The Wrong Track (9 page)

“Some of the water might have splashed into your bowl,” Dr. Gorman concluded. “What kind of flowers were they?”

“Lilies of the valley.”

Nancy heard him turning the pages of a book.

“That's it!” the doctor cried. “Lilies of the valley are highly poisonous. Even the water they've been standing in can cause serious illness.”

“Are you sure?” Nancy asked.

“Yes,” he said. “But that's good news. The poisoning must have been accidental.”

It was a comforting theory, but Nancy had a strong feeling that it was wrong. The poisoning
had been no accident. The vase of flowers had been in the center of the table, too far from her bowl for an accidental spill to reach her soup.

Nancy thanked the doctor and hung up, her mind reeling. There was no doubt about it. Someone had deliberately poisoned her, someone who knew about flowers.

Still, after all her investigating, Nancy had been unable to narrow her list of suspects. Now Dr. Gorman's diagnosis had made the case even more complex.

Nancy had a new suspect: Sheila Reismueller.

T
HE CASE NOW HAD
a new angle. Not many people at Tall Pines knew enough about flowers to know that lilies of the valley could be poisonous. But Sheila Reismueller would have that kind of knowledge. She had also picked up the flowers and rearranged them when they were knocked over.

But why would Sheila want to poison her?

If the resort owner's wife knew Nancy was a detective investigating the theft, and if Sheila was hiding something about the theft, that would give her a reason to poison Nancy.

But that was a lot of ifs. Maybe there wasn't any connection at all between the theft and the poisoning.

Sheila's nervousness around Nancy
was
suspicious, though. Nancy didn't believe Sheila's explanation
about the phone call, either. But what was she hiding? It made no sense.

With a sigh Nancy picked up the phone. One thing she could do was check on the Tall Pines employees. She wanted to find out who at the resort had a record. Sheila had said someone did. There was a chance that that person had slipped and committed another crime.

Within a few minutes Nancy was connected to Chief McGinnis of the River Heights Police Department. With a little convincing Nancy was able to get him to run a trace on her main suspects: Ben Wrobley, Jody Ashton, and—just to be on the safe side—Sheila Reismueller. The chief agreed to contact her as soon as he found out anything.

Almost as soon as Nancy hung up the phone she heard a knock on the door. Bess and George were back.

“You were right!” Bess exclaimed, grinning. Obviously they were pleased with their investigation. “When we told Jody's landlady we were planning a surprise party for her, she let us into the apartment.” Bess chuckled. “Those balloons were worth their weight in gold.”

“So what did you learn?”

Bess's smile faded as she and George entered the condo. “Not much. We couldn't find the money anywhere. We searched everything.”

“How about bankbooks? Did you find them?”

“There was only one savings book,” George said, “and that didn't have any big deposits.
Jody's been putting in small, regular amounts every payday.”

“That seems to back up Jody's story that she's saving money for college,” Nancy said, thinking out loud.

“The only strange transaction was one Jody made—a big withdrawal,” Bess said, tossing back her long blond hair.

That
was
strange. “How much?” Nancy asked.

“Two thousand dollars,” George answered. She sank into the sofa and let out a long sigh. “It doesn't seem like we're getting anywhere on this case,” she said, shaking her head. “Rebecca's been calling me to find out how we're doing. What can I tell her, Nan?”

“You can't tell her much, but I guess you can say my cover's blown, and that someone tried to poison me last night,” Nancy said.

“Nancy!” Bess cried. “Are you joking?”

George's eyes became round. “Poison?”

Nancy nodded and quickly told her friends about the lab results. “So the culprit has to know something about flowers. Any sign that Jody does?”

George looked at Bess, and they both shook their heads. “Ben doesn't, either,” George said.

“That leaves Sheila. . . .” A thought nagged at Nancy. Who else at Tall Pines knew about flowers? Then it hit her. “And Dave Kendall!”

It was ten-fifty, and Nancy had almost forgotten her eleven o'clock appointment with Dave. She grabbed her jacket and headed for the door.
“See you at the snack bar for lunch?” she asked. “Twelve?”

“Sure,” George said, confused. “Anything else we can do?”

“Nope!” With that Nancy waved goodbye and was on her way to Dave Kendall's office. Since she'd arranged to interview him anyway, she thought, this would be a great opportunity to find out exactly how much he knew about flowers.

When Nancy entered Dave's office the general manager was standing in front of a filing cabinet.

“Hi,” Nancy said as she entered the office. “Ready for our interview?”

Dave turned around, and Nancy saw that he was holding a small trowel. Light streamed through the windows onto the masses of orchids. “Just give me a second to finish potting this, and I'll be with you.”

Dave brushed off his hands and sat down behind his desk. “Now what can I do for you?” he asked. “I hope you're enjoying your stay here.”

“I am.” Nancy glanced at the orchids. “Those flowers are beautiful,” she said. “Do you grow anything else?”

Dave leaned back in his chair and smiled. “I've tried, but my green thumb seems limited to orchids. Strange, because most people find that they're the hardest to grow.”

