002 Deadly Intent (9 page)

So that’s his story,
Nancy thought.

“Life is great,” Dave went on. “Couldn’t be better. No more forcing myself to get up in the morning and go to classes. No more tests or papers. I do what I want. Lots of money, lots of chicks.” He gave a lewd laugh and flashed Ned a thumbs-up sign. “No offense to the little lady,” he added to Nancy.

Nancy gritted her teeth.

“Yup. This is a great town if you’re into success. Got myself a great little business.”

“You’ve got your own business?” Ned blurted out.

“Well, actually I’ve got a—sort of a partner,” Dave hedged.

Nancy found herself betting anything that Dave’s so-called partner was, in truth, his boss. She could tell that Ned didn’t quite buy his story either. Though whatever Dave was doing, it was plain that he did have money to throw around.

“So, what is it you do?” Ned asked, as if reading Nancy’s mind. “I wouldn’t mind a little extra pocket money,” he kidded.

“A little of this, a little of that,” Dave replied vaguely. “But I still like to keep up with the rock scene. No better place for it in the world than right here in this city.”

“I guess not,” Ned said. “Well, it was nice talking to you, Dave. We’d better get going.”

“Sure. There’s my limo anyhow.” Dave pointed to a black stretch limo pulling around the corner and stopping across the street from the club.

“Wow, that’s some car.” Ned couldn’t hide his astonishment.

“She’s a beaut, huh?” Dave said smugly. “Well, good bumping into you, pal. Nice to meet you, Nancy.” His words were cordial, but Nancy caught the peculiar look in his eye again as he addressed her.

“ ’Bye, Dave.” Nancy watched him go, stepping into the street. She gave a little shudder. Dave was definitely not her idea of a nice guy. And she seemed to make him uncomfortable, too.

“What is it about him?” she said to Ned. “He gives me the creeps.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty weird. Truth is, he didn’t drop out of school; he got kicked out. Never did a bit of work. I don’t know why he was there in the first place. The only thing he seemed at all into was his part-time job at the Emerson Record World. But there was some problem there too. I have the feeling he got fired. Anyway, I stopped seeing him there when I went in to buy albums. Pretty soon after that, I stopped seeing him around campus at all.”

“A record store, Ned?” Nancy asked, a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Isn’t it a little weird, all this record stuff?” Nancy watched Dave climb into the back of the limo. Then the thought hit like a cyclone. “Oh no, Ned!” Her voice was low. “He fits the exact description.”

“What description? What are you saying?”

“I think Dave might have been one of the guys backstage the night Barton disappeared! He could even have been the one who hit me over the head. Maybe that’s why he kept giving me such funny looks!”

Nancy darted from the club entrance into the
street, determined to make out the license plate before the limo vanished. But just as she passed a pile of crates, Ned cried, “Nancy, look out!” Nancy had never heard such panic in his voice. She turned suddenly, looking back at him, but lost her balance.

As she fell, her eyes caught the glint of something metallic cutting through the air and heading straight for her. Her body slammed onto the sidewalk as a knife jammed into a crate just inches away. It quivered there, giving its serpentine handle the illusion of movement.

Ned was by her side in seconds, but Nancy was already on her feet, running down the street as the limo pulled around a corner. “It stopped for a moment,” she said, “as if they were waiting to see what would happen.”

The limo was too far ahead to catch, but she did see the license plate. The numbers were caked with mud, but the decoration on the right side was clearly visible: a dragon with its tail curved into an L! Then it turned the corner and sped off into the night.

“Did you see the dragon?” Nancy asked breathlessly.

“Yeah, I saw it. Nancy, are you all right?”

“I guess so.” She trembled at the thought of her near brush with death. “The fall didn’t hurt much, but that knife came pretty close. Come on,
let’s get it. Someone has finally given us our first real clue!”

Cautiously they ran to the pile of crates where Nancy had fallen. “The police might be able to lift some—” She came to a sudden stop and stared in amazement at the crate. “It’s gone! The knife is
gone!”

