The Wrong Chemistry

by Carolyn Keene

  “Oh?” Nancy was intrigued. She turned to look at Sara. “Are there many POE members in your classes?”

  “Oh, yes! Well, I mean, there are a couple hundred students in the lab each day. Freshman biology, advanced chemistry courses, there are tons of students in and out. Emerson requires everyone to complete two semesters of a lab science to graduate. The classes are extra popular this year because of Professor Maszak’s reputation.”

  Nancy dangled the earring between her fingers. “Do you mind if I keep this until it’s claimed?”

  “No. I’ll call you if I need it back. Maybe tomorrow—” Sara stopped suddenly.

  “Is something wrong?” Nancy asked, concerned.

  “Tomorrow.” Sara turned her face toward Nancy’s. “The professor got his new CLT two days ago. He’ll be finished treating it tomorrow. That means—”

  “If the thief is going to strike again, it will happen tomorrow,” Nancy finished for her. She placed a hand on Sara’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. This time, we’ll stop the person, whoever it is.”

  As Nancy headed back to her dorm, she wished she was as sure of herself as she had tried to make Sara believe. She had only one day to stop the thief. She was going to have to come up with some answers, and fast.

  After a quick dinner, Nancy returned to her room where she collapsed in a chair. It was late, and her head was beginning to ache where she’d been hit. She decided to take a shower and go to bed. Ned had a late practice, so they wouldn’t be seeing each other until the next day.

  As she went to the closet to grab her robe, Nancy noticed the doorknob on the closet door was smeared with a brownish film. She hadn’t seen it that morning when she left.

  Uneasily, she wondered what it could be. She checked the rest of the room quickly, but nothing had been disturbed. It was probably nothing, but then again, she wasn’t about to take any chances.

  Looking around, Nancy spotted a pencil on her bedside table. She picked it up. Going back to the closet, she paused. Gingerly, holding the pencil away from her body, she bent the tip to scrape off a dab of the film. That way, she could examine it.

  Nancy gingerly touched the pencil point to the doorknob. But the instant the tip touched the brown film, there was a huge flash. Then, with a thunderous boom, the door exploded off its hinges and came crashing—right at Nancy.

  Chapter

  Eight

  WHO WOULD HAVE DONE such a thing? Do you have any enemies at Emerson?” Paul Osborne, the chief security guard, bent over a pad as he made notes on the condition of the ruined closet door. His scalp was shiny with perspiration.

  Nancy perched on the end of her bed as Osborne and another security guard checked the damage. The dorm counselor who had sounded the alarm hovered anxiously in the doorway.

  “I don’t have any enemies here,” Nancy replied innocently, with one eye on the counselor.

  Osborne lowered himself into a chair, leaving the second guard to finish the job.

  “You’re lucky you didn’t touch the knob with your hands,” he said. “That glop doesn’t look like much, but it sure packs a wallop.”

  “Exactly what is it?” Nancy asked. “And where would someone at Emerson get it?”

  “Anyone can get it,” Osborne said grimly. “You could buy the ingredients at any pharmacy. Two common, safe household items, but put them together and paint it on something and once it’s dry—well, you saw the results.”

  Nancy looked at the ruined closet and shuddered. The door was charred and burned, hanging limply on its hinges. The blow had knocked her to her feet, and she had gotten a bad fright from the shock of the explosion. The fingers on her right hand were burned slightly, but other than that, she was unhurt.

  “Then this explosive could be made by anyone who knows a little chemistry,” she mused. “But how did you know what it was? Have you seen it before?”

  Osborne patted his forehead with a handkerchief. “Actually,” he said slowly, “we’ve seen it three other times. Always on doorknobs. The other times, no one got hurt because they blew when no one was around. It’s probably some nut who likes to make explosions. Too bad you didn’t come back earlier—you might have caught him in the act. I’d sure like to know who it is.”

  “We’ll have to ask you to check the room to make sure nothing is missing, Ms. Drew,” the younger guard called from inside the closet. His round face appeared around the ruined door frame. “Was there anything valuable in your closet?”

