039 The Suspect Next Door (6 page)

Nancy pushed through the glass entrance to the store. Kate Hayes was behind the opened cash register, poring over a list that Trisha Rapp held out to her.

“Nancy. Good morning. Or should I say, I
wish it were good.” Kate’s greeting was far from cheery. Trisha just nodded.

“We lost a lot this time. A lot,” Kate said, with a sad shake of her head. “A shipment of Bob Broward separates. Every piece of jade in the store.”

“And more,” Trisha added regretfully, handing her boss yet another list. “I can’t find these things, either.”

“Was there any sign of a forced entry?” Nancy asked.

Kate shook her head. “No, there wasn’t,” she answered tersely.

Nancy began walking around the store and checking out the employees. Tony Selby was in a black mood, his mouth set, his eyes on Charlene. For her part, Charlene seemed unusually jumpy. She kept dropping things, bumping into people, and apologizing profusely.

Max Hudson seemed to be working hard, even with his bandaged right hand. He had been out late the night before. Had he finished the night up at Vanities?

Nancy edged back to the stockroom, making her way toward the office. As she did, she heard Kate Hayes on the phone inside. From the sound of her conversation, she was talking to her insurance company, and she obviously didn’t like what she was hearing.

“But I tell you, the jackets really did disappear!”
the store owner was complaining as Nancy peeked in through the door. “Do you think I made it all up?”

Kate held her hand to her forehead while she waited for their reply. “Please,” she said, after a moment. “I know we’re having special problems here, and believe me, we’re trying to get to the bottom of them. But if you drop my policy now, I’ll be finished!”

If Kate Hayes was inventing these thefts, she was doing a great acting job. And if she’d done it to scam her insurance company, the trick didn’t seem to be working. From what Nancy was hearing, they weren’t buying a word of her story.

Nancy heard her hang up with a slam of the receiver. She knocked softly on the half-open door and walked in.

Kate was rubbing her temples, and her eyes were squeezed shut. “Come in, Nancy,” she murmured, without looking up.

“Are you all right?” Nancy asked.

“I’m afraid not,” Ms. Hayes answered with a wince. “It seems I’ve reached the limits on my coverage. My insurance company is acting as if I’m trying to pull something funny. Essentially, if there are any more thefts, Vanities is out of business, and so am I.”

Kate Hayes lifted her head and tried to compose herself. It didn’t work. For all her pride, she looked defeated.

“We’ll figure this out, Kate,” Nancy said, mustering an assurance she didn’t really feel. “I promise you we will.”

“Well, I certainly hope so. Meanwhile, I’m going to pay my insurance agent a personal call. I think we need to talk face-to-face.” She stood up and reached for her elegant silk jacket. “Good luck to all of us,” she murmured hopelessly.

After Kate left, Nancy walked to her desk and glanced at the open phone directory. There was the number of the insurance company. More proof that Kate Hayes had not been acting.

“You know,” Trisha said, standing in the doorway with an angry scowl on her face, “you have a lot of nerve!”

Nancy’s eyes widened. “Oh?” she answered calmly.

“Yes. You act like you can solve these problems, but I don’t think you can,” she scolded. “You’ll be happy to hear I didn’t tell Ms. Hayes that you were at the movies instead of on the job. I probably should have!”

So Trisha had seen her! “Thanks, Trisha,” Nancy said quietly. “I really appreciate that.” An apologetic smile passed over Nancy’s face. No matter how irritating Trisha was being right now, antagonizing her wasn’t going to get Nancy anywhere.

As Trisha was about to walk away, Nancy stepped around the desk. “Trisha, wait,” she
called out. “What can you tell me about a guy named Dan Taylor?”

Trisha started. She blinked her green eyes a few times before answering. “Dan Taylor?” she asked finally. “What about him? He used to work here, but that was before all this stuff started happening.”

“I know that,” Nancy said, stepping out of Kate’s office and standing next to Trisha in the hallway. “But what do you know about him?”

