| For Love Or Money | ✔︎

Chapter Five

Nancy hung up the phone, perplexed. "It looks like Nila faked the poisoning incident," she told Bess. "I guess this means she could have faked the threatening letter, too."

"So are you still going to investigate ?" Bess asked tentatively.

"You'd better believe that," Nancy assured her. "Mr. Pierce wanted me to check out his family. If his fiancée is trying to cheat them out of their inheritance, I'm going to find out and tell Mr. Pierce about it."

"Excellent !" Bess said enthusiastically. "So I still get to go over there with you ?"

"Sure," Nancy told her. "There's a lot to check out, and I could use your help investigating. But not this time, okay ?"

"What ?" Bess asked, startled by Nancy's bolting out of her chair. "Hey, where are you going ? Don't go without me."

"Have to this time, Bess," Nancy said at the door. "I can't just bring you with me without telling Pierce about you first. Give me a chance to straighten things out and get organized. Don't worry, you'll get to see the place."

"And meet your new romance," Bess reminded her.

"Quit it, Bess," Nancy said. "Philip Pierce is simply one of the subjects of my investigation, okay ?"

"Whatever you say, Drew," Bess said dryly. "But, bitch, you can't fool me. I heard the catch in your voice when you described him. Just remember to ask if he's got a friend."

Bess popped the rest of the cheese sandwich into her mouth and winked at Nancy. "When opportunity knocks, Nan," she said, "you've got to answer the door."

* * * * *

When she arrived at the Pierce mansion, Nancy decided that instead of going straight to the front door and ringing the bell, she'd walk around to the rear of the house. She wanted to see the French doors the intruder had used. Perhaps he'd left a footprint or some other clue to his identity.

But as she rounded the corner of the house, she saw something that aroused her curiosity even more. Pierce's sister-in-law, Eleanor, was moving toward a row of garbage cans, holding a bag in her hands and looking around furtively as if she were afraid someone would spot her.

Nancy watched as Eleanor lifted the lid of one of the cans, dropped the bag inside, and hurriedly slammed the lid back down. With another furtive glance around, Eleanor headed back to the house.

When the woman was safely inside, Nancy went over to the trash can and opened the lid. The bag inside had a large skull on it. " 'Rat Poison,'" Nancy read out loud. " 'Keep out of reach of children and pets.' "

Nancy knew that rat poison might reasonably be kept around the mansion, but she had to wonder why Eleanor was so secretive about throwing it away.

Just then Cecilia came around the corner of the house. "Oh. Hello," she said, giving Nan a quick smile.

"Hello, Cecilia," Nancy said.

"Did you leave something behind last night ? Is that why you're here ?" Cecilia asked. She had to have heard Pierce telling Eleanor the night before that Nancy was a detective, but she wasn't letting on that she knew.

"Er, no," Nancy said. "Actually, I came by to see how Nila was doing. Has she recovered from her sudden illness last night ?"

"She's all right," Cecilia said, frowning. "They brought her back around midnight. She looked just fine to me."

"Is she feeling better then ?" Nancy asked.