False Moves

  “Hi,” Nancy said as she sat down next to her.

  “Hi.” She looked up from the magazine she was reading. “My name’s Bridgit. You’re Nancy Drew, the private detective, aren’t you?”

  “That’s me,” Nancy said.

  “What an exciting thing to do!” Bridgit exclaimed. “It must be the greatest job.”

  Nancy couldn’t help but laugh. “You know, watching all you dancers makes me think you’ve got the greatest jobs.”

  Bridgit nodded. “It is fun, but it’s also exhausting. Sometimes I get so sore and tired I feel like quitting and hiding in bed for a month. But I suppose it’s easier to see the good points of someone else’s job.”

  “I guess so,” Nancy agreed. “Right now, my investigation isn’t going well, so I’m discouraged and feel like hiding in bed.” Both girls laughed. “Actually, I was hoping you might be able to help me. Did you see anything the night the diamond disappeared? Anything strange or out of the ordinary?”

  “Not really,” Bridgit responded. “We were all busy getting ready for the big piece that was supposed to go on after the trio. Of course, we never got to perform it that night. So I’m sorry, but I didn’t see anything.”

  Nancy was grateful, anyway. “That’s too bad. I really need some clues. By the way, do you have a hunch about who stole the gem?”

  Bridgit shook her head. “I think it could have been any one of the three dancers onstage. Andre keeps to himself a lot, so you never really know much about him. Katya will be retiring before too long, and I hear she’s really worried about money. And Belinda is such a snob that she acts like the world owes her something. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she turned out to be the thief.”

  “Really?” Nancy asked. “You don’t like her?”

  “Nope. And neither does the rest of the company. She’s a real flirt, too. She’s always ogling my boyfriend when he picks me up after a concert.”

  Nancy frowned. I know what you mean, Bridgit, she thought.

  “Anyway, I’m sorry I can’t help you,” the dancer finished.

  “That’s okay,” Nancy told her. She glanced quickly at her watch. Why had she told Brad she’d meet him in half an hour? She wasn’t going to have time to talk to anyone else. “Well, I’ve got to meet my boyfriend now,” she said. “It’s been fun talking to you, Bridgit. I’ll see you around.”

  Nancy left the lounge and hurried down the long, empty corridors. She was eager to meet Brad and find out if the print from any of those typewriters matched the mysterious letters. Maybe that would finally provide the important clue she was searching for.

  Because she got lost, Nancy accidentally found herself in front of the costume room. The padlock was still missing. Hadn’t anyone replaced it after it had been smashed two days before? Or was the thief back again? Gently, Nancy leaned against the door and listened. She could hear voices coming from inside the room.

  Being careful not to make a sound, she pushed the door slightly ajar and peered in through the crack.

  Two people were pulling costumes off hangers and frantically inspecting them. Ana! Nancy recognized the petite woman’s long dark hair. And the man with the wavy sandy hair was Andre!

  “We must find the diamond,” Ana said hysterically. “The pin has to be here in a costume! It’s the only way it could have been smuggled out of the theater.”

  Andre threw aside a tutu glittering with rhinestones and began grabbing props off the shelves. Top hats, canes, even a plastic skull for the ballet of Hamlet flew onto the floor. He snatched up a blue felt bag and ripped it open.

  All at once Andre stopped his wild searching and stared at something in his hands. He waved it excitedly in the air. “I’ve found it!” he cried. “Ana darling, look!”

  Ana was at Andre’s side in a flash. She snatched the sparkling pin from his hands and examined it greedily. Nancy’s heart sank. They had the diamond. They had found it even before she had figured out they were the thieves.

  Disgusted with herself, Nancy watched as Ana studied her prize. Nancy had no idea what to do. Should she rush in and confront the duo? No, Andre was incredibly strong and in fantastic shape; she wouldn’t have a chance against the two of them. But if she ran to get help, Ana and Andre might be far away by the time she returned.

  But as Nancy continued to peer through the slightly open door, she was shocked by what happened next.

