Free 041 Something to Hide by Carolyn Keene Page B

on him.
    This case is getting stranger by the minute, Nancy thought as she pulled on her coat and left the house.
    She headed downtown to one of River Heights’s biggest drugstores. Nancy knew Mr. Bailey, the pharmacist, would probably be able to test the sample of Spotless she’d received on her doorstep the day before to see if it contained arsenic.
    “What can I do to help you, Nancy?” Mr. Bailey asked when Nancy appeared in his store.
    She pulled out the sample of Spotless that she’d found on her front step. “I wondered if you could test this,” she said. “I think it might contain arsenic.”
    Mr. Bailey had obviously read about the case—he wasn’t at all surprised. “I’d be glad to help you,” he said. “It should only take a few minutes.”
    When he returned, there was a grim smile onhis face. “You were right,” he said. “There’s arsenic in it.”
    “Do you know how much?” Nancy was still puzzled that Marcia’s reaction had been so severe. Perhaps, for some reason, there were other samples of Spotless that had more poison in them.
    “Ten milligrams,” said Mr. Bailey.
    The same amount the police had found in the samples they had tested.
    “You’re working on the Spotless case, right?” asked Mr. Bailey, and Nancy nodded.
    Nancy slid the Spotless sample back into her bag. “I just don’t understand it. How come some kids have gotten only mildly sick from it, and one girl is in a coma?”
    “From the cream?” The pharmacist looked startled. “Someone’s in a coma from this cream?”
    Nancy nodded,
    Mr. Bailey was shaking his head. “That doesn’t make sense,” he said. “If someone used this cream, they might develop a rash or stomach problems, but they’d never become seriously ill. In order to cause something like a coma, you’d need to swallow the arsenic. A lot of it.”
    “Are you sure?” Nancy asked.
    Mr. Bailey nodded. “I’m telling you, there’s just no way this cream could kill you.”

Chapter

Twelve
    A RE YOU SURE ?” Nancy repeated.
    Mr. Bailey looked her straight in the eye. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”
    “But that means—that means—” Nancy broke off. It meant Marcia must have ingested the arsenic. And that meant the case now went off in about fifty new directions.
    “Thank you, Mr. Bailey,” Nancy said. “You’ve been a big help.”
    Nancy got back into her car and planned her next move. First, she wanted to try to see Marcia. Maybe her condition had stabilized enough for her to talk. If not, Nancy could always question one of the doctors. He or shemight be able to tell her something she didn’t know about Bess’s poisoning.
    As she approached the nurses’ station on Marcia’s floor, Nancy saw she wasn’t the only one paying a visit to the hospital that morning. Nancy spotted Heather walking down the hall ahead of her.
    “Hi, Heather,” she called.
    Heather turned and gave her a listless imitation of a smile. “Oh, hi, Nancy,” she said. “If you’ve come to see Marcia, they won’t let you in. She’s still in a coma. The nurses told me we can call again this afternoon, but she can’t have any visitors. Isn’t this horrible?”
    It certainly was, but at least Heather was treating Nancy like a real person now instead of just someone standing in the way of her getting together with Ned. Nancy wasn’t sure what had brought about the change.
    Now that I think about it, though, Heather’s been acting a lot nicer since we heard about Marcia, Nancy said to herself. She hasn’t tried to flirt with Ned once, and she’s even being friendly to me.
    Looking more closely, Nancy saw Heather’s fingers gripping the strap of her shoulder bag as though it were a lifeline. She was clearly nervous about something, and Nancy wondered what it might be.
    “I guess there’s no point in staying here,” Nancy found herself saying. The doctors couldwait. “Do you want to stop for a soda or something?”
    “Oh, well—well, I guess not,”