Into Thin Air by Carolyn Keene

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

Chapter

Ten

HER HEART POUNDING, Nancy stared up at the man in the window. Johnson, or whoever he was, watched her for a moment longer, then abruptly moved away from the window.

“Hi, Nancy!”

Spinning around, Nancy saw Bess and George coming toward her on the sidewalk.

“What’s wrong?” George asked, seeing the startled expression on her friend’s face.

“I just saw Johnson,” Nancy cried, her heart racing. “Up there!” She pointed to the empty window.

“I don’t see anybody,” Bess said.

“We haven’t got a minute to lose,” Nancy said, hustling her friends across the street. When they reached the front door of the building, she said, “You two go around to the back and cover it. I’ll go in the front.”

Bess and George raced through the parking lot on one side of the building. Nancy strode in the front entrance. Pulling open the metal door, she walked into a small, dirty foyer with yellowing walls.

A black directory hung over a set of smudged buttons and a gritty intercom. There were few names on it, and most of them had missing letters. Each floor had two apartments, one marked F and the other R. That had to mean front and rear, Nancy thought. She reached for the red button marked 6F, since the man had been watching her from the top-floor front apartment.

There was no answer. Pressing the buzzer for 6F again, Nancy waited. Still no answer. She pulled hard on the inside door that led to the first floor corridor and a stairwell. Despite its battered condition, it was securely locked.

Nancy considered, then pressed the button marked 6R. Almost immediately the lock on the inside door buzzed ferociously. She pushed it open. Taking the steps two at a time, she raced up to the top floor. A pasty-faced woman in a flower-printed dress stood in an open doorway at one end of the hallway.

“Are you the social worker?” she demanded.

“No,” Nancy answered. “I came to see your neighbor, actually. Do you know if he’s home?”

The woman was visibly annoyed. “Fat chance,” she said, turning back to her apartment.

“Wait a minute,” Nancy said, gulping to catch her breath after running up six flights. “I’m sure I saw him at the window as I was walking over here.”

“Look, I don’t know nothing about nothing,” the woman said. “I stay out of their way, and they stay out of mine, know what I mean?”

“Sure, I know what you mean.” Nancy nodded. “But, see, Mr. Johnson wanted to hire me to paint his apartment. I misplaced the apartment number.” She pointed to 6F. “Is that Mr. Johnson’s?”

“Johnson? Never heard of him,” the woman snapped. “You got the wrong building.”

“Maybe I got the name wrong,” Nancy said, trying to be as pleasant as possible.

“Maybe you mean Wilson,” the woman told her.

Nancy slapped her forehead. “Of course! Mr. Wilson.”

“Well, it beats me why he wants his apartment painted. It isn’t like he’s around to enjoy it, if you know what I mean.”

“Why?” Nancy said, puzzled. “Did he go somewhere?”

The woman stared. “Honey, he sure did.

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