Nancy Clue Mysteries 2 - The Case of the Good-for-Nothing Girlfriend (27 page)

"Frank?" Cherry blurted out in a puzzled tone. "Why, that's Midge! "

"That's right, Cherry," Bess jumped in and cut Cherry off. "That's Midge's brother, Frank. She's new here," Bess explained to Mrs. Tweeds. "She's a little confused about who everyone is."

"I didn't know there were any Hardly girls," Mrs. Tweeds said in surprise.

"They're away at girls' school," Midge explained quickly in a surprisingly deep voice. "Back east."

Cherry thought something very queer indeed was going on! Then she realized it was just like at the motel, when Midge was mistaken for a man. "Well, if Midge wants everyone to think she's a fella, I'm not going to say a word," Cherry decided. "I just wish Midge would tell me in advance who she was going to be that day, that's all."

"Who are you, dear?" Mrs. Tweeds turned her attention to the blushing Cherry. "Are you a friend of the family?" Mrs. Tweeds suddenly got all flustered. "Oh, dear, I shouldn't say that word-family, I mean-now that Nancy hasn't one anymore. By the way, where is that girl, anyway? Nobody's seen her, and you'd think with all she has to do with her wedding coming up this week she'd be making preparations and poring over china patterns."

"Her wedding?" Cherry gasped.

"Who is this woefully uninformed girl?" Mrs. Tweeds wanted to know. She turned to Cherry and spoke to her in a patient tone that grated on Cherry's already taut nerves. "Dear, Nancy's getting married this very week. Isn't it exciting?"

George choked on her cheese sandwich. Mrs. Tweeds ignored her. Mrs. Tweeds always ignored George.

"Who is she marrying?" Cherry interrupted excitedly.

"Why, Frank here," Mrs. Tweeds said in a impatient tone. "Don't you know anything? It's the talk of the town. Everyone's coming. But I do think it's rather tacky to hold it here, don't you think?" She shuddered and looked around the sparkling clean yellow and white kitchen. She pointed to the shiny white and gold speckled Linoleum in front of the refrigerator. "That's where his body lay," she shivered.

"Do you think Nancy would like a nice knife set?" she queried the group when she had regained her composure. "I gave a set to Mrs. Gloon's daughter, Lenora, and she reports back that they're just the thing for married life." Mrs. Tweeds opened her purse and took out a piece of paper. "Here's the shower list, dear," she said to Bess. "As Nancy's best friend and maid of honor, you're responsible for giving it. Now, I've included everyone from the Women's Club, the Garden Club, and the Literary Club. Be sure to seat Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Hellman miles apart; they're having a little tiff over some voile draperies. You won't have time to send formal invitations; if I were you, I'd get on the telephone and call all these people today."

She sighed and shook her head. "This is a terrible time for Hannah to be in jail, what with all the work it takes to put together a bridal shower. You don't think Chief Chumley would let her out for just a few days, do you?" Mrs. Tweeds laughed. "Just to make those cute little finger sandwiches?"

Bess smiled weakly. Cherry looked sick.

"No need to thank me, dear," Mrs. Tweeds said as she snapped her purse shut and marched out the door.

"What did she mean, Nancy's getting married?" Cherry burst out the minute Mrs. Tweeds drove away.

Midge explained the mix-up that morning when Mrs. Milton Meeks had come to call. "She assumed I was one of the Hardly boys, and I didn't correct her," Midge said. "Little did I know that she would make up a story about a wedding and spread it all over town!"

"This mix-up might come in handy," George mused. "Let's keep the charade going. Of course, you'll have to stand Nancy up at the altar. Won't that be a scandal!"

Just the thought of Nancy's even pretending to marry anyone but her made Cherry feel funny.

"It's just a little joke, Cherry," Midge said softly, as if reading Cherry's mind. "Really. I have no interest in any girl but this one right here," she said, pulling Velma onto her lap. Velma blushed happily.

"It's just that, well..." Cherry's voice trailed off. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down.

