No Laughing Matter by Carolyn Keene Page A

beginning! He had told Nancy that he’d approached Matt, but now she had a hunch that it wasn’t because he wanted to help Matt. It was because he wanted to make sure that Matt went to jail.
    Nancy frowned. If Keith was involved in the gambling operation, there was a good chance thatJohnny was, too. She didn’t know if anyone in the casino could confirm her hunch, but she had to try.
    Carefully avoiding the roulette table, she slipped off her jacket, left it at the coat room near the door, and tried to blend into the crowd. She only had a couple of minutes before her break was over and she had to be back at Over the Rainbow.
    As a tuxedoed waiter passed, Nancy stopped him. “Excuse me, I was looking for the man who’s in charge. Do you know where I can find him?”
    â€œI would help you out,” the waiter responded, “but I don’t know who he is myself.”
    â€œWhose party is this?” Nancy inquired.
    â€œYou don’t know?” the waiter asked a little suspiciously.
    â€œI came with friends,” Nancy answered quickly. She thanked him and turned away.
    For the next few minutes she spoke to people at random, trying to find out who ran the casino, but no one seemed to know. Everyone was so caught up in gambling that they didn’t care who ran the show.
    After she had finished speaking to one woman, Nancy cast her eyes around the room to find Keith O’Brien again. He was at one of the blackjack tables now, and all of his attention seemed to be focused on the game.
    Nancy stepped over to the roulette wheel andapproached a dark-haired woman standing off to one side. “This place does a great business,” Nancy said, smiling at the woman.
    â€œYou bet,” the woman said, her eye on the spinning wheel.
    â€œI wanted to tell the owner how much fun I was having,” Nancy said. “Do you know where I can find him?”
    The woman stared at Nancy blankly. “Uh, no.”
    Nancy didn’t know if the woman was being cagey, or if she was just preoccupied with the roulette wheel. “Were you invited here by Johnny?” Nancy pressed.
    The woman seemed to think that a business associate of her husband’s had invited them, but she wasn’t sure of his name.
    Nancy asked a few more leading questions, trying to see if the person might be Tony, or Johnny, or even Peter Sands, but she didn’t get any answers. She wasn’t going to get very far here, Nancy realized. Whoever ran the gambling casino was keeping a pretty low profile. Besides, she had to get back to Over the Rainbow.
    After picking up her jacket, Nancy walked casually to the door. She smiled at the doorman as she left, then started down the hall toward the stairs.
    All at once Nancy stopped cold. Keith O’Brien was standing at the far end of the hall by the stairs! He was deep in conversation with a man ina gray suit. She couldn’t possibly get by him without being recognized.
    Instinctively, Nancy ducked into the first doorway to her right. She pretended to fumble for something in her coat pocket.
    Keith was shaking the man’s hand now. She had to make a move! Nancy tried turning the knob of the door. To her amazement, it opened. Quickly she stepped in and closed the door behind her.
    For a moment she just stood there, breathing in huge gulps of air. Had Keith seen her? Nancy stood stock-still, listening.
    Nothing. Keith had probably returned to the casino, but Nancy couldn’t take the chance of running into him, so she decided to wait a few minutes.
    She had no idea where she was. The room was so dark that she couldn’t see a thing. It was musty and gave the impression that no one had been in there for a long time. Feeling along one wall, she reached out with her other hand and touched another wall. This was some sort of hallway. She inched forward, keeping one hand on the wall.
    Suddenly Nancy plunged forward as her foot shot out into space. She grabbed