Everyone rushed back to Lilac Inn with the great news. Emily and Nancy found that all of the jewelry that had been stolen was there. Mr. Archer came by, relieved to find everything and everyone alright. He suspected that it had been the fake Nancy with a fake will and as such, told them that it was only a couple hundred thousand dollars that Josiah left behind when in fact he left more than a million. Everyone laughed and congratulated him on his quick thinking. He left to return the money and Emily’s jewelry to the bank before he and Jenny would return home. But before he left, he accepted an invitation to Riverview Manor that Saturday where Nancy would reveal the will.
“Why can’t you tell us where it is now?” blurted Helen as Nancy, Carson, and Dennis were making their way to the door.
Nancy merely brought her finger to her lips as her eyes sparkled. “I want to keep it a secret. Don’t worry, I’ll reveal everything at the party on Saturday.”
Helen crossed her arms. “Alright, you better.”
Nancy laughed. “Don’t worry, I will. I have to, we’re going to dig up the will together.”
Helen grinned. “Fair enough. You go enjoy the evening with your uncle.”
“I plan on it. See you Saturday!”
“See you!” Helen gave her a quick hug. Nancy rushed out of Lilac Inn to catch up with her father and uncle, even though she was taking her own car back home. She bounced as she got in her car and let out a squeal. This was almost over! Chief McGinnis had the criminals locked up in jail, her father found the real Topham family and Jane Willoughby, and she knew the proximate area where the will was hidden, or buried. She chuckled as she pulled out of the parking lot. Who knew that Josiah Crowley wanted his inheritors to go on a real treasure hunt? She pondered it on the drive home. Maybe it was because he wanted them to become as close to each other as he had felt with each of them? This whole thing seemed to do it just fine, at least, that’s what Nancy hoped. Maybe she could know for sure at the party. She knew the Archers and the Tophams would get along rather well. She certainly wanted to get to know the real Isabel and her twin Ida. They seemed like they would be great friends. Heck, Nancy bet that the twins and Emily would be great friends. All that was left was making sure the Turners got along with everyone, but seeing as they were already getting along quite well with Emily, she figured everything would be fine. She pulled into the driveway of her house and turned off the car. She looked at the house and thought of the people inside, her father, Hannah, and her uncle, all safe and sound. She pulled the keys out of the ignition and sat back with a sigh. If her uncle hadn’t been the one on the job, would she have seen him again anytime soon? Heck, would they have even caught the Moreaus? Though, it stood to reason that her uncle would have been assigned to the case, he was the best when it came to disguises. But now that it was over, he would be whisked away again, and Nancy never knew when they would get to see him again. A loud ding startled her out of her thoughts. She quickly fished her phone out of her purse and saw that she had three messages. The most recent one was from her uncle, asking her how long she was going to be. The other two were from Frank and Joe. She clicked on Frank’s text. He was merely saying hi and told her that if Joe ever got on her nerves to let him know. She clicked on Joe’s text, and laughed. “It’s about time!” he had sent, followed by “we had better team up and solve a mystery soon!” Nancy nodded as she wiped a tear from her eye. Yes, they needed to team up and solve a mystery soon. She texted them quick replies before putting her phone back in her purse and getting out of the car.
“There you are!” said Dennis as he rose from the sofa to greet her when she walked in. “I could feel my white hairs growing in!”
Nancy laughed as she gave him a hug. “Uncle Dennis, I don’t think you could ever get white hairs! Grandpa Hal and Grandma Penny look great for their age!”
Dennis laughed. “That they do, but they still have white hair.”
Nancy snickered. “No argument there.”
“Nancy!” Hannah rushed into the room and pulled Nancy into a tight hug. “Oh, thank God you’re safe!”
Carson walked into the room with a tray of cookies and tea. “Goodness Hannah, she just got out of a tight situation. No need to squeeze her to death!” He grinned and ducked as Hannah’s hand went sailing over his head.
“And there’s definitely no need for you to make light of the situation, mister! This is your daughter we’re talking about!”
Carson placed the tray on the coffee table and turned to Hannah with a mischievous grin. “Exactly.” Dennis clamped a hand over his mouth, even though his body shook with laughter.
Hannah scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Go figure. Help yourselves, I’m going to finish on dinner.” She threw her hands in the air. “The sooner I get out of here, the longer I can keep my sanity.” Nancy and the two men laughed heartily before helping themselves to the treats.
“So Uncle Dennis,” said Nancy as she sat down on the sofa, “how were you able to get in with the Moreaus?”
