The Wrong Chemistry (5 page)

After collecting her things, Nancy followed Ned to the Emerson gym. There, Ned left
Nancy in the office with Coach Burnett, a tall, silver-haired man in his late fifties. Nancy was seated across from him in a red armchair, the only comfortable chair in the room. The coach leaned back and swung his feet onto his desk.

“I should have known you were here to investigate a mystery. Why don't you ever come up just to see us?” He broke into a smile that reached up to his gray eyes. “Or is Nickerson not as much of a hunk as all the cheerleaders think he is?”

Nancy blushed hotly. “Coach!”

The man laughed. “I'm sorry, Nancy, I shouldn't tease you. After all, I owe you a lot.”

“Do you think we could get back to Professor Maszak?” Nancy asked.

“Sure. But I'm not sure how much I can tell you about him.”

Nancy tried to hide her disappointment. “Ned said he'd seen you together.”

“Well, we've had dinner a few times,” Coach Burnett admitted. “But we don't talk about school or chemistry. I know very little personal background.”

“At this point, anything would help,” Nancy assured him.

Coach Burnett nodded thoughtfully. “Well, he's from Hungary, if you hadn't already guessed. His wife, Linda, is American, though, a
linguist, I think. They met when she was teaching in Hungary. Stop me if this isn't the kind of thing you want.”

“No, this is great,” Nancy assured him.

The coach nodded. “Well, Linda's very sick. I'm not sure what's wrong, but I guess they decided she could get better medical treatment here. That's why they came to the States.”

“That explains a lot,” Nancy said. “I thought it was strange that a scientist from a communist country could come over here and do research for our government.”

“Well, apparently it
was
a problem. Right now Maszak has only a working visa. He's waiting for permanent residency.”

“Does he like it here?”

“Oh, yes,” Coach Burnett said. “His first love is teaching. He loves his classes and his students love him.”

“But he doesn't seem like a happy person,” Nancy commented.

“Well, he's got a lot on his mind, with Linda and all. And I guess his work takes a lot out of him.” The coach made a face. “All that fooling with biological mutations.”

Nancy laughed. “Different people have different interests, I guess.” She got up. “Thanks for everything, Coach.”

“My pleasure, Nancy.”

Nancy told Coach Burnett to tell Ned that he could find her in the science library. She headed straight there.

In the biology section she ran her fingers lightly over the bindings, working her way to the end of the aisle. Choosing a few books, she plopped down on the floor in the aisle and began paging through them. She didn't really know what she was looking for. Most of the information on biological mutations showed pictures of just that, mutations.

According to the books, Nancy found there were a few things you could do to an animal to make it grow larger and faster than usual. But the most common way to induce rapid growth was to give the animal a growth hormone. Nancy thought she remembered Maszak bragging about how young the huge carp actually was.

The books all said that the same hormone wouldn't affect different animals the same way, but Nancy was pretty sure that Maszak was using CLT on both the mice and the fish.

Maybe that was the big secret? CLT worked the same on all animals. Nancy frowned. She was no scientist, and her answers seemed all too easy. Nothing there for Dean Jarvis to get excited about. And nothing to involve the government.

Switching her attention to recent scientific
magazines, Nancy spent another hour poring through articles, many of which she didn't completely understand. Just as she was about to give up, she spotted an article describing the futile attempts to give different animals the same growth hormone. It was impossible that any growth hormone would work the same on all of them, the article said. Yet that seemed to be exactly what she had seen in Maszak's lab. Nancy's pulse quickened.

No one thought it could be done, yet she had seen it. A chill went up her spine. Forcing herself to remain calm, Nancy reread the article carefully. No doubt about it. There was only one growth hormone that could possibly achieve this result, the article said, and no one had access to that. It was very rare and unusual. And it could only come from a human!

N
ANCY
! I
'VE BEEN LOOKING
all over this place for you.”

Startled, Nancy dropped her magazine. She looked up to see Ned towering over her.

Nancy gasped. “Ned,” she cried, “you look terrible. Something's happened. What is it? What's wrong?”

Ned's face was grim. “It's Angela,” he said. “She's gone.”

“What are you talking about?” Nancy leapt to her feet, magazines slipping to the floor. “What do you mean she's gone?”

“Angela came to the frat house late last night
and talked to Mike. He said she was pretty upset. When he asked what was going on, she gave him a message for me. She said, ‘Tell Ned I'm doing the right thing. Don't worry.' And today, when I went back there, this note was waiting for me.”

Ned held up a piece of typing paper. “She says her belief in POE is destroying our friendship and she can't argue with me about it anymore. So she's left school. She's going to give all her time to them.”

“Let me see that.” Nancy took the paper from Ned and read it quickly. There was something about it—

“Wait a second, Ned, does Angela always type her letters?”

“As a matter of fact, she's taking a typing course right now. She's been typing everything all semester.”

“Still”—Nancy shook her head—“she sounds very emotional. I wouldn't sit down and type a letter like this, would you?” She handed the letter back to Ned. “Why don't we pay this group a little visit?”

Ned grinned slyly. “I thought you'd never ask.”

Ned helped Nancy shove the books and magazines back on the shelf. Then they made their way across campus as fast as possible.

The headquarters for POE were across a road
from the Emerson campus, in an abandoned business complex. Ned and Nancy followed a driveway that wound through the wooded grounds and ended in front of a large double-story building. Five smaller buildings were scattered among the trees along the road.

The gravelly driveway crunched under Nancy's feet as they approached the main building. No one came out to greet them. In fact, the place seemed deserted.

Ned glanced at Nancy. “Weird, huh?” he asked in a low voice.

