Nobody's Business by Carolyn Keene Page A

big time or anything, but it would be a good start for my career.”
    Nancy fell silent. He had a good point, and she doubted he was lying—he had to know she could easily check his story with Andrew. Still, that didn’t let him off the hook completely.
    Giving Master Blaster a hard look, Nancy asked, “Then what were you doing by the back door Monday afternoon, right after we heard theghost noises? And don’t tell me you were just getting some air.”
    Blaster drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. After a long silence he admitted, “I was trying to decide what to do about the fact that I’d just seen my ex-girlfriend running away from the inn. Yes, I saw Julie. I saw her the second time, too, right after Ned fell.”
    Nancy nodded. That explained the clay on the light switch and the wall.
    â€œIf you saw her, why didn’t you say anything?” Ned asked.
    â€œEven if she’s the one causing the trouble, I didn’t want to turn her in,” Blaster answered with a guilty look. “I still care about her, even after everything she did to me. Oh, why am I even bothering to explain anything to you? I can see you don’t believe me.”
    With a disgusted look at Nancy and Ned, Blaster turned and stalked back to the inn.
    â€œYou don’t really believe him, do you, Nan?” Ned asked when Blaster had disappeared inside.
    â€œI don’t know,” Nancy said. “I think he’s telling the truth about having seen Julie. That would explain why he was so nervous when I asked him what he saw the day he was up in the alcove.”
    As she and Ned got out of the Mustang, Ned said, “I guess things don’t look good for Julie now, do they?”
    Nancy shook her head. “I still want to checkout Guy Lewis and his connection to Colleen Morgan, too,” she said. “Come on. Let’s go find Andrew. I want to use his phone to call Chief McGinnis.”
    When they got inside the inn, they didn’t see Andrew, or anyone else for that matter, on the first floor. Finally Nancy and Ned found Andrew, Bess, Colleen, and what looked like the entire Teen Works crew in the basement.
    At first it looked as if there was more junk piled up in the basement than there’d been the day before. Then Nancy noticed that only the area near the bottom of the stairs was crowded with old furniture and newspapers. The rest of the basement was nearly empty.
    â€œWe’ve got a good system going,” Andrew explained, spotting Nancy and Ned. “It’s like a bucket brigade. Once we get everything near the stairs, we’re going to pass it up hand to hand. We ought to be finished by the time the haulers get here after lunch. Then we’ll be on schedule to pour the concrete floor in the morning.”
    Nancy was relieved to see that Andrew still seemed dedicated to keeping the renovation going. Maybe she’d been wrong to think he was sabotaging the inn to get the insurance money.
    â€œListen, I’ll come down and help you move stuff in a few minutes,” she told Andrew. “Meanwhile, could I use the phone in your office, Andrew? I’ve got to make a quick call.”
    â€œSure,” Andrew said.
    Nancy hurried back up the stairs to the lobby, entered Andrew’s office, and closed the door behind her. Seconds later she was dialing the number of the River Heights police headquarters.
    â€œHello, Nancy,” Chief McGinnis greeted her warmly when the call was put through to him. “Don’t tell me you’re on another case.”
    â€œIt must be fate,” Nancy joked. “But listen, I was wondering if you could check somebody out for me. His name’s Guy Lewis. He graduated from Bentley High School in 1977.”
    Nancy explained about the sabotage and pranks at the inn and told the chief about finding evidence that Lewis may have been there recently.
    â€œI’ll have to run a check and get back to