Ned’s face was taut and white. “I can’t, either. And I wonder just how the police think we’re connected to all this.”
“I wish I could have seen what was on that piece of paper they both kept looking at,” said Nancy.
“I don’t like this, Nan,” Ned added grimly. “Not at all.”
They were pulling up in front of the police station now. Ned parked, and he and Nancy quickly scooted up the wide concrete steps past flocks of scurrying pigeons.
The hallway seemed dim after the bright sunshine. Nancy and Ned followed the two officers through a maze of corridors.
Chief McGinnis ushered them into a small room at the end of one hall.
“What are you guys doing here?”
It was Justin. He, Heather, and Brad were sitting on gray metal folding chairs in the room. All of them looked a little sick.
“Probably the same thing as you,” Ned answered with a wry smile.
“Sit down, Nancy and Ned,” the chief said. When they were seated, he began talking.
“We have a serious case of poisoning on our hands, and I understand that all of you knew the victim. As you may be aware, there’s been a rash of poisonings in the River Heights area over the past two days. Your friend has the same symptoms as the others—only hers are far worse. Now, I’d like each of you to tell me where you were today.”
“You mean, after we closed down the booth?” asked Heather in a trembling voice. “Because, you know, Marcia said we might as well close it since there weren’t any customers, so we—”
“After you closed down the booth,” the chief cut in. “After the group broke up, and you were on your own.”
Brad flinched. Justin’s gulp was audible, and Heather squeezed her hands together so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“You want our alibis.” There was a tremor in Justin’s voice.
Chief McGinnis nodded. “That’s one way of describing it.”
“I might as well start,” Justin volunteered. “I was at my house in River Heights with Ned.”
“Doing what?”
Justin bit his lip. “I was doing a chemistry test,” he said.
“A chemistry test?” Chief McGinnis raised his head and stared at Justin. “What kind of chemistry test?” he asked.
Once again Justin hesitated, and Nancy felt a surge of sympathy for him. She knew how incriminating his next statement was going to sound.
Ned cleared his throat. “We were testing lemonade for poison,” he said.
I’ve got to explain! Nancy thought. “Chief, my friend Bess was one of the people poisoned yesterday,” she said. “I thought she might have drunk tainted lemonade. That’s why Ned asked Justin to test the mix.”
“I know a lot about chemistry,” began Justin. Then he stopped short. “That makes it sound as though— Well, you see—”
“I see,” said the chief dryly. “I’m going to need to talk to you privately. Can you corroborate his statement?” he asked Ned.
Ned nodded, and Chief McGinnis turned to Nancy. “Where were you?”
“I was helping Bess Marvin check out of the hospital.” Nancy’s voice was steady. She knew that the hospital records would include the time of discharge. The police would be able to verify her statement. “Then I went to a restaurant to meet Ned. The waitress can vouch for us.”
“I was shopping at the mall,” Heather said when it was her turn.
The officer raised his eyebrows quizzically. “That’s not going to be easy to prove,” he said.
“Did you buy anything?” Nancy asked quickly.
Heather nodded, but her face was pale and her hands were trembling. “I did get a sweater, but I returned it about fifteen minutes later,” she said. “But maybe the salesgirl could—”
“We’ll check into it,” said the chief briskly. He turned to Brad. “How about you?”
“I was shopping, too. My mom’s birthday is this week.” Brad’s voice was firm, almost defiant. “I didn’t buy anything, though, if that’s your next question.”
“Well, that’s all the questions I have—for now, anyway,” said Chief McGinnis. “I’ll have these statements typed and ready for your signatures in a few minutes. Then you’ll be free to go.”
Brad, Justin, Heather, and Ned filed haltingly from the room, but Nancy stayed behind. She had a question of her own—and she wasn’t going to be frightened out of asking it.
“How did you know we all knew Marcia?” Nancy asked the chief.
“That wasn’t hard.” The chief pulled a familiar-looking sheet of paper from his clipboard. It was the one Nancy had tried to read in the squad car.
