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must not have seen us,” Lindsay said, looking across the street at her friend. But Nancy knew that wasn’t true. Amanda had seen her and deliberately gone the other way.
    The traffic light turned to green, and a stream of cars filled the street. There was no break in the traffic and no way Nancy could run across the street.
    â€œWait!” she called.
    But Amanda didn’t wait. She disappeared through the revolving door of a large building half a block away.
    â€œLet’s go!”
    Lindsay was one step behind Nancy as trafficstopped. The two girls raced across the street and down the sidewalk to the building where they’d last seen Amanda. They pushed the revolving door and found themselves in the lobby of an apartment building.
    There was no sign of Amanda.
    â€œIs this where Amanda lives?” Nancy asked.
    Lindsay’s expression was thoroughly puzzled. “No, her apartment’s out near Fort Richardson.”
    â€œCan I help you ladies?” a uniformed guard asked.
    â€œWe’re looking for a friend,” Nancy explained. “A pretty girl with blond hair and a silver fox jacket.”
    The guard shook his head. “Haven’t seen her.”
    â€œBut we saw her come in this door,” Lindsay insisted.
    â€œI would have remembered someone like that,” the guard said, shrugging. “Sorry. Maybe she went into another building.”
    Nancy’s lips tightened in frustration. She was positive now that Amanda was hiding something from her. At that moment, the girl was definitely at the top of Nancy’s suspect list. But how was she going to get to the truth, when her prime suspect had just vanished into thin air?

Chapter

Nine
    T HAT’S WEIRD ,” Lindsay said. The two girls went back out to the street. “I wonder where Amanda could have gone?”
    â€œMaybe the guard was busy and just missed seeing her,” Nancy suggested casually.
    â€œMaybe.” Lindsay looked doubtful. “Well, I’d better get my errands done. I want to get home and put in a practice run before it gets dark.”
    â€œOkay. Thanks for taking me crafts shopping. I’ll see you soon,” Nancy said. She waved and headed down the street.
    As soon as Nancy had turned a corner and was out of Lindsay’s sight, she ducked into a large office building. She had to find a pay phone.
    Nancy dialed the number of the Wilcox house and asked for her father. A moment later he came on the line.
    â€œHi, Dad,” she said. “I’m still downtown. Things are taking a little longer than I thought.” She didn’t tell her father about being pushed down the stairs—it would only upset him. “Do you know where Mr. Wilcox is? I need to talk to him.”
    â€œFunny you should ask,” Nancy’s father replied grimly. “I just got off the phone with him. The police asked him to come in for questioning, and it looks like he’ll be there all day. He asked me to join him.”
    Nancy’s heart sank. Did this mean the police had new evidence? “I’ll meet you there, if that’s okay,” she told her father. She got directions to the police headquarters, then said goodbye.
    Since Carson would not reach the city for some time, Nancy retraced her steps and entered the jewelry store she’d seen Amanda leave. If she was lucky, she could resolve two issues while she was there.
    She looked around the store. As she had guessed from its fancy sign and display windows, it was an exclusive shop. The pieces of jewelry shown in the glass cases were obviously very expensive.
    â€œA friend suggested I come here,” Nancy told the manager, who introduced himselfas Mr. Feder. “Her name is Amanda Spear.”
    Mr. Feder nodded. “Ah yes, Miss Spear. She was here earlier this morning.”
    Good. Now Nancy had confirmation that Amanda had indeed been in the expensive shop.
    She reached into her shoulder bag and pulled