High Risk by Carolyn Keene

waited until she left her car, and then vandalized it.
    Well, if Michelle thinks I’ll back off after this, she’s got another think coming! Nancy thought, fuming. No way would she drop her investigation. Not when Ned’s future was at stake!
    Nancy debated for a moment, but finally decided against calling the police. It was already noon, and she had a lot to do that day. Answeringtheir questions would only slow her down. Besides, she didn’t want to have to tell them why she was being threatened. She had a feeling Detective Matsuo wouldn’t take kindly to a teenage private investigator trying to upset his open-and-shut case against Ned.
    Reaching inside her purse, Nancy fished around for her spiral notepad. Gingerly, she folded the threatening note and slid it between the sheets in the pad. Later, when she got home, she’d test it for prints.
    Nancy leaned against the Mustang and crossed her arms over her chest. I suppose I’d better check my other suspects out, too, she thought. It’s possible that Libby Cartwright was putting on that little-girl act to throw me off the trail. Then she could have slipped out here and done this while I was phoning Ned.
    With a last look at the vandalized car, Nancy turned and went back to the Mutual Life offices. The flashing light in the lobby indicated that an elevator was coming. Nancy stood to one side as the doors opened and a crowd of people got off. Suddenly she found herself face-to-face with Wally Biggs. The plump man’s eyes bulged at the sight of her.
    â€œYou have a lot of nerve hanging around here,” he snapped at her. Then, his cheeks flushed with satisfaction, he turned on his heel.
    â€œHer boyfriend is the one who killed that fellow in the warehouse the other day,” Nancy heard him saying to his companion. “I always knew that Nickerson character was no good.”
    Her heart heavy, Nancy got into the elevator and pushed the button for the third floor. So far, the day was turning out to be a nightmare!
    Nancy got out on the third floor and was walking toward Libby’s cubicle when she almost bumped into Libby. She had just come out of an office whose nameplate read “Vera Johnson.”
    â€œHey, I thought you left,” Libby said, falling into step beside Nancy.
    â€œI, uh, think I dropped my favorite pen near your desk,” Nancy improvised.
    â€œOh. Sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye—Ms. Johnson needed some records, and when Ms. Johnson needs something, she always needs it right away.” Libby grimaced.
    â€œHave you been in Ms. Johnson’s office all this time?” Nancy asked casually.
    â€œSure have,” Libby said with a sigh.
    Looking at the blond girl, Nancy thought again that she was just too innocent to lie. And she had an alibi. So that left only Michelle Ferraro!
    â€œYou know, I still can’t believe Toby got so much money out of Mutual Life,” Libby said, breaking into Nancy’s thoughts as they reached her cubicle. “It’s not easy. Why, I had to go to the hospital for appendicitis a few months ago, after I’d been working here for two months and twenty-one days. Know what? They wouldn’t pay my bill. Said I hadn’t been with the company long enough. My benefits didn’t take effect until three months after my hiring date.”
    â€œThat’s terrible,” Nancy said sympathetically.She bent down and pretended to look around for her pen.
    â€œAnd then I heard this other story,” Libby rattled on, “about this poor guy who’d worked here all his life. His wife was in the hospital with a long illness, and just because he’d forgotten to file some paperwork, the guy was stuck with all of her hospital expenses after she died. It wiped him out completely!”
    â€œUnbelievable,” Nancy commented distractedly. She straightened up. “Well, my pen isn’t here. I guess I must have lost it somewhere