Dance Till You Die (4 page)

Charity stared at Nancy. “I wasn't going to
hurt you,” she said sullenly. “I was just trying to scare you so you'd leave us alone.”

Nancy hopped off the carousel, picked up the knife, and hurled it far away. “You shouldn't be playing with knives, Charity,” she said furiously. “Lonnie told me you threatened to get revenge for being fired, and your behavior just now makes me believe you're capable of it. If you know anything about Bess's abduction, you'd better tell me.”

Charity's eyes grew round with surprise. “You think
I
kidnapped your friend Bess? That's a laugh!” she scoffed. “I bumped into her earlier tonight when I sneaked into the club to pick up some of the things I'd left when I quit. We talked, and I even told her about this party. She said she was going to try to come after she finished working.”

“You say you
quit
that job? I thought Lonnie fired you,” Nancy said.

Charity shook her head. “He wouldn't give me a raise, so I walked. He told you I threatened him?” she asked. When Nancy nodded, her scowl deepened. “I hope that jerk falls off a cliff,” she fumed.

Nancy sighed. Charity was saying Lonnie lied to her about the reason for Charity's leaving the
club. The girl's stormy temperament did make her an unreliable source of information, though, Nancy reasoned.

“Was Gaetan with you when you saw Bess?” Nancy asked. Charity paused, then shook her head. “No, Gaetan was practicing with his band all evening,” she said. “He was never at the club.”

Gaetan stepped forward and took Charity's hand. “Let's leave, Charity,” he whispered.

Charity looked at Nancy. “We're out of here,” she said, edging away. The couple vanished into the night. This time Nancy let them go. It would be useless to press Charity for more information, she thought.

At that moment Etienne and George arrived at Nancy's side. “There you are, Nancy! We lost you back there in the crowds.” George sounded slightly out of breath. “We ran all over looking for you. Did you catch up with Charity and Gaetan?”

“Yes,” Nancy said. “Charity explained that she hadn't been fired and that she'd met Bess earlier tonight. I felt as if she and Gaetan were hiding something, though.” She then described how Charity had pulled a knife on her.

“I told you Charity has a quick temper.”
Etienne shook his head ruefully. “She may have acted that way because Gaetan is hiding from the police.”

“The police?” Nancy echoed. “Why?”

Gaetan was from the African country of Angola, Etienne told her. “His visa expired months ago, and he's been avoiding the immigration authorities ever since.”

“That's probably why he looked so nervous when I mentioned the police,” Nancy remarked as they climbed back over the fence to leave the park. The DJ's rusted old car was still parked close by. “How did you meet Gaetan?” she continued. “Through Charity?”

Etienne shook his head. “Gaetan and I have known each other for years. I met him in Paris, which is my hometown,” he explained. “We came to America with big dreams of opening our own music club together. But our dream fell apart pretty quickly.” Nancy thought she detected an edge of bitterness in the DJ's voice.

“It sounds like there's bad blood between you two,” she commented.

“You could say that,” Etienne said. “Gaetan's had it in for me ever since our business plans fell apart. He blames me for the fact that he lost his investment.”

“Gaetan and Charity seem like an unlikely couple,” George commented.

Etienne nodded. “Their toughest challenge so far has been Charity's parents. They're violently opposed to her romance with Gaetan. I guess because he is from a different background.” He shrugged. “I heard that's why she ran away and is living with friends.”

“Do you have Gaetan's address?” Nancy asked the DJ as he climbed into his car. “I may need to contact him or Charity.”

Etienne scrawled an address on a scrap of paper he pulled from the glove compartment. All of a sudden the DJ seemed in a hurry. “Where are you going now?” he asked Nancy distractedly. Nancy wondered what was prompting his sudden sense of urgency.

“Back to the Edge,” Nancy replied. She glanced at her watch. It was past one in the morning. “It'll be closed by now, but I want to take one more look around. It might help me sort through the pieces regarding Bess's disappearance.”

Etienne nodded. “Call me at the club tomorrow and let me know what is happening,” he said. He threw the car into gear and peeled away, the rear wheels kicking up a spurt of gravel.

“I wonder where he's rushing off to?” Nancy mused as she and George returned to her Mustang.

“Yeah, I didn't know an old car like his could go so fast,” George commented dryly.

Nancy realized she was exhausted, but she was determined to continue the search for Bess. “You must be tired, George,” she said as she turned the car onto the highway back to River Heights. “Do you want me to drop you off?”

“No way!” George shook her head so vigorously her short, dark curls whipped around her face. “We're in this together until we find Bess.”

“I knew that's what you'd say,” Nancy replied. She gave her friend an affectionate smile.

On the way back to the Edge, Nancy pulled into the parking lot of an all-night convenience store. She used the outdoor pay phone to call the Marvins.

Bess's father answered the phone. He sounded tense and depressed as he reported they hadn't had any news about their daughter.

Nancy was lost in thought as she returned to the car.

“From the look on your face, Nan, I can tell my aunt and uncle haven't heard anything yet,” George said.

Nancy shook her head in reply. “There's something
we're missing here, George. Someone went to a great deal of trouble to abduct Bess and must have had a strong motive for doing it.” She turned on the ignition. “I know I'm overlooking something important.”

“I can't imagine why
anyone
would have it in for Bess,” George said with a catch in her voice. “She doesn't have an enemy in the world.”

“The only person we've turned up with a possible motive for abducting her is Charity Freeborn, but she denied being fired and threatening Lonnie. However, she did behave in a guilty way when I confronted her tonight. First she took off, and then when I cornered her she pulled a knife on me.”

