“Maybe, maybe not,” Brenda replied. She flipped her notebook shut and scowled. “I can see you two aren’t going to be any help. I’ll have to get my information somewhere else.”
“Why don’t you try that source of yours?” Bess called out as Brenda walked away. Once the reporter was gone, she made a face. “She makes me so mad. Do you think the person harassing Esme is actually tipping off Brenda?”
Nancy thought for a moment. “Possibly, except why would Brenda still have so many questions about that caller—unless the person harassing Esme is only tipping Brenda off partway. My guess is that Brenda knows less than we do; she’s simply more careless with what she does know. Come on,” Nancy went on, taking Bess’s arm. “I’ve got to call Sam to tell him what happened.”
In the lobby of the building, Nancy spotted Pia Wieland coming from the ladies room, wearing her customary eyeglasses and big straw hat. She walked toward them, frowning, and said, “What a terrible thing! Don’t you just feel for Esme? Who could have done such a thing? Well, I must be going. See you girls later.”
Nancy and Bess said goodbye to Pia. Then Nancy stepped over to the nearby bank of phones. She quickly dialed Sam’s number.
“I’m hacking away, Nancy,” he told her.
Sam had that wonderful low voice, Nancy thought. Why did it get to her so much?
“Did you come up with anything?” Nancy asked, shielding her expression from Bess’s prying eyes.
“Something,” Sam confirmed. “Although it wasn’t what I expected.”
“What?” Nancy asked, excited.
“Todd Gilbert’s got a record,” Sam told her. “For battery. And that’s not all. Esme Moore once had a restraining order against him.”
“You’re kidding!” Nancy exclaimed.
“What is it?” Bess asked.
Nancy quickly told Bess what Sam had learned. Then she asked Sam, “Anything on the profile of our harasser?”
“Nothing yet,” said Sam. “From what I can tell, this software has a million bugs in it. The first bio it gave me was for a middle-aged woman. You don’t want to know the rest! But I’m going to run the notes through one more time. Hopefully we’ll come up with something useful. Listen, I saw in the paper that Esme’s giving a reading at the Barrington this afternoon. I thought I’d drop by. Maybe we can go out afterward to discuss the case?”
“Okay,” Nancy said, blushing. Bess raised an eyebrow to question Nancy. Leave it to Bess to know exactly what was going on in Nancy’s mind! Nancy hung up the phone and faced Bess’s scrutiny.
“Well?” Bess asked. “What was that about?”
“Sam’s coming by the Barrington this afternoon for Esme’s reading,” Nancy explained. “He wants to go out afterward to discuss the case.”
“I see,” said Bess. Her eyebrows arched another inch. “And what did you say?”
“You heard!” Nancy protested. “Honestly, Bess, you’d think I was going on a date with him or something.”
“Isn’t that what you’d call it?” Bess asked.
“No!” Nancy insisted. She shouldered her purse and folded her arms across her chest. “There’s nothing between Sam and me. We’re working on a case together, that’s all.”
“Okay, okay,” Bess said. She held her hands out, palms up. “I’ll back off. I don’t need to remind you of Ned, or that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and that you should call him and work things out. I don’t need to tell you that Sam’s an older guy, and he’s probably just playing with you.”
By now Nancy’s face was bright red. “I know you mean well, Bess, but it’s not what you think. Really. Now can we get back to the case?”
“Sure,” Bess agreed. But on the way over to the hotel, Nancy could tell that Bess was still preoccupied with Sam and the fact that Nancy had agreed to go out with him after Esme’s reading. Nancy tried to talk to her friend about the latest developments in the case.
“I hope Esme is willing to talk to us about the restraining order she once took out against Todd,” Nancy said, pulling out of the parking lot. “Do you think that could be the secret Todd wants Esme to leave out of Telling All?”
“Could be,” Bess said.
“I wonder, though. Is that enough to hurt Todd’s chances of a comeback?” Nancy asked.
“Sure,” Bess replied. She stared out the window at the passing scenery.
“Todd has the motive to harass Esme, but his behavior isn’t as suspicious as other people’s. For example, what about Kim?” Nancy said. “She could have put the spider in Esme’s suitcase, and she wasn’t in the audience during the taping just now. She could have made that call.”