T
HEN WE FLAGGED
a cab and tried to follow him, but he was too far ahead of us. We couldn’t find him,” Nancy told George, spearing a french fry and popping it into her mouth.

“So first thing this morning we called the manager of the Emerson Record World.” Ned picked up where Nancy had left off. “It turns out that Dave Peck was fired for buying cheap pirated records. He charged the store the regular price, then deposited the extra money in his personal account! They got wise to what he was doing when one of the stockroom clerks discovered that the codes on the records were missing.”

“You’re kidding!” George put down her coffee
cup with a chink. “Wow! That sleazy guy could play a really important part in this mystery, huh?”

“You know it.” Nancy finally felt she was on the trail that would crack this case. “I bet anything Dave’s ring has a dragon on it,” she went on, “and his ring and license plate match the wallet I found at the Music Hall. If the wallet belongs to Dave, maybe Ann Nordquist is in the clear.”

“A good thing, since she and your dad are spending the day together,” Ned remarked. “I think he really likes her.”

“Hmm, I can’t say I’m entirely comfortable with that,” Nancy admitted. “And I won’t be until I know what’s going on.”

George nodded. “Well, one way or the other, the truth will come out, as they say. So, anyhow, what’d you do next?”

“Well, the record store didn’t know where to get in touch with him, so Ned called up the Emerson College registrar’s office. His roommate works there a few hours a day, and Ned talked him into looking up Dave’s mother’s telephone number. The problem is she doesn’t answer. We’re going to try her again after breakfast.”

George nodded. “Well, if there’s anything I can do . . .”

“Thanks. I’ll definitely let you know,” Nancy said. “So, now that we’ve told you about the rest of our night, how was yours?”

“Pretty good. They played some really hot dancing music. But we didn’t stay all that long after you guys left. Everyone was kind of keyed up about Barton. Roger especially.”

“I can understand that,” Nancy said. “What are he and the rest of the band going to do about tonight’s performance if Barton’s still a no show by concert time?”

“Alan,” George said simply.

Nancy groaned. “I was afraid of that. You know, if Alan keeps getting to fill in on these gigs, he’s never going to come clean with what he knows about Barton. I mean, why should he? As long as Barton’s not around, Alan’s a star.”

“And is he playing the part,” George added. “He took Bess over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a midnight supper after we left the club. He said all the biggest names in the music world hang out there. I think he was counting himself as one of them.”

Nancy’s expression grew dark. “I can’t believe Bess. She’s buying in to Alan’s fantasy without stopping to consider how much harm he might be doing.”

“So you really think Alan’s hiding something? I mean, I know he’s on another planet these days, but do you really think he’d put Barton’s life in danger?”

“The only way to answer that question is to get to the bottom of whatever’s going on,” Nancy said. “Speaking of which, we’d better start calling
Dave’s mother again.” She finished up her eggs and pushed her plate away. “Ready?” She stood up.

“Reporting for duty, Detective Drew,” Ned replied, and the three friends stood up.

Several hours later, in the Drews’ suite, they still were having no luck. Ned dialed Mrs. Peck’s number for what seemed to Nancy like the thousandth time, and Nancy and George held their breath. “One ring,” Ned announced. “Two. Three.”

Nancy rolled her eyes in frustration.

“Hello? Is this Mrs. Peck?”

Ned began talking, and Nancy sat up straight and hung on to his every word.

“Mrs. Peck, my name is Ned Nickerson. I’m a—a friend of Dave’s,” Ned fibbed, looking slightly sheepish.

“We went to school together, Mrs. Peck,” Ned went on. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I saw him just last night.” Ned seemed relieved to be saying something truthful. “But he forgot to give me his address. That’s why I’m calling, actually.” Ned paused, his brow furrowed. “You don’t?” He rolled his eyes. “If you’ll excuse my saying so, that’s—well, that’s a little surprising to me.”

“George,” Nancy exclaimed. “How can a man’s own mother not have his address? There is definitely something weird going on.”

