Illusions of Evil by Carolyn Keene Page B

Road. It was definitely intentional.”
    The magician gasped. “Thank heaven you’re all right. But it couldn’t have been Misha! He was with me at about that time, I think—and this morning he told me about something strange that happened to him last night—” She looked at Nancy. “Only now, it doesn’t seem so strange.”
    â€œWhat?” Nancy asked.
    â€œWhen he left his room at the motel to go for his supper, his car wasn’t in the lot where he’d left it,” Adriana explained.
    Nancy’s eyes widened with astonishment.
    â€œHe got very upset, as you can imagine, went to the police, and filed a report,” she went on a little breathlessly. “But when he got back to the motel later, the car was there!”
    â€œAmazing,” Nancy said.
    However, it did occur to her that the car-theft business could have been an elaborate ploy to give Grigov an alibi. He could have tried to run her off the road around six, then ditched his car and reported it stolen. It would have been easy enough to pick up the car later and let the police know that it had miraculously reappeared.
    â€œSo, you see,” the magician said happily, as if positive that she’d proven her point, “it couldn’t have been Misha who tried to hurt you yesterday.”
    â€œUh-huh,” Nancy replied, only half listening to Adriana. She said, “I still want to talk to your friend.”
    â€œThat’s easy enough,” the magician replied. “He’s staying at the Conklin Falls Motel, just across from the golf course on the north side of town.”
    â€œOkay.” Nancy focused on Adriana and smiled slightly. “And thank you for being so open with me. It was a great help.”
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    After her talk with Adriana, Nancy met Ned and George again. They decided to get some lunch before launching into the day’s investigations and stopped at a deli. The guy who made their sandwiches told them about a small park where they could eat.
    They found the park easily. While they ate, Nancy told George and Ned everything that Adriana had said.
    â€œDo you believe her?” Ned asked.
    â€œFrankly, I do—or else she’s the best liar I ever ran into.” She took a bite of her pastrami hero. “It’s Grigov I doubt,” she said, then went on to explain her theory about how the knife thrower could have staged the disappearance of his car. “I wonder if Sheriff Pulaski ever questioned him.”
    â€œYou’d think he would have, since Grigov must have run into Pulaski when he reported that his car had been stolen,” George speculated.
    Nancy gave her friend a skeptical look. “I wouldn’t count on it. The sheriff treated us likewe were crazy yesterday. I can just imagine the way Grigov could have snowed him.”
    â€œRight,” George replied. “So now the sheriff’s searching for a car thief instead of a saboteur.”
    â€œAnyway, I want to talk to Grigov myself,” Nancy said.
    â€œAnd track down Benny Gotnick,” George added.
    â€œAnd have a chat with that realtor,” Ned said. A few minutes later he checked his watch. “It’s close to two,” he said, taking their garbage to a bin. “I don’t know how you’re going to do it all.”
    â€œIt’s not going to be easy,” Nancy replied.
    â€œLook,” Ned said, “I’ve got a racquetball date with my dad at four. But why don’t I stop in at Matthews Realty on my way back to Mapleton? If I get a lead on who Matthews’s secret client is, I’ll leave a message on your machine at home.”
    Nancy grinned at him. “That sounds great. I really appreciate it. That means George and I can head straight over to Gotnick’s.”
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    Half an hour later George and Nancy pulled up in front of Benny Gotnick’s run-down house. “Here we