Melba frowned. “I’m not sure if there was anything worth money. I don’t understand all the stuff that goes on with collecting books the way Carrie did. She did tell me a lot of her books were worth a bunch because of their condition. I guess she meant they were in real good shape. She talked about dust jackets sometimes.”

I recalled Carrie Taylor’s parting words the final time I saw her. She claimed she had items in her collection that Gordon Betts didn’t. I wondered now whether she meant documents in her files rather than specific copies of Electra Cartwright’s books. Maybe a rare copy of The Mystery at Spellwood Mansion didn’t enter into the motive for murder at all.

“Do you have any idea what kind of documents Mrs. Taylor had in her files?” Kanesha asked. “Did she ever show you what was in them?”

“She pulled them out a few times and leafed through them with me.” Melba shrugged. “Carrie was a dear friend, but I wasn’t all that crazy about Mrs. Cartwright and her books the way Carrie was. I would listen to her talk about all that stuff, because sometimes you have to let your friends go on and on about things you’re not really interested in, right?”

I nodded. Kanesha remained impassive.

Melba still hadn’t answered the critical question. I decided to risk asking it again, hoping that she would finally get to the point.

“What kind of documents did she have in those files?”

Kanesha flashed me a sour look but turned quickly back to stare at Melba.

This time Melba evidently understood the urgency of the question. “She had folders of newspaper clippings, I remember. She showed some of them to me. One that I recollect in particular was when Mrs. Cartwright went to Hollywood. There was talk about making a movie out of her Veronica Thane character, but I don’t think anything came of it.” Melba paused as if trying to recall more. “Carrie said they ended up making movies of Nancy Drew instead, and so Veronica didn’t make it to the big screen. There were articles, though, with photos of Mrs. Cartwright meeting with a producer. I think there was even one with an actress that they were lining up to play the lead.”

This was all news to me. I had no idea that Veronica Thane had ever been considered for the movies. I had seen the four movies Bonita Granville made, playing Nancy Drew. While they were entertaining, the Nancy of the films was not my Nancy. I wondered what producers would have made of Veronica’s character.

“Do you remember who the actress was?” I asked.

Kanesha glared at me, and I realized I could be leading Melba away from the point again.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said hastily. “I’ll look it up later. What else was in the files besides newspaper clippings?”