The Mystery of the Missing Millionairess by Carolyn Keene

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

9

An Unpleasant Surprise

Nicholas Armand bent toward the phone. “Veronica?” he said. “Honey, are you all right?”

“Dad?” Veronica’s voice was suddenly loud and excited. “Daddy, is that you?”

There was a pause, and Nancy could hear a muffled whisper. Phil Kroger took out a small tape recorder and set it next to the phone. Then Veronica spoke again.

“I’m supposed to tell you I’m okay,” she said. “I mean, I am okay. They haven’t hurt me or anything like that.” She took a shaky breath. “Of course, if I could make a wish, I’d rather be back in the dorm. I have a penny, but . . .”

There was a shuffling sound. Then the muffled voice they’d heard the first time the kidnapper called came over the line. “Okay, you heard her,” he said. “She’s okay. If you want her to stay that way, don’t do anything stupid like calling the police. I’ll be in touch. Tonight.”

“Wait!” Nicholas Armand cried. “Let me—”

But the caller had hung up.

Armand pounded the desk with his fist. “Why didn’t they ask for the money now?” he said, beginning to pace around the room. “What’s the point of waiting?”

“To keep you on edge,” Nancy told him. “The more worried and nervous you are, the more likely you’ll be to give them what they want.”

“I’d give them what they want right now if they’d just tell me what it is,” Armand said, still pacing. Suddenly he stopped and looked at Phil Kroger. “Did you get it all on tape?”

“I’m rewinding it now,” Kroger said. He punched a button on the recorder, and they listened to the call again.

“She sounds all right,” Miss Grey said. “Frightened, of course, but I don’t think she’s been harmed, Mr. Armand.”

“So far.” Armand looked frustrated. “I was hoping there might be some noise, something in the background that would help us figure out where she is. But there’s nothing.”

“They must have thought of that,” Kroger said, taking the tape out of the recorder.

“I have a recorder in my room at the dorm,” Nancy told him. “Could I borrow that and make a copy? I’d like to hear it again.”

“I don’t see why,” Kroger said. “Mr. Armand’s right—it doesn’t hold any clues.”

Phil Kroger was being uncooperative again, Nancy thought, annoyed. He’d seemed almost human a little earlier. “I’d still like to listen to it some more,” she said, holding out her hand for the tape.

“Give it to her, Phil,” Armand said. “It won’t hurt to let her try.”

Reluctantly Kroger handed the tape to Nancy.

“Thanks,” Nancy said. “I’ll get it back to you later today.” Kroger might think it didn’t hold a clue, but she wasn’t so sure. She had a feeling that, if she listened to the tape over and over again, she might hear something she’d missed the first time. Besides, Veronica’s remark about the penny and the wish had Nancy wondering. She didn’t know what it meant, but she wanted to hear it again.

Miss Grey cleared her throat. “I realize this is a terribly difficult time for you,” she said to Mr.

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