“Good luck!” Nancy watched as he walked away. She was about to turn back to her breakfast when something struck her. Quickly glancing back at Randy, her eyes traveled from his jacket, to his jeans, and down to his sneakers.
Purple high-top sneakers! Just like the shoes worn by the knife-wielding mascot!
Chapter Fifteen
“Oh, no!” Nancy gasped as a horrible idea occurred to her. Could Randy have been the one to attack her?
“Nancy, what’s wrong?” asked Bess. “You look as if you’d just seen a ghost.”
Nancy blinked and turned back to her friends. “Not a ghost, a pair of sneakers. Randy was wearing purple high-top sneakers.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve got them, too,” Jerry volunteered, slinging one foot out from under the table.
Nancy stared in disbelief. “You, too?”
“Everyone on the team has a pair of these babies. A local sportswear shop had them specially made for the football players. I know they’re kind of weird, but they gave us purple because of our school colors.”
“The mascot who attacked me was wearing purple sneakers,” Nancy explained. “That’s how I knew it was a guy, because his feet were so big.”
“You’re kidding!” Bess gasped.
Jerry frowned. “That sort of narrows down your list of suspects, doesn’t it?”
“I’m afraid it does,” Nancy agreed. “Now I’m convinced that one of the guys on the team is behind this mess.”
A heavy silence fell over the table. Finally Jerry broke it.
“It makes me sick to think someone on the team would do all this stuff. But if it’s true, he has to be rooted out and punished.”
“We’ll find him,” Nancy assured him, “even though it means investigating twenty or so guys in just a few hours.”
“Whoa! I hope you’re not counting me,” Jerry said, alarmed.
Bess giggled. “You’ve got a good alibi. You were with me when Nancy was attacked by that mascot!”
With a smile, Nancy said, “It’s the other players I need to zero in on—especially Josh.”
“But Josh was attacked, too,” Ned pointed out.
“True, but that whole incident was suspicious.” Nancy told the others her theory that Josh might have staged the attack at the library to direct suspicion away from himself.
“Sounds awfully extreme,” Jerry commented.
Nancy nodded. “I’ve been bothered by that, too. I can’t help but think our culprit must have some bigger motive than just jealousy or a vendetta against Randy. Whoever’s responsible is risking going to jail for attempted murder. That’s a pretty high price to pay just to get back at Emerson, or at Randy.”
“I see what you mean,” Ned said thoughtfully.
“But we still need evidence and motive that Josh is our man,” Nancy said, leaning forward in her chair. “Dean Jarvis is looking into his background, but this situation calls for some emergency measures. Here’s my plan—”
“Go, Wildcats, go!”
The cheerleaders shook their purple-and-orange pom-poms in time to the cheer, and the crowd responded with rousing applause. Bundled up in sweaters and jackets, Nancy and Bess were in the stands at the big game. Nancy cheered with the rest of the fans, but her whole body was tense with anticipation.
When the referee blew the whistle, a line of Emerson players ran across the field. The kicker positioned in the center sent the ball flying down toward the end zone, where the Russell team waited.
“That’s the kickoff,” Nancy whispered to Bess. “Time for us to go.”
As they descended the bleachers, Nancy’s eyes swept over the crowd. Was someone watching them? But no one seemed to notice as the girls climbed down from the stands, exited the stadium, and headed toward the sports center.
Nancy went over the plan with Bess as they walked. “Remember, I need you to guard the outside door while I’m in the locker room. Jerry says that the coach sometimes sends someone back to the locker room for extra equipment during games. If that happens, try to warn me. Think you can handle that?”
“A big, hulking football player?” Bess laughed. “No problem!”
“In the meantime, Ned should be checking in with Dean Jarvis right about now. Who knows, he might have already come up with some helpful information.”