“Well, I know one thing for sure. He’s not the guy you’re after. Frankly, he’s not smart enough or nervy enough to be a thief. That’s my opinion, anyway.”

“You didn’t like him, I take it.”

Trisha scowled. “Actually, I fired him. He was totally unreliable.” She shook her head. “He was even late for his first interview here. The only reason he got hired is that he knew the Pratt family. When Kate heard that, she insisted on hiring him. He was a nice guy, but totally in the ozone, if you know what I mean. Sort of flaky.”

“Why did you fire him?” Nancy asked.

“I caught him lying—right to my face. He was always lying. He always had a story about why he was late or why he couldn’t work on weekends. I knew it, but I couldn’t do anything about it. Then one day he called in sick, and I saw him taking a girl out to lunch. That was the end. When he finally came in, I fired him on the spot. I told Ms.
Hayes about it later. If I’d asked her permission, she would have said to give him another chance. I told you that she’s a bad judge of character.”

Nancy nodded. Trisha’s decision seemed a bit harsh, but apparently Dan had pushed his luck too far.

“I’ve got to get back to work now,” Trisha said. “And if you want my advice, you should, too.” With that, Trisha took off down the hall.

“Watch out!” The man’s voice was loud and sounded irritated. Nancy ducked back into Kate’s office doorway and peered down the hall. Max Hudson was barreling down the corridor, carrying a stack of cartons on his shoulder. He appeared to have come from the loading docks under the mall.

Tony Selby, holding a sheaf of papers, was about to run into him. He jumped out of Max’s way, and headed for the bulletin board at the rear of the hall. Once there, he started busily tacking up papers.

“Do you mind if I ask you where you were last night?” Nancy asked him.

Tony looked at her strangely. “Um, I was home. Sick.”

“Was anyone with you?” Nancy prodded him.

“Nope,” he answered with a shrug.

“You were sick, huh? You seem fine now.”

Tony shot her a bored smile. “I got better,” he said.

“Well, nice talking to you.”

Nancy headed for the stockroom. She wanted to talk to Max, and she hoped he’d be more cooperative.

Max Hudson was slicing cartons open with a packing knife. So he was lying when he said he never opened the cartons, Nancy thought to herself. “I saw you at the arcade last night, Max,” Nancy said casually. “How long were you there?”

Max frowned. “All night,” he answered, and set to work again.

“Really?” she asked incredulously. “You sure you weren’t at the Sixplex?”

That caught him off guard. But Max recovered in an instant. “Oh, yeah,” he said casually. “I was just passing by, and I went in to say hello to a friend who works there.”

“They let you in without a ticket?”

“Yeah,” he answered.

“I see,” said Nancy lightly. Obviously, Max was not telling her everything, and he must have a good reason for lying.

Passing from the stockroom back into the store, Nancy watched Charlene nervously checking racks of dresses.

“Hi, Charlene,” Nancy began.

Charlene acted as if she’d just gotten an electric shock. “Oh, hi, Nancy,” she said, spinning around.

“I’m asking everyone the same question,” Nancy began.

“You mean, where was I last night?” Charlene finished for her.

Nancy nodded. “I was at the movies until about eleven,” Charlene explained. “Then I went home. You can call my parents if you don’t believe me.”

“I believe you, Charlene,” Nancy told her. “Which movie did you see?”

“High Speed”
she told Nancy.

“Sounds interesting. What’s it about?”

“About? Oh, it’s a police story. There’s a jewel heist from a museum, and the cops chase the thieves all over the world. . . .” Charlene’s voice trailed off.

Nancy had seen
High Speed.
It was a love story. Not a policeman in it. And Charlene had been standing outside
The Return of the Spider People.
Obviously, she hadn’t seen either movie.

“I’d like to talk, but I really should be behind the counter,” Charlene finally said.

“Sure. Go ahead,” Nancy said. There was no sense confronting Charlene head on. Besides, all the employees at Vanities were being so evasive that they all seemed guilty.

After she checked the back door and the storeroom and didn’t find any clues, Nancy left Vanities and headed home. She planned to take a quick nap so that later she could spend the night staking the place out.

