“See you guys later,” Andrew said glumly, getting into the backseat.
Ned’s brown eyes flashed angrily as he watched the police car roll down the driveway. “I know he didn’t do it,” he insisted. “We have to do something.”
“I’m going to start by calling Chief McGinnis,” Nancy assured him, “to see what he turned up on Colleen and Guy Lewis.”
Dodging the fire fighters who were leaving the building with their hoses and hatchets, Nancy hurried to Andrew’s office.
“Appears we’ve got something on Lewis,” Chief McGinnis said over the line a few moments later.
Nancy’s heart started beating faster. “He’s got a record?”
The chief whistled. “I’ll say he does. He’s been convicted of burglary, vagrancy, extortion, and about fifteen years back he belonged to a theft ring that stole audio equipment from warehouses and sold it illegally.”
“Wow,” Nancy said. “I can see why Colleen wouldn’t want anybody to know she knew him. He sounds like bad news.”
“It also says here that Lewis was just released from the state prison a few weeks ago,” McGinnis added.
Nancy thought quickly. “That could explain what he was doing in the basement,” she said. “It looked as if he was here fairly recently. Maybe he thought this place was still abandoned, so he came here to stay when he got out of jail. Unless he had some other purpose. I wonder if there’s any link between Lewis and the Lockwood family?”
“Could be,” came the chief’s voice over the line. “I know some of the guys in the Melborne Police Department. I’ll see if they can help out on this.”
“Thanks,” Nancy told him. “There’s something else I don’t understand,” she went on. “Where’s Guy Lewis now? From what I can tell, he’s not at the inn anymore. But I think he may be behind what’s happened here. Or maybe he’s working with Colleen Morgan. Did you find anything on her?”
“Not a thing,” Chief McGinnis told Nancy. “I looked up O’Herlihy and Morgan. She’s clean.”
Thanking him again, Nancy hung up. She exited through the inn’s front entrance just as two officers were sealing the door with yellow tape marked Police Line—Do Not Cross.
Outside, the last of the fire fighters were getting on their trucks and pulling out of the driveway. Nancy spotted Ned and Bess nearby, standing at the edge of the parking lot. The other teens also milled around, as if they weren’t sure whether to go back to work or go home.
“I told Bess what we found out about Colleen at Bentley High,” Ned said when Nancy joined them. “Did the police find anything on Colleen?”
Nancy shook her head. “Her old friend Guy Lewis has a record, though. And we’re not just talking parking tickets.”
“Could they have been working together?” Bess wondered. “Colleen could have set the fire, and Lewis could have placed the call.”
“It’s possible,” Nancy agreed.
“What about Blaster?” Ned wanted to know. “He could have set the fire.”
Bess started to object, but Nancy said, “He’s right, Bess. Blaster was down in the basement with us, but he could have sneaked away at some point to place the call. We were too busy to watch everyone the whole time.”
“Julie could have done it, too,” Bess argued. “I know I saw her wandering around just now, calling Andrew’s name. She’s got curly hair with a red streak in it, right?”
Nancy nodded, remembering that she still hadn’t had a chance to question Julie. Nancy searched the crowd with her eyes, but Julie had disappeared.
“That’s the third time Julie’s been at the inn with no explanation,” Nancy said. “But she wasn’t in the basement when the fire started.”
“Do you think she could have sneaked down the stairs and started the fire while we all were working?” Ned asked.
“I doubt she could have done it without someone spotting her,” Nancy said.
A loud voice broke into their conversation. “Attention!” shouted a police officer. He stood on the doorstep, holding a megaphone to his mouth. “This area is now off-limits. Please go home and wait for further instructions.”
There was a collective groan from the Teen Works teenagers, who were gathered around Colleen.
“Hey, Ms. Morgan,” Blaster said. “Does that mean the party’s canceled for tonight?”
“Of course not,” Colleen answered at once. “With all the bad things that have happened, we need a party now more than ever. Everybody be at my place at eight o’clock sharp, or else!”
