Free 004 Smile and Say Murder by Carolyn Keene

into tears, crying as if she’d never be able to stop.
    To Nancy’s amazement, Ned put his arm around her, trying to comfort her. The rat! Nancy thought furiously.
    “Sondra, it’s not like that,” Ned said. “Nancy’s a good person! This is all a mistake!” But his arm stayed around her shoulders. Nancy felt betrayed and wounded. There she was, being arrested for murder, and her boyfriend was worried about another woman!
    Ned’s words didn’t make any difference to Sondra, who kept crying, or to the rest of the staff, either. They stared at Nancy in stunned and disgusted silence. She felt like a traitor. Brenda’s beady eyes glittered happily. She was thoroughly enjoying Nancy’s misfortune.
    “Okay, Drew,” Officer Bellows ordered, “O’Hara’s got you covered. Don’t try anything funny.” Bellows whipped out her handcuffs andsnapped them neatly onto Nancy’s wrists. Nancy forced back tears. No way was she going to cry in front of all those people.
    Suddenly Nancy found her voice. “You’ve got it all wrong,” she cried, struggling against the handcuffs. “Mick was the one who tried to kill Yvonne! When I walked into this office, he was pulling that silver revolver out of his bottom desk drawer!”
    “Liar!” Sondra exclaimed, still sobbing.
    “I swear it’s true! We were struggling for the gun when it went off! It wasn’t my fault!” Nancy could feel the tears building up uncontrollably within her.
    “Mick’s no murderer!” Sondra screamed.
    “I saw the proof with my own eyes,” Nancy replied vehemently.
    “Hey, could you hold it down?” came a voice from the floor. “I’ve got a horrible headache.”
    “Mick!” cried Sondra. “You’re alive!” She burst into a fresh storm of tears. “Thank heavens!”
    Nancy breathed a giant sigh of relief.
    “My head’s killing me,” Mick said. “I think I must have hit it on the edge of the desk when I fell.”
    “All right, Swanson,” Officer Bellows said to Mick. “Off the floor. Why don’t you tell me your side of the story? Drew here’s just accused you of trying to kill Yvonne Verdi.”
    Mick stared at Nancy, a look of hurt betrayal in his blue eyes. “How can you possibly think that?” he asked.
    Nancy rolled her eyes. “The gun, Mick, the gun! Don’t you remember? You were pulling it out of your desk when I walked in here.”
    “But it’s not mine!” Mick said, turning from Nancy to Officer Bellows. “I’ve never seen it before in my life. I don’t own a gun! The only kind of shooting I know about is photography!”
    Officer Bellows stared suspiciously at Mick and Nancy. At last she said, “Looks as though you’re both going to have to come down to the station.” She turned to the others in the room. “The rest of you clear out of here. Detective Graham will be back to question you all.”
    Slowly, the staff filed out. Brenda threw Nancy a sleazy smile before she left. Soon only Ned and Sondra were left. “Uh, Officer Bellows,” Ned said tentatively, “do you think you could take those handcuffs off Nancy? I’ll vouch that she’s not dangerous, and I think she’s pretty uncomfortable with them on.”
    “Sorry,” said Officer Bellows. “Cuffs are standard procedure for bringing in a murder suspect.”
    “But, Officer, nobody’s been murdered,” Ned pointed out. “So how about it?”
    Officer Bellows blushed, embarrassed. Then, without a word, she set Nancy free. Nancy was filled with grateful relief. For a moment she wanted to throw her arms around Ned and kiss him. But the fact that he had his own arm around Sondra killed the urge right away.
    “Let’s get moving, you two,” Officer Bellows said. Still holding her pistol, she and the silentO’Hara ushered Nancy and Mick down the hallway, past the gawking staff members and into the elevator. The doors opened and Mick turned to Nancy. “After you, Miss Detective,” he said wryly. Ned and Sondra followed, like mourners at a funeral.
    Nancy was