Free Let’s Talk Terror by Carolyn Keene

minutes?”
    â€œI was out front,” the guard replied.
    â€œWhere does this door lead?” Nancy asked him.
    â€œOut back to the parking lot. See for yourself.” With that he opened the door leading to a ten-foot-long corridor ending in a freight exit. The door was slightly ajar, revealing a slice of the lot behind the building.
    â€œThere’s how she got away,” Nancy said, frustrated.
    â€œDon’t let anybody near that last phone,” the lieutenant told the guard. “I’m going to send someone to check it for prints. But first, I want to have a quick look out back.”
    After following the lieutenant down the short corridor, Nancy stepped outside. Next to the door were three large trash and recycling containers, which she peered into.
    â€œNothing in there,” the lieutenant said.
    But a glint of gold from behind one of the containers caught Nancy’s eye. “Fantastic!” she said, reaching down and pulling up the paisley scarf. “Somebody was in a hurry, I guess.”
    â€œGood work, Nancy!” the lieutenant said, taking the scarf from her and checking out the label. “‘One hundred percent rayon. Cold wash only,’ ” he read. “We’ll run a check on this.”
    Nancy looked across the parking lot at the black granite building across the way. It sent a shock of recognition through her. It was the building that housed the offices of Teen Talk. “I never heard from Laura,” she murmured softly.
    â€œWhat’s that, Nancy?” the lieutenant asked.
    â€œThat building is where I was trying to get some background information on Marcy, Vic Molina, and Samantha Savage,” she said.
    â€œYeah, I heard about those two from Marcy yesterday,” the lieutenant said. “We’ve checked into them, but they seem to be okay. I don’t think either of them could have sneaked into the Stern offices without being recognized.”
    â€œBut remember, Lieutenant,” Nancy reminded him, “the caller today said there was somebody else involved. Maybe Vic or Samantha is working with someone at Stern Productions.”
    â€œYou have a lot of fancy theories, Nancy,” the lieutenant said. “You check them out, okay? I’ve got a lot of cases I’m working on at the moment. Now if you’ll excuse me,” he said, turning to go back into the building, “I’ve got to call headquarters to send a fingerprint guy over here.”
    Nancy ran across the parking lot to go to see Laura at the offices of Teen Talk. There was a different receptionist behind the glass partition.
    â€œI’m looking for Laura Salvo,” Nancy said.
    â€œOh,” said the receptionist, taking off her glasses and staring at Nancy. “Laura’s no longer here.”
    â€œWhat happened to her?” Nancy couldn’t hide her surprise.
    â€œMs. Kristoff let her go. It was kind of sudden,” the girl said. “I’m new here, so I really couldn’t tell you.”
    â€œI see.” Nancy checked her watch. “Thank you. Thank you very much.” She headed straight back to the Media Center.
    There George was waiting for her by Ginger’s desk. “Big news, Nancy,” George said, her face tight with worry. “Taping of ‘Marcy!’ has been postponed until further notice.”
    â€œOh, no,” Nancy said. “Poor Marcy. How is she taking it?”
    â€œShe’s talking to the Sterns right now,” George told her. “Susan’s in on the meeting, too. Apparently, it was something about the show’s insurance being canceled. The company said that all the threats were making it too much of a risk. By the way, Susan just handed me this. She said somebody left it in her box, but it has your name on it.”
    Nancy quickly opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of notepaper.
    Nancy—I couldn’t get those files for you, but I found out