Murder On Ice by Carolyn Keene

closed the magazine quickly. She’d been caught reading whenshe should have just photocopied the story and left. “Here’s another article,” the librarian was saying. “If you’re going to copy anything, please do it fast.”
    â€œThanks. And could you please reserve these for me? My name’s Nancy Drew.” Nancy hurried over to the photocopying machine. As she copied the scandal article, her eyes scanned the other periodical the librarian had produced. It, too, dealt with the Mueller accident.
    Â . . . both lost—Dieter Mueller, his life, in a fatal fall, and Jon Berntsen, the chance to become an Olympic winner. Berntsen’s crash left him with leg injuries and a concussion. When he came to, Berntsen claimed to have amnesia, and no memory of anything just prior to the race.
    However, sympathy for the young athlete quickly turned to suspicion when Mueller’s bindings showed evidence of tampering. Berntsen disappeared before he could be charged, which has been generally regarded as proof of his guilt. Mueller’s cousin, Gerhardt Mueller, also a member of the German ski team, vowed to make Berntsen pay for what he had done.
    The librarian was putting on her coat and she looked impatient. “I’m ready to leave,” she called.
    Quickly Nancy copied the second article. Asshe picked up the copies, she noticed a photograph of the American ski team.
    Berntsen. The name leaped out at her from the caption. Third from left, last row. Nancy looked intently, and her heart turned over. It was a picture of Luke Ericsen!

Chapter

Thirteen
    N ANCY DIDN’T HAVE time to study either the original magazine picture or the copy she’d made of it. The librarian was at her elbow, visibly annoyed. “Young lady, please. We must close now!”
    â€œI’m coming!” Nancy said hastily. She thrust the photocopies inside her jacket and hurried to the door. “I’m really sorry to have kept you, but it was important.”
    The librarian sighed. “It’s all right, but now I hope you’ll get back to your hotel as fast as you can. Tourists /” she added under her breath as Nancy passed her.
    The wind was howling and whipping the snow into the air. Stores and businesses were closed in anticipation of the storm as Nancy skied through the center of town, her mind whirling.
    According to Michael, Luke had loaned Mueller some defective ski equipment, which had caused the accident. But the magazine article said something completely different, that Luke—or Jon Berntsen—had challenged Mueller to a dangerous nighttime race which had resulted in his death.
    Why had Michael changed the story? And why hadn’t he called Luke by his real name? Was he trying to help Luke keep his awful secret? He certainly didn’t act as if he wanted to do him any favors.
    But even with her new information, one thing didn’t change. Luke most likely was still guilty of manslaughter, if not murder! Could he have heard Bess mentioning that Nancy was a detective? That would explain those “accidents”—he’d be trying to get rid of Nancy and Ned so they wouldn’t find out about his past.
    But what about the letters in the snow? They made no sense. Unless . . . Nancy caught her breath. One of the articles had mentioned Dieter Mueller’s vengeful cousin. Maybe he was after Luke (or Jon Berntsen). Maybe he was responsible for everything that had been going on at Webb Cove.
    Nancy thought hard. Who around Webb Cove could be Mueller’s relative? Michael? He was involved in the case somehow, and he certainly didn’t like Luke. But he wasn’t German.
    Wait a minute , Nancy told herself sharply. Gunther is German. And he was at the lodgewhen the prowler episodes began. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to sneak out of the lodge at night and leave the message in the snow or damage the rope tow and