When Max was lying on the floor of the shed, Mike straightened up and dusted off his hands, looking at his watch. “I’m going to go up to the tower and send off that message,” he said. “It’s nearly three o’clock now. If we don’t let the rangers know right away that we’re here, they might not be able to get us out before dark.”

Nancy, Ned, and Bess decided to stay with Max while the others climbed the tower with Mike. They had been gone for five minutes or so when Max began to stir.

“Max,” Nancy said urgently, bending over him. “Can you talk? Who pushed Paula over the cliff? Was somebody else up there with you?”

Max didn’t answer. After opening his eyes he just stared, then lapsed into a delirious sleep.

“Oh,” Bess moaned, twisting her fingers anxiously. “He looks like he’s going to die.”

“I’m going to go after Mike and tell him to ask the Forest Service to send a doctor with the helicopter,” Nancy said suddenly, scrambling to her feet. She pulled out the tiny notebook and pencil that she always carried and handed it to Ned. “If he says anything you can understand-even if it sounds like nonsense-write it down.”

“Okay,” Ned promised.

Nancy started across the dusty yard of the ranger station toward the tower. She was deep in thought. Max had said that he didn’t kill Paula. “It was the other way around,” he had said. But that could only mean one thing: That Paula had tried to kill him!

The wind picked up suddenly, moaning around the tower.

Nancy began to climb the stairs. She was partway up when she caught a flash of movement below her. A slight figure dashed out of the dense woods that surrounded the ranger station and ran across the yard toward the tower. Staring unbelievingly at the runner, who had already begun to take the stairs toward her, two at a time, Nancy gripped the steel railing.

“Paula!” she gasped.

“Yes, it’s me,” Paula said, panting and out of breath. She clattered up the stairs toward Nancy. Her long hair was matted and full of twigs and brambles, her cold amber eyes wild and staring. In that instant, Nancy realized that Paula was insane.

“What do you want?” She held Paula’s eyes with her own as she gingerly backed up the stairs.

“I want you,” Paula said over the roar of the wind. “You’re the one I’ve been after all along. I’m going to kill you!”

Nancy sensed that if she could keep Paula talking, she might be able to distract her. At least she could stave off an attack for a few minutes until Paula was in a position where she could be overpowered.

“Why are you trying to kill me?” Nancy said. “I don’t even know you.”

“Are you sure?” Paula asked, baring her teeth in a smile. Her amber eyes glittered like the eyes of the rattlesnake. She came up another step. “Does the name Peter Hancock mean anything to you?”

“Peter Hancock?” Nancy was genuinely puzzled. “No,” she said. “Why should it?” And then she remembered. Suddenly she knew where she had seen those strange amber eyes.

Peter Hancock was the name of an embezzler who had worked as an accountant at a bank in New York. It had been Nancy’s careful detective work that had uncovered his fraudulent activities and sent him to prison.

Menacingly, Paula stepped closer. “Peter Hancock was my father. You sent him to prison, and now he’s dead!” Paula’s eyes were gleaming. “He escaped a few months ago. But he died-in this very wilderness. And you’re going to die here, too!”

“So,” Nancy said quickly, “you rigged this whole thing to get me here.”

“That’s right,” Paula replied, brushing a strand of her matted hair out of her eyes. “There wasn’t any contest-just like there wasn’t any White Water Rafting, Incorporated. Both those tricks were part of a plan to get you on the river, where I could teach you a lesson, once and for all.”

“So you picked your winners at random?”

“Yes,” Paula bragged.

“Well, that was smart,” Nancy said, stalling. If only the group on top of the tower could hear her above the wind! “People are always putting their names into a box for one contest or another. I guess you figured they’d think they’d just forgotten about entering this one.”

“You got it, Nancy Drew.” Paula sneered. “You’re bright, all right. Too bad you’re not bright enough to get yourself out of the mess you’re in now.”

Nancy ignored her. “And you sent the letter to George because you knew that she’d be enthusiastic about a white water rafting trip,” Nancy prompted.

“Of course I knew it. I’ve been doing my homework. I know all about you and your friends. It was a sure thing that George Fayne would ask you to come on this trip with her.”

“The map? The missing barricade?”

“They were easy,” Paula said scornfully. “You know, you would have made a lot less trouble for me if you’d sailed off that cliff.” She sighed. “But I’m glad those tricks didn’t work. It’s going to be a lot more fun to watch you die.”

“What about the slipped mooring line?” Nancy asked before Paula could make a move. “Was that another one of your clever tricks?”

“I figured it would be interesting to watch the expressions on your friends’ faces when we fished your body out from under the falls,” Paula explained. She stepped up closer to Nancy. “But I’m getting tired of all this talk.”

Nancy retreated a step higher. Just three or four more steps and she’d be on the tower’s lower platform. If she could lure Paula up there, she might be able to maneuver her into a more vulnerable position. “Max-” Nancy said, “was he in on your plan?”

Paula gave a disdainful laugh. “Not at all-at least not until he began to figure out what was going on. Of course, I didn’t count on his capsizing the raft-”

“I guess that was a stroke of good luck for you,” Nancy put in. “It put one of the rafts out of commission. When that happened, you probably thought it would be a better idea to get me off into the woods and kill me there.”

“Very impressive brainwork, Detective Drew. When the first raft was destroyed, I had to finish off the other one, too-to keep you from going downriver the next morning. And I nearly did get you in the woods.”

“You certainly did. If it hadn’t been for Ned-”

“The boulder would have crushed you,” Paula finished. She smiled cruelly.

“You know, I’ve got to admire you,” Nancy said, grudgingly. “We actually thought you were dead-that Max had killed you and was out to kill us, too. I bet I know how you arranged that,” Nancy said.

“I don’t care if you know or not,” Paula snapped, her face twisting. She lunged for Nancy, surprising her.

Nancy took two steps up and back but couldn’t escape Paula’s grasp on her arm. They fell together onto the wooden deck of the platform. Nancy felt Paula’s elbow dig into her side. She rolled onto her back and raised her feet, catching Paula’s shoulders. Then she shoved as hard as she could.

With a howl of rage, Paula launched herself forward from the railing. “I’m going to kill you!” she shouted, but this time Nancy was ready for her. As Paula rushed with full force, Nancy sidestepped adroitly and tripped her.

For an instant, Paula’s arms flailed wildly. Then she crashed against the weather-beaten wood. There was a splintering sound as the railing gave way under her weight. She tried to catch herself. Then, in a clumsy slow-motion swan dive, she fell over the edge, screaming.

The scream broke off, and Nancy looked over the splintered railing. Paula was sprawled faceup and motionless on the concrete apron at the foot of the tower, one arm bent under her, eyes staring up at the sky.

The wind had died down. The air was perfectly still.

From the contorted position in which Paula lay, Nancy knew Paula was dead.

“Hey! What’s going on down there?”