Ellingsen arrived at the front door of Danner and Bishop, the exclusive department store Nancy had saved from the notorious “joker.” Nancy followed Ellingsen through the familiar marble entrance, past the glass cases in the makeup department, and up the escalator to the shoe salon.
Nancy hid behind a display case and watched as Ellingsen tried on a dozen pairs of shoes. There was nothing too suspicious about that. Or was there? Wasn’t it strange that Sally Belmont’s manager was spending the morning shopping when she should have been doing everything in her power to find her client?
Finally Ellingsen pointed to six different boxes and pulled out a credit card. Then, armed with two large shopping bags, she headed back to the Buckingham Hotel.
When Nancy arrived at the coffee shop, Bess and George were already sitting in a large booth. Three hamburgers, three diet sodas, and a large plate of french fries were on the table.
“Well?” Bess asked her. “What did you learn about Ellingsen?”
“That she’s a shoe freak,” Nancy said, picking up her burger. “That’s all. What about Thornton?”
“He gave me the slip,” George said. “I followed him out of the hotel, and he disappeared into a crowd of people. I walked for blocks, but I couldn’t find him again.”
“Great.” Nancy sighed. “Then we’re nowhere.”
“Not nowhere,” Bess said. “I found out something very interesting.”
“You did?” Nancy sat up.
“I went to the ‘Nightside’ booth and talked to a woman who works on the show. This woman knows everything about the show. And she told me that Braddock wrote an episode of ‘Nightside,’ but the script was rejected!”
“That’s probably what the inscription in The Repeating Gunshot refers to.” Nancy munched a french fry thoughtfully.
“It could also explain why Braddock blew up,” George said. “Maybe she’s still angry they didn’t take her script. And maybe she kidnapped Sally and Will for revenge.”
“That’s a possibility,” said Nancy. “The inscription seemed friendly, but maybe it hides Braddock’s true feelings.” Nancy took a sip of soda. “But let’s not forget that we have three other suspects: Thornton, Ellingsen, and Sherbinski.”
“The security chief?” Bess asked.
“I’d be willing to bet that he still hasn’t investigated the kidnapping,” Nancy said. “I don’t care what he says about ‘going through the motions.’ There’s something strange about a security guard who doesn’t do his job.”
“But why would he want to kidnap Will and Sally?” Bess asked.
“He’s always complaining about these mystery conventions,” said George. “Maybe he wanted to ruin this year’s convention so they won’t have them anymore.”
“Maybe,” replied Nancy. “But we still need to check out all four of them.”
Bess pulled a Mystery Lovers Convention flyer out of her purse. “We could do it tonight,” she said. “It says here there’s a Dress-Up Ball at eight o’clock in the Crystal Pavilion. You’re supposed to come dressed as your favorite mystery character. I’m sure they’ll all be there.”
“Perfect,” Nancy said. “If we disguise ourselves, we could talk to all of them again without their knowing it’s us.”
George took the flyer from Bess and studied it. “It also says Will and Sally are going to be there. I wonder how they’re going to handle that. And Matt Ziegler’s going to be there too.”
“Who’s Matt Ziegler?” Nancy asked.
George rolled her eyes. “For a famous detective, you’re not the biggest expert on mysteries. Matt Ziegler is president of Mystery Lovers of America and a TV scriptwriter for mystery shows. I’ll bet he can tell us more about Braddock, Ellingsen, and Thornton.”
As if he’d heard his name, Peter Thornton wandered into the coffee shop. He looked around nervously. Then he spotted the girls and came straight toward them.
“Glad I caught you,” he said. “There’s something we need to talk about.”
Nancy, who was sitting by herself on one side of the booth, slid in to make room for Thornton.
Peter Thornton sat down. “Uh . . . you girls haven’t told anybody about Sally and Will’s disappearance yet, have you?”
“Just you and Denise,” said Nancy. “And the security chief.”
“But you haven’t gone to the police?” Thornton asked.
Nancy shook her head. “Denise said she was going to call them.”
“Well, she changed her mind,” Thornton said. “I convinced her that we don’t want anybody else to know—at least not yet.”
“Why not?” Bess asked.
“They’ve been missing less than one day. And there’s still a good possibility this is just a setup. Denise and I just want to avoid all the bad publicity until we know they’re missing for real.”
“I think we should spread the word they’re missing,” Nancy said. “You might think this kidnapping’s a fake, but we don’t.”
“Yeah,” said Bess. “If you really cared about their safety, you’d call the police right now.”
“We do care,” Thornton said. “We just don’t want to alarm the producers of ‘Nightside’ unnecessarily. If they find out Sally and Will are gone, they’ll ruin us! They don’t like their stars to pull publicity stunts like this.”
“But it’s going to be awfully obvious Will and Sally are missing when they don’t show up at the Dress-Up Ball tonight,” Bess said.
“We’re going to make an announcement saying they had to go visit a children’s hospital instead.”
“Oh, that’s really touching,” Bess said sarcastically. “You’re not just covering this up, you’re involving innocent children.”
