“Come on, young lady, we’re all waiting,” Kate repeated.
The other girls drew closer around Kate and Kelly. Everyone waited for an answer.
Kelly shuffled her feet and took a deep breath. She looked at the girls nearest to her, then looked beyond them. She seemed to be looking for something, or somebody, to save her.
“There’s the reason I missed the game,” she said, pointing beyond the circle of girls. “It was because of her!”
Everyone turned and looked. Kelly was pointing straight at Janine Sedgewick.
10
A Team in Trouble
All heads turned to look at Janine. She instinctively took a few steps back, as though she were guilty of something. But this time the coach would hear none of it.
“Kelly, how in the world could it be Janine’s fault that you missed the bus?”
“I—I’m not supposed to tell,” the girl stammered.
“I think you’d better. This is a serious accusation.”
Kelly stared at the floor. “Mr. Garrison called me to his office to ask me some questions about the Sedgewicks,” she admitted at last.
Nancy stepped forward immediately. “What kind of questions?” she demanded.
“He asked about Janine. Whether she had talked about the jewel theft.”
Kelly stopped and looked around. “He thought maybe Janine had said something. Anything that might make her seem guilty.”
“You mean he suspects Janine of stealing the brooches?” said George. “I don’t believe it.”
“I’m just telling you what the headmaster said,” Kelly answered. She relaxed a little now that everyone was listening attentively. “And he kept me for so long that by the time I got out I’d missed the bus.”
While Kelly talked, no one noticed Janine backing away toward the far end of the gym. Suddenly a loud sob broke across the room.
“Janine!” George called.
It was too late. Janine had run crying from the gym. George ran after her. A satisfied smirk flitted across Kelly’s lips. But it disappeared in an instant when Coach Boggs turned toward her.
“Now look what you’ve done,” the coach said to Kelly.
“I just explained why I was late.”
“Right. And maybe at the same time cost us the Canadian Cup. Just when this team was coming together again, you stepped in and ruined the girls’ spirit.”
“Don’t worry, Coach. If Janine doesn’t have the guts to play, I can do the job.”
“Oh, really.” Kate’s face turned red with anger. “Listen, I’m not even sure you’re still on the team. And besides, if you can do the job, why haven’t you beaten Janine in the past three years? Whether you realize it or not, Kelly, you may have just damaged this team beyond repair. As far as I’m concerned, this party is over. We’ll have a light practice tomorrow afternoon to see if we can pick up the pieces. If we can’t, I’m afraid our trip to Canada will be a very short one.”
Kate turned and stalked out of the gym. Nancy and Bess looked at the girls. Half of them had turned away and were drifting out of the gym. The others rallied around Kelly, clearly siding with her. “If you don’t go, I don’t go,” one of the girls assured Kelly.
• • •
“This is not a good situation,” Nancy said as she and Bess went outside to look for George.
“What do you think is going to happen?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ve got to find some answers, and fast.”
They spotted George walking back from the administration building.
“Janine ran in there, called her mother, and wouldn’t even talk to me,” George said. “We’ve got a real problem.”
“That’s for sure,” Nancy said. “And ‘we’ is right. The team has a problem, and so do I. It’s time I did something about it.”
“Like what?” asked Bess.
Nancy frowned. “Like figure out a way to put all these pieces together,” she replied.
That night Nancy decided to call the Crighton Police Department. A Sergeant Parker answered the phone.
“Sergeant, I was on the bus from River Heights that took the wrong turn this morning.”
“Oh, yes. The one that almost went into Baxter’s Creek. You were very lucky.”
“I’m curious whether you know who switched those road signs.”
“As a matter of fact, we do. They were moved by the Bullock brothers. They’re a couple of local wiseguys. An elderly woman who lives near that turnoff saw two men acting suspiciously this morning. She got a partial license plate number on the car, and we traced it to the Bullocks. They’ve done stuff like this before. This time they’ll be cooling their heels in jail for a while.”
