“When I noticed that the traps were missing,
the others divided up my chores so I could
look into it. Maybe my investigation bothered
somebody,” Brad suggested.
Nancy nodded thoughtfully. “Did you dis-
cover anything?”
Before Brad could answer, a nurse came
bustling in. Nancy could almost hear the
starch rustling in her white uniform.
“Sorry, folks. Visiting hours are over.” She
took Brad’s wrist between her fingers and
checked her watch.
The group said their goodbyes. As they left,
Nancy decided to return the next day to ques-
tion Brad further.
On the way back, Ned sat silently beside
Nancy. .She could tell he was thinking about
the professor. Jack and Bess kept up a steady
stream of conversation in the backseat, and
Nancy was glad of it.
“I have an idea,” Jack said as Nancy turned
onto the dirt road leading to the campsite.
“There’s a new little cafe with disco music in
West Yellowstone. I know Ned has to rest this
evening, but we could go dancing.”
“That sounds great,” Bess replied.
“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Nancy said. “You
guys go without me.”
“Sure you don’t mind?” Bess asked.
Nancy shook her head.
When she parked the car. Jack climbed out,
then put his head in through the window. “I’ll
come by the hotel around eight, okay?” he said
to Bess. “If you change your mind, you can
still join us,” he added to Nancy.
“Oh, wait,” Bess called, getting out and
walking up the path after Jack. “What kind of
place is this? I need to know what to wear.”
Jack laughed and put his arm around Bess’s
shoulders. The two of them bent their heads
together and launched into an animated con-
versation.
Nancy looked over at Ned. He was sitting
very stiffly, staring straight ahead. “Are you
feeling all right?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” he said in a tense voice. But then
he added, “There’s no way Dan Trainey tam-
pered with that stove. Nancy.”
Nancy was silent, and Ned guessed the rea-
son. “You’re not listening to me, are you?”
“I’m listening,” Nancy said. “But I have to
check him out, and what Brad said makes him
a suspect.” When Ned didn’t respond, she
continued. “Of course I’m investigating every-
one.”
Nancy hoped for a goodbye kiss, but Ned
simply opened the door and walked away.
Without a word, he passed Bess as she re-
turned to the car.
“Brrr!” Bess said, climbing into the passen-
ger seat. “Did you and Ned just have a fight?”
Nancy swallowed back tears but didn’t feel
like talking on the drive back to the hotel. Bess
was quiet, too, until they turned in to the
parking lot. Then she said, “Let’s go watch Old
Faithful.”
Nancy would have preferred to lie down
with a book, but she laughed and said, “Okay,
Old Faithful it is!”
The girls went through the lobby and fol-
lowed a path to the geyser.
“Come on,” Bess urged. “I see two spots on
that bench over there. We’d better grab them.”
They sat down and studied the center of
attention, a four-foot-high cone that looked
like a shrunken volcano. Small puffs of white
steam trailed lazily upward from it.
Suddenly there was a rumbling sound as if a
truck were passing. Water bubbled up over the
surface of the cone and shot at least a hundred
feet into the air. Finally, after two or three
minutes, the column of water slowly sank and
then vanished.
“Wow!” Bess exclaimed.
Nancy just smiled.
Touching her arm, Bess said in an under-
tone, “Look over there. See the guy with all the
camera equipment? That’s Turkower.”
Nancy saw a couple in their forties. The man
was tall, with salt-and-pepper hair and a mus-
tache. He had two expensive-looking cameras
around his neck and a leather camera bag over
one shoulder. Mrs. Turkower could have just
stepped out of a beauty salon.
“Come on, Bess,” Nancy urged. “I want to
meet them.”
The two girls strolled around the geyser and
stopped next to the Turkowers. Nancy took the
photocopied article about the marmots out of
her pocket.
“Excuse me,” she said politely. “Did you
drop this? I looked for you earlier, but you’d