The custodian nodded. Nancy looked at George. “Come on. I need air.” The two of them walked outside and sat on the front steps.
“This is where we came in,” George said.
“But a lot has changed in the last hour, George. For the first time since I’ve been on this case, someone has let me know he—or she—doesn’t like it. Thanks for coming to the rescue. I was beginning to wonder if . . .” She stopped and looked over George’s shoulder.
George followed her gaze. Kate Boggs was coming out of the gym. She waved and walked over to them.
“I thought you girls had gone home,” she said.
“We thought you had, too,” George replied. “We had a little accident here.”
“Oh, no. What now?”
“Nancy got locked in the boiler room,” George said before Nancy could stop her.
“She what?”
Nancy sighed. “Someone shoved me into the boiler room and locked the door,” she said.
“Why would anyone do that?” exclaimed Kate.
“I think it had to do with my investigating the jewel theft,” said Nancy.
“When did this happen?”
“About half an hour ago.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Kate said.
“You were in the gym then?” George asked. “I didn’t see you.”
“I went to the lockers to see which girls had picked up their uniforms for tomorrow’s game. Then I went to the equipment room.”
“That’s where I was,” George said. “Until I started looking for Nancy.”
“We must have just missed each other.” Kate looked off toward the parking lot.
Nancy decided to change the subject. “So is the team ready for the Forsythe game, Kate?” she asked.
“Not really. If we were playing a tougher team I’d be worried. Janine is almost a basket case. And Kelly Lewis seems more concerned with Janine than with her own playing. I was planning to start Kelly tomorrow, but now I’m not sure. But I’m sure of this much. If Janine doesn’t straighten out soon, we don’t have much chance to win the Canadian Cup.”
The three of them walked to the parking lot together. George and Nancy got into Nancy’s car and headed back toward River Heights.
“What a day,” Nancy said. “More leads than I can handle, but not one that makes sense. By the way, are you sure you didn’t know Kate was in the gym?”
“Of course not,” George answered. “Nan, you don’t think Kate locked you in the boiler room, do you?”
Nancy shook her head. “I don’t know what to think.”
“Kate! That really takes the cake. As if she didn’t have enough problems with the team!”
George was annoyed that Nancy could even hint at Kate Boggs’s doing anything so mean. Nancy could sense that. But she couldn’t tell her friend what she knew about Kate’s money problems and the fact that she was quitting her job at Pineview.
Nancy kept quiet the rest of the way to George’s house. After dropping George off, she drove home.
“Nancy, what happened to you!” said Hannah Gruen as soon as Nancy walked in the door.
“Would you believe I got locked in a boiler room, Hannah?” Nancy said with a grin.
“Knowing you, I’d believe anything,” the older woman retorted.
“Well, the good news is, I got out,” Nancy said.
“So I see. Your father will be home soon. Why don’t you get cleaned up before he sees you?”
“I will, Hannah. I just have to make one phone call first.”
The call was to Chicago. Nancy had decided to place it on her way home from George’s. She dialed Information first. Then she called the number and was soon connected and listening to a man’s voice on the other end.
“This is Gideon Ray. What can I do for you?”
“Mr. Ray, my name is Nancy Drew. I’m looking into the jewel theft at Pineview School. May I ask you a couple of questions?”
“I’ve told the police everything I know. I hope you people don’t think I had anything to do with the theft.”
“No one thinks you were a part of it, Mr. Ray,” said Nancy. She tried to sound as harmless as possible. “I’m a private detective working for the Sedgewick family. May I ask you a few quick questions?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Finally, Gideon Ray said, “All right. But please make it brief.”
