The young woman punched some keys on her computer. “Yes,” she said.
Luke and Sean acted surprised as they waited a few yards from the counter.
“Good, can you tell me her room number?” Nancy said.
“I’m afraid I can’t give out that information. Just have the flowers delivered here, and I’ll send them up,” the clerk said.
“Thank you,” Nancy said. There was still no one else around to help the clerk, so Nancy decided to make her move. Turning her back to the clerk, she mouthed the words Get her out of the way to Sean and Luke. It took Luke only a moment to react.
“Excuse me,” he said brightly, stepping up to the counter. “I want to buy a present for my girlfriend. Is there a gift shop in the hotel?”
“Of course,” the clerk said helpfully. “It’s just down the—”
Luke cut her off immediately. “I’m just no good with directions,” he said with a charming smile. “Could you show me the way?”
“Certainly,” the young woman said, moving out from behind her counter. Luke leaned close to her and smiled warmly.
That was the moment Nancy had been waiting for. She jumped and caught herself on the edge of the massive hotel counter. Leaning over as far as she could, she was able to get a glimpse of the computer screen the clerk had been working at. She was in luck. The woman hadn’t cleared the screen after looking up Stormy Tarver. Nancy could see the room assignment—814. She hopped back down to the floor just as Luke thanked the clerk and turned around. She let Luke and Sean walk halfway across the lobby toward the gift shop before catching up to them.
“You’re pretty quick,” Nancy whispered to Luke as she stepped beside him.
“Thanks,” said Luke with a wry smile.
“I doubt you’re sending flowers to Stormy,” Sean said, “so you must consider her a suspect. Did you get her room number?”
“Yes. She’s in 814,” Nancy said as they continued down the hall to the gift shop.
“Is that important?” Luke asked.
“It could be,” Nancy said. “It’s the same number that was on a piece of paper Rod Sanders dropped at the ballpark last night.”
“Rod Sanders had Stormy Tarver’s room number?” Sean said, surprised.
“Quite a coincidence, right?” Nancy commented.
“But why would Rod be talking to the owner of the Rangers during the series?” Luke asked.
“Why, indeed,” said Nancy.
When they reached the gift shop, they paused. Farther down the hall Nancy noticed a side exit that looked as if it led to the parking lot. Nancy headed for it and was about to push through the door when she stopped dead in her tracks. There, in a newspaper box, was that day’s paper. As Nancy read the headline, she could hardly believe her eyes.
It said, Do or Die Championship—Desperate Stormy May Lose Team.
Chapter
Nine
COULD STORMY be desperate enough to kidnap Caitlin?
Nancy dug in her purse for some change, but Luke was ahead of her. After drawing some change out of his pocket, he deposited it in the box and opened the lid.
Nancy grabbed a paper and pushed through the door. Sean was close behind her, reading over her shoulder as they made their way to Luke’s car. Once inside, Nancy read aloud from the article.
In addition to the same rumors about Stormy’s finances Bess had overheard at the ballpark the night before, the paper also reported that the Rangers owner was in the middle of negotiating for a television contract for the next season. That contract could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the article said, enough to get Stormy out of her financial hole and save the team. But the television station was only interested if the Rangers won the series.
“That sure gives her a motive,” Luke commented when Nancy finished reading.
“It could,” she said.
The three of them stopped at a drive-in several blocks down from the River’s Edge. Over burgers and fries, Luke continued to talk about Stormy. Sean was quiet. When they were finished with lunch, Luke dropped off Nancy at her house. She told the guys that she’d see them at the game later, waved goodbye, and jogged up the walk.
Inside, she headed straight for the phone and dialed George’s number. Bess was with her cousin. Nancy told them everything that had happened at the hotel, then asked them to pick her up right away. “I’ve got a suspect to check out,” she explained.
“No problem,” George replied.
Ten minutes later Nancy heard a horn and dashed out the front door. When she reached her car, George scooted over so that she could drive.
“Where to now?” Bess asked.
“I want to check out Rebecca’s apartment,” Nancy said, taking her notebook out of her purse. “Let’s see if we can find it.”
It took Nancy only a few minutes to drive to the run-down apartment complex where Rebecca lived. She wondered if Delgado had already posted an agent there. If so, would he let them in? Of course, the FBI was supposed to be keeping a low profile, so maybe they’d let her do as she wished.
“Watch for building G,” Nancy said as she turned into the long driveway. The apartment buildings showed all the signs of age and neglect—peeling paint, missing shingles, and overgrown flower beds.
“There it is,” Bess said, pointing to a large wooden G hanging on one of the buildings. Nancy quickly parked the car, crossed the lawn, and climbed to the second floor. On the landing at the top of the stairs, Nancy found her first clue.
“Gray clay,” George said as Nancy pointed it out. “Is that important?”
“I don’t know,” Nancy said. “But there was gray clay by the side door of Sean’s garage yesterday.”
Nancy knocked on the apartment door and waited several minutes before pulling out her lock-pick kit from her pocket. “Tell me if anyone comes,” she said quietly before going to work.
In a moment the door swung open and Nancy peeked in at an empty studio apartment with a tiny kitchenette at one end.