“We found this in the victim’s house,” he said, and began to read from it.
The sheet was an explanation of the Spotless marketing project. It listed all the students who were participating, their addresses, and the location and dates of the test.
“We also found these,” the chief went on. He pulled a pile of papers out of a large manila envelope.
They were Spotless questionnaires.
“ ‘Douglas Brody, age eighteen, formerly used Clearly,’ ” the chief read aloud. “ ‘Bonnie Harte, age seventeen, used Clearly—Chuck Loomis, age fourteen, several different products—Maryanne Jansen, age sixteen, no other product—Adam Poulios, age fifteen, used—’ ”
“Wait a minute,” Nancy interrupted tensely. “This can’t be a coincidence. I talked to some of those people this morning! Can I see that list?”
The chief held it out, and Nancy took it. Her hands were trembling with excitement.
“I knew it,” she said after a second.
All five poisoning victims she’d met in the hospital were on the list!
Chapter
Eight
THIS LIST SOLVES ONE MYSTERY,” Nancy told Chief McGinnis triumphantly. “Every one of the poison victims sampled Spotless.”
“Spotless? Isn’t that the cream you were testing?” asked the chief.
Nancy nodded. “All five kids I talked to at the hospital this morning took samples of Spotless. Every one of their names is here. That can’t possibly be a coincidence!”
When the chief looked at her curiously, Nancy went on. “At first I thought the poisoning must have something to do with River Heights High,” she explained. “But if everyone used Spotless, it all fits perfectly!”
Chief McGinnis stared at her thoughtfully. “It certainly makes a lot of sense,” he said. “Are you sure Marcia Grafton and your friend Bess both used the cream, too?”
“Bess definitely did,” Nancy said, nodding emphatically. “I saw her rub it into her face less than an hour before she fainted. I don’t know for sure about Marcia, but I’d guess she’d at least have tried Spotless. She’s been giving out samples of it—she must have put it on at some point.”
“Enough to send her into a coma, though?” asked the chief.
Nancy paused. “I don’t know. You’re right —that does sound a little farfetched. Still, I can’t believe there isn’t a connection between these poisonings and Spotless.”
Chief McGinnis nodded slowly. “You may be right, Nancy. There have been cases of product tampering, and this could be one of them. Good thinking on your part.” He reached for the phone. As he dialed, he said, “We’ll do some tests on your samples and contact the manufacturer.”
After he had given a few terse orders to the person on the other end of the line, Chief McGinnis turned back to Nancy.
“We’d better find your friends. Until we’ve resolved this, your marketing test is officially on hold.” He smiled at her ruefully. “We don’t want the entire teenage population of River Heights in the hospital.”
• • •
“Looks like that job with Premier just went down the tubes,” Justin said moodily. “I wish we could just dump this stupid booth in a trash can somewhere.”
Justin, Brad, Heather, Nancy, and Ned had just come from the police station. They were at the mall now, dismantling the Sp
otless booth they’d been so proud of just a day earlier. Everyone was feeling irritable.
“I wouldn’t give up hope about the job,” Ned told Justin. Ned and Nancy were packing the remaining samples of Spotless to take to Chief McGinnis. The police lab would test them and then impound them as evidence. “After all, the people at Spotless will have to realize this wasn’t our fault,” Ned went on.
“If anything, they’ll probably be relieved that we caught this problem before Spotless was actually out on the market,” Nancy put in.
“I guess you’re right,” said Justin, with a faint echo of his old jokey manner. “I mean, a blemish cream that poisons people is a great gimmick, but people would probably get tired of it pretty quickly.”
“Do you have to joke about this?” Brad burst out angrily. “Two of our friends have just been poisoned, and you think it’s funny?”
“Of course I don’t think it’s funny!” Justin snapped. “But what do you want me to do— cry?”
