• • •
After practice, George, Kate, and Nancy looked for Janine, but she had already gone back to her room. Kate and George decided to go through the equipment to see whether anything else was missing. Nancy decided to tag along. George was still wondering out loud how the equipment could have disappeared when Kate suddenly said, “Is this what you’re looking for?”
She held up Janine’s knee pads. George stared in disbelief. Then Kate pointed to the far corner, where the missing equipment bag and a few other things sat.
“Open your eyes next time, girl,” she said.
George shook her head. She went over and looked at the equipment.
Then she turned to look Nancy squarely in the eye.
“I swear that stuff was missing the first time I came down here,” she said. “No one can tell me otherwise.”
6
Strange Behavior
“I’m sure the equipment wasn’t there before!” George insisted again after Coach Boggs had left to go home.
Nancy nodded slowly. “I believe you,” she said. “Too many things are happening at once around here. The question is, how and why are they happening? And do any of these problems with the soccer team have something to do with the jewel theft?”
She and George talked about the possibility as they left the gym and sat on the stone steps outside. Nancy wanted to tell George what she’d learned about Kate Boggs, especially that the popular coach had a strong motive for stealing the jewels. But she had promised Kate and the headmaster to keep confidential the coach’s money problems.
Besides, George didn’t seem nearly as concerned about the jewel theft as she did about the team’s recent bad luck.
“I give up,” George said at last. “We’re never going to figure out what’s going on here. Let’s go home.”
“All right,” Nancy agreed. But she didn’t really want to leave. She had a strong feeling that the answer to everything was right there at Pineview—maybe right under her nose. But the pieces of the puzzle were still as scattered as the autumn leaves that drifted in every direction.
Just as George and Nancy stood up to leave, Nancy saw a large car pull into the parking lot next to the gym. A woman got out.
“Isn’t that Ellen Sedgewick?” Nancy asked.
“Looks like her,” George answered.
“I wonder what she’s doing here?”
“Visiting Janine, probably.”
“But she’s headed toward the administration building, not the dormitory.”
George nodded. “You’re right.”
“You can go home if you want to,” Nancy said, “but I want to see Mr. Garrison. And I think I’ll have a talk with Mrs. Sedgewick. I want to hear her side of the story firsthand.”
“I can’t go home. I don’t have my car. Bess dropped me off this morning. Tell you what. While you do that, I’ll go back down to the equipment room. I want to double-check that everything’s there. I’m going to make my own list in case equipment goes missing again.”
“Good idea.”
George headed back to the gym. Nancy ran across the campus to the administration building.
“Mrs. Sedgewick,” she called. “May I speak with you?”
Janine’s mother stopped on the sidewalk and waited. She looked unsure of who Nancy was.
“Sorry to shout,” Nancy said as she reached the older woman. “I just wanted to speak with you for a minute. I’m Nancy Drew.”
“Oh, yes. Carson’s daughter.” Mrs. Sedgewick gave Nancy a tired smile. She looked as if she hadn’t been sleeping well. “Janine told me you’re some kind of detective and that you’re looking into the theft. Frankly, I don’t see what you can do to untangle this whole mess. Why is it when things go bad, they always seem to get worse?”
Nancy was touched by Mrs. Sedgewick’s sad smile. She felt a rush of sympathy for her.
“Have the police talked to you yet?”
“Several times. I expect they’ll arrest me any minute now.”
“They can’t do that without evidence. And this case seems strangely lacking in evidence.”
“I still can’t understand it.” Mrs. Sedgewick sighed and shook her head. “Those brooches are very valuable, but who at Pineview or in the community here would do such a thing?”
“Someone who also knew the value of the jewels?”
Mrs. Sedgewick looked at Nancy sharply. “Everyone knew after Mr. Ray examined them that morning.”
“Ah, but the thief, or thieves, would have had to plan this long before. Remember, they needed time to make perfect copies of the brooches.”
“I’ve thought and thought,” the older woman said. “And I just can’t figure it out.”
“Tell me this,” Nancy said. “Were there many people who knew about the brooches before you decided to donate them to Pineview?”
