Murder On Ice by Carolyn Keene Page B

the middle of the storm, anyway? Nancy couldn’t tell where the path was leading. But she did see something else.
    Barely visible in the thickening blizzard was a rope strung across the trail at neck height. Anyone skiing quickly down that path would be caught right across the throat. Nancy watched in horror as Luke headed toward it. He was skiing swiftly into a death trap!

Chapter

Fourteen
    L OOK OUT !” Nancy screamed. “Luke!”
    Luke reacted an instant too late. He carved a tight turn and tried to brake, but the rope caught him squarely across the forehead and he was thrown to the ground. At least he wasn’t badly hurt. Immediately, he pulled himself up to a sitting position and groaned, rubbing his head.
    â€œAre you all right?” Nancy called, skiing over and kneeling beside him. He nodded vaguely.
    â€œDon’t try to talk.” Nancy pulled off his cap. She noticed that it was actually a blue-and-white ski mask with the lower part rolled into a cuff. “If you’d kept this pulled down over your face, you’d have made out better,” Nancy said, looking at the broad rope burn Luke had received above the eyebrows.
    â€œWhat hit me, anyway?” Luke muttered.
    â€œThere’s a rope strung across the path. If you hadn’t ducked, it would have caught you right across the throat.” Nancy squinted down the path. “Where does this trail lead, anyway?”
    â€œTo Liz’s storage shed. I needed to get some storm supplies.”
    â€œWho knew you were coming here?” Nancy demanded.
    â€œI don’t know. Nobody. Anybody.” Luke pulled himself to his feet. “Liz and I are the only ones who use this trail.”
    â€œLuke, who’s trying to harm you?” Nancy asked gently. “Please tell me. I can help.”
    Luke turned and looked straight at her, his face deeply troubled. “There’s only one way you can help. Clear out! All of you! Before the blizzard shuts you in!”
    â€œAll of us? Including George?”
    â€œEspecially George! She’s terrific, and I don’t want her getting hurt!” Abruptly, Luke turned and pushed off into the woods.
    Nancy headed for the lodge, thinking hard. Now I know where Luke fits in—as prospective victim. And he knows who’s trying to kill him, she decided, but he’s been trying to keep me from finding out because then he’d have to tell me the whole story. Luke doesn’t want anyone to know he’s Berntsen, because Dieter Mueller’s suspicious death is still hanging over his head!
    That was the only logical explanation for the way Luke had been acting—and the way Georgehad been acting, too. George must have recognized Luke as Jon Berntsen from all the Olympic coverage she’d watched on TV! It was just like George to protect and defend him, if she believed he’d been accused unjustly of Dieter Mueller’s death.
    But someone else at Webb Cove didn’t believe that accusation was unjust. That person could be Dieter Mueller’s good friend, Michael Price. Or he could be a relative of Dieter Mueller—Gunther?
    When Nancy reached the lodge she leaned her skis against the porch wall and hurried into the lounge without even taking off her jacket. Everything in the lodge seemed incongruously calm. A fire burned as always, Ned and George were playing Monopoly, and Gunther and Bess were snuggling by the fire. They all turned and looked at Nancy as she entered.
    â€œYou look like you’ve seen a ghost, Nancy!” Bess said, giggling at her snow-covered friend. “In fact, you look like a ghost yourself!”
    â€œWe almost did have a ghost,” Nancy said bluntly. “Luke almost got killed.”
    George gasped and immediately started for the door.
    â€œSit down!” Nancy said firmly. “He’s all right, and he’s gone off somewhere. Besides, for your own protection, he doesn’t want you with