Officer Spinetti parked the police car, and they got out. “That’s the car!” Bess whispered as they approached the front door of the house.
“Maybe,” Nancy whispered back. As they passed the Saab, she put her hand on the hood. It was still warm, proof that the car had recently been used.
Officer Spinetti knocked on the door. When Mrs. Connor opened it and saw who was there, she looked surprised.
“Is something wrong?” she asked. She motioned the officer and the girls into the foyer.
“I’m afraid there is,” Officer Spinetti said. She explained what had happened to Nancy and Bess.
Mrs. Connor’s eyes widened. “How awful!” she exclaimed. “But what does it have to do with us?”
Officer Spinetti looked at Nancy. This was her cue to begin.
“The car that ran us off the road was a Saab just like the one out front,” Nancy said.
Mrs. Connor looked confused. “But we’ve been here all night,” she said. “Sarah’s been up in her room and I’ve been downstairs. You don’t think . . .”
“We don’t know what to think,” Nancy said gently. She went on to tell Mrs. Connor about the threatening phone calls and the stuffed bat. “We know Sarah’s been very upset,” Nancy concluded. “And sometimes when people are upset they do foolish things.”
Sarah appeared at the top of the stairs. “What is it, Mother?” she asked. Then she saw Nancy and Bess. “Oh, it’s you.”
Sarah came down slowly. Nancy could see her eyes were red. She must have been crying.
Her mother turned to her. “Officer Spinetti is here to ask us about our car. It seems a car just like it ran these two girls off the road about an hour ago.”
Sarah looked at Nancy and Bess, and then at Officer Spinetti. “So?” she said.
Nancy stepped in. “Sarah, where have you been this evening?”
Sarah gave her a belligerent look. “In my room—reading.”
Nancy knew she had been doing more than reading, from the looks of her eyes. “You haven’t taken the car out?”
“No,” Sarah replied, frowning. She turned to her mother. “Did you see me go out?” she asked sarcastically.
“No, and I’ve told Officer Spinetti that you’ve been here all evening.”
“Then why is the hood of your car warm?” Bess burst out.
“I don’t know. I keep the keys in the ignition, you know, just like everyone else in Fairport,” she said sullenly. “Maybe someone borrowed it.”
Nancy thought that wasn’t likely. But if Sarah had been out, wouldn’t her mother have known? Or was Mrs. Connor covering up for Sarah?
Nancy raised an eyebrow. Then she asked, “Sarah, do you have any stuffed animals?”
“Of course I do. Don’t you?”
Nancy smiled. “Do you have a stuffed bat?”
For a moment Sarah looked angry. Then she recovered. “As a matter of fact, I do. I saw it the other day at a toy store on the green, and I just had to have it. It seemed fitting somehow,” she said with a bitter laugh.
“Can I see it?” Nancy asked.
Sarah gave Nancy a long look. Then she looked at Officer Spinetti and must have realized that Nancy had the police officer’s backing. Wordlessly, she went back up the stairs.
The group stood nervously in the hall, waiting for Sarah to return.
When she did, her face was the picture of confusion. “It’s not there,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “It’s gone.”
Nancy looked at Bess. Now Bess raised her eyebrows.
“I put it on my dresser the other morning,” Sarah said. “I remember that.” She began to cry.
Nancy went over to Sarah and put an arm around her shoulder. “Someone has been threatening Mrs. Porter. We’ve been getting phone calls, and the other night someone left a stuffed bat just like yours on her porch with a death threat attached to it. If it’s you who’s been doing these things, we can understand it’s out of unhappiness.”
Sarah threw off Nancy’s arm. “How could you think such a thing!” She looked at her mother, her eyes wide with fright, and back to Nancy. “Do you really think I ran you off the road? After what happened to my brother?”
“Sarah, your mother said you were here all night,” Nancy said. “We’re going to accept that. We’re sorry we disturbed you, and we’ll be on our way now.”
Nancy motioned to Bess and Officer Spinetti to accompany her out the door.
“Well done,” Officer Spinetti said to Nancy when the door had closed behind them.
“But she denied everything,” Bess said.
Nancy smiled. “Yes, she did. And maybe that’s the truth. But if it isn’t, at least she’s been warned that we’re onto her.”
“Maybe those threats will finally stop now,” Officer Spinetti said as they got into her car. “I’ll take you back to Mrs. Porter’s.”
