Mixed Signals Part 9

"I think you'd better make a decision, or else you'll still be wearing your bathrobe when Jerry arrives," Nancy teased. "I'd better get going before Ned starts wondering what happened to me. See you at the dance!"

The air was cold when Nancy stepped out of the dorm. The sun had almost set, and a breeze rustled through the leaves, causing some of them to flutter down from the branches. Slipping her hands into the pockets of her blazer, Nancy headed toward the woods that swept down the hill to the lake.

As she walked along the path, Nancy pa.s.sed a handful of students. Other than that, the path was fairly deserted. Most people must be on their way to the dance on the other side of the campus, Nancy realized.

A stout brick wall marked the entrance of College Woods, and Nancy stopped by the gate. Now that she wasn't moving, she s.h.i.+vered from the cold. It was seven o'clock exactly, she saw, checking her watch. Ned should be there any second.

After five minutes of waiting, Nancy began to get impatient. She was hopping from foot to foot, trying to stay warm, when she noticed a figure approaching. At last!

On second glance, she realized that it wasn't Ned. It was Carrie, the girl who played the Emerson wildcat. She was dressed in her mascot costume.

"Hi, Carrie," Nancy called as the wildcat approached.

But the girl didn't respond. She rushed toward Nancy, lifting her hand high above her.

Something glinted in the pale moonlight. Nancy gasped as she realized what the object was. It was a knife-a s.h.i.+ny and sharp knife. And it was arcing through the air right toward her throat!

Chapter Fourteen.

"HEY!" NANCY STAGGERED backward as the mascot swung the deadly blade at her.

Twisting to one side, she lifted her foot and aimed a kick at the mascot's arm. Her shoe struck the elbow, throwing the mascot back. As she stumbled, Nancy saw that the mascot's feet were large-too large to belong to a girl. And this person was wearing purple high-top sneakers. Whoever this was, it definitely wasn't wasn't Carrie! Carrie!

To Nancy's dismay, her a.s.sailant had managed to keep hold of the knife. Spinning, Nancy took off up the path, back toward the dorm. She ran as fast as she could, but her black pumps kept slipping on the slick asphalt. Stealing a glance back, Nancy realized she couldn't outrun this creep-not in heels. He was only a few yards behind her!

Spotting a huge trash container, she veered off the path. Slow him down! The thought screamed through her mind. She grabbed the edge of the steel barrel and pushed. A second later it was rolling down the path.

The "wildcat" didn't see the barrel until it was too late. It struck him with a loud clatter, knocking him down to the pavement.

Without a moment to waste, Nancy raced ahead, grateful to have any sort of lead. Her heart was pounding, but she kept running. Her lungs were burning when another figure darted out from behind a nearby tree.

"No!" she screamed as strong arms reached out and circled her waist.

"Nan! It's me," a familiar voice said into her ear.

"Ned!" Nancy went limp with relief. Turning in his arms, Nancy stared up at his familiar face. "Ned, someone is trying to kill me. We've got to get out of here-he's got a knife."

"A knife? What are we waiting for?"

As they tore to the end of the tree-lined path, Nancy kept glancing back over her shoulder until she was convinced he wasn't following them any longer. Only then did she begin to breathe easily.

"We'll have to report this creep to campus security." Ned stared deep into Nancy's eyes. For the first time she noticed how handsome he was in his crisp white s.h.i.+rt and charcoal gray suit. "I knew something was wrong as soon as I arrived at your room. Bess said something about a note-and that you were waiting for me in College Woods."

"A note? Bess only said that you'd sent a message." Nancy shook her head slowly. "I should have known that it was a setup, but when she mentioned something about a surprise, I didn't question it."

"Some surprise," Ned said darkly. Pulling Nancy against him, he held her close in a long hug. When he finally let her go, Nancy thought she saw a misty haze in his brown eyes.

They walked in silence the rest of the way to the student center. Bess and Jerry were waiting by the door. Bess had decided on the pink dress, Nancy saw, and Jerry was wearing what was probably his only suit-navy.

"Nancy! Thank goodness you're okay." Bess rushed over and threw her arms around Nancy. "When I found out that Ned hadn't sent that note, I felt awful!"

"Are you okay?" asked Jerry.

"I'm fine," Nancy a.s.sured them, smoothing her silk dress, "though I didn't plan to go jogging in this outfit."

Bess gave her a curious look. "What?"

Ned explained. "He was still chasing Nancy when I found her."

"Someone wants me off this case," Nancy added, thinking aloud. "And it looks like he's getting pretty desperate." So am I, she added silently. How am I ever going to crack this before game time?

A campus security guard was standing inside the entrance to the student center. While Bess and Jerry went in to the dance, Nancy and Ned reported the attack on Nancy.

The security guard took down the details. "We have two cars patrolling the campus tonight. I'm going to radio them with this. They'll be on the lookout for this joker."

"I wish that all this was was a joke," Nancy whispered to Ned as they went inside to the dance. a joke," Nancy whispered to Ned as they went inside to the dance.

"It's not," Ned said gravely. "It's deadly serious. But for tonight, I want you to put the case completely out of your mind and have some fun."

"I'll try," Nancy said with a shaky smile.

The dining hall looked even more elegant than it had late that afternoon. Candles now provided the only lighting. The flickering flames cast a warm glow over the entire room.

As her eyes skimmed over the crowd, Nancy spotted Jerry and Bess twirling on the dance floor.

"What do you think?" Ned asked. "Are you too tired to dance?"

Reaching up, Nancy placed her hands on his broad shoulders. "I'll never be too tired to dance with you, Nickerson."

