“You know this guy, C.J.?” she asked.
C.J. opened his mouth to answer. Before he could get a word out, Mr. Lorenzo stormed out from behind the counter.
“Hey, you can’t barge into my store and harass customers,” he snapped. His jaw clenched as he reached out, grabbed the man by the collar, and yanked him toward the door.
“I’m a reporter,” the man objected, his camera banging against his chest as he tried to twist free. “I’m here on assignment. C.J., tell him!”
Mr. Lorenzo kept a firm grip on the man’s collar. “You reporters are the lowest life-forms,” Mr. Lorenzo muttered angrily.
The reporter blinked, straining against Mr. Lorenzo’s insistent pushing. “What?”
“Mr. Lorenzo, stop.” C.J. jumped forward, blocking the store owner’s path to the door. “He’s telling the truth. This is Randy Cohen. He’s here to do an article on me for Sports World.”
Mr. Lorenzo took a few deep breaths, as if he were trying to calm down. At last he let go of the reporter’s collar, but he continued to stare at Randy with an intensity that surprised Nancy.
That computer threat must have affected Mr. Lorenzo more than he let on, she thought.
“A profile in Sports World?” George said, arching an eyebrow at C.J. “I’m impressed.”
Shaking himself, Randy smiled at George and said, “Once people read my article, C.J. will be the hottest athlete in winter sports.”
“Awesome,” Ned commented.
Randy checked his camera, then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a notebook and pen. “I’ll be like C.J.’s shadow for the next few days while I get material for the article,” he said.
“This won’t get in the way of the Clues Challenge, will it?” C.J. asked.
“The treasure hunt you told me about?” Randy shook his head. “Trust me. You’ll hardly know I’m there.”
“I’m starved!” George commented a few hours later, her breath cloudy puffs in the cold night air as she headed into town. “You said the restaurant is close by, right, Ned?”
Ned wrapped his scarf around the collar of his parka, then pointed ahead. “This path comes out on the main street, up there where those lights are. The Eatery is one of the first places we’ll come to. They have a big room in the back where we always have the pre-challenge dinner. C.J. and Grant said they’d meet us there.”
“Just hearing you guys talk about dinner makes my stomach growl,” Nancy said. “But I keep thinking …”
“About that message you saw on Mr. Lorenzo’s computer?” Ned guessed.
Nancy nodded. “If someone is pressuring him to hand over the clues and answers, it must be one of the contestants. Someone who will be at dinner tonight.”
“Or,” George said as their boots crunched over the frozen ground, “maybe the threat wasn’t serious, like Mr. Lorenzo said.”
Nancy hoped George was right.
“Mmm. I smell pasta!” George sniffed appreciatively as she, Ned, and Nancy followed the maître d’ through the main dining room. A hallway at the rear led past the kitchen door and an alcove with a pay phone and rest rooms into a spacious back room.
“Nice,” Nancy said, glancing at the large round tables and the abstract paintings that hung on the walls. Almost every chair was filled, and the walls echoed with chatter and laughter. Nancy didn’t see C.J., but Grant waved to them from across the room.
“You’re just in time,” Grant said, nodding toward two waiters who pushed through the kitchen door with platters of ravioli. “It looks like the first course is here.”
“About time,” said a guy who sat to the left of Grant. He had dark hair that curled over the collar of his corduroy shirt and a look of boredom in his big brown eyes. Grant introduced the guy as Dennis Garcia, from Sigma Pi. Two other Sigma frat brothers, red-haired twins named Philip and Jake, were also at the table.
“Are you excited about the Clues Challenge?” George asked Dennis as she sat down next to him.
Dennis leaned back to make room for their waiter to plunk down a platter of ravioli and a pitcher of soda on the table. “Excited, no. It’ll be a piece of cake compared to facing off against Midwest conference football teams,” Dennis said, once the waiter left.
“I forgot to mention that Dennis is Emerson’s top quarterback,” Ned explained. “He was, anyway, before he injured his shoulder and had to be put on the disabled list.”
Nancy didn’t miss the cocky smile that spread across Dennis’s face. He obviously was a lot less bored now that everyone was talking about how great he was.
“You’re not afraid of reinjuring your shoulder in the Clues Challenge?” she asked him.
“I can handle it.” Dennis’s eyes were filled with confidence as he reached for the soda. “Like I said, the Clues Challenge is peanuts compared to what a quarterback faces when …”
All of a sudden he stopped talking, his eyes fixed on something behind Nancy. The room had gotten noisier, and when Nancy turned around she realized why.
“It’s C.J. and Dede and their one-man press entourage,” said Ned, who flicked a thumb at Randy Cohen. “Doesn’t that guy ever put his camera down?”
Hoots and calls rang out from one of the other tables. Looking over, Nancy saw Dede’s Kappa Rho sisters waving Dede and C.J. over. Randy sat down with them, pulled his notebook out, and started writing.
“Show-off,” Dennis grumbled.
“Jealous?” Grant teased.
Apparently Dennis didn’t see the humor. Glowering, he got to his feet and threw his napkin on the table. “I need some fresh air,” he muttered.
“What’s his problem?” George asked as Dennis disappeared down the hallway.
“Dennis has a thing about C.J.,” Ned said. “Dennis and Dede went out on a few dates. But once she met C.J. …”