Dennis sat next to her with a sigh and a slight chuckle. “A lot of hard work, patience, and nearly breaking a few rules too. I have been trying to gain some of their trust through different disguises over the past couple of months. Most of those disguises obviously didn’t work. But the boat really sold them, I think.” He chuckled. “They needed a base of operations and a mode of transportation from Riverview Manor to Lilac Inn, and a mode that could go fairly fast was preferable. Well I had made sure I had what they wanted. They still didn’t trust me, and they had good reason not to, so I ended up having to stay with the boat.” He winked. Nancy chuckled. “So when Marion asked me to be a night watchman, I was surprised. She told me that this was a chance to prove myself to them. All I had to do was give Gil something to do, make sure the door was unlocked, and to make sure the coast was clear so Gayle could get in and out quickly.” He paused for a moment and scratched his chin. “Marion also told me to be on the lookout for some girl with black curls. Said she scared the heck out of Gayle one night while she was dressed up as you.” Nancy and Carson glanced at each other and snorted. Dennis glanced between them before glancing at Nancy in surprise. “Wait, was that you?”
Nancy nodded. “Yes!”
Dennis roared with laughter and nearly fell off the couch. “That was you! Oh man, I wish I had been a fly on the wall to see that! Right Carson?”
Carson laughed. “Right!”
Dennis laughed some more. “What a hoot!! I’m going to have to tell them that! My niece put on a dark wig and terrified the girl dressed up as her! Wow, now that’s a first!”
“I wish I could be a fly on the wall when you tell them!” said Nancy between laughs.
“I might be able to arrange that,” said her uncle with a twinkle in his eyes. The three burst into fresh bouts of laughter until Hannah interrupted to tell them that dinner was served. Talk turned to the party on Saturday, and Dennis promised he would stay around for that. He wanted to be there when his niece officially closed her first case.
The next day, Nancy and Carson went with Dennis to the police station to get a full confession from the Moreaus. Nancy dressed up in her Audrey Hepburn costume again, and scared Gayle so much that she revealed everything. She was furious when Nancy took off her wig and costume, but Dennis had all the information he needed, including the family’s hiding place for all their loot. Nancy, Carson, Dennis, Hannah, and even Togo, spent the rest of the day celebrating.
When Friday came around, Nancy became restless. Sure, there was one more day until they dug up the will, but there was nothing else to do. She had already looked at the map to find the heart of the park and found that an apple tree was situated there. She had texted the Hardys to see if they could chat, but they requested that she not call or text them until they said they were in the clear. They had just started on a new mystery and didn’t want their phones going off while they were investigating. Nancy understood, but she really wanted to talk to them and thank them for all their help. That just left Bess and George.
“Nancy!” Bess squealed into Nancy’s ear, making her pull back and wince.
“Bess, that was my ear!” berated Nancy.
“Sorry, but it’s been so long since we’ve heard from you last!”
Nancy chuckled. “I know, five days is such a long time. Is George there?”
“Yes, hang on a second.” Bess was gone for a moment before her and George’s voices came back on the phone. “We’re here!”
“What’s up?” asked George.
Nancy told them everything that had happened so far, ending with telling them about the party on Saturday. “I’m going to have the four main inheritors dig it up. I still have the key, but I really want them to be a part of this, especially the real Richard Topham.”
“Man, you’re having so much fun! While we have to partake in this boring family reunion,” blurted George.
“She’s having fun? George, she’s been impersonated, chased, and kidnapped! How is any of that fun?”
George scoffed. “It’s certainly a lot more fun than having to listen to Great-Aunt Harriet’s stories about the good ole days.”
“OK, I’ll give you that. But Nancy was still in danger!”
“Hey, Frank told her to have back-up, and she listened. Sounds like Jenny and Helen did a fantastic job of having her back. Speaking of, I would like to meet this Jenny Archer.”
“And I bet Ida and Isabel Topham are great!”
Nancy chuckled. “Well, I’ll be sure to introduce you as soon as you two get back. And I’ve only just now met Ida and Isabel, so I can’t say. I will say they’re a lot friendlier than Deirdre or Gwen Moreau, that’s for sure.”
“I think anyone is friendlier than Sore Loser Shannon,” quipped George.
“Yeah, and it’s the summer. Sore Loser Shannon is a problem that stays at school. I don’t need her ruining anybody’s summer.”
“Well, she kinda already started ruining Nancy’s, remember?” George chuckled. “I did like that come-back though. ‘Your mother doesn’t do anything.’ Ha-ha! Good for you, Nance!”
