Free 039 The Suspect Next Door by Carolyn Keene

the doorway as a light rain began to fall. “Hi, beautiful, it’s me again,” he said to Nancy with a smile. “Ready for that dance now?”
    “Jay,” Nancy said, “did you see Nikki Masters leave with Dan Taylor?”
    “I’m afraid so,” Jay nodded, making a face. “How she can go out with him when I’m available is more than I can figure out.”
    “Jay, this is serious,” Nancy told him, facing him squarely. “Did Nikki say anything to you, or anybody, before she left?”
    Jay thought about it, and then began his answer with a shrug. “Well, only that she’d be back in a little while.”
    “She didn’t say where they were going?”
    “Nope.”
    Nancy drew in a long breath. Her heart was pounding like crazy, but she knew that getting in her car and searching the streets for Dan and Nikki was foolish. There was no way she could find them without a lead. Besides, she didn’t want to risk missing them when—and if—Nikki got back to the party.
    “Well,” Nancy told Robin and Lacey, “we can only hope she knows what she’s doing.”
    “If she knew what she was doing, then why did she do it?” Lacey asked.
    “Yeah,” Robin agreed. “Why?”
    Nancy thought for a moment. “Nikki’s not stupid,” she concluded. “If Dan seemed dangerous, she wouldn’t have gone with him.”
    “Sure,” Robin said. “But people who are dangerous don’t always seem to be, right?”
    “Right,” Nancy agreed with a shudder. “Well,there’s nothing we can do now but wait. Let’s go back inside.”
    It rained for the next half hour. When Jeremy Pratt came in, he was soaking wet and carrying two huge bags of soda cans. The bags broke the minute he stepped inside the house. Nancy watched as his friends picked up, laughing hysterically the whole time. Jeremy was laughing, too, until Brittany told him Dan Taylor had been at his party.
    “What?” Jeremy exploded. “That freak! What a turkey! If that lowlife dares to set foot in my house again, I’m personally going to give him a lesson in manners he’ll never forget!”
    A crowd had gathered round, enjoying Jeremy’s high-humored fury. Jeremy played to the crowd like a born comic.
    “Tell me honestly, would anybody at this party ever miss Dan Taylor if, say, he suddenly disappeared? I know I wouldn’t!”
    Nancy watched it all, detached. “Is Jeremy always like this?” she whispered in Lacey’s ear.
    “Only when he’s angry,” Lacey told her. “He gets kind of vicious.”
    “I’d sure hate to have him mad at me,” Nancy remarked.
    Nancy looked at her watch a little while later. 11:00. Nikki had been gone over an hour. Nancy was wondering where Nikki could be when a commotion broke out at the front door.
    “It’s Nikki!” Nancy heard a girl say.
    “Excuse me,” Nancy said quickly and edged her way over to the door. Then she stopped in her tracks.
    Nikki Masters stood there, her hands and face covered with scratches, her shoes muddy, and her clothes soaked and torn. There was a huge rip in the sleeve of her blouse.
    “Nikki!” Lacey gasped, running to her. “What in the world happened to you?”
    With a wild expression on her delicate face, Nikki turned toward her friend and reached out for support. Then all the blood left her face, and she sank to the floor, lifeless.

Chapter

Eleven
    E VERYBODY STAND BACK ! Give her some air.” Nancy quickly and firmly took command of the situation. When the chaos died down, Nancy, together with Robin and Lacey, set about reviving Nikki.
    After a few moments and a splash of cold water, which Nancy had asked for, Nikki came to and let herself be propped up.
    The room was dead silent. Nikki looked around fearfully, then turned to her friends. She buried her head in her hands, and soon great big heaving sobs were coming out of her in waves. Nancy knelt behind her, holding her, while Lacey and Robin crouched by her shoulders.
    “Come on, let’s get you someplace private,” Nancy told her. She turned to the