Nancy nodded, slipping her hand securely into his. “You said they went on survival campouts on weekends. Maybe they left early.”

The door to the main building was half open. It swung in noiselessly when Nancy pushed it. They stepped in.

Nancy and Ned found themselves in one large room, in what looked like a warehouse. There was a small, makeshift podium off to one side, with a stack of straw mats piled near it on the bare concrete floor. A delicate iron stairway was built in against the opposite wall, seeming to lead underground. The air inside was cold and smelled of forest dampness.

Twenty feet up on the walls, a catwalk circled the inside of the warehouse. A spiral staircase dropped to the main floor. Beyond the catwalk at one end, Nancy could see small rooms leading
off from it. The center of the main room was open to the roof. As Nancy and Ned surveyed the area, a small figure appeared on the catwalk.

“Can I help you with something?” Nancy recognized Karen Lewis, the girl she had met in the arboretum.

“We came to see Angela Morrow.” Ned's voice sounded hollow in the large space. “Can you tell us where to find her?”

As Karen headed down the spiral stairs, Nancy thought she saw a shadow lengthen along the wall of the room the girl had emerged from, but no one came out. As she approached, Karen looked at Nancy quizzically.

“Don't I know you?” she asked Nancy. “You look very familiar.”

“I ran into your ‘rehearsal' in the woods yesterday,” Nancy reminded her.

“Oh, right.” Karen flushed. “Nancy Drew. And now you're here about Angela?”

Nancy nodded, but Karen kept staring at her, as if she were waiting for her to talk about something else.

Ned shifted impatiently. “Yes,” he prompted, “Angela Morrow. Can we see her?”

Karen turned her attention to him. “Right. Angela,” she said, repeating his question. “She's not here, I'm afraid. I can leave a note for her if you'd like.”

Nancy couldn't help thinking that Karen seemed distracted and a bit confused.

Ned locked eyes with Karen. “Angela left me a note saying she was coming to live here.”

His words seemed to pull Karen out of her thoughts. She folded her arms across her chest. “As a matter of fact, she will be joining us here. But when students move off campus, they need parental consent. Angela went home to discuss it with her mom and dad.”

Before Ned could reply, Nancy laid a hand on his arm to silence him.

“When people come here, where exactly do they stay?” she cut in, smoothly changing the subject. “I don't see any signs of people living here.”

“This is just our meeting hall. There are a few offices up there on the catwalk, but no one lives here. We house people in the surrounding buildings. Right now, we have thirty full-time members,” Karen boasted. “And we're still growing.”

“Karen?” a deep voice boomed from the mezzanine.

They all turned toward the man who appeared on the catwalk.

“That's Philip Bangs,” Nancy told Ned in a low voice. “The environmentalist. Angela talked about him the other night, remember?”

Philip Bangs swaggered down the stairs toward
them. “Thanks, Karen, for letting me use your phone,” he said. “I finally got ahold of the people at Saint Marks University and my speech
is
on for tomorrow. I appreciate your letting me stay but I have to leave for California now.” Bangs turned to Nancy.

“It's Nancy Drew, right?” he said. Nancy was again struck by the force of his personality. She nodded.

“And I'm Ned Nickerson,” Ned said, maneuvering himself between Bangs and Nancy. “Nice to meet you. We're looking for one of your members. Angela Morrow. Maybe you know her?”

Bangs laughed.
“My
members? I'd love to take the credit, but this is Karen's group. She founded POE. Actually, I've never seen or heard of another group like it. I'm just here because my lecture ran over yesterday and I missed my plane. She's got a great group of kids here,” he said generously, clapping Karen on the shoulder warmly. “Earnest, committed—a wonderful group!”

Nancy watched Bangs curiously. For all his smooth manner, he didn't strike her as sincere.

Karen blushed at Bangs' compliment. “Philip, you remember Angela. The thin girl with the short black hair? You saw her off today when she went home.”

Bangs furrowed his brow slowly. “Oh, yes!
Great kid. Very knowledgeable about politics, too.”

“You saw her off?” Nancy interrupted. “You don't remember if she said anything, well, unusual, do you? Or if she left a message for anyone?”

“No, nothing unusual,” Bangs replied. “She just jumped into her car and said she'd be back tomorrow.”

Karen squared her shoulders and turned to Bangs. “Philip, before you go, I want to schedule another lecture sometime in the spring.” The blond girl turned back to Nancy and Ned, dismissing them. “I'm sorry Angela isn't here, but we do expect her back tomorrow. I'll tell her you came by.”

Nancy could see that Ned was about ready to burst. She led him outside quickly.

“Angela's father died when she was six years old!” Ned said furiously. “How could she be getting his permission? I don't believe a word they say. What if they're holding her against her will?”

Nancy hesitated. “Angela seemed ready to join them last night. Besides, what would they have to gain by holding her? Does her mother have a lot of money?”

Ned shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

“Look, Ned, I hate to say it,” Nancy pointed out quietly, “but it might mean nothing. Why
would Karen know if Angela's father was alive or not?”

“It doesn't fit,” Ned insisted.

Nancy nodded. “You're right. I don't like this, either, but we won't know more until we talk to Angela.”

“I could call her at home.”

Nancy took Ned's arm. “Ned, you talked your heart out last night and it didn't work. I don't think you'll change her mind now. Let's wait and see what happens when she gets back.”

Nancy walked Ned to his history class. He still seemed moody and distracted. Stopping to let the boisterous crowd of students pass them, she gave him a quick kiss and made him promise not to worry. As Nancy watched Ned disappear into the gray stone building, she couldn't help thinking something
was
wrong with POE. She ached to help him find out what it was, but she was here at Emerson to solve a different mystery and she'd better get started.