037 Last Dance Read online

  George looked surprised. “Wow! So you had a chance to check out his place.”

  “Yeah. But I’m not sure why he really sent me,” Nancy mused. She shook her head. “It was all very weird.”

  Bess was practically falling out of her chair with impatience. “So what did you find?” she demanded.

  Nancy helped herself to another bite of pizza and chewed and swallowed before answering. “Well, I found some letters—love letters from somebody named Sheila. She wrote faithfully for months, but, according to the dates, stopped writing for about two years. Then just recently, she started again, as if nothing had happened.”

  “Was there anything important about the letters?” George wanted to know.

  Nancy shrugged. “Not unless I missed something. Whoever Sheila is, though, she and Jon must have been serious about each other. She talked about how much she loved him and how she couldn’t wait to be his wife.”

  “Maybe he’s married!” Bess cried suddenly. “Oh, poor Laurie—she’s so crazy about this guy and he turns out to be a married man!”

  George rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you jumping to conclusions here?” she asked. “There’s no proof Jon and Sheila ever got married. She’s still writing to him, which should indicate just the opposite.”

  Bess subsided. “Well, it’s possible,” she insisted stubbornly.

  Nancy continued going over the facts of the case. “Jon’s got a police record. He owes some. body money, and he needs more time to come up with it—”

  George interrupted. “Wait a minute. What’s this about him owing someone money?”

  Nancy quickly explained about Jon’s unfinished letter to his uncle Mike.

  Bess ticked the facts off on her fingers. “He’s a crook, “the Mob is out to get him, and somebody named Sheila wrote Mm a stack of mushy letters.”

  “Letters he valued enough to keep,” George mused, frowning.

  “We aren’t getting anywhere with this,” Bess said, and much as Nancy hated to admit it, she knew her friend was right. She’d gathered together several pieces to the puzzle, but none of them fit.

  “1 know this much,” Nancy said. “I’ve got to talk to Laurie the first chance I get.”

  “Are you going to warn her to stay away from Jon?” Bess asked.

  Nancy sighed. “I think I’d better tell her what I know, at least. And I want to ask her a few questions to find out what she knows. She’s been hiding something from me all along.”

  George nodded and closed the lid on the empty pizza box. “We could help you out, if you want,” she offered. George was always volunteering Bess for things, but her pretty blond cousin didn’t seem to mind.

  Nancy shook her head. “Thanks, but there’s no sense in getting her mad at all three of us. I’ll take care of it.”

  • • •

  Laurie didn’t return any of Nancy’s calls the next day. Finally, Nancy drove over to the Weavers’. She was determined to get through to Laurie somehow.

  When Nancy arrived, she found Laurie sitting on the porch, all dressed up. She was wearing a, sleeveless, V-necked dress made from the most delicate pink silk Nancy had ever seen.

  “Hi,” Nancy said.

  For a moment she didn’t think Laurie was going to speak to her but, finally, she said, “Hello, Nancy. What are you doing here?”

  “You and I have to talk,” Nancy told her.

  Laurie looked past Nancy to the big circular driveway, then glanced down at her expensive watch. “Sorry,” she said coolly. “No time. I have a date.”

  Nancy sighed. “We’ve known each other a long time, Laurie.”

  “Then you should know if I asked you to stop doing something, you should trust my judgment,” Laurie said accusingly. “Instead, you go sneaking around behind my boyfriend’s back. Don’t think I don’t know why you wormed your way into that job at Moves, Nancy!”

  Nancy was quiet for a moment. Then she said, “You didn’t tell Jon that I’m a detective, did you?”

  Laurie refused to look at Nancy, but she shook her head. “No. I didn’t tell.”

  “Why not?” Nancy asked softly.

  “Because I knew you wouldn’t find out anything bad about Jon.”

  “I did, though, Laurie,” Nancy said. “Did you know he has a police record?”

  Color pulsed in Laurie’s cheeks. “Shhh!” she said angrily. “If my parents hear about that, they’ll have a fit!”