Everything seems clearer in the light of day, Nancy thought as she took a sip of orange juice at breakfast the next morning. Ned was sitting beside her at a table in the student center, now bare of all the previous night's homecoming decorations. Across the table, Bess and Jerry were splitting their second cranberry m.u.f.fin.

The dance had been a welcome distraction from the case. But now Nancy was eager to get back to work. She had to find Carrie to see if she had lent her costume to anyone, and she wanted to check with the dean to see if he had any information for her. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was nearly ten-thirty. The game was at two-thirty. Each second was precious now.

"Hi, everyone." Nancy heard Randy before she saw him come over to their table. He pulled a chair up next to Nancy and straddled it. His eyes were red from lack of sleep.

"You look exhausted!" Bess exclaimed.

"I am," Randy admitted, nervously slipping a hand through his dark hair. "It's ironic. I skipped the dance so that I'd get a good night's rest. But as it turned out, I was home merely to receive a few more threatening phone calls. Finally I just took my phone off the hook."

"Sounds like our creep had a busy night," Ned commented. "Nancy was chased by some guy wearing the team mascot's costume."

"The wildcat?" Randy asked in disbelief.

"A deadly cat," Jerry added. "This one carried a blade."

"What!" Randy exclaimed. Then he shook his head in disgust. "Unbelievable. I'm sorry that you got dragged into this whole thing."

Nancy shrugged. "It's part of being a detective. Call it an occupational hazard."

"Well, I'm still not giving up," Randy vowed. "That creep kept calling last night, but I just kept telling him no dice. I'm not going to throw this game. I'm going to do my absolute best to win today's game for Emerson."

"And we'll be right behind you," Jerry added. "All the guys on the team want to win this one. You can count on us to give it our best shot."

"Thanks, buddy." Randy stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'll catch you guys later." He gave them a thumbs-up sign. "Wildcats all the way!"

"Good luck!" Nancy watched as he walked away. She was about to turn back to her breakfast when something struck her. Quickly glancing back at Randy, her eyes traveled from his jacket, to his jeans, and down to his sneakers.

Purple high-top sneakers! Just like the shoes worn by the knife-wielding mascot!

Chapter Fifteen.

"OH, NO!" Nancy gasped as a horrible idea occurred to her. Could Randy have been the one to attack her?

"Nancy, what's wrong?" asked Bess. "You look as if you'd just seen a ghost."

Nancy blinked and turned back to her friends. "Not a ghost, a pair of sneakers. Randy was wearing purple high-top sneakers."

"Oh, yeah. I've got them, too," Jerry volunteered, slinging one foot out from under the table.

Nancy stared in disbelief. "You, too?"

"Everyone on the team has a pair of these babies. A local sportswear shop had them specially made for the football players. I know they're kind of weird, but they gave us purple because of our school colors."

"The mascot who attacked me was wearing purple sneakers," Nancy explained. "That's how I knew it was a guy, because his feet were so big."

"You're kidding!" Bess gasped.

Jerry frowned. "That sort of narrows down your list of suspects, doesn't it?"

"I'm afraid it does," Nancy agreed. "Now I'm convinced that one of the guys on the team is behind this mess."

A heavy silence fell over the table. Finally Jerry broke it.

"It makes me sick to think someone on the team would do all this stuff. But if it's true, he has to be rooted out and punished."

"We'll find him," Nancy a.s.sured him, "even though it means investigating twenty or so guys in just a few hours."

"Whoa! I hope you're not counting me," Jerry said, alarmed.

Bess giggled. "You've got a good alibi. You were with me when Nancy was attacked by that mascot!"

With a smile, Nancy said, "It's the other players I need to zero in on-especially Josh."

"But Josh was attacked, too," Ned pointed out.

"True, but that whole incident was suspicious." Nancy told the others her theory that Josh might have staged the attack at the library to direct suspicion away from himself.

"Sounds awfully extreme," Jerry commented.

Nancy nodded. "I've been bothered by that, too. I can't help but think our culprit must have some bigger motive than just jealousy or a vendetta against Randy. Whoever's responsible is risking going to jail for attempted murder. That's a pretty high price to pay just to get back at Emerson, or at Randy."

"I see what you mean," Ned said thoughtfully.

"But we still need evidence and motive that Josh is our man," Nancy said, leaning forward in her chair. "Dean Jarvis is looking into his background, but this situation calls for some emergency measures. Here's my plan-"

"Go, Wildcats, go!"

The cheerleaders shook their purple-and-orange pom-poms in time to the cheer, and the crowd responded with rousing applause. Bundled up in sweaters and jackets, Nancy and Bess were in the stands at the big game. Nancy cheered with the rest of the fans, but her whole body was tense with antic.i.p.ation.

When the referee blew the whistle, a line of Emerson players ran across the field. The kicker positioned in the center sent the ball flying down toward the end zone, where the Russell team waited.

"That's the kickoff," Nancy whispered to Bess. "Time for us to go."

As they descended the bleachers, Nancy's eyes swept over the crowd. Was someone watching them? But no one seemed to notice as the girls climbed down from the stands, exited the stadium, and headed toward the sports center.

Nancy went over the plan with Bess as they walked. "Remember, I need you to guard the outside door while I'm in the locker room. Jerry says that the coach sometimes sends someone back to the locker room for extra equipment during games. If that happens, try to warn me. Think you can handle that?"

"A big, hulking football player?" Bess laughed. "No problem!"

"In the meantime, Ned should be checking in with Dean Jarvis right about now. Who knows, he might have already come up with some helpful information."

Bess grabbed Nancy's arm as they reached the outside door to the locker room. "Be careful, Nan," she warned.

Nodding, Nancy pulled open the door only far enough for her to slip inside.