A Secret in Time by Carolyn Keene Read Free Book Online Page B

weapons. “We may have walked right into the thief’s arms . . . or house.”
    Bess’s eyes widened. “Do you think Kimberly did this?” she asked.
    â€œI’m not sure,” Nancy replied. “But here’s one theory. Kimberly was at the expo. She steals the brooch and hides it inside the clock, but she can’t get it out without being caught by the police. Then the clock gets packed up, and she has to figure out where it went. First she tries Mr. Gordon’s store. She doesn’t find it there, but maybe she finds the card or some piece of paper saying the clock is mine. She plans to track me down, but instead, we come right to her.”
    â€œBut of course she can’t just ask you for the brooch,” Bess said, picking up on Nancy’s reasoning. “So she sneaks outside, trashes your car, and leaves the note to scare you.” Bess thought for a moment. “She was gone a pretty long time when she went to get the jewelry.”
    â€œExactly,” Nancy agreed. “The other possibility is that we were followed here. The thief—whether it’s Lydia or someone else—could have followed me here.”
    â€œBut Lydia already knows where you live,” Bess said. “She wouldn’t have to come all the way out here to do this to your car. And she wouldn’t have had to go to all that trouble to find out who owned the clock.”
    â€œUnless she wanted to make it look as if someone else did it,” Nancy pointed out. “As I said before, shecould have made it look like a break-in at Mr. Gordon’s store. But no matter who the thief is, I have a feeling he or she will come after the clock soon—maybe tonight.”
    â€œSo now what do we do?” Bess asked. “We’re stuck here without transportation. We certainly can’t go back into Kimberly’s house to ask for help.”
    â€œSure we can,” Nancy said. “In fact, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
    â€œAre you kidding?” Bess asked in alarm. “Who knows what she could do to us in that scary old house? Maybe she has ancient torture equipment down in the dungeon.”
    â€œWhether she does or not,” Nancy said, “she’s not going to do a thing to us.”
    Bess shot Nancy a wary glance. “How can you be so sure?”
    â€œShe’s far too clever to be so obvious,” Nancy said, heading for the stone steps. “Whether she’s innocent or guilty, she’ll at least let us use her phone.”
    â€œI’ll tell you what,” Bess said, opening the door to Nancy’s car. “I’ll stay here. If you don’t come out in five minutes, I’ll run and get help.”
    â€œOkay,” Nancy said with a laugh. “But I’m sure you won’t have to do anything so drastic.” She walked back to the mansion, rang the doorbell, and again heard the deep chimes echoing through the house.
    Kimberly opened the door and smiled at Nancy. “Back so soon?” she asked. “I didn’t know you felt so strongly about the brooch.”
    Nancy studied Kimberly, wondering if her words had a double meaning. Which brooch was she talking about?
    Nancy explained what had happened to her car and asked to use the phone.
    Kimberly frowned and lowered her eyebrows, but she showed no other reaction to Nancy’s predicament. “I didn’t realize I lived in such a dangerous neighborhood,” she said. “You can use the phone in the hall.”
    She led Nancy to an alcove off the entrance hall. There, on a dark wooden table, was an old-fashioned black dial phone. When Nancy picked up the heavy receiver, she noticed that Kimberly moved away but stayed close enough to hear.
    First, Nancy called information for the number of a towing company and arranged to have her car picked up. Next, she called home to see if Hannah could come and get her and Bess, but there