The Crime Lab Case by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

9

The Curly Clues

With a shudder, Nancy shook off the imaginary crawly bugs and took a deep breath.

“Did you see anyone?” A man wearing a tag that identified him as a hospital security guard ran up. He was out of breath as he questioned Nancy.

“Yes, a man raced by and went down the stairs,” Nancy said. “What happened?”

The guard ran to the exit without answering.

Nancy hurried back to the professor’s room. There was no one in the hall but the police officer who was the room guard, the nurse at the nurses’ station, and Nancy.

The guard was talking on his phone in front of the room door. Nancy heard him request backup to check the parking lot and surrounding area. He then described the bearded man who had rushed by her.

“What happened?” Nancy asked the nurse.

This time the nurse did not clam up. She seemed frightened and eager to tell her story. “I got a telephone call for the police guard,” the nurse said, “and he came over here to take it. He could still see the patient’s door, but he turned his head just for a moment. Suddenly this strange man appeared from nowhere and headed straight for the patient’s door. When the guard saw him, he yelled, and the man ran.”

“You’re sure the man never got inside the professor’s room?” Nancy asked.

“I don’t think so,” the nurse said. “It all happened so fast. The doctors are in there now. The guard checked the patient’s room and said everything looked okay. Then he called hospital security to try to catch the man. I don’t know why he couldn’t chase him himself.”

“I’m sure the guard couldn’t leave his post, even to chase a suspicious character. After all, we don’t know what the man with the beard had in mind. There might have been two intruders—one to get the guard’s attention, the other to break into the patient’s room. The guard was right to hold his post and call for assistance.”

“You’re right, of course,” the nurse said. “I wasn’t thinking.” She sat down and took a deep breath.

When the officer got off the phone, Nancy told him about seeing the bearded man at the elevators. She described him and gave the officer her phone number in case he needed to reach her. The hospital security guard returned and said he’d lost his quarry. He held up a few golden brown curls. “This is all I found,” he said.

Nancy wanted to talk to Lia about Alex Kabrov, so she asked the nurse if Lia was still around. The nurse said she hadn’t seen her but would give Lia the message to call Nancy if she showed up.

Nancy took the stairway the bearded man had taken. She found nothing but a golden brown curl. It felt waxy and slick—not like real hair. Then she drove to Hill’s office. His assistant handed Nancy a note with her name on it.

“Gone to Chicago to check lead,” the detective had written. “Will be back later this afternoon.” Nancy gave the envelope with the sketch of the colorful stamp to Hill’s assistant.

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