“It won’t take long to check out this place,” Bess joked as she and George followed Nancy into the room.
Nancy glanced behind her one last time before closing the door. No one had seen them go in. She stood still just inside the door, her sharp eyes taking in every detail of the apartment.
“That must be Rebecca,” she said, pointing to a picture on the coffee table. It was a shot of a young woman with short red hair and a bright smile.
“It fits the description Luke gave us,” George confirmed.
“That’s not all,” Bess stammered, her eyes getting big. She stepped over to the picture to look more closely. “She’s wearing a Falcons’ concession stand uniform.”
“Are you sure?” George asked, joining her friends by the picture. “All you can see is the shirt collar.”
“You can see part of the Falcon emblem,” Nancy said, pointing to the tiny embroidered image of Freddy the Falcon.
“Why didn’t Sean tell us she worked at the stadium?” George asked.
“Maybe he didn’t know,” Nancy said, straightening up. “It could be an old picture.”
“Maybe she was fired and has a grudge against the Falcons,” Bess suggested excitedly.
“That’s speculation,” Nancy said. “But we’ll have to check it out.”
“I can help with that,” Bess said. “I’ll ask around at work tonight.”
“Good idea,” Nancy said. “Now let’s see what else we can find.” She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wrapped it around the knob on the drawer of the end table. Inside, Nancy found a stack of papers.
“They look like bills,” George said as Nancy turned over each paper, using the handkerchief to avoid leaving prints.
“Past-due bills,” Bess added. “I guess Rebecca has money problems.”
She continued leafing through the stack, then stopped when she came to a half-written letter.
“I’ve seen this handwriting before,” she said, pulling out the lett
er and laying it on top of the table. “I bet it matches the shopping list we found at Sean’s. The FBI will be able to say for sure.”
Nancy folded up the letter and put it into her pocket. She checked the tiny bathroom next and poked through each cupboard in the kitchen, but found nothing else interesting.
“Well, we found two clues anyway,” Bess said as Nancy carefully closed the door. “The letter and the unpaid bills.”
“Three, counting the clay,” George added.
“Yes,” Nancy said as they descended the stairs. “But remember, sometimes what you don’t find can be just as important as what you do.”
Bess and George wanted to know what else she had discovered. Nancy was about to explain when she nearly bumped into a plump, silver-haired woman in thick glasses who was on her way up the steps.
“You must have come to see Rebecca Carter,” the woman said, eyeing the girls suspiciously.
“What makes you say that?” Nancy asked.
“Because you’re coming down the stairs, and only Rebecca and I live up there,” the woman said. “You didn’t come to see me, did you?”
“Rebecca was supposed to meet us for lunch today, and she didn’t show,” Nancy said. “Do you know where she might be?”
“No, but you’re the second set of visitors Rebecca has had today,” she said. “Unusual for such a loner.”
“Really?” Nancy said. “Who else was here?”
“Two young ladies,” the woman said. She cocked her head to one side as though suddenly realizing something of great importance. “They were in her apartment this morning. But it’s funny, I didn’t see Rebecca. In fact, I saw her leave yesterday, and I didn’t see her come back.”
“What did her other visitors look like?” Nancy asked. “Maybe I know them.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure one of them had brown hair,” the woman said, her eyes narrowing to slits. “But it could have been blond. And the other one was wearing shorts and a shirt—white, I think, or maybe blue.”
Bess turned her head just enough so the woman couldn’t see her when she rolled her eyes.
Nancy thanked the woman warmly and went to her car.
“Who do you suppose was in Rebecca’s apartment this morning,” Bess whispered as they climbed into the Mustang.
“The FBI, maybe,” Nancy said, wondering what the agents might have found.
“I’m supposed to be at the ballpark in forty-five minutes,” Bess said. “Could we swing by my place so I can get into my uniform?”
Nancy agreed. While she and George waited for Bess, they talked about the case. They planned to eat dinner at the stadium during the game. It took Bess almost half an hour to change. Back in the car on the way to the Roost, Bess started to get nervous about being late. “I knew I should have ironed this blouse earlier,” she fretted. “But maybe I’ll still be on time.”
She was checking her watch for the third time when Nancy pulled up to an intersection. A large truck hauling lumber was making a slow turn, blocking their way.
“Now we missed the light,” Bess said as the signal turned red. “And this is not a good day to make my supervisor unhappy. I wanted to ask her about Rebecca.”
“I think this is a bad-luck intersection,” George said. “This is the same place the concrete truck nearly hit us yesterday.”
“Yes,” Nancy said as the light turned green again. “There must be some construction going on west of town.”
A few minutes later Nancy pulled her car into the Roost parking lot. Bess hurried toward her concession stand, and George followed Nancy to the locker rooms.
“I want to see if I can talk to Rod Sanders before the game,” Nancy said, taking long strides. “He’s the one who recommended Rebecca to Sean.”
“How are you going to talk to Rod without telling him about the kidnapping?” George asked.
“I thought I could pretend to be a free-lance writer,” Nancy said. “With Luke’s help it just might work.”
Nancy and George found a batboy to take a message into the locker room to Luke, but they had to wait almost fifteen minutes before he came out.
