Danger on Parade by Carolyn Keene Page B

obviously uncomfortable being in the same room as Greg. Greg looked a little nervous himself. He glanced at Bess out of the corner of his eye from time to time, but he wouldn’t look at her directly.
    â€œUm, excuse me. I think I’ll go help out with the balloons.” Bess stood up abruptly and hurried from the office.
    Jill stared after her, then turned to Nancy. “I know you think I’ve been hard on Bess, but I think it would be a good idea if she stays away from all the parade sites from now on,” Jill said. “That way no one can suspect her of anything else that might happen.”
    â€œI agree,” Neil said. “There have been too many coincidences to take any chances.”
    Nancy sat in silence. How was she supposed to tell her best friend that she wasn’t wanted? Jill and Neil were putting her in an awkward position.
    â€œI’ll take her out tonight,” Greg volunteered.
    Nancy looked at the actor in surprise. Was this the same guy who had told Bess he couldn’t seeher anymore? Why was he suddenly changing his mind?
    Greg must have seen the confusion on her face. He stepped forward and said, “Nancy, I really like Bess. It’s just that I have an image to keep up. Sometimes it’s hard to follow your heart when everyone else is telling you it’s a bad idea.”
    Greg glanced at Jill and Neil. “I just can’t believe Bess would do any of the things she’s being blamed for,” he went on. “This is probably the last night I can see her here, and I want us to leave as friends. So I’m not going to listen to anyone but myself tonight.”
    â€œBess will be really glad to hear that,” Nancy said, smiling warmly at Greg. Whatever else happened, Bess would know that he believed in her, and Nancy knew how much that meant to her friend.
    Neil and Jill exchanged a long look. Finally, Neil said, “If you really feel that way, I have passes to the Dot Matrix dance club tonight. Just stop by my apartment on your way. It’s eighty-eight East Eighty-eighth Street, number eight D.”
    â€œNo need to write that down,” Greg said with a laugh. “I’ll just go to the building with all the eights on it.” Turning to Nancy, he asked, “Do you want to come with us tonight?”
    â€œNo, thanks,” she said. “I’m going to keep an eye on the final preparations at the museum. I figure it’s the last chance anyone has to ruin theparade, so I want to be there. Maybe this time, we’ll catch this criminal in the act.”
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    â€œI really need a break.” Jill’s assistant Dan wiped his brow and joined Nancy on a bench in one of the huge rooms in the Museum of Natural History.
    â€œI know what you mean,” Nancy agreed, looking up from the thick computer printout that Jill had gotten from Mitchell’s security. She had brought as much of the printout as she could carry in her shoulder bag and had taken a break from the preparations to study it. “This place has been a madhouse for hours. There’s so much going on, both inside and outside, it’s hard to believe that it’s three in the morning.”
    Nancy had arrived at the museum around six, after spending the afternoon helping Bess shop for an outfit to wear on her date with Greg. For several hours the huge space had been filled with curious spectators and camera crews who had entered through large metal doors that opened to the outdoors. Jill had explained that these rooms were usually used to work on the skeletons of large dinosaurs that were part of the museum’s collection. Now they were filled with people doing last-minute work on balloons and floats for the Mitchell’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
    So far, Nancy had seen over twenty-five floats and nine large helium balloons. Some were outdoorson West Eighty-first Street and others were inside the museum. Bonnie, Dan, Jill,