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    151 The Chocolate-Covered Contest

    Page 8
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      “So where do we go from here?” Joyce asked.

      “Well, I was thinking we might try a new approach,”

      Nancy said. “And I was hoping you might be able to

      help me.”

      “Anything I can do,” Joyce said. “Any ideas would be

      greatly appreciated.”

      “I want to try to find the corporate spy,” Nancy said.

      “What? I mean, so do I. But what does that have to

      do with the instant-win contest?”

      “I think it's possible that the spy leaked the instant-

      win code to the person who printed the fake wrapper. I

      know it sounds far-fetched, and I could be completely

      wrong, but it's important to find the spy regardless,

      right?”

      “Right,” Joyce agreed. “So how do you propose that

      we do that?”

      “I was hoping you could give me access to official

      Royal files. Personnel records, et cetera.”

      Joyce hesitated. “If my bosses found out, I'd be

      fired. In fact, Mr. Tumey reminded me when we

      discussed asking for your help that our files are strictly

      confidential.”

      “I understand,” Nancy said, disappointed.

      “No,” Joyce said. “Nancy, I'm desperate to get to the

      truth. At this point, I don't care about bending the

      rules or even breaking them. If you think it'll work, I

      say go for it.”

      “Are you sure? I don't want to jeopardize your job.”

      “It's already in jeopardy,” Joyce said. “Look, there's

      an end-of-season dinner tomorrow night, a sort of

      thank-you to the employees. Everyone will be there,

      and the office will be deserted. I'll let you in then. No

      one should find out. It'll be fine. Okay?”

      “Okay,” Nancy agreed. “If you say so. Thanks.”

      “Thank you,” Joyce said. “Try to get some sleep, and

      enjoy your day tomorrow.”

      Sleep. Not a bad idea, Nancy thought. Her eyes

      hurt, her feet hurt, her brain hurt. As soon as she

      returned from dinner, she changed into her pajamas

      and crawled under the cool, white sheets.

      The next thing she knew, George was showering

      after her morning jog. Even Bess was awake and

      munching a chocolate croissant.

      “I checked on the Sleuths. They're all sleeping.

      They're exhausted,” Bess informed Nancy. “Just like

      us.”

      George toweled off her hair as she emerged from

      the bathroom. “What's on the agenda for today?”

      “Andrea might get out of the hospital,” Bess said.

      “The van might get fixed. We might go home.”

      “I'm not going home,” Nancy said. “I've got big

      plans tonight. But I hope you can.”

      Bess looked at the clock. “I guess it's still too early to

      call the garage.”

      Nancy nodded. “I think,” she said, “I'm going back

      to the computer lab. Do you know how they have all

      those family trees online? Maybe I can figure out

      whether Andrea really is related to the Castle family.”

      There was a knock on the door.

      Bess rolled her eyes. “Here we go again. At your

      service,” she called as she flung open the door.

      “Andrea!” she exclaimed.

      “May I come in?”

      Nancy could see that Andrea's face was drawn and

      pale.

      “Of course.” Bess moved aside to let her pass.

      “Please. Sit down. How are you? How did you get

      here?”

      “I took a taxi,” Andrea replied. “And I'm feeling

      better. Or at least I was, until I heard what you were

      saying just now.”

      Bess looked perplexed. “What?”

      “About me. Why are you checking up on me behind

      my back? If you have a question, I wish you'd ask me to

      my face.”

      “I'm sorry, Andrea,” Nancy said. “We've developed

      some pressing questions in the last day, and you

      haven't been available to answer them. Frankly, we had

      reason to doubt that you'd answer them truthfully.”

      Andrea leaned back against the pillow. “I'm sorry

      you've come to that conclusion. May I ask why?”

      Nancy explained what had happened in her meeting

      with Mr. Castle the day before. She told Andrea about

      the lab finding rubber cement on Bess's wrapper, the

      realization that Andrea had apparently lied about

      where she bought the chocolates and finally the

      tombstone Kenny had found in the haunted house that

      led Nancy to think Andrea might be related to the

      Castles.

      “You're right,” Andrea said simply.

      “I'm right?” Nancy repeated.

      “I'm related to the Castles. If you can call it a

      relationship.”

      “I don't understand, Andrea,” Bess said. “Why didn't

      you tell us?”

      “I didn't think it was any of your business. I didn't

      want anyone to know. It was a mistake.” Andrea's voice

      was low. “I'm sorry.”

      “All right.” Bess reached out and took her hand.

      “But tell us now. Please tell us what's going on.

      “Okay.” Andrea nodded. “Remember hearing the

      story of poor Robert Castle, the immigrant who

      founded Royal Chocolates? Well, Joyce left out some

      important information. His real name was Roberto

      Cassella, and he didn't start Royal Chocolates by

      himself. The whole thing was his brother's idea. Sal

      Cassella. My grandfather. But then they had some sort

      of disagreement. My great-uncle disowned his brother

      and changed his name. Somehow, he wound up with

      the company, all the money, everything.”

