Crosscurrents, Page 2

  “What about a headquarters?” George asked. “Does the task force have an office?”

  “No,” Annie responded. “We don’t have the budget for that sort of thing. We usually meet in people’s homes or in rented halls. Dr. Winston has let us meet here at the aquarium a few times, too.”

  “The aquarium and the task force are not officially linked,” Dr. Winston explained. “But I guess you could say that we’re simpatico.”

  “And what about the obvious enemies of the task force?” Nancy suggested. “Is there anyone who might have a grudge against the force? Maybe a group or an individual who’s been fined or jailed because of crimes against the environment?”

  “We are working on a project that has upset some people,” Annie replied. “Although we don’t yet have the proof we need, we’re on the trail of two companies who’ve been accused of illegal dumping.”

  “What sort of companies?” Nancy pressed.

  “The Mills Company, for starters. They manufacture tires,” said Annie. “We’ve also been tipped off about a paper company named Paperworks, Incorporated. Since most illegal dumping occurs after dark, we’ve organized small groups to patrol the Chesapeake at night.”

  Nancy was impressed. “That’s a lot of work.”

  “Yes, it is,” Annie agreed. “It’s not hard for me, though. I have a cabin cruiser, and I live right on the water. But so far, our patrols haven’t come across any evidence.”

  “Does the task force have other enemies?” Nancy asked.

  “We’ve been fighting over a few land sites that developers are trying to build on,” Annie offered. “There’s one developer, a woman named Lydia Cleveland, who’s been giving us a problem. She’s already had an architect draw up plans for a housing development on a large plot of waterfront land called Terns Landing.”

  “What’s wrong with people living right on the bay?” asked George.

  “We have nothing against people,” Annie explained. “But right now that land is home to countless wildlife—birds, fish, and frogs—you name it, it’s living there. A housing development will put an end to those creatures.”

  “So the task force has had a few run-ins with Lydia Cleveland?” said Nancy.

  “More than a few,” Annie confirmed. “We’re trying to have those areas declared wildlife sanctuaries.”

  Nancy nodded. She would check out the two companies and the developer. In the meantime, she was eager to learn the routine at the aquarium. She was surprised that the local reporters hadn’t made a full-blown scandal out of the aquarium’s problems, but it seemed that Dr. Winston had managed to keep things quiet. “What have the local police had to say about the threats? Do they have anyone working on the case?” Nancy asked Dr. Winston.

  “There’s a Detective DePaulo working on the case. Unfortunately, a few notes and a dead bird don’t make it to the top of the police priority list.”

  “That’s why the boss decided to call you,” Annie added, looking Nancy in the eye. “So what do you think? Can you find this goon for us?”

  “We need to know who’s behind these threats,” Dr. Winston added, “and I’d like to have the matter in hand before the press people flock in on Friday night. Can you help us, Nancy?”

  “I’ll give it my best shot,” Nancy promised.

  “Nan’s a great detective,” George volunteered. “She’s solved some tough cases.”

  “That’s exactly what Carson said.” Jonathan Winston sat back in his chair and held up his arms in a gesture of helplessness. “We’re in your hands, Nancy. I’ll have my son Jackson show you around so that you can get a sense of how the aquarium is laid out.”

  “That’s a great idea.” Nancy stood up. “Judging from the shape of this building outside, I’ll need a map to find my way around inside.”

  Dr. Winston picked up the phone and made a quick call to summon his son. Then he reached into his desk and pulled out two glossy booklets, which he held out to Nancy. “You’ll find a map of the aquarium in these brochures.”

  Nancy took the brochures from Dr. Winston. “I’d also like your permission to roam freely through the building.”

  “Of course,” Dr. Winston agreed. “We’ll get you a key and some special visitors’ passes.”

  A quick knock sounded on the door, and a moment later an athletic-looking young man strode into the office. Immediately, he took off his Baltimore Orioles baseball cap, revealing a head of short-cropped brown hair.

  “Jackson is a junior in college,” Dr. Winston explained, introducing the girls to his son. “He’s spending this semester doing an internship here at the aquarium.”