Chapter
Fourteen
AS THE TEENAGERS CHEERED, Bess grinned at Nancy and Ned. “I’m glad Colleen has her priorities straight. We could use a party around here.”
“Mmm,” Nancy murmured distractedly. Seeing that Colleen was about to leave, she hurried over to her, hoping to question her about her relationship with Guy Lewis. “Colleen, could I talk to you a minute?” Nancy asked.
“Sorry,” Colleen told her. “I don’t have time right now.”
“But it’s important,” Nancy insisted. “I’m trying to locate a man named Guy Lewis. I think he might be responsible for what’s going on here.”
Colleen’s freckled face was blank. “Who?”
“His name is Guy Lewis. I think he’s the person who was sleeping in the basement.”
Shrugging, Colleen said, “The name doesn’t sound familiar. Why are you asking me?”
Nancy’s blue eyes bored into Colleen. It seemed unlikely that she wouldn’t have the slightest recollection of a guy she’d known in high school. Colleen was definitely hiding something. But whether it was simply the fact that she knew Lewis, or something more, remained to be seen.
“I thought you might remember him from high school,” Nancy prodded. “Bentley High School . . .”
Nancy saw a flicker of unease in Colleen’s green eyes. Colleen glanced quickly at her gold watch, then said, “I’d love to talk to you, but I’ve got to bring these kids back to the Teen Works center, and then I have to rush home and prepare for the party. We’ll talk tonight, okay?”
Turning away from Nancy, Colleen called out to the Teen Works kids and started down the driveway to the parking lot. Nancy let out a sigh of frustration as she watched the other woman.
Colleen is definitely hiding something, Nancy thought. And tonight, at the party, I’m going to try to find out exactly what it is.
• • •
“This house is incredible,” Bess said to Nancy and Ned a few hours later as they entered Colleen Morgan’s mansion. The foyer had polished wooden floors and an enormous crystal chandelier hanging overhead. Intricately patterned Persian rugs were scattered over the floor, and a grand staircase swept upward to the second floor.
After a butler had taken their coats and jackets, a maid led the three teens down a long hallway with oil paintings hanging along the walls and more Persian rugs.
“This is my kind of house,” Bess said approvingly.
The thumping bass line of a rock song grew louder as they neared a pair of carved wooden doors at the end of the hall. The maid ushered them through the doors, and Nancy found herself in a living room almost as large as the ballroom at the inn. Groupings of sofas and velvet chairs were spaced around the room, and the walls were paneled with deep red-brown mahogany.
Along one wall several tables were set up, covered with white linen and loaded with food. Uniformed caterers stood behind the tables, serving cold cuts, fruit, and hot dishes in silver warming trays. A makeshift sound system had been set up at the far end of the room and was connected to two six-foot-high speakers.
“Not bad for something Colleen just threw together in a day,” Nancy joked, watching the Teen Works kids, as well as the construction foreman and the master electrician, dancing in a cleared space in the middle of the room.
“I wonder where Andrew is,” Ned said, looking around. “Do you think the police would keep him at the station this long?”
“It’s hard to say,” Na
ncy told him. “He’s had a long day. Maybe he just didn’t feel like going to a party.”
Nancy turned as Colleen broke through the crowd and came toward them. She wore a royal blue minidress covered entirely in sequins. Her red hair was swept up in a French twist, and she wore diamond and sapphire earrings with a matching necklace. Her hand was nestled in the arm of a distinguished-looking man with graying hair and warm, intelligent eyes.
“Wow!” Bess whispered to Nancy. “I wonder how much that outfit cost.”
Looking down at her own purple sweater dress, Nancy said, “I feel like a slob next to her.” The dressiest thing she had on was the heart-shaped pendant Ned had given her the year before for Valentine’s Day.
“Hi, guys,” Colleen greeted them. “I’d like you to meet my husband, Frederick Morgan.”
Nancy, Ned, and Bess all shook the hand he offered. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Morgan,” Nancy said.