“Yes, I see,” Ned said, signaling for quiet. “Then, do you know who his partner is? Oh, his
boss—okay. His name is Lee? But you don’t know how to contact him either?” Nancy’s heart sank.

“Whew!” Ned sighed when he finally hung up the phone. “If I hadn’t said I had to go, she would have gone on all day.”

“So tell,” Nancy demanded, a touch impatiently.

“Oh, sorry, Nan. Well, Dave’s mother obviously thinks Dave’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, even though she’s disappointed he left school.”

“But she doesn’t know where he is half the time,” Nancy put in.

“She told me his work takes him to so many places he can’t have a permanent address. But she sure was quick to add that he calls her every week.”

“To keep up the image of the perfect son,” George observed.

“Except that he lives out of a suitcase,” Nancy said. “All set to pick up and move if anyone’s on his tail.”

Ned agreed. “That business Dave’s involved in can’t be aboveboard. Anyway, his mother said his boss is a guy named Lee. James Lee. She started telling me how this Lee took her and ‘her Davey’ out to some restaurant in New York that Lee’s brother owns. She would have told me what they had eaten, too, if I’d let her.” He shook
his head. “You know, I felt bad misleading her about Dave and me. She seemed kind of lonely.”

“Poor woman. She probably deserves a lot better than Dave,” Nancy said sympathetically. “When I get my hands on him . . .”

“But Nan, he doesn’t have an address,” George reminded her friend. “How are you going to find him?”

Nancy was silent for several minutes, contemplating. “Listen, Dave said he likes to keep up with the music scene, right?”

“Right,” Ned affirmed.

“Well, isn’t tonight’s concert the most talked about show around? Bent Fender plays ‘Rock for Relief’ at the Rotunda,” Nancy said, paraphrasing a radio advertisement, “the chic nightspot everyone wants to be seen at.”

“Yeah, Roger was telling us last night that there will be huge crowds of people outside the Rotunda begging the doormen to let them pay their twenty-dollar admission charge and come inside,” George injected. “Doesn’t that sound nuts?”

“When you’re hot, you’re hot,” Ned said, grinning. “But I see what you’re getting at, Nancy. This is just the kind of scene a guy like Dave wouldn’t miss.”

“Exactly. So all we have to do is show up—and keep our fingers crossed that Dave will too.”

• • •

“Wow! Look at all those people,” Nancy exclaimed as she, Ned, and George arrived at the Rotunda later that evening. “How’re they all going to fit inside?”

“A lot of them aren’t,” Ned replied. “That’s part of the gimmick. If you keep a huge crowd of people standing outside your club, dying to get in, everyone will think it’s popular, the place to be. And everyone who gets in will feel extra special about being there—you know, a member of the elite.”

“Yuck. I’d have too much pride to stand out here praying the doormen would pick me out of the crowd.” George wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“I’m with you,” agreed Nancy. “It’s a good thing we’re on the guest list.” They walked around to a lane cordoned off for guests of the club and people with free passes.

“You’re on my list too,” Ned whispered in Nancy’s ear, his lips grazing her cheek.

Nancy almost melted. “And you’re on mine,” she said. Ned looked so handsome in his jeans and black pullover sweater. But despite her confident manner, Nancy still wondered about their relationship. The two of them needed time to relax together, time to really laugh and let loose and put their problems in the past, where they belonged. Until the mystery was solved, that would be impossible.

Once they were inside the club, Nancy’s thoughts turned to Dave Peck. Determined to
hunt him down, she and Ned split up and swept through the rooms of each of the three levels of the elegant club, searching every corner. Nancy was impressed by the vastness and extravagance.

The people were varied, from elegant to bizarre, exotic to all-American. Nancy looked at each one, her search for Dave dead-ending in an upstairs room that was lined with televisions all tuned to MTV. Ned was waiting for her there, and it was plain from his expression that he’d had no more luck than she had.

“No sign of him?” Nancy said.