  “No,” Nancy said. “The door to my room wasn’t even locked.”

  “Uh-huh,” Osborne nodded knowingly. “Nothing was taken the other times, either. See what I mean? Must have been done by a crank, someone who discovered the mixture and thinks it’s a big joke. You’re sure you don’t have any enemies here?”

  Nancy hesitated but then shook her head. If Dean Jarvis had wanted campus security to know, he would have told them about the thefts in the chemistry lab.

  Osborne got ready to go. “Well, I’m just glad you weren’t hurt. We’ll keep investigating, and I may call you later to ask you more questions. If you think of anything that could help us, just give me a call.”

  “You should call the police,” the counselor said angrily.

  “Oh, no, wouldn’t want to do that,” Osborne warned. “The college likes to keep this kind of thing as quiet as possible.” He straightened his shoulders. “Besides, we can handle our own ‘police work.’ ”

  “Wait, please,” Nancy said. “Can you tell me which other doors were tampered with?”

  Osborne looked at her with surprise. “Does it matter? Well, if you must know, the first was the main door to the library. The librarian got there and found a big hole where the knob had been. Then the computer room blew.”

  “No, the library wasn’t first,” the other guard contradicted. “The cafeteria was.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” Osborne chuckled. “The main cafeteria door was blown wide open. Now, why would anyone want to break in and steal that food?” He laughed heartily at his own joke.

  “Was anything stolen?” Nancy persisted. Osborne shook his head. “That seems very strange. Why blow up a door if you don’t want to get inside? The three must have something in common—the same area, maybe?”

  “You certainly ask a lot of questions.” Osborne frowned. “But, no, they’re spread out all over campus. I wouldn’t worry about those other explosions. The more I think about it, the more I’ve decided yours isn’t related. They were set to damage buildings. This one seems to have been set against you.”

  Nancy sighed in frustration. If there was a connection, she couldn’t see it. If she was close to catching the thief, she didn’t even know it. Well, she was going to get even closer, Nancy resolved, explosion or no explosion!

  • • •

  Nancy spent the next morning investigating everyone who had anything to do with the lab. She spoke to the security guards who were on duty the nights of the thefts. Both men swore they were alert and awake the whole time, and that they had seen no one.

  Nancy tried to get through to Dean Jarvis during the day, but he was in meetings until four. She called again at four, only to be told that the dean was on a long-distance call and couldn’t be disturbed. She tried to keep her frustration under control.

  “This is Nancy Drew speaking. I’ve been trying to reach Dean Jarvis since this morning. It’s very important. I’d really appreciate it if I could hold while you let him know I’m on the line.”

  Nancy waited. A minute or so later someone else picked up the phone, and Nancy found herself explaining her situation all over again, only to be put back on hold. In the next few minutes she spoke with five different secretaries and told each of them it was an emergency. Well, Nancy thought, forgiving herself for her white lie, if she didn’t get ahold of the dean soon, it could very well become an emergency.

  Just as she was losing her patience altogether, Nancy heard a couple of clicks as if the dean had picked up, and then anoth
er.

  “Nancy?” It was the dean’s voice. Quickly, she filled him in on her suspicions.

  “Are you sure the thief will strike again tonight?” the dean asked worriedly. “I could assign all my guards to the building, but you’d have to be sure.”

  “No, if he sees any of them we’ll never catch him,” Nancy objected. “With Ned and me and a couple of security guards on duty, I don’t think he can get away.”

  “I don’t know, Nancy. I’m responsible for your safety. I’d feel a lot better if you had some backup.”

  Nancy promised to be careful. “We don’t need help. Ned will be out near the elevators with the guard. If you assign one extra man to watch the outer doors, we ought to have plenty of warning when an intruder enters. I’ll hide in Maszak’s lab. That should make the lab pretty burglarproof.”

  “Wait,” the dean said, “you’ll need to know the combination to get into the interior lab. Did you get it from Josef?”

  “Actually, I haven’t said anything to Professor Maszak about tonight,” Nancy said carefully. “It has to be absolutely secret. The fewer people who know about it, the better.”