“Please call me Fred,” Colleen’s husband told them. “And please, start eating right away. I think we ordered way too much food.”
“I’ll do my best,” Bess said cheerfully, heading straight for the catering tables.
“I’m sure you’ll find everything you’d like,” Frederick Morgan assured Nancy and Ned. “When my wife plans a party, she thinks of everything.” He wrapped an arm around Colleen’s waist and pulled her close, planting an affectionate kiss on her cheek. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
Colleen looked lovingly into her husband’s eyes and stroked the graying hair above his temples. “I don’t even want to think of what I’d do without you.”
“Let’s mingle,” Ned murmured in Nancy’s ear. “I feel like I’m intruding.”
With a smile Nancy grabbed Ned’s hand and they left the Morgans. Then her smile vanished. “It still doesn’t make sense to me,” she said in a low voice. “Colleen seems to have everything—looks, money, a wonderful husband . . .”
“Yeah,” Ned agreed. “It sort of rules her out as a suspect, doesn’t it? I mean, why would she want to make trouble at the inn when her life is going so well?”
“That’s the part that doesn’t make sense,” Nancy said. “If she hasn’t done anything wrong, then what’s she acting so secretive about? I’m going to try to talk to her one more time.”
Nancy waited until she saw Colleen alone, clearing some empty glasses off a coffee table, then strode purposefully toward her. As soon as Colleen spotted her coming, however, she skirted away through the crowd. Before Nancy could reach her, Colleen rejoined her husband, and the two of them wandered out a side door.
“She’s avoiding me, I’m sure of it,” Nancy said, reappearing at Ned’s side. She paused as Blaster’s voice boomed out over a microphone.
“Listen up, partiers, it’s the music meister,” Blaster said. He stood next to the makeshift sound system, wearing a baggy red shirt over faded blue jeans. “You’ve heard Top Forty tonight, but now it’s time for a blast from Master B. You can tell your grandchildren you heard the tune here first—‘Bust ’Em Up’ by the soon-to-be-famous recording star Master Blaster. I do it louder and faster!
“Yay!” Bess cheered. She was standing just a few feet away from Blaster, looking on encouragingly as he slipped a tape into the stereo and turned it on. First Nancy heard the sounds of cars crashing and glass breaking, followed by a driving beat and catchy riff of synthesized music.
“Not bad,” Ned said, tapping his feet.
Nancy automatically started bobbing her head to the beat. “He’s talented,” she agreed. “But I’m more worried about Bess than the quality of the music.” She frowned as Blaster grabbed Bess’s hands and led her into a small group of people who were already dancing.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Ned promised.
“You’re the best, Nickerson,” Nancy said, grinning.
Ned tapped her nose. “It’s about time you noticed,” he said warmly. “Uh-oh, you have that look on your face,” he added. “What are you planning, Nan?”
“I’m going to look around the house a bit and see if I can learn more about Colleen.”
Ned gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, “Good luck. I’ll be right here if you need me.”
Nancy slipped out the door and followed the hallway back to the foyer. After seeing that none of the servants were around, she raced up the stairs, where she found another hallway. There were so many doors on either side of it that Nancy didn’t know where to begin.
She moved quickly and silently, opening the doors one by one. After seeing a workout room with weight-lifting equipment and several bedrooms that didn’t look lived in, Nancy opened the door to a room that was larger than the others. It held two dressers, an armchair, and a canopied bed with an embroidered white spread and a dozen white lace pillows. A pair of jeans and a silk blouse lay discarded on the bed.
Jackpot! thought Nancy. This had to be Colleen and Fred’s room.
After entering quietly, Nancy closed the door behind her and started opening some of the dresser drawers. All she found were clothes, lingerie, scarves, jewelry, and other accessories. So far it looked as if the only thing Colleen was guilty of was having a fabulous wardrobe.
