039 The Suspect Next Door (11 page)

“You’re such a sweetheart,” Nancy told him.

“I like hearing that on our anniversary,” said Ned.

“Oh! Our anniversary!” said Nancy with a gasp. She wasn’t about to add, “I forgot,” though in fact, she had.

“It’s okay,” Ned said. “I know you love me, in spite of the evidence. Happy anniversary, Nancy.”

“Oh, I love you so much,” Nancy murmured. “Happy anniversary to you, too, Ned. I wish we could celebrate, but—”

“Don’t worry, we’ll celebrate soon,” Ned said.

“Meanwhile, I may need you on this case,” Nancy said. “Can I call you later?”

“You can always call me, Nancy. You know that,” he replied.

“Thanks, Ned.” She hung up and left the house. She wanted to find out more about Jeremy Pratt. Jeremy hated Dan. He made a show of his dislike at his party. And he’d been gone from his own party for a part of the evening.

Nancy drove to the Pratts’, where the housekeeper told her that Jeremy was playing his weekly round of golf at the country club.

More determined than ever, Nancy headed for the country club. She shivered again at the thought of what had happened the night before. She just
had
to clear Nikki Masters.

Nancy caught up with Jeremy on the fifth hole. He had just hit a long drive down the fairway and he seemed terribly pleased with himself.

“Hello, there,” he called out breezily when he
noticed Nancy rushing up to him. “Do I know you?”

“I’m Nancy Drew. I was at your party last night,” she answered.

“That’s right, someone said you’re a detective. Wild, isn’t it?”

“So you’ve heard?”

“Who hasn’t? You can’t miss the police. They’re everywhere! It happened right over near the fifteenth tee. Frankly, I can’t say I’m broken up about Dan, but poor Nikki,” he said with a shake of his head.

“I guess he provoked her into it,” Jeremy went on for Nancy’s benefit. “The way he was always following her everywhere, like a sick little puppy.”

“Excuse me, Jeremy,” Nancy interrupted. “But where were you at the time of the murder?”

Jeremy put his club in his bag. “You think I killed Dan Taylor?” he said with a sneer. “Get real. Besides, I have an alibi. I was back at the party by ten. Check with Brittany. She’ll tell you the same thing.”

With a bored shrug, Jeremy hopped onto his electric golf cart. “Need a lift?” he asked with a nasty grin.

“No, thanks,” Nancy answered icily.

“Well, then, I’m off!” he announced as he rode away toward his ball.

Nancy checked her watch. It was early, just
nine-fifteen. Vanities wouldn’t open for another forty-five minutes.

Since she had time, Nancy decided to check on Nikki at the station house. She found Chief McGinnis in his office.

“Nancy!” he said in surprise, looking up at her.

“I came to see how Nikki’s doing,” she told him.

“We’ve just finished questioning her,” he said. “But when your dad gets back, we’ll want her down here again. Nice girl,” he added, thoughtfully. “It’s a shame.”

“If it’s okay, I’d like to drive her back home,” Nancy offered.

“Sure,” he answered. “She’s in Room one hundred three.”

Nancy gave the chief a little wave and headed off to find her. Nikki was alone in a colorless office, looking lonely and frightened.

“Nancy!” she said, brightening a little when Nancy poked her head in the door.

“Come on,” said Nancy. “Let’s get you out of here. You look like you could use a little fresh air.”

Nikki blinked at the strong sunlight as they stepped out onto the steps. Down below on the street, a car drove by, with a group of teens inside.

Nikki waved weakly to them, obviously recognizing them as schoolmates.

But they didn’t wave back. They just stared at
her. The girl who was driving slowed down. Another girl leaned out the window, her face set in an ugly sneer. She shot Nikki a look of pure hatred and screamed loud enough for everyone around to hear:

“Murderer!”

T
HE CAR PASSED BY,
and Nikki stood on the steps, frozen. “I just realized the most horrible thing,” she gasped.

“What’s that?” Nancy asked.

“This is never going to end. Even if they find me innocent, the rumors will never die.” Nikki’s red eyes began to swim again with tears. “Oh, Nancy, what am I going to do?”

