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  Heather shook her head. “Not yet, but there’s a great costume store in Chicago. I may try there.” She turned to Ned. “Want me to get you one, too?”

  Nancy’s eyes widened. How rude—and how obvious—could Heather be?

  But Ned didn’t take the bait. “I think I’ve got one at home,” he said pleasantly. “Thanks anyway.”

  “Oh, no!” Nancy said with a laugh. She was determined not to let Heather get to her. “You’re not going to wear that alien invader costume again, are you?”

  Justin let out a loud, nervous laugh and knocked over the bowl of popcorn. “Whoops,” he said, mugging clownishly. “You know me— old butterfingers.” As he began to scoop up the popcorn, Nancy noticed that his hands were shaking.

  What is going on here? she asked herself. Justin’s a nervous wreck, Brad’s totally ignoring Marcia, and Marcia is obviously trying to torment him.

  Brad’s voice broke into Nancy’s thoughts. “I bet the pizza guy will be here any minute,” he said. “Does anyone want to wait for him with me? Justin?”

  “Too cold out there,” said Justin. “Besides, I’d be too far away from the popcorn.”

  “Nancy?” asked Brad.

  Marcia gave a brittle laugh. “Why should Nancy want to go anywhere with you? I mean, look what happened to her friend. Bess was literally sick of you after only a couple of hours!”

  This time Marcia’s goad hit home. Brad’s face paled. Marcia gave a sly little grin. Then the phone rang, breaking the tension.

  “I’ll get it,” Heather said quickly, and she dashed out of the room. In seconds she was back. “Nancy, it’s for you,” she said. “It’s George.”

  With an anxious glance at Ned, Nancy walked to the kitchen and picked up the receiver. “Hi, George. How’s Bess?”

  “She’s still asleep,” George reported, “but the doctor got the results of the tests.”

  “So soon?” Nancy asked expectantly.

  “Yes,” George agreed heavily, “but it’s not good.”

  Nancy gripped the receiver. She forced her voice to stay calm. “Why? What were the results?” she asked.

  “There’s no doubt about it,” said George. “Nancy, Bess—Bess was poisoned!”

  Chapter

  Four

  POISONED!” NANCY GASPED. She pulled out a kitchen chair and sank into it, shocked. “You mean food poisoning, don’t you?”

  “No,” George replied. “The doctor eliminated that right away. He said the symptoms were all wrong. If Bess had eaten something bad, she’d be sick to her stomach.”

  “But then that must mean—”

  Before Nancy could go on, Justin stuck his head into the kitchen. “Pizza’s here!” he blared. “Stop gabbing and get in the family room!”

  “I’ll be right there!” Nancy said brightly, putting on a big smile for his benefit. Then she turned back to the phone.

  “I don’t want anyone to overhear me,” she murmured. “So what you’re telling me is that someone actually poisoned Bess?”

  “Isn’t it horrible?”

  “Does the doctor know what poison it was?” asked Nancy.

  “Not yet,” answered George. “It was some kind of chemical, but they haven’t been able to identify it.”

  “I—I can’t understand this!” whispered Nancy. “Who would want to hurt Bess?”

  George’s voice was grim. “I don’t know. But we’ve got to find out.”

  “I’m going to,” Nancy said. “Believe me, I’m going to.” She said it to reassure herself as much as George.

  I can’t go out there right away, Nancy thought after she’d hung up. I need to think about this for a second.

  She stared, unseeing, at the opposite wall. The poison must have been in something Bess had eaten or drunk. But what could that have been? They’d been so busy at the mall they hadn’t even taken a lunch break. A couple of the kids had grabbed a fast sandwich, and they’d all shared a bag of cookies—but Nancy remembered Bess saying her throat hurt too much to swallow.

  The lemonade! Bess had been the only one to have lemonade. The rest of them had all drunk sodas!

  But why would anyone want to poison Bess?

  Slowly Nancy pushed back her chair and stood up. As she walked into the family room, Brad looked up.

  “Was that George?” he asked instantly. Nancy nodded silently.

  “What’s wrong, Nancy?” Brad asked. There was a worried look in his eyes. “Don’t tell me it’s bad news.”

