The Case of the Artful Crime by Carolyn Keene Page A

into the elevator and pulled Nancy with her.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Nancy asked.
    â€œApartment Eleven C. That’s Loreen’s, and the door is open,” Bess whispered.
    Nancy held the elevator door open while she considered her next move. “Let’s go check it out. If she’s home, I’ll think of some reason for us to be here. I’ll say I want to be friends or something like that.”
    â€œOh, I’m sure she’d really love that,” Bess said, reluctantly following Nancy into the hall.
    Cautiously, Nancy pushed open the door. “Hello,” she called in.
    Bess peeked in behind Nancy and gasped. There was a man inside the apartment! He was coming out of a doorway off the narrow front hall. He was dressed in coveralls and held a toolbox.
    â€œSorry to scare you,” he told the girls. “Your sink is fixed. I’ll give the spare key to the super on the way out.”
    â€œGreat. Thanks a lot,” Nancy said, closing the door behind the plumber.
    â€œWhat a lucky break,” Bess commented.
    â€œI’ll say,” Nancy agreed. “Bess, you keep an eyeout through the peephole on the door. I want to do some snooping.”
    Loreen’s apartment was small and neat. Nancy found mail scattered on one table. She read through an opened phone bill on the top. Loreen’s longdistance bill totaled over a hundred dollars. Most of the calls were to Arizona.
    Next Nancy played Loreen’s phone answering machine. One call was from her mother. The second call was more interesting.
    â€œLoreen, this is Edward from Le St. Tropez. Please call me.”
    Nancy pressed the Save button, and the tape rewound. Loreen would never know anyone else had heard her messages.
    Perching on the arm of a beige loveseat, Nancy thought about this latest clue. Was Loreen helping Le St. Tropez sabotage their competition, the Arizona House? Was she doing it to get back at Shawn for breaking their engagement? For money? Or was she simply looking for another job? And how did the paintings figure into the equation? They didn’t. Not yet, anyway.
    â€œNancy! Loreen’s coming!” Bess whispered urgently.
    Nancy jumped up and looked around. “The fire escape,” she told Bess. “Hurry!”
    Nancy and Bess opened the back window, which adjoined the fire escape, and slipped out.
    â€œClimb down,” Nancy urged Bess.
    Bess moaned. “This makes me very nervous.”
    â€œBess, just get to the next floor so she doesn’t see us,” Nancy said.
    Casting a worried glance over her shoulder, Bess lowered herself down the metal ladder. Just as Nancy was about to follow, Loreen came through the door. Nancy plastered herself to the brick wall of the building. She waited a few moments, then peeked in through the window. She was in time to see the back of Loreen’s leg as she stepped into the bathroom. Nancy hurried down the fire escape and joined Bess on the lower landing.
    â€œIt’s a long way down,” Bess fretted.
    â€œHang on tight and keep going,” Nancy said.
    After a long climb, Nancy and Bess reached the bottom landing.
    â€œHow do I let you talk me into these things?” Bess said as she hung from the drop bar at the bottom of the escape.
    Nancy had already jumped to the ground. She yanked down the bottom ladder so that Bess was able to climb all the way to the pavement.
    â€œSee? That wasn’t so bad,” Nancy said, brushing herself off as they made their way back to her car.
    â€œRight. What’s eleven floors of sheer terror? Nothing!” Bess said dryly.
    Nancy dropped Bess off at her house, then headed home. For once, she was glad her father’s car wasn’t in the driveway. He wouldn’t be happy if he knew she hadn’t been in bed all day.
    When Nancy pushed open the front door, she immediately spotted a long white envelope lying on the front hall carpet. It looked as if someone had