Stop the Clock (Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Detective Book 12) by Carolyn Keene Page A

me expectantly.
    “Well, this letter certainly looks genuine, but I’ve never heard of this law firm,” I said. “Of course, that doesn’t mean much. Dad knows a lot of lawyers in the state and across the entire country, and I’ve heard many of their names in conversation, but he certainly doesn’t know all of them.” I shook my head in disbelief. “Still, I can’t believe this is really true.”
    “We’re so upset, Nancy—as you can imagine,” Lizzie said. “We still have some of the money left, but we don’t have it all, and there’s no way we could repay it.”
    “If we did, we’d be destitute again,” Janice added. “We were just starting to get our lives together!”
    I remembered when I first met Janice and LizzieRomer. They lived on a small farm several miles from River Heights. Their parents had died in an automobile accident, leaving them almost penniless. Still, they managed to survive by selling eggs and whatever vegetables they could raise. It was their kindness to Albert Washington that allowed them to have a life. They had no idea he was as wealthy as he was the day he stopped by their little farm and bought some of their fresh tomatoes. He stayed most of one afternoon, listening to the twins’ life stories, and their secret for how they got more eggs from their chickens and how they made sure insects didn’t destroy their tomato vines. He seemed to take a liking to the girls. After that afternoon, he would visit them a couple of times a week, just to chat. The three of them had become very close by the time he got ill and couldn’t drive to their farm anymore.
    When Mr. Washington invited Janice and Lizzie to his house, they were stunned by his wealth. They were also angered by the way that the Smalley family treated him. As his closest relatives, the Smalleys had told everyone they should be the ones to take care of him at his house, around the clock. But sometimes they left him alone for long periods of time. It was a good thing Janice and Lizzie got there when they did: Albert was lying on the floor, unable to get up! It was quite obvious to the Romer twins that the Smalleyswere only interested in Albert Washington’s money. And, in fact, the Smalleys soon began bragging to everyone that Albert Washington had written a second will, leaving his entire estate to them.
    The Smalleys tried to keep the Romer twins from visiting Albert Washington, but the girls managed to visit when the Smalleys left him alone—which, toward the end of his life, was almost always. It was during one of these times, I was sure, that Albert Washington wrote out a third will—the one I found—which left a large portion of his fortune to Janice and Lizzie. The rest went to some other relatives who had been named in the first will, and had contested the second one that left everything to the Smalleys.
    “We don’t know what we’re going to do, Nancy,” Lizzie said. “We drove over to River City last night, near where we used to live, and talked to a police officer we know there.”
    “He said the letter looked genuine to him,” Janice added, “although he also admitted he was no expert.”
    I folded up the letter and put it back inside the envelope. “May I take this and let my father look at it?” I said.
    “Oh, would you do that for us?” Lizzie said. “We know we can trust you.”
    “I don’t mind at all,” I said.
    We finished the rest of the delicious lunch, then I told Lizzie and Janice that I needed to leave, but that I would be in touch with them by tomorrow at the latest.
    As I headed back toward my house, I was positive that the Smalleys were behind the letter Lizzie and Janice had received, and I had a hunch that they were somehow behind the problems I’d been having at the library as well. Maybe Deirdre was off the hook.
    I had just turned onto my street, when I decided that I wanted Ned with me when I confronted the Smalley sisters about all this. I called his cell phone.
    “Hey,