“We have only one goal!” Dina shouted. “A united Gorvonia, free of all foreign oppressors!”
Vlad slowly shook his head. “I pity you, Dina,” he said. “Your intelligence has not saved you from being duped. Those who control you do not want your loyalty. They want only what they can get from you—such as the money that belongs to the IFC.”
“Lies! Slanders!” Dina shouted. “Shut your mouth, or I’ll shut it for you!”
Fists clenched, she flung herself at Vlad.
11
A Mountain of Charges
The instant Nancy saw Dina start to move, she grabbed her shoulders. In that same moment Ned jumped in front of Vlad and clasped Dina’s wrists.
“Hey, come on. Take it easy,” Ned said.
Dina struggled to free her arms. Ned was unmoved.
“Please, Dina,” Nancy said softly in her ear. “Acting like this will only hurt your cause.”
Nancy stared past Dina and Ned at Vlad, who was standing very still, as if waiting for Dina’s blows. His face was blank. Only his eyes moved.
Cyril and J. P. joined Ned. The three guys were like a wall blocking Dina’s route to Vlad.
“We all need to cool off,” Cyril said. “All the excitement today has us rattled.”
Dina took a deep breath. In a voice that was almost normal, she said, “You heard him. You all heard him. He called me a thief and a swindler. He said I have robbed the IFC.”
“When people get angry, they say things they don’t mean,” J. P. told her.
“Yes,” Dina retorted. “And some people pretend to get angry so they can say things they know are lies!”
Bess muttered, “Puh-leese, don’t start up again!”
“My honor has been dirtied!” Dina proclaimed.
“That is like saying the lake has been wettened,” Vlad remarked.
He said it in an undertone, but loud enough for Dina to hear. Her face reddened and the cords of her neck stood out. Nancy was afraid she would try to attack Vlad again. Instead, she turned to Cyril.
“I demand that you and the steering committee of the IFC examine the club accounts at once,” she said coldly. “I resign as treasurer, of course. I will not serve under a cloud of suspicion.”
“No need of that,” Cyril said quickly. “As for looking over the books, surely that can wait till morning. At this time of night, and after the day we’ve had, I’m not sure I could tell one number from another, much less add them.”
“Even if the accounts are perfect, there is still the stolen money from tonight,” Vlad pointed out. “You were at the admission table.”
“How do we know you were not the one who took the money, while your henchmen distracted Lance?” Dina retorted.
Bess looked over at Nancy and rolled her eyes. They pressed their lips together to keep from infecting each other with giggles. Not that the theft of so much money was funny. Not at all. But Cyril was right. Vlad and Dina were acting like villains from a Saturday morning ’toon. All they needed to make the picture complete were swirly black capes and fake mustaches.
J. P. stepped forward. He scowled at Vlad and Dina. “You are both acting irresponsibly,” he scolded. “Leave your private quarrels out of this. The club has lost a lot of money. We may lose our good name as well. This is a time to pull together, not fight among ourselves.”
“Hear, hear!” Cyril said. He checked his watch. “It’s late. Let’s break up and give our official detectives some room to do their job. I’m calling a steering committee meeting for tomorrow morning at ten-thirty. We have a lot of issues to deal with.”
Nancy heard groans from around the room, but no one disagreed with Cyril’s decision.
• • •
The dance had ended. The gym was dark. Nancy and her friends paused outside as the others took off.
“Is anybody else hungry?” Bess asked.
“I could use a snack,” George admitted.
“There’s the all-night diner over on Grove Street,” Ned said. “It’s just a five-minute walk.”
“Maybe it’s just as well the others didn’t come,” Nancy said. “We need to talk.”
They crossed the campus. Nancy was struck by how peaceful it seemed. From the window of a dorm room came the muted notes of a jazz tune. The only other sounds were the rustling of tree branches and the remote hum of a passing airliner.
Even at such a late hour the diner was half full. Ned waved to a couple of people as they walked to an empty booth in the far corner. The waitress brought them water and took their orders—a burger for Ned, a salad for George, and apple pie for Bess.
When it was Nancy’s turn, she shook her head. “Just a glass of iced tea, please,” she said.
“Okay,” Ned said, when the waitress left. “First question: Is tonight’s theft connected to the other incidents we’ve been dealing with?”
“I don’t see why it should be,” Bess said. “Sabotage is one thing, stealing’s another. Different motives, different methods . . . ”
“Isn’t it an awfully big coincidence, having two sets of bad guys operating at the same time?” George asked dubiously.
