Free No Laughing Matter by Carolyn Keene Page A

eyes on Nancy. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?”
    Before Nancy could answer, Ned walked in. He was surprised to see Lisa there. “What happened?” he asked. “When the receptionist and I returned I saw Peter leaving.”
    â€œI’ll explain later,” Nancy said. Turning to Lisa, she said, “In answer to your question, my guess is that Peter is telling the truth. He seemed sincere, but we can’t be sure without proof. Let’s take a look at Over the Rainbow’s accounting ledger. But first I want to make a quick call to Hawaii.”
    Ned raised an eyebrow. “Is this a little surprise vacation for two?”
    â€œI wish,” Nancy said, grinning. She told him and Lisa about the airline receipt that she had found in Over the Rainbow’s travel file. “I’m going to call the hotel and ask them to describe the person who checked in under the name Spector ,” she concluded. “Hopefully it’s not a big hotel and they’ll know who I’m talking about.”
    Nancy dialed the number on the hotel confirmation notice and asked for the front-desk manager. “Hello,” she said into the phone in her best official-sounding voice. “Did you have a Mr. or Miss Spector staying with you recently?”
    Nancy waited while she was put on hold. A moment later the manager came back on the line. “There was a Miss J. Spector here,” he said. “She checked out yesterday.”
    When Nancy asked the manager if he could describe Miss Spector, he said, “Oh, she was a pretty young girl—cascades of blond hair cut in layers. I remember because she had me find a stylist to give her a trim while she was here.”
    That definitely sounded like Carla Jones, Nancy thought. Now she just needed to know one more thing. “I’m calling from her business accounting office,” she explained. “We wanted to make sure that her account was paid for by the firm. Could you check on that, please?”
    She could barely contain her excitement when she hung up a few moments later.
    â€œWell?” Ned asked.
    â€œHer bill was paid by a check from Over the Rainbow!” Nancy said.
    Lisa’s mouth fell open. “If they paid for her trip to Hawaii, that makes her testimony at Matt’s trial a little shaky.”
    â€œMore than a little,” Nancy said. “But we need more. If Matt didn’t open the Gold Enterprises account or sign the check, someone else did a very good job of forging his signature—good enough to fool two experts. We have to find out who that person is.”
    Ned raked a hand through his thick brown hair. “And since all our suspects work at Over the Rainbow, we also have to have solid proof that there really was a money-laundering operation going on, as Matt claimed.”
    â€œI say we start by taking a look at this book while we have the chance,” Lisa said, leaning forward to look at the Over the Rainbow ledger.
    The three of them started poring over the leather-bound book. “Based on what Bess found out from Tony, and from what I calculated from last night’s guest checks, the club’s average take per night is around five thousand dollars,” Nancy said.
    Lisa ran her fingers down the entries for each day’s profits. “These records definitely show more income than that per night,” she said. “They show closer to ten thousand dollars, sometimes more.”
    Two piles of receipts were wedged into the book. Ned took them out and glanced at them. “Hmm, looks like these are the guest receipts and totals from the bar,” he said. “And this other stack is of bills that Over the Rainbow needs topay out.” He reached for the calculator on Peter’s desk. “I’ll add these up to make sure the numbers match.”
    A moment later he held up a slip of paper, frowning at it. “Check it out. This company is getting a nice