  I was right, Nancy thought, without satisfaction. She does know a few things about Jon’s past. “Doesn’t it bother you that Jon is a convicted felon?” she persisted, keeping her voice down.

  “He’s changed,” Laurie insisted. “Besides, he’s paid for his crime. He was in jail for two years.”

  That accounted for the time between Sheila’s letters, Nancy reflected. Either he hadn’t been able to keep them, or she’d stopped writing while he was in prison.

  “I think Jon might be in deep trouble,” Nancy went on gently. “I know he needs money. And your family has it. Laurie, have you ever thought that he could be using you? He could be planning—”

  “I don’t want to hear this!” Laurie cried, clasping her hands over her ears and walking around the side of the house.

  Nancy followed her, but there was no way she could force Laurie to listen.

  “He’s coming here tonight,” Laurie said after taking a moment to calm down. “He’s going to have dinner with us and get to know my parents better, and I won’t let anybody spoil this evening—including you, Nancy.”

  Nancy sighed. There was no point in trying to convince Laurie that Jon Villiers might be bad news. She said goodbye to her friend and was just turning to walk away when the sprinkler system came on.

  Behind her, Nancy heard Laurie scream. She turned to see Laurie standing absolutely still, helpless and drenched. Her silk outfit appeared to be ruined by the water. Nancy grabbed her arm, and they both dashed out of range of the sprinklers.

  “What—” Laurie was practically speechless.

  “It was probably just a neighbor kid,” Nancy said to Laurie, “I’ll check it out.” With that, she hurried around the back of the house.

  Although Nancy circled the mansion, she saw no one. There” were just too many places to hide.

  When she got back to the front, Laurie was still standing on the porch, shivering.

  “The whole evening is ruined” she complained to Nancy. She looked as .though she was on the verge of tears. “My hair, my dress . . .”

  “Come on,” Nancy said gently. “We’ll go inside and you can change.”

  Laurie’ hastily put on another outfit. While Nancy was drying off, the telephone beside Laurie’s bed rang, and she pounced on it.

  Nancy knew what was happening before a word was spoken on that end of the line. Laurie’s face crumpled with disappointment.

  “Oh, Jon, I was counting on your being here,” she said finally. “This has been the worst evening. . . . I understand. Good night.”

  Nancy left with only a quiet goodbye. Anything she said would have only made things worse for Laurie.

  • • •

  When Nancy arrived at Moves, the lot was crowded and she had to park a long way from the door. Angry voices alerted her to an argument going on nearby, though she couldn’t quite make out the words.

  Seeing Jon and Pam a few yards away, she crouched low and stayed on the opposite side of a row of cars so they wouldn’t see her.

  Unfortunately, she could only make out a few words of their conversation. She heard Laurie and love. Then, suddenly Pam’s voice rose to an angry shout.

  “Don’t think you’re going to get away with this!” she said.

  Jon looked alarmed. “Please—”

  Pam burst into tears. “I can make sure your precious Laurie never wants to lay eyes on you again,” she sobbed. “And I will, Jon—I’ll make sure she knows it all! I’ll tell her everything!”

  Chapter

  Eight

  PAM’
S WORDS ECHOED in Nancy’s mind as she watched Jon turn away from the waitress and stride back into the club. Ill make sure she knows it all. . . . I’ll tell her everything. . . .

  But what was “everything?”

  That’s the million-dollar question, Nancy thought. That could be the key to this whole mystery.

  Nancy sneaked back to her car, opened the door, and slammed it to let Pam know she wasn’t alone in the parking lot. Nancy also wanted the waitress to think she’d just arrived and couldn’t have overheard the conversation.

  “Hi, Pam,” she said cheerfully, strolling up to her.

  Pam didn’t pay any attention to her for several moments—she was still staring after Jon. Finally when she turned her head toward Nancy, there was a dazed look in her eyes. “Hi,” she answered at last.

  Nancy wanted to put an arm around the girl and reassure her, she looked so downhearted, but she kept her distance. “Are you okay?” Nancy asked, pretending that she’d just noticed Pam’s tear-streaked face and puffy eyes.