“Kim doesn’t seem to like Esme very much,” Bess agreed. “But what’s her motive?”
Nancy reminded her friend about what Esme’s agent had told her about Kim’s writing career. “Kim may feel betrayed by Esme. She may think Esme isn’t delivering on her promise to help her out.”
“I suppose,” Bess murmured, then said nothing for the remainder of their ride to the Barrington.
By the time they got to the hotel, Nancy had to say something. She gave her keys to the valet, and when she and Bess were standing on the curb, Nancy said, “I feel like you’re mad at me, Bess, and I don’t understand why. Is it because of Ned? Do you think I’m not being fair to him?”
“Listen, Nancy,” said Bess. “I like Ned, but my problem is that I think you’re not being honest with yourself. If you like Sam, then go for it. Stop pretending.”
Nancy was torn. Should she tell Bess she had been thinking about Sam that way or should she wait until she understood better how she felt?
“This is crazy!” she said out loud. “I don’t know how I feel, and you’re making it harder. What if I did like Sam? Would that be so bad?”
Bess smiled a little. “No, but you’d have to tell Ned, wouldn’t you?”
Nancy let out the deep breath she felt she’d been holding since she met Sam. “I know, Bess, I know.”
“You’re afraid to do that when nothing’s really happened between you and Sam, right?” Bess asked.
“I guess so,” Nancy admitted. “Does that make me a bad person?”
Bess hugged Nancy to her. “Of course not. You’re just confused. Who wouldn’t be? Sam’s a great guy. You have a lot in common. He’s new and different and you’ve been with Ned a long time. Maybe you need to let things take their course and see what happens.”
“Is that okay?” Nancy asked. “I feel like I’m not being honest.”
“You are,” said Bess. “You’re honestly confused!”
They both laughed. “I feel much better,” Nancy said, taking a deep breath.
“Good,” said Bess with a firm nod of her head. “Now let’s get on with this case. Or else I’ll think you’re dragging it out just so you can be with Sam.”
At Esme’s suite, Janine answered the door. The publicist told Nancy and Bess that Esme was in the Jacuzzi, but that the two girls should join her there.
“She’s at her most relaxed in the Jacuzzi,” Janine said. “I’ll find you some suits.”
“Are you sure?” Nancy asked. “I don’t want to disturb her, but I do have a few questions to ask.”
Janine was already halfway toward the bedroom. “She won’t mind, I’m positive.” She returned with a pair of black swimsuits, two robes, and some towels. “Here you go. You can change in the locker room downstairs.”
The health club was located in a basement floor below the lobby. Nancy and Bess changed in the locker room and headed toward the Jacuzzi. There Esme was alone, quietly relaxing in the bubbling water with her eyes closed. She looked up when Nancy and Bess entered the tiled room and seemed genuinely happy to see them.
“I live for these things,” Esme said, floating in the water.
Nancy stepped into the hot water, sitting across from Esme. Bess settled in next to her. “We wanted to ask you a few questions,” Nancy said. “Janine said you wouldn’t mind if we came down h
ere.”
“Shoot,” Esme said, her eyes closed.
Nancy gently explained what Sam had learned about the restraining order Esme had placed against Todd. “I know Todd is worried you’ll reveal a secret of his in Telling All. Is that the secret Todd was mentioning?” Nancy asked.
“I’d rather not say,” Esme told her, blotting her face with her towel.
“You did place a restraining order against him,” Bess insisted.
“I did,” Esme agreed. “But the reasons remain between Todd and myself. It’s too personal.”
“Is there some other secret Todd would want to protect?” Nancy pressed.
Esme opened her eyes and gave Nancy a firm look. “I’d really rather not say. Can we leave it at that?”
Nancy was momentarily distracted by several people walking past the glass door. Then she said to Esme, “I understand. But I need to know if you think Todd is capable of harming you to prevent the publication of Telling All.”
“I honestly don’t think so,” Esme told her. “Todd may be headstrong, but he’d never do anything, not at this point, that would hurt his career. He must know that if he was caught, his chances would be gone completely.”