  Everyone stopped eating to stare at Nancy, and a little warning bell went off in her mind.

  I can’t tell them about this! she thought. Not until I’ve eliminated the chance that one of them is the poisoner!

  “No, it’s not bad news,” said Nancy. Brad breathed a sigh of relief. “Bess is feeling much better,” Nancy went on. “I guess I just got a little sad thinking of her in the hospital when we’re all having fun here.” She raised her voice gaily. “Hey, where’s that pizza? There’s got to be one piece left!”

  “Here’s some.” Justin held the box out to her, and Nancy pulled out a slice.

  Nancy took a tiny bite of her pizza and shuddered. Eating was the last thing she wanted to do now.

  “How’s the game going?” Nancy asked lightly, gesturing toward the TV.

  “We’re losing.” Brad’s attention immediately went back to the game.

  A while later Heather sighed very loudly. “I should really be upstairs studying. I just know I’m going to fail this course.”

  “Oh, you’re not going to fail,” Justin said. “You don’t do badly, considering that I’ve never even seen you crack a book.”

  “That’s because I’ve got such nice people to help me.” Heather smiled at Ned, but to Nancy’s relief, Ned didn’t smile back. He just looked uncomfortable.

  Heather’s lips pursed in a definite pout. “Anyway, I’m tired,” she said, not too gently nudging them to leave. “Don’t you think we should call it quits for tonight? I mean, we have to be at the mall again tomorrow morning.”

  Justin got to his feet and groaned. “Boy, did I eat too much! Oh, well, I’ll work it off tomorrow, filling out all those questionnaires.”

  Marcia, Ned, and Brad were standing up now, too. Nancy wished she were leaving with Ned; she really wanted to talk to him about all this. It was doubly frustrating since Heather had tried to occupy him all evening.

  Not that I’m worried about the competition, Nancy thought. But I would like the chance to spend a little time alone with Ned. . . .

  Nancy opened her purse to take out her car keys. As she did, she noticed Justin’s gold pen gleaming at the bottom of the purse.

  “Oh, Justin, I forgot to return this,” she said, pulling out the pen and handing it to him. “Sorry.”

  “No problem. If you want, you’re welcome to keep it and do all the questionnaires tomorrow.”

  Nancy laughed. “No, I think I’ll leave that to you.”

  “Speaking of leaving—” Ned took a step toward the door, too. “I’d better get home. Great party, Heather.”

  “It was wonderful having you.” This time there was no doubt in Nancy’s mind what Heather’s comment meant.

  Nancy squeezed past Ned and Heather and walked out to her car, but as she started to open the door, she felt a warm hand cover hers.

  “I thought I wouldn’t get out of there alive!” he muttered. “Can we go out for a soda or something, Nan? I feel as if I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to you all day.”

  Nancy beamed at him. “That’s the way I feel, too,” she said. “I’ll follow you to Fraley’s —we can get a soda there.”

  After a short drive Ned and Nancy pulled up at Fraley’s Restaurant, a late-night place. After they were seated, Nancy broke the news about Bess.

  “Poison?”

  “That’s right,” Nancy said. “I can hardly believe it, either. My only clue so far is the lemonade,” she said. “But who poisoned it or why has me stumped. The only peop
le who touched it, besides the Florida Fresh employees, were Brad and Marcia. And if I had to put money on one of them, it would be Marcia.”

  “But why?” Ned looked startled.

  “Didn’t you see how jealous Marcia was of Bess?” Nancy asked.

  “Yes, but she couldn’t be that jealous!” Ned said blankly. “To poison someone she’d just met—I don’t know—it’s just not possible, Nancy.”

  Nancy sighed. “None of this is possible! The only thing that seems likely to me is that the lemonade contained the poison. I plan to check with the Florida Fresh stand tomorrow morning and try to get a sample of that batch of lemonade. Maybe they kept some around.”

  Ned put his hand on Nancy’s. “That’s my Nan,” he said. “River Heights’s best detective. Tell you what. I’ll meet you at the mall when it opens. Let’s see—tomorrow’s Sunday, so it won’t be open until eleven. We can go check out Florida Fresh together.”

