037 Last Dance (3 page)

“Oh, sorry.” Nancy blushed. “I guess I was just—thinking.”

“So what else is new?” Ned asked with a grin. “You know, not to change the subject, but for some reason, I seem to be in love with you.”

Nancy could feel her face widen into a grin. Ned, tall and handsome, always had this effect on her—he could make her feel ridiculously happy.

“I love you, too,” she whispered, leaning forward. Their lips met in a long, melting kiss.

When they drew apart, Nancy felt a little dazed.

“What is on your mind, Drew?” Ned asked, stroking her cheek tenderly.

Nancy smiled. “Nothing,” she said dreamily. “Nothing at all.”

The next day, however, the questions returned to plague Nancy. She thought about Jon’s words all day—through her errands, through lunch
with her father, who was going out of town on business, through a game of tennis with George.

Could Jon Villiers have been the one who slashed her tires? And if he had, what was he planning next? How was he going to “take care of her”—if at all?

She was no closer to an answer when Ned came to pick her up that night.

“You look great,” he said quietly as Nancy opened the front door to him.

Nancy smiled. “Thanks,” she answered. “You look pretty good yourself.”

Hannah Gruen, who had been the Drews’ housekeeper since Nancy’s mother had died fifteen years earlier, wandered into the living room. “Hello, Ned,” she said warmly. “And where are you two off to this evening?”

“We’re meeting Laurie Weaver and her friend Jon Villiers for dinner,” Nancy told Hannah.

Hannah raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t he the owner of that new dance club? The one where your tires were slashed? Nancy, are you getting involved in another mystery?”

Nancy smiled. “Could be.”

• • •

When Nancy and Ned arrived at the restaurant where they’d agreed to meet the other couple, Laurie was already there, wearing a scoop-neck pink dress and white flats. But there was no sign
of Jon among the other diners waiting to be seated.

Laurie looked anxiously at her elegant gold watch. “Do you suppose something’s happened to Jon?” she fretted. “He should have been here by now.”

Nancy gave her friend a reassuring smile as they were seated. “I’m sure he’ll be along in a few minutes,” she said.

Twenty more minutes passed and still no Jon. Nancy noticed that Laurie couldn’t keep her mind on the conversation; she kept glancing out the window. Every time a car pulled into the parking lot, Laurie peered out to see if it was Jon’s.

A full forty-five minutes had gone by when Jon finally did arrive. His smile was warm and apologetic.

“I’m sorry,” he told Laurie earnestly, taking one of her hands in his. “I tried a shortcut along the old river road and ended up with a flat tire. It took me a long time to put on the spare.”

Nancy looked at Jon’s spotless pale yellow shirt, white jeans, and clean hands and knew in an instant that he was lying; a glance in Ned’s direction told her that he was thinking the same thing.

“Well,” Ned said, trying to smooth over the uneasy moment. “Let’s eat. I’m starved.”

Dinner was pleasant, but after only a few minutes, Nancy began to feel as if she and Ned were intruding. Jon was interested only in Laurie. He spent most of the meal staring dreamily into her eyes and hardly touching his food. Laurie seemed almost as smitten as he was. Nancy and Ned ended up talking to each other, and when they said good night to Laurie and Jon, the two love-birds barely noticed their departure.

“There sure seem to be a lot of flat tires going around,” Ned said after they were buckled into his car.

“I know what you mean,” Nancy agreed, thinking of her slashed tires and of the flat that had supposedly delayed Jon that evening. “In my . opinion, it’s almost impossible to change a tire in white jeans without getting dirty.”

“No smudges of grease on his hands, either. Did you notice that?”

Nancy nodded. “But he could have stopped someplace to wash up,” she said.

“He could have changed his clothes, too, I suppose,” Ned suggested. “But it doesn’t seem very likely that he brought extra jeans along, just in case he had a flat tire.” He started the car finally. “One thing is obvious. He’s crazy about Laurie.”

“And Laurie’s crazy about him,” Nancy agreed. She was gazing out at the stars, worrying about her friend.

