Strangers on a Train (Nancy Drew Diaries #2)(12)

But that drawer was empty too. I checked the other drawers— nothing in any of them. In fact, the only clothes in my room were the ones I’d left in the little built-in hamper near the door.

I stepped outside. The others had disappeared into their own rooms by then, and Max was whistling a cheery tune as he swept the floor.

“Hey, Max,” I said. "Do you know what happened to my clean clothes?”

"You mean the ones I sent out for laundering this morning?” he asked brightly. "They should be back first thing tomorrow.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the dirty clothes spilling out of my open hamper. "Which ones did you send out?” I asked. “Because my hamper’s still full.”

"I know.” Max shrugged and grinned. "You left me a note right on the hamper, remember?”

"A note?” It had been a very long day since that early wake-up call, and my mind felt sluggish, unable to deal with this new wrinkle. “What note?”

"The one where you said you’d stuck your clean clothes in the hamper and the dirty ones in the drawers, so I should be sure to send out the right ones.” Max grinned and winked. “Most guests do it the other way around, but I don’t like to judge.”

I put a hand to my forehead. “You sent all the clothes in the drawers out to be washed?”

"Yes.” Max’s smile faded slightly. "Isn’t that what you meant by the note?”

“What note?” I said again. "Can I see it?”

"I threw it away.” He shrugged. “Why? Is there a problem? I’m sorry if I misunderstood. . .

My mind spun, still refusing to take this in. I’d been pretty tired that morning, but I knew I hadn’t left Max any notes about my laundry. That meant that one of two things was happening here. One of the possibilities was that Max was lying to me—that there was no note. So he’d either sent out the wrong laundry by mistake, or worse yet, on purpose. Was this just another innocent error along with that messed-up wake-up call? Or should he be a suspect? My mind shot from the laundry to the wake-up call to the note in my luggage, trying to work out whether Max could be the accomplice I was looking for.

The other possibility was even more disturbing. Maybe the note was real—which would mean someone had sneaked into our suite and planted it on my laundry hamper. Who would do something so petty and weird? Somehow it didn’t fit in with the other incidents we were investigating.

"I’m so sorry, Miss Drew.” Max looked stricken now as he realized how upset I was. “Did I do something wrong?”

His voice had risen, both in pitch and volume. Bess stuck her head out of her room. "Is everything okay?” she asked.

"Not exactly ...” I quickly outlined the problem, with Max interrupting every few lines to apologize. He also offered to run down to the shipboard shops and pick me up something to wear at his expense.

But Bess shook her head. "It’s okay,” she told both of us. "I’ve got plenty of clothes. Come on in, Nancy—you can borrow something of mine.”

I smiled weakly. "Thanks,” I said, following her into her room. "Sometimes it’s nice having a friend who’s a fashion plate.”





******





The following day I awoke feeling rested and ready for anything thanks to a nice dinner (in one of Bess’s dresses) and a full night’s sleep (in a T-shirt and sweatpants borrowed from George). My doubly clean laundry was back by the time I got up, plus Max had whisked off the stuff from the hamper, promising to get it washed quickly.

The butler was acting so apologetic about the laundry mix-up that I was starting to doubt my suspicions of him from the night before. I’d had a few minutes to discuss those suspicions with Bess in hurried whispers while she was finding me something to wear, and she’d seemed pretty dubious too. Still, we’d agreed that it was worth adding Max to the suspect list. Why not? It wasn’t as if we were any closer to solving this thing.

After a leisurely breakfast, we joined most of the rest of the passengers on the upper decks. The ship was cruising through Glacier Bay today, and we were all expecting some spectacular views.

The scenery didn’t disappoint. Soon everyone was oohing and aahing over the jagged icy-blue-and-white glaciers surrounding us, framed by the majestic snowcapped mountains rising in the distance. I even forgot about the case for a while. Then I noticed Wendy wandering past, clutching her camera and her laptop, and it all came crashing back. I bit my lip, wishing I could steal a few minutes to discuss my latest thoughts with my friends. But I couldn’t; not with Alan right there.

“Should we try the next deck down?” he asked, leaning over the rail to snap another photo. “There might be better views down there.”

“Doubtful,” George said. "If you’re bored, just say so, dude.”

"I’m not bored,” Alan answered quickly. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I just don’t want to miss anything.”

"Tobias!” an irritated voice called out from nearby, distracting me from whatever George said next. "Settle down, son. Let’s not bother the other passengers.”

Glancing that way, I saw Tobias swinging on a railing. His mother was snapping pictures nearby, while his father glared irritably at the boy.