Contents
____________________________________________________________
1 Winter Wonderland
2 Cyber-threat
3 Deadly Medicine
4 You’ll Be Sorry
5 A Cry for Help
6 Cross-Country Catastrophe
7 Elusive Clues and Slippery Suspects
8 Look Out!
9 After-Hours Sleuthing
10 Blackmail
11 An Unfair Judgment
12 Close Call
13 Into Thin Air
14 Caught!
15 Over the Edge
16 A Desperate Plan
1. Winter Wonderland
“Don't you love all this snow!” George Fayne remarked
as her friend Nancy Drew drove her blue Mustang
beneath the stone arch that marked the entrance to
Emerson College. “The campus looks like someone
spread a fluffy white blanket over the whole place.”
“You mean, a blinding white blanket.” Nancy had
been squinting into the bright afternoon sunlight all
the way from River Heights. On the campus snow cov-
ered every roof and tree, and drifts reached as high as
the first-floor windows of the brick and stone buildings.
“It is beautiful, but I can hardly see a thing. Especially
with the wind blowing all the new snow around.”
“I love it!” George said. Her short brown curls
danced around her face as she opened the passenger
window and leaned out to catch a snowflake on her
tongue. “Talk about perfect weather for the Big Chill
Clues Challenge.”
“I'll say.” Nancy tossed her reddish blond hair over
the shoulders of the blue cable-knit sweater she wore
over her jeans. “It'll be great to see Ned. But I still
can't believe I agreed to spend two days competing in
an all-out, outdoor treasure hunt with sports nuts like
Ned and you.”
“You know you'll love it,” George said. “Besides, we
sports nuts need a clues maniac like you if we're going
to win the Clues Challenge.”
Ned Nickerson, Nancy's longtime boyfriend, was a
student at Emerson. When he called to ask if she and
George wanted to join the Clues Challenge team from
his fraternity, they both had said yes right away.
“I know it'll be fun,” Nancy agreed. “The three other
sororities and frats competing are really athletic, and
the clues are tough. You know it's a tradition to hide
them in places that are practically impossible to get to.”
“Didn't Ned say one of the clues last year was hid-
den at the bottom of an old well?” George asked as she
rolled her window back up.
Nancy nodded. “Everyone had to cross-country ski
five miles through the woods just to get there,” she
said, laughing. “Then they had to use climbing gear to
get down to the clue. One guy actually got stuck and
had to be rescued by Ned's team.”
“Sounds like my kind of treasure hunt,” George said,
her brown eyes gleaming.
Nancy wasn't at all surprised to hear that. George
was crazy about sports and the outdoors.
“It will be cool to actually compete in the challenge
ourselves,” Nancy admitted. “Usually Ned's whole frat
wants to compete, but we were lucky that just about all
of the guys were tied up this weekend.”
“And that the Clues Challenge rules allow outsiders
to compete,” George added.
Nancy turned onto a side road that led to the west
side of campus. Students were colorful splotches
against the snow as they walked along paths that were
still being shoveled. Up ahead was a cluster of colonial-
style brick buildings. Even from a distance, Nancy
spotted the green-and-white banner that bore the
Greek letters of Ned's frat, Omega Chi Epsilon. As
Nancy maneuvered around a snowplow and pulled up
in front of the building, she saw snowballs flying and
people darting in every direction.
got out, dodging a snowball that landed on the
windshield with a splat.
“Think fast, Drew!” called a familiar voice.
Nancy turned to see Ned scoop a handful of snow
from a heaping mountain piled in front of the frat.
Ned's cheeks were bright red, and snow was matted in
his brown hair and all over his green parka and jeans.
He let the snowball fly, a huge grin on his face.
“Hey!” Nancy jumped to the left, and the snowball
caught only her sleeve. “This means war!” she yelled
back, yanking on her parka, then reaching for a handful
of snow.
She barely had time to crunch the snow into a ball
before Ned reached her and buried her in a snowy
hug.
“I'm glad you could come,” he said, burying his face
in her hair.
Nancy leaned back to grin up at her boyfriend. “Me,
too,” she said.
She jumped as another snowball caught her in the
middle of her back. A hailstorm of snow, shrieks, and
laughter came at her and Ned from all corners of the
Omega Chi Epsilon yard.
“Um, guys?” George said as two more snowballs
were lobbed from a corner of the frat. “In case you
haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a war zone.”
“Truce!” Ned shouted. He pulled off his scarf and
waved it like a flag.