  “I’ll be glad to show you around,” Jackson told Nancy and George.

  Winston stood up, clapped his son on the back, then escorted the girls to the door. “You’ll have access to any part of the building, and the staff will be at your disposal. I think you’ll find that they’re a cooperative group.”

  “And a young one,” added Annie. “Most of our curators and assistants are in their twenties and thirties—some are just out of college.”

  George’s brown eyes sparkled, and Nancy knew what her friend was thinking: With so many young people around, this case could turn out to be a lot of fun.

  As the group filed out of the director’s office, George and Jackson began to discuss the local sports teams. It looked as if George was already hitting it off with one member of the aquarium staff, Nancy thought, smiling.

  When Dr. Winston followed the group into the hall, his secretary, Delores, rose from her desk in the adjoining office to intercept him. “Holly Payne is here to see you,” she murmured discreetly. “With a camera crew.”

  “Oh, dear,” Dr. Winston said, and ran a hand across his forehead. “In all the commotion, I nearly forgot.”

  “I asked them to wait in the conference room down the hall,” Delores added.

  After thanking his secretary, Dr. Winston told Nancy and George, “Holly Payne is a TV reporter for a Baltimore station. She’s doing a piece on our anniversary, and I promised her an interview.”

  “In that case, we won’t keep you any longer,” Nancy said.

  “Besides,” added George, “I’m dying to get a look at this place.”

  As if preparing for battle, Dr. Winston raised his chin, took a deep breath, and stared at the conference room door at the far end of the hall. “I guess it’s off to the lion’s den for me. Care to join me, Annie?”

  The young woman gave him a big smile. “When you put it that way, how could I say no?”

  “Let’s touch base before the end of the day,” Dr. Winston said to Nancy. Then he lowered his voice and added, “Remember, the staff knows you’re here, so you can speak freely with them. I trust my people. But let’s try to keep this out of the public eye. The last thing we need is a scandal.”

  Nancy nodded.

  “A scandal?” The words seemed to rise from the woodwork. “Shame on me for eavesdropping,” said an unfamiliar voice.

  A look of shock flashed across Dr. Winston’s face, and Annie gasped. Nancy spun around to locate the person, who had been concealed in a nearby office cubicle.

  A tall, willowy blond woman stepped out from behind the divider. “I just sneaked back here for a cup of coffee when you all burst out of the office,” she said, holding up a cup.

  “Holly . . .” Dr. Winston tried to cover his shock with a friendly smile. “We were just on our way to see you and the crew.”

  So this was Holly Payne, Nancy thought, taking in the woman’s sleek platinum blond hair and red silk suit. Holly Payne looked every inch the sophisticated, inquisitive TV journalist, and at the moment, she was probing too close for comfort.

  “The crew is getting some shots for the anniversary piece,” Holly said, waving them off dismissively. “But this is a much juicier angle. What were you just saying about a scandal—or was that a vandal? It sounds like big news to me.”

  Chapter

  Three

  TH
E AIR SEEMED to sizzle for a moment as a tense silence surrounded the group.

  Nancy forced herself to smile. She doubted that the reporter had been able to make out more than a hint of what Dr. Winston had been saying.

  “I’m afraid he was talking about a scandal,” Nancy said, easing into her story. “It’s all very embarrassing—and very personal. We were speaking about my father, who’s been a friend of Dr. Winston for nearly twenty years. And the scandal involves Dad and—” She hesitated and looked down at the floor, hoping that the reporter would buy her story.

  Sorry, Dad, Nancy said to herself. Although Carson Drew was a great father, even he would not appreciate Nancy’s little white lie.

  “I think it’s difficult for Nancy to discuss,” Dr. Winston said, playing along with Nancy’s ruse. He patted her arm sympathetically.

  When Nancy glanced up, she caught an amused look from George. Nancy gave her a stern look, and George’s grin quickly faded to a frown.

  “Is that all it is—just a family scandal?” Holly Payne asked, tapping her coffee cup.

