The Secret of the Fiery Chamber by Carolyn Keene

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

10

A Close Call

“Whoever cut out these pages wasn’t very careful,” Nancy observed. Though the edges of the missing pages were fairly straight, a good inch of paper stuck out from the binding. Nancy judged that at least eight pages had been cut, but she checked the page numbers to make sure. “They didn’t bother to try to hide the damage,” she surmised, “so they were probably in a rush.”

“Do you think this is the book Danny was looking at the other day?” Bess asked with a frown.

“Could be,” Nancy mused. “The book he dropped was large, about this size. But why would he bother tearing pages out of a book? He could have copied the pages just as easily.”

“Right. I noticed a color photocopy machine by the checkout desk,” George informed her.

Nancy sat down next to Bess on the window seat and thumbed through the thick art book at random. “Danny’s stealing pages from a book just doesn’t make sense to me. He—” She broke off suddenly and stared at a small black-and-white photo at the top of one page. It showed a simple shallow bowl. The shape was distinctive, modern, and eye-catching. Since the photo was black and white, Nancy couldn’t tell the exact color of the bowl, though it was pale enough to be a creamy white. “Look at this!” she said.

“What’s Theresa’s pot doing in this book?” Bess wondered, touching the photo.

“It’s not Theresa’s,” George said slowly. “The caption says it’s a piece from eighteenth-century Korea.”

Bess narrowed her eyes at Nancy. “Nancy Drew, tell me you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

Very slowly and with great reluctance Nancy said, “I am. I think Theresa might be involved in the forgeries.”

“Not on your life!” Bess cried, jumping up. The other people in the library looked up from their reading. Bess flashed a small, apologetic smile.

“It’s possible,” Nancy insisted, her voice low. Ticking off points on her fingers, she said softly, “Theresa has the expertise. She can easily make bowls that look like this expensive antique.”

“Time out!” George interrupted, making a T with her hands. “It’s time for a reality check, Nan. Theresa’s the one who exposed the scam to you. She told you about the shards.”

“Besides,” Bess put in, “Theresa doesn’t do raku, and as George said, she’s the one who brought you the evidence.”

Nancy leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and stared across the library. The other visitors had packed up their things and left. The library was quiet, and dust motes danced in the slanty beams of colored light pouring through the massive window. Nancy wanted to be wrong about Theresa, and maybe she was. But she had learned a long time ago to try not to let her personal feelings cloud her judgment. She liked Theresa, wanted her to be innocent, but wanting wouldn’t make it so. “I hear you, Bess,” Nancy said. “I hope you’re right. But remember, her pot was in that raku barrel on Sunday, the one Danny found.”

“I forgot about that,” George said, curling her legs up under her on the seat.

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