039 The Suspect Next Door (10 page)

On the trip to the police station Nancy shared everything she knew about the thefts at Vanities and about Dan’s relationship with Nikki Masters. Nancy hesitated for a moment, then told him about the envelope and her suspicions about Dan and the missing merchandise.

“I’m telling you, it can’t be her, Chief. I’ve known Nikki forever! The Vanities angle—that’s where you’ll find the true killer,” Nancy said as she accompanied the chief into his office at police headquarters. “Dan worked at Vanities and was fired for lying. I’ll bet you anything we’ll find a connection there.”

Chief McGinnis listened politely, as he always did, but he seemed less than convinced. “You know, Nancy, I have enormous respect for your judgment. I always have.”

He started pacing the room, looking uncomfortable with what he had to say. “But this one seems airtight. Taylor is seen leaving this party with the girl at ten. She comes back at eleven, all scratched and mussed. She admits they struggled. Then we find the guy. His watch is smashed at ten-fourteen. Her bag is on the seat. He’s lying next to the car, with the rock that smashed his head lying next to him. I’ll lay you odds her prints are all over the inside of the car. Can you see what I’m thinking?”

“Are you going to arrest her tonight?” Nancy asked, nervously running her hand through her hair. Obviously defending Nikki against this barrage of evidence was getting Nancy nowhere.

“That’s my plan at the moment. I’m just waiting for my people to get back. You never know,” he added. “She might run.”

“She won’t run, Chief,” Nancy assured him. “Because she’s innocent. I don’t know what happened out there tonight, but I know what didn’t happen. Nikki Masters didn’t kill Dan Taylor!”

“I wish I could agree, Nancy,” Chief McGinnis said, stroking his chin. “But what proof can you give me? Intuition just doesn’t cut it in the courts.”

Nancy rubbed her temples. “Let me think,” she said. “Can I see the bag?” she asked. Chief McGinnis signaled for an officer to get it.

“Here you go,” she said in a minute, tossing the bag onto the chief’s desk.

It was Nikki’s, all right. Nancy recognized it right away. She picked up the purse and gently unzipped it. Except for some makeup and a purse-size atomizer, it was empty. “There’s no envelope,” she murmured, half to herself.

“I can see that,” the chief acknowledged. “But
that doesn’t mean there ever was an envelope. We have only her word for it.”

Nancy gritted her teeth in frustration, but she knew Chief McGinnis was right. He had to look at hard evidence—that was his job.

But there
had
been an envelope; Nancy was sure. And if Nikki had killed Dan Taylor, and forgotten her purse, as the chief was saying, the envelope would still be in the purse! Which meant someone
else
had taken it.

There was no way to convince Chief McGinnis that the envelope had existed. Nancy thought hard, trying to come up with other inconsistencies.

“What about the position of the body?” she asked. “If Nikki tried to get out the passenger side, and he tried to stop her, his body would be sprawled across the front seat, not outside on the driver’s side.”

“Go on, I’m listening,” the chief said, stretching out in his chair and putting his feet up on his desk. “Of course,” he added, “you’re assuming it happened just as she told you it did. You told me she said they argued. And you know that in an argument, we get a little hot sometimes and forget the odd detail.”

“Yes, they argued,” Nancy shot back, getting up and pacing the room, “but the place he took her might not have been the exact same place he was found. He might have met up with somebody
afterward. If he was in on the thefts at Vanities, he might have been meeting his partner in crime.”

“You’re forgetting the watch,” the chief pointed out. “He was with her at ten-fourteen, wasn’t he?”

Nancy slumped in defeat. How could she argue with that hard fact? “I guess so,” she admitted. “But, Chief, couldn’t you give me just a little more time to sniff things out? A day, maybe two? I might come up with something concrete. Think what it would do to that poor girl to be arrested like that.”

“Assuming she’s innocent,” Chief McGinnis said.

“Assuming she’s innocent,” Nancy echoed.

“Well, maybe I could give you a day,” he mused, fingering some papers on his desk. “But no more.”

