After a moment of listening, Madame Dugrand slammed down the phone. “What will be next?” she exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “That was the printer. Someone canceled our Nutcracker programs earlier this week! Now the shop can’t promise them on time!”
“That’s awful!” Nancy tried to console the directress. “Look, please don’t worry about the ornaments, Madame. I’ll take care of them. And somehow we’ll make sure this show is a success.”
Explaining that she’d suddenly gotten an idea where the ornaments might be, Nancy hurried back to the prop room and retrieved her purse.
Fifteen minutes later, she drove up the circular drive in front of Rebecca Farnsworth’s estate. The wealthy widow was involved in numerous charities in and around River Heights and was an outspoken patron of the arts as well.
Nancy rang the bell. Surprisingly, Mrs. Farnsworth herself came to the door.
“Hello, Mrs. Farnsworth,” Nancy said. “I’m Nancy Drew.”
The silver-haired woman smiled. “Why, yes. You’re Carson Drew’s daughter. Come in, my dear.”
As she shut the heavy door, Mrs. Farnsworth inquired, “How is your father, Nancy?”
“He’s fine, thank you,” Nancy said politely. She wiped her snowy shoes on the mat and followed Mrs. Farnsworth into a huge, marble-tiled foyer.
Then Nancy decided to get right down to business. “I’m helping organize the props for The Nutcracker Ballet, and I came to pick up the ornaments you offered to lend the school.”
Mrs. Farnsworth’s eyebrows knitted together. “My chauffeur delivered those ornaments last Tuesday,” she said, frowning. “He told me he handed them right to Marjorie Patterson.”
“Oh, good,” Nancy said with a big smile. “I’m sure Mrs. Patterson put them in a safe place,” she added quickly, not wanting Mrs. Farnsworth to know that the ornaments had disappeared.
Mrs. Farnsworth nodded. “I hope so. If anything should happen to those ornaments, I don’t know what—”
“Oh, I’m sure they’re very safe,” Nancy fibbed, walking back toward the front door. “I’m terribly sorry I bothered you. And thanks again.” She let herself out before Mrs. Farnsworth could say anything more.
Nancy pulled into the dance academy lot just as George drove up.
“Am I ever glad to see you,” Nancy said.
“What’s up?” George asked. “You look worried.”
As the girls walked to the entrance, Nancy filled George in on the missing ornaments. “And all this means if Mrs. Patterson doesn’t have them, we’re in big trouble,” Nancy concluded.
Using the pay phone in the hall, Nancy called the Patterson’s house. Mrs. Patterson’s answer made Nancy’s heart sink.
“She said they’re in the box inside the sled,” Nancy told George when she’d hung up. “But there isn’t any box in the sled.”
George took off her coat and started down the hall. “Maybe you just overlooked it,” she called over her shoulder.
An hour later, there were still no ornaments in sight.
“This is just great,” Nancy said with a sigh as she sat back on her heels. George was kneeling beside her. The two of them were surrounded by open boxes full of props. “I have a hunch that whoever canceled the programs took the ornaments, too,” Nancy said.
George shook her head. “Probably the same person who set off the fire alarm and loosened the demonstration barre in studio A.”
“It does seem as if all these disasters are happening too close together not to be related,” Nancy said.
“You still think it could be Lawrence and Darci?”
Nancy sighed again. “I wish I knew.”
Just then, the girls heard tinkly Nutcracker music floating through the prop room’s open door.
“Maybe we should take a break,” George said.
With a nod, Nancy stood up. “You read my mind.” When they reached studio A, Nancy slowly opened the door.
Lawrence and Shana were alone in the studio. A tape recorder on the piano was playing music from the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
As Nancy watched the two dancers, she almost forgot the harsh words she’d overheard Lawrence utter about Shana at Yogurt Heaven. The two dancers were rehearsing the romantic pas de deux from The Nutcracker.
Shana was supported against Lawrence’s arm. Dipping back, she arched her arms gracefully over her head. Then Lawrence spun Shana around, and with both hands on her waist, began to lift her high into the air. But the romantic mood disappeared when Lawrence suddenly lost his balance. Shana sailed backward over his head, a look of horror on her face!
5
Dangerous Playthings
Shana screamed as she flew over Lawrence’s head toward the wooden floor.
“Oh, no!” George gasped, rushing with Nancy into the studio.
At the last second, Lawrence lurched forward and pulled Shana down to his shoulders. Her weight threw him sideways and he staggered. Then, finally getting his balance, he lowered her in front of him, setting her awkwardly on her feet.
“Are you all right?” he said. Lawrence’s face was flushed, and his eyes were full of concern.
Angrily, Shana pulled away from him. “You klutz! I could have broken my neck!”
