004 Smile and Say Murder (5 page)

“Mmm,” Nancy replied, kissing Ned back and staring blissfully into his soft, dark eyes as she ran her fingers through his fine, light brown hair.

At last the couple broke apart. “What are you doing here?” Nancy asked.

“What do you mean?” Ned teased. “We haven’t seen each other since yesterday. The loneliness was killing me! And what else do I have to do on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon besides drive into Chicago and pick up my gorgeous girlfriend?”

Then Ned’s handsome face became serious. “Actually, Nancy, I was a little worried about you. After our phone conversation this afternoon, I started having horrible thoughts about that guy you told me about.” Ned flashed Nancy a tender smile. “And I’m sorry we argued.”

“It was nothing compared to what I went
through at the office!” Nancy exclaimed. As they climbed into Ned’s car and headed for the suburbs, she told him what had happened, from Brenda Carlton and David Bowers to Mick and his sick sense of humor and Sondra’s apology.

“Sondra sounds nice,” Ned commented when Nancy had finished.

“I guess she is,” Nancy admitted, “but I have a feeling she doesn’t want to make things any easier for me. She seems to think I’m Yvonne’s latest pet.” Nancy rolled down the car window and let the spring air blow through her hair.

“You can’t really blame her for that,” Ned said.

“No,” Nancy agreed. “Anyway, this case is a little frightening—but very intriguing.”

“I don’t know, Nancy.” Ned was doubtful. “I’d say the accent is on dangerous. I mean, Mick may already be on to your true identity. Maybe we should just go to the police and let them handle it.”

“No,” Nancy argued. “Right now, a crime hasn’t even been committed. There’ve been a few nasty letters, a few ugly fights, a practical joke. None of that’s very out of the ordinary for a high-pressure office like
Flash.”

“Right,” Ned said sarcastically. “People leave severed heads in office closets all over Chicago.”

“Come on, Ned, you can’t expect me to give up the case before I’ve found even one concrete clue, can you?”

“But, Nancy,” Ned protested, “this Mick
character might be a real nut case. You could be putting your life on the line.”

“If I thought that,” Nancy answered, “I’d have you pull over at the next roadside diner and I’d call the police immediately. You know, you’re making the most simple mistake a detective possibly can—you’re assuming the obvious. Mick
might
be the person behind the threats, but it could be just about anyone at
Flash.”

“Great! So there are a
bunch
of violent lunatics over there, not just one,” Ned muttered.

“By the way,” Nancy said, “I asked Yvonne about hiring you as another intern. It was funny, but she was pretty hesitant at first. Anyway, I convinced her that I really needed you, and she said okay.”

Ned sighed, keeping his eyes on the road. “I still think we’d be better off at my parents’ cabin.”

Nancy caught her breath. “So that’s what all this is about. You’re just upset about missing our trip!”

“Hey,” Ned said, getting annoyed, “I happen to want to spend a little time with the girl I love. What’s wrong with that?”

“I don’t know,” Nancy replied, her temper beginning to flare. “It seems as if you’re being selfish. I mean, who cares about some stupid vacation when a person’s life might be in danger?”

Ned took his eyes off the road just long enough to give Nancy a look of disbelief. “And
who cares about some stupid boyfriend,” he said, returning his eyes miserably to the highway, “when you could be running around, getting yourself killed by an art director with an ax to grind? You know, Nancy, I don’t think you appreciate me very much.”

“Look, I need to do this, Ned. Okay?” Nancy said shortly.

Ned frowned. “No other guy in the world would put up with this, Nancy. And sometimes, I wonder why
I
do.”

N
ANCY STARED AT
the floor numbers over the elevator door as they lit up, one after another. It was a gray Thursday morning, and she was about to begin her second day of work at
Flash.
The weather suited her state of mind—dark and cool.

Her fight with Ned had upset her, and she hadn’t slept well. She was in no mood for the fighting and nastiness that had gone on at the magazine the day before.

