“Counterfeit?” Bess turned to Nancy. “How can that be?”
The second security guard studied Nancy’s face. “You look familiar. Wait a minute—aren’t you the detective? Nancy something?”
“Nancy Drew.”
The guard pointed at his name badge. “Bob Rusnak. And this is John Wyar.”
Instead of saying hello, Wyar looked at Rusnak. “Detective? Give me a break. She’s a teenager.” Then he grabbed Bess by the arm again.
Bess’s face was white. “Nancy,” she whispered, “do something.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to call my father,” Nancy told Rusnak. “He’s an attorney.”
“You do that,” John said. “I’m going to call the police.”
“Why don’t you ask for Detective Lee?” Nancy pulled his number from her wallet. “He’s handling the counterfeiting case. He’ll tell you that I’m assisting the police in their investigation.”
Wyar rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.”
Half an hour later, Nancy, Bess, and the security guards sat in the bank manager’s office with Carson Drew and Detective Lee.
“You say the twenty-dollar bill was in your house?” Detective Lee asked Bess.
Bess looked at Nancy. “Yes.”
“And you have no idea how it got there?”
Bess shook her head. “No, I honestly don’t.”
Mr. Drew cleared his throat. “Do you think Nancy and Bess would knowingly bring a counterfeit bill to the bank for replacement?”
“Of course not,” Detective Lee said. “They’re not suspects. I’m just trying to ascertain what happened.”
“We’d like to find out, too,” Nancy said.
Detective Lee stood. “You’re free to go. But please call me if you have any sudden flashes of insight.”
Nancy nodded. “You can be sure we will.”
“By the way,” Detective Lee said, “we were finally able to locate our files in storage on the twenty-five-year-old counterfeiting case. You’re welcome to come down to the station and take a look at them if you’d like.”
“Thanks,” Nancy said. “I’ll call to arrange a time.”
Mr. Drew walked Bess and Nancy to Nancy’s car.
“Thanks, Mr. Drew,” Bess said. “You’re a life-saver. I haven’t been so humiliated since—”
“Since yesterday, when Casey tripped Devon and made him drop a tray full of hamburgers and all those glasses of water,” Nancy said.
Bess shook her head and gave Nancy and Mr. Drew a weak smile. “What a week.”
“You have no idea where you got that counterfeit bill, Bess?” Mr. Drew asked.
“Not exactly,” Bess said. “Casey took it from the guest bedroom, where Marisa’s staying. I have no idea where Marisa got it.”
“But we plan to ask her as soon as we get back to Bess’s house,” Nancy said.
“The counterfeit money was Marisa’s?” Mr. Drew turned to Nancy. “Why didn’t you tell Detective Lee that?”
“Because we didn’t want to make things more complicated than they already are,” Nancy said, unlocking the car doors.
“I consider Marisa a good friend, and I think Nancy does, too.” Bess opened her door. “We want to ask her about it ourselves.”
“If Marisa’s involved in this counterfeiting ring, she can forget about becoming a lawyer,” Mr. Drew said. “The state bar does not look kindly upon attorneys with criminal records.”
Nancy sighed. “I know. Marisa’s no criminal. At least I hope she isn’t.”
“How did I wind up with a counterfeit bill?” Marisa said, shaking her head. She was seated on Bess’s sofa, and Bess and Nancy had just finished explaining what had happened. “I’m sorry, Bess. I can’t believe you were almost arrested because of me.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Bess said.
Marisa bit her lip. “I’ve been to Café Olé and the campus bookstore hundreds of times. Maybe I got the money at the same place Eric did. I don’t know.”
Nancy nodded. She could only imagine how often money exchanged hands on a college campus. Marisa could have received the bill as change anywhere. Then Nancy remembered the adaptive device Marisa used to identify her paper money. Nancy wondered whether it would work on counterfeit money. If it didn’t, Marisa’s story didn’t make sense. If she had received a counterfeit bill as change and her device wouldn’t read it, Marisa would have known something was wrong.
Nancy watched Marisa smile as Casey tried to climb into her lap. Had she misjudged Marisa? Nancy wondered. Could she be involved in passing the counterfeit money?
Nancy stood. “I’m going to call Detective Lee. Maybe I can go to the station now and look through the old counterfeiting files.”