  Nancy picked up his hand and held it to her cheek for a second. “One more Nickerson visit being ruined by a case,” she said sadly.

  “Oh, it’s not ruined at all,” said Ned. “I think of it as more time I can spend with you.”

  • • •

  Nancy looked at her watch for the twentieth time, then compared it to the large clock in the center of the mall. The results were the same. Her watch wasn’t fast. It was Ned who was late.

  He must have overslept, Nancy told herself. He wouldn’t have forgotten. But if he doesn’t get here soon, the others will, and then how are we going to keep this secret?

  The two of them had agreed not to mention Bess’s poisoning until they knew whether the lemonade was the cause. The marketing group was tense enough.

  Nancy decided she’d better give Ned a call. If he had overslept, he’d be upset at not being woken.

  Keeping an eye out for Ned, she walked quickly toward the bank of pay phones at the other end of the mall. She passed the Spotless booth on the way. No one from the group had arrived yet.

  Or had someone? Wasn’t that Marcia standing at one of the phones down there?

  It was. Her back was to Nancy, and her whole body was so tense that she looked as though she were about to snap. She was talking so loudly that Nancy couldn’t help overhearing.

  “I’m warning you,” Marcia shouted into the phone. “This is your last chance. Do it now, or I’ll tell everyone what you’ve done!”

  Chapter

  Five

  BEFORE NANCY COULD TAKE another step, Marcia slammed the receiver onto the hook and whirled around. Her face was an ugly mask of anger, and her blue eyes were flashing. Furiously, she began to stride away.

  Then she caught sight of Nancy—and instantly her expression changed.

  “Oh—uh, hi, Nancy!” she said, with the least convincing smile Nancy had ever seen. “Sorry I almost knocked you down like that, but I’m in a hurry. I’ve—I’ve got to go home right away.”

  “What’s the matter?” Nancy asked, pretending not to have heard what Marcia had said.

  “Why should anything be the matter?” Marcia asked quickly. “There’s nothing wrong. I just realized that I left the questionnaires at home—that’s all! I need to hurry back and get them.”

  Without waiting for Nancy’s reply, Marcia rushed toward the mall exit.

  I wonder if I should follow her, Nancy thought. I’d bet anything that’s not the real reason she got out of here so—

  “Nancy! Over here!” Ned’s voice carried the entire length of the mall. He was standing under the clock, just where they’d agreed to meet the night before. Nancy walked quickly over to him.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Ned said, giving her a quick kiss. “I stopped at Justin’s house on the way over, and it took longer than I thought.”

  “What did?”

  “I had a brainstorm last night,” Ned explained. “I decided to see if Justin still had his old chemistry equipment. I knew you’d want to start checking the lemonade right away, and I figured he’d be the one person we could get to do it today. I didn’t tell him why, though. Hope I didn’t make a mistake.”

  “No, it sounds like a great idea!” Nancy said. “Can Justin do the tests?”

  “He told me it would take only a few minutes,” said Ned. “We agreed he’d try the tests as soon as possible.”

  “Good,” Nancy said. “I talked to Bess this morning, and they’re going to let her out of the hospital around noon. George is spending the morning over there, and I’ll pick them both up at lunchtime.”

  “Great,” Ned said. “I’m really glad Bess is well enough to leave. By the way, I didn’t mention anything about Bess to Justin, and I told him not to say anything about testing the lemonade to anyone else in the group.”

  “Especially not Marcia.” Quickly Nancy described the encounter she’d just had with Marcia. “It may have been perfectly innocent,” she said, “but Marcia looked so guilty when she saw me!”

  Ned was frowning. “I don’t believe in coincidences any more than you do,” he said. “We can’t dismiss any possibility. Why don’t we talk to the Florida Fresh people now? After that, you can tackle Marcia.”

  “If there is anything in the lemonade, we’ll have to tell the police,” Nancy said. “But I don’t think it’s necessary to tell them about the lemonade unless we find something.”

  “Won’t the police have been notified already by the hospital?” Ned asked.

  “Probably,” Nancy said, racing for the juice bar.

  The proprietors of the Florida Fresh stand were an elderly couple named Anderson. They listened carefully as Nancy explained about Bess’s poisoning.