Luckily, Ned would be there now to help handle any really sticky situations. In spite of their argument, he was going to work at the magazine, just as he’d promised.

Or maybe that wasn’t luck. Ned hadn’t been the greatest conversationalist on the train ride into the city that morning. Obviously, he was
still mad about the canceled trip. But Nancy knew she had to push her problems with Ned out of her mind. She couldn’t let them interfere with the case.

Nancy had left Ned a few blocks away from the building where
Flash’s
offices were housed. She’d decided that they’d get a lot more information if they pretended they didn’t know each other. That way, they could search for clues separately. And with luck, Mick and Sondra wouldn’t think Ned was a spy. Because of their feelings for Nancy, they definitely weren’t going to open up with her. Maybe Ned could get closer to them.

The elevator reached the sixteenth floor, and the doors slid open. Nancy stepped out. Okay,
Flash,
she thought. I’m ready for whatever you’ve got in store for me today. She walked over to the reception desk. “Hi, Scott,” she said.

“Hey, Nancy, how’s it going today?”

“Okay, I suppose,” Nancy replied noncommittally.

“Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, especially so early in the morning, but Mick wants to see you in his office right away.”

“Oh.” Nancy frowned. She was sure it wasn’t going to be very much fun. On the other hand, it was her first real chance to talk to her prime suspect. If she were lucky, she’d pick up a clue or two.

Scott flashed Nancy a sympathetic smile. “I’m really sorry about what Mick put you
through yesterday. It’s too bad, because actually Mick can be a pretty nice guy at times. Anyway, he said to send you in to him as soon as you got here.”

“Thanks.” Nancy hung her coat in the closet behind Scott’s desk. She’d been a little nervous about what to wear that day.
Flash
was a fashion magazine, after all. Finally she’d chosen a favorite rose-colored sweater that brought out the red highlights in her hair and some classic, tailored black pants with low-heeled pumps.

Nancy headed for Mick’s office. She soon found out that it was just as wild as Mick himself. It was decorated with dozens of remote control toys and tacky plastic things, a complete contrast to Yvonne’s high-class image. Mick had everything from toy airplanes that really flew to barking dogs and marching soldiers.

Mick was reclining in a big orange armchair when Nancy came in. His feet were on his desk, displaying a pair of zebra-striped shoes. He was wearing an oversized white suit and a zebra ascot around his neck.

“Hi,” Mick said. “Have a seat.”

“Thanks,” Nancy answered. She walked across the room, almost slipping on the highly polished wooden floors.

“Careful,” Mick said.

Nancy smiled cautiously, settling into an orange chair identical to Mick’s. Obviously Mick was trying to be pleasant and considerate. But why?

“Nancy,” he began. He coughed, embarrassed,
and swung his feet off the desk. “I’ve got something to say to you. It’s not easy for me but—well, I’ve got to apologize to you for yesterday. I’m really sorry.”

Nancy stared at Mick in surprise. Was this the same guy who’d humiliated her in the studio? The same guy who’d angrily smashed Yvonne’s vase to bits?

“My sister was on my case about that joke all night,” he continued. “She told me it was completely sick and creepy and that you could have been really scared. Well, I didn’t mean it that way. Who’d leave a real severed head in a props closet? I figured you’d realize it was a joke as soon as you saw the head.”

Nancy wasn’t sure what to make of Mick’s apology. He certainly seemed to mean it. But where had the nice Mick been hiding the day before? Was he trying to gain Nancy’s trust so he could throw her off his trail?

Actually, Nancy thought, Mick had been considerate with Danielle Artman yesterday. And he’d showed concern about her working all afternoon in the darkroom. Still, that didn’t mean the vicious Mick didn’t exist, too.

Nancy smiled slowly. “Thanks for the apology,” she said simply. “I appreciate it. I
was
pretty worried about all the fighting that went on yesterday.”

Mick pressed his lips together. “That’s another thing I want to apologize for—my outburst in Yvonne’s office. I shouldn’t have stuck you in the middle of my fight with Yvonne. And I
shouldn’t have taken my frustrations with her out on you yesterday in the studio.”

