Secrets Can Kill by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Chapter

Ten

NANCY PUSHED HER sloppy joe aside and reached for Daryl’s hand across the cafeteria table. “I need a favor.”

“Just ask,” Daryl said with a smile. “What? You need a ride home after school?”

“Not exactly,” Nancy answered, looking mysterious. “I lucked out. This morning my dad surprised me with a new Mustang GT Convertible.”

Daryl rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“The deal is I’ll pay him back when the insurance money comes through.” Nancy grinned sheepishly. “Plus twenty years allowance, I’ve been told.”

“Poor baby,” Daryl teased her, leaning close enough to brush his lips against her ear. “So what’s the favor? You want me to test-drive your new toy?”

Nancy didn’t tease back. “No,” she said, forcing herself to pull back from Daryl’s handsome face. “I want to tell you something, but you have to promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone.”

“I can keep a secret, Detective. Promise.”

They were alone at a table in the farthest corner of the cafeteria. Any of the kids who happened to glance their way probably thought they were having a private lovers’ talk. But love was the farthest thing from Nancy’s mind at that moment as she quietly told Daryl about Jake Webb’s blackmail videotape.

When she finished, she sat back and sipped her iced tea, waiting for Daryl’s reaction.

But Daryl must have been so stunned he couldn’t think of anything to say. He just stared at her with wide, dark-blue eyes, his face almost blank.

“It’s okay to be shocked,” Nancy said. “I was, and I’m the detective.”

“Yeah, I . . .” Daryl shook his head and whistled softly. “Wow. I am shocked. I mean, it’s unbelievable.”

“It is—unless you’ve seen the tape.”

“So what are you going to do with it?” Daryl asked. “Turn it over to the police?”

Nancy shook her head. “I guess I’ll have to give it to them pretty soon. But since Mr. Parton is letting me handle this my way, I’d like to work on my own just a little longer. For now, that tape’s going to stay safe at home, where I can keep an eye on it.”

Daryl nodded. “I guess you think one of those kids killed Jake, huh?”

“I don’t know what I think yet,” Nancy admitted. “I don’t want to believe it at all.”

“But they’re the only ones on the tape, isn’t that what you said?” Daryl asked quickly.

“Yes, but somehow I just . . .” Nancy sighed.

“Jake really blew it for everybody, didn’t he?” Daryl looked sympathetic and concerned, just the way Ned would have reacted, Nancy thought. Then Daryl leaned across the table and gave her one of his sexiest looks. “Don’t take this wrong, Detective, but be careful, okay?”

• • •

Warmed by Daryl’s concern and support, not to mention his touch, Nancy spent the rest of the afternoon—in between classes—tracking down the three “stars” of Jake’s videotape.

She found Hal in the library, just beginning a paper that she happened to know was due in two days. “Hi,” she whispered as she joined him at the study table.

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