Bess fanned herself and wiped the hot water from her face. “I don’t see how you two can stand this heat,” she said. “This water is way too hot. I’ll meet you guys up in the room, if that’s okay?”
Esme laughed. “It’s an acquired taste, Bess.”
As Bess stepped out of the Jacuzzi, Nancy was trying to think of the best way to ask Esme about Kim. She was about to speak when she became aware that Bess was pushing against the door in frustration.
“What’s wrong?” Nancy asked her friend.
“I can’t open the door,” Bess said, her face beet red with the heat and the effort. “Nancy, help. We’re locked in!”
Chapter
Nine
THAT CAN’T BE,” ESME said, alarmed. “The doors don’t lock.”
Nancy rushed over to where Bess was standing. There wasn’t any kind of lock on the door. Wiping the steam from the glass, Nancy immediately saw the problem. Outside, someone had slid a broom through the door handle, making it impossible to open the door from the inside.
“This water is too hot,” said Esme, stepping out of the Jacuzzi, her body flushed.
“We’re going to have to shout for help,” Nancy said.
“I’m feeling faint,” Esme said.
“Help! Someone help us!” She sat down on the ledge between the Jacuzzi and the door.
More steam rose from the water. The heat in the room continued to build as Nancy, Bess, and Esme shouted for help. It was clear to Nancy that Esme’s pursuer had struck again. After a minute the door flew open, and they all fell through the opening and into Janine Halpern’s arms.
“What on earth!” Janine said. “I got a call from someone who claimed to have locked you in the Jacuzzi.”
Esme drew deep lungfuls of fresh air and asked Janine for a glass of water. While Janine filled up a paper cup at a nearby water fountain, Nancy could see the strain this was causing in Esme. She was doing her best to hold up under the most difficult circumstances.
“Did you recognize the voice of the person who called?” Esme asked her publicist after drinking all her water.
“No,” Janine said. “But I’m fairly certain it was the same person who called the television studio earlier today. At least, the voice had that same strange electronic quality to it.”
Esme visibly sagged at the news. Her lips trembled, and she clutched the robe Janine had helped her into. “Why is this happening to me?” she said, a slight edge to her voice. “Who did I hurt so desperately that I deserve such revenge?”
“Easy, easy,” said Janine, and put a comforting arm around her writer. “I know Nancy will find the person, and no one will remember any of this a year from now. Meanwhile, you need to get ready for the reading. Let’s go back to the room. We’ll order lunch, and I’ll make you a cup of tea.”
Esme sighed and turned her attention to Nancy and Bess. Nancy could see the dark circles under Esme’s eyes. The romance writer gripped both girls’ hands and said, “Won’t you have lunch with us? It’s the least I can do for you.”
Bess grinned and impulsively reached out to give Esme a hug. “We’d love to, right, Nan? We can grab our stuff and change upstairs.”
“Sure,” said Nancy. “Give me a second, though. I want to ask a few people if they saw anyone near this door.”
“We’ll wait for you by the elevators,” Janine said.
Nancy made a quick tour of the women’s locker room while Bess retrieved their clothes and went to join Janine and Esme. Nancy asked several people if they’d seen anyone around the Jacuzzi; most gave Nancy an apologetic smile. But the last woman she asked told Nancy that she’d been heading to the pool from the locker room when she saw a tall person wearing a trench coat and hat standing by the Jacuzzi door. Pressed, the woman couldn’t give Nancy a better description, but Nancy already knew more than she had started with: whoever had locked them in the room fit the description of the person Sam had chased the night before.
Nancy hurried to the elevators. Bess handed her a robe, then shot her an expectant look. “I think we’ve got a suspect,” Nancy told Bess, Janine, and Esme. In the elevator ride up to Esme’s suite, Nancy shared her news with the three women.
“That sounds like the same person who set the fire last night,” Bess exclaimed.
Nancy agreed, slipping into her tennis shoes. “I’ll call hotel security and tell them to keep their eyes out for someone fitting this description. In the meantime, we have to figure out how this person always knows where Esme will be, and when.”