Nancy straightened up, every instinct alert. She had twenty-four hours. One precious day to get Nikki out of the worst jam of her entire life.

There was a knock on the door, and an officer poked his head through. “Chief, we found something written in the dirt,” he said. “Looks like our boy wrote it with his fingernail before he died.”

Chief McGinnis sat up quickly. “What was it? Got a picture?” he demanded.

“Sure do,” the officer replied, spreading a large photo out on the desk. “The people at the lab just got through with it. It’s just one letter. Any idea what it stands for?”

“I’m afraid I do,” the chief said slowly as he stared at the photo.

Nancy craned her neck to get a look, too. Etched in the dirt beside the outline of Dan’s body was the letter
N!

N
ANCY STARED HARD
at Chief McGinnis. She could tell what he was thinking. If it stood for Nikki, that one letter—
N
—was hard and solid evidence.

“I’m sorry, Nancy. I have no choice,” he said gently. “I understand how you feel, but I’ve got to consider the evidence against Nikki Masters. Tomorrow morning, we’re going to call her in for questioning, and even if she tells us the same story she told you, we may have to arrest her. You might as well go home and get a good night’s sleep.”

Defeated, Nancy said good night and stepped
out into the late summer night. The chief was right about one thing. There was nothing she could do for Nikki that night.

• • •

The next morning Nancy got up before seven. She dressed quickly, wanting to get to Nikki’s house before the police did. Then at least Nikki and her family would get the bad news from a friend, not a stranger.

“Nancy, come in.” An ashen-faced Mr. Masters opened the door and greeted Nancy with barely a nod. He ran a hand through his faded blond hair. “She’s in the dining room.”

Nancy heard sobbing coming from inside. Following Mr. Masters, she found the family grouped around the dining room table.

Today’s Times
lay on the table before them. Its huge headline shouted “Local Boy Murdered. Police Seek Girlfriend for Questioning.” Nancy had beaten the police to the Masterses’ home, but Brenda Carlton had managed to cross the finish line first.

“Nancy!” Nikki’s slender shoulders were shivering, and her voice was weak from crying. Her mother had a comforting arm around her.

“Hello, Nancy.” Nikki’s mom turned her tear-stained face in Nancy’s direction. Her hazel eyes were full of sorrow. “Have you seen the morning paper?”

“Take a look.” Nikki’s father pointed to the
Times
with a look of shocked confusion. “Can
you believe it? According to this, Nikki has already been tried and convicted!”

“I’m so sorry,” Nancy said, going over to them and putting a hand on Nikki’s shoulder. “It’s awful, I know. But Nikki’s going to come through this. She’s innocent, and everyone’s going to find that out.”

Nikki bit her knuckles and stifled a sob. “Oh, Nancy,” she said. “What if I’m not innocent? What if I really did it? I mean, what if I blacked out or something?”

“You didn’t black out,” Nancy told her firmly. “And you didn’t kill him. The police just want to see you for questioning, that’s all.”

“But the article says he was killed at ten-fourteen! I was with him at ten-fourteen, Nancy!” Nikki said with a gulp.

Nancy ignored that remark. There had to be an explanation about the time, and she’d find it. “Nikki,” she began gently. “There are things I didn’t tell you about Dan.”

Nikki and her parents fell silent. Nancy went on. “At the time I didn’t want to upset you, or scare you. But I’m pretty sure Dan was involved in a series of robberies I’ve been investigating at a store in the mall called Vanities.”

Nikki’s father seemed to come back to life. “You mean you think Dan was in on them?” he asked grimly.

“Yes. And I don’t think he was working alone, either,” Nancy replied firmly.

“Well, if he was involved with criminals . . .” Mr. Masters murmured.

“One of his partners might have killed him,” Nancy finished for him. “I’ve told the police about it. Right now, unfortunately, I don’t have any hard evidence.”

“The article says that Nikki’s handbag was found at the scene of the crime,” said Mrs. Masters, with a quiver in her voice.

Nancy turned to Nikki. “The envelope, Nikki. Are you sure you put it in the bag? Because we couldn’t find it last night.”

“Yes! I’m sure! Dan stuffed it in!” Nikki cried.