“On the other hand, if she did take Bess, why would she be out dancing all night?” George countered. “It doesn't make sense.”

“You're right, George.” Nancy sighed out loud. “It's way too early to call her a solid suspect.”

The roads were almost empty because of the late hour, so Nancy and George made it back to the front entrance of the Edge quickly. Nancy parked at the curb and turned off the lights. She sat silently, leaning on the steering wheel, sorting out her thoughts. “Tomorrow I'll call information for Tom Kragen's number and try to get
those pictures of the party. Then I want to track down Charity again and follow her,” she said. “Maybe she'll lead us somewhere.”

The engine of a car coughed to life somewhere nearby. Nancy sat up, alert. “That sounds like it's coming from the alley behind the club,” she said, cocking her head. She reached for the car door and opened it. “I'm going to see what's going on back there.”

“I'm right behind you,” George replied. She had to sprint to keep up with Nancy, who was racing down the sidewalk toward the corner of the alley.

The girls could hear car tires screeching down the alley. Nancy reached the opening and peered down it. She found herself caught in the glare of a pair of high beams. The lights belonged to a car that was wildly backing down the alley, away from Nancy and George. There was a scraping sound followed by a crash as the vehicle knocked over a metal trash can before it disappeared around the far corner of the alley.

Nancy grimaced. “I couldn't even make out what color that car was,” she said to George. “Could you?”

George shook her head. “Those headlights were too blinding,” she replied.

Nancy and George jogged down the alley toward
the club's rear door. Nancy stopped short suddenly and put out a restraining hand to George. “Wait a second, George. Do you hear that noise?”

George looked confused. “What noise?” she asked. Then she cocked her head to listen for a moment. “It sounds a little like a kitten mewing,” she said slowly.

Nancy nodded and started poking around the trash bins, which were surrounded by heaps of industrial-size garbage bags. She stepped back, startled, when there was some movement at her feet, and she caught sight of a tumble of hair and sequins. Then her heart flipped with joy as she saw a groggy but familiar face staring up at her.

“George,” Nancy whispered, kneeling down. “Look—
it's Bess!”

B
ESS!”
G
EORGE'S FACE
reflected her relief, then her fear as she took in Bess's pallor. “Is—is she okay?” she asked Nancy.

Bess was wearing a denim jacket draped over the shoulders of her mermaid's costume. Underneath the jacket, Nancy could see that her hands were bound. Nancy loosened the ropes, then held Bess by the shoulders and gently raised her to a sitting position. She could see Bess's eyes slowly begin to focus.

“Can you speak, Bess?” Nancy felt so anxious for her friend that she could barely utter the words.

“Yes. I think so.” Bess's voice was weak, barely
audible. “Nancy—George. Thank goodness you're here,” she said, trying to smile.

“Are you hurt, Bess?” Nancy asked quickly. “Maybe we should call a doctor.”

“No, really, I'm okay. Help me up.” Bess swayed slightly as Nancy and George helped her to her feet. “I must have been knocked out for a while.” Bess smoothed the tattered remains of her mermaid's costume and looked around at the smelly garbage alley. “Yuck! I feel like yesterday's dinner special.”

George giggled with relief. “You
must
be okay if you're making jokes,” she said, giving her cousin a warm hug.

Nancy took the denim jacket off Bess's shoulders. “This is a man's jacket,” she observed. “It probably belongs to your abductor.” She examined the lining. “It's pretty small, and it has a French label.”

“French? Like Etienne?” George gasped.

“I guess anyone could wear a French label, but I
did
notice that Etienne wasn't wearing a jacket tonight.” Nancy spoke slowly. She looked down at Bess and noticed a narrow band of cloth around her neck. “That looks like a blindfold.”

Bess nodded and started to speak, but Nancy stopped her. “You can tell us everything in a little while,” she said, putting a protective arm around
her friend's shoulder. “First, we're going to call the police and your mom and dad, then take you home and get you something hot to drink.”

• • •

“Tell us exactly what happened, Bess—from the moment the lights went out at the Edge.” Nancy spoke as Bess took her second sip from a mug of hot tomato soup that Mrs. Marvin had prepared.

Nancy, Bess, George, and the Marvins were sitting around the table in the Marvins' kitchen. Nancy and George had brought Bess directly home from the Edge, where she had a joyful reunion with her frantic parents. The police decided to hold off interviewing her until the next day.

Bess leaned back and closed her eyes. “That guy who took my picture, Tom Kragen, came by to ask me for a date. He was being kind of a pest. After a while he finally took the hint and wandered off. Then the lights went out, and someone grabbed me by the shoulders.” Bess shuddered slightly. “I yelled out for help, but someone clamped some kind of wet cloth over my nose and mouth—it made me real dizzy. That's when I blacked out.”

“A wet cloth,” Nancy said thoughtfully. “It was probably soaked with something that would
knock you out.” Nancy paused for a moment. Then she cocked her head. “Did the cloth smell kind of sweet? Like syrup?”

Bess nodded. “Come to think of it, it
did
smell sweet—sickeningly sweet,” she recalled.

“What do you think was on the cloth, Nancy?” Mr. Marvin asked. He leaned forward to hear her answer.

“I'd have to examine it to be sure, but I'll bet it was soaked in ether.” Nancy recounted for them how she had smelled something sweet and medicinal just before the lights went out at the Edge earlier that evening. “I remember reading somewhere that ether has a sweet odor, and it would have been able to knock out Bess the way she described. Doctors used to anesthetize people for surgical procedures with ether,” she explained.

“Whatever it was, I don't remember anything until I half woke up on a cold, gritty floor. I couldn't see anything because they had blindfolded me.”