      “Wow,” Bess said. “That's terrible.”

      “I'm not surprised about that tombstone Kenny

      found. It was probably an inside joke. Robert Castle,

      Senior, was determined to bury his identity as a

      Cassella. He didn't want any of us getting our hands on

      his money. Ever.”

      “But aren't you entitled to it?” Bess asked. “I mean,

      if your grandfather helped found the company . . .”

      Andrea shook her head. “I'm related to the Castles

      by blood, but that's all. Robert Castle arranged things

      legally so that the Cassellas wouldn't have any claims

      on Royal Chocolates. By law, it's as though we're not

      even family.”

      “That's awful,” George said. “Can't you do anything

      about it?”

      Andrea closed her eyes. “I don't care. I really don't

      care, George. It's been this way all my life. I just

      wanted the right to apply for an educational grant for

      the Sleuths, the same way anyone else could apply. But

      when I tried, they wouldn't let me. They wouldn't even

      talk to me.”

      “Why?” Nancy asked. “Why would they be so

      unfair?”

      “I wish I knew,” Andrea said. “Poor Joyce—I know

      she felt sorry for me by the third time I called. She did

      what she could. She offered a discounted rate for our

      trip to the park—a consolation, I guess. She even

      mailed me some chocolate bars.” Andrea propped

      herself up on her elbows. “This is the part you're

      waitin
    g to hear. One of those bars was the winning one.

      The grand prize wrapper.”

      “Oh.” Bess reacted as this sank in. “Oh! My

      wrapper.”

      “I was so shocked when I saw it,” Andrea said. “I

      actually thought maybe it was Joyce's secret way of

      helping me with the Sleuths' finances. Then I realized

      that was ridiculous. It would be illegal to tamper with

      the outcome of the contest. Anyhow, I wasn't even

      eligible to claim the prize because of my relation to the

      Castles. Pretty ironic, if you ask me, since they won't

      have anything to do with me.”

      “That's when you decided to glue the wrapper back

      on and give it to Bess,” George said.

      “That's right,” Andrea confirmed. “And I really did

      buy all the other chocolates at the park that first day we

      were here. I never thought that would wind up being

      an issue. I'm not very good at lying. Obviously, I don't

      have much practice.”

      “But why didn't you tell us what was going on?” Bess

      asked.

      “I didn't want to get you mixed up in it,” Andrea

      explained. “I was relying on your basic human decency,

      Bess. I was pretty sure I could count on you to do the

      right thing and contribute some of the money back to

      the Sleuths.” Andrea looked Bess in the eye. “And you

      did. It would have worked, if it weren't for one thing:

      Diana had already claimed the prize.”

      “This is all starting to make sense now,” Nancy said

      slowly. “Except if yours is the real winning wrapper,

      where did Diana get hers? And why has she been

      spying on us since we got here?”

      “I have no idea about any of that.” Andrea's eyes

      went from Bess to George to Nancy. “I'm sorry for

      misleading you. I hope you believe me.”

      “So you're saying the van accident and the peanut

      butter accident—they were accidents?” George asked.

      Before Andrea could respond, there was another

      knock at the door.

      Laura bounced into the room as soon as Bess

      cracked open the door. “We're on TV!” she announced.

      Nancy flipped on the television set, and Laura

      changed the channel until she found the local morning

      news. They were running a story about the Royal

      Chocolates contest.

      Diana's picture flashed across the screen.

      “Hey,” George said a moment later. “There you are,

      Bess.”

      Bess's cheeks turned red. “That's a terrible picture.

      Where did they get that?”

      “Where did they get the story, period?” Nancy

      murmured.

      “Shh,” Andrea said. She was listening intently.

      The program cut to a shot of a reporter standing at

      the entrance to the Kings Commons parking lot.

      “Could you offer an official comment about the

      Crown Jewels contest controversy, Mr. Tumey?”

      There was a close-up of John Tumey, his irritated

      scowl filling the screen.

      “No comment,” he growled.

      The camera pulled back to show his car pulling away

      from the gate. Nancy's heart pounded when she saw

      the shot. Mr. Tumey was driving a midsize white car.

      “Hey,” Laura said. “That looks like the car that ran

      us off the road at Jungle Kingdom!”

      12. News Flash

      Nancy squinted at the tiny picture on the television

      screen. “That's a common enough automobile model.

      But you're right, Laura. It looks like the car that ran us

      off the road.”

      Laura finally took her eyes off the TV and noticed

      her surroundings. “Andrea!” she exclaimed. “You're

      back. Are you okay?”

      “I'm fine,” Andrea assured her. “And very glad to be

      here, too.”

      Laura grabbed Andrea's hand and pulled her off the

      bed. “Come on. Come say hi to everybody. They'll all

      want to see you. We were so worried. Are we going

      home today?”

