095 An Instinct for Trouble Read Online Free PDF Page B

chores so I could look into it. Maybe my investigation bothered somebody,” Brad suggested.
    Nancy nodded thoughtfully. “Did you dis-
    cover anything?”
    Before Brad could answer, a nurse came bustling in. Nancy could almost hear the starch rustling in her white uniform.
    “Sorry, folks. Visiting hours are over.” She took Brad’s wrist between her fingers and checked her watch.
    The group said their goodbyes. As they left, Nancy decided to return the next day to ques-
    tion Brad further.
    On the way back, Ned sat silently beside Nancy. .She could tell he was thinking about the professor. Jack and Bess kept up a steady stream of conversation in the backseat, and Nancy was glad of it.
    “I have an idea,” Jack said as Nancy turned onto the dirt road leading to the campsite.
    “There’s a new little cafe with disco music in West Yellowstone. I know Ned has to rest this evening, but we could go dancing.”
    “That sounds great,” Bess replied.
    “Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Nancy said. “You guys go without me.”
    “Sure you don’t mind?” Bess asked.
    Nancy shook her head.
    When she parked the car. Jack climbed out, then put his head in through the window. “I’ll come by the hotel around eight, okay?” he said to Bess. “If you change your mind, you can still join us,” he added to Nancy.
    “Oh, wait,” Bess called, getting out and walking up the path after Jack. “What kind of place is this? I need to know what to wear.”
    Jack laughed and put his arm around Bess’s shoulders. The two of them bent their heads together and launched into an animated con-
    versation.
    Nancy looked over at Ned. He was sitting very stiffly, staring straight ahead. “Are you feeling all right?” she asked.
    “I’m fine,” he said in a tense voice. But then he added, “There’s no way Dan Trainey tam-
    pered with that stove. Nancy.”
    Nancy was silent, and Ned guessed the rea-
    son. “You’re not listening to me, are you?”
    “I’m listening,” Nancy said. “But I have to check him out, and what Brad said makes him a suspect.” When Ned didn’t respond, she continued. “Of course I’m investigating every-
    one.”
    Nancy hoped for a goodbye kiss, but Ned simply opened the door and walked away.
    Without a word, he passed Bess as she re-
    turned to the car.
    “Brrr!” Bess said, climbing into the passen-
    ger seat. “Did you and Ned just have a fight?”
    Nancy swallowed back tears but didn’t feel like talking on the drive back to the hotel. Bess was quiet, too, until they turned in to the parking lot. Then she said, “Let’s go watch Old Faithful.”
    Nancy would have preferred to lie down with a book, but she laughed and said, “Okay, Old Faithful it is!”
    The girls went through the lobby and fol-
    lowed a path to the geyser.
    “Come on,” Bess urged. “I see two spots on that bench over there. We’d better grab them.”
    They sat down and studied the center of attention, a four-foot-high cone that looked like a shrunken volcano. Small puffs of white steam trailed lazily upward from it.
    Suddenly there was a rumbling sound as if a truck were passing. Water bubbled up over the surface of the cone and shot at least a hundred feet into the air. Finally, after two or three minutes, the column of water slowly sank and then vanished.
    “Wow!” Bess exclaimed.
    Nancy just smiled.
    Touching her arm, Bess said in an under-
    tone, “Look over there. See the guy with all the camera equipment? That’s Turkower.”
    Nancy saw a couple in their forties. The man was tall, with salt-and-pepper hair and a mus-
    tache. He had two expensive-looking cameras around his neck and a leather camera bag over one shoulder. Mrs. Turkower could have just stepped out of a beauty salon.
    “Come on, Bess,” Nancy urged. “I want to meet them.”
    The two girls strolled around the geyser and stopped next to the Turkowers. Nancy took the photocopied article about the marmots out of her pocket.
    “Excuse me,” she