Nancy chuckled. “Thank you!”
“Bess, George, come on! Time to go!”
“Coming Mom!” said Bess. “Sorry Nance, we’ve got to go.”
Nancy sighed. “Yeah, can’t wait until you get back!”
George scoffed. “Neither can we. But thankfully it won’t be long now. Our moms want to get back to check on Great-Uncle Asa. We haven’t heard from him in a while.”
“Well, at least I know you’ll be back soon. But I was hoping we could talk practically all day. There’s nothing left to do on the mystery or the treasure hunt, and I’m bored. Saturday can’t come fast enough!”
But Saturday did finally come, and it was a beautiful day. Nancy went with Carson to pick up the real Jane Willoughby at the airport, and Nancy found her to be a perfectly lovely person. Everyone else had pretty much arrived by the time they got there. A cheer went up when Nancy entered the room. She felt slightly embarrassed at the praise. For one thing, the will wasn’t in the hands of the inheritors yet, and for another, she didn’t do this all by herself.
She raised her hands and the crowd quieted. “Thank you all so very much! But I didn’t do this by myself. Helen Corning, Emily Crandall, Jenny Archer, and my own uncle, Dennis Keen, helped out a lot. I would also like to thank Frank and Joe Hardy for all of their help, even though they aren’t here and are on another mystery.” Dennis whooped. Nancy chuckled.
“Where’s the will?” asked Helen. She glanced at Dennis who was holding four shovels. “And what’s with the shovels?”
Nancy’s eyes sparkled. “Mr. Topham, Mr. Archer, Miss Turner, and Miss Crandall, could each of you grab a shovel from my uncle and follow me please?” Each of them took a shovel from Dennis, Mary being the one to represent the Turners since Edna was holding Judy. Everyone followed Nancy out of the house and to the park. Nancy had called ahead to explain everything to the park officials, and a ranger was waiting for them at the gate. He tipped his hat at Nancy and stepped in line with her. They led the group to the apple tree.
The ranger turned to the four with the shovels. “I will keep an eye to make sure that you don’t dig too deep or hit the roots. As soon as we’ve found the clock you are going to refill the holes, understand?” The four nodded. “Alright, start digging!” The four started digging with fervor, each at a different spot. The ranger would tap each one when they dug far enough and got them started on a different spot. Everyone watched in silent anticipation as the four dug around the tree. It was on Emily’s third hole that everyone heard a distinctive thud.
“I think I found it!” Emily squealed. The other three rushed towards her and began digging.
“Nancy, be ready with the key!” shouted Jim. But Nancy was already pulling the key out of her purse as she rushed towards them. When there was a big enough of a hole, they could see that a small box lay in the hole. With the ranger’s help, Jim and Richard pulled out the box. They pried open the lid and pulled out an old clock.
“Just like the ones Joisah gave us!” blurted Mary.
Nancy knelt down to look at the clock. “Well of course!” she said with a grin. “Joisah meant for all four of you to inherit his wealth, not just one!”
“But how do we unlock it?” asked Mary.
“The poems!” blurted Emily. “The four quarters! Um, twelve, six, three, and nine!”
“Let’s try it!” Nancy put in the numbers and a little pop answered her as a drawer cracked open. Nancy opened it and found a small safe inside it.
“Just like the ones at the bank!” said Jim as Nancy inserted the key. The top popped open and Nancy reached in to pull out a wad of papers. Carson came forward and took the papers from her shaking hands. Carson cleared his throat and read the will. Josiah’s money would be split four ways, each part going to one of the four inheritors and Riverview Manor would belong to the Tophams, provided that the four set aside some money to donate to Ariel Park and to WCHM from time to time. There were cheers and celebrations all around. Nancy found herself lost in thought. It was officially over now. Would she get another one real soon, like the Hardys did, or would she have to wait awhile? She hoped she wouldn’t have to wait awhile, she only had so long before school started up again. What she didn’t know was that she was going to get her wish soon, as there were still secrets to be found at Lilac Inn, but right now, she was caught up in the revelry heading back to Riverview Manor. And she couldn’t help but notice the little glances between Richard Topham and Jane Willoughby. She smirked, a little romance would do them good. Helen would be gushing about it for the rest of the summer, that’s for sure.
When they got into the manor, the inheritors all seemed to agree that Nancy should receive the fifth old clock as a reminder of all that she did for them. She accepted gracefully after some persuading. Later, as she lay in bed, looking at the clock on her desk with a smile, all she could have thought of was, she had officially started as a detective and she couldn’t wait to solve another mystery.