  “How awful!” said Mrs. Anderson when Nancy had finished. “I’m so sorry for your friend!”

  “But you have no real reason for thinking our lemonade was poisoned, do you?” put in her husband testily. “We sold gallons of the stuff yesterday, and no one else has complained. If something had been wrong, we’d have heard about it. I think your friend must’ve eaten something that didn’t agree with her.”

  “Of course that is a possibility,” Nancy said tactfully. She didn’t want to rile him.

  “It’s a certainty, young lady,” said Mr. Anderson crisply.

  “But maybe the other people ordered lemonade after Bess, and you just haven’t been told,” Nancy suggested.

  “Or maybe they ate so many different things that they couldn’t be sure what caused the problem,” added Ned.

  “Impossible. There is nothing wrong with our lemonade,” said Mr. Anderson. He poured himself a glass and took a big swallow. “You see? I have no fears!”

  “And I don’t think you need to,” said Nancy emphatically. “Believe me, I’m not trying to cause trouble. I just want to explore every possibility.”

  “Of course you do, honey,” put in Mrs. Anderson. “Here, let me give you some of the powder. It’s from the same carton we used yesterday. Would that be helpful?”

  “It certainly would,” said Nancy.

  Mrs. Anderson poured a cup of the lemonade mix into a plastic bag and sealed it carefully. “Will you let us know what you find out?” she asked.

  “I sure will,” said Nancy. “That’s the least I can do. Thank you both so much.”

  “What do you think?” Ned asked as they walked away.

  “I don’t know,” Nancy said, biting her lower lip. “But once Justin’s analyzed this”—she held up the bag of powder—“we’ll know more.”

  “Perfect timing!” Heather called to Ned and Nancy as they walked toward the booth. Heather, Justin, and Brad were bustling around setting things up. “We just got here a few seconds ago.”

  Heather’s smile was as inviting as it had been the night before, and once again Nancy felt annoyed. Ned had made it clear that he wasn’t interested in Heather. Why on earth didn’t she give up?

  “Our timing could have been even better,” Ned countered. “If we’d been about ten minutes later, you guys would have finished by now.”

&nb
sp; He ducked, laughing, as Brad hurled a sample bottle of Spotless at him. “Just for that, you can set up the display this morning,” Brad told him. “Justin and I will supervise.”

  Nancy bent down to pull the box of supplies from under the table. “Where are the questionnaires?” she asked Heather.

  “Oh, I think Marcia took them home yesterday.”

  Nancy held back her surprise. Maybe Marcia hadn’t been lying after all. But if she’d been telling the truth, why had she been so upset on the phone?

  It was only five minutes later that Marcia arrived—with a big envelope tucked under her arm and a big smile on her face.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said. She didn’t look in Nancy’s direction, and Nancy didn’t say anything.

  Marcia pulled a sheaf of blank questionnaires out of the envelope. “Maybe I’m being lazy, but I hope we don’t get too many people here today. I don’t want to compile all those results.”

  Heather chuckled. “I’m glad that’s not my job, Marcia. I’d never get it done.”

  “What do you do with the questionnaires?” Nancy asked Marcia. She could hardly believe that the relaxed, smiling girl in front of her was the same one she’d heard on the phone earlier.

  “Oh, it’s much too boring to describe,” said Marcia with a grin. “Let’s talk about something more interesting—like you. How did you meet Ned, anyway?”

  Heather had been sitting at the end of the table, talking to the boys, but at Marcia’s question she whirled around. “Yes, I was wondering that, too,” she said. Somehow Heather’s tone managed to come off insulting, as though she couldn’t possibly imagine how Nancy had pulled it off.

  Nancy smiled, remembering the first time she’d really noticed Ned. “I was on a case,” she said.

  “A case?”

  Ned stood up and joined the conversation. “Didn’t I tell you that Nancy’s a detective? She’s pretty famous in River Heights. I guess you’ve all been away at school a little too long to have heard of her.”

  “What kind of cases do you solve?” Justin asked excitedly. “Have you ever investigated a murder? Come on, spill the beans! I’ve never met a detective before!”