  Gently, Ana laid the jewel on the floor. Then slowly she raised her foot. With one sudden, violent movement, she brought the heel of her shoe down on the gem.

  And the diamond shattered into a hundred pieces.

  Chapter

  Ten

  ANA AND ANDRE stared silently at the shattered diamond. “Fool!” Ana hissed. “That was only a glass copy!”

  Andre looked horrified. “I—I forgot that the company had a pin made of fake stones for the performances when we didn’t have the real diamond to use.”

  “You forgot!” Ana said, raising her voice. “Well, you had better not forget any more important details.” Nancy decided she wouldn’t like to have Ana angry at her, and she couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Andre.

  “Please, Ana sweetheart, don’t scream,” Andre pleaded. “Someone will hear, and we’re going to be in big trouble if they catch us in here.”

  “Until we recover the Raja diamond, I really don’t care about anything,” Ana replied, but Nancy noticed that she did lower her voice.

  It seemed pretty clear to Nancy that Ana and Andre were dating, but she didn’t have time then to wonder about their personal lives. She had to deal with their professional lives—which seemed to include big-time jewel heists.

  Nancy tried to reason calmly. Ana and Andre hadn’t actually said they had stolen the diamond. But it looked as though they had. But why would they be looking for the diamond if they had stolen it? Perhaps in the confusion of that night they had slipped it into a costume hanging on a rack and now couldn’t remember which one. But why was Andre looking through the props? None of it really made sense, but Nancy still felt they had to be guilty.

  She sighed. She needed help. Someone had to help her keep an eye on those two. Someone who could actually stop them if they tried to leave the theater.

  James! Since Ana and Andre appeared to be the thieves, the managing director was cleared as a suspect for the moment. And he certainly wouldn’t let the thieves get away because it would cost the ballet company so much money. But she had to notify him immediately.

  Nancy took off to get Brad before heading for James’s office. She ran down the back stairs to the lobby and pushed through the door with a bang. Brad was waiting. “Come on,” she called. “I’m on to something important. We have to get moving,” she said, running over to Brad and then turning to run up the stairs to the second floor.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, trailing behind her a couple of steps.

  “I caught Ana and Andre destroying the costume storage room, looking for the diamond. It looks like they’re the thieves. So now we’ve got to convince James to help us stop them—even without proof,” she said over her shoulder.

  “Uh, Nancy,” Brad asked, stopping for a minute, “is this going to be dangerous?”

  Nancy rolled her eyes and looked at him. “We’re just going to talk to James. But we’ve got to do it now. Time is essential. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

  They trotted down the second floor hallway to James’s office. But when they got there, the managing director’s secretary told them they’d just missed him. “I’m not sure where he went,” the woman told them. “I think he might have gone to see Colby. Why don’t you try his office?”

  “Thanks!” Nancy called over her shoulder as she and Brad hurried to Colby’s office next door.

  No one was in the outer reception area, so when Nancy heard two hushed voices coming from Colby’s office, she went to the door to listen. Neither voice was James’s. Nancy started to move away from the door, but then she heard somethi
ng that made her stop.

  “This company deserves every bit of bad publicity it gets.” Colby had raised his voice and it drifted out clearly through the door.

  “Come on, Nancy. You just said we needed to find James,” Brad said.

  “Ssh,” Nancy told him sharply. “Listen.” She motioned toward the office. “This conversation just might convince me that we’ve got another pair of suspects.”

  Nancy walked soundlessly back toward the office door so that she could hear every word. As Brad followed her, a floorboard creaked. “Be quiet,” Nancy whispered. “We can’t let them hear us.”

  “It’s outrageous,” Colby was saying. “James shouldn’t be able to push you into retirement. But then he doesn’t care about dance,” he added bitterly. “All he’s interested in is money. Money and publicity stunts!”

  “Unfortunately, he has the power to do anything he wants with this company,” the woman in Colby’s office was saying. That Russian accent! Nancy recognized it immediately. It was Katya Alexandrovna! “If James Ellsworth wants to fire me, there’s no one who can stop him. Because of James, neither of us is going to have a job next year.”

