Circle of Evil

by Carolyn Keene

  As Nancy walked farther into the corridor, her hands felt nothing but the two walls on either side of her—no boxes, no spare equipment, nothing. It wouldn’t be a very good storage room, anyway, she thought. It was so long and narrow that it would take hours to get anything from the back.

  Nancy took a few more steps, then stumbled as her foot hit what felt like a loose tile. Instinctively, she threw her arms out to the sides to steady herself in the pitch darkness. But instead of hitting solid wall, her right hand pushed against a flimsy piece of metal that swung in silently and smoothly.

  After Nancy regained her balance, she felt around with her hands, trying to figure out what kind of cabinet she had opened. She touched something soft and slightly damp. Pulling it out, she discovered that it was a terry-cloth towel. As she put her hand back into the cabinet—or whatever it was—she saw thin yellow lines of light spilling faintly into the cabinet. Her fingers reached out and closed around a plastic bottle; she removed it, opened it, and sniffed. It was suntan lotion.

  A towel, a bottle of lotion, and yellow light. This isn’t just any cabinet, Nancy thought excitedly. She was looking into the rear of a locker.

  Wanting to make certain, she stepped back, ran her hands along the wall for a few inches, and then pushed again. Another metal panel swung in, and more lines of yellow light from the locker room fell into the locker. The same thing happened on the left wall.

  It was perfect, Nancy thought with a smile. A perfectly beautiful setup. The door in the weight room, the little stash of light bulbs to make people think it was for storage, and the long line of locker backs, cleverly fixed so they could be opened and the robbers could help themselves to anyone’s house keys. People in the locker rooms would not even be aware that one of the lockers was being rifled.

  Nancy pushed open a few more locker backs. Even if she didn’t know who was committing the burglaries, she at least knew how. And that meant she was one step closer to putting all the pieces together.

  Nancy closed the metal panels and headed down the passageway and back into the weight room. As she passed the workout machine, lying still like some large wounded animal, she almost laughed. Whoever had pushed it at her had actually ended up helping her to crack the case! She was on to their secret now, and it was only a matter of time before she had them trapped!

  Nancy gave the machine a pat, then gathered up her bag and the sandals she had dropped when she made her flying leap. She’d just left the weight room and was walking down the hall toward the stairs when a clattering noise made her spin around.

  The noise went on for a few seconds. It sounded like rocks tumbling in a washing machine. Nancy saw that she was standing right next to the boiler room door. She pushed it open, and the noise got louder before settling down to a steady hum.

  The pipes must be rattling, Nancy thought, or maybe the air conditioner had come on. Boiler rooms always had equipment that made loud noises. In the daytime, she wouldn’t even have noticed it. And neither would anyone else, she thought suddenly.

  On a hunch, Nancy stepped into the room and began looking around. In just five minutes, her hunch paid off. Stuck in a far corner, behind a pile of old pipes and covered with a dusty canvas sheet, was another piece of equipment. When Nancy pulled the sheet off, she found herself looking at a key-duplicating machine.

  Perfect, she thought again. Anyone hearing the key duplicator would think it was just the furnace or the pipes and wouldn’t check to see what the noise was.

  Nancy had just left the boiler room when another sound made her freeze. Voices were coming from somewhere above her in the clubhouse. She couldn’t tell exactly how many, but one was a man’s, and at least one belonged to a woman. The robbers, she decided, coming back to check if the weight machine had done its work.

  Quietly but quickly, Nancy padded barefoot the rest of the way down the hall, then ran lightly up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, she stopped, held her breath, and listened. The voices were coming from the lounge. She could hear them perfectly now, and what she heard made her burst out laughing. Fooled again, Detective, she told herself.

  In the lounge sat Bess, George, and two boys Nancy didn’t recognize. They were laughing, drinking soda, and obviously enjoying having the place to themselves. When Bess saw Nancy standing in the doorway, she jumped.

  “Nan!” she said, surprised. “You scared me. What are you doing here?”

  “I—I was looking for something. But now that I’m here, I think maybe I’ll join the party,” Nancy answered with a smile.

