Part 8 (2/2)
”Forget it, Nancy. I'm not going to let you risk your life-not even for a couple more days.” Eloise sounded definite. ”And besides, the police are on the case now.”
”She's probably right, Nancy,” Bess agreed.
”Wait a minute, everybody.” Nancy was groping for the right words. ”You can't ask me to just walk away from this! A man's life is in danger!”
They looked back at her with questioning stares, unconvinced.
”How about this-I promise that if I don't come up with any answers by tomorrow, I'll go straight back to River Heights as we planned originally. But honestly, I could never live with myself if I knew I'd walked away when I could have helped.”
Eloise looked down at the floor. Nancy had gotten to her. Bess, despite everything, had to smile. Sleuthing was in Nancy's blood.
”All right, Nancy,” Eloise said reluctantly. ”I do have only myself to blame-I did introduce you to Mattie.”
”Thanks, Aunt Eloise,” Nancy cried warmly, throwing her arms around the older woman's shoulders. ”You're a peach, you know that?”
”Some peach. I invite you to New York for a vacation, and you wind up running all over town, tracking down a murderer. And getting bomb threats delivered to your door!”
”He or she is not not a murderer-not yet, anyway,” Nancy said. ”n.o.body's been killed, and I hope we can keep it that way. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's something I've got to take care of right away.” a murderer-not yet, anyway,” Nancy said. ”n.o.body's been killed, and I hope we can keep it that way. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's something I've got to take care of right away.”
”Who's there?” came Mattie's surprised voice in response to Nancy's knock.
”It's me. May I come in?”
”Oh, Nancy,” Mattie said when she opened the door. ”Wasn't it awful?” Mattie looked exhausted. Obviously, she had just been through quite an ordeal. ”Come on in,” she added distractedly. ”Sorry the place is such a mess. I just got back from the hospital.”
”How's Rick doing?” Nancy asked.
”He's going to be okay. But-oh, Nancy, his hands! They hurt him terribly. I just can't believe he's actually going to do the show tomorrow.”
”What?” she gasped. ”Tomorrow?”
Nancy was truly amazed-he had sounded so frightened at the hospital. I have to give him a lot of credit, she thought. He really was brave.
”Pappas showed up at the hospital. He just burst in past the guards. I was there for the whole thing. He couldn't stop apologizing for this and all the other things that have been happening on the set lately. He even promised to hire Rick a bodyguard and to get some plainclothes detectives to be at the studio until this whole thing is over. But Rick said something about loyalty to his fellow actors, and just shrugged it off and told Pappas he'd be back at work tomorrow. As shaken up as Rick was, he just couldn't say no.” She sighed miserably.
”I don't know how I'm going to get through tomorrow,” she said. ”I'm so worried about him. Oh, Nancy, what am I going to do? If he's killed, I'll just-I'll-oh, I don't know what I'll do!” Mattie seemed to be on the brink of hysteria.
”Hold on, Mattie. It's going to be okay,” said Nancy, trying to comfort her. ”I'm still here, and I've got one more day in town. I haven't given up yet.”
Mattie looked into Nancy's eyes, and a glimmer of hope showed on her face. ”You-you mean it?”
”Mmm-hmm. Maybe I'm not exactly closer to solving this case, but I sure know a lot more than when I started. And I'll do my best for you until it's time for me to leave,” Nancy a.s.sured her. ”Please don't worry.”
But what Nancy didn't tell Mattie was that she was hoping the criminal would try again and this time make a mistake-the kind of mistake he or she had managed to avoid until then. Her experience showed that most criminals tripped themselves up sooner or later.
”Oh, I hope you're right,” Mattie said with a nervous laugh. ”I guess I'd better get you and Bess hired on as extras again, huh?”
When it was all arranged, Mattie went back to the hospital to get Rick, and Nancy went back upstairs for a quiet dinner with her aunt and Bess.
Just before turning in, she went into the empty living room, picked up the phone, and dialed. She was in luck.
”Twice in one week?” came Ned's familiar voice. ”What's going on, Nancy? Could this be true love?”
Nancy giggled, with a wave of warm feeling pa.s.sing over her. Good old Ned. He was just what she needed right then-the voice of sanity. ”You know I love you,” she said with a laugh. ”But thanks for trying to be funny. I can use a little humor right now.”
”Things aren't going too well there, are they?”
”That's putting it mildly,” she said, and told him the latest developments in the case.
Ned tried to sound comforting. ”Look, Nancy, I've known you for a long time, right?”
”Forever,” she replied.
”And in all that time, I've never seen you blow a case. So just hang in there. You'll figure it out.”
”But, Ned, I have only one more day!” she protested.
”Something will happen, and the pieces will all fall into place. You'll solve this one, I know you will, Detective Drew.”
”Well, I'm glad somebody thinks so.” She sighed, not really convinced. ”I appreciate the vote of confidence, though.”
”And, Nancy...”
”Yes, Ned?”
”Be careful, okay? I'd hate to have anything happen to you.”
Once again, the girls were slated to play nurses. Rick's injuries had been written into the script. In the new new story line, Rory, in a fit of despair, would try to throw himself out a window. He would be rescued, but not before he had cut his hands to pieces and had to be taken to the hospital. story line, Rory, in a fit of despair, would try to throw himself out a window. He would be rescued, but not before he had cut his hands to pieces and had to be taken to the hospital.
”Nancy! How do I look?” Bess asked later that day. Twirling around in her nurse's uniform, she fluffed her red wig carefully so the pert white nurse's cap wouldn't fall off. Her heart didn't seem half as badly broken since she had found out she'd be working on ”Danner's Dream” again that day. She even had a ”silent bit”-she was the nurse who would greet Serena when she arrived at the hospital.
”I called my mother to make sure she'd tape the program,” Bess said excitedly. ”Then I can take it around to casting directors and stuff.”
Nancy smiled at her friend. Even in the middle of all this craziness, she was still managing to have a good time. Of course, her fun was tempered by her feelings for Rick. Whenever she saw him on the set, she turned and purposely avoided him.
”Oh, and you know what? I found out that that lady with gla.s.ses and clipboard over there is the casting director,” Bess whispered, pulling Nancy by the arm. ”I'm going to go hang around her for a while. You never can tell, Nancy, this could be it it. And won't Rick feel like a fool when I become a bigger star than he ever was!”
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