Sweet Revenge by Carolyn Keene

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

Chapter

Nine

FOR THE REST of her life Nancy would be grateful that she’d so often rehearsed what to do in a fire emergency. Without conscious thought she dropped to the ground and rolled rapidly over and over until the flames licking at her clothes were out. Then, panting, she jumped to her feet. She had acted so swiftly that she hadn’t been burned at all. One sleeve of her blouse was slightly charred, but that was the extent of the burns.

Checking Mrs. Tagley, Nancy saw that the woman, though white and shaking, was also unharmed. The fire had spread by then to the stage curtains behind them and the audience had panicked and was screaming and running for the exit.

“Where’s, a fire extinguisher?” Nancy called loudly to Mrs. Tagley, above the din.

Mrs. Tagley’s mouth opened, but she didn’t make a sound. She was swaying and gripping the edge of the table as though she were about to pass out.

Nancy peered out at the audience, frantically checking the room for a fire extinguisher. There had to be one— Yes! There it was, hanging on the wall next to a circuit breaker. She ran to it, yanked it from the wall, and raced back to the fire.

As she reached the stage, the curtain ripped from its metal frame and tumbled to the floor, a mass of flames that spread across the entire width of the platform.

Nancy yanked back the pin on the fire extinguisher and aimed it at the flames. Foam shot out, dousing the fire. In seconds the flames were out, and the curtain was a black, smoldering tangle on the floor.

Drawing a deep breath, Nancy checked on Mrs. Tagley again. She was still leaning against the table for support and was quite obviously in shock.

There were only a few people left in the conference room now, and one hysterical voice kept calling out over and over.

“Nancy! Nancy! Are you all right?”

It was Bess.

“I’m fine,” Nancy called back shakily. “But I don’t feel like making another Chocolate Volcano for a long, long time.”

• • •

“Now, explain to me just why you turned off the sprinkler system,” the fire chief was saying patiently to Samantha.

“I knew that the dessert was going to be flambéed,” Samantha said shakily. “I was afraid that the flames would set off the sprinkler, so—so I switched off the system. I’ll never do it again,” she added in a small voice.

The fire chief’s expression softened. “Okay. I’m holding you to that.”

Nancy was standing a little to the side with Bess and George, frowning. Something seemed wrong to her. She wasn’t an expert, of course, but she was pretty sure flambéing a dessert wouldn’t set off a sprinkler system. Was Samantha lying? Had she turned off the sprinkler in preparation for what was to come?

With a start, Nancy realized the fire chief was now talking to her. “You’re a lucky girl. If you hadn’t been so quick on your feet, that flour could have burned the whole room down in a matter of minutes.

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