Giving her friend false assurance now wouldn’t help her in the end, Nancy thought. Instead, she held Nikki by the shoulders and gave her a comforting smile. “Other people have lived through it, Nikki, and you will, too. One thing
about this whole ordeal, it’ll separate your true friends from pretenders.”

“Probably you, Robin, and Lacey will be the only ones who will still talk to me when this is over.” Nikki’s head hung down and she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“I don’t believe that, Nikki. There are other good people out there. You’ll find them.”

Nancy bundled Nikki into the Mustang and drove her home.

Nikki’s parents were anxiously waiting for her. “She’s free, for now,” Nancy told them. “They want to see her again when my dad gets back.” Nancy left Nikki in their care and drove off toward Vanities.

By the time she got there, it was almost eleven, and the store was starting to get crowded with Saturday shoppers.

“Nancy!” Trisha waved and came over to greet her from across the store. “Long time no see,” she said with a smile. For some reason, Trisha seemed much friendlier than the last time Nancy had seen her.

“Where’s Charlene?” Nancy wanted to know, looking at the vacant spot behind the cash register.

“Out sick,” Trisha told her. “If you believe her excuses.”

“Dan Taylor was murdered last night,” Nancy said. “Did you know?”

Trisha’s face took on a serious expression. She shook her head sadly. “Yes, I read about it in the papers. They said his girlfriend did it.”

Just the thought of Brenda writing that story made Nancy’s blood boil, but she couldn’t let her feelings get the better of her now. “Is Max around? I want to ask him a few questions.”

Trisha’s eyes widened. “You think he’s the thief?” she whispered. “Really? I don’t think he’s smart enough.”

“I just want to talk to him.” On a hunch, Nancy said, “Oh, by the way, Trisha, I hear you and Dan were rather friendly at one time.”

Trisha gasped. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” she said with an edge to her voice. “He was really a nice kid underneath all the bluster. I felt sorry for him—he had so many big dreams,” Trisha said sadly. “He was always telling me how he was going to be a millionaire by the time he was thirty.” She let out a little laugh.

Nancy ignored Trisha’s malicious joke. “By the way, I’m checking up on where everyone was last night, in case there’s a connection between Dan’s death and the store thefts.”

Trisha looked startled. “What are you talking about?” she exclaimed. “His girlfriend did it. If you’re accusing me, you might as well know I was with Kate Hayes at a dinner with clients from L.A., and we were there until eleven. You can check it out if you want.”

“Just looking at all the angles,” Nancy explained.

“Max is in the back,” Trisha said coldly.

Nancy walked through the boutique to the stockroom. Max Hudson was at work, opening cartons.

“Max, I’m asking everyone the same question. Where were you last night?”

“None of your business!” he snapped angrily.

“Max, let me level with you,” Nancy began delicately. “A few nights ago I saw you at the Sixplex, and then later, at the River Heights Arcade, I saw Dan getting beat up—”

“Okay, okay,” Max said, tucking the utility knife into his shirt pocket and facing her. “So you saw me punching out Dan Taylor.”

“That’s right,” Nancy answered. “Why?”

Max looked scared. Then, he exploded. “That turkey owed me money! That’s why. I’ve been trying to get it back for months, and finally I blew my cool. I got tired of all his excuses about why he didn’t have the money.”

“How much money did he owe you?” Nancy asked.

“Two hundred bucks,” the stockboy complained. “But, hey, I didn’t kill the guy. I’m not so hard up I’d kill somebody for two hundred dollars.”

Taking the knife from his pocket, he went back to work.

Nancy had to admit Max’s point about two hundred dollars not being worth killing for. But
if Max
and Dan had been partners in the Vanities thefts, there could have been a lot more than two hundred dollars at stake. Nancy resolved to keep her eye on Max Hudson.

Nancy left Vanities, went to a phone booth on the mall’s street level, and dialed Nikki’s number. She’d reached a dead end at Vanities, but maybe the girl could remember some small clue that would provide Nancy with a lead. True, there was a phone in Kate Hayes’s office, but Nancy didn’t want anybody else listening in on her conversation.