Half a dozen guys and girls tumbled out from be-
hind trees, cars, and snowdrifts. Nancy waved hello to
Grant Dempsey, a guy with short brown hair and a
round face. She and George knew him from previous
trips to Emerson. Most of the other faces were unfa-
miliar.
“Nancy, George, this is C. J. Thompson,” Ned said
as a guy with tousled black hair and blue eyes came up.
“He's an Omega pledge, and—”
“C. J. Thompson?” George repeated, gaping at him.
“The C. J. Thompson? The cross-country skier who
broke the world record in the twelve thousand meters
last year?”
C.J. gave an embarrassed laugh. “I guess you've
heard of me,” he said. Shaking the snow from his
gloves, he held out his hand.
“C.J. is our secret weapon in this year's Clues
Challenge,” Ned went on. “I figure someone who's
headed for the Olympics will definitely give the
Omegas an edge in the Clues Challenge.”
“You guys will need all the help you can get,” said
one of the girls. She was a few inches shorter than
Nancy's five feet seven inches, with high cheekbones,
black hair down to her shoulders, and the most
infectious smile Nancy had ever seen. “We Kappas are
going to pulverize you guys,” she said.
Nancy detected a challenge in the girl's dark eyes.
There was also a special sparkle whe
n she looked at
C.J.
“This is Dede Mallone, my girlfriend,” C.J. said to
Nancy and George.
Ah, thought Nancy. That explains the sparkle. The
three girls with Dede introduced themselves as Krista,
Rosie, and Denise. All four were members of the
Kappa Rho sorority.
“Nice to meet you,” Nancy said. “Let me guess.
Kappa Rho is competing against the Omegas in the
Clues Challenge?”
“You got it,” Grant told her. “The four teams that
always compete in the challenge are from Omega Chi
Epsilon, Kappa Rho, Sigma Pi, and Delta Tau.”
“Which means that for the next two days, you and I
are enemies,” Dede said, giving C.J. a playful punch on
the arm.
“Speaking of the enemy . . .” Ned said under his
breath.
He nodded toward a girl who was just passing on the
freshly shoveled path. Long blond hair fell over the
collar of her red parka. She held a notebook in one
hand and a bundle of blue-and-white fabric in the
other. The expression on her face was serious.
“That's Joy Swenson, the president of Delta Tau,”
year.”
“Hey, Joy! I hope you Deltas are ready to say
goodbye to the banner,” Grant shouted to her.
Joy paused on the path and called back, “You wish.”
She shook out the blue-and-white fabric in her arms;
the words Clues Challenge Champs were spelled out in
bold white letters on a blue background.
“Take a good look. This is as close to the banner as
you're going to get,” Joy said.
“What is that?” Nancy whispered to Ned.
“The banner is the final prize of the treasure hunt,”
he explained. “The winning team gets to keep the
banner until next year's challenge.”
“I'm taking the banner over to SportsMania now so
Mr. Lorenzo can hide it along with the other clues,”
Joy said.
She whipped it back into a shapeless wad, which she
balanced on top of her notebook.
“You've got your chemistry notes?” Dede said, gap-
ing at Joy's notebook. “How can you even think about
studying for a midterm with the Clues Challenge on?”
“As if I'd let anyone or anything stop me from win-
ning,” Joy said. “See you guys later.”
George watched until Joy disappeared behind a
snowdrift. “She sure seems confident,” she com-
mented.
“Joy is the kind of person who can be captain of the
field hockey team, president of her sorority, and still
ace every class she has,” Grant said. “She's all business
when it comes to the Clues Challenge.”
“Who's Mr. Lorenzo?” Nancy asked.
“The owner of SportsMania, a sporting goods store,”
Ned told her.
“The company that used to sponsor the Clues
Challenge went out of business, so Mr. Lorenzo agreed
to take over,” C.J. added. “He makes up the clues and
judges the challenge.”
“Sounds like someone we want on our good side,”
George commented, blowing warm air onto her hands.
C.J. laughed. “Unfortunately Mr. Lorenzo is totally
impartial. But he's a nice guy. And his store is
amazing.”
“You and George can see for yourselves,” Ned said.
“Our team still has to register for the Clues Challenge.
Now that you two are here, we can head over there.
We'll make a stop on the way to drop off your stuff at
Centennial.”
“Isn't that the dorm where we stayed last time we
were here?” George asked.
Ned nodded. “My friend Penny and her roommate
are away this weekend. They said you can stay in their
room.”
“Great,” said Nancy, heading for her car.
SportsMania was housed in a spacious two-story
building halfway down the main street. It was about a
hundred years old, but the windows on both floors
displayed skis, running gear, and basketball, football,
and hockey equipment that were state of the art.