Nancy drew a deep breath and exhaled. “I think it’s possible that Jon was the one who slashed my tires,” she confided.

Ned tossed her a look of surprise before turning his attention back to the road. “What?” he demanded.

“I didn’t mention it to you because I wanted to think about the whole thing first, but yesterday at Laurie’s party I overheard Jon talking on the telephone.” She paused. “He was telling someone not to worry, that he’d ‘take care of her.’ ”

“And you think you might be the ‘her’ he was referring to?”

Nancy hesitated before answering. “I’m not sure, but it seems possible, doesn’t it?”

Ned thought for a moment. “I guess. Except the tire slashing happened before the phone call.”

Nancy looked out the window. “There was something about his tone, about the conversation itself. I can’t tell you how I know, but I could tell it wasn’t the first time Jon had said those things, Ned.”

The expression on Ned’s face was serious. “What do you mean?” he asked.

She shrugged. “He sounded as if he’d been over the same ground before.” Nancy sighed. “And I can’t rule Adam Boyd out, either,” Nancy continued.

“What?” Ned asked, and Nancy told him
about her other suspect. “This is getting complicated,” he said.

“Want to come in for a while?” Nancy asked when they pulled into her driveway.

Ned gave her a quick kiss and shook his head. “Sorry. I promised Dad I’d watch the baseball game with him if he taped it. Don’t forget I’m going fishing with him tomorrow. Can you manage without me?”

“I won’t enjoy it, but I will bumble through,” Nancy promised.

Ned got out of the car and walked Nancy to her porch. There, in front of the door, he kissed her again. She was still feeling a little flushed when she went into the house and wandered out to the kitchen.

Hannah was puttering around in her bathrobe.

“Did you have a nice time?” she asked.

Nancy smiled and nodded, setting her purse on the table.

Hannah yawned. “Well, I’m off to bed. I know it’s early, but I’m exhausted.”

“See you in the morning, Hannah,” Nancy said, kissing her good night.

The telephone rang just as Nancy was leaving the kitchen. She answered it quickly. “Drew residence.”

Someone was sobbing quietly on the other end of the line. “Nancy? Is that you?”

“Who is this?” Nancy asked, alarmed. Suddenly she was wide awake.

“It’s m-me—Laurie,” her friend stammered. “Oh, Nancy, you’ve got to come over here, quick!”

“Laurie, calm down and tell me what’s the matter,” Nancy said evenly.

Laurie began to cry again. “Oh Nancy, I’m so scared—my parents aren’t home, and the servants are out—oh, please, Nan, come over right away!”

“I’ll be there in five minutes,” she promised. She hung up the phone and hurried out the back door. Moments later she was backing down the driveway and turning on the street toward the Weavers’.

Laurie met her at the curb. “I found this hanging from the front door when I got home from my date with Jon,” she told Nancy, holding out a piece of rope.

Nancy reached for it, then began to shiver. What Laurie had handed her wasn’t just a piece of rope. It had a single loop with thirteen twists around it—a hangman’s noose!

N
ANCY FELT A CHILL
race down her spine as she turned the noose over in her hands to examine it in the porch light. She looked at Laurie. “Obviously you didn’t see anybody, but was there a note or anything?”

Laurie’s lower lip quivered when she answered, “There was a note. Come into my mom’s study and I’ll show you.”

The note wasn’t much of a lead. It was written in bold black letters on a page torn from a ledger. “For pretty Laurie with my compliments,” it read.

Putting down the note, Nancy recalled where
she had heard “with my compliments” before.

That was it. Jon. Jon had told the waitress to use those exact words when he sent Laurie the soda at Moves the other night. Did that mean Jon had sent this note? It would explain why he had been late for dinner, too.

On the other hand, there was the strong possibility that Adam Boyd had arranged the soda incident. And the tire slashing.

Nancy sighed. Only one thing was certain—someone was out to scare Laurie. But why?

“What are you thinking?” Laurie asked, a slight quaver in her voice.

Nancy gave her friend a reassuring smile and put an arm around her shoulders. “Everything’s going to be all right,” she promised. But she was worried.