  “Unless he gets blamed for the missing Raja diamond. The board of directors wouldn’t keep him around after that.”

  Nancy caught her breath. Could Colby and Katya have stolen the pin to get revenge against James? If so, it was a brilliant plan. But just like Ana and Andre, they hadn’t come right out and said they’d taken it. Either couple could still be guilty.

  Oh, no, Nancy thought. Now I have two pairs of suspects—but no concrete proof against either of them. And even worse, no idea as to where the diamond could have been hidden.

  Nancy could hear Katya’s voice again. “The police are already—” But at that moment Brad coughed—very loudly. Katya’s voice broke off in midsentence. “What was that?” she asked sharply.

  “Come on, Brad,” Nancy whispered urgently. “We’ve got to get out of here. Now!”

  But before they could move a step, the door to Colby’s office flew open. The artistic director and the ballerina stood glaring at them.

  “Just what do you think you’re doing here?” Colby yelled. With one smooth motion, he grabbed Brad with one hand and Nancy with the other.

  Colby was extremely strong and his grip was quite painful. Nancy stared at him, horrified, as he squeezed her arm still tighter. What was he going to do to them? If he was the thief, he’d never let them go after what they’d heard. Somehow he’d have to get rid of them.

  Chapter

  Eleven

  COLBY SHOOK NANCY and Brad furiously. Katya watched from inside his office, her face a mask, devoid of emotion.

  “What are you doing here?” Colby repeated. Nancy could feel her arm being bruised under his grasp.

  Nancy took a deep breath. This situation could be dangerous. Very dangerous. She’d have to handle it perfectly if she and Brad were going to get out of it unharmed. “Let go of us. You’re hurting my arm,” Nancy told Colby plainly.

  Katya calmly walked over to the artistic director and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Relax,” she said. “Don’t get so excited. They’re only a couple of kids playing detective.”

  Colby stared at the ballerina for a moment, then dropped Nancy’s and Brad’s arms. “You’re right, Katya.” He glared at Nancy. “You shouldn’t listen in on other people’s conversations, young woman. Didn’t your parents ever teach you any manners?”

  Nancy didn’t know how to answer Colby because he was now treating her like a kid and not like a detective at all.

  “Look,” Nancy began, shifting her gaze from Colby to Katya and back, “I’m just trying to find out who stole that pin.”

  “Well, we certainly didn’t take it,” Katya said. “Why don’t you concentrate on your suspects, not us?”

  I’m not so sure you didn’t, Nancy answered silently. But she couldn’t say that out loud—until she had proof. So, angry as she was at Colby, she had to accept it for the moment. She’d bide her time and keep her eye on the pair.

  “You won’t catch me eavesdropping again,” Nancy answered simply. No, they wouldn’t catch her. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to do it anymore. It just meant she was going to be smarter.

  “All right, now get out of here, you two,” Colby said brusquely. “And if I find you here again, I’m going to call your parents.”

  Nancy glanced once more at Katya. As always, she seemed completely in control—not at all as if she’d just been overheard having a suspicious conversation. Did that mean the things she and Colby had been saying to each other really weren’t important? Or did it mean the ballerina was just a very good actress?

  Whatever the truth was, she and Brad had to get out of there. Nancy grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room.

  As soon as they were in the hallway, Brad turned to Nancy. “That was terrifying,” he burst out.

  Nancy smiled, holding back a giggle. “That was nothing! I’ve been in worse trouble than that—a lot worse.” She thought back to a mystery she had solved in Florida recently. She had almost been killed then, but it hadn’t made her give up the investigation. Not at all.

  “Well, that’s not anything to be proud of,” Brad said, his voice angry. “I think you should quit this case. It’s much too dangerous.”

  Nancy shook her head. “I’m sorry, Brad, but I’m sticking with it until I figure out who stole the diamond and where it is.”

  Brad smiled and gave in grudgingly. “Okay. But you’d better do it fast, Nancy. I don’t think I can take much more of this.”

