Free 010 Buried Secrets by Carolyn Keene

“I was visiting next door. When I came back, I took one look at the kitchen and I knew we’d been robbed, but I didn’t even think that the thief might still be here. I was walking toward the living room when I heard a noise coming from the den.” Sheshuddered. “I got there just in time to see a man leaving by the front door.”
    On the phone, Nancy told the police what had happened, gave her name and address, and then turned back to Hannah. “What did he look like?” she asked.
    “I’m afraid I couldn’t see him,” Hannah admitted. “I was terrified. And he was wearing dark clothes and dark leather gloves. And he had a ski mask over his entire head, like one of those international terrorists.”
    “A terrorist wouldn’t waste his time with us. This guy was just a run-of-the-mill housebreaker.” Nancy glanced around the kitchen. “I can’t believe what a mess this place is. Maybe we should just move!”
    A loud rapping at the front door sent the cat scurrying outside and made Hannah and Nancy jump. “It can’t be our friendly visitor,” Nancy said with a nervous laugh. “He wouldn’t knock.”
    Two policemen stood on the porch, and Nancy let them in. “Get ready for a wreck,” she told them as they followed her into the living room. She took them through the entire house and for the first time got a look at what the thief had done to her bedroom.
    “It’s going to take forever to put it back together,” she moaned, staring at the papers, clothes,and cassette tapes that covered every inch of the floor.
    “Yep,” one of the officers agreed cheerfully. “The guy didn’t miss much, I’ve got to hand him that.”
    I’d like to hand him something, Nancy thought, looking around her room. A broom, for one. And a prison uniform.
    While the police were questioning Hannah in the kitchen, Nancy halfheartedly picked up a pile of cassettes and stacked them on top of her recorder. She gathered an armful of sweaters from the floor and started toward the dresser. Suddenly she let the bright-colored tops slip back out of her hands.
    What had the policeman said—that the guy didn’t miss much? But her tape recorder was still there, in plain sight on the white Formica shelf. Next to it was her television, and on the desk sat a personal computer. If Nancy had been out doing a dishonest day’s work, she wouldn’t have passed those up.
    And what about the TV and the stereo and the VCR downstairs?
    Frowning, Nancy went back through those rooms and saw what she’d missed before—nothing valuable was gone. In fact, it didn’t look as thoughanything was gone. She walked into the kitchen, found the extra sugar bowl they used for change, and opened it. Coins and a few dollar bills were still inside.
    “He wouldn’t be after the small change,” one of the policemen pointed out.
    Nancy nodded. “But he wasn’t after the big change, either. I just noticed, he didn’t take anything he could sell, like the TV or my tape recorder.”
    “Yeah, I noticed that, too,” the officer agreed. “Weird thief, huh?”
    “I’m pretty sure he wasn’t a thief at all,” Nancy told him. “I think this whole thing was just a way of trying to scare me.” Quickly she explained about her investigation into John Harrington’s death and the other warnings she’d gotten.
    “And you think that’s what this was?” the policeman asked. “Another warning?”
    “I’m positive.”
    He gave a low whistle. “Well, you may be right. And if you are, maybe you ought to back off. This guy sounds serious.”
    “He is,” Nancy said, walking with them to the door. “But so am I. And I’m not about to back off.”
    Wishing her luck, the policemen headed fortheir car. Nancy was just about to close the door when she saw a car pull up. Ned got out and walked toward her.
    He couldn’t have come at a worse time, Nancy thought, trying to comb her hair with her fingers. I look as if I’ve been on a five-day hike.
    “What’s going