“Stop it, both of you!” said Heather sharply. She had been folding the tablecloth almost mechanically. Now she slapped the tablecloth furiously into its box and glared at Brad and Justin.
“You’re both being horrible,” she said. “And I don’t know about the rest of you, but this is the end for me. I’m dropping out of this stupid marketing program. It’s not worth it!”
Brad raised his head from the carton he was loading and stared at Heather for a moment. “That’s pretty drastic,” he said.
“Tell me poisoning’s not drastic!” Heather retorted. “At least seven people are sick, and one of them may not live. If that’s not serious, I don’t know what is.”
Brad pushed the carton shut and stood up. “Well, I don’t think you should change your major just because of an accident,” he said. “That’s the last carton, guys. We’re ready to roll.”
Without another word they each grabbed a box and started walking toward the mall exit.
Nancy’s carton was too heavy for her to walk very fast. She quickly fell to the back of the group behind Justin and Heather. As Nancy watched, Justin touched Heather’s arm and drew her aside. He began talking to her in a low voice—and judging from the expression on his face, what he was saying was not pleasant.
I wonder what he’s up to, Nancy thought as she passed them, not close enough to hear.
For no particular reason, a memory of the day before floated into her mind. It was the memory of Justin knocking the bottle of Spotless out of Bess’s hand.
“That stuff is dangerous!” he had shouted.
He had been right.
Could Justin have tampered with the samples? After all, he had worked for Spotless’s main competitor. Maybe he still was. What if he had deliberately sabotaged the samples just to help Asco?
Nancy shivered. It was an ugly thought, and she didn’t want to believe it.
But what if the same thought had occurred to Marcia? Nancy suddenly wondered. Maybe Marcia had been threatening Justin on the phone this morning! Perhaps she had realized that he’d tampered with the Spotless samples, tried to blow the whistle on him—and been poisoned to get her out of the way.
There was only one thing to do: find out what Justin was up to. She decided to head out to Asco right away. If I could just get a look at Justin’s employee file there, Nancy thought. That would be a good place to start—
“So what do you say, Nancy?” Ned’s voice brought her back to the present.
“What? I’m sorry, Ned. I wasn’t listening.” She set her carton down to rest her arms.
Ned rested his carton on top of hers and ruffled her hair. “Last Night is playing at the War Memorial tomorrow night,” Ned said. Last Night was one of his and Nancy’s favorite bands. “Do you want to go?”
Ned gestured toward Brad, who was walking alone a few yards ahead of them. “He’s taking this pretty hard. Why don’t we ask him to go with us? We could invite Bess and make it a double date.”
“I think it’s a great idea.” Nancy gave him a warm smile. “But don’t you have to get back to school tomorrow, now that you’re not working?”
“Nope. We’re excused for the next few days. Might as well take advantage of our time together. Hey, Brad!” Ned said.
Brad, still carrying his carton, turned around to face them. Quickly Ned told him about the concert and invited him to come along. “We’re going to ask Bess, too,” he said with a conspiratorial grin.
“Perfect!” said Brad. “I need something like this to cheer me up. Besides, there’s something I want to talk to you and Nancy about.”
“We probably should invite Justin and Heather, too,” Nancy said. Ned nodded.
Nancy turned back to look for Justin and Heather—and realized that this was not the time to ask them about a concert.
Heather and Justin were still caught up in their argument. Justin’s face was beet red now. Nancy couldn’t hear what he was saying, but she could tell that he was furious. Heather looked both frightened and defiant. Her eyes were darting around as if she was looking for a place to escape.
Suddenly she shook her head violently. “No!” she cried. “I said no!” This time Nancy had no trouble understanding her words.
Heather charged headlong toward the mall exit.
Just as quickly Justin dashed after her. In a few steps he’d caught up to her. He grabbed her forearm and pulled her roughly to a stop.
“No!” Heather cried again. As Nancy watched, she wrenched her arm from Justin’s grasp.
“Leave me alone, Justin!” she shouted. “I won’t do it!”