  Nancy heard a click on the line. “Dean Jarvis?” she asked. “Are you still there?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “I thought I heard you hang up the telephone.”

  “That happens all the time—these huge telephone networks. Don’t worry about it. About tonight, though, I’ll alert the campus police to keep their eyes open and their radios on. In fact, I want you and Ned to stop by their headquarters and pick up two walkie-talkies so you can call for help.”

  After giving Nancy the combination to the lock, the dean hung up.

  At dusk Nancy and Ned met at the lab. Ned had agreed to go along with her plan even though Nancy couldn’t explain all the details. She had promised Dean Jarvis, after all, and somehow didn’t feel right about letting Ned in on what was top secret work. Luckily he understood. Meanwhile, Dean Jarvis had arranged for Craig Bergin to be the guard on duty.

  “Someone got me reassigned,” he told them happily. “Just in time. It’s a little too cold to have to patrol the campus at night. I’ve been asked to keep my eye on the lab.”

  Nancy and Ned exchanged quick looks. “Great!” Nancy said. “I’ll be working in the lab all night tonight. Um, it’s a special arrangement, for that story I’m writing.”

  “Yes, and I’ll be just outside with this, just to make sure things go smoothly,” Ned said, patting the walkie-talkie.

  Craig shrugged. “Suits me. I’ll be glad to have someone to talk to.”

  Nancy worked the combination to Maszak’s office effortlessly. After checking with Ned on the walkie-talkie, she promised to check back in an hour. She set the walkie-talkie down on the long counter and perched on Maszak’s stool. There were papers strewn all over the top as well as two big stacks of notebooks. A quick glance told Nancy they were Maszak’s students’ experiments.

  Nancy shuffled through the notebooks. The experiments seemed fairly standard. She checked idly through the advanced biology and chemistry classes, keeping an eye out for any names she might recognize. There were none.

  Sighing, she picked up another pile of papers—Maszak’s advanced biochemistry students, proposing their final projects. She went through them, noting names and grades and reading Maszak’s comments. The experiments were incredible! Some of them were straight out of sci-fi films. One paper in particular caught Nancy’s attention. Maszak had slashed a purple felt-tip pen across the first page and scrawled notes in the top margin.

  Looking more closely, Nancy’s heart began to pound. The subject of the paper was human growth hormones.

  Chapter

  Nine

  WITH A GROWING SENSE of excitement, Nancy read on. The paper suggested some of the same things she had read in the startling article in the library. The student planned an experiment to see if one kind of animal could accept a growth hormone from another kind of animal. Then, at the very end of the paper, she suggested someday trying a human growth hormone. Maszak’s comments were angry and critical, impatiently explaining why the experiment was doomed to fail. He gave the student an incomplete and suggested she pick another topic.

  Nancy frowned. If her hunch was correct, the student wasn’t wrong at all—she had simply come dangerously close to copying Maszak’s own experiment. With an eerie feeling, Nancy stared at the fish and mice in the lab. Had Maszak already made a major breakthrough? Had he been using a human growth hormone on animals? Was CLT a human growth hormone?

  The floorboards in the hall creaked loudly. Quickly Nancy scattered the papers across the counter again. She ducked into a closet and held her breath.

  The lab door opened. She could hear someone moving around. At the same instant, she realized her walkie-talkie wasn’t with her. She had left it on Maszak’s counter. What an amateurish thing to do! She could kick herself.

  Concentrating, Nancy pictured the counter in her mind, trying to remember where she had left the walkie-talkie before taking refuge in the closet. Hopefully, it was buried under the stacks of papers. If it wasn’t hidden, the thief might realize someone was there. Even worse, Nancy realized as her stomach took a sickening plunge, there was no way now for her to contact Ned.

  Pressing the light on her watch, Nancy saw it was nine o’clock. An hour had passed since she last checked in. Ned might come down to see if she was all right. Together, the two of them might be able to overpower the thief—if it was the thief out there.

