The 99 Steps

{Opens at night, with a long shot of a hall and a green curtain blowing gently. As you come around the corner, you hear a woman scream:}

"Oh my god!.....The 99 steps!"

{Nancy and her friends prepare to go out for dinner; Nancy gets a telephone call from  Georgia; or "George" as she likes to be called.}:

George:"How exciting, Nancy! Your dad really wants Liz and me to go to France with you?!"

Nancy:"Yeah, to help us solve a couple of mysteries. How bought' you girls have dinner with me tonight? It's to confidential for the phone."

George:"Come on! Give me some details!"

Nancy:"I'd tell you; but then I'd have to kill you....."

George:"Yeah well, then you'd have to catch yourself. So, ha! I'll be there soon."

Nancy:"Well, don't blow anything up when you get here! I don't want a mess!"

(Just as Nancy puts down the phone, she hears a crash and a scream. She runs upstairs, Hannah is standing there, a shattered tea tray at her feet. And on the window in front of her, is a Green Lion, spray painted on the window, positioned directly so it looks like it's eating the sun.

Nancy:"A Green Lion....eating the sun? Hannah, what could that mean?....Hannah?"

(Hannah had run off to answer the door. Standing there with a beautiful blue satin evening gown on that perfectly matched her sun blonde hair, was Nancy's friend Liz. Behind Liz is Nancy's other friend Georgia, or George. Wearing a cargo skirt and her usual cut off red tank top. And her long brown hair in a ponytail and her bangs cropped to one side. Unfortunately, Nancy, being distracted by the Green Lion on her window was still wearing her white dressing gown, and her messy bed-hair.)

George:"Thank god you dressed up! We're going to the fanciest restaurant in New York City and you are sitting her looking like you just got hit by Hurricane Katrina!"

Nancy:"I was distracted." Nancy quickly relays all the events since she got off the phone.

Liz:"Nancy, put your freaking mind at rest! Just calm down, probably just some graffiti?...."

Nancy:"Graffiti? On the 20th floor penthouse? No way, I think something else......"

George:"I know that face. It means we'll be late for dinner......"

Nancy:"No, I made my promise to Marie. We'll meet her at the Chateau Loire at 8:00 precisely. She has a case she may want to present to us. Very interesting, she calls it-The Mystery Of The 99 Steps. That should be fun."

Hannah:"Oh, Nancy, you and your mysteries! You can't just be content with drinking tea and watching TV can you?"

Nancy:"Depends what's on?..."

(Hannah smiles and rolls her eyes. She begins sweeping up her broken tea pot. Nancy then gets dressed in a beautiful periwinkle blue dress and a short, v-neck, black dress. And of course, she ties her signature white, French Knot, scarf. She put her hair up in a french bun, and added a cute, red, flower bow in her hair.
Liz offers her some of her lipstick-"Valeur"-she accepts, puts some on, and then places it in her bedroom table.)

George:"Where is Marie? Are we meeting her there?"

Nancy:"Yes, her family owns the restaurant. They have the most amazing food!"

(The girls get in Nancy's blue bug, car. On which the licence plate reads:"SLEUTH1". They get to the restaurant, and see a young, dark skinned, Marrie standing outside waiting for them. She is slightly older than Nancy, at 24 instead of Nancy, Liz, and George's ages of 20. She greets them with a warm Bonjour and welcomes them to their table.)

Marie:"Now that we are seated quietly Madamoiselle Drew, I must ask if you have heard of Ma Mere Monique? She has recently been troubled by dreams. Terrible dreams. I fear for her, I think every night about how scared and sad she must be, but I cannot help her. She refuses it! What should I do, I have come to you, and you alone. The police to not seem to understand the situation."

George:"Yeah, we've had that problem before......they only can solve murders if you point a big sign at the killer."

Nancy:"Pray tell us, what is her dream again?"

Marie:"She is standing at the top of steps, blindfolded, and falls down them. She lands in some kind of white powder......and she begins coughing as she finds she is sinking in it."

Nancy:"Ok then, continue, tell us more?"

Marie:"Oui! We all agree, you perhaps know of our family's recent investment in Mousieur Blanc's factory for the makeup Valeur-"

Liz:"I love that makeup!"

Marie:"-Anyway. We recently bought half the company-much to Pappa's objection. But what are we to do! She is the face of the company! The woman of France! We will go to ruins if she cannot be helped! Please Madmoiselle Drew, I hope that you can help?"

Nancy:"Tell me, does your Mother use any prescription drugs? Forgive me, but does she have a history of this?"

Marie:"Never! My mother has a severe allergy to Barbiturates and any other things like that."

