• • •
“Is this straight?” Ned called from the top of a tall ladder.
Nancy backed away and looked carefully at the flag Ned was fastening to the wall. “The left corner’s a little low,” she reported. “Okay, that’s good.”
Ned put a length of doublefaced tape behind the cloth and pressed. He waited to make sure it held, then clambered down the ladder. “Whew,” he said, looking around the gym. “Funny—thirty flags didn’t sound like many when Cyril asked me to put them up.”
“They’re very attractive,” Bess said. “All those different colors.”
“It’s great, like a World Cup final,” George observed.
A bunch of IFC members were decorating the gym for that night’s dance. The maintenance people had already set up tables and chairs around the perimeter. Up on stage, three roadies in jeans and tank tops checked the wiring on the sound equipment.
“I could do with some supper,” Cyril announced when they had all finished their jobs. “What do you say to Mama Maria’s?”
“That’s an Italian place a couple of blocks away,” Ned explained to Nancy. “I love the lasagna. The prices are reasonable, too.”
“I can’t,” Joann told Cyril. She sounded depressed. “I need to rest before the dance.”
“I can’t, either,” Penny said cheerfully. “Lance is taking me to Le Perigord Vert for dinner.”
“Ooh la la!” Cyril cracked. “That’s that posh place in the mansion by the lake, isn’t it?”
“That’s right,” Penny said. “The cuisine is supposed to be really special. I can’t wait.”
“What’s the occasion?” Bess asked. “Your birthday?”
Penny laughed. “No, nothing like that. Lance loves gourmet cooking. Since he inherited some money from his uncle, we’ve been trying out all the fine restaurants around here.”
“Pretty tough work,” George observed. “But I guess somebody’s got to do it.”
Penny went off to change for her dinner date. Joann went off to rest. Everyone else walked over to Mama Maria’s and took a big table in the back. Nancy liked the antipasto and the lasagna. She enjoyed the company and the easy conversation, too. Even so, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the calm before the storm. She was sure of it. Her only question was, what form would the storm take?
• • •
Eager students started lining up outside the gym half an hour before the dance was scheduled to begin. Cyril and the others took care of last-minute chores. Nancy, George, and Bess walked around searching for anything that seemed out of the ordinary—they didn’t find a thing.
Lance rushed in just before the doors were supposed to open. His white shirt, striped tie, and sport coat made him look as if he were coming from a job interview. Nancy helped him move a table in front of the inner doors. He set the cash box and a roll of numbered tickets on the table, put a brown manila envelope on the seat of his chair, and took a rubber stamp and ink pad from his jacket pocket.
“For stamping people’s hands after they pay?” Nancy asked. “You came prepared.”
“It’s the only way,” Lance replied.
J. P. was standing by the outer doors. He gave Lance a questioning look.
“Let ’er rip!” Lance called.
J. P. opened the doors. The excited crowd flowed in and lined up at the table. Nancy got out of the way.
Inside, the music had already started. The plan was to switch on and off between live groups and recorded sounds. A Somali student was serving as deejay. His taste roamed the globe, from Argentinian tangos and Nigerian highlife to French rap, Russian techno, and Japanese funk. Fortunately, he announced each number before he played it. Otherwise, Nancy knew she would never have been sure what she was listening to.
“Did you see?” Bess asked Nancy and Ned, during a lull while a samba band set up. “Vlad’s here. Not only that, I saw him dancing.”
“I saw Dina, too,” Ned reported. “She was helping Lance out front. I’m glad. Maybe both of them have had second thoughts.”
“Maybe,” George said in a skeptical tone. “Or maybe it hit them that they wouldn’t get many votes if they didn’t show up tonight.”
The Rai Rebels, when they appeared, went over really well with the crowd. Later, a Cajun band had everyone on the floor trying to learn the two-step.
“Whew!” Nancy panted, after a wild uptempo number. “This is harder than a session at the gym!”
“It is a session at the gym,” Ned pointed out with a grin.
Nancy was working on a retort when Cyril hurried over to them. His face was white.
“We have a problem,” he said in a low voice.
Nancy and Ned followed him to a quiet corner.
“What’s the matter?” Nancy asked.
“Lance just looked inside the envelope where he was keeping the proceeds,” Cyril replied. “There was nothing there but cut-up paper. No money. Several thousand dollars in untraceable cash, all gone!”
10
Paper Chase
Nancy and Ned quickly followed Cyril across the dance floor. Along the way as Nancy spotted George and Bess, she motioned them to come along. Cyril led them through a side door into a corridor lined with offices.