“It is strange,” Nancy agreed, turning back to him. She cleared her throat and took out her notepad. “It seems that your prankster has struck
again,” she said. Then she went on to explain the details of her poisoning the night before. “I know my editor is going to want some reassurance that things are under control at Tall Pines before we print any review. Do you have a comment?”

Dave was silent for a moment, giving Nancy the impression he was carefully weighing his words. “From what you say, it sounds like an accident—an unfortunate one, to be sure, but still an accident. The vase overturned, and obviously water splashed into your soup.” He paused. “You have my personal assurance that everything here at Tall Pines is in order. Any other questions?”

Nancy tapped her pencil on her notebook. Dave's explanation didn't take into account what had happened in the sauna or on the ski trail. His manner was professional, but he could easily be hiding something.

She spent a few more minutes posing questions that she thought a reporter for
Tracks
might ask. Dave easily answered her questions about their expansion plans and advertising campaign, showing little nervousness or concern that she might be anything more than a reporter. If he suspected she was a detective, he didn't show it.

Nancy realized she wasn't going to get much more out of Dave Kendall and finished up the interview. “Thanks for your time,” she said, standing to leave.

“No problem,” Dave said. He gave her a polite smile and a firm handshake. “You must be almost done with your story.”

Nancy packed her notebook and pencil and headed for the door. “Almost,” she told him.

“That's good,” he said, holding the door for her. “And don't worry about these accidents. In my experience, when a resort first opens there are always a few wrinkles to iron out.”

Nancy thanked him and left, thinking that what was happening at Tall Pines was a lot more serious than a “few wrinkles.” She made her way to the snack bar to meet Bess and George and wondered along the way why Dave Kendall was so reluctant to take the accidents seriously. Was it simply his wanting to reassure her because she was a reporter, or was the man trying to cover something up?

Just as Nancy was coming up to the ski shop she saw an expensive-looking green sports car pull into the main parking lot. From the spotless shine and the temporary plates Nancy could tell that it was brand-new.

She admired the sleek lines of the car as the driver steered it into an empty space, stopped, and got out.

Nancy's mouth fell open in amazement. The person getting out of the brand-new sports car was none other than Jody Ashton!

J
ODY PATTED THE FENDER
of the car before carefully locking the door. As she turned she saw Nancy.

“Isn't it the best?” she asked, tossing her keys in the air. “I just picked it up. I can't believe it's mine—finally. Wow!” she said under her breath, gazing at the car one last time.

“It's gorgeous,” Nancy agreed. She ran her eyes over the car and calculated to herself what it must have cost. Even if Jody had had enough for a down payment from her savings account, how could she possibly afford the monthly payments if she was saving for college? Unless she'd just come into some money—like fifty thousand dollars from the Tall Pines payroll, for example.

“There's a sleigh ride at dusk today,” Jody was saying. “Are you going?”

Nancy's thoughts were still on Jody's brand-new
car. She nodded absently. “I wouldn't miss it.”

“Well, I'd better get back to the shop,” Jody said. “See you later!” She waved and walked off toward the main building.

Nancy made her way to the snack bar, mulling over this latest development. What if Jody had taken the money and found out Nancy was investigating the theft? The girl would have a good reason for trying to get her off the case. Jody had known she was going to the sauna and that Nancy and Bess were going to ski Aerie. Only her theory didn't account for the fact that, as far as she knew, Jody didn't know enough about flowers to poison her. Sheila was still her number-one suspect for the poisoning.

Nancy glanced around the snack shop for Bess and George. The room was filled with guests, but there was no sign of Nancy's friends. She decided to check out the gift shop and ski school.

As she opened the door to the ski school Nancy immediately saw George standing in front of the counter talking to Ben. There was no sign of Bess.

After Ben and George finished their conversation Ben went over to his locker. Nancy shot George a warning look and asked casually, “How are the trails this morning?”

“Great,” Ben said. “The fresh snow last night really helped—That's odd,” he said, interrupting himself.

“Is something wrong, Ben?” George asked.

Ben was standing next to his locker, a puzzled
expression on his face, holding a bunch of white flowers. Nancy raced over to Ben. “Can I see those?” she asked, reaching for the flowers.

It was a bouquet of wilted lilies of the valley!

Ben just stared at Nancy, his confusion obvious. Finally he handed her the flowers.

“Do you know what these are?” Nancy asked.

Ben shrugged his shoulders. “They look like dead white flowers.” He sounded genuinely puzzled.

“They're lilies of the valley,” Nancy said, watching Ben's face.

“So?” Once again Ben's voice was casual. He seemed to have no idea of the flowers' significance.

“What's wrong?” George asked innocently. Nancy could see in her friend's eyes that George was as surprised as she was to see the flowers.

“Last night someone tried to poison me with lilies of the valley,” Nancy explained.

George gasped. “You're kidding,” she said, pretending to be surprised to protect Nancy's cover. “You're the reporter, aren't you?” When Nancy nodded, George asked, “Why would someone try to poison you?”

Ben grew pale. “Don't look at me!” he cried.

“These
were
in your locker,” Nancy said, holding out the flowers. “They didn't get in there by magic.”