  “Well, come on in!” the boy sitting next to Bess called out. He had brown hair and a very good build, and Nancy figured he must be Tom, the “gorgeous” caddy.

  As Nancy took a chair at the round table, George reached into a cooler and pulled out a can of soda. “Here,” she said, sliding the soda to Nancy. “Jim and I brought these along, and they’re still nice and cold.”

  Smiling at Jim, the tennis instructor, Nancy popped open the can and took a sip. “What is this? A late-night picnic?”

  “Yeah,” Tom said. “We ran into each other at Frank’s Pizza, but it was so packed, it was sardine city. So we decided to come here to make our plans.”

  “Plans?”

  “For tomorrow,” Jim said. “It’s the Fourth of July, and the club always has a big bash.”

  “We were just trying to decide how we’re going to get together,” Bess explained.

  “When did you get here?” Nancy asked, suddenly changing the subject.

  “Oh, about ten, fifteen minutes ago,” Tom said.

  “You didn’t happen to see anyone leaving, did you?” Nancy asked. “Maybe somebody in a hurry?”

  George shook her head. “The place was empty when we got here. I didn’t even want to come in, but Jim said it was okay.”

  “The staff’s allowed,” Jim explained.

  “So I’ve heard,” Nancy said, wondering if it had been a member of the staff who had tried to bury her under a muscle-building machine. It couldn’t be Tom or Jim, at least she knew that for sure now, and she could scratch them off her list.

  “Nan?” Bess broke into her thoughts. “What do you think? Should we all dress up in red, white, and blue for tomorrow?”

  “It sounds kind of silly,” George said.

  “That’s the idea,” Tom said. “Everybody gets silly around here on the Fourth. But it’s fun—you should see the fireworks display. It’s amazing.”

  “Well, I’m going to wear a red, white, and blue hat, at least,” Bess said, deciding out loud. Looking around the lounge, she laughed. “Hey, you know, this is the first time I’ve spent any time in here. I think I’ll come more often.”

  “That’s it!” Nancy said.

  “What’s it?”

  “That’s what you’ll do.” Turning to Bess, she grinned. “How’d you like to spend tomorrow here, in and around the clubhouse?” she asked. “You could swim and lounge around by the pool, you could have cold lemonade anytime you wanted, you could have a massage—”

  “Sounds great!” Bess answered.

  “There are only two things you have to do,” Nancy said. “You have to have one short, easy little workout session in the weight room. And you have to talk. A lot.”

  “I think I can manage that,” Bess said with a laugh. “Talking’s one of my specialties.”

  The two guys looked completely confused, but Bess and George knew exactly what Nancy was up to. It was time for her to set a trap.

  Chapter

  Thirteen

  THE NEXT MORNING, Nancy shaded her eyes and looked up from her lounger beside the club pool. A sleek red Jaguar had just sped up the entry drive and swerved quickly into a parking spot near the clubhouse.

  As Nancy and at least a dozen other people watched, Bess Marvin climbed out of the car, pulled out a designer-initialed duffel bag, adjusted her expensive-looking sunglasses, flipped back her shining blond hair, and sauntered slowly toward the pool.

  G
ood, Nancy thought, smiling to herself. Bess has everyone’s attention. Now, let’s see who’s going to be the most interested in what she has to say.

  “My gosh, it’s crowded out here!” Bess exclaimed as she flopped into a chair not too close to Nancy’s. “Is this the only patio?”

  “Well, it is the Fourth. But we’ve been arguing for two years about expanding it,” someone said. “Didn’t you get the bulletins?”

  “I just moved here,” Bess explained. “We joined the club a week ago. I’ve been on the golf course, but this is the first chance I’ve had to use the pool. And would you believe it, the whole family’s leaving town again tomorrow for a week.”

  “Well, on behalf of the staff, let me welcome you.” Poor Mike was on duty again. He leaned down from his lifeguard chair and smiled, obviously attracted to Bess. “I hope you’ll spend more time here once you get back.”

