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Captive Witness |
Chapter 1 -
Airport Trouble
Nancy is taking a tour through Europe sponsored by Emerson College; the final destination of the trip is Vienna, Austria. Her travel companions include Ned, Bess, George, Dave and Burt, as well the tour leader Professor Bagley and a young Hungarian man named Eric Nagy, who is confined to a wheelchair.
On a Thursday, Nancy receives a telegram from Carson Drew regarding the theft of a documentary at the Vienna Film Festival. Nancy is to investigate and try to get the film returned by the following Wednesday so it can be shown on schedule.
While at the airport, a porter tries to steal Prof. Bagley's luggage, but is thwarted by Nancy in a feat of acrobatics. Nancy suspects that the professor is in danger but is hiding the fact from the rest of the group. The group boards a bus for their next destination. While at a rest stop, the bus driver sabotages the bus's engine, but does not realize that Nancy has witnessed the vandalism.
Chapter 2 - The Shaking Bus
The rat-faced bus
driver announces that the tour is delayed until tomorrow due
to a mechanical failure. Nancy produces the distributor cap
that was removed by the driver and thrown into the bushes. The
driver escapes and during the pursuit Ned is nearly struck by
a silent black sedan. Over lunch, Professor Bagley explains in
confidence that he is trying to rescue ten orphans (ages 6-13)
from behind the Iron Curtain. He is acting as a secret agent
for a refugee repatriation group which helps to bring children
to their relatives in the West. The professor hopes to smuggle
the 10 children out from where they are being hidden
"somewhere in Hungary." Eric is his accomplice in the mission
as one of the children is his cousin and he is fluent in a
variety of languages, including Hungarian.
Chapter
3
- The Mozart Lecture
Ned
volunteers to take on the driving responsibilities and the
group proceeds to Salzburg. Once on the road, the bus starts
making strange noises and shaking. There is suspicion that a
bomb may have been placed on board, but it turns out that the
real bus driver was trussed up in the luggage compartment and
wished to be released.
The group moves on to Salzburg, regaled by stories of Mozart as told by the very animated bus driver. During the drive, Professor Bagley explains that he wanted to have his baggage stolen back at the airport as he had planted misleading information regarding the children and the smuggling operation in his musette bag. Upon arrival at the hotel in Salzburg, the group finds out that their reservations have been cancelled.
Chapter 4 - Mysterious Interference
A stout man with a
large mustache by the name of Herr Gutterman is in the hotel
lobby and offers to help the group as he is a real estate man
and knows of space in a nearby hotel. In a very overbearing
manner he also picks up the check for the group's dinner and
they feel obligated to accept his generous offer of
accommodations. Nancy calls her father and is given the
information that the original negative of Kurt Kessler's
stolen film was destroyed in a lab fire. Carson suspects that
the thieves intend to destroy the film, unless Nancy can
determine what it is they want in trade. During the call,
Nancy realizes the phone line is tapped.
Chapter 5 - An Unpleasant Invitation
It is now Friday morning, and Nancy wants to arrive in Vienna
ahead of the tour's schedule but cannot locate a rental car.
Gutterman offers his chauffered brown auto and Nancy accepts,
but decides to bring Ned along.
Chapter 6 - Kidnapped!
Nancy notices that the car has just been painted. The car is very luxurious and has a fridge, telephone and TV and runs silently. Ned and Nancy and locked in the back seat. Gutterman himself is driving, but he pulls over and the fake bus driver (called Burger) takes over the driving. Then Gutterman removes his disguise which consists of body padding, a wig and a mustache and it turns out he is the man who tried to steal the professor's bag at the airport. Nancy and Ned are kidnapped.
Chapter 7 - Hazardous Ride
Nancy and Ned write notes back and forth while trapped in the
back seat. Nancy has a trick book which emits tear gas from
the double "O"s in the title on the spine (Noodles). Burger
ascends into the Alps and 
attempts to
scare Nancy and Ned by driving maniacally, but they refuse to
show any fear, which infuriates Gutterman. The car narrowly
avoids a crash with a truck but veers out of control, through
the guardrail and dangles precipitously over a cliff.
Chapter 8 - Danger in the Alps
The group manages to get the car back on to level ground and they continue driving to a shepherd's hut. Nancy alone is taken in and Ned is left locked in the car.
Chapter 9 - The Alpine Prison
Nancy escapes from the hut by flinging coffee into Gutterman's face, grabbing the car keys and barring the door to the hut from the outside. She has trouble getting the gadget car started, during which time Gutterman and Burger break out. Nancy and Ned lock themselves in the car. Gutterman lays down on the road so that Nancy cannot drive off without running him over. Nancy skillfully avoids him with some driving tricks.
Chapter 10 - Amphibian on Wheels
Nancy and Ned a
afraid of being accused of car theft, and so, to avoid the
authorities, they drive on a dirt road and eventually come to
a river. The car magically transforms itself à la
Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang with pontoon sacks for flotation and a
propellor. They have to abandon the car when the river reaches
a waterfall. They then hike to a spot where a bus headed
toward Vienna picks them up. Burger and Gutterman catch the
same bus, but Nancy and Ned disguise themselves with a hat and
scarf and are not recognized. They are able to eavesdrop on
the culprits, but don't understand much with their limited
knowledge of German. When Nancy and Ned finally arrive at
their hotel in Vienna, there is a note waiting addressed to
Nancy Drew, Car Thief.
Chapter 11 - Wild Goose Chase
The note is from Gutterman and offers a deal whereby Nancy can accomplish both her missions of having the children delivered and retrieving the film; she must meet him in the lobby at 9:00 PM the following day.
