Sisters in Crime (6 page)

As Nancy watched her go, she shook her head. Was Fran Kelly just a jealous, spoiled girl who
went too far in trying to get what she wanted? Or, Nancy wondered, could this girl with the bright blue ribbon be a dangerous killer?

Nancy went downstairs then to Susan's room and called Ned. He answered the phone.

“Hey, Nance!” he greeted her.

“Oh, Ned, I'm so happy you're there. It's good to hear your voice!” Nancy said.

“It's always good to hear yours, but you don't sound so great right now. What's wrong?” Ned asked perceptively.

“I'm afraid this case is getting me down,” Nancy explained.

“You need the old Nickerson pep talk?” Ned asked.

“Badly, and maybe some advice,” Nancy said.

Conversations with Ned always helped Nancy sort out her thoughts. Often he, and Bess and George, would assist her on her cases. And right then Nancy was missing them. Susan, though a good friend, was no detective.

“I feel very far away and isolated,” Nancy said softly, looking out the window of Susan's room as late-afternoon fog was rolling in off the ocean.

“Well, complaints about California I won't bother with,” Ned said. “It's snowing here today, and you're probably lolling around in the sun.”

“You're right.” Nancy smiled into the phone, her spirits lifted just to be in contact with Ned. “The only problem with sunning is that I just
nearly got pushed off a sun deck that's four flights off the ground.”

Ned became serious. “Any other danger, Nancy? I hate it when you're working on a case that far away from me.”

“Plenty. One threatening note, and an attack on a beach. But I'm fine.” Nancy was quick to reassure him. “It's just that despite all this danger, I don't really have any concrete clues.”

“Start from the beginning,” Ned said to encourage her. Nancy briefly summarized the case.

“It must have been pretty important to someone to shut Rina Charles up,” Ned said.

“Exactly,” Nancy agreed.

“And
nobody
in that Sigma Kappa house has a ring like that?” Ned asked.

“Nope. Well, not according to Mark. Nothing's panned out. I don't feel there's anything to help me figure out who it was, or what Rina knew, or—wait,” Nancy said abruptly. “The file box. There's a lead I haven't followed. Why didn't I think of that before?”

“What file box?” Ned asked.

“When Rina was made treasurer, she kept her paperwork in a file box. But Susan couldn't show it to me because Lori Westerly had already taken it from their room.”

“Sounds like a good direction. But you'll need to figure out how to see it. You can't ask Lori.”

“No. There's no way I can do that without
blowing my cover. I'll just have to figure out a way to get to that file box on my own.”

“And I'm sure you will,” Ned said with a worried sigh. “Nancy, please be careful. Remember this is a murder case. It sounds like one of those ‘nice' college kids is dangerous and is going to try to make sure you
don't
find out what Rina knew. Also,” Ned added gently, “one more word of caution, if you don't mind.”

“What's that?” Nancy asked.

“Stay out of that Sigma Kappa house—I don't want you falling in love with any golden California Adonises.”

“No chance of that.” Nancy laughed. “I'm in love with an Emerson College student, whom I miss very much. I'll call soon,” Nancy said as she and Ned kissed goodbye into their phones.

• • •

Sitting in the basement study hall after dinner, Nancy wrote a letter home to Hannah Gruen. Hannah had been Nancy's housekeeper, friend, and mother substitute since Nancy was three. Nancy had promised to write her a note from sunny California.

The only other person in the study hall at that time was Alice Clark, a quiet person whom Nancy knew almost nothing about, and who seemed to always be alone.

But within minutes Kathy, another member of Lori's crowd, came down the stairs and joined Nancy.

Opening her books, Kathy began to complain immediately. “I hate studying. I shouldn't be a student. I'm not cut out for it. Look at this junk,” she said, pointing to a history text. “Who cares? I mean, really, I do not care one little bit whether something happened in 1066
A.D.
or not.”

“Are there any courses you enjoy?” Nancy asked.

“Music appreciation, I guess. But then, you have to listen to everything so carefully that it really takes the beauty out of the music. The other night after I'd been studying for a music test, I woke up in the middle of the night. There was a thunderstorm, and honestly, I lay there in bed trying to remember who the composer was before I figured out it was thunder!”

When Nancy began to laugh, Alice Clark looked up from her work and gave them both looks of annoyance. “Sorry,” Nancy whispered.

“Let's get out of here,” Kathy said in a normal voice. “Or are you in the middle of something you have to finish?”

“No, just a letter home,” Nancy answered.

“Want to take a walk? It's warm and beautiful out there tonight.” Glancing in Alice's direction, Kathy added, “It's too nice a night for even you to be studying, Alice. Want to come with us?”

“No, thank you,” Alice said in a very quiet voice, and quickly looked back down at her book.

“I'd be glad to take a walk,” Nancy said.

“Good, I'll meet you on the porch,” Kathy said. “I'd better grab a jacket.”

Nancy glanced down at the long-sleeved white shirt that she had borrowed from Susan and decided she'd be okay in just that.

• • •

“I swear, I don't know how that girl got into this sorority,” Kathy said as soon as she and Nancy headed out into the clear, beautiful night. They both stopped for a minute and breathed in the fresh ocean air.

“I mean,” Kathy continued, “she does
nothing
but study. She has no fun or friends. And it's not like she was a legacy or anything.” Kathy tossed a light khaki jacket over her shoulders as she said, “Sometimes strange things happen in this place.”

“Maybe she was asked to join to bring the sorority's grade point average even higher,” Nancy said, glancing around at the buildings they were passing. SDU was a huge campus, and they were walking in a part of it that Nancy had not explored yet. “I know how Delta Phi values its high academic standing.”

