Teresa was shaking her head violently. “No! There was a phone call—” She stopped abruptly.
“Teresa, tell me!” Nancy needed the facts before the police showed up and chased her away.
Teresa looked at her for a long moment. Then she nodded. “Someone called,” she whispered. “Not Roberto—it was a message from Roberto.”
“In English or Spanish?”
“Spanish. It said Roberto was hurt and needed me. He wanted me to come to get him.”
“Where?”
Teresa gave an address in Alexandria. “I knew Señora Ramirez wouldn’t let me go. She was hired especially to watch out for me on this trip, and she is very strict. She thinks I should have my mind only on my tennis game. So I . . . I tricked her.”
“Didn’t you realize how dangerous it could be?”
Teresa just looked at Nancy. “In my country, there is always danger. We have a dictatorship, very harsh—and often there are troublemakers from outside.” She shrugged. “Roberto needs me. I must go.”
“Not now, you can’t,” Nancy said firmly. “I’ll go.”
As she said it she remembered with a start that she also had to meet Senator Kilpatrick’s mysterious courier soon. Nancy knew she needed to make sure Teresa was safe, then go after Roberto before it was too late. With relief, she saw Dixon and one of the policemen coming toward them.
“We’ll take over now,” the policeman said. He and the house detective led Teresa away.
Nancy returned to her suite, where George and Bess were anxiously waiting. “We’re going with you,” Bess said promptly when Nancy described her evening plans.
“Somebody has to be here in case the senator calls.”
“I’ll stay this time,” George said.
“What you’d better do is order in some pizza for around ten o’clock,” Nancy suggested, changing rapidly into the requested T-shirt, skirt, and red belt. “Looks as if none of us is going to get any real dinner. Come on, Bess.”
With Bess holding a map and acting as navigator, Nancy cruised through the factory area on the outskirts of Alexandria, looking for the address Teresa had given.
“Either you heard her wrong or Teresa was supposed to meet her boyfriend in the Potomac River,” Bess said at last.
“Maybe that’s exactly what somebody had in mind,” Nancy answered. “We’d better head for the tournament. Bess, go to your seat and stay there. Something dangerous is going on. If I don’t show up by nine-thirty, send help!”
An amber moon was shining as they drove into the Loudon College parking lots. Nancy was fortunate to find a space close to the gym. She went with Bess to the box and leaned well forward in it, directly into the stream of light coming from nearby floodlights. It seemed a good way to advertise her arrival to whoever was watching for a girl in a denim miniskirt and a red belt.
At ten minutes to nine Nancy made her way to Hollins Gymnasium and used her pass to get in. Fluorescent lights glowed in the corridors, but the place seemed deserted. Nancy’s running shoes squeaked spookily on the stone floors.
Cautiously Nancy entered the locker room. She was glad she’d been there earlier for that stolen shower. She knew her way around, knew the hiding places to watch out for—or to take refuge in.
The locker room was like all locker rooms—dim, full of discarded clothing, the smell of disinfectant and athletic equipment, the sound of water dripping from a faucet somewhere.
Nancy sat down on a gray wooden bench that gave a good view of all the doors and waited.
The overhead clock, obeying some class-session programming, rang noisily at 9:10 and again at 9:15.
No one came.
At twenty-five after nine, a door squeaked distantly. Nancy stiffened. Then she relaxed. It was no courier—apparently a match was over, and players and their chaperons were returning. They went directly to the shower room, ignoring Nancy.
Casually Nancy left the locker room and hung around for a few more minutes in the light directly outside the entrance of the gym.
I’d better get back to the box before Bess sends out the Marines, she decided.
Clearly something had interfered with the scheduled meet. And Senator Kilpatrick would have found a way to notify me here if she’d known, Nancy thought. She found Bess, and they headed for the parking lot.