"Hello there," Nancy said casually . She offered Eleanor a helping hand, and the woman emerged from the closet . "Doing a little spring cleaning ?"

"I'm ---- I'm afraid you've caught me snooping," Eleanor confessed, her face flushing . "I'm sorry . You see, I happened to be on my way to speak to my brother about a very urgent matter, and, well, I heard you two talking in there, and Charles was being so loud, I couldn't help overhearing . . . . ."

"And what he was saying had a lot to do with why you wanted to speak with him, am I right ?" Nancy guessed, guiding Eleanor out into the hallway .

"Why, yes !" Eleanor gasped . "How did you know ?"

"I've been doing a little snooping around myself," Nancy admitted . "Something about Nila's past, wasn't it ?"

"Yes," Eleanor said, nodding conspiratorially . "You see, a couple of days ago someone showed me a newspaper article from the Stockton Gazette . It was all about how Nila had stolen money from her previous employer ."

"Who was it who showed you the article ?" Nancy asked pointedly .

Eleanor seemed to shrink back into herself . "Oh ---- I'm not sure I should say . No, I don't think that would be right . I wouldn't want to get anyone else into trouble . Charles is angry enough as it is ."

"You've got that right," Nancy agreed .

"But you see, I wanted very much to tell Charles about it," Eleanor explained . "Because it might affect his future, too, you see ."

"And yours as well," Nancy pointed out .

"Yes, I suppose so . At any rate, Nila must have faked her letter of recommendation from her previous employer's children, because they would never have written one for a person who had stolen from them . So, of course, Nila came here under false pretenses ! And I felt it was my duty to inform Charles about her ."

"Why not just show him the article ?" Nancy asked .

"Well, I don't have it," Eleanor admitted . "And I'm not sure where it is just now . But it will be easy enough for Charles to check into it himself . Or to ask Nila about, although I'm sure she'll deny everything . But you see, the article had her picture in it and everything . So denying it won't do her any good ."

"Hmmm . . . I'd like to see that article myself," Nancy said . "Do you think you could find it and show it to me later today ?"

"I could try," Eleanor said with a weak smile . "As for Charles," she added, her face pale, "perhaps now it is not the best time to talk with him about it . He seems so agitated . I don't want to risk his health in any way . Perhaps later, if I can find the article, you could show it to him ?"

"We'll see," Nancy said . "Why don't you go find it first ? Then we'll discuss who shows it to him ."

Eleanor went off quickly, obviously grateful to escape . Nancy went back downstairs, with the new development weighing heavily on her mind . In spite of all their faults, could Pierce's family be right about Nila ?

Nancy left the house and headed out to Bess's car . As she was getting behind the wheel, she heard someone call her name . Nancy rolled down the window and saw Karen trotting over to her, a tennis racket in her hand .

"Hi !" she greeted Nancy cheerfully . "How are things going ?"

Nancy gave her a long look . "How do you mean that, exactly ?" she asked .

"Oh . I forgot," Karen said . "You don't know that I know ---- I mean, about your being a detective . Eleanor couldn't stop blabbing about it to everyone after you left the party the other night ."

"I see," Nancy said . "Hang on a sec, will you ?"

Karen stepped back so Nancy could open the car door and get out . "Got a minute ?" Nancy asked .

"Sure," Karen said . "I was just playing tennis with Jack . He took the day off form work . He's got the kind of job where he can make his own hours ."

"I see," Nancy said, arching an eyebrow .

Catching the subtle change in Nancy's expression, Karen became suspicious . "What is it ?" she asked . "What were you thinking just then ?"

"Me ?" Nancy responded . "Oh, nothing ."

"Please," Karen said, frowning . "I hate it when people aren't honest with me ."

"Aren't people normally honest with you ?" Nancy asked cautiously .

Karen sighed uncomfortably . "You know something about Jack, don't you ?" she asked .

"What makes you say that ?" Nancy wondered .

"When I said he makes his own hours . . . . Look, just tell me, okay ? If you know something about Jack that I should know, let me have it, right now ."

Nancy bit her lip . "Well, if you must know, I did find something out . I spotted him at a place that turned out to be an illegal betting parlor ."

Karen gasped . "When was this ?" she demanded .

"This morning," Nancy replied . "He had a lot of cash on him . I'm sorry to be the one to tell you .

Karen was clearly steaming mad . "I knew there was something going on," she muttered under her breath . "I've been blind ---- totally blind !"

"Well, now, wait," Nancy cautioned . "Maybe we're jumping to conclusions here . . ."

"No way," Karen interjected . "It all makes too much sense . All the money that disappeared those months when we had the restaurant . I'll kill him, I swear I will . To think I believed all his lame excuses . I've been a total fool !"

"Maybe this is a problem you two can work out," Nancy said in a soothing tone, trying to calm Karen .

The attempt was useless . "I'm going to wrap this tennis racket around his scheming head !" she swore . "When I think of how much I've trusted him ----"

"Karen, it's not my intention to cause trouble between you two," Nancy said . "The only reason I was tracking your husband was because someone may be trying to hurt Nila ---- and someone definitely tried to hurt me ."

Suddenly Karen turned her wrath on Nancy . "You don't know what you're talking about," she screamed, her eyes welling up with tears . "Just get out of here ! Do you hear ? Get out ! And don't come back !"

Feeling bad that she'd upset Karen so much, Nancy got into her car . As she drove down the driveway, she saw in her rearview mirror that Jack was coming up the path toward Karen, tennis racket in hand . He put an arm on her shoulder, only to have her shake it off . The last thing Nancy saw before she turned onto the main road was Karen slamming her tennis racket onto the ground .

Without meaning to, Nancy had created a very real problem for that couple, and she definitely made at least two of her suspects furious with her .

Maybe some good would come out of it, though ---- maybe something would come to the surface . Nancy sure hoped so ---- because even if Jack wasn't the one who'd tried to kill her before, he'd sure want to now .
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