Make No Mistake Read Free Page A

about the mustard.
    Carson Drew followed her gaze. “A really clever impostor would know all about the person he’s pretending to be,” he replied, sounding thoughtful. “I honestly don’t know what to think about him, Nancy. If you asked me whether that guy is Matt Glover or a con man, I couldn’t give you an answer. Not yet.”
    Nancy took a bite of her pasta salad. “I guess the important thing is not to be biased either way.”
    â€œOne thing’s sure—he knows the house inside and out. When he first came here today, Rosemary said she asked him to get two trays for her from the second pantry. He got them in record time—not a false move.”
    Nancy thought of the huge kitchen with its many storage rooms and pantries in the back hall. It wouldn’t be easy for a stranger to find the second pantry so quickly—unless he’d studied a blueprint of Glover’s Corners.
    â€œWhat’s this about false moves?” George asked, coming up to Nancy and her father.
    â€œWe were just talking about Matt, and how he hasn’t made any yet,” Nancy told her.
    â€œIf he’s an impostor, you mean,” George added. “Well, so far he has two definite fans.”
    â€œYou don’t have to tell me who one of themis,” Nancy said with a laugh, nodding toward Bess. “Who’s the other?”
    â€œMrs. Adams. I just heard her say something like, ’Maybe dreams do come true.’ ”
    â€œShe’d know better than anyone,” Carson Drew commented. Putting his arm around Nancy’s shoulders, he said, “I’m worn out. You girls won’t mind if I leave early, will you?”
    â€œPoor Dad,” Nancy said. “Settling Mr. Glover’s estate has been a lot of extra work for you, hasn’t it? Here, I’ll get your coat.”
    Out in the hall, Nancy paused to glance out the windows on either side of the front door. The day appeared to be colder and grayer than ever, and the cars lining the winding drive were covered with a frozen mist.
    Shivering slightly, she went to the front hall closet and pulled her father’s heavy overcoat from its hanger. She was just slinging it over one arm when a noise behind her made her pause.
    Nancy swiveled around and saw someone emerge from the shadows near the front door. She recognized Tony Giralda’s lean, wiry form as he strode toward her.
    â€œSo, you’ve been taken in by him, too,” he said. Nancy saw that he had brown eyes, and there was a look of intense anger in them. In fact, it seemed to Nancy that his whole body was tense with a kind of nervous energy.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Nancy asked him.
    â€œYou’re some kind of detective, right?” heasked, but his angry voice made it sound like an accusation.
    Nancy nodded.
    Giralda’s hands balled into fists at his sides. “I knew Matt Glover,” he said, drawing the words out. “I knew him like my own brother. And that guy’s not him.”

Chapter

Three
    H OW CAN YOU TELL ?” Nancy asked Tony. “What kind of proof do you—”
    â€œI’ve got to go,” he said suddenly. “If you want to talk, you can find me at my office. Giralda’s Environmental Action.”
    â€œTomorrow?” Nancy asked immediately. If Tony Giralda had any proof that the man inside wasn’t Matt Glover, she wanted to know what it was as soon as possible.
    He nodded. “Hours are noon until eight. I’ll be there all afternoon.”
    When Nancy went back into the library with her father’s coat, Carson Drew was nowhere in sight. George was just putting her empty plate with some others at one end of the long table.
    â€œDid you see where my dad went?” Nancy asked, going over to her.
    George pointed toward a doorway at the rear of the dining room, which Nancy knew led to the kitchen. “He went back there with Mrs. Adams.”
    The two