Nobody's Business (9 page)

Mrs. Deekman shook her head no. “Poor Hubert.”

“He must really have been in love with her for him to change his whole look and personality,” Ned said. “Who was she?”

“Her name was Julie,” Mrs. Deekman said. “Julie Ross.”

N
ANCY'S MIND
was reeling. Master Blaster's ex-girlfriend was Andrew's former fiancée!

That opened up a whole new realm of possibilities in the case. Could Blaster and Julie be working together to ruin Andrew's inn project? That would explain what Blaster was doing by the back door the day Julie had run off through the woods.

“Tell me about Julie,” Nancy said to Mrs. Deekman. “Why did she and Blaster break up?”

Mrs. Deekman replaced the picture on the mantel and sat back down in her armchair. “Hubert and Julie have been friends since they were children,” she explained. “They dated in
high school, until Julie broke up with him the summer after their junior year.”

Ned prodded Nancy in the ribs with his cast, then asked Mrs. Deekman, “What happened? Did she meet someone else?”

Blaster's grandmother nodded sadly. “Julie met an older fellow, a college student,” she said. “It was a whirlwind romance, from what I hear. Hubert couldn't accept the fact that Julie didn't love him anymore. He was very jealous.”

“And that's when he changed his image?” Nancy guessed.

Mrs. Deekman nodded. “Hubert was always interested in music. When Julie left him, he swore to become a rich and famous recording star, just so she'd regret that she'd walked away from him.”

“He certainly seems very ambitious,” Nancy said. “I guess that's helped him get over Julie.”

“Oh, no,” Mrs. Deekman disagreed. “He's never forgotten her. In fact, when she broke up with the college fellow a few weeks ago, Hubert tried to win her back.”

“How does Julie feel about Blaster now?” Nancy asked. “Does she want to get back together with him?”

“No. Julie's still pining over her ex-fiancé. Poor Hubert.”

Mrs. Deekman probably didn't realize it, but she'd just provided Nancy with a motive linking Blaster to the crimes at the inn: revenge. He
might be trying to get back at Andrew for stealing Julie away from him.

Getting to her feet, Nancy said, “Thank you for all your help, Mrs. Deekman.” Ned rose, too, and Mrs. Deekman showed them to the door and said goodbye.

Nancy waited until she and Ned were in the car and halfway down the block before she said, “Can you believe it? Blaster and Julie? I never would have guessed it.”

“You've got everything you need, now, huh?” Ned said. “Blaster had the motive to get back at Andrew, and he definitely seemed nervous and edgy the past few days. If we can prove he copied the keys or catch him tonight, we'll have it all wrapped up. I told you it wasn't Andrew.”

Although it was only five-thirty, it was already dark outside. Nancy peered at the street signs lit up by her headlights, retracing her way back to the inn. “I agree that Blaster is our number-one suspect,” she said, “but I think it's a little premature to convict him. There are too many other things we can't explain.”

“Like what?” Ned asked.

“Julie's visits to the inn, for one thing,” Nancy said. “We know she's been there, but apparently it hasn't been to visit Blaster.”

Turning onto the little road that led to Moon Lake, she added, “I can't rule out Andrew, either. He seems to have more reason to want the inn to fail than to succeed. And then there's the uninvited
guest in the basement. I still have to follow up on that T-shirt I found down there.”

Ned leaned forward to turn up the heat, taking care not to hit his cast against the dashboard. “Well, I'm still convinced it's Master Blaster, but I guess we'll learn more tonight.”

• • •

Andrew and Bess were in the ballroom unrolling sleeping bags when Ned and Nancy got back to the inn. The big room was dark except for a, circle of work lights around the sleeping bags.

“Great, you're back. And you remembered dinner!” Bess called, gesturing to the shopping bag Ned carried.

“We stopped at the store in Moon Lake,” he explained, putting the bag down.

Nancy squinted dubiously up at the lights. “We'd better turn those out,” she said. “We don't want to scare away the intruder. We should check the front and back doors, too, to make sure they're locked. That way we'll have a little time to hide if we hear the intruder.”

“I'll be right back,” Andrew said. He jogged across the ballroom toward the main hall, returned after a minute, then disappeared through the door under the balcony.

“We're all set,” he said when he came back. He turned out the work lights one by one until the vast ballroom was lit only by silvery moonlight. It took a few minutes for Nancy's eyes to adjust
to the darkness, but soon she could make out her friends' faces fairly well.

“So what did you find out?” Bess asked, unloading the grocery bag as Nancy and Ned sat down side by side on a sleeping bag.

Nancy filled them in on how they'd followed Julie and on Mrs. Deekman's revelation about Julie and Blaster.

“Master Blaster and Julie?” Andrew asked, an expression of total shock on his face. “She said she'd had a boyfriend, but I never would have guessed it was him.”

“Well, it was. Working here could give him the perfect chance to pay you back for stealing Julie away,” Nancy told Andrew.

Even in the darkness Nancy could see the troubled look in Bess's eyes. Nancy decided to let the subject drop for now, but over the next few hours she noticed that Bess was quieter than usual and only nibbled at her roast beef sandwich and potato salad.

“So what's the plan, Nancy?” Ned asked after they'd cleaned up after dinner.

