Close Encounters (Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Detective Book 21) by Carolyn Keene

adrenaline rush, and my patience was wearing thin.
    “Both Nichols and his dog have been abducted,” the mayor snapped. “Clearly, something dangerous and out of the ordinary is going on in this town.”
    All too aware this sequence was being filmed, I tried to tone down my response. “Yes, I’m aware of that. Which, by the way, is why I was in the woods.” I turned to the trooper. “Have you searched this area for something other than signs of space invaders? Has it occurred to anyone that Aldwin and his dog might be the victims of foul play of the human kind?”
    The trooper looked insulted. “We know how to do our job, Ms. Drew. We’re always on the lookout for illegal campers, but we haven’t found any recently, or even signs that they’ve been up here. All we’ve turned up lately are more of those tracks, like the ones we found at Mr. Nichols’s farm.”
    “You found tracks like the ones in the kennel? Here, in the woods?” This was news to me.
    “Not in the woods,” Mayor Brody said, “but in the meadow. Not that we owe you an explanation.”
    The state policeman looked grim. “You, miss, hadno right to bypass that roadblock and traipse around on your own up here.”
    “I had permission,” I said, resenting being scolded.
    “You weren’t given free range,” the mayor said.
    “Sorry, Ms. Drew,” the trooper interjected. “The situation has grown more dangerous over the past twenty-four hours. With folks vanishing into thin air, we’re tightening our security. No one’s allowed up in this area, and that includes you.”
    “But Captain Greene said—”
    “He’s been overruled,” the mayor told me.
    I wondered by whom. Part of me wanted to press the point, but I was still too shaken up from my encounter with the bear to argue. Besides, I didn’t like the idea of Izzy filming Nancy versus the Mayor . “Okay” was all I answered.
    “I’m going back to the inn,” I told the film crew as I got into the car. “You can follow me there or not, your choice. You can hang around outside my room, or find something better to do while I hit the shower.” I slammed the car door and drove off.
    I arrived back at the inn still peeved and with the stench of bear in my nostrils. But a hot shower followed by a generous dousing of Bess’s aromatherapy body lotion did a great deal to cheer me.
    I came out of the bathroom and found George putting a file folder and CDs into her knapsack. Herlaptop was open on the dresser. “You look better,” she remarked, looking up as I reached for my lucky blue sweater.
    “I feel like a new woman!” I told her as I finished dressing, then stashed Bess’s souvenirs and the maple syrup on top of the wardrobe.
    George grinned. “You should have worn that earlier. Maybe it would have kept away the bear.”
    “Or the aliens,” I laughed. I showed George the typewriter case I’d bought for Ned at the Antique Attic.
    She eyed it approvingly. “He’ll love it,” she said. “Too bad it’s too heavy for my laptop.”
    “You’d probably start a trend,” I said, looking for a place to stow it. Finally I settled for the top of the wardrobe next to Bess’s souvenirs.
    “What’s happening with Winnie’s website?” I asked.
    “All done!” George answered. “I finished tweaking it. Now when people google restaurants in Vermont, hers will be right there in the top two or three.” George slipped into her moccasins and got up and stretched. “Better yet, I installed enough high-powered software to safeguard her computer from all but genius hackers. When we get back to the café, I’ll adjust the security settings for her broadband connection. One reason she got hacked is that she hadn’t secured her wireless network.”
    “What in the world does that mean?” I asked.
    “I’ll show you,” George said. She turned on her laptop. After it booted up, a little window opened, informing us that other wireless networks were in the vicinity. George clicked her