  Whoever it was, he was taking his time in the lab. Nancy heard footsteps pacing. Then there was a grunt and something fell to the floor near the closet door. Nancy froze. Pressing her ear against the door, she could hear faint scratching sounds. The seconds passed like minutes. Finally she heard the lab door open and close. Fine, she told herself. I’ll just let another minute pass to make sure it’s safe to come out.

  But before the minute went by, a faint smell of smoke wafted through the bottom of the closet. Nancy put her hand against the closet door. It was warm to the touch. The closet door was on fire!

  Nancy yelled for Ned as she snatched some lab coats off the hangers around her. Wrapping one of them around her head to protect her face from the smoke, she grabbed another pile of coats to smother the flames. Taking a deep breath, she leaned against the door. It resisted her efforts. The smoke was getting thicker now. Choking, she leaned against the door, even harder. It gave way and she stumbled into the source of the smoke.

  Outside the door, the student notebooks had been piled high and set on fire. The flames licked at Nancy’s ankles. She was dimly aware of a smoke alarm sending its piercing warning through the halls as she threw the lab coats down in front of her, trying to smother the burning barricade. She leapt over the notebooks, landing on the floor with a thud. Groaning, she rolled away from the fire.

  Half crawling, she made her way to the freezer unit against the far wall. With her last ounce of strength, she pried the door open. The CLT was gone.

  “Nan, Nan, where are you?”

  Ned and Craig burst into the room. Craig grabbed the fire extinguisher on the wall and began spraying the fire as Ned rushed to help Nancy.

  “I-I’m fine.” Coughing and choking from the smoke, Nancy clung gratefully to Ned. He swept her into his arms and stumbled into the hallway.

  “We’ll get you to the infirmary, Nan. Just hang on.” Ned’s voice was choked, from the smoke or his own emotion, she couldn’t tell. “You’re going to be okay.”

  • • •

  Nancy sat up in bed late the next afternoon. “The infirmary nurse says I’m just fine now,” she assured Ned. “Look, I didn’t even get burned, and I’ve slept all day.”

  She held up her hands, and Ned grabbed them in his and kissed them.

  “The invincible Nancy Drew.” He grinned. “Goes through fire without blinking an eye. I’m beginning to wonder why I ever worry about you.” Ned sank into the chair next to her bed and closed
his eyes wearily.

  Nancy’s eyes clouded with sympathy. “I’m sorry, Ned,” she said softly, “I didn’t mean to drag you into this case.”

  Ned leaned close, grinning ruefully. “I guess it proves I’d go through raging fires for you.”

  How did she get such a wonderful guy? Nancy thought as she burrowed her head into Ned’s shoulder. “I don’t know what I would have done,” she admitted. Her throat closed as she realized how close she’d come to real danger. “If you hadn’t been there . . .”

  “Shhh,” Ned whispered. “What I don’t understand is how the thief got past both me and Craig in the hall. It doesn’t seem possible.”

  “It can happen. Don’t blame yourself—please. The thief was determined,” Nancy said.

  Drawing Nancy close, Ned rocked her gently, landing a soft kiss on her hair. “You smell like smoke,” he said, laughing.

  “Ned, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you what this was about,” Nancy began.

  “I understand,” he told her.

  Nancy decided then it was time to take Ned into her confidence. Clearly, she hadn’t learned the thief’s identity in time to stop the next CLT theft. She was willing to admit she needed help. Quickly, she explained everything to Ned.

  “Excuse me, I was told you could have visitors.” Nancy and Ned looked up as Dean Jarvis stuck his head into the room. “Am I interrupting something?”

  “Dean Jarvis, is there anything new?” Nancy saw him glance at Ned. “It’s okay. I told Ned everything. I had to.”

  The dean hesitated, then nodded abruptly. “Good. Well, then, I checked with security,” the dean reported. “As soon as Ned sounded the alarm, they shut all the gates and set up checkpoints at all the campus entrances. As far as we know, no one left campus with the CLT. It’s in a pretty big container, after all. There’s a good chance it’s still on campus.”