Nancy thought for a moment. “I guess we should stay here,” she said. “If someone comes in the back door, they'll have to walk through here, and we're close enough to the front door to hear if someone comes in through the lobby.”

“What about sleeping?” Bess asked.

“We can take turns keeping watch,” Nancy
said. She planned to stay awake the whole time, though, so she could keep an eye on Andrew. He might try to sneak away during his watch, while the rest of them were asleep.

Bess yawned. “I'm tired already,” she said. “What time is it?”

“Almost ten o'clock,” Nancy said, checking her watch.

“This is sort of romantic, isn't it?” Ned asked, moving closer to Nancy and putting his left arm around her.

“Romantic
wasn't the word / was thinking of,” came Bess's nervous voice.

“You're not still worried about the ghost, are you?” Ned asked her.

Bess smiled sheepishly. “I know it's silly, but in the dark, I feel like Rosalie's ghost could be right here in this room.”

Grinning at her friend, Nancy said mischievously, “Maybe her ghost
is
here.”

“Yeah, right,” Ned said sarcastically. “And maybe I'm—”

He broke off as a sudden, frigid blast of cold air washed over them. A moment later Nancy heard loud, shuffling footsteps echoing somewhere overhead.

“It's Rosalie's ghost,” Bess whispered hoarsely, sitting bolt upright.

Nancy craned her neck, looking in the direction the sound was coming from. She tried to stay
calm, but she could feel the hairs rise up on the back of her neck.

Suddenly she noticed something white fluttering up in the balcony. Before Nancy could say anything, a high-pitched moan filled the room, and the white shape floated into a shaft of moonlight.

Then, as another moan filled the air, the ghostly form jumped off the balcony toward Nancy and her friends!

I
TOLD YOU
there was a ghost!” Bess cried. “Let's get out of here!”

Nancy jumped to her feet and ran toward the white form, which fluttered just above the floor a few feet away from the circle of sleeping bags.

“What
is
that thing?” Ned said, behind her.

The white shape lightly touched the floor and flattened out, then went still. Nancy laughed when she realized what it was.

“It's a plain bedsheet, you guys!” she called out. Lifting the sheet, she found some hangers bent in the rough outline of a head and torso. “Someone must have thrown it from the balcony.”

“How'd they get up there?” Andrew asked as
he and Bess joined Nancy and Ned by the sheet. “We didn't hear anybody come in.”

Nancy was instantly alert, listening. “You guys, the person might still be there,” she whispered excitedly, hurrying toward the back door to the dining room. “Wait here. I'm going to check the back door and balcony before the person has a chance to get away.”

As Nancy ran down the back hall, she felt another rush of cold air. When she reached the door, it was open. She stuck her head outside and looked at the moonlit lake and at the path running behind the inn, but saw no sign of anyone.

Quickly she closed and bolted the door, then rushed back down the hallway to the ballroom.

“Well?” Ned asked.

Nancy shook her head in frustration. “Whoever it was probably got out the back door.”

“Let's check out the rest of the inn, just in case the person's still hiding,” Andrew suggested.

Turning on all the lights, Nancy, Ned, Bess, and Andrew scoured the inn, checking all the upstairs rooms, the lobby, the dining room, the kitchen, the library, and the basement. Up in the balcony the stereo was still warm, and the two cassette decks were empty and had been left open. Otherwise, they found no sign of anyone.

One good thing came out of the prank, though, Nancy reflected. Andrew now seemed less guilty than he had before. There was no way he could
have rigged the ghost and the sound of shuffling feet himself while he was downstairs sitting on his sleeping bag. It was still possible that Andrew was working with someone, but Nancy doubted his partner was either of her top suspects—Julie or Master Blaster. They both had more reason to hurt him than help him.

“I can't believe the person got away again,” Andrew said, frowning, as they all regathered in the ballroom after their search.

Ned gave Andrew a sympathetic smile and said, “At least we stopped him from doing any harm.”

“Yeah,” Bess agreed, sinking down on her sleeping bag. “I don't know about the rest of you happy campers, but I've had enough excitement. I'm ready to go to sleep.”

“We might as well all call it a night,” Nancy said. “I think we've seen all the special effects we're going to see. Besides, I want to get up bright and early and go to Bentley High School. It's time to check out that Bentley High Boneheads T-shirt.”

• • •

“There it is,” Ned said early Thursday morning as he and Nancy drove to Bentley, armed with directions from Andrew.

Bentley High School had just appeared over the top of the hill. It was a square, three-story granite building with a tall clock tower.

“I guess school's already in session,” Nancy
said as she found a spot in the nearly full parking lot.

“That's what I like about college,” Ned said. “We get longer holiday vacations.”

They went in the main entrance and found themselves at one end of a long linoleum-floored corridor. Students were gathered by the bright orange lockers lining the walls along either side. After asking some students for directions to the administrative offices, Nancy and Ned went to the end of the long hall and turned right.

“Here we go,” Nancy said, seeing an office marked Student Affairs.

Stepping inside, they found themselves in a large room with several tables and chairs and bookshelves lining the wall. The only desk was occupied by a pudgy woman with shoulder-length brown hair and glasses.