010 Buried Secrets

by Carolyn Keene

  Next time? Nancy wondered after Brenda had hung up. Another detective duel with Brenda Carlton? Never.

  Even though Nancy knew she’d have another case, she was sure there’d never be another one like this. Spread out in front of her on the kitchen table were newspapers from the past two days, each one filled with stories about the Harrington case.

  Mayor Abbott and his assistant were both in jail, awaiting their trials. Todd was up to his ears in interviews about his father and Mayor Abbott, but he was being charmingly honest about the whole thing, and Nancy figured most people wouldn’t blame him for what his father had been.

  The hardest part had been telling Hannah about Charles Ogden. Nancy had dreaded it, but when she finally told her, Hannah was very calm. “I’m lucky, in a way,” she’d said. “If things had worked out and I’d married Charlie, I probably would have had a miserable life. I would never have met my husband—or come to work for your family.” She smiled at Nancy. “And look at the wonderful life I’ve had.”

  Nancy smiled, too, remembering what Hannah had said. Then, glancing at her watch, she frowned. She had to go. Ned wanted her to meet him in the park by the river. It was time they had that talk, he’d said.

  Before going, Nancy stopped in front of the hall mirror. Her outfit—a long flowered skirt and a green scoop-neck cotton sweater—was one of her favorites. Her hair smelled lemony and her fingernails were freshly polished. She smiled and nodded at her reflection. “If you’re going to get dumped,” she told herself, “at least you can look good.”

  Ned was waiting for her when she got to the park. When he saw her, he got up from the bench and walked toward her, smiling and brushing his brown hair back. “Hi,” he said, taking her hand. “You look terrific.”

  “Thanks.” Nancy smiled nervously and then decided to get it over with. “Well? What’s this serious talk about?”

  “Us.” Still holding her hand, Ned led her to a bench, and they sat down.

  “I figured that,” Nancy said. “The other night, right before Hannah came running out of the house, you started to say something. You said, ‘This is really hard…’ Why don’t you finish the sentence now?”

  “I remember,” Ned said. “I’ve been thinking about us all the time I’ve been home. At first, I just wasn’t sure whether we ought to stay together. But the more I saw you, the more I realized I wanted to be with you. And it was hard, because you were so busy with the case and everything. I even worried about asking you out—I didn’t want it to seem as though I was trying to take you away from your job.”

  “It’s probably always going to be that way, Ned,” Nancy told him.

  “I know, and that’s okay,” Ned said. “It was just hard, because all I wanted to do was put my arms around you. That’s still all I want to do.”

  Sighing in relief, Nancy grinned at him. “So who’s stopping you now?” she asked.

  Grinning back, Ned wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.

  “By the way,” Nancy whispered, “I never did ask you why you came to Harrington House that day.”

  Ned laughed softly. “I came to tell you that I love you,” he said.

  Just before they kissed, Nancy thought that maybe she hadn’t lost this touch, either.