Once Upon a Thriller (Nancy Drew Diaries #4)(9)

She turned to Ian and asked, “Who would want to torch a bookstore? We heard some people say that Lacey isn’t too popular around here, even though she’s a famous mystery writer. And Paige seems to have an enemy or two as well.”

“Well, I’m not supposed to discuss ongoing investigations, but we really don’t know that much yet. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt,” Ian said. “The fire chief and Uncle Bob—uh, I mean the sheriff—were in the bookstore all morning collecting evidence. They still have to evaluate everything officially, but just between us, that fire was definitely not an accident.

“They found traces of kerosene, though they also found some frayed wires on an old chandelier,” he continued. “It looked like someone cut through the wires to make it look like that’s what started the fire. Now they’ve launched a full investigation.”

So it was official: Someone had started the fire on purpose. But who was the target? Paige? Lacey? Or someone else? I was contemplating my next move when the ringing of Ian’s cell phone cut through my thoughts.

“Hey, Uncle Bob,” he answered. “Is everything okay?”

The sheriff. It was difficult not to eavesdrop, since Ian was sitting just a few feet away.

“Really?” he asked. “Of course . . . I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

The call over, he looked at us, seemingly in shock.

“Thanks for the iced tea,” he said, nodding his head at Bess as he spoke. “But our small town has been hit again. Someone stole a valuable, one-of-a-kind statue.”

He shook his head. “I just don’t understand why this is happening.”





CHAPTER FIVE





Cracking the Code


BESS WAS UP FROM HER chair in a second. “Come on, Ian,” she offered. “I’ll give you a lift back.”

George and I walked Bess and Ian to the car. “Do you have any more details?” I asked.

He opened the car door and said, “The piece was by artist Rick Brown. It was taken from one of the small art galleries in town. The Bride of Avondale, I think my uncle said.”

“Two crimes in less than twelve hours?” George questioned once they drove off. “I know that may not be much for River Heights, but from what we’ve heard about Avondale, it’s pretty suspicious, isn’t it?”

“I agree,” I said. “I know I’ve heard the name Rick Brown, but I can’t remember where.”

“Maybe you saw one of his pieces in a museum, or read about him in art class,” George suggested.

“Wait a sec,” I said. “I remember.” I jumped up and ran into the house to grab the two Lacey O’Brien books I had bought earlier in the day. I came back to the porch and opened one of them to the “About the Author” page and skimmed it quickly.

“I knew it!” I said triumphantly. “I read about the author on the way to the diner before. Rick Brown is Lacey O’Brien’s husband.”

“That’s too much of a coincidence, isn’t it?” George said. “I mean, first Lacey’s supposed to appear for a reading but there’s a fire at the bookstore. Then her husband’s statue is stolen from an art gallery on the same day.”

I took a sip of tea and closed my eyes for a second.

“Do you remember those two girls at the bookstore fire this morning? One of them mentioned that it seemed awfully similar to the plot of Lacey O’Brien’s book Burned.”

George nodded. “Right,” she agreed. “But what does that have to do with the stolen sculpture?”

“Well, Burned is about a fire in an old building, and Framed is about a theft from an art museum,” I told her.

“Seriously?” she said.

I nodded. “And another one of Lacey’s mysteries is Drowned. Think about what happened to us on the lake before. It sounds like someone’s copying the crimes from her mystery novels,” I said.

George gave me one of her George looks and said, “Okay, so we could have drowned today in Moon Lake, but why would anyone target us? No one knows who we are. And besides, how could anyone have known we’d go out on the lake and be caught in a storm?”

“But remember Alice Ann—and that waitress—told us where Lacey lives. I just have a feeling it’s connected somehow. I know you’re beat, but maybe we should start reading Burned and Framed now. There just might be more clues to what’s next.”

“I’ll tell you what’s next for me, Nancy: sleep. You can wait up for Bess, but I’m going to bed.”



The next morning I woke up early and waited to tell Bess and George what I had discovered. I had looked at both books, letting George get her beauty sleep. Burned opens with a mysterious fire at an antiques store. The arsonist tampers with the wiring in an old chandelier to make it look as though the fire is accidental. The rest of the plot involves an international ring of criminals who traffic in fake and stolen antiques. The heroine in the novel—a journalist named Lucy Luckstone—breaks the story and eventually solves the case with the help of Detective Buck Albemarle.

The two characters appear again in the novel Framed. This time a thief steals a valuable painting from an art museum while Lucy Luckstone is on a behind-the-scenes tour. Lucy is framed for the theft, and Detective Albemarle has to clear her name.