Chapter
Nine
JUSTIN’S FACE was only inches from Heather’s now. As Nancy watched, he raised a fist threateningly and shook it at Heather, who shrank back in terror. Then he smashed his fist into the wall next to her and stormed angrily out the door.
Nancy rushed up to Heather. “Are you okay?” she asked.
With a shaking hand, Heather pushed a lock of hair back into place. Her whole face was twitching. She licked her lips nervously and made a brave attempt at a smile. “Sure,” she said. “No problem!”
“What was that all about?” Nancy asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Heather said quickly. “Nothing’s wrong. Really. Or nothing will be as soon as I get rid of this.” She looked down at the shopping bag she was carrying. “I don’t ever want to see another test sample or think about another questionnaire. This is definitely not the field for me!”
She began walking out the exit again, and Nancy walked beside her. When they reached Heather’s car, Nancy asked, “Are you sure you’re all right to drive?”
“Oh, yes,” Heather said, but there was still a tremor in her voice. “I’ll be fine once I’m out of this stupid mall. Thanks for asking. I—I appreciate it.”
There was a look of real gratitude in her eyes. She paused for a second, as if she wanted to say something more. Then she climbed into the car and shut the door.
Nancy stood watching as Heather backed out, and then she tried to find Justin. He had obviously gone. Nancy scanned the parking lot for Ned. He and Brad were leaning against Ned’s car, the two cartons piled beside them. They were engrossed in conversation, and Nancy didn’t want to interrupt them. She gave them a quick wave as she hopped into her car and pulled out of the parking lot. She’d ask Ned later what was going on with Justin— maybe Brad knew something.
A swift glance at her watch told Nancy she’d have to hurry if she had any chance at all of getting into Asco on a Sunday. The afternoon was almost over.
Nancy would have enjoyed a leisurely drive over to LeBlond Avenue, where Asco headquarters were. The maples were just turning to their brilliant fall colors, and the sun was just setting. That day, though, Nancy was barely aware of her surroundings. All her thoughts were focused on where she was going—and how she was going to get inside. She had a plan, but she wasn’t at all sure it was going to work.
She had driven by the Asco buildings many times before wi
thout ever paying much attention to them. Now, as she approached the visitors’ parking lot, Nancy realized that the long, low white-brick building in front of the factory must contain Asco’s central offices. She parked close to the front door and walked around to the trunk.
Good thing I have my toolbox in the car, she thought as she lifted the trunk door and pulled out the metal box.
Now, if only she could use it to bluff her way inside to find out what she needed to know . . .
Nancy boldly walked up to the front door of the main building. If she was lucky, she’d soon know the truth about Justin Dodd’s relationship with Asco. If her luck didn’t hold— Nancy didn’t want to think about how she’d explain her presence in the Asco executive offices to Chief McGinnis. He’d been understanding in the past, but Nancy doubted that he’d be able to overlook entry under false pretenses.
Gripping her toolbox in one hand, Nancy walked into the building. There, at a large reception desk, sat a guard. She seemed to be the only person around.
The guard was a middle-aged woman in a blue uniform. She was watching her tiny TV so intently that she didn’t even notice Nancy walk up to the desk. Nancy had to clear her throat to get the woman’s attention.
“I’m here to repair the computer in the personnel office,” she told the guard. “They called us yesterday, but this is the first chance we’ve had to get here.”
“Personnel’s down the hall, second on the right,” the guard said in a bored voice. Clearly she accepted the fact that when an Asco computer was broken, it had to be fixed—even on a Sunday.
Well, that was easier than I expected! Nancy thought. Now all she needed to do was find the file—and hope no one from personnel had decided to work on Sunday.
As she opened the door and switched on the lights, Nancy whistled softly. This was an expensive office! There was an oriental rug on the floor, and the desks were made of highly polished walnut. From the lush potted trees and brass desk accessories to the dark walnut paneling, no expense had been spared. And this was only the personnel office. What could the executive offices be like?