  “Just?” Nancy repeated. “I don’t mean to be rude, but to me it’s very important.” She could tell that the reporter still wasn’t satisfied, but Holly would have to back off—for now.

  • • •

  The huge jaws gaped open, revealing rows and rows of sharp triangular teeth. Nancy stood mesmerized as the shark brushed against the glass case, snapped its mouth shut, then swam on.

  While Annie and Dr. Winston met with the TV crew, the girls got their first glimpse of the underwater world at the aquarium. Jackson Winston had begun their tour with the sharks.

  “This exhibit is called the Open Ocean,” he explained, as they moved up a spiral ramp, “commonly known as the shark tank.”

  Nancy was still staring through the glass when another jagged-toothed shark swam by. “That’s a sand tiger shark,” Jackson explained. “They can grow to be up to eighteen feet long, and they’ll eat anything—tin cans, wool overcoats, even bicycle parts.”

  “Not picky eaters,” George commented.

  All around them, sharks were on the prowl. Blue light streamed through the tank’s water, giving the dimly lit ramp an eerie glow. “I feel as if we’re underwater, too,” Nancy said.

  “That’s because we’re surrounded by water,” Jackson explained. “Right now we’re inside the cylinder you saw from outside the building, which houses two ring-shaped tanks. The tank around us is like a giant doughnut—and we’re in the center.”

  Jackson led them up the spiral ramp from which they had different views of the shark tank. “There’s another ring-shaped tank above the sharks. It’s set up as an Atlantic coral reef, with tropical fish, starfish, sea anemones—that sort of thing.”

  They paused again to watch a hammerhead shark swim by. Its head was flat and spread out like a hammer, with an eye and a nostril on each side. “Is it true that sharks are man-eaters?” asked George.

  “That’s a good question for the expert,” Jackson said, waving to a young man who was striding up the ramp ahead of them. “Hey, Chris, can you help me out here?”

  Nancy leaned back against the railing as Jackson introduced the girls to the young man wearing khaki pants and a royal blue polo shirt with the aquarium’s emblem on the pocket. “This is Chris Marconi, our curator of fishes. Also our resident shark expert.”

  “Not to mention a shark in the dating pool,” Chris added, giving Nancy a wink.

  “Thanks for the warning,” Nancy said, smiling as she studied the man Annie had warned her about.

  “Chris is a member of the task force, too.” Briefly, Jackson told Chris about Nancy’s investigation.

  “I see.” Chris shoved a mass of unruly black curls out of his blue eyes, then turned to George. “So you have a question about our resident sharks?”

  “Are any of them man-eaters?” she asked.

  “Hard to say.” Chris shrugged. “It’s true that some sharks will eat people, if they have a chance. It’s also true that some people eat sharks. So I guess it all evens out in the end.”

  Nancy and George looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  “I’m giving the girls a quick tour of the place,” said Jackson.

  A toothy grin lit Chris’s face, and for a moment Nancy was reminded of one of the great white sharks that had just cruised by. “Sounds great,” he said, falling in step with them as they continued up the ramp. “Mind if I tag along?”

  “Not at all,” Nancy said. When they reached the coral reef exhibit, Chris lived up to his “shark” reputation by flirting with Nancy, but she couldn’t help being impressed by his knowledge of fish and other marine life. While George and Jackson moved up the ramp, Chris waved Nancy over to the glass.

  He pointed out an octopus that was hiding between two rocks, and he reeled off a list of names as the fish went zipping by. “Butterfly fish, angelfish, damselfish . . .”

  “Stop!” Nancy said, laughing. “You’re making my head spin.”

  Before Nancy could move, Chris placed his hands on the glass just above her shoulders, cornering her. “You know, Nancy Drew, you have the most amazing blue eyes. Did anyone ever tell you that?”

  “My boyfriend tells me that all the time,” Nancy answered smoothly. An image of her handsome boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, flashed through Nancy’s mind, and her heart skipped a beat. There had been time for only a quick goodbye on the phone the night before she left River Heights, the small city near Chicago where she lived with her father.

  “Oh—she’s got a boyfriend.” Chris swung his arms down and let out a resigned sigh.

