“No, I kept telling him the bus was going to leave, but he wouldn’t let me go. He threatened to suspend me from school if I walked out.”
Nancy put her arm around the girl’s shoulder. “It looks as if you’ve learned a hard lesson,” she said.
Kelly looked at her. “You don’t think Mr. Garrison will change his mind about kicking me off the team?”
“I don’t think so,” Nancy admitted. “But at least I can try to find out why he did it.”
• • •
That night, Nancy and her father shared a bowl of popcorn in front of the fireplace after dinner. It was their first fire of the season. The flames warmed Nancy to her toes.
“What’s missing is that one telling clue,” she remarked to her father. “That one piece of hard evidence that I could use to build a case.”
Carson Drew nodded. “I called Lieutenant Gerber at the police station today.” He leaned forward to poke at the fire. “He said they’ve been watching carefully to see if the brooches turn up anywhere. So far they haven’t.”
“I doubt that the jewels have been moved yet,” Nancy said. “The person who stole them is probably waiting for the right time to get rid of them.”
“You may be right,” her father said. “What about Garrison, the headmaster?”
Nancy swallowed some popcorn. “It’s funny. The better I get to know him, the less I like him. But that doesn’t make him a jewel thief.”
“And the coach?” asked her father.
“Kate has the motive. She seems to have big personal problems, and she needs money. I’d hate to think she was involved in the theft, but I can’t rule her out. I just can’t imagine her pulling off that crime alone. In fact, whoever plotted this robbery had to hire a craftsman to make the fake brooches.”
“Not an easy job,” Mr. Drew said.
“No. In fact, I asked an expert about that. Even he couldn’t tell me much about the art of lapidary.”
“Who’s that?”
“Jonathan Morse, the art teacher I told you about. Wonderful old man. Mr. Garrison is giving him a hard time, too.”
“Is he a suspect?”
“Mr. Morse? Hardly. He thinks about only one thing—his teaching.”
“Why is Garrison giving him a hard time?”
“Mr. Garrison thinks Mr. Morse is too old to teach,” Nancy explained. “He wants him to retire.”
Carson Drew thought that over for a moment. “Wouldn’t that make a man like Morse ready to do anything?” he said. “Anything that would keep him teaching?”
Nancy just shook her head. How would the brooches help Jonathan Morse keep teaching? Besides, she couldn’t imagine the kindly old man being involved in anything illegal.
“It’s time I learned a little more about the art of lapidary,” she said. “Maybe that will give me the clue I need.”
Carson Drew nodded. “I know Ellen Sedgewick will be glad when this is over.”
“Has her financial situation improved any?”
“It’s getting there. If she can hang on a little longer, until she can sell some of her healthy stocks, she’ll be all right.”
“Or until an insurance payment comes through for the stolen jewels.”
Carson Drew gave his daughter a surprised look.
“Sorry, Dad. I’m sure Mrs. Sedgewick is innocent, but I can’t forget about that insurance money.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t go to Canada,” he said. “You’ll lose valuable time on your investigation.”
“Dad, practically the entire cast of characters will be in Canada. With the crazy things that have been happening to the soccer team, I have this funny feeling that there still might be a link of some kind between the team and the robbery. I’m going.”
• • •
The next morning Nancy arrived at the airport bright and early. She had stopped by the public library on the way and checked out several volumes on lapidary. Now she sat down with her tote bag full of books in the waiting room, prepared to read until the flight was called.
Several Pineview girls were already waiting with their parents. Finally, George appeared.
“You couldn’t talk Bess into changing her mind and coming to Canada with us?” George asked Nancy.
“I didn’t even try. I guess our friend just isn’t much of a sports fan.”
“Yeah,” grumbled George, “just wait till she wants me to do something with her.”
“Now, now,” Nancy teased. “You wouldn’t want her to go all the way to Canada just to be miserable, would you?”
“I guess not,” George agreed. “What if it rained and she had to get wet?”
