158 The Curse of the Black Cat by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene [Keene, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

10

Eliza’s Accusation

Eliza’s words echoed through the gym. For a moment everyone was silent. Then Ms. Kahn fixed her ice blue eyes on Eliza, as if she were an opponent in a duel.

“I want you to march right over to Detention, Eliza,” Ms. Kahn said tersely. “There’s no excuse for those hateful words.”

As Eliza stormed away, Nancy took George aside and told her that Eliza had denied knowing about the bucket of tar.

“She can deny it till she’s blue in the face,” George said in a disgusted tone. “I still think she’s guilty. I mean, she’s already accused Francesca of being the Black Cat, and now Rosie.”

“Eliza seems capable of anything,” Nancy agreed. “Writing curse notes, sabotaging elevators, and—who knows?—maybe even kidnapping. She could easily have planted the book in Francesca’s shelf, and she hasn’t explained the tar.”

“She seems crazy enough to close down the school just because she’s ticked off at it,” George remarked.

Nancy frowned. “But there’s no evidence that she can handle Tassie. I’d still like to track down Francesca and follow her. She’s got this spacey way about her that I just don’t trust.”

“Why don’t you follow Francesca while I trail Eliza?” George suggested.

Nancy grinned. “Good thinking, George. Let’s do that. There’s just one more thing.”

“What?”

“Ms. Friedlander took Rosie Tsing aside after class yesterday, and Rosie looked pretty mad,” Nancy said. “Maybe Ms. Friedlander was on her case for cheating. Eliza might be right about the grudge. I’d kind of like to find out more about Rosie.”

The bell rang, and students filed out of the gym and into the locker room. Nancy followed Rosie inside.

The room was filled with steam. Nancy finally found Rosie in a far corner digging blue jeans out of her locker. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” Nancy asked her.

Rosie frowned up at her. “Now? I’ve got a lot of homework to finish before midwinter break, Ms. Drew. I’d really like to get over to the library before the rest of the day is shot.”

“It’ll only take a moment,” Nancy said, sitting down on the bench beside her. “I thought I should warn you that Eliza might try to bad-mouth you around the school. Does she have any evidence to support her story about your grudge?”

“Of course not!” Rosie said hotly. “She’s such a liar—she just wants to spite people to get attention.”

“So she lied when she hinted that you might be the Black Cat?” Nancy pressed.

“Totally!” Rosie said, her face red with outrage. “I may have had problems with Ms. Friedlander and everything, but I would never kidnap her!”

“What problems did you have with her?” Nancy asked.

Rosie lowered her eyes. “It’s . . . true, I guess, that Ms. Friedlander accused me of cheating,” Rosie stammered, stealing a guilty glance at Nancy before dropping her gaze once more. “She said I’d plagiarized an essay on ‘The Black Cat’ by a famous critic.”

“Is that true?” Nancy asked.

“No! What do you take me for?” Rosie retorted.

“Then if she accused you of doing something you didn’t do, wouldn’t you be kind of mad at her?” Nancy asked.

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