“I won’t argue with that,” Nancy joked. She smiled at Mick sincerely for the first time, realizing that her feelings about the art director were changing. Sure, he was more than a little thoughtless, but he no longer seemed like the crazy, malicious person Nancy had first taken him for. He’d behaved badly, and he was apologizing for it. Nancy thought that was honorable. Mick would probably be a really nice guy, Nancy decided, if he hadn’t gotten successful so young.

“Well,” said Mick, “you’ve just got to understand that I never asked for an assistant.” The bitterness was clear in his tone. “Yvonne is driving me insane. She hired you just because it suits some weird plan of her own.”

“It
was
kind of bizarre that she made me your assistant without telling you about it first,” Nancy admitted.

“Anyway,” Mick continued, “as long as you and I are going to be working together, we’ve got to try to get along. I mean, my problems with Yvonne and MediaCorp aren’t your fault.”

“MediaCorp,” Nancy said, playing innocent. “Isn’t that the international news syndicate? They own just about every newspaper and magazine on the East Coast.”

“Right, and if I don’t watch out, they’re going to own
mine,
too,” Mick told her. “But I’m not going to let that happen.”

Nancy decided to ask Mick a few more questions about MediaCorp. A master at getting information from people without their even knowing it, she set to work. She stretched her long legs and leaned back in her chair, hoping to make Mick feel less formal

“I used to know someone,” the sleuth said easily, “who worked for MediaCorp. Editor in chief at the
Law Review,
I think.”

“I hope he wasn’t a good friend,” Mick said with the hint of a smile. “I wouldn’t trust anyone connected with that place.”

“Then you wouldn’t hire anyone who’d once worked for MediaCorp?” Nancy asked.

“No way,” Mick told her. “I hope your friend doesn’t want a job here.”

“Oh, no,” Nancy said quickly. Her mind was racing.

So Mick doesn’t know about David’s old job, she realized. But Yvonne probably did! There was no way she’d hire an editor in chief without knowing his background. Yvonne was that kind of person. And she must have hidden David’s background from Mick.

Nancy pursed her lips pensively. She wondered if anyone else around
Flash
knew about David—and if not, why not? She let her eyes wander around the office as if they could somehow discover a clue.

Suddenly she noticed something that made her break into a huge grin. Mick had a whole library of mystery novels displayed on shelves
near his desk. “You must be a fellow mystery lover,” she said with a laugh, pointing to the books.

“Definitely,” Mick said enthusiastically. “I’ve been reading thrillers ever since I discovered the Hardy Boys back in grade school.”

“Yeah, I always loved them, too,” Nancy smiled. “I’ve been reading a lot of Raymond Chandler lately.”

“I guess Agatha Christie is still the great master for me,” Mick confided. “There’s always some bizarre twist in her stories that no one else would ever come up with.”

Nancy had to smile. Who would have guessed that Mick was a mystery freak just the way she was? If I don’t watch it, she warned herself, I may end up actually getting friendly with Mick.

Mick stood up and extended his hand to Nancy. “You know, you’re okay,” he said.

Nancy smiled and shook Mick’s outstretched hand. Mick had become human to her that morning—which would help her predict his next move if he really were the culprit.

“You did a good job developing that film yesterday, Nancy. This afternoon I’d like you to help Leslie do a preliminary layout for the next issue. Think you can handle it?”

“I’ll do my best,” Nancy said. “See you later.”

Nancy left Mick’s office and walked toward the reception desk. She felt that she’d made some important discoveries about the case.
Now if she could just figure out what it all meant!

Nancy entered the reception area. Scott was nowhere in sight, but Ned was there, talking to Sondra and acting very interested in what she was saying. They were standing close. In fact, it looked to Nancy as though her tried-and-true boyfriend were flirting! At that moment, Sondra let out a peal of laughter and Ned broke into a charming smile.