Nancy Drew: 1. The Old Clock at Lilac Inn

Secret of the Old Clock

 "What is it Nancy?" said Emily.

"Hurry up and open it!" said Helen excitedly.

"OK, OK, hold on, this is old and I don't want to mess anything up," said Nancy. Her heart was beating wildly as she carefully pulled back the secret compartment. She reached into the compartment and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Another clue?" said Helen disappointedly.

Emily shrugged. "Josiah did like making treasure hunts."

"And I guess he wanted to share that joy with the four families he named as his inheritors," said Nancy. She shot Emily a grin. "Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you do share that."

Emily chuckled nervously. "No, I'm afraid not. I mean, I didn't mind the treasure hunts, I just don't have the brain power for them, not like you."

"But what does it say, Nancy?" said Helen impatiently.

Nancy glanced at the paper in her hand and handed it to Emily. "I think Emily should have the honors of reading it. She is one of the inheritors."

Emily nodded as she took the paper. "Thank you Nancy." She let out a breath as she opened it. "OK, here goes." Her eyes widened as she read the paper.

"Well? What does it say?" blurted Helen. "I'm dying of suspense!"

"Oh, um, sorry, I just, I can't make heads or tails of this."

"Nancy might, if you read it out loud," said Helen, sounding more and more impatient.

"Helen, relax, if Emily wants to have a go at it first, that's fine."

"But what does it say?"

"OK, I'll read it out loud. Maybe I'll see it differently." She cleared her throat and read the paper. "'When four quarters become whole; And the whole is in one; Check in at twelve o'clock; Your hunt has just begun."

There was a moment of silence before Helen blurted, "What?"

Emily shrugged. "Hey, you wanted to hear it. Told you it was odd."

Nancy was thoughtful. "Yeah, that is a bit odd. But the last line is pretty clear. Our hunt has just begun. Maybe once we've gotten the hints from the other clocks, this one will start to make more sense."

"I hope so," said Helen, "because it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever right now."

"You're telling me," muttered Emily. The two glanced at Nancy.

"What?"

"You tell us, miss detective, you figured that out in like," Helen paused to glance at her phone, "thirty minutes. Now what?"

Nancy grinned as she pushed the hidden compartment back into place and put it back on the mantle. "We can help Jane with whatever needs to be done here before heading out to the Archers."

Helen groaned. "Oh fine."

"Unless you have a better idea?"

"Well, we could take a walk around the garden," said Emily slowly.

"To check for clues!" said Helen with a smile.

Nancy chuckled. "We could, but the other guests have been up for a while now. Who knows if they've already trampled anything we could have found."

"We can still try," said Helen as she stood up.

Nancy nodded. "Alright, we'll try. And if we don't find anything, we'll help Jane until it's time to go."