Free 038 The Final Scene by Carolyn Keene Page A

toward the foot of the bed, but she groaned as a pain shot through the left side of her head. “Oh, wow,” she moaned. “It feels like there’s a team of hockey players going at it inside my skull.”
    “Don’t try to move, Nancy,” George said, taking her friend’s hand. “You got quite a bump. The doctor says you should lie still.”
    “My arm—is it broken?” Nancy asked as she looked down at the sling on her right arm.
    “No,” her father answered. “Just sprained.”
    “It feels broken. What hit me? A semi truck?”
    Nancy saw her father and George look at each other.
    “Don’t you remember what happened last night?” George asked.
    “Last night?” Nancy closed her eyes and tried to think back. Then it came to her. “Something fell on me.”
    “It was a movie screen,” Carson Drew offered. “Can you remember anything about it?”
    Nancy shook her head and instantly regretted having moved as another pain shotthrough her. “No. I heard a noise and I decided to investigate. But I made it all the way.”
    George looked disappointed, but Mr. Drew reached out and gently patted her shoulder. “That’s okay, sweetheart.”
    “Deirdre,” she said, fighting to stay awake and gather her confused thoughts. “I met with Deirdre just before it happened.”
    “Yes, we know,” George said. “She was the one who rescued you. She said she was just walking out the rear door when she heard a loud crash. She was afraid something had happened to you, so she went rushing back.”
    “She was the one who called the ambulance,” Mr. Drew said. “If it hadn’t been for Deirdre, who knows how long you might have been there before anyone found you.”
    “She came back to the hotel lobby to tell me about your accident,” George said. “Then I called your father.”
    “I told her that you were staked out there in the lobby,” Nancy said as her mind cleared, and she remembered her meeting with Deirdre. “She didn’t want anyone to know that she had been to see me. Especially Simon. She suspects Simon of the kidnapping.”
    “Really?” Mr. Drew pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed. “Tell us.”
    “There’s not that much to tell. She said that on the plane here Simon was trying to talk Brady into some kind of publicity stunt, and Brady wasn’t buying it. They argued about it.”
    “Well, that’s all the proof I need,” George said. “It’s got to be Simon.”
    Nancy chuckled and turned to her dad. “George fell for Nicholas when he helped her down from that catwalk. Now she’s determined to prove that it’s Simon and not Nicholas.”
    “But you still suspect Nicholas?” Mr. Drew asked.
    Nancy cast a sideways glance at George and saw her disapproving scowl.
    “I have to suspect everyone,” Nancy said carefully. “And, yes, he’s still one of my prime suspects. The kidnapper is a man who’s well-acquainted with the theater. Nicholas knows the place, and he has a strong motive for the kidnapping—family loyalty and love of the place.”
    “So,” said a voice from the doorway. They all turned to see Nicholas standing there with a box of chocolates in his hand and a dark look of anger on his handsome face.
    “Just because I’m loyal to my family and want to preserve that beautiful old building,that makes me a kidnapper?” he asked pointedly.
    He walked across the room and tossed the candy onto the foot of the bed. “I heard about your accident, Nancy,” he said. “I came to tell you that I hope you recover quickly.” He walked back to the door where he stood with his hand on the knob. “I’m sorry that you think so little of me as a person,” he said with bitter sarcasm. “But I still hope you get well soon.”
    He slammed the door behind him. The sound echoed for a long moment in the heavy quiet of the room. No one spoke.
    Finally George broke the silence. “His feelings were really hurt,” she said in a slightly accusing tone.
    Carson Drew cleared his throat. “It