095 An Instinct for Trouble Read Online Free PDF

such a nice guy, I’d ask you to the square dance tomorrow night at the Old Faithful Inn.”
    “That’s where we’re staying,” Nancy re-
    marked.
    “Then you’ve got no excuse for missing it,”
    he said, casually draping an arm across the back of Nancy’s chair.
    “Are you sure I can’t tempt you to go with me?” Jack asked teasingly.
    Nancy felt flattered but shook her head. “I have a feeling Ned wouldn’t like that too much,” she answered lightly. “But maybe I’ll see you there.”
    Jack gave a mock sigh of disappointment.
    “Too bad. Ned’s a lucky guy.”
    From the doorway Ned said, “I sure am. The doctor says I’ll be fine. No concussion or anything-but I had to have a few stitches.”
    He gestured to the bandage wrapped all the way around his head. It gave him a roguish look.
    Just then Bess came rushing up. “Are they done with you already?” she asked. “Can we go now?”
    “I’d like to meet Brad,” Nancy replied. “If they’ll let us in to see him.”
    “Good idea,” Ned said.
    They asked for Brad’s room number at the front desk, then filed into the elevator. At the nurse’s station they learned that he was con-
    scious and able to receive visitors. A couple of minutes later the group piled into Brad’s room. His face and arms were heavily ban-
    daged, but his eyes lit up when he saw them.
    “Ned, Jack!” he said, and grinned. “It’s great to see you!” He turned his gaze to Nancy and Bess.
    “This is my girlfriend. Nancy Drew, and her friend Bess Marvin,” Ned explained.
    “Nice to meet you,” Brad said. Then he noticed Ned’s bandage. “Hey, guy, what hap-
    pened?”
    Ned told him.
    “We are some hard luck bunch,” Brad said.
    “First me, and now you.”
    “Don’t forget that marmot that nipped me on the nose last week,” Jack interjected with a laugh.
    “That’s right,” Brad replied. “Maybe you should watch your step if you’re going to hang around with us. Nancy.”
    Ned filled Brad in about the missing mar-
    mots. “After the stove exploded I asked Nancy to come out to look into it. She’s a detective, and if anyone can figure out who’s causing all the trouble, she can.”
    “Tell me about your accident, Brad,” Nancy began.
    “There’s not much to tell. The first thing I did when I went on duty was make a cup of coffee.”
    “Of course,” Ned said, grinning. “He’s a caffeine addict.”
    Brad smiled back, then continued. “When I went to light the stove, there was a whoosh, and then flames were everywhere. The next thing I knew, I woke up here.”
    “How terrible!” Bess exclaimed.
    Brad’s face hardened. “Yeah, well, I’m not so sure it was an accident. I saw someone sneaking out of the hut as I walked up the path.”
    Nancy leaned forward eagerly. “Could you tell who it was?”
    Brad stared up at the ceiling for a long time.
    Finally he said, “I hate to say it, but it looked an awful lot like Dan Trainey.”

Chapter Five
    No way,” Ned said. “How could you even think that the professor had anything to do with it?”
    Brad shook his head. “All I can tell you is that whoever it was was wearing a dark green hat and a green coat like the professor’s. And considering the way he ran behind the hut, I’d say he didn’t want to be seen.”
    “Well, it wasn’t Professor Trainey,” Ned insisted. “And that’s that.”
    Reluctantly, Nancy told them about finding the professor’s Phi Beta Kappa key.
    Ned scowled. “There’s bound to be an ex-
    planation. Did you ask him about it?”
    “Yes,” Nancy told him. “He said he noticed he lost it a few days ago.”
    “Well, there you are,” Ned concluded. “It was probably on the floor all this time.”
    Nancy glanced at Ned, who looked upset.
    She decided to drop the subject for a while.
    Turning back to Brad, she asked, “Can you think of any reason why anyone would want to hurt you?”
    “When I noticed that the traps were missing, the others divided up my