George:"What about trauma? Or, excuse me, any physical injury? A concussion, maybe?"(George is a medical student)

Marie:"Never. Ma Mere has always been as careful as a dove. She would never put herself in danger so close to the deals date!"

Nancy:"I'm sure she wouldn't. But we must make sure. To rule out the wrong we must first rule out the impossible, it moves us closer to the truth."

Marie:"Spoken like a French-Woman! Etre fort!"

Nancy:"Before we order I must ask. Do you by any chance know the meaning of a "Green Lion"? Perhaps a symbol of a Green Lion eating the sun?"

Marie:"Comment a'llez vous? It is strange to me? What does it mean?"

(Nancy tells Marie of the graffiti on the wall. She still does not understand.)

Marie:"Lion vert? Domage....desole'."

Liz:"Ah well, it probably doesn't matter! Probably just one of the amusing upper-tennants tricks on you....I wouldn't think anything of it!"

Marie:"Ah yes! Garcon! Voila' Garcon!"

(The waiter aproaches the table. He is tall with thin, long arms, and skinny, straight legs. He looks very much to be French, and holds himself as such. They each order very delicious French meals and continue their discussion. Eventually coming to the conclusion that the Green Lion was a trick, played by the window washers.)

(The waiter comes back with the food. But there appears to be something strange on Nancy's plate......a small letter, and on it, written in ink with a steady hand, read):

                      
                     Stay out of France.
                     Mr.9


Marie:"What does it say, Nancy?"

Nancy:"Stay out of France. Mr. 9"

Liz:"How strange! I will call the manager! GERANT'!"

(The manager-understanding the serious situation-rushed over at once.)

Marie:"Monsier Gernat, who was that man?"

Manager:"Who?"

Marie:"The waiter who just delivered our food to us?"

Manager:"Zut! He does not work for me! I have never seen him before in my life! Etranger'!"

George:"Nancy, do you think that man could have been Mr 9?"

Nancy:"I don't know....We'll have to see...."

(This was indeed very disturbing to Nancy. If someone was so eager to keep her away from France, who knows what else they might do!)

(After their scary experience with the waiter Nancy drove Liz and George home, and dropped Marie off at her hotel.)

(Nancy was driving home peacefully when she noticed a man, about as tall and as skinny as the waiter that evening. Clutching a lampost with all his strength, slowly sliding down it. Nancy's first instinct was to help the man of course, but she was still cautious from the letter, so she locked her doors and kept on driving.)

(As soon as she had reached the corner of the street the man jumped out in front of the car! Nancy slammed on the breaks just before she would have hit him. She heard the man let out a groan and say:"Help me, I'm sick!":But she stayed in her car, cautious, until she sped away to her apartment. Yep, Nancy Drew hit and run......whats next?)

(Nancy arrives at her penthouse to find Hannah in the hallway in histerics):"There's someone in the flat Miss Drew!"

(Nancy slowly opens the door and pulls out her ever handy flashlight, shining it at all the walls. The lights are off but there is a distinct noise coming from the bedroom, a sort of stomping noise, like things are being thrown about.)

(Nancy rounds the corner to her bedroom and finds a man, looking just like the waiter at the restaurant, sifting through her bedroom tables. As soon as Nancy's flashlight is visible from the room, the man lunges at Nancy, knocking over a dresser and a lamp. She runs quickly out of the room and hides behind a the kirchen corner. She can see the mans flashlight and his dark eyes peering around. As soon as he rounds Nancys corner she punches him really hard across the face. He falls over, clutching his broken nose in pain.)

(Over an hour has passed since the attempted robbery and Mr 9 had been taken into police custody for questioning.)

(It appeared that the only thing missing was the lipstick that Liz had given Nancy. It had been taken by Mr 9, but quickly returned by police.)

(Nancy got very little sleep that night, and was so tired in the morning she couldn't even drive to the airport, she had to take a cab. The flight was very nice, but she to has a strange dream about the 99 steps.....)

(When they land in Paris-much to Nancy's regret-Liz forces them to tour the Valeur factory, Nancy see's a opportunity to sleuth around the factory.)

(Upon arriving at the factory Nancy notices a strange, conveyor belt moving a thin, white, powder that looked like flour, but had a strange sparkle to it, pouring into the lipstick mixture.)

(Nancy sees some steps leading down and decides to investigate, dragging Liz and George with her. While sluthing down the stairs a woman, short and thin, runs up the stairs wearing a white lab coat. She knocks George down while running past, Nancy's cheeck gets cut by the wall, and Liz's arm gets broken.)

(Later, at the hotel, Liz's arm is in a sling and Nancy's cheek is bandaged. Nancy suspects a connection between Mr White's lipstick plant and the strange dreams.