"What is it?" Velma asked. "Cherry, are you and Nancy having problems?"

"That's just the thing," Cherry said. "I don't know!" A deep red flush crept up her pretty face. "What I mean is, this is my first romance, and I don't know exactly what to expect."

"Well, what do you want?" Midge quizzed her. "That's as good a place to start as any."

A dreamy look came into Cherry's eyes. "I don't know exactly what I want, but each time I think about being with Nancy, I always picture us in a little house somewhere. Oh, I'd still be a nurse and dedicate my life to helping others, but then I'd come home each night and Nancy would be there waiting for me." She blushed some more.

"I guess I want what you and Velma have, and Bess and George, too," Cherry admitted shyly. "Then everything would be perfect. But so far, all I've gotten is one night of romance, and ten days of worry," Cherry sighed unhappily.

"Can we eat the stuff the lady brought?" was all Lauren wanted to know.

Bess took the towel off the top of the casserole. "It looks yummy," she said. She got some homemade catsup from the refrigerator and a stack of plates from the china cabinet.

"You'll get what you want," Velma assured Cherry. "It's just that you don't get it right away. True and lasting love takes time to build."

"But how much time?" Cherry cried anxiously. "We've been together for over a week! You and Midge are like lovebirds, and George and Bess seem perfectly suited."

"I think you and Nancy are perfectly suited, too," Velma declared.

"I don't know about that," Cherry said sadly. "Nancy seems so different from the first night I met her. She was so bold then; now she's so, I don't know-distant and preoccupied. I don't mean to complain," she added hastily. "It's just that I don't know how Nancy feels about me anymore. Did I do something to cause Nancy to lose interest?" Cherry fretted.

"You haven't done anything," Bess said. "Nancy always gets preoccupied when she's on a case. Why, when we were solving The Case of the Pernicious Podiatrist, she wore mismatched shoes: a soft kid ballet flat with a navy blue canvas boating shoe!"

"Nancy hasn't lost interest in you," George reassured Cherry. "She just has an awful lot on her mind right now. I'm sure that's it."

"I agree," Velma said. "As soon as all this is over, you two can get back to the way you were in San Francisco."

"Besides, every couple has bad times," George said soothingly. "That comes with the territory. Why, Bess and I have plenty of problems!"

"We do?" Bess cried, almost dropping the hot casserole dish. "What are they?"

George thrust her hands deep in her pockets and pouted. Her dark brown eyes flashed with anger. "Well, for one, there's your mother."

"What's wrong with my mother?" Bess cried indignantly. "My mother happens to be a very nice person."

"Her mother is constantly trying to fix her up," George complained to the others. "Every Sunday Bess goes off to dinner at the Marvel estate and has to fend off some jerk her mother's dredged up while I stay home alone and eat a cold sandwich. How's that for a problem?" George glowered.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Bess retorted. "March right into my mother's house and say, 'Mother, please stop fixing me up with every eligible man you come across, as I'm already perfectly in love with George, and will love her until the day I die'?"

"You will?" George gulped, turning bright pink.

"You know that," Bess murmured. She was in George's arms in a flash.

"I know," George whispered. "I just like to hear you say it." She kissed Bess with all her might.

Lauren turned bright pink as she looked at the cooing couple. She looked to Velma, but Velma was busy kissing Midge. "I think I'm going to cry," Cherry wailed, jumping up from the table and racing out of the room. "Oh!"

"Me, too," Lauren muttered, running right behind her.

Cherry awoke with a start, and, for a moment, couldn't remember where she was. "I've slept in so many different beds in the last two weeks, no wonder I'm confused," she thought. She gave in to a luxury hard-working nurses could ill afford-she decided to stay in bed just a minute longer and enjoy the quiet of the dark bedroom.

In another minute, reality came flooding back, and Cherry could no longer lie still.