  “Yeah,” Pam said a little defensively. “I’m okay.”

  Nancy thought of another scene she’d witnessed, when Jon and Pam had been dancing together and Pam had gotten angry and called Jon a criminal. “Listen, if you feel like talking . . .”

  Pam looked at Nancy for a long moment. A thought flickered across her eyes, then was gone. She started toward the club.

  Nancy fell into step beside her. She wanted to find out what Pam knew about Jon—obviously, it was a lot—but she felt sorry for the girl, too. She was in a lot of pain.

  “I just had a big fight with Jon,” Pam said when they’d reached the side entrance to the club. She paused, just outside the door, and so did Nancy.

  Nancy pretended surprise. “Oh?”

  Pam angrily folded her arms across her chest. “He’s such a jerk. He’s been coming on to me behind Laurie’s back for so long—” She stopped, shook her head, then went on.

  “But of course he doesn’t want to break up with Laurie—or with her money. Well, I’m not interested in a guy like him. I warned him tonight—I’m going to tell her everything if he doesn’t leave me alone!”

  Nancy was taken aback. For some reason she’d gotten the impression that it was the other way around—that Pam was the one after Jon. They obviously knew each other better than they’d let on. Nancy had assumed that Pam was an old girlfriend, and that Jon had dumped her.

  But maybe she was wrong. After all, Jon had been alone with Pam, dancing with her, holding her tenderly in his arms, that first time Nancy had seen them together.

  Nancy thought of the letters hidden away in Jon’s apartment, from someone named Sheila Day. The last one, full of heartbreak and desperate pleas, was dated only two months earlier. Evidently Jon worked fast. He broke Sheila’s heart, and now he was on his way to breaking Laurie’s, too, with Pam.

  Another waitress appeared at the door, interrupting Nancy’s thoughts. “Will you two please hurry up?” she fretted. “We need help in here!”

  Before Pam could lash out, as the expression on her face indicated she would, Nancy said, “We’ll be right in.”

  After the other waitress left, Nancy put her hand lightly on Pam’s arm. “I’ll cover for you while you take a few minutes to pull yourself together,” she said.

  Pam looked at her in surprise. “Thanks” was all she said. Moments later Nancy was hard at work, and after about ten minutes, Pam joined her.

  • • •

  “Hi.” Ned took a table in Nancy’s section of the club a couple of hours later. He grinned as Nancy walked over to him with her pad and pencil.

  “What’ll it be, fella?” Nancy asked, putting a twang in her voice and pretending to chew gum.

  Ned laughed and ordered a soda and a hamburger with everything. When Nancy came back with his food, it was time for her break, so she joined him at the table.

  “Are you supposed to be this friendly with the customers?” Ned teased.

  Nancy spotted George and Bess and waved them over to Ned’s table. “Only good-looking captains of the Emerson College football team get this kind of treatment,” she answered before Bess and George pulled up chairs opposite Ned and Nancy.

  “So, what’s happening?” George wanted to know.

  Nancy sighed. “All I’m getting out of this investigation is minimum wage and sore feet,” she complained;

  A young man came to the table and asked Bess to dance. She was gone in a flash. George watched her cousin disappear into the crash on .the dance floor with laughter in her. dark eyes. “It’s a good thing we can count on Bess to stand by us and keep her mind on the case no matter what,” she joked.

  Nancy helped herself to one of Ned’s french fries. “But when the chip, are down,” she pointed out, “Bess Marvin always comes through.”

  “True,” George admitted.”

  “Do you have time for a dance, Nancy?” Ned asked, pushing away the plastic basket that had contained his hamburger and fries.

  Nancy consulted her watch. “If it’s short,” she answered.

  Ned stood up and took her elbow lightly in his land, squiring her toward the dance floor. “It’s not against the rules, then?”

  Nancy smiled. “If it is, I’ll hear about it,” she answered. The music was slow and romantic, and she moved easily into Ned’s arms. She gave a happy sigh.

  “How about an update on the case?” he asked, while they danced.

  Nancy told him about being sent to Jon’s apartment for papers and finding the love letters.

