En Garde (Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Detective Book 17) by Carolyn Keene Read Free Book Online Page B

Kovacs backed up his claim with film of the disputed bout. However, the judges said that Kovacs’s protest was filed too late.”
    Next came a head shot of an official from theinternational fencing federation, saying in an Italian accent, “By the time we learned of the protest, Monsieur Mourbiers had already won his semifinal bout. At that point, what could we do? We couldn’t assume that Kovacs would have won the semifinals if he’d been there instead of Mourbiers. We couldn’t replay the semifinals, eh? So we had to let Mourbiers proceed into the finals. It is too bad. The film did show the sword touching the floor. But we cannot reverse the referee’s original ruling. Otherwise the Olympic games would be chaos!”
    I sat dumbfounded as Derrick stopped the tape. Now everything was painfully clear. “So this is what Bela Kovacs has had to live with,” I said. “Just because he didn’t protest the referee’s judgment soon enough, Mourbiers wasn’t disqualified. That’s why it riled him up when Mourbiers accused him of rigging the bout. If anyone is a cheater, it’s Mourbiers!”
    “If I were Kovacs, I’d hate Mourbiers’s guts,” Derrick added. “Especially when the guy named his studio Salle Olympique! That takes some gall.”
    I nodded sadly. “Kovacs knows he should have won that bout. He probably could have won the others, too—he could have gone for the gold! And now, for the rest of their lives, Mourbiers can show off his Olympic medal, while Kovacs has nothing.”

I couldn’t wait to tell George what I had learned, so I quickly dropped Mr. Nickerson off and drove straight over to her house. When Mrs. Fayne let me inside, I heard DeLyn’s voice upstairs in George’s room. Good—I bet she’d be interested in learning how Bela’s feud with Paul Mourbiers had started.
    “I’ve heard this story many times from Bela,” DeLyn said when I’d finished. She sprang up from George’s bed, where the two of them had been relaxing between classes; George was so into fencing, she was up to two a day sometimes. “But you actually saw the videotape? You saw Mourbiers’s épée touch the floor?”
    “Yup. It was crystal clear,” I verified.
    “Huh. I always wondered if Bela had just made that up.” She scooped up her loafers and slipped them on. “You know, when you tell the same story for years and years, sometimes the facts get a little hazy. Come on, George, we’d better get moving. We don’t want to be late for our evening class.”
    “But how does this change anything?” George asked, fishing around under her bed for her shoes. “If the Olympic committee wouldn’t reverse the ruling back then, they’re not going to take Paul Mourbiers’s medal away now.”
    “True, we can’t fix that for Bela,” I admitted. “But if Derrick runs a story explaining the history of theirfeud, local folks will understand why Bela lost his cool yesterday. Especially when they find out that Paul Mourbiers got Kelly Chaffetz to cover the meet in the first place.”
    “Anything we can do to ease the tension will help,” DeLyn said, striding over to pick up her equipment bag. “We have a college meet coming up this Friday, and nearly half of the fencers train with either Kovacs or Mourbiers. Everybody’s taking sides. Things could get nasty.”
    I hesitated, wondering if DeLyn’s brother had told her about Salle Budapest’s financial troubles. I bet he hadn’t—otherwise she’d have known how badly Bela Kovacs needed to save his reputation, and save it soon.
    “Will Damon be fencing in Friday’s meet?” George asked, tucking in her T-shirt.
    DeLyn frowned, balancing her bag on her shoulder. “Yes. I sure hope he does better this week. He’s really been off his form lately. I have no idea why.”
    I remembered how upset Damon had looked earlier today, when Bela told him about the salle’s debts. Could that be affecting his fencing? Damon certainly seemed devoted to his coach.
    “Maybe it’s