Read Online Deadly Doubles by Carolyn Keene - Free Book Online

clues.
    He’d have known he wouldn’t have much time, Nancy thought. He’d do what I’m doing—stand still for a minute and look around.
    What would he have seen? The chairs. The standing ashtrays. They might be good places to leave something for pickup by a contact, but the meet had been planned for the tournament—not the airport.
    Past the sitting area were a small coffee shop, which Dan was checking, and a novelty store. In the window was a large poster for the tennis tournament. Whoever’s doing promotion for the tournament hasn’t missed a trick, Nancy reflected, remembering the banner in the parking garage.
    She sauntered over to look at the array of Washington, D.C., souvenirs in the store windows.
    I wish I had a picture of Roberto with me to show the store owners, she thought. She’d have to come back with that later, after finding out when the same clerks would be on duty.
    Where else could Roberto have gone to quickly, out of sight of Teresa? The restrooms?
    “Negative,” Dan reported, emerging from the men’s room.
    It seemed unlikely that Roberto would have risked going into the ladies’ room, but Nancy checked it just in case. Also negative.
    There was nothing left to investigate but the baggage lockers themselves. They could only be rented for twelve hours at a time. Roberto would have to have planned a trip back to the airport twice a day to check the merchandise—
    Something’s not adding up, Nancy thought, frowning. I’m sure the airport was the only place Roberto could have hidden the hit list. Unless he had it on him when he died.
    He couldn’t have, or bodies other than Roberto’s would have started turning up.
    By then Dan and Bess had returned, followed soon by George. “Pretty smart to advertise the tennis tournament out here,” George said, nodding toward the novelty store. “Should bring in a lot of tourists.”
    Nancy only nodded. She was still lost in thought. Bess slipped an arm around her. “Come on. Dan’ll drive us home. He says the FBI will go through this place thoroughly first thing in the morning.”
    They headed for the car. It was waiting, locked tightly, just where Dan had left it. Before unlocking it Dan went over it from top to bottom with an electronic beeper. “Just in case,” he said tautly. “Though a listening device would be more likely than a bomb.”
    Dan unlocked the car, and they climbed in quickly. He paid the parking fee at the exit gate and began driving around the spiral of roads that led to the Memorial Parkway. There weren’t many cars at that time of night.
    “Hey, that’s the second time that big gray car’s changed lanes with us,” Bess said suddenly.
    Nancy sat up straight. “What big gray car?”
    Bess pointed. Dan stole a glance over his shoulder, and his eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen that car before tonight.”
    “I’ve seen it before, too,” Nancy said. “If it’s not the one I was kidnapped in, it’s the spitting image of it!”
    “Car rental company license plates,” Dan noted. He read them out to George, who wrote them down. Then he radioed in to the police.
    “Okay.” Dan grinned humorlessly. “Let’s lose ’em.”
    He put on a burst of speed. The gray car fell behind. Nancy remembered the speed it was capable of and felt a twinge of apprehension. But the car made no move to catch up with them, and her tension eased.
    “Almost home,” Dan said reassuringly to Bess, who cuddled close to him.
    By then the parkway was practically deserted. That shows how late it is, Nancy thought drowsily.
    Suddenly lights flashed in her eyes. No, not lights. Mirror reflection—
    Nancy sprang up in the seat just as the big car bore down on them, ominously close.
    “What—?” Dan yelped as the headlights, turned to high beams, hit him right in the eyes.
    The gray car struck them from behind, and the little station wagon swerved with a sickening lurch.
    Dan fought desperately for control. But before he regained it the killer car