  Brad was right. She did have to solve the mystery quickly—but not because of any personal danger to herself. If she didn’t find the diamond soon, the thieves would. And that would put a speedy—and disastrous—end to the case.

  • • •

  “Belinda is going to be dancing the lead in Giselle next week!” Bridgit exclaimed.

  It was early Thursday morning, the fourth day of her investigation, and Nancy had stopped in the dancers’ lounge to have a cup of tea before going to work. The samples of typewriter print Brad had gotten the day before hadn’t matched that on the notes from the thief. So Nancy was back in the lounge, talking to the dancers.

  Luckily, Brad had decided to stay home that day, which meant it would be a lot easier for her to work.

  “Well, that shouldn’t come as a surprise,” the girl sitting next to Bridgit replied. “She’s been buttering James up for the past few days.”

  “Yeah. As usual, James went over Colby’s head and got Belinda back to work. She did ‘something’ to help him, and he’s paying her back by helping her.”

  Nancy put down her cup of tea and turned to Bridgit. “What did she do?”

  “Who knows,” Bridgit answered. “I asked her about it, but she told me to mind my own business.”

  “It could have been anything,” the second dancer explained. “James always has a million fund-raising ideas that he tries to get us involved in—you know, benefit shows, parties, anything that will bring in the big bucks. Usually we say no because he doesn’t pay us. But I guess he’s paying Belinda, though.”

  “He sure is, and not just with favors. I saw him hand her a wad of bills you wouldn’t believe,” Bridgit cut in.

  Nancy picked up her tea again. So Belinda had helped James with a well-paying job. But instead of bragging about it, she had clammed up to Bridgit. How strange. Obviously, it was no ordinary piece of work. Could it be, just maybe, a diamond heist?

  At that point it wouldn’t surprise Nancy at all. She had Ana and Andre as a pair of suspects, and Colby and Katya as another, and now she’d discovered a link between her last two suspects.

  “Do you know any way I could find out what Belinda did for James?” Nancy asked the two dancers.

  “I don’t know. Maybe you could ask her boyfriend. You know that tall, cute guy she’s been hanging around with? He seems really nice, and he might know more about what
Belinda’s been up to than we do.”

  Ned! Of course. But Nancy was worried about how he’d react to an accusation against his new girlfriend. She knew the conversation could get more than a little tense. But if I want to make sure Belinda’s innocent, I’ve got to do it. I have to check out all the possibilities.

  Nancy said goodbye to the two girls, and abandoning her tea, she hurried out of the dancers’ lounge.

  Nancy thought she’d have to call him at home, but he was already outside the women’s dressing room, waiting for Belinda. Things must be serious for him to be there so early in the day.

  “Ned,” Nancy called from down the hall. “How’ve you been?”

  “Okay.” Ned threw her a warm smile. “How about you?”

  “Oh, I’m all right, too,” Nancy said. “But I need to talk to you.”

  “Sure,” Ned said easily. “What’s up?”

  Nancy stepped away from the dressing room door. “Well, I heard Belinda’s going to be performing again.”

  “That’s right.” Ned’s smile widened. “Isn’t it great news?”

  Nancy coughed uncomfortably. “Uh, yes, but I hear James pulled a few strings to get her back on the stage. And since they’re both still on my suspect list, I wondered if you knew why he was doing it for her.”

  With a sinking heart, Nancy watched Ned’s smile fade. “Nancy, what are you implying? That Belinda stole the Raja diamond for James, and he paid her back by putting her onstage again?”

  “Uh, I guess I am,” Nancy answered lamely.

  “I can’t believe this,” Ned exclaimed. “You’re jealous. And you’re letting your jealousy interfere with your sleuthing!”

  “But, Ned, I’m just trying to—”

  Ned wouldn’t let her finish. “What you’re trying to do is force the blame on Belinda. It’s ridiculous, and I’m not going to stand around and listen to any more of this!” Turning his back, he stormed off.

  Nancy stared after him—his words had really stung her. Great, she thought. Now I’ve really blown it.