Once she was home Nancy checked the answering
machine in her bedroom. There were two messages. The first was from Ned.

“Hi, Nan. Well, it’s Saturday and I know we talked about tonight, but I haven’t heard from you. I guess you’re busy with that new case of yours. I sure would like to see you, though. Summer’s almost gone, and so am I. Call me, okay?”

Nancy only hoped Ned wouldn’t be disappointed with their date that night. A mall stake out was probably not the kind of date he had in mind.

The second message was from Nikki, and she sounded positively frantic:

“Nancy—it’s me—I’m scared, Nancy, and I—Something just happened, and—please, come over as soon as you get this message! Please!”

In no time Nancy was out the door. Whatever had happened to Nikki, it sounded serious. She only hoped she wasn’t too late!

N
ANCY FLEW
across the lawn to the Masterses’ house and leaned on the doorbell. In a few minutes a shaken Nikki came to the door. A wave of relief coursed through Nancy. At least she was an one piece. On the phone she’d sounded as if she was in real danger.

“Thank goodness you’re here!” Nikki began, drawing Nancy inside and shutting the front door behind them. “Dan was waiting for me when I left the house this morning. He was hiding behind the bushes and jumped out to greet me. Oh, Nancy, he looks terrible! His whole face was swollen, and his eye—”

Nancy led Nikki over to the sofa and sat her
down. “Take it easy,” she said soothingly. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

“He was all disheveled, and he had this wild look in his eye,” Nikki went on. From the way she described the scene, Nancy realized Nikki was seeing it all again in her mind. “He tried to get me to take another gift from him. He kept insisting and insisting.”

“What was it?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t take it,” Nikki answered. “I know you would have wanted to see it, Nancy, but I couldn’t. He would have thought I wanted him back again, and I don’t! I feel for Dan and everything, but I don’t know how to help him, and I’m starting to be
afraid
of him. Not that I actually think he’d hurt me, but—”

“When people are unstable, Nikki, you never know,” Nancy cautioned.

“Not Dan,” Nikki insisted. “He loves me. He would never hurt me.”

“Did you get a look at the gift?” Nancy asked. “It could be important.”

Nikki stared at her in confusion. “Actually, now that I think of it, I’m not even sure it was a gift. It was a big fat envelope,” she said nervously. “He tried to give it to me about six times. He said that I wouldn’t even have to open it. Weird, huh? No wonder my friends are so worried about me and my relationship with him.”

Nikki burst into bitter tears. Nancy could tell
her neighbor was torn between caring for Dan and protecting herself. “Oh, Nancy,” she begged. “Can you do anything? Talk to his parents or something? They won’t speak to me. Please,” Nikki begged again.

Along with helping her friend, an excursion to Dan’s house might be very revealing, Nancy decided. “All right, Nikki, I’ll go over there today. Meantime, I think you should get out a little. Isn’t there some safe way to have fun? Someplace where there are lots of people around?”

“It’s funny you should mention that.” Nikki smiled wistfully. “Jeremy Pratt is throwing a party tonight. Robin and Lacey offered to pick me up and walk me there and back, and I said no. But I’ll call them and tell them I changed my mind.”

“I take it Dan isn’t invited,” Nancy concluded.

“No way,” Nikki said with a laugh. “That’s why Lacey and Robin thought I should go.”

“You should—definitely!” Nancy said.

“Well, I guess I’ll call them, then,” Nikki said, getting to her feet. She looked worlds better than when Nancy had come in. The color was back in her cheeks, and there was a spring in her step. Suddenly Nikki looked sixteen again, fresh and radiant.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Nancy told her. “You can fill me in on your night out, and I’ll give you the story on Mr. and Mrs. Taylor.”

“Right.” Nikki waved goodbye to her at the door and went back inside.

As she went down the Masterses’ porch steps, Nancy swore to herself that she was going to help Nikki Masters out of the mess she was in, no matter what. But to do that, she had to find out what was really going on in Dan Taylor’s life.