Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Six and a Half Keys
Chapter Eight
Nancy ran across the courtyard with her arms spread wide, pretending to be an airplane. She skidded to a sudden stop, outside of a large green cart.
"PUPPET SHOW!" she cried. "Pragueoslovakia is the coolest country I've ever been to!"
Sadly, the sign on the cart said the show would not do any performances that day. Nancy booed loudly.
"Well, since I can't see the awesome puppet show, I might as well complete my investigation for the day," Nancy sad to herself. "I've only got one suspect left."
She picked up her phone and called Hans Feiersinger.
"Hello, Mr. Hans Far Singer," Nancy said. "Are you actually a singer, or is that your stage name?"
"Who is this?" Hans asked.
"I'm Nancy Drew, and since you live in Germany, maybe you know me from the time I stopped a monster rampage at Castle Finster," Nancy said.
"Where? Hans asked.
Nancy growled. So, Renate had lied about telling Nancy's story to everyone in Germany! That was even worse than Renate eating all the Black Forest Cake, without leaving any for Nancy.
"It's not important," Nancy said. "I'm calling on behalf of Adela Czerna. Her necklace was stolen after she sent it to your company. What sort of security measures do you have in place? Fake security cameras, perhaps?"
"Our facility here is very secure," Hans said. "We catalogue all jewels on DEGAS when we receive them, and we double-check all jewels against DEGAS before removing them."
"Who's Degas? A friend of yours?" Nancy asked.
"DEGAS stands for the Digital Expert Gem Authentication System," Hans explained. "It is the most sophisticated system we have for cataloguing and tracking jewels."
"I see," Nancy said. "Any chance I could get a copy of Adela's DEGAS file?"
"I do not share classified material with total strangers, Miss...what was your name, again?"
"Shannon," Nancy said. "Deirdre Shannon."
"Well, Miss Shannon, I do not appreciate your intrusive questions," Hans said. "If Adela's gems were stolen, I assure you that SecondShine was not responsible. If you have anything else to say, you can talk to my lawyer!"
"Is your lawyer named Degas?" Nancy asked, but it was too late. Hans had already hung up.
"He was pretty defensive," Nancy said. "I wonder if that's because he's hiding something." She wasn't sure if Hans was a legitimate suspect, or if he was one of those fakeout suspects who appear once and then never get seen again.