“Was Jon with you when you got home?” Nancy asked.

Laurie shook her head. “I drove to the restaurant in my own car. Jon had to go back to Moves but he offered to take me home. I told him I’d be okay by myself.” She glanced at the noose, lying where Nancy had put it on Mrs. Weaver’s writing desk. “Now I wish he’d been here,” she added in a quiet, distracted voice.

Nancy hesitated. “What about Adam?” she asked after a long time. “Do you think he’d be capable of something like this?”

Laurie went pale. She shrugged. “I don’t know.
He was upset when I broke up with him, and he’d made it clear that he doesn’t like Jon.”

Nancy sighed. “I didn’t mention this before because I didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily, but I saw Adam giving our waitress, Pam, money just after she spilled that soda all over you.”

Laurie’s eyes widened. “You think he paid her to do that?”

“That’s the way it looks.” Nancy paused. “I’m afraid there’s more. Laurie, I think—especially after tonight—that whoever slashed my tires was really out to get you, not me.”

“You mean someone got confused because our cars are so similar?” Laurie guessed. Nancy nodded.

“I thought I knew Adam,” Laurie went on sadly. “I mean, sure he was hurt when we broke up, but I never would have believed he’d do anything so mean.”

“Maybe it wasn’t Adam,” Nancy reflected. She watched Laurie closely for a reaction. “Maybe it was Jon.”

“Nancy! He’d never do any of these things. Anyway, he couldn’t have,” Laurie protested, looking angry now. “He was at dinner with us, and then at the movie—”

“And he was forty-five minutes late,” Nancy pointed out gently. “He could have come over here and left the noose before meeting us at the restaurant.”

Laurie shook her head wildly. “No,” she insisted. “He had a flat tire. Why are you saying these things? Jon loves me!”

Nancy knew now wasn’t the time to tell Laurie what she’d overheard Jon saying at the party. Instead, Nancy touched her friend’s arm. “Try to calm down,” she urged Laurie. “You don’t want to be upset when the police get here.”

“The police?” Laurie whispered, horrified. “I don’t want them involved in this!”

Nancy lifted the noose from Mrs. Weaver’s desk. “Laurie, when your parents get home and see this, they’ll call the police anyway.”

Laurie snatched the noose from Nancy’s hand, carried it over to the fireplace and tossed it onto the grate. She piled wadded-up newspapers on top and reached for a match.

“Laurie, that’s important evidence,” Nancy warned.

Laurie didn’t seem to hear. She adjusted the flue, then set the newspaper on fire. After a moment she rose to her feet and turned to face Nancy. “I’m begging you, Nancy—don’t say anything about this to my parents.”

“Why not?” Nancy wanted to know.

Laurie’s expression was troubled. Nancy knew there was something her friend was keeping from her. “I just don’t want them to know, that’s all. If you really care about me, Nancy, you won’t say anything.”

Nancy wanted to find out what Laurie was hiding, but she knew it would be useless to try that night. Instead, she asked Laurie for a flashlight, and the two of them went outside and circled the house to look for clues. Nancy was hoping to find tracks in the flowerbeds or the lawn, or something that the intruder might have dropped, but there was nothing.

She and Laurie were just completing the search when the Weavers came home.

“Who’s there?” Mr. Weaver immediately called out, teeing the flashlight.

“It’s only us, Daddy,” Laurie called. “Nancy lost one of her earrings at the party yesterday afternoon, and we were hoping to find it.”

Mrs. Weaver’s voice was warm and full of concern. “Surely you’d have a better chance of finding the earring in the daylight,” she suggested.

“We thought maybe it would catch the light,” Laurie answered.

Nancy was amazed at the web of lies her friend had woven in the space of a minute or so, but she didn’t say anything. If Laurie wanted to keep secrets from her parents, Nancy wouldn’t stop her—yet. But she did want to find out why Laurie insisted on being so secretive.

Laurie followed Nancy to her car. That haunted expression was still in Laurie’s eyes, and
Nancy couldn’t resist asking, “What is it that you’re not telling me?”