Inside her robe, Esme shivered. “This is just too creepy.”
The elevator opened on Esme’s floor. Nancy was the first to get off, and when she started down the hall, what she saw surprised her. At the end of the hall, someone was letting himself out of Esme’s suite, someone with a pile of papers in his hand. That someone was wearing a trench coat and hat!
“Stop!” Nancy cried. “Don’t move!”
The tall, trench-coated figure hesitated for a moment. The person was wearing sunglasses and leather gloves, and it was impossible for Nancy to get a good look at the face. When she called out, the figure took off at a run, and Nancy raced after him. Turning a corner, she just saw the person step into another elevator. As the doors closed, a paper fell to the floor. Nancy scooped it up and quickly scanned it. The thief had stolen Esme’s manuscript of Telling All!
By now, Esme, Janine, and Bess had caught up with Nancy, who was frantically waiting for the second elevator in this bank to arrive.
“It was our man,” Nancy announced. “He stole Esme’s manuscript!”
The other elevator arrived just as Esme fell to the floor in a dead faint. “We’ll take care of her,” Bess told Nancy. “You go after the guy!”
Nancy guessed that the thief wouldn’t bother to get off at another floor, but would travel all the way to the lobby—the easiest route out of the hotel. When her elevator reached the lobby, Nancy had her suspicions confirmed. She spotted the retreating figure of her suspect weaving his way through the crowd. At the hotel’s revolving doors, the person stopped to see if he was being followed. Catching sight of Nancy, the suspect quickly pushed his way through the doors and out onto the street.
Ignoring the stares of hotel guests, who were surprised to see a woman in a bathrobe and sneakers race through the lobby, Nancy took off at a run. At the front entrance, the suspect was dashing across the hotel’s circular driveway toward the street.
“Stop that man!” Nancy cried.
The suspect turned, saw Nancy, and dropped several more pages of Esme’s manuscript, which went flying away in the wind. Nancy darted between parked cars and chased the suspect onto the busy city street.
“You’re not getting away from me this time,” Nancy said through gritted teeth as she pursued the th
ief up the street.
She was no more than fifty feet behind her quarry, weaving around noontime pedestrians. Nancy felt herself getting closer. A stoplight at the end of the block turned yellow, then red, and Nancy had to wait a moment to make sure a car in the cross traffic didn’t hit her. In that moment’s hesitation, Nancy saw Esme’s harasser hail a cab.
“No!” Nancy cried, but it was too late. The yellow taxi squealed to a halt, and, with a last glance over the shoulder at Nancy, the suspect got into the waiting cab. By the time Nancy darted between the passing cars, the cab was gone.
Burning with adrenaline and frustration, Nancy tried hailing a cab herself. One after another, yellow taxis passed her by. Then she realized: she was wearing a bathrobe! No one would pick her up dressed like that. Dejected, Nancy turned and headed back to the hotel. There, a bellhop closely scrutinized Nancy as she passed through the bronze and glass revolving doors.
“Don’t ask,” she said, shaking her head ruefully. “You don’t want to know.”
Bess was waiting for her in the lobby. “What happened?” she asked.
“I lost the guy,” Nancy said in exasperation. “He took off in a cab.”
“Esme’s pretty upset,” Bess said to Nancy as they made their way toward the elevators. “She’s got other copies of Telling All, but that one had all her notes and revisions on it. She’ll have to redo all her work.”
“I was so close,” Nancy said, getting into an elevator.
Bess reassured her friend. “Don’t worry, Nan,” she said. She pushed the button for Esme’s floor and the doors closed. “I have a feeling that wasn’t the last time we’ll see that person. You’ll get another chance.”
Inside the suite, Nancy saw that Giancarlo and Janine were having a rough time trying to calm a distraught Esme. “We will find this person,” Giancarlo was saying. “We will get the manuscript back!”
“It’s not that simple,” said Esme, the tears in her eyes ready to spill over. “Don’t you see? This person isn’t going to stop at stealing my manuscript. Whoever it is wants to ruin me entirely!”
“Cara—” Giancarlo tried to take Esme in his arms, but she threw him off.