008 Two Points to Murder by Carolyn Keene Read Free Book Online Page B

buzzer sounded, Emerson had won the game by nine points.
     
    On the return trip Nancy reversed two of the seats so that she, George, Bess, and Ned could sit together. Softly, so that the other team members wouldn't hear, they discussed the case. Ned was shocked when he heard about the Camaro and its part in the accident.
    "Nancy, you should have called the police!" he said.
    "There wasn't any point. I missed the license number again. Anyway, why delay the trip even more by bringing in the cops? We almost missed the start of the game as it was!"
    "True."
    Nancy slumped in her seat. "The real issue is that Camaro driver. Why would someone who likes to beat up people also pull a practical joke? It doesn't make sense."
    "Some practical joke," Bess muttered. "That bullet almost got us killed!"
    "Not true. Think about it . . . it wasn't the shot that almost spilled the bus, but the way the driver hit the brakes."
    "Oh, sure. If that Camaro guy wasn't trying to kill us, then what was he trying to do?"
    "Slow us down," Nancy explained. "He wanted the team to arrive late . . . maybe even late enough to make them forfeit the game."
    "Hmmm . . ."
    George was puzzled about something else. "I don't understand . . . why do you think it's weird that the same guy is responsible for both the pranks and the assaults?"
    "Yeah, it makes perfect sense to me," Ned agreed.
    Nancy shook her head. "Beating people up and playing jokes on them are two different things. One involves direct physical contact, while the other involves watching from a distance."
    "But the Camaro definitely ties the two cases together," Ned pointed out.
    "You're right, it does."
    "Who do you think was driving it?" George asked next.
    Nancy shrugged. "That's the big question. I don't know."
    Silence. For several minutes the foursome sifted the clues in their minds. For her part, Nancy felt that one suspect stood out more than any other--Mike O'Shea. He had not been with the team when the tire was shot. There was also the effigy material in his room. Should she voice her suspicion? She knew how Ned would react, but that was not the reason she kept quiet.
    The reason was that she now had another strong suspect--Ray Ungar. That morning at the rifle range she had learned that he was a crack marksman. Could he have been the one who shot out the bus's tire? Unless he had a rock-solid alibi, it was possible, she knew.
    It was George who suggested the third suspect. "I think it's that creep Tom Stafford," she said forcefully.
    "Tom! Why him?" Ned asked.
    "Well, he wants the trustees to cut the P.E. department's budget, right?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "There you go! He's sabotaging the Wildcats' season in order to give the trustees an excuse to zap the funding."
    "I don't know . . . that sounds too elaborate," Ned said doubtfully.
    "Come on, the guy's a fanatic! He'd do anything to further his cause!"
    George had a point, Nancy had to admit. Tom was an idealist, and idealists sometimes got carried away. At any rate, they, had a motive for Tom--more than she could say about Mike!
    "I think you have it wrong, George," Bess declared. "I think the joker is that weirdo Ray Ungar that Nancy told us about."
    "Oh? Why?"
    "Because he hates the Wildcats. Or at least Coach Burnett. I say he's playing the pranks as revenge for being kicked off the team."
    Nodding, Nancy filled them in on her encounter with Ray in the rifle range.
    "That clinches it as far as I'm concerned," Ned said grimly. "Ray's our man. All we have to do is find out whether he has an alibi for this afternoon and if he drives a Camaro."
    "Forget it. It's not going to be that easy," Nancy objected. "Naturally, the joker's going to have an alibi. And as for the Camaro . . . he'd be a fool to drive it around openly."
    "And our practical joker is no fool," George added.
    "I suppose you're right."
    Another silence fell. Where did they go from here? Nancy wondered. Tom, Ray, Mike--any of them could be the practical joker. Each had points in his