Then Nancy noticed an interior door, slightly ajar. Padding softly over the plush white carpet, she opened the door and entered a smaller room with sleek, modern furniture. White shelves lined with books ran around all four walls, with a white laminated counter and drawers beneath. On the counter were a personal computer, laser printer, and fax machine.
Nancy checked over her shoulder to make sure she was still alone, then started going through the drawers beneath the counter. The top drawers held pencils, pens, office supplies, and stationery with Colleen’s initials at the top. Lower down Nancy found old invitations from charity balls and several drawers full of photographs of Colleen and her husband.
As Nancy pulled out a deep bottom drawer, her pulse quickened. On top of a jumble of papers were a soldering iron, a drill, and several drill bits—the tools that had been taken from the inn.
Digging beneath the tools, Nancy saw that the drawer was loaded with old programs from school plays and ballet recitals, some dating twenty years back. At last, something from Colleen’s past! Now Nancy could see if Colleen really had lied about her background.
Nancy gasped as she recognized a purple and white yearbook dated 1977. It was the same one she and Ned had seen that morning at Bentley High.
After carefully easing the yearbook out so that she wouldn’t disturb anything else in the drawer, Nancy started flipping to the pictures of graduating seniors. The yearbook fell open to the page with Guy Lewis’s picture, and Nancy found a white envelope tucked inside.
“Hmm—” she said aloud, picking up the envelope. It was addressed to Colleen and had no return address, but the post office stamp was dated just a few weeks earlier.
Opening the envelope, Nancy saw that it contained several separate letters. And they were all from Guy Lewis!
Nancy skimmed the first one quickly:
Dear Colleen,
Remember old Guy? I bet you’d rather forget—ha-ha. I finally got out of prison after five long years. I need money real bad, and you’re just the person to give it to me.
Why should you give old Guy a break? Because if you don’t, I’ll tell your rich husband that you were part of the theft ring back in high school. That won’t sound too good when they write you up in the social register. I’ll bet your husband might even divorce you when he finds out you’ve been keeping dirty secrets.
I’ll only keep quiet if you give me fifty thousand dollars, time and place to be arranged. You’ll be hearing from me soon.
Guy
Guy was trying to blackmail Colleen! Nancy felt light-headed as she quickly read the other letters.
Guy wrote that he had newspaper clippings detailing Colleen’s arrest and the fact that she had served time in a juvenile detention center. He said he’d hidden the clippings in the basement of the Lakeside
Inn when he’d passed through there. He also threatened to take them to Colleen’s husband if she didn’t come up with the money. There was no letter telling Colleen where to meet Guy and drop the money, but Nancy had seen enough.
No wonder Colleen had volunteered to work at the inn. She’d been trying to find the newspaper articles and destroy them before Guy used them to destroy her life.
That explained why she’d spent so much time in the basement with the old newspapers. She probably thought the articles about her were hidden among them. And she’d been trying to scare everyone else away from the inn because she’d been afraid someone else would find the articles before she did.
“What are you doing here?”
Nancy jumped and whirled around to find Colleen standing in the open doorway to the study. Colleen’s green eyes flashed as she stared at the letters in Nancy’s hand, and there was a tense set to her jaw. Nancy had been caught red-handed!
“Don’t even bother trying to think of an excuse,” Colleen went on. Her face became an icy mask as she snatched the letters from Nancy’s hand, then reached toward a bottom drawer Nancy hadn’t yet examined. “I know exactly what you’re doing here. You’re a real snoop, aren’t you?”
Nancy rose slowly to her feet, letting the yearbook slide to the floor. Her eyes darted quickly around as she tried to find a way out of the room. There was a second door in the opposite wall, but Nancy wasn’t sure where it led.
“Oh, yes,” Colleen said, opening the drawer. “You’re leaving, all right. But you’re leaving with me!”
In one swift motion Colleen pulled a gun out of the drawer and aimed it right at Nancy!
Chapter
Fifteen
NANCY FORCED HERSELF to breathe deeply, fighting the fear that was welling inside her. She didn’t want to make any sudden moves that might make Colleen react rashly.