Nellie’s Boss/Uncle: The Man in Black (Fiske Cahill)? Nellie’s Mother: Hope Cahill?

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In The 39 Clues Book 8: The Emperor’s Code, a lot more is revealed about the secretive Nellie Gomez: She has a “secret mission,” a powerful “boss” or “uncle,” she’s reporting to an unknown source (“In Russia they ran ahead of me on purpose. This is different. Dan knew we were in the square, waiting for him, and he didn’t come back.”), and can pick locks. This fully confirms my long running suspicion that Nellie Gomez is not what she seems. Although the book doesn’t give many details, the few they did give could be crucial in the hunt.

Specifically, I’m talking about the whole fiasco with Nellie’s boss/uncle:

Nellie indicated the satellite phone on the corner of the workbench. “Let me call my boss. Maybe we can work something out…”

“Listen to what my boss has to say,” Nellie went on. “I really think it will be worth your while.”

He looked aggrieved but gestured toward the sat phone. She punched in the numbers and waited for the satellite connection to be made.

“Sorry to wake you up, sir. Yes, I do know what time it is there.” Quickly, she outlined their situation and the passed the handset to the Frenchman. “He wants to talk to you.”

Amy and Dan watched intently as the pilot listened to the voice many thousands of miles away. His eyes widened; his expression grew increasingly awed. He did not say a single word; just handed the phone back to Nellie and announced, “We depart in ten minutes!”

As the man set about the preflight preparations, Amy sidled up to the au pair. “Who did you call?”

Nellie shrugged. “My uncle. He’s a pretty persuasive person.”

Clearly, more is going on here than Nellie admits to the Young Cahill’s. Amy and Dan think Nellie is lying (“Obviously not Nellie’s uncle), and for good reason; who can call up their uncle and persuade a pilot to take her and two children to the summit of Mount Everest?! However, I actually have a sneaking suspicion that Nellie is telling the truth.

Quite some time ago, on one of the many 39 clues forums, I saw a theory that Nellie was actually another child of either Hope and Arthur or Grace and she had been taken away to train.

While she obviously is not the daughter of Grace (Grace was born in 1928, and Nellie is only in her 20’s), it makes a lot of sense, especially with this, that she is another daughter of Hope (maybe even with a different man than Arthur).

Fiske Cahill/The Man In Black

The reason why this would work is because of one key person: The Man In Black, otherwise known as Fiske Cahill.

As we see above, Nellie even admits that she has a secret agenda and secret employer. Many cards have said the Madrigal’s are following Amy and Dan everywhere they go. Nellie is not in any of the four branches, because all four are trying to figure out who she is. That leaves only one possible group: The Madrigal’s.

Therefore, I think Nellie is working for The Man In Black; that makes sense, as well as in one of the cards (can’t remember which one it was at the moment), it revealed Nellie was having interactions with Mr. McIntyre, and in Book 5: The Black Circle, Amy and Dan catch a message on Nellie’s phone from a man in a whispery and cold voice: “Call in for a status report. We haven’t heard from you.”

Fiske is Grace’s brother, so if Nellie was a daughter of Hope and working for The Man In Black, that makes perfect sense.

What do you think about Nellie? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Tagged as: admit, Amy, black, boss, clues, collaborative fiction, Dan, mount everest, nellie, nellie gomez, The 39 Clues, the black circle, the man, uncles