  Fingering what looked like a small teardrop diamond at the end of a silver chain around her neck, Bess smiled back. “Thanks,” she said, and her hand reached up to touch one of her earrings. It flashed like a jewel in the sunlight, but like the necklace, it was a fake. A good one, but paste nonetheless. “That water looks absolutely wonderful,” Bess went on, gazing at the pool. “If somebody will tell me where the safe is, I’ll just get rid of my jewelry and go for a swim.”

  “Safe?” Mike laughed. “There isn’t any safe.”

  Bess looked amazed, as if she’d never heard of such a thing. “But where do people put their jewelry when they want to go in the water?”

  “Most people leave it at home,” somebody else said.

  “Oh, well, I leave the really valuable things at home,” Bess said. “I mean, there are some things that never come out of our wall safe in the library. But this?” She held out the necklace and gave a little laugh. “This is just everyday stuff.”

  “Then don’t worry about it,” Mike told her. “Just put it in one of the lockers. It’ll be there when you get back.”

  Looking skeptical, Bess stood up and walked into the lounge. Nancy waited a few minutes and then followed her, but just to the doorway. She wanted to keep a very low profile that day.

  Ned, George, and two of Ned’s friends—one of whom owned the red Jaguar—were sitting at a table, laughing and talking. Nancy had wanted Ned and George to be there to keep an eye on Bess.

  Bess had stopped at the bar and ordered an iced tea. Max Fletcher was sitting next to her, and Bess immediately struck up a conversation with him. Nancy grinned. Trust Bess to find time to talk to a handsome guy.

  Finally, Bess turned to the woman next to her and spoke loudly enough for Nancy to hear. “What a beautiful emerald!” she exclaimed, peering closely at the ring on the woman’s hand. “And what a beautiful setting. I’ve never seen one like it before.”

  The woman laughed, pleased at the compliment. “That’s because there isn’t another one like it. This is one of a kind. An old family heirloom.”

  “Oh, one of those. My mother has some of the most gorgeous pieces of jewelry, and they’ve been handed down, too. Someday they’ll be mine.” Bess sighed. “Unfortunately, they’re all in the library safe, and that’s where they’ll stay until I’m twenty-one.”

  “Well, that won’t be too long, will it?” the woman asked.

  “No, but the thing is, we’re going on vacation tomorrow,” Bess told her. “We’ll be spending an entire week with a bunch of people I’ve never met, and I’d love to make a fantastic impression. There’s this strand of pearls with a diamond clasp that would really dazzle them.”

  The woman smiled, and Nancy tried not to laugh out loud. Bess was doing a perfect job. Practically the entire club now thought that she came from a wealthy family that had a safe full of valuable one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry. And the most important thing was that they thought her house would be empty for a week. If nobody bites, Nancy thought, I might as well give up being a detective completely.

  Bess turned back to Max Fletcher and started talking to him, not so loudly this time. Satisfied that things were going right, Nancy left. She had just passed the pool and was heading for the other side of the clubhouse when a girl with flaming red curls stepped out and hesitated in front of her. It was Cindy.

  Nancy stopped, waiting to see what Cindy was up to.

  Finally, after nervously clearing her throat, Cindy said, “I have to talk to you.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Nancy said.

  “I want you to know that I put Mrs. Ames’s watch back about an hour ago,” Cindy said. “She’s out by the pool. You can ask her. She’s probably found it by now.”

  “It’s nice that you put it back,” Nancy said. “Is there anything else you have to return?”

  Cindy looked confused and then angry as the implication of what Nancy said sunk in. “What are you talking about?” she asked. “I never took anything else.”

  “Well, you took the watch. Why shouldn’t I think you’d take other things?”

  “Because I didn’t, that’s why!” Cindy cried. “Look, the watch is the only thing I’ve ever taken. All the other times it’s just been money that people have left in their bags.”

  “All the other times?” Nancy asked.

  Cindy nodded. “I know it’s wrong, but I can’t help it. It’s like a game.” She swallowed and pushed back her hair. “Anyway, when you saw me that time, I realized that the game was up. I put the watch back, and I promised myself I’d get help so I won’t steal things anymore.”

