Nancy Screw and the Coming of Age (18+) Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A Clue in the Wood

In less than five minutes the three arrived at the tree and night had come, making it all the harder for the three to check for clues. Beth held the flashlight and the other two followed her around the tree. Five minutes went by and their search produced few results. Finally, one of them spoke.

“Janet, are you sure this is the right tree,” Beth asked, looking around concerned.

The night had now fully set in.

“I’m sure. I have been up and down these trails a lot. I used to come up here to read all the time.”

“Okay,” Beth replied. “I just don’t like being out here in the dark, even if it’s with you guys.”

“It’s okay, Beth, it shouldn’t be much longer,” Nancy reassured.

The three looked along the knee-high grass that lined each side of the trail and continued down the hill towards its groomed counterpart. They circled the tree and, just as Beth was about to raise the flashlight, Nancy spoke up.

“Wait! Look.” She pointed to a spot nestled between two arms of exposed roots to find an area of grass that had boon pushed down by something heavy. And square.

“Could that be where the payment the letter mentions was placed,” Nancy inquired curiously.

“Maybe,” Beth added. “We may have the right tree after all.”

“Let’s look some more,” Nancy instructed.

The three did just that, examining in detail nearly every square foot, each blade of grass, and each potential for uncovering some evidence that would lead them to the next big discovery.

“Beth,” Janet spoke in an impatient whisper. “Shine your light up along the trunk of the tree.” Beth took her sister’s suggestion and scanned the tree from the root structure where the strange item had been placed on up. Slowly the light revealed every unique detail the tree had to offer and, at about four feet up, something else.

“Look at that.”

Beth stopped scanning and kept the light still under an anomaly resting in the bark.

There, they found two letters:

C. T.

“Charles Turner,” Nancy whispered. “Could it be?”

Below the carving there was an arrow that pointed down.

“C.T.,” Beth spoke to herself. “It is an eerie coincidence.”

“Maybe,” Nancy replied. “But so was the news report. It’s all so strange.”

“I think that this somehow is all connected.”

“With the book too,” Beth asked of Nancy.

“I’m not sure exactly. But based on everything so far…”

Beth looked around again. Her flashlight scanned the sky above them like a spotlight.

“Well, is there anything else we should be looking for?”

Beth grew nervous again. The night seemed to be getting to her.

“We’ve been out here for about a half-hour now.”

“I would like to be sure that we’ve looked around enough.” Nancy paused and thought for a second.

“But if you don’t think it’s safe out here then we can always come back when it’s lighter. We may find something that we’d be sure to miss tonight, as well.”

“I think that we should try again tomorrow,” Janet agreed. “With us being here in one spot like this, we could attract the wrong attention. It’s hard to be sneaky with a flashlight on in the middle of the night.”

The other two agreed with Janet’s conclusion and they headed down towards Beth’s car.

“Hold on a second, Beth. I just want to make sure that we still had the tree marked.”

Beth handed Nancy the flashlight and shined it to the tree. Just then something reflected its light in a way the caused her to halt in her tracks.

“Wait a minute, did you two see that?”

Beth and Janet shook their heads.

“See what?”

Nancy shined the light at the spot once more and the same thing happened.

“Huh,” Beth added. “What is that?”

“I don’t know,” Nancy replied. “But let’s find out.”

The three ambled up the slope towards the tree once more, this time heading right for the spot where they knew they had something waiting for them. When they arrived all three let out a unanimous “wow”.

“How did we manage to miss that?”

“I don’t know, Janet,” Nancy added.

“What’s that supposed to be,” Beth inquired.

“I think it’s a locket.”

The piece of jewelry hung suspended from a branch not two feet from where they found the strange pressing in the grass. It looked silver and the branch it suspended from was clearly broken. Nancy reached forward and plucked it from the limb. She handed Beth the flashlight and studied the locket with both hands. Upon examining it closely, Nancy found that it was beautiful in design with a unique ornate character applied. It appeared priceless. Nancy looked for a way to open it and, eventually, she found its release. The locket swung open and contained inside was a black and white portrait of a woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties. She was beautiful. Her face was sleek, slender and flawless, accented by ebony curls that laid flawlessly along the contours of her face. But what was most striking was how penetrating her eyes were. They almost seemed to defy the lack of color in the portrait and presented their own. Nancy looked to the left wing of the locket to find an inscription:

MAY THIS GIFT I SHARE BE AS TIMELESS AS

YOUR BEAUTY. IN HERE I IMMORTALIZE YOU,

MARGARET

Nancy read it to herself and looked over at Beth and Janet, who had since leaned in to see what she had found. Nancy showed the other two the photo contained inside and all agreed on the degree of her beauty.

“A real clue. Perhaps she knows about the letter?” Nancy’s voice grew excited as she whispered to the other girls.

“Can we go now,” Beth pleaded, looking around her. Nancy nodded and closed the locket, its lid closed with a loud clap.

Not a second later, another sound broke the silence. A twig snapped, bushes rustled and footsteps could be heard not twenty feet from the three, who, at these sounds, whirled around to face their source. Above them, looming down, a shadowy figure started to advance. The girls, startled, cried out in surprise and Nancy shown the flashlight right at the frightful figure. It moaned and covered its face to shield its eyes from the light.

“Let’s get out of here!”

The three girls shot down the hill and breakneck speed toward Beth’s car. They quickly got inside and Beth started the car. As she pulled away they could see that same shadowy figure running towards their car. Strangely, even with the headlights of Beth’s car pointing right at it, its face was still managed to be concealed by the night.

“C’mon Beth let’s get out of here,” Nancy exclaimed.

The car sped away out of sight of the figure. Nancy and Janet looked back from inside the car and saw that the figure was now out in the street, looking in the direction of Beth’s car as they turned a corner and slipped out of sight. Beth didn’t slow down or look back until the three arrived safely at her house.