Nobody's Business Read Online Free Page A

penlight over the hanging form, from the bottom up.
    The person wore no shoes, just white sweat socks and a pair of old, baggy jeans tied tightly around the waist with a rope. Aiming the beam higher, Nancy saw that the torso was covered by a plain gray sweatshirt tucked into the jeans.
    Taking a deep breath, she aimed the light at the person’s face.
    â€œIt’s a dummy!” Ned exclaimed as the penlight illuminated a cloth bag filled with soft stuffing.
    Nancy felt her whole body slump with relief. “Somebody find a light switch,” she said.
    A few seconds later some bare bulbs in an overhead fixture went on, casting eerie shadows against the walls. Ned stood by a light switch at the foot of one of the sweeping staircases. Near him Bess was leaning against a ladder, staring in horror at the life-size hanging dummy.
    â€œThat beam’s too high for someone to reach without a ladder,” Nancy pointed out. “Bess, don’t move or touch the ladder with your hands. I want to check for fingerprints.”
    Bess carefully lifted her elbow off the ladder, and Nancy took a closer look. “Hmm, it looks like someone wiped it clean,” Nancy said. “There’s not a speck on it, but everything else is covered with sawdust.”
    She cast her eyes downward. “All these footprints are too scuffed to see clearly,” she added, frowning. “Whoever hung the dummy went to extra trouble not to leave fingerprints or footprints.”
    â€œI don’t get it,” Ned commented, coming over to the ladder. “If there is a practical joker working here, why would they do something like this? It’s not funny at all.”
    Nancy thought for a moment. “I don’t think the person is trying to be funny,” she said. “I think they’re trying to scare us, or Andrew, or someone else.”
    â€œBut why?” Bess wondered aloud. “What could they possibly gain by it?”
    â€œGood question,” Nancy said. “Let’s search the rest of the inn to see if we can figure out an answer.”
    â€œWhat are we looking for?” Bess asked.
    â€œJust keep an eye out for any tools or anything that looks strange,” Nancy told her. “But first let’s cut this thing down so it won’t scare anybody else.”
    After the dummy had been laid to rest on the dusty floor, Nancy, Ned, and Bess examined the front and back doors. “No sign of forced entry,” Nancy observed. “The intruder had to have a key.”
    Next the three teens searched the downstairs rooms, offices, and hallways. They didn’t see anything unusual, or find any of the missing tools, but it was hard to see much in the dim light of the few work lights. A search of the upstairs bedrooms proved equally fruitless.
    â€œThe only place we haven’t checked is the basement,” Nancy said when they returned to the lobby.
    â€œI think it’s still locked,” Ned told her, “and Andrew has the only key. He doesn’t want anyone going down there unsupervised because the stairs are rickety and it’s too filled with junk to walk around in.”
    â€œLet’s try it, anyway,” Nancy suggested. “I want to be sure.”
    Pulling back one of the white drop clothshanging beneath the left staircase, Ned revealed a solid oak door with a rusted knob. He turned the knob and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge.
    â€œOh, well,” Nancy said. “We can check again tomorrow, as soon as it’s light.”
    â€œGood idea,” Bess agreed. “Now let’s get out of this spooky place before we run into Rosalie Murray’s ghost!”
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    â€œAnd that’s when we found this,” Nancy told Andrew early the next morning, holding up the dummy in the noose to show him. She, Ned, and Bess had arrived before eight so they could talk to Andrew before the Teen Works crew arrived.
    â€œIt was hanging