“That means somebody took it,” Nancy said. “There must have been important evidence in that envelope. I suspect it was about the robberies.”

“Wait, Nancy,” Nikki said. “Slow down a minute. Are you sure Dan really was a thief? I knew him pretty well. Well enough to know he was basically an honest person. Maybe he took something that wasn’t his once, but I can’t imagine him organizing a series of robberies. That doesn’t sound like Dan.”

“Can you be sure?” Nancy asked, trying to be gentle. “How well did you really know him, Nikki? You know he lied, that he was fired from his job. And you know he was giving you things he couldn’t afford to buy.”

Releasing herself from her mother’s embrace, Nikki fell back in her chair. “He would disappear
for a day or two sometimes. And when he’d come back, he always brought a gift. But he’d never say where he’d been. Just ‘away,’ making ‘big deals.’ ”

Nancy felt like kicking herself. If she’d only told Nikki about Dan and the thefts earlier, she might have learned a lot, maybe even prevented his death.

“Do you have a lawyer?” Nancy asked, turning to Nikki’s parents.

“We know a very good lawyer,” Mrs. Masters said with a weary grin. “Your father.”

“We’re hoping Carson will help us,” Mr. Masters continued.

“I’m sure he will. He’s due back from Chicago later today. I’ll leave a note for him to call you.”

“Thanks, Nancy,” Mrs. Masters said gratefully.

“Nikki, don’t say anything to the police until you talk to my dad,” Nancy advised, giving her friend a comforting pat on the shoulder.

“Won’t that make me look even more guilty?” Nikki asked.

“No,” Nancy answered simply. “It’s called constitutional rights. The chief will understand.”

“I hear a car,” Mrs. Masters said ominously.

Stepping to the window, Nancy saw a River Heights patrol car quietly pull up to the house. The lack of flashers and sirens showed that the chief was being sensitive to the situation at least.

“Oh, no,” Nikki moaned as she walked over to
the window and peered out. There was a look of sheer terror in her eyes as she watched the officers walk toward the house.

Nancy turned to her. “You’re innocent, Nikki, just keep remembering that. And while you’re at the station house, remember, I’m going to be out tracking down the real killer.”

The doorbell rang, and Nikki shuddered. Shooting his daughter a grim look, Mr. Masters opened the door and spoke quietly with the officers. “She’ll be right with you,” he told them finally.

Mr. Masters bit his lip. “I tried to convince them to let us come with you, but they said they want to question you alone. Apparently we’re not to come along.”

Mrs. Masters held back a sob. Nikki took a deep breath. “Thanks, Nancy,” she said softly. She hugged her parents and told them she loved them. Then she stepped out the door.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Nancy said quietly as the shattered parents watched their daughter step into the police car. Mr. and Mrs. Masters could only nod.

Nancy slipped out of the house and hurried home. She went straight to her father’s study where she left a note for him about Nikki. Then she picked up her purse. She was just about to leave her house when the phone rang.

“Hello,” Nancy said.

“You’re home,” came Ned’s gentle voice of the other end. “I was a little worried about you when you didn’t show up last night.”

“Ned!” said Nancy, with a gasp. She’d completely forgotten about him. “Our stakeout!”

“I was there,” Ned said calmly. “Where were you?”

“Oh, Ned, you’re not going to believe what happened. I take it you haven’t read a newspaper this morning.”

“No,” he said cautiously. “Should I have?”

“Dan Taylor was murdered.”

“Wow,” Ned said after a moment’s silence.

“And the police think Nikki did it!”

Ned let out a low whistle. “That’s intense,” he murmured. “I guess that means you’ve got whole new case.”

“It looks that way. I’ve got to try to clear Nikki.” Nancy paused. “Did anything happen a Vanities?” she asked.

“Nope. I did try to call you, by the way, but Hannah said you were out. So I figured I’d better stick around and hope you showed up.”

“Oh, Ned! I’m sorry.”

“Hey, no apologies necessary. You had other things to worry about. So tell me, where do you go from here? And how can I help?” Ned asked.