  Nancy and Cindy stared at each other. Cindy seemed to be telling the truth, but how could she know for sure? Cindy dropped her eyes and backed away.

  Just then, Ned and George came around the corner. “Nan,” Ned said quietly. “Bess is just about to make her next move. You said you wanted to be there.”

  “I do.” Still watching Cindy as she walked farther away, Nancy said to Ned, “I’ll go into the clubhouse. You two stick with Cindy, okay? Don’t let her out of your sight.”

  If Cindy’s in on it, Nancy thought as she headed back to the lounge, then she won’t be able to warn anyone. And if she’s the only thief, then we’ve got her.

  The lounge was still extremely busy. It seemed as if every member of the club had turned out that day for the big Fourth of July party.

  Extra waiters had been hired, and Nancy had trouble squeezing herself in at a busy table to order an iced tea from one of them. Zach was still behind the bar, she noticed, and Bess was just winding up her conversation with Max Fletcher.

  “Well,” Bess was saying, “since I do want to impress those people, I suppose I’d better get down to the weight room. I should have started working out a week ago—there’s no way I’ll lose five pounds in one session.”

  With a smile, Bess left the bar and sauntered slowly toward the stairway leading to the lower level. Nancy drank some of her tea, but she barely tasted it. This was the most important part of the trap. Bess was going to do a short workout, then have a massage. But before she went in with Rita, she was going to deposit her bag in a locker. If Nancy’s plan worked, then somebody would use that little passageway to get to Bess’s house key. If the thief was Cindy, then nothing would happen. But if the redhead wasn’t the one, Nancy would catch the person right in the act.

  At first, Nancy had planned to hide in the passageway or the boiler room. But that wouldn’t be enough, she decided. She needed to catch someone actually going into Bess’s house with the copy of the key they had made that day. She needed irrefutable proof.

  Bess was gone by then. Nancy looked around to see if she could spot anything or anyone and that was when she saw Mike. He was standing in the doorway to the lounge, and he was looking toward the staircase.

  This is it, Nancy thought excitedly. He’s the one! He’s going to follow her downstairs to see what she does. And when she puts her bag into a locker, he’ll go into action.

  Casually waving to a few people in the lounge, Mike strolled toward the stairway. Nancy waited
until he had passed her table. Then she stood up and turned toward the stairs herself.

  Zach was standing in front of her, his dark eyes twinkling as if he were really happy to see her.

  “Hi, Nancy. Have you seen Joanna lately? She hasn’t been around.”

  “Yes. I mean, no, I haven’t seen her lately.” Nancy looked past him, not wanting to lose sight of Mike, even though she knew where he was going. Then she smiled at Zach. “Sorry. I’m in kind of a hurry.”

  “Oh, no, I’m sorry. I almost forgot,” he said. “You’ve got a phone call.”

  “Me?” Who’d be calling me here? Nancy wondered.

  “That’s right.”

  Mike had gone down the stairs then. “But there must be a mistake,” she said. “Nobody knows I’m here.”

  “Somebody does,” Zach told her and pulled on her elbow. “They asked for you. Come on. I said, ‘Come on.’ There’s a phone at the bar. Take it there.”

  As he spoke, Zach had been propelling her gently but with authority ahead of him. She wondered about his behavior, but for just a minute. It was the worst possible time for a phone call. She’d miss Mike. Besides, she’d never be able to hear—the bar was three deep in people.

  Just as she reached the bar, a sudden realization hit Nancy. Zach was purposely trying to keep her from following Mike. Could he be in on it, too? He has to be, Nancy thought. And he did practically shove me over here.

  Nancy turned and faced Zach. He was still smiling, but his eyes weren’t twinkling as they usually did. She forced herself to smile back. She didn’t want to let him know that she suspected him. It was much too soon.

  Calmly, Nancy moved past the crowd and walked behind the bar to pick up the phone.

  “Hello, Nancy,” a female voice said. “I see you decided not to take our advice and get off the case.”