They stood up. Just then a crowd of eager students started flowing through the gate. Nancy spotted Ned and Cyril near the gate and waved urgently. The two guys hurried over.
“Have you seen Lance?” she asked them.
“I did a moment ago,” Cyril told her. “He’s outside the gate, making a call.”
“I’ll be right back,” Nancy said. She worked her way against the flow of the crowd. At the gate she waited for a gap and pushed through.
Lance was just a few feet away, his back to her. He had a cell phone pressed to his ear. As Nancy drew closer, she heard him say, “It’s just for a week or two, Aunt Ellie. Just until the estate is settled. You know I’ll pay you back. It’s really important.”
A light breeze brought Nancy a whiff of Lance’s aftershave lotion. She recognized it. She had smelled it just a few minutes before, on the person who had tried to push her off the platform.
Nancy felt a wave of anger break over her. She reached out and grabbed Lance roughly by the collar.
Startled, he whirled to face her. When he saw her expression, he realized that she had unmasked him. He drew back his arm and hurled his cell phone at her head.
15
Facing the Music
A split second before Lance threw the cell phone at her, Nancy ducked. The phone whizzed past her, grazing her earlobe, and sailed into the booth behind her. It crashed onto a table stacked with jars of exotic spices.
“Hey!” the spice seller yelled. “What the—!”
Lance bulled his way through the waiting crowd. At the gate he waved his card. The security man stepped aside and let him through.
Nancy tried to follow Lance. The crowd blocked her way. “Please,” she begged. “Let me through! It’s important!”
They ignored her. Lance had just shoved past them. They were not going to let another line-jumper get by, too.
Finally Nancy managed to wriggle and worm her way to the gate. The security man stopped her. “Sorry, ticketholders only,” he said.
“You let me in before,” Nancy reminded him. “I’m staff. Cyril vouched for me. Remember?”
The man shook his head. “Sorry, miss. Now, will you please move out of the way? These people want to go in.”
“Yeah, move it!” somebody shouted from behind her.
It felt as if a riot were about to break out, with her as the target. Nancy looked around the area inside. Was there anybody who knew her? Just when she was about to give up, she spotted Akai. He was twenty feet away, talking to a girl wearing a colorful African tribal robe and headdress.
Nancy called his name. It took him a few moments to locate her. He hurried over and asked the guard to let her in. Even after he showed his own staff card, the guard balked. Finally Akai moved the barrier aside and motioned Nancy in. The security man did not like it, but there was nothing he could do.
By now, of course, Lance had managed to lose himself in the crowd. Nancy walked quickly to the front of the seating area, then started up the center aisle more slowly, scanning the faces on either side. George, Bess, and Ned soon noticed her and hurried to join her.
“Ned,” Nancy said after she had explained about Lance, “will you cover the entrance? We’ll search the crowd.”
“Check,” Ned said.
“George, take the left side,” Nancy continued. “And Bess, the right. I’ll stay in the middle. If you see any of our friends, get them in on it, too.”
The three girls fanned out. Nancy continued walking slowly up the center aisle. By now there were hundreds of students waiting for the music to begin. Some had already taken their seats, but most were standing in clumps, talking. Lance could be hidden in the middle of any of them. He could also be anywhere backstage.
As Nancy neared the scaffold that held the sound and light boards, she saw Penny coming toward her. She tensed up. Penny was Lance’s girlfriend. Was she also his accomplice?
“Hi, Nancy,” Penny said. “Listen, is anything wrong with Lance?”
“Why?” Nancy asked cautiously.
“Well . . . ” Penny hesitated, then said, “When I saw him just now, he acted very weird. He pretended not to see me. Why would he do that?”
“Where was this?” Nancy asked. She tried not to spook Penny by sounding too eager.
Penny waved toward the far corner of the rows of chairs. “Over there,” she said. “He was sitting with a bunch of people I didn’t know. He had his head down like he was reading. But I didn’t see anything on his lap. And I’m sure he saw me. What’s going on?”
Penny sounded sincerely puzzled. Still, Nancy wondered if this was a ploy on Lance’s part to throw her off his track. She had to take that risk.
“I’ll go talk to him,” Nancy told Penny, and walked quickly in the direction Penny had indicated.
More of the crowd was seated now. The rows of faces blurred into featureless ovals, all aimed toward the stage. As Nancy neared the back of the arena, however, she spotted one squarish head that was bent over, showing only neatly trimmed blond hair.
“Hey, Lance, over here,” Nancy called.
Startled, Lance raised his head. When he saw Nancy, his eyes widened in alarm. He jumped to his feet and started edging past his neighbors toward the far aisle. The angry cries showed that he was stepping on quite a few toes.
Nancy stayed where she was. George had seen what was happening and was waiting for Lance at the other end of the row. And if that wasn’t enough, J. P. was hurrying up the aisle to join George.
Bess came running over. “We caught him!” she exulted.
“Looks that way,” Nancy agreed as George and J. P. walked Lance toward the exit.