  “Jon must have been in pretty deep with this Sheila woman,” Ned observed.

  Nancy nodded her agreement. “The letters went back a long time, though there was a two-year gap. Probably that was when Jon was in prison.”

  Ned stiffened slightly. “I don’t like the idea of your working for somebody with a record,” he said.

  “People change,” Nancy pointed out.

  “Not all that much,” Ned replied.

  Just then the music ended and so did Nancy’s break. When she went back to work, Ned stayed. Nancy could tell he was worried about her safety and wanted to keep an eye on her.

  When the time came for Nancy’s next break, Adam Boyd was waiting for her.

  “I’d like to talk to you,” he said grimly.

  As far as Nancy was concerned, Adam was still a suspect in what was going on. But she wouldn’t be doing her job if she didn’t listen to what Adam had to say. “Sure,” she answered.

  They went into the front entryway, where it was relatively private.

  “How do you like working for such a lowlife?” he asked.

  Nancy drew back from him, angry. “I didn’t come out here to listen to this, Adam,” she said, turning away.

  Adam reached out and took a rather desperate hold of Nancy’s arm. A hard stare from her made him let go.

  He sighed heavily and ran one hand through his hair. “I’m .sorry. It’s just .that I can’t seem to’ get anybody to listen.”

  Nancy felt a twinge of sympathy for Adam. He cared deeply for Laurie, and the break-up had been hard for him. “Sometimes it’s just better to admit it’s over,” she said quietly. “Just forget it and go on from here. After all, there’s lots of girls who’d like to date you.”

  Adam took hold of her arm again, though this time his touch was light. “You’re Laurie’s friend, Nancy. Please talk to her, try to reason with her—”

  “I can’t change her feelings, Adam,” Nancy said. “Nobody can do that.”

  “You don’t trust him, either,” Adam said. “That’s why you’re working here. You’re trying to find out what he’s up to.”

  Nancy hoped Jon wouldn’t come to the same conclusion. But then he wasn’t from River Heights and wouldn’t know about her detective work as Adam did. She tried to soothe Adam.

  “I’ve tried to talk to Laurie,” she said, “and she wouldn’t listen. Trust me, I won’t give up until I find out what’s going on here and who’s b
ehind it.”

  That last part was more than a statement, it was a warning, and it was clear that Adam understood that. He let go of Nancy’s arm and some of the color drained from his face. Just then, the door opened and Laurie came in, looking especially pretty in a new sundress. She smiled at Nancy as though nothing had happened between them, but she didn’t so much as look at Adam.

  “Is Jon in the booth?” she asked.

  Nancy glanced at Adam, who was back to looking angry and sullen, before answering. “Yes.”

  “I can’t wait to see him,” Laurie beamed. Then, still ignoring Adam, she hurried eagerly into the main part of the club.

  When Nancy looked back at Adam, he was staring after Laurie with such fury in his eyes that she was alarmed. “Let’s go, Adam,” she said in a quiet, reasonable voice.

  Adam’s jaw was set in a hard line as he glared at her. “Leave me alone,” he snarled, “or you’re going to be very sorry!” With that, he turned and pushed back into the club.

  Nancy’s second and last break was over, so she had to go back to work. She cleared several tables and started for the kitchen, thinking of Adam’s warning. Had he been threatening her?

  Since her hands were full, Nancy shouldered her way through the opening. Once inside she was met with a roaring sound, then a blinding light from the deep fat fryers, which were just to her right. Nancy dropped her tray, sending it clattering to the floor.

  The kitchen’s fryer was shooting off needle-sharp sprays of burning-hot grease!

  Chapter

  Nine

  NANCY GASPED, then started to cough as a billow of greasy black smoke rolled toward her. Eyes watering, she tried to peer around the kitchen. Was anyone else in there?

  “Help!” came one of the cook’s voices. “I’m trapped back here!”

  Nancy could see her, the head cook, the one she had talked to, huddled by the big range. Pulling off her apron, Nancy used it to shield her face as she ran past the steaming fryer. She grabbed the cook’s arm.