This idea was met with mixed replies. Some of the crowd seemed to agree with her, but others were shaking their heads. If the town really was benefitting from all the increased tourism, I knew Emily was going to have a difficult time convincing everyone that the museum should close.

I turned back to Bess and gestured in the direction of the crowd. “That’s Emily,” I said. “The girl Riley, George, and I talked to yesterday.”

Bess peered over the edge of the couch. “If I didn’t know any better,” she said, “I’d say she was enjoying telling her story.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” I said. I still wasn’t sure what to make of Emily, but there was definitely some piece of information about her that I was missing. I decided to try and interview her again later in the day to see what I could learn.

Just then Bess reached down for her phone. “It’s Lucas,” she said, while clearly reading a text. “Do you mind if I invite him over here for breakfast?”

“I don’t know, Bess,” I said. Really, I wanted to keep discussing the case, and I wasn’t sure that was going to be possible with someone else around. “Do you think we can trust him with all this information?”

“Nancy,” said Bess, “Lucas is just a student! He isn’t even from around here. Besides, he might be able to give us some insight on this case. I’m sure he knows more about Christopher DeSantos and Terry Lawrence than we’ll be able to find on our own.”

“That’s a good point,” I said. Telling Riley about the case had turned out to be the best move we’d made. Why not bring some more expertise in? “All right, invite him. Let’s just all be careful with what we say.”

Bess nodded and quickly texted Lucas back. George gave me a thumbs-up over her computer screen, confirming that she knew to speak carefully while Lucas was around. After only a few minutes, Lucas entered the coffee shop. He was wearing nearly the same thing as yesterday, which was his leather jacket and jeans and his shark-tooth necklace. Once he spotted us, he waved and headed over in our direction.

“Have you guys been listening to that?” he said as he sat down. He gestured over to where Emily was telling her story.

“Nancy was,” said Bess. “She thinks something suspicious is going on.”

“Bess,” I said. That was exactly the kind of information I was nervous about sharing with Lucas.

“Really?” said Lucas. “So you are here to try and solve the case of the missing people, then.”

Bess and I quickly looked at Lucas. Even George looked up from behind her computer screen. I turned to Bess, thinking she must have mentioned something to Lucas about me being an amateur detective.

Bess understood what I was thinking almost immediately. She said, “I didn’t say anything, Nancy. Really.”

“She didn’t,” said Lucas. “Actually…” He paused here and looked like he was possibly embarrassed, or maybe just nervous. “I’ve heard about you before. You’re Nancy Drew, right? I’ve read about some of the mysteries you’ve solved. You’re pretty impressive.”