Hey everyone! So I finally managed to grab some time in between piles of homework and my interning job, but it wasn't enough to think about my other writer's blocked-stories so...ta-da! Here's a new one :) This is my version of a follow up to NDF#8 Two Points To Murder. I've added the last scene of that book below in italics in case you haven't read it. Well, hope you enjoy and please, please, please review!
nickersoncrazy :)
P/S: This story has nothing to do with False Moves. Again, review! Please!
He ran his fingers through his hair. "Nancy, I've been thinking about it for the last few days, and…well, I think it's time for us to start seeing other people."
The words hit Nancy like a slap. "N-Ned…you don't mean that – "
"Yes, I do. I can't live with the way things are between us any longer. You're changing, Nancy. You don't trust people anymore…not even me."
"That's not true!"
"Then what about Mike? When I told you he was okay, why didn't you believe me?"
Once again there was nothing she could say. She hadn't believed him. But did she have to pay for it by losing Ned?
"Ned, I love you," she whispered. "Please don't leave me."
"I'm sorry, Nancy. My mind's made up. We can still be friends, I guess. Or at least we can try to be."
"Ned, no!"
"Goodbye, Nancy. And good luck with your next case, whatever it is."
With that he turned and walked away. Nancy watched him disappear down a snowy path, her mouth hanging open. This couldn't be happening! How could they break up after all this time?
A minute later, he was out of sight. He didn't come back, either. Nancy desperately wanted to see his face one more time, to plead with him to change his mind. But she wasn't going to get that chance, she knew. It was over. For good.
Turning away, Nancy walked off into the darkness. In the distance, a siren began to wail. A vast emptiness opened inside her, and for the first time that she could remember, she began to cry.
A month later, Nancy Drew lay down on her bed, feeling a familiar surge of excitement shoot through her. For the first time – for the first time in a month – she felt something that wasn't hurt. The conversation she was having on the telephone was enough for her to put aside her broken heart momentarily.
Brushing a strand of her long reddish-blonde hair off her face, she listened intently to the person she was talking to. But her thoughts, her bubbling excitement, were interrupted when she heard the door of her bedroom open. She looked up and saw her two best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne walk in. She greeted them with a quick, surprised smile.
"I'd love to," she said into the phone. "How can I say no to that?" She grinned, looking at Bess and George's questioning glances as they listened in to her side of the conversation. "All right…I'll be there. Thank you."
She hung up the phone, but before she could say anything, Bess cut in.
"Let me guess," she said. "You just fixed yourself a date with some totally hot guy, didn't you?" She plopped down on a beanbag. "How come you didn't tell me?"
"As a matter of fact – " Nancy began.
"That's a good thing, Nan," George said. "You should definitely get back out there dating."
"I – "
"So, what are you going to wear?" Bess asked.
Nancy looked exasperated. "Will you give me a chance to talk?" She sat up straight and smiled. "That was Dean Jarvis from Emerson. And as far as my knowledge goes, he's married. Not to mention probably twice my age!"
Bess looked a little disappointed. "Oh. Dean Jarvis? So what did he want?"
"New case," she burst out excitedly. "And he wants me to work on it." Her nation-wide reputation as a teen detective had always managed to find her a case or two. And she was not new to Emerson, where she had solved numerous cases before.
George smiled. "Cool. What's it about?"
"Well, he didn't want to give much details on the phone," Nancy explained. "All he said was that this was about a year-old murder of an Emerson student. That's all I know."
Bess sighed. "A date would have been much more interesting, you know."
Nancy raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm guessing you don't want to come then?"
"Whoa, I didn't say that," she said immediately. "Of course I want to come. I mean – you might need help and all."
"What about you, George?"
"Sure, count me in," she answered. "Emerson always means basketball games."
Bess sighed happily. "To me, Emerson always means super cute boys."
Nancy smiled to herself. "And to me, Emerson always mean spending time with…" she trailed off suddenly remembering that he wasn't hers anymore. He didn't want her anymore. She was no longer Ned Nickerson's girlfriend. The very thought brought back the throbbing hurt he'd caused a month earlier. She felt a sudden sense of déjà vu.
Her boyfriend of three years had finally broken up with her. She remembered everything. She remembered what he had last said to her, she remembered how lost she had felt. She remembered every minute detail as if it had happened just yesterday. Her heart still ached whenever she thought about him. She had most definitely not gotten over him.
She still loved him.
She still had his photograph, even though her first instinct had been to just throw it away. She still cried once in a while looking at it. Her heart still belonged to him. There was nobody – absolutely nobody – who could fill the emptiness he had left there when he had walked away. Seeing him again would bring back a lot of memories and a lot of pain in case he had found some one else. But she couldn't let personal reasons form a barrier between her and her career. Not that career she had always given the numero uno position in her life. She knew that the pain of facing him would accumulate if she didn't do it at the first chance she got.
She couldn't live like that anymore. She couldn't live simply wondering if he'd ever love her again. She couldn't stay behind as the rest of the world moved on. She had to learn to find a way to go along with it.
George cleared her throat. "Nan, if you don't want to take the case, it's understandable," she said gently.
"Totally," Bess agreed.
Nancy tried to smile. "No way…I'm not dropping a case even before I start it."
"What about Ned?" Bess asked.
"What about him?" Nancy tried as hard as she could to hide any signs of hurt. "He's got his life, I've got mine."
"You sure about this?"
Nancy rolled her eyes. "Of course I am," she said, wishing she were telling the truth.
An hour after her friends left, Nancy curled up in bed, making sure she got some sleep before starting the case the next day. She tried to erase any thoughts of Ned that came to her. She knew that she didn't feel as much for him as before. She forced herself to believe it. She could face Ned and all the pain that came with it.
She hoped she could.
"Could you help me with my bags, please?" Bess asked late next morning, her arms fully occupied. They had just arrived at Emerson and were unloading Nancy's Mustang.
George took one of Bess' bags and groaned. "What have you got in here? Bricks?"
"Oh, just the bare necessities," she answered.
Meanwhile, Nancy tried to look as cheerful as she could, which wasn't easy, considering how she really felt. She looked around the familiar larger-than-life campus, hoping to spot her ex-boyfriend. She really missed him and deep down in her heart, she could tell that something was missing. Someone was missing, rather.
"Nan?" Bess interrupted. "What's the plan now?"
"I don't really know," Nancy answered distractedly. "We should probably check into our rooms." She picked up her bags and led the way to the sorority house they were staying at.
"What about the Dean?" George asked.
Nancy thought for a moment. "We'll go see him after we unpack."
A few minutes later, they were inside the house, outside the doors to their rooms. George and Nancy were sharing one and Bess and her tonne of clothes and makeup were sharing another.
Exhausted because of the two-hour drive, Nancy tiredly pushed open her door and went it. She threw her bags on one of the beds. "I'm going to take a shower," she said to George who had walked in after her. She kicked open the bathroom door and almost stepped in before she noticed a piece of paper stuck in the hinges. Pulling it out, she opened it. The note that kicked off her new case.
Nancy Drew –
You'll turn back home if you know what's good for you. If you're not sensible enough to do that, I'll let you know that I've killed before and I won't hesitate to kill again.
– The Killer
