“Sure. We’ve been friends for years,” Edith
replied.
“That’s why I didn’t want you on the case,
Nancy,” Trainey explained. “I was afraid you
might interfere with their investigation. Be-
sides, look what happened to Brad when he
tried investigating. I didn’t want anyone else
hurt.”
Two park service cars pulled up next to the
truck. Martin pushed Jack toward them. “I’ll
get this bunch into the cruisers.”
Nancy turned to Gerald and Edith. “Your
act sure fooled me,” she said. “And when I
overheard Professor Trainey calling you from
the square dance, I was sure that he was the
brains behind the poaching scheme.”
Professor Trainey laughed. “That’ll teach
me to let my daughter drag me to dances,” he
said.
“I asked Dan to scout around for us today,
but when we got back from Jackson a little
while ago, we found out that he’d vanished.”
“I’m afraid I was out of action,” Trainey
said, wryly. “Fortunately, Nancy was on the
job.”
Edith smiled. “Great detective work. Nan-
cy! Did you know that there’s a five thousand
dollar reward for catching poachers?”
“Wow,” Nancy said.
“Better start thinking about what to do with
it,” Edith went on.
The next morning Nancy was awakened by
voices outside her tent. Bess was gone, so
Nancy knew it had to be fairly late. She got up,
threw on jeans and a sweatshirt, combed her
hair, then stepped out into the sunshine. The
sight that met her made her gape.
Two large trucks were parked near the camp-
site. From one of them came the rumble of a
powerful electrical generator. Dozens of peo-
ple were wheeling big blue metal equipment
cases, rolls of cable, and light stands up the
path to feeding station 1.
“Nan! Do you realize what’s happening?”
Bess ran over to greet her friend. “Randy
Dean’s going to shoot his special right here!
He’ll be here any minute, and I’m going to
meet him if I have to sprain my ankle to do it!”
Nancy looked around. “Where is everyone
else?”
“They’re all up at the feeding station,” Bess
explained. “Come on, hurry!”
At that moment Nancy heard the low
throaty growl of a perfectly tuned racing en-
gine. She looked over her shoulder and saw a
bright red sports car pulling to a stop in the lot.
“Bess,” she said, “your prayers are about to
be answered.”
Bess gasped as Randy Dean stepped out of
his car. “Hey, Nancy!” he called. “Good to see
you again.”
“Hi, Randy,” Nancy replied when the rock
star joined them. “I want you to meet my
friend Bess Marvin.”
Randy held out his hand. “Hi, Bess.”
Bess turned pale, then red, as she took his
hand. Still holding it, she gasped out, “This is
just so totally awesome! I think you’re the best
singer ever!”
“Well, thanks,” Randy replied. He gently
disengaged his hand and glanced up the hill.
“Is that the way to the feeding station?”
Bess nodded.
“I’d better get up there. My producer will
kill me if I’m late. Want to come?”
Bess just about tripped over her own feet as
she moved to Randy’s side.
At the top of the hill. Randy sat down on a
folding chair while a makeup artist went to
work on him. Dan Trainey was inside the
enclosure, holding a marmot. The Turkowers,
Ned, and the rest of the Emerson students
were off to one side, watching. To Nancy’s
delight. Brad was among them.
“Hi.” He grinned when she and Bess went
over. “I finally talked them into letting me out
of that place.”
Nancy smiled and returned his greeting.
“Ned’s told me everything,” Brad went on.
“Imagine, Jack being the mastermind of the
whole scheme.”
Ned kissed Nancy and then put his arm
around her shoulders. “Didn’t I tell you she
was a first-rate detective?”
Trainey brought Spike over and handed him