  “Besides,” Nancy added with a smile, “I’m not in your league. I never swim with the sharks.”

  “Nancy, you’re breaking my heart,” Chris said, a look of mock anguish on his face. “Can I win you over by buying you lunch?”

  “Lunch sounds great,” she agreed, “with George and Jackson, that is.”

  “You drive a tough bargain,” Chris said, and his crooked smile made Nancy laugh.

  They caught up with George and Jackson outside the coral reef exhibit. “Are you guys ready for some lunch?” Nancy asked. She gave Chris a playful punch in the arm. “Chris is buying.”

  “Great!” George’s brown eyes lit up. “I’m starving.”

  Chris made a show of looking shocked. “In that case, we’re eating in the Pier 4 snack bar.”

  Leaning over George’s shoulder, Jackson showed her where they were on the map. “Here we are—on level four, where the walkway from the ring tanks leads into the main building. Right now we need to go down to the lobby level.”

  “This building seems to go on forever,” George said, craning her neck as they rode down the escalator.

  “It is huge,” Chris agreed. “And there’s a separate building, which we call Pier 4.” He pointed it out on Nancy’s map. “That’s where the dolphins and whales are kept. The snack bar is also in that wing.”

  Nodding, Nancy tried to study the map on the brochure as they rode the escalator, but it was hard to concentrate.

  “It must be tough to get through the building with all these crowds,” George said.

  Chris shrugged. “Fortunately, there are hidden passageways behind the exhibits, as well as fire stairs and elevators.”

  From level two, Nancy and George got their first glimpse of the wide, octagonal turquoise pool in the lobby of the main building.

  “That’s got to be one of the biggest swimming pools I’ve ever seen!” George exclaimed.

  Looking down, Nancy agreed. “It takes up most of the lobby.”

  As Nancy stepped onto the escalator that led down to the lobby, she saw ribbons of blue light shimmer through the clear water in the pool below. Triangular creatures called rays moved across the pool, rippling and gliding like flying carpets. A waist-high rail separated the pool from the visitors who wandered through the lobby.

  Once the group reached the lobby, George and Jackson led the way to
Pier 4, passing school groups and mothers pushing strollers.

  “So tell me, Ms. Detective,” Chris began, “have you uncovered any revealing evidence yet?”

  “So far I seem to have more questions than answers,” Nancy admitted, “though you can help fill me in.” She wouldn’t admit that many of her questions involved Chris’s involvement with Annie.

  “Oh, no!” Chris raised his hands in mock surrender. “Not an interrogation!”

  Smiling, Nancy nodded. “Now where did I leave my truth serum?” she asked, pretending to search the pockets of her russet suede skirt.

  Chris’s blue eyes glimmered as he laughed. “Oh, go on and ask your questions. I’d like to help Annie find this creep, even if she is a snob.”

  A snob? Nancy hadn’t gotten that impression at all, but she decided not to press the matter. One thing was clear: Chris and Annie did not see eye to eye on a lot of things.

  They made their way across a sunlit causeway connecting the main building with the smaller building on Pier 4. Talking amiably, Jackson and George walked a few paces ahead of Chris and Nancy, which gave Nancy a chance to ask Chris some questions.

  “How long have you been on the task force?”

  “About four or five months.”

  “Just what do you guys do?”

  “At first we had a lot of meetings and handed out a lot of literature. But things started to heat up when people tipped us off about two companies—Paperworks and Mills.”

  Nancy nodded. “Annie mentioned them. She says they’re both dumping waste into the Chesapeake Bay.”

  “It’s very frustrating.” Chris pushed his curly black hair out of his eyes. “We have to catch them in the act before we can report them to the authorities. So we’re keeping watch with late-night patrols on the bay. It’s a drag.”

  “That does sound frustrating,” Nancy agreed.

  Chris sighed. “I’d rather take action right now against the companies. If those corporate giants are destroying the environment, they deserve whatever happens to them. But Annie has everyone else convinced to lay low until we have solid proof that they’re breaking the law.”