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like?” she asked.
    â€œDidn’t notice,” the man replied grumpily.
    â€œBut can you remember anything about the person? Anything at all,” Nancy persisted.
    He scowled. “She had kinda blond hair and was ’bout that tall.” He wagged a finger at George, then shook his head.
    â€œFor the life of me,” he said, “I can’t figure why she was so desperate to get out of town.”

Chapter

Eight
    S OUNDS LIKE J ENNIFER ,” Ned whispered to Nancy.
    She nodded slightly as the man continued. He seemed to be warming up to his subject now.
    â€œShe was wearin’ kind of a bright green sweatshirt. I remember the shirt because I said she must be Irish. Said she wasn’t. Didn’t talk much. She didn’t exactly ask for Cleveland. Said she wanted a bus that didn’t go to Emersonville. I told her that no more buses were coming through tonight, but a bus headed for Cleveland would be coming through on Monday. She seemed real disappointed. And then she left without buying anything but a newspaper.”
    â€œThanks for your help,” Nancy told him, letting Ned pay for the ice cream bars. When theywere outside again, she turned to him. “Why would Jennifer want to catch a bus? A bus that did not go to Emerson?”
    Ned shrugged. “I haven’t the foggiest idea.”
    â€œAsking about a post office is odd, too,” George said. “What would she have to mail?”
    CJ looked from one to the other and shook his head. “Boy, you guys are something else,” he said good-naturedly. “You can make a mystery out of almost anything. She didn’t go to the fair, so she stayed in her room and wrote a letter to her boyfriend or her mother or something!”
    â€œMaybe you’re right,” George said. She was feeling guilty that they hadn’t told CJ about Michael’s threat or finding the gun in his van, and he didn’t know that Jennifer had lied about working on Friday night. Nancy had asked George to keep it quiet because until they had more information, talking about it would only cast more suspicion on people who might be innocent.
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    â€œYou up for a game of Ping-Pong?” Ned asked Nancy as they approached Bannon House. Lights were still burning in the game room, although most of the rooms upstairs were dark.
    â€œNot tonight,” Nancy said. “George and I have some stuff we have to take care of.” She ignored George’s surprised look and continued. “But I bet CJ will take you on. We’ll see you guysin the morning.” Her panda under one arm, she grabbed George’s arm with her free hand and hurried her off toward the stairs.
    â€œBoy,” said George as they walked down the second-floor hallway toward their room. “You sure can wreck a girl’s love life pretty fast. You don’t even let me get walked to the door.” She tipped her head to one side as though deep in thought. “Let’s see,” she said slowly. “This ‘stuff’ we have to take care of. It wouldn’t have anything to do with Jennifer, would it?”
    Nancy laughed. “As a matter of fact, yes.” She pointed to a sliver of light showing under the door of the room almost directly across from theirs. “Look, somebody’s up.”
    â€œShe’s rooming with the charming Ms. Matthews, right?”
    Nancy nodded. She knocked gently on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again.
    â€œStrange,” said George. “Maybe she’s gone somewhere.”
    â€œOnly one way to find out,” said Nancy. She put her hand on the knob and turned it slowly. The door was unlocked. Gently she pushed it open and stepped into the room, with George behind her. The small light on the dressing table between the two beds cast a dim light in the room. A cluster of pill bottles and cosmetics covered one side of the table, next to an empty bed.