Free Close Encounters (Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Detective Book 21) by Carolyn Keene Page A

the door in place while Bess secured the bottom hinge to the newly mended door frame.
    Bess glanced up at me, taking in the car keys in my hand. “I need to finish up here,” she said. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
    I dropped George off at the inn, and after grabbing a warmer jacket and a flashlight, I decided to go back to the meadow. This time I was determined to evade not only the Reel TV crew but the police. I asked Georgeif she could google up a map of Brody’s Junction.
    “Sure,” she said. A minute later she had surfed her way right onto the site of the county’s highway department and downloaded a map depicting every back road within twenty miles of Brody’s Junction.
    George printed out the map on her portable printer. “Good luck,” she said, handing it to me.
    Stuffing it into my pocket, I doubled down the stairs and ran smack into Izzy Sanchez. “Where were you this morning?” she asked. “I mean after that dognapping incident, which, by the way, will make great footage. My guys are on the scene now.”
    “So they already know about Aldwin going missing?” I asked, avoiding her original question.
    Her eyes widened. “That old farmer?” She sounded shocked, but I had a hunch she knew all about Aldwin’s abduction. “Did they get him, too?”
    “Whoever ‘they’ are, yes, they did. If your guys want to help find him, they should check their footage for clues—that is, if he went missing after they began spying on his farm.” The fact that I’d emphasized the word spying didn’t escape Izzy’s notice.
    “Nancy, why are you so negative about the show, about us, and more important, about the aliens?”
    I felt like I was being interviewed, but then I reminded myself I had signed the release. “Off the record?”
    She gave a reluctant nod.
    “Okay. I like reality TV shows just fine. But I never wanted to be on one. In some ways I’m a private person. I only agreed to let you film me so I could prove the sightings are faked.”
    “And what have you found so far?” Izzy asked.
    “I’m not sure,” I answered. I wasn’t ready to admit to her I was beginning to consider that the sightings might be the real McCoy.
    Izzy shrugged. “Off the record, where did you hear about Aldwin going missing?”
    “In town, from his sister.” Suddenly inspiration struck. I’d figured out how to divert Izzy. “But I’m surprised your crew wasn’t there to cover the break-in.”
    “We’re already spread pretty thin. They can’t be everywhere,” Izzy said, then frowned. “Wait a minute—what break-in?” This time her surprise seemed genuine.
    “At Winnie’s café. You should check it out. Some people are blaming it on the UFOs.” I purposely didn’t mention a thing about the bear.
    “Uh, thanks,” Izzy said, sounding puzzled. She pulled out her cell and speed-dialed someone. When I walked away, she was talking quickly to whoever was on the other end. I climbed into my car convinced that I’d sent her on a wild goose chase and maybe wrangled some time alone away from Reel TV ’s prying eyes.
    Using George’s map, I chose my route and headed off. Frequent checks in my rearview mirror provedmy theory was right. I had ditched the TV crew, at least temporarily. All too soon, though, they’d learn that Winnie’s break-in had nothing to do with aliens—real or imagined.
    My route took me past Aldwin’s farm and the vegetable stand. As I went by the vegetable stand, I slowed down and took a good look out the window. The pickup truck was parked in the circular drive in front of the rental cabins. Nathan and Addie were already back home.
    According to the map, the road in front of the Nichols place encircled Brody’s Peak. A small logging road cut through the state forest that bordered both Aldwin’s land and the area I’d explored earlier, behind the roadblock.
    Looking for the logging road, I drove past the farm, the cabins, and a WELCOME. BRODY’S PEAK STATE FOREST sign. The