      Even after Bess closed the door, Nancy could hear

      their chatter all the way down the hall.

      “I'd sure like to know how I wound up on the news,”

      Bess said. “Hey—you know what? Maybe that person

      who called Hannah really was a reporter, Nan. Maybe

      she was working on the story we just saw. Do you think

      that's who was looking us up in the Royal computer

      lab?”

      “I doubt it,” George said. “Why would the reporter

      use the computers here? She must have the Internet at

      the TV station.”

      “She obviously came here to work on her story,”

      Bess pointed out. “We just saw her on TV, standing in

      front of the chocolate factory. Maybe she had some

      down time while she was here and decided to put it to

      good use.”

      “I'm more concerned with where she got the story

      idea,” Nancy said. “We know nobody from Royal talked

      to the press in an official capacity. They were trying

      their hardest to keep the wrapper mix-up quiet. Joyce

      said Diana doesn't even know about the problems with

      the contest.”

      “I guess she knows now,” George observed. “It's

      going to be all over the news.”

      “That's true.” Nancy muted the TV with the remote

      control.

      “I don't get it,” Bess said. “Who could have leaked

      the story?”

      “Besides the corporate spy,” Nancy said, “there's

      only one other person I know of with a motive to make

      things rough for Royal.”

      “Andrea?” George guessed.

      “Wait,” Bess said. “Andrea wouldn't do something

      like that.”

      “I'd like to believe that, Bess,” Nancy said. “I

      sympathize with her situation, and I'm glad she finally

      came clean with us. But did she tell the whole truth?

      We can't be sure, can we?”

      Bess sighed. “I like Andrea. She's trying to do a good

      thing.”

      “I agree,” Nancy said. “I like her, too. I just can't

      forget Mr. Castle's face when he heard me mention

      Andrea's name. I know he thought she staged her

      accidents to give Royal a bad rap. And when you

      combine those accidents with this news leak, I'm sorry.

      I have to wonder.”

      “But what about the Pleasant spy?” Bess asked.

      Nancy nodded. “I know. It's possible that a high-

      level Royal employee is the corporate spy. If so, that

      person would be aware of the problems with the

      instant-win contest. Maybe he or she decided to leak

      that information to the press to give Royal a bad name.

      If too many people lost faith in Royal they would stop

      buying Royal products, and the business would really

      suffer. I'm sure that even Royal's instant-win contests

      would become less effective at attracting new

      customers. Their stock prices would go down, and

      Pleasant would find itself a big winner.”

      “I bet it's that nasty Mr. Tumey,” Bess suggested. “I

      bet he's the spy.”

      “That thought crossed my mind,” Nancy said.

      “Besides Joyce, he's the only p
    erson who knows I'm

      working on this case. I know we don't have proof that

      the car that ran us off the road was his. But if it was,

      maybe he was trying to scare us off the case before we

      figured out who the spy was.”

      Bess had begun pacing. “So what are you going to do

      next, Nan?”

      The phone rang.

      Nancy held up her hand. “Answer the phone.”

      The caller was from the auto repair shop. He said

      the van was fixed and could be picked up whenever

      they were ready.

      “Yes!” Andrea said with feeling when she returned

      to the room. “We can all go home this afternoon.”

      “That's great.” Nancy replaced the receiver. “But I

      can't go with you.”

      “Why not?” Andrea's voice cracked.

      “I need to spend another night at the park. There's

      something I have to take care of before I leave.”

      Andrea bit her lip. “So you're going to leave us short

      one chaperon?”

      “We'll manage,” George said cheerfully. “We've

      managed so far, right?”

      “I guess.” Andrea stared at the floor.

      Nancy knew Andrea wanted to know what Nancy's

      plans for tonight were. Nancy just didn't feel

      comfortable giving away any information about the

      investigation. She hoped Joyce's files would give her

      the evidence she needed to identify the spy, and to get

      to the bottom of the instant-win mystery. More than

      anything, she hoped they would be able to prove that

      Andrea was telling them the truth.

      “I'll let you pack.” Andrea excused herself. “I'm

      going to take a cab to pick up the van. I guess I'll be

      paying for it with more money I don't have. I'll see you

      later.”

      “Hopefully, she will have that money the next time I

      see her,” Nancy said after Andrea had left.

      “I'm keeping my fingers crossed,” Bess said.

      George tossed a pile of clothes in Bess's direction.

      “If we're going to leave today, you'd better start

      packing. It might take several hours.”

      Bess dragged both her suitcases out of the closet.

      “Let's not forget, I'm the one who brought the blazer.

      It came in handy, didn't it?”

      “I see it's the only thing actually left on a hanger. I

      guess that's because Nancy's the one who took care of

      it.”

      “Do you think you could argue quietly?” Nancy

      teased them. “I need to make a phone call.”

      While Bess and George packed, Nancy phoned the

      news station that had aired the instant-win story. She

     


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