“Well, there are other methods for getting good grades besides studying,” Kathy said meaningfully.

“Like what?” Nancy asked.

“Like ‘cooperation,' ” Kathy said with a smile. Walking past the large gymnasium and tennis courts, Kathy steered Nancy to the left. Kathy
said, “In the biology building we've got a friend. A teaching assistant who's very cooperative.”

“Cooperative?” Nancy asked innocently, knowing that Kathy was about to tell her something about cheating. Had Rina found out about this?

“And I was the one who made the contact,” Kathy said proudly. “You know what I mean—he tells us what's going to be on an exam beforehand so we don't have to waste time studying the wrong things. In some of the departments we have contacts who will actually
give
us a copy of the exam beforehand.
That
kind of cooperative.”

Nancy tried not to let her anger show. There's a lot going on in this prestigious sorority that isn't so impressive, she thought. And something that's very dangerous. And Rina Charles knew what it was.

“But
there,”
Kathy said, pointing to the math building, “we have nobody. And me with a calculus test on Monday!”

“Is Fran Kelly in your class?” Nancy asked casually. “She told me she had a calculus test Monday, too.”

“Same one,” Kathy responded.

Nancy felt her heart pounding with the excitement of having discovered something useful—finally. This clever cheating scheme might well be the key to something more than just the high grade point average in Delta Phi.

“Has anyone ever gotten caught?” Nancy asked, pretending to care.

“No. Luckily for us. There could be big trouble for everyone if that happened. Big trouble.” The talkative Kathy looked concerned. “I shouldn't have even told you, I guess. You
will
keep it to yourself?”

“Sure,” Nancy said.

“Do you think you'll try to get in here?” Kathy asked Nancy as they continued their walk.

“I'm not sure,” Nancy answered. “I think—” But before she could finish the sentence, she felt an intense pain in her right shoulder, a shooting pain so severe it took her breath away.

“What's wrong?” Kathy asked as Nancy moaned and reached back to the painful spot.

“Here—” was all Nancy could get out before she fell to her knees.

“Nancy!” Kathy screamed. “There's a dart in your back!”

P
ULL IT OUT
,” Nancy managed to say.

Feeling Kathy's hands hesitating, Nancy instructed her in a whisper, “Like a nurse with a syringe. Put two fingers flat on my back around the tip, and pull the dart with your other hand. Just get it out, please!”

Nancy felt relief immediately after Kathy removed the sharp object. Although her shoulder ached, she stood up and whispered, “We have to find out where that came from!”

“But you're bleeding, Nancy!” Kathy exclaimed.

“I'll be okay. Just listen. Shhh.”

Nancy trained her ears to pick up any movement on the quiet campus. Nothing.

“Who would do such a thing?” Kathy asked as she and Nancy ran to look in the direction the dart would have come from.

“Nobody,” Nancy said, feeling discouraged. A throbbing pain pulsed in her shoulder.

“He must have gotten away while we were getting this thing out!” Kathy said as she gave the blood-tipped dart to Nancy.

He?
Nancy thought. Or perhaps
she?

“You'd better get to the infirmary,” Kathy said in a high-pitched voice. “It's not far—just beyond that group of buildings. Can you make it?”

Nancy nodded. “I may need a tetanus shot,” she said.

• • •

“When do you think Mrs. Charles will get here?” Nancy asked Susan the next morning.

“I don't know,” Susan answered as she quickly brushed her hair. “But I hope I don't miss them. I have to go to the library in a few minutes. I really have to study.”

“I'll make sure I'm here when they arrive,” Nancy said. “I'd like to meet them.”

“How are you feeling this morning?” Susan asked Nancy.

“Fine,” Nancy answered. “I slept like a log. But someone has definitely figured out that I'm a detective,” Nancy said as she tried to move her
sore arm. “What bothers me the most is that I don't know how they did it, or who they are.”

Susan nodded. “Let's see how your back looks,” she said, concerned.

Nancy delicately moved her nightshirt over her shoulder so Susan could look at her back.

“Your whole shoulder is turning colors,” Susan reported. “Blue and red and purple.”

“Now I'll really look like a dart board,” Nancy said, joking. “At least I won't have to cover it with makeup, like my face.”

“Oh, Nancy,” Susan said seriously. “You're used to all this danger and can make fun of it, but I can't. What do you really make of all this?”

Nancy answered thoughtfully. “We are getting some information, at least. Rina may have been involved with this cheating ring, and wanted to tell the school authorities. Someone might have felt they had to get rid of her. Or,” Nancy added, “the murder may have been related to something Rina learned while she was treasurer. Or maybe the two things are somehow connected.”

“And suspects?” Susan asked.

“Well, cheating is one thing, and killing is quite another,” Nancy answered. “A lot of people in this house may be involved in cheating. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole inner circle was involved, and maybe Fran, too. It still doesn't tell me anything about murder.”

Susan picked up the red-and-green-striped
dart that lay on top of the dresser. It was about six inches long and had a needle-sharp point. “You have
no
idea where it came from?” she asked.

“None at all,” Nancy said. “The area was silent and deserted by the time we looked around. The person who threw it had time to get away while Kathy was pulling that out of my shoulder,” Nancy explained.

Susan winced at the description.

Nancy began to do gentle stretches and yoga postures. “I need to see that file box,” she said. “Today.”

“And today is your third day here. I spoke to Lori last night and asked her if you could stay a few more days. She said she'd let me know today.”