They walked in silence the rest of the way to the student center. Bess and Jerry were waiting by the door. Bess had decided on the pink dress, Nancy saw, and Jerry was wearing what was probably his only suit—navy.
“Nancy! Thank goodness you’re okay.” Bess rushed over and threw her arms around Nancy. “When I found out that Ned hadn’t sent that note, I felt awful!”
“Are you okay?” asked Jerry.
“I’m fine,” Nancy assured them, smoothing her silk dress, “though I didn’t plan to go jogging in this outfit.”
Bess gave her a curious look. “What?”
Ned explained. “He was still chasing Nancy when I found her.”
“Someone wants me off this case,” Nancy added, thinking aloud. “And it looks like he’s getting pretty desperate.” So am I, she added silently. How am I ever going to crack this before game time?
A campus security guard was standing inside the entrance to the student center. While Bess and Jerry went in to the dance, Nancy and Ned reported the attack on Nancy.
The security guard took down the details. “We have two cars patrolling the campus tonight. I’m going to radio them with this. They’ll be on the lookout for this joker.”
“I wish that all this was a joke,” Nancy whispered to Ned as they went inside to the dance.
“It’s not,” Ned said gravely. “It’s deadly serious. But for tonight, I want you to put the case completely out of your mind and have some fun.”
“I’ll try,” Nancy said with a shaky smile.
The dining hall looked even more elegant than it had late that afternoon. Candles now provided the only lighting. The flickering flames cast a warm glow over the entire room.
As her eyes skimmed over the crowd, Nancy spotted Jerry and Bess twirling on the dance floor.
“What do you think?” Ned asked. “Are you too tired to dance?”
Reaching up, Nancy placed her hands on his broad shoulders. “I’ll never be too tired to dance with you, Nickerson.”
Everything seems clearer in the light of day, Nancy thought as she took a sip of orange juice at breakfast the next morning. Ned was sitting beside her at a table in the student center, now bare of all the previous night’s homecoming decorations. Across the table, Bess and Jerry were splitting their second cranberry muffin.
The dance had been a welcome distraction from the case. But now Nancy was eager to get back to work. She had to find Carrie to see if she had lent her costume to anyone, and she wanted to check with the dean to see if he had any information for her. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was nearly ten-thirty. The game was at two-thirty. Each second was precious now.
“Hi, everyone.” Nancy heard Randy before she saw him come over to their table. He pulled a chair up next to Nancy and straddled it. His eyes were red from lack of sleep.
“You look exhausted!” Bess exclaimed.
“I am,” Randy admitted, nervously slipping a hand through his dark hair. “It’s ironic. I skipped the dance so that I’d get a good night’s rest. But as it turned out, I was home merely to receive a few more threatening phone calls. Finally I just took my phone off the hook.”
“Sounds like our creep had a busy night,” Ned commented. “Nancy was chased by some guy wearing the team mascot’s costume.”
“The wildcat?” Randy asked in disbelief.
“A deadly cat,” Jerry added. “This one carried a blade.”
“What!” Randy exclaimed. Then he shook his head in disgust. “Unbelievable. I’m sorry that you got dragged into this whole thing.”
Nancy shrugged. “It’s part of being a detective. Call it an occupational hazard.”
“Well, I’m still not giving up,” Randy vowed. “That creep kept calling last night, but I just kept telling him no dice. I’m not going to throw this game. I’m going to do my absolute best to win today’s game for Emerson.”
“And we’ll be right behind you,” Jerry added. “All the guys on the team want to win this one. You can count on us to give it our best shot.”
“Thanks, buddy.” Randy stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ll catch you guys later.” He gave them a thumbs-up sign. “Wildcats all the way!”