The next day Nancy and Ned go to meet with the film festival's director, Herr Ernst, hoping to learn more about the film, Captive Witness. Nancy refuses and offer of coffee and requests milk instead. Ernst says that a messenger came with a forged letter from Kessler requesting the exchange of the film, and it turned out that the replacement film was blank. Nancy investigates the canister from the bogus reel and on the label finds the address of a Vienna-based film company called Ciné-Ouest. Nancy and Ned take a taxi to the address, which is in a dangerous part of town. They enter the unlocked door. In a room full of films, a Doberman menaces them. When the dog attacks, he is tear gassed with the trick book. Ned and Nancy then return to the hotel.
Chapter 12 - Captive Witness
Ned goes to bed and Nancy keeps her appointment with Gutterman and Burger. Nancy is blindfolded and taken to a building where she is shown the first hour of Kessler's film. Captive Witness documents the cruelty and oppression in Eastern Europe. Gutterman says his main objective is to punish the traitor Kessler for spreading lies about his country. He proposes to exchange the film and the kids for Kessler, whom he then plans to torture into renouncing all the claims made in his movie. Gutterman admits that he is a hired mercenary with no political motives. Nancy is returned to the hotel where she calls Carson, who contacts Kessler, who agrees to exchange. Nancy tries to reconstruct the route the car took to the building.
Chapter 13 - The Stricken Messenger
Ned and Nancy drive around Vienna trying to find the building where the film is located; their search is unsuccessful. Professor Bagley has planted new falsified information as bait, and his ruse has worked as the papers have been lifted. The government contact Haberman arrives but suffers a seizure while communicating the true instructions for the rendezvous where the group is to pick up the kids. Nancy performs CPR and resuscitates the man and an ambulance is called.
Chapter
14
- The Terrible Truth
Nancy
accompanies Haberman to the hospital - a full recovery is
expected. Gutterman tries to sneak into Haberman's room but is
foiled by Nancy. Someone tries to steal Eric's wheelchair.
Nancy has an inspiration and dismantles the wheelchair, but
doesn't find anything. Eric points out a lump in the seat and
they discover an envelope concealed between the seams. Inside
ate the directions which guide them to the Hungarian border. A
man names Mr. Popov arrives at the hotel. He has been
protecting the children and explains that the original plan to
bring them over the border will not work, and that they will
have to sneak them out.
Chapter 15 - Perilous Plan
No further assistance is available from the refugee organization, so Nancy devises a plan. They will use Professor Bagley as a decoy while a separate group goes to rescue the children. Mr. Popov is given a duck call. Eric then reveals that he is not really crippled and the wheelchair was a disguise.
Chapter 16 - The Shoppers' Ploy
Eric explains that he used the wheelchair as a ploy so that the enemies would not see him as capable and therefore not a threat. Nancy makes a list of items needed to execute her plan and everyone is assigned to find certain items. Nancy notices that Gutterman is spying on them.
Chapter 17 - Freedom Props
Nancy plays a trick on one of her tails. The shoppers return and the plan takes shape &endash; Bagley will be a decoy in a limousine and will drive to the Czech border with Burt disguised as Eric in the wheelchair, George as Nancy, with Ned, Bess and Dave. Eric will go with Nancy because of his language skills. The transfer will happen along the Neusiedler See, a lake on the Austro-Hungarian border, which is quite shallow (4' deep). They will use duck calls to find the Popovs and the children. Dark innertubes will be brought for the children who cannot swim.
Chapter 18 - A Hero Arrives
Kessler
arrives in Vienna. Nancy gets into disguise (1880's ball gown
and a dark wig of ringlets) and makes a grand exit past
Gutterman's guards. Eric serves as chauffeur and they take
Route 16 south, then east on 304, through Eisenstadt, then on
to Schützen until they reach Mörbisch. Nancy discovers that
Gutterman is following them. She buys some motor oil at a
service station, which she spills on to the road, causing
Gutterman's car to skid off into a ravine.
Eric and Nancy arrive at an outdoor theater on the lake at Mörbisch where Nancy joins the chorus of The Merry Widow (a reference is made to Nancy's past participation in a Footlighters production of this operetta back in River Heights, so she already knows all the words). Nancy sees Gutterman in the audience.
Chapter 19 - Across the Frontier
As soon as the
operetta is done, Nancy leaves and changes into a scuba suit
and puts her gown back on over it. Gutterman tries to lure her
into revealing herself with a fake urgent message. She and
Eric cover themselves in grease paint and make a raft of the
innertubes. They make contact with the Popovs and transfer the
kids. Hungarian guards arrive and try to find the group using
flashlights, but a storm starts at this opportune moment and
rain obscures the vision of the search party. Eric distracts a
patrol boat while Nancy and the kids make it safely to the
Austrian shore.
Chapter 20 - Herr Gutterman Unmasked
Everyone returns to the hotel in Vienna where the children
are passed on to members of the 
refugee organization. Kessler is
still depressed that his film has not been recovered. Nancy
recounts for him her clues of the railroad tracks,
merry-go-round sounds and 12 shallow steps to the building and
he deduces that the building must be near the Prater Amusement
Park. They find the building in an alley. Gutterman is there
and Kessler identifies him as Heinrich Hagedorn, an erstwhile
director and actor who was co-opted by an oppressive
government, with whom he chose to cooperate in order to
survive. Hagedorn had once shared a cell with Kessler, and
lets him have his film back, in shame. Captive Witness
is shown at the film festival and it wins the Best Foreign
Documentary prize. Kessler brings Nancy to the stage during
his acceptance speech to thank her.
6 grayscale pictures by Paul Frame © 1981 by Simon & Schuster, New York. 4 color drawings by Jean Sidobre © 1983 by Hachette, Paris. color image by Linda Thomas © 1990 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
© 2000, Lea Shangraw Fox