“Emily, why would you go along with this?” I asked. “It seems like a huge risk for you.”

“Jacob said he could pay me,” said Emily, shrugging. “He said something about a will, and that he would have plenty of money once this was all done. I have student loans to think about, and this is sort of an acting gig, so I said yes.”

“A will? Whose will?”

Emily pulled her suitcase down from where it had been resting on her bed. Her hand was wrapped around the handle, and she was just about ready to leave the room and end our conversation.

“I really can’t say anything,” she said, shaking her head. She actually did look sorry about it. “But I can give you a hint.”

At this point, I was willing to take anything I could get. “Of course,” I said. “Anything.”

Emily looked around, as if there was someone who could possibly overhear us. I wasn’t even sure if Bess and George were listening to us at this point, they were both so out of it.

“The person who set all this up, they wrote their name down somewhere,” said Emily. “It’s the only trail that they’ve left, that I know of anyway.”

“They wrote their name down?” I clarified. “Where?”

“Have you been to the local arts and crafts store here in town?” Emily asked. “It’s run by a woman named Mrs. Park.”

“Actually, yes,” I said, surprised at the coincidence.

“Well, the person behind all this did a project at that store,” said Emily. “And you have to sign your name in order to make anything there. So they did.”

At first I didn’t say anything. If Emily didn’t sound so serious while she was telling me all this, I would have thought she was joking. What did Mrs. Park and the local arts and crafts store have to do with a fake kidnapping? It just didn’t seem possible.

Emily must have sensed my hesitation, because she began repeating herself. “Seriously, Nancy,” she said. “The arts and crafts store. Go talk to Mrs. Park. It’s really important.”

I nodded once, to let Emily know that I believed her. I was still confused by the whole thing, but she seemed so earnest, and I wanted to convey that I did, in fact, trust her.

“Thank you, Emily,” I said. “Really, you’ve been a big help.”

She gave me a brief smile before pulling up the handle on her rolling suitcase. “Bye, Nancy,” she said as she walked out the door and into the hallway. “Good luck.”

CHAPTER TWELVE Hiding in Plain Sight

AFTER EMILY HAD HURRIED AWAY down the stairs, I gently shook Bess and George awake. I told them what Emily had said, and that we had to go visit Mrs. Park and her store immediately.

George yawned loudly and Bess shook her head.

“Nancy, nothing in this town opens until at least nine o’clock,” said Bess. “There’s no way the arts and crafts store is open yet.”