“She’s feeling better now,” Mr. Masters replied to Nancy’s question about how Nikki was. “Do you want to talk to her?”

“Please,” said Nancy.

Nikki got right on the line. “Hello, Nancy? I really haven’t gotten a chance to say thank you for all your help, and I don’t know when I will again.”

“Don’t mention it,” Nancy said. “Nikki, about last night. I’m kind of at an impasse. Could you just go over it one more time for me? Any little thing might help.”

“Well,” said Nikki, sounding calm and rational now, “as I told you, Dan was very apologetic, and said if I wanted out, that was okay, but that he’d made a decision, and he was turning over a new leaf.”

“He used those words? Turning over a new leaf?”

“Well, something like that. I got the impression he was willing to say goodbye, if I would only spend this one last night keeping him company. When he asked me to take a ride with him, that’s what I thought was up.”

“Go on,” Nancy prompted.

“It started to rain, I remember, because he turned on the windshield wipers. Then he pulled up at a store and went in to get sodas.”

“You didn’t mention that before,” Nancy said, alert.

“Didn’t I? Well, he went in for the sodas, and he made a phone call. I could see him through the store window.”

“A phone call? He made a phone call?”

“Yes. I didn’t ask him who he was talking to, though. I mean, I’m trying to ease myself out of this guy’s life, right? So I wasn’t going to ask him about anything.”

Nancy nodded. “Okay, okay. Go on.”

The rest of the story was the same as before.

“That phone call,” Nancy said when Nikki had finished. “Is there anything else about it you can remember?”

“Well, let’s see,” Nikki said, pausing. “No, not really, except that it looked like a pretty intense conversation.”

“Oh? How could you tell?”

“Well, he was gesturing with his arm, and
every once in a while he’d rub his forehead like he was frustrated.”

“Thanks, Nikki,” Nancy said. “You’ve been a big help, believe it or not.”

“I have?”

“Yes, you have. Nikki, I’ve got to go now, but I’ll call you later.”

After Nancy hung up, she stood in the phone booth for a full five minutes. Dan had made a phone call. Why, at a time like that, in the middle of a crisis with the girl he loved, would he have taken time out to call somebody?

It had to have been an important phone call. But what could have been so pressing on a rainy Saturday night? Dan had mentioned turning over a new leaf. Could he have been calling his partner in the Vanities crimes? Arranging a meeting? Maybe Nikki’s pleading with Dan had had some effect after all! Maybe Dan was telling his partner that he wanted out. And maybe his partner had killed him because of it!

Buzzing with excitement, Nancy raced to her car and drove straight to police headquarters. She wasn’t quite ready to confront Chief McGinnis with her fleshed-out theory, but she wanted to have a look at the official reports on the case. They’d be a lot more complete now than they were late last night.

“Still working on my theory,” she explained to
Chief McGinnis when he gave her a puzzled look. “Mind if I mess up your desk?”

The chief laughed out loud at that one. His desk could not have been more of a mess than it already was. “How are the Masterses doing?” he asked.

“Not too bad, considering. My dad’ll be back this afternoon, I think. He’ll want to get the whole story from Nikki.”

“I’ll be seeing him tonight, then, I guess,” he said, wearily rubbing a hand over his face. “Guess I’d better go home and catch forty winks. I’ve been up most of the night,” he said, throwing her a smile. “Whatever you do, don’t ‘clean up’ my desk, understand? I’ve got my own unique sort of order, believe it or not.”

“Oh, I believe it.” Nancy laughed, sitting down in his chair and getting to work.

An hour later she had gotten to the bottom of the pile of evidence. In front of her was the police photo of the letter
N
Dan Taylor had scratched into the ground. She stared at it, thinking. The case was just out of reach, inches beyond her grasp. What was the missing link?

Then she realized what she was looking at. In her musings, Nancy had cocked her head, so that she was now staring down at the
N
from one side. It was a funny-looking
N,
sort of like a lightning bolt.