“Good guess.” Nancy told him about the float that had crashed into the street. “I was wondering if you could look up the records of some of the suspects and fill me in on anything unusual.”
“That information’s confidential—” Dean Jarvis began hesitantly.
“I understand that,” Nancy cut in quickly. “I’m not asking to read anything. But it wouldn’t break any rules for you to check, would it?” Noting the dean’s frown, she tried another tack. “If you feel uncomfortable about releasing confidential information, you don’t have to tell me. But, please, check the files. And if you find anything unusual, at least report it to the police.”
Dean Jarvis stared down at the floor for a moment. Finally he looked up again and said, “You’ve got a deal.” Pulling a small notepad from the breast pocket of his tweed jacket, he asked, “Now, who are the suspects?”
Nancy asked him to check on Tamara Carlson and recheck her sister Susannah’s file. The dean jotted down their names. She also added all the members of the football team.
“I was also wondering about Emerson’s first-string quarterback, Josh Mitchell,” Nancy went on. “Maybe he thinks you’ll let him play if Randy is injured.”
“But Josh was nearly injured, too,” the dean pointed out.
Nancy had been having second thoughts about Josh’s accident, and now she spelled them out for the dean. “It looks that way,” she said, “but I have my doubts. Josh definitely wasn’t doing any studying in the library when he was attacked today. He didn’t even have a pen with him, much less any books. It’s possible that he worked with an accomplice and engineered the ‘accident’ to divert suspicion away from him.”
She took a deep breath as she added, “I’m also wondering about Josh’s father, Coach Mitchell. His motive could be the same as Josh’s.”
Dean Jarvis stopped writing and lowered his pad. “You suspect a member of our own faculty?”
His question made Nancy feel a little uncomfortable. “I know he doesn’t have an obvious motive, but I’d rather double-check and be safe.”
Frowning, Dean Jarvis wrote down the name.
With a sigh, the dean closed his notepad and tucked it away. “All right, Nancy. I’ll check the files on everyone—including the coach—if there’s any chance of finding our menace.”
Nancy grinned at him. “Thanks, Dean Jarvis.”
“I have a special message for you,” Bess said with a smile as soon as Nancy opened the door to their suite. Bess was sitting on the couch in the living room with a book in her lap and her feet tucked beneath her. She was in her pink terry-cloth bathrobe, and a towel was wrapped turban-style around her hair.
“From a special guy?” Nancy inquired, raising her eyebrows.
“It’s from your one and only,” Bess confirmed, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. “Ned has a surprise for you. Instead of picking you up, he wants to meet you at the entrance of College Woods in an hour.”
“A surprise?” Nancy felt a delicious tingle. “I wonder what Nickerson is up to?”
“It sounds incredibly romantic to me,” Bess gushed.
Nancy flew into her little bedroom and began peeling off her leather jacket, jeans, and turtleneck. “In that case, I guess I’d better start getting dressed!”
After a quick shower, Nancy pulled back her reddish blond hair in a French braid. She slipped on a green silk dress and matching belt, then applied just a touch of eye shadow and blush.
“How do I look, Bess?” she asked, going to the open doorway to the bathroom.
Still in her bathrobe, Bess was rubbing moisturizer on her face. Looking at Nancy’s reflection in the mirror over the sink, she smiled and said, “Terrific! I love that color. It really brings out the blue in your eyes.”
“Thanks.” Nancy pulled a black blazer on over her dress. “Are you wearing the pink or the purple?” she asked, nodding to two dresses that hung on the inside of the bathroom door.
“I haven’t decided,” Bess moaned. “What do you think?”
“I think you’d better make a decision, or else you’ll still be wearing your bathrobe when Jerry arrives,” Nancy teased. “I’d better get going before Ned starts wondering what happened to me. See you at the dance!”