“We were having a team meeting,” he explained, flashing a smile in George’s direction. “Barrows is trying to get everyone psyched up for this one.”
He agreed to tell Rod that Nancy was a freelance journalist.
Nancy and George waited while Luke went back into the locker room. When he reappeared, Rod wasn’t with him.
“I don’t understand it,” Luke said. “He refused to come out, and he never turns down interviews.”
“Maybe he didn’t believe I was a reporter,” Nancy said quietly.
“No, that wasn’t it,” Luke said. “He just doesn’t want to talk to reporters. He said you could call him next week.”
“It almost sounds like he has something to hide,” George remarked.
Nancy was about to agree when the locker room door swung open with such force that it slammed into the wall with a crash. An angry Sean Reeves strode through the door and grabbed Nancy by the shoulder. He steered her forcefully down the corridor to a quiet corner and pushed her up against the wall.
“Listen and listen good!” he said. “I want you off this case, and the FBI, too. I want you all to get out of my life!”
Chapter
Ten
STARING INTO Sean’s anguished eyes, Nancy knew immediately that something awful had happened.
“Okay,” she said carefully. “If you’re sure that’s what you want, I’ll back off. But first let’s talk.”
Sean took his hands off her shoulders and tipped his head back in a way that told Nancy he was trying to get himself under control.
“Tell me what happened,” she coaxed gently.
“I got another phone call,” he said, still gazing toward the ceiling. “It was Caitlin.” He lowered his head and put both hands up to his face. “She was crying.”
Nancy waited, afraid to speak or even to move for fear Sean would stop talking.
“She kept saying she wanted to come home,” he said, his voice cracking. “She begged me not to tell anyone. She said if I tell, she can’t come home.”
Nancy’s mind was racing. She knew the call had terrified Sean, but it gave her new hope. At least Caitlin was all right.
“When did you get the call?” she asked.
“Just now,” he replied, finally looking at Nancy. “In Barrows’s office.”
“Did Barrows take the call?” Nancy pressed.
Sean nodded.
“Did he talk to Caitlin?”
“No,” Sean said. “He said it was some guy, then when I got there, Caitlin was on the line.”
Nancy quickly considered her male suspects. It couldn’t have been Rod Sanders or Bill Barrows. Both of them had been in the locker room. So who could have made the call?
“Listen carefully,” Nancy said firmly. “Some guy has Caitlin and he doesn’t know you’ve told anyone or you wouldn’t have gotten that call. Are you sure you want me off the case?”
Sean gazed up at the ceiling again, then shook his head. “No,” he said. “I’m not sure of anything, except that I want my little girl back.”
“Then you’ve got to give us more time.”
Sean took a deep breath, pressing his eyes closed for a moment. “Okay,” he whispered at last.
Nancy turned away from him long enough to observe Luke and George watching from down the corridor. Nancy nodded to them, and Luke came over quickly to stand beside Sean. Nancy took a deep breath. “You two have a ballgame to play,” she said, trying to sound as upbeat as she could.
“She’s right,” Luke said, slapping Sean lightly on the shoulder.
“Yeah, I know,” Sean said tonelessly. The two players were almost to the locker room door when Sean turned around. “Thanks, Nancy,” he said, and then he was gone.
“What was that all about?” George asked.
“Sean got another phone call,” Nancy said. “He’s scared.?
??
George shook her head sadly. “Is he going to throw another game?”
“I think so,” Nancy said. “The note yesterday said he had to lose the whole series.”
“Well, Nancy Drew, fancy meeting you here.”
Nancy saw Brenda Carlton strolling down the corridor.
“Are you really only here to watch the ballgame?” Brenda asked, eyeing Nancy suspiciously.
“Sure,” Nancy said brightly. “What else is there?”
“A mystery maybe,” Brenda said. “Involving a certain baseball player?”
Nancy felt a lump form in her throat, but she kept smiling. “You must know something I don’t,” she said. “What’s going on?”
Brenda stuck the reporter’s notebook she’d been holding into a pocket of her shoulder bag. “I heard from an anonymous source that the FBI is in town and that they’re investigating the playoffs.”
“Really? How exciting,” Nancy said, trying not to show her shock. “What type of case is it?”
“That’s the mystery,” Brenda said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Well, I guess you really don’t know anything, then. Too bad. It sounds like a big case.”
“I’m sure you’ll solve it,” Nancy replied, though Brenda didn’t seem to notice the trace of sarcasm that had crept into her voice.
“I’m sure I will, too,” Brenda said, leaving. “Just keep watching the paper.”
Nancy swallowed hard. She started down the corridor toward the stairway that led to the inside of the stadium.
“That sounds like trouble,” George commented.
“It sure does,” Nancy agreed, stepping into the stream of fans heading for the bleachers. “And knowing Brenda, she won’t think twice about putting this in the paper if she figures it out.”
Once again Luke had gotten them front row seats in the section above the stadium boxes.
Nancy felt a deep sadness as she watched the players warming up on the field below. Sean had come to River Heights to try to get his game back together and save his career. Instead, he was being forced to throw lousy pitches to save his daughter’s life.