“Wow.” George stepped through the entrance be-
hind Nancy, Ned, C.J., and Grant. Her eyes flew from
rack to rack, taking in the displays that radiated out
from a circular counter at the center of the store. An
industrial-looking metal staircase rose to an open loft
area where mannequins modeled sports clothes. “I
think I want everything!”
“Man, oh, man. I like the sound of that!” a deep
voice spoke up from beyond a half-open door at the
back of the store. Then a man emerged, closing the
door behind him.
The man was about forty-five years old, with tinted
glasses and brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. As he
came toward them, Nancy saw that he was half a head
taller than she was. Beneath the long-sleeved polo shirt
he wore, she detected the solid, muscular build of
someone who worked out.
He strode over to them with a grin and reached out
to shake C.J.'s hand. “How's it going, C.J.? We just got
some new telemark skis in. Care to take a look?”
The guy was a natural salesman, thought Nancy.
Outgoing and very slick.
“I'm not buying anything today, Mr. Lorenzo,” C.J.
said apologetically. “We're here to register for the
Clues Challenge.”
“Right, right.” Mr. Lorenzo led the way to the cir-
cular counter and slipped behind it through a narrow
opening on one side. The blue-and-white Clues
Challenge banner lay in a heap on the counter, next to
a computer.
“Okay,” Mr. Lorenzo said. He pushed aside the
banner and tapped on the keyboard. “I just need to
enter each person's name. . . .”
While he typed in the information, Nancy leaned
across the counter and said, “George and I didn't bring
cross-country skis. Ned said the equipment would be
provided?”
“Absolutely,” Mr. Lorenzo answered with an easy
nod. “SportsMania furnishes all the equipment—on
loan, of course. Everything you need will be in the
lobby of the Emerson Sports Complex.”
George glanced over her shoulder at the cross-
country skis. “That's really generous, Mr. Lorenzo,” she
said.
“It's good advertising for the store,” Mr. Lorenzo
said. “Besides, I'm always glad to support a good ath-
letic cause. And I came up with some great clues, if I
do say so myself.” He looked up from his computer
long enough to arch a warning eyebrow. “You kids are
in for the challenge of a lifetime.”
“Bring it on,” Ned said, grinning. “We're ready.”
Mr. Lorenzo let out a deep laugh. “That's the spirit,”
he said, still typing. “As soon as I'm done here, I'll fit
you for equipment and—”
He broke off and blinked in surprise at his computer
screen. “Man, oh, man,” he murmured.
“What
is it?” Nancy asked. She leaned forward to get
a look at the computer screen.
The entire middle of the screen was blocked out by
a large black rectangle. Spirals of blue, green, yellow,
and purple twisted around the perimeter. But what
really got Nancy's attention were the words spelled out
at the center of the rectangle:
YOU KNOW WHERE AND WHEN.
DON'T FORGET THE CLUES . . .
IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU.
2. Cyber-threat
“That message sounds like a threat!” Nancy said.
Ned and the others crowded around; they all looked
shocked, but Mr. Lorenzo waved them back.
“No need to get all worked up,” he said calmly.
“People send all kinds of crazy messages over the In-
ternet. See? This one is gone already.”
Nancy looked again. Sure enough, all she saw was
the list Mr. Lorenzo had typed.
“Maybe it was some kind of advertisement,” Grant
commented, glancing over Nancy's shoulder. “I get
tons of that stuff on my e-mail. I just delete it.”
“This wasn't like that,” Nancy insisted. “Didn't you
guys see it?”
George, Ned, Grant, and C.J. all shook their heads.
“Let me see if I can remember it.” Nancy closed her
eyes, then nodded. “ You know where and when,' ” she
said, repeating the words exactly. “ Don't forget the
clues . . . if you know what's good for you.' ”
She popped her eyes open again and gazed expec-
tantly at Mr. Lorenzo. “Whoever sent that must be
talking about the Clues Challenge clues,” she said.
“Has someone been trying to intimidate you into
handing over the answers?”
She thought she saw a glimmer of discomfort in the
store owner's eyes, but then Mr. Lorenzo shrugged,
and it was gone.
“You can't take it seriously,” he said.
Maybe he was right, thought Nancy. But there was
something else about the message that bothered her.
“Most junk mail is sent through e-mail,” she said.
“But this message wasn't. It appeared on your screen
out of nowhere.”
“How does someone do that?” C.J. asked.
“Don't ask me,” George answered. “I'm no com-
puter whiz.”