Read Online Hidden Meanings by Carolyn Keene - Free Book Online Page B

guys are armed, Nancy? I can’t leave her unprotected.”
    â€œBut, Ned,” Nancy argued, “if they’re armed, why didn’t they shoot her yesterday, instead of just knocking her into the pool?”
    Gina jerked around to look at Ned, then Nancy. “Hey, do you two know each other?” she asked suspiciously.
    â€œRiver Heights is a small town—everybody knows everybody here,” Ned answered quickly. “Look, do you still want pasta? Let’s go down to the café. You’ll feel better once you’ve eaten something.”
    Gina, still looking wild-eyed, nodded numbly. “We’ll just freshen up a bit,” Sally said, and shut the door.
    Nancy chewed her lip, feeling frustrated. “You really shouldn’t leave the room unprotected,” she told Ned.
    â€œI’m in charge here!” Ned snapped. “And I’ll decide. I’ll have hotel security send someone to watch outside while we’re gone. In fact, I’ll go call right now.” He wheeled around and stomped over to his room. From the way he jammed the keycard into the door, Nancy could tell he was furious with her.
    Good work, Drew, she thought miserably. By trying to keep Ned away from Gina, you’ve made him so mad he’ll go straight into her arms.
    Paul, kneeling on the carpet as he cleaned up the mess, looked up at Nancy. “I know I’m just the waiter,” he said lightly, “but would you mind telling me what’s going on?”
    With an effort, Nancy concentrated once more on the case. She considered Paul’s question. She liked Paul, but she didn’t want to blow her cover. “My friend had her room broken into last night and again today,” she said. “So her bodyguard’s a little jumpy. I do wonder where this rat came from, though,” she said with a hint of suspicion in her voice. “You and I both saw the plate in the kitchen, and there was nothing there then.”
    â€œBeats me,” Paul declared. “Maybe someone tampered with it in the service elevator.”
    â€œWho was on the elevator with you?” Nancy asked.
    Paul sat back on his heels, as he tried to remember. “One of the maintenance staff,” he said. “You know, those guys in the green outfits. I don’t know his name. The hotel’s only been open a week, so we don’t all know one another yet.”
    â€œWhere did he get on?” Nancy asked.
    â€œIn the subbasement, where I got on,” Paul said. “I was just about to go up, and he came running, wheeling one of those big laundry carts.”
    â€œDid he speak to you?” she asked.
    â€œHe asked me to push a button for him—ten, I think,” Paul said. “And then—” He paused.
    â€œGo on,” Nancy said, encouraging him.
    â€œHe was fiddling with the cart, trying to get it straight,” Paul said. “He said a wheel was caught in a floor crack, and he asked me to help. I set down my tray to do it. Then he accidentally jammed me into a corner for a minute. He may have had time to slip the rat under the cover then.”
    Nancy crossed her arms. “What did this guy look like?” she asked intently.
    Paul shrugged. “Medium height and build, brown hair,” he recalled slowly. “No, taller than medium height—those coveralls make everyone look shorter.”
    â€œDid he have a beard?” Nancy asked.
    Paul ran a hand through his short dark hair. “To tell you the truth, Nancy, I hardly noticed him. He was just a guy in the elevator, you know?”
    Nancy sighed. Paul’s account tallied somewhat with Rosita’s description of the man who probably stole her passkey. But both descriptions were too vague to be useful. The profile matched Nick Kessler, and possibly the bearded man, but it also matched half the men in River Heights, including her own father!
    Just then Nancy noticed Ralph Winkler sauntering