Deadly Doubles by Carolyn Keene Page B

we’d better have Dan with us!”
    “What? The airport now ?” George said. “Why, Nancy?”
    “I have a hunch that Roberto may have left the list there somewhere—and I want to find it before anyone else does!”
    In a few minutes Nancy, Bess, George—and Dan—were in Dan’s car, with Dan at the wheel. Apparently Bess had been very persuasive. Teresa had begged to go with them, but when Nancy had reminded her of her tournament match the next day, she had returned reluctantly to her own room.
    Dan’s small station wagon reassured Nancy. So did his own brawny presence. No one would connect him or his car with San Carlos or with Nancy Drew—particularly since Nancy was wearing Bess’s sundress and George’s battered baseball cap, both brought by Dan from the downstairs room.
    Then why, Nancy asked herself as they rolled up the exit ramp from the parking garage, do I suddenly feel as if something’s about to happen?
    She found out all too soon. As the station wagon turned into the street and headed for the corner, a car parked near the curb came quietly to life. It pulled in behind them as they halted for the stop sign—then turned left just as Dan did.
    “We’re being followed,” Nancy said quietly.
     

Chapter Nine
    “ N OT FOR LONG ,” Dan replied grimly. He started cruising at a slow speed. Then, as they approached a traffic light, he slowed down even more.
    The light began to change. Swiftly Dan slammed the wagon into gear and shot through, barely missing being hit by a sports car that had jumped the signal in the other direction. The sports car was not so lucky. Dan’s pursuer smashed into its right side—and was then penned in place by the flow of traffic from the cross street.
    Nancy watched, fascinated, as Dan roared away. “Car pursuing police officer in accident on comer of Washington and Queen,” Dan snapped into his car radio.
    “Pretty smooth,” George commented admiringly as Dan proceeded to execute a complicated series of turns and cut-throughs that brought them onto the service road to the airline arrivals building.
    “Don’t try a maneuver like that unless you’re a cop on a chase. And even then you’d better have a darn good reason,” Dan answered, grinning.
    He parked in short-term parking, and the four threaded their way through sparse late-night traffic into the terminal. There they played back Bess’s cassette recording and went over the careful notes George had organized so as to retrace Roberto’s and Teresa’s steps. Dan even got permission to go up to the actual tunnel through which the three travelers from San Carlos had deplaned.
    “Nothing here,” Dan remarked after searching every inch of the tunnel. “You find anything?”
    “Only a piece of a baggage claim ticket.” Nancy turned it over to him. “It’s from an afternoon flight today. Not much use.”
    They searched the waiting area and worked their way down the corridor, still without discovering anything. Dan arranged to have the Customs and Immigration officials who had been on duty at the time available for questioning in the morning. “The FBI boys will probably insist on doing that themselves,” he said enviously.
    At last they reached the main concourse again. Nancy looked around. “Where are the car rental counters?” she asked.
    “Over there,” Dan said, pointing.
    “Then I’ll bet this is the sitting area Teresa mentioned. It’s the closest one. Now if we could just figure out where Roberto might have gone while Teresa and Seńora Ramirez waited here. He’d have to be out of their sight for a while so he could look for a hiding place.”
    Nancy stood back as Dan began a careful search, alerting an airport security officer as he did so. Bess and George also began to search under Dan’s direction, while Nancy just stood thoughtfully. The others glanced at her curiously, but she ignored them. There were times when working with her brain could bring faster results than hunting for