Free A Date with Deception by Carolyn Keene Page A

you,” he said to her teasingly. “Want to meet him?”
    George turned to him, smiling and pink cheeked. “That depends,” she retorted. “Is he cute?”
    â€œWell, now, I guess he looks kind of like me,” Gary told her.
    â€œLet’s go,” George said promptly. “I have a feeling I’m going to like him!”
    â€œI’ll finish loading the dishwasher, George,” Bess volunteered. “You two are so cute together it makes me want to cry. Where, oh where, is the man for me?”
    â€œWe’ll find you one, Bess,” Nancy promised as George and Gary left. “As soon as this case is solved.”
    After she and Bess finished cleaning up and showering, Nancy called the car rental agency at the airport. The man she spoke to was friendly, but not too helpful. They’d never had any other complaints about their cars surging forward uncontrollably, but it wasn’t impossible, he told her. The mechanic hadn’t found anything wrong with the brakes or timing on Mr. Kolchak’s car so far, but those things were difficult to detect. Mr. Kolchak could just have had a heavy foot on the gas pedal. However, it was true that earlier models of this same car had been recalled for exactly the problem Nancy described.
    Feeling frustrated, Nancy hung up. That conversation had gotten her nowhere. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was after eleven. Where had the morning gone?
    â€œCome on,” she told Bess. “Let’s go to the dance institute and see what our friend Dmitri is up to.”
    When Nancy and Bess arrived at the institute, they could almost feel the tension as the dancers rehearsed both the new pieces and the traditional ones that everyone knew. The next night was the gala opening, and everyone wanted it to be perfect.
    As far as Nancy could tell, Sasha already was perfect. Watching him leap and whirl in time to Yves’s music, she couldn’t imagine him getting any better.
    She tried to tell herself it was only his talent she admired, but she knew it was more than that. Even though she was in love with Ned, something about Sasha made Nancy’s heart do somersaults.
    â€œI thought we were supposed to be watching Dmitri,” Bess whispered to her after they’d been sitting in the auditorium for fifteen minutes.
    â€œWe are.” Blushing, Nancy shifted her gaze to the chaperon, who was in the front row, six rows in front of them.
    â€œNancy,” Bess said. “I know you’re attracted to Sasha, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to do anything about it, so stop feeling guilty.”
    Nancy had to smile. Trust Bess to figure her out. She could spot attractions a mile away.
    That’s all it is, Nancy told herself. Attraction.And she wasn’t going to do anything about it. Nodding firmly to herself, she kept her eyes on Dmitri Kolchak.
    The Soviet chaperon got up about ten minutes later. A manila envelope tucked under his arm, he strode up the aisle and out of the auditorium.
    Nancy stood up the minute the door clanged shut. “George said she and Gary would come by if they found a way to get into Jetstream,” she said to Bess. “You stay here in case they do. I want to see where Dmitri’s going.”
    Outside, Nancy saw the chaperon heading on foot toward the main street of the village. Hoping he wouldn’t look back, she started after him.
    Once he reached the main street, Dmitri walked one block and then stopped in front of a building. Nancy was on the other side of the street by now, under the awning of a bakery. As she watched, Dmitri Kolchak pushed open the door of the post office.
    Quickly Nancy crossed the street and walked to the post office. Peering in the front glass door, she saw the chaperon talking to the woman behind the counter. He passed her the envelope, waited while she weighed it, then paid for the postage.
    When he came back outside, Nancy was studying a display