"Nancy must surely be home by now," was the hopeful prayer running through her head as she hastily donned her dress and raced into the little powder room adjacent to the bedroom. She hurriedly splashed water on her face, combed her mussed hair, and applied a light dusting of powder and a hint of lipstick. She was most anxious to get downstairs and see Nancy!

A good rest had cleared all of the doubts out of her heart. She was sure Nancy loved her. "After all we meant to each other in San Francisco, she's just got to," Cherry decided. She blushed when she remembered how romantic Nancy had been the night they met. "Why, she wouldn't have said all those lovely things to me if she didn't really mean them," Cherry realized. She scolded herself for giving in to her earlier fears about Nancy. She gave her outfit one last look in the mirror, and, satisfied that she presented a pleasing picture, she raced downstairs.

Lauren, Velma, and Bess were at the kitchen table, drinking soda and eating pretzels. "Lauren's teaching us to play poker," Velma winked.

"And I'm winning, too," Lauren crowed, showing Cherry her pile of pennies. From the looks of things, they had been quite busy during the time Cherry had been asleep. A fragrant stew was simmering on the stove, two pair of men's slacks had been neatly hemmed and ironed and were hanging across the back of a chair, and Bess had changed into a buttercup yellow soft chiffon frock and reset her hair so it curled softly around her fair face.

Cherry was sorely disappointed when she discovered Nancy wasn't home yet. "She's on her way," Velma assured her. "Nancy called about an hour ago and said she didn't want to drive home, so Midge went to get her."

"An hour ago? Where are they?" Cherry cried. "Did Nancy say where she had been all day? Did she ask for me when she called? Is there something wrong with her car? Why can't she drive?" Cherry fretted.

Velma took Cherry by the hand and led her to the living room. "Sit down," she said.

Cherry took a seat on the davenport. Velma sat beside her.

"How much do you know about Nancy?" Velma wanted to know.

"I know I love her," Cherry gulped. "Isn't that enough?"

Cherry could tell by the expression on Velma's face that something was wrong! "What's happened?" Cherry cried.

Velma took a deep breath. "When Nancy called, it was clear she was very drunk," Velma said. "Midge could barely understand a word she was saying."

Cherry was shocked. "Drunk?" she cried. "I can't believe it! Not Nancy!"

"Midge says Nancy's been drinking on the sly since we left Idaho," Velma added. "Lots more than what she has at meals. You didn't know that, did you?" Velma asked softly.

Cherry gasped. It just couldn't be true. Why, she was a nurse, trained to notice such things! "The night I met Nancy, we both had a few cocktails," Cherry explained. "But I wouldn't say that either one of us was really inebriated," she added. "Of course, for some reason, most of that night is a blur.

"I'm sure that once Midge gets Nancy home and she gets a nice, hot supper and some rest, she'll be just fine," Cherry said. "I'll bet I know what happened. Nancy didn't eat any breakfast, and she forgot the lunch I packed for her. She probably had a cocktail and it hit her too hard. That can happen when someone drinks on an empty stomach," Cherry said. "Especially if they're not accustomed to drinking very much.

"Sometimes when it seems like someone is drunk, they're really just nutritionally deprived," she explained, adding, "I'll bet she's learned her lesson."

"I hope so," Velma said. "But I-" But she didn't get to finish, for at that moment a car screeched to a halt in front of the Clue residence. They heard a car door slam, and the muffled laughter of two girls. "Good, they're home," Velma said. "I'll go put the coffee pot on."

"Good thinking," Cherry said. "I'll wait here in case Midge needs any help." She waited, but Midge and Nancy didn't come inside.

Cherry was puzzled. Although she couldn't make out what they were saying, she could hear the girls having a rather urgent conversation on the front porch. Why weren't they coming inside?

"Maybe Nancy's fallen," Cherry worried. She flung open the door, hoping to be of some assistance, but instead found herself witness to a shocking sight! An attractive, redhaired stranger had her arms around Nancy. And she was just about to kiss her!

"Stop," Cherry yelled, before she could think of anything better to say.

"Yes, stop," Nancy murmured before collapsing in the redhead's arms.