Danger for Hire by Carolyn Keene Page B

Electronics.”
    â€œNo! It’s back at All-County, and one of the guys is on the roof of that building!” She pointed. “I chased him there!”
    â€œWhat?”
    Rapidly Nancy explained. The chief ordered his driver to dispatch four cars to trap the Dead Man. Satisfied, Nancy climbed in the backseat.
    â€œBut, Chief, I thought we were going to All-County Moving and Storage!” Nancy said as they pulled up in front of Uptown Electronics. “I saw the lookout signal an all-clear from that roof.”
    â€œI’m afraid you’re mistaken, Nancy—see?” the chief said.
    A pair of medics was wheeling out a stretcher. Strapped to it was a young man in a Hayward Security uniform.
    â€œI don’t understand,” Nancy muttered. “This doesn’t make sense, unless—”
    â€œUnless what?” the chief asked.
    â€œThe lookout wasn’t a lookout at all, but a decoy,” she said dejectedly.
    After Nancy returned with George, they quickly learned the facts. The gang had keyed off the alarm, grabbed the guard, knocked himout, and made their getaway with fifty thousand dollars’ worth of laptop computers. The police had been called by the guard after he came to.
    The chief’s men had not found the decoy. The man was obviously familiar with the area and had an escape route ready. Nancy felt terribly frustrated.
    Nancy turned to Tom and the chief. “The laptop computers they took were worth a lot, but they could easily have taken more. They took only twenty-five boxes.”
    â€œIt’s almost as if they’re robbing for the sport of it,” George remarked.
    The chief shrugged. “Usually profit is the motive behind a robbery.”
    Nancy excused herself to call Cindy Larson. It was late, but Cindy was still awake, watching out her bedroom window.
    â€œMr. Masterson came home at six o’clock and he’s been inside ever since,” Cindy reported with obvious relief.
    â€œOkay, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow after school,” Nancy said. “Oh, and Cindy—wear old clothes that you don’t care about.”
    â€œWhy?” Her assistant was curious.
    â€œIt’s probably better if I don’t tell you. See you then.”
    Nancy hung up and bit her lip thoughtfully. That Neil Masterson had an alibi didn’t completely clear him, she knew. But it helped.
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    The following morning Nancy called Neil Masterson’s office and found that Adam Reeves had not been on duty the night before.
    Checking Stanley Loomis’s whereabouts was even easier. The business section of Today’s Times carried an article describing a speech he had given to the River Heights Retail Merchants Association the night before. In it he had stressed the need for reliable security. The alibi didn’t clear him, but it did indicate he couldn’t have taken part in the robbery.
    Next she phoned Chief McGinnis to ask if there had been any sign of the stolen goods. The chief told her nothing had surfaced.
    Nancy spent the rest of the morning focusing on the profiles of her three strongest suspects.
    She went to check out Adam Reeves’s apartment building. It was clean and well maintained. Not fancy, but nice. The refuse area behind the building was orderly. She had no trouble finding what she needed. After loading it in her trunk, she drove home.
    She was studying Adam Reeves’s credit report when Cindy arrived.
    â€œSo soon?” her assistant asked, pulling over her seat. “I thought it would take weeks for that to get here.”
    â€œI asked them to fax it to my father’s office,” Nancy told her.
    â€œWhat does it tell us?” Cindy asked.
    â€œPlenty. When you add up everything he’s spending, it totals up to more than he’s making.”
    â€œWhere does he get the extra money?” Cindy wondered.
    â€œGood question. This credit report lists only one