“Think about it,” Nancy said. “No one was moving around when dessert was served. Almost every person at our table right then was …”
“From Omega Chi Epsilon,” Ned finished. “Except Dede, of course.”
Nancy nodded, closing her hand around the tablets. “That makes it pretty likely that whoever did this isn’t a Kappa,” she said.
She looked up as the kitchen door pushed open. Their waiter came into the hallway carrying a tray of coffee and mugs.
“Excuse me,” Nancy said, walking up to him. “Could we talk to you for a minute?”
The waiter paused, his face red and sweaty. “This thing weighs a ton. Can you make it quick?” he said.
“Sure. Did you see anyone near the phone booth about the time you served dessert?” Nancy asked.
“Or maybe you saw someone in the kitchen?” Ned added. “A customer, someone who didn’t belong there?”
The waiter let out an annoyed sigh. “They don’t pay me to keep track of customers,” he said. “I just serve food. Now, if you’ll excuse me …”
“Wait!” Nancy angled in front of him, blocking his path. “If you’d only try to remember …”
“What is it with you people?” the waiter said, rolling his eyes. “Do I have a sign over my head that says bother the waiter? Customers have been tripping me up all night.”
“I’m sure if you …” Nancy blinked as his words sank in. “Someone else talked to you?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t say he talked to me. Practically bowled me over is more like it,” the waiter corrected. “My tiramisu would have been all over the floor if the guy hadn’t caught it.”
“What guy? Can you tell me what he looked like?” Nancy asked. “Please … it’s important.”
The waiter stared at her blankly. “Sorry,” he said, indicating he wasn’t at all apologetic. Hoisting his tray higher, he pushed past Nancy into the back room.
“What a grump,” Ned muttered.
Nancy barely heard him, she was so lost in thought. “Well, we don’t know who spiked our dessert,” she said. “But I’m pretty sure I know how.”
“Whoever knocked into the waiter must have sprinkled the crushed tablets on top,” Ned said. “That waiter’s been serving our table all night. Anyone paying attention could figure out that he’d serve the dessert to us rather than to the other tables.”
“Exactly.” Grabbing her boyfriend by the arm, Nancy dragged him through the kitchen door. “We’d better make sure this gets thrown out,” she said, nodding at the spiked dessert Ned still held. “And while we’re at it, maybe we can get a plastic bag to put these pills in.”
Ned nodded. “Not to mention a dessert that hasn’t been spiked.”
When they got back to their table a few minutes later, George, Grant, C.J., and Dede were all drinking coffee.
“You’re back.” C.J. grinned up at them as he stirred sugar into his coffee. “We were starting to think you decided to make a whole new dessert yourselves. What happened?”
His smile faded as Nancy and Ned told them about the tablets. “Whoa!” C.J. glanced around the room in disbelief. “You’re sure someone spiked our dessert? I mean, you still don’t know what those pills are, right?”
“We can’t be positive until someone identifies them,” Nancy admitted.
“There’s a twenty-four-hour pharmacy off Main Street,” Ned put in. “We can go there tonight.”
“And in the meantime …” Nancy thrummed her fingers on the table. “We have to think about who had the opportunity to—”
She broke off talking as her gaze landed on Dennis Garcia. Dennis, Philip, and Jake were sitting at the same table as Krista, Rosie, and some of the other girls from Kappa Rho.
“Hmm,” Nancy murmured, half to herself. “Do you guys remember seeing Dennis standing in the hallway near the alcove?”
George turned, following Nancy’s gaze. “Definitely,” she said. “I saw him there while Mr. Lorenzo was talking. You think he spiked our food?”
Nancy started to answer, then stopped when she saw Dennis get up to walk out.
“I’m going to talk to him,” she said. She jumped to her feet and caught up to him as he was pulling his black parka from the coatrack.
“Leaving so soon?” she asked.
Dennis shrugged. “Might as well head back to the frat and turn in,” he said.
“I saw you standing over here before,” Nancy commented. “I was wondering if you saw anything unusual when the dessert was being served.”
“Such as?” Dennis asked.
Nancy held up the plastic bag containing the crushed tablets. “Someone put these pills on our dessert,” she told him. “I think whoever did it was trying to make sure the Omega team won’t be in peak shape.”
Nancy watched Dennis’s face closely. But if he was the one who had spiked their dessert, he showed no sign of it. He looked blankly at the pills.
“Give me a break,” he said. “What is this, C.J.’s way of drumming up hot material for that Sports World article?”
“C.J. isn’t like that,” Nancy said. Turning the conversation back to Dennis, she asked, “Are you taking any medication for your shoulder injury?”
He angled a sharp look at her. “I don’t need tricks to get the best of C. J. Thompson,” he insisted. “When the Clues Challenge is over, there’s going to be only one champion—me.”
