Hidden Meanings Read Online Free PDF Page A

looked closer.
    The crest of Brookfield Academy—Jane Sellery’s school!

Chapter

Four
    S PRINGING TO HER FEET , Nancy slipped the Brookfield Academy pen into her pocket. Had Jane Sellery dropped it while breaking into Gina’s room? she wondered. She decided to find Sellery and question her.
    Nancy swiftly finished her inspection and headed down to the Muskoka Lobby. There, she found Bess sitting alone in the deserted registration area, looking bored. Some fried chicken and cold french fries lay on a plate before her. Bess perked up when she saw Nancy. “What’s going on?” she asked.
    Nancy pulled a chair close to the table and told Bess the whole story—about the break-in, Gina’s accusation against Jane Sellery, and Nancy’s finding the Brookfield pen. “I thought you and George could go undercover and help me,” Nancy added.
    Bess’s eyes sparkled. “You bet!” she agreed. “And George has nothing going on this week—the tennis clinic where she was teaching has ended for the summer. I’ll give her a call and ask her to come over right away. She can stop by our houses to pick up some clothes for us.”
    â€œGood,” Nancy said. “Meanwhile, I’d like to question Jane, before I tell Gina I found this pen. Gina’s having dinner now, with her roommate and Ned.”
    â€œWith Ned?” Bess almost shrieked. “Are you nuts? Nancy, if I were you, I wouldn’t let her within ten feet of my boyfriend.”
    Nancy squirmed in her chair. “Believe me, I don’t like this setup either,” she admitted. “But I forget to tell you that part—Gina fired her old bodyguard and hired Ned. Just until the conference is over.”
    â€œWhat!” Bess exclaimed. “How dare she? Well, George and I will help keep an eye on him, don’t you worry. Anyway, let me look up Jane Sellery’s room number for you.” She turned to glance over the table top. Then she frowned. “Where’s the registration list? It was here this evening, before I went up to the banquet to get my dinner.”
    â€œMaybe Mr. Ruxton took it,” Nancy suggested.
    â€œNo, he told me it had to stay at the table,” Bess insisted, panic rising in her voice. “This is the master list, where we checked off the names of the participants as they arrived. If I’ve lost it, he’ll think I’m an idiot.”
    The two girls began to hunt for the computer printout. They looked through the cardboard cartons of extra registration packets. Then Nancy went around the table, shaking the skirt of the long light-blue cloth draped around it. At a back corner, she found the list on the floor under the table.
    â€œWhew!” Bess exclaimed. “Someone must have knocked it onto the floor.”
    â€œMaybe,” Nancy said grimly. “Or whoever broke into Gina’s room took it to get her room number.”
    With a sigh, Bess scanned the list. “ ‘Jane Sellery, Room 607,’ ” she read.
    â€œReally,” Nancy remarked. “That’s right below Gina’s room—she’s in 707.”
    Bess knit her eyebrows. “It might be a coincidence,” she declared. “All the girls are on floors six and seven, and all the boys are on eight and nine, but otherwise the room assignments were random.”
    â€œOkay, so it may not be significant,” Nancy said. “Anyway, you go call George. See if she can meet us in the lobby in an hour.”
    â€œGot it,” Bess said, moving toward a nearby phone.
    Nancy said goodbye, then headed for the lobby elevators. She took one up to the sixth floor. Stepping out, she walked down the hall to Room 607 and knocked on the door. There was no answer. As she raised her knuckles to rap again, a gruff voice behind her asked, “Looking for someone?”
    Nancy whirled to see a tall girl in a blue cotton dress. Her shoulder-length hair