Foreword: The Mystery of River Heights...

For those who haven't read my previous two novels, Missing in Action and Ocean of Deceit, River Heights in my story will be a small peaceful town in New Jersey, not a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. If you want to know how the authors throughout the years have changed the location of River Heights, visit Nancy Drew Sleuth website.

I'm glad to start another mystery after continuing, twisting, and bending the plot to surprise my readers in the last two novels. This one is no exception. Nancy and the Hardys are in another mystery, but this time, the mystery takes place in Seattle, where Her Interactive, the company that creates Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys computer games, is located. While the last one involved impossible locked room, this one involves impossible alibi. But I will tell you one thing: truth is not what it appears to be.

Enjoy the first chapter, which starts in an isolated house located in Maine. This prologue will prove to be an important part of the story. Read, enjoy, and please review! The more reviews I get, the more frequently I will update this story.

1

Prologue: One Summer Morning

In a northern shore in Maine, a house stood on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Built in the early twentieth century by a Quebecois magician Alphonse Piermont. He built the two-storied house just a few years before his mysterious demise.

For over a century, many people resided in the house, but none of them stayed there for more than a decade.

Maria Voorhees wasn't an exception. She was a beautiful twenty-two-year-old pianist who was nationally recognized and had performed around the world. It was told that she had a special talent and had a bright future.

But just a year ago, she had died in her summerhouse. She drank poison and had died in the bedroom. Next to her was a will she had left. It said:

"I hereby end my final note."

It was a sunny day at the town of River Heights, where a spunky eighteen-year-old detective lived in her Victorian-style house. She was told by her father, who was a prominent attorney in the town, to water the grass in the garden. Because the housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, was out on vacation, the two Drews had to do the house chores by themselves. Mr. Drew was away most of the times, so it was up to Nancy to do the chores and cook dinners.

As the titian-haired girl walked down the stairs to the garden, she heard a familiar yelping behind her. Smiling, she turned around. "What is it, Togo?" she called.

A terrier appeared from inside the air-conditioned house. It was Togo. This dog had been Nancy's pet and friend for quite some time, when it appeared in the park. Nancy remembered every second of it. She had been driving down River Road to her house and passed the Muskoka River and River Heights Park, the park located right near the bank of the river that split River Heights into two parts: the downtown and the uptown. The uptown was where Nancy and her father lived with the housekeeper for nearly fifteen years. Just as she was crossing the bridge, a dog came running into the road, so the girl detective smashed the break. The car stopped just a few feet from the terrier. Getting out, Nancy found that the dog was dirty, lonely, and hungry. It seemed like it had been abandoned for quite a few weeks. She was worried, so she took it into her convertible and went to the nearest vet.

Nancy remembered how she had a pet cat when she was little. When Nancy was born, her mother bought a cat for her, and it was named Snowball. But then, just three years after the girl's birth, her mother had died. Nancy never knew whether her mother died because of an illness or an accident, since her father never actually told her how her mother had died. He said he didn't want to talk about it, so Nancy would always quit asking him before he would become angry and send her back to her room.

Looking at Togo, Nancy remembered the fateful day when Snowball escaped from the window one day and never came back. It had been when she was just seven, and she never had a pet until a year ago, when she met Togo.

"Are you hungry, boy?" the young sleuth asked the terrier, gently stroking its head. "Would you like something to eat?"

The terrier barked happily, as if it understood the words his owner had said. Nancy stood up and went to the kitchen, taking out some dog food for the little dog to eat. Pouring some into the bowl with the name "Togo" printed on it neatly, she placed it on the ground and watched as the young dog started eating it.

It was really hot outside. Nancy finished watering the flowers and the grass, then came into the air-conditioned living room, opening the book she had been reading. It was in the middle of June, just two weeks after solving a mystery with Frank and Joe in Miami. She called the case Ocean of Deceit. Frank and Joe Hardy were detectives who were also on summer vacation, like Nancy. They solved just as many mysteries as she did, and she worked with them on some occasions.

Nancy saw the mailperson put the letters into the mailbox right outside her house. Immediately, she went and took the mail. Opening the mailbox, she saw many bills, junk mails, and a letter addressed to her.

The sender's address was in Seattle. Nancy had a strange feeling that it was someone she knew. Then, she looked at the name of the sender. "Jenny Fontaine!"

Jennifer Fontaine was Nancy's friend from the time she entered first grade until the time she became an eighth grader. She moved to Seattle because of her parents' divorce and was taken by her mother, who lived in Seattle.

Excited, the girl detective opened the envelope when she got back inside her house. "Wow! An invitation and tickets to a concert?"

At that moment, the doorbell rang. Nancy immediately went and opened the door, and there, she saw the frowning face of a pretty eighteen-year-old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a slightly plump figure and was always trying her best to shave off some pounds off her body, mainly her legs and stomach. She was dressed lightly, with a short skirt and a T-shirt that revealed a little of her navel.

"Nancy Drew! We were waiting for thirty minutes for you to show up at my place! And I think I got more pimples on my face just by standing in the sun for so long! You know that Wednesday is a Shop At Mall Until You Drop day!" Bess Marvin said. "And George is still waiting in my car outside!"

Despite the name George, George Fayne was a hundred percent girl, even though her attitude and sense of fashion resembled that of a boy's, and she had been called tomboy ever since her preschool teacher saw her playing in the mud with all the boys while the girls, including young Bess and Nancy, watched in disgust. George was born with the name of Georgina. Her mother's name was Gina and her father had been born in Georgia, so they decided, after debating for a few days, to name her Georgina and not Georgia. The reason the name itself resembled so much of George was because her family always wanted a boy, and her grandfather had been neglecting any other name other than George, so the rest of the family decided to name her George. But, as the scan resort stated, the baby was a girl, and George's grandfather was so shocked he had a mild heart attack the very second he heard the news.

But now, George herself disliked the name Georgina, and her family agreed upon calling her George all the time instead of her given name.

Yawning, George watched as Bess went to ring the bell of Nancy's house. To tell the truth, she wasn't at all thrilled at her cousin's idea of having a Shop At Mall Until You Drop day every Wednesday. She enjoyed sports more than shopping, and she didn't feel like boring herself to death in the huge expensive flea market of useless junks. But she, of course, never said her thoughts out loud to Bess, thinking the statement might offend her.

"Sorry, Bess," Nancy apologized. "I forgot. But get this: I got a ticket to a concert!"

Bess gasped. "No way!"

"Yes way!" her friend said happily. "Jenny Fontaine invited me to a concert held in Seattle. Isn't it exciting?"

"Tell me all about it after we get to the mall," the blonde girl reminded.

In the River Heights Mall, the teenagers went to the shops that sold clothes with the newest style and enjoyed looking at the beautiful rings and necklaces displayed at the "Costless Jewel," a new jewelry shop opened at the exact place where Bess's favorite clothing store had been until a few weeks ago. The name of the store was "Looks Can Kill," which sold clothes with the latest trend at the cheapest price. But when shoppers were attracted to "Hot Girls' Fashion," it shut down.

"Do you remember Jenny Fontaine?" Nancy asked her friends.

George nodded. "She was really quiet and shy. It seems like she played violin and practiced three hours a day since the time she was in kindergarten!"

Bess said, "I loved the pieces she played at the school's talent show. It surprised everyone in the entire gymnasium!"

Nancy nodded, smiling. "And this Jenny sent me an invitation and tickets to a concert held in Seattle!"

"I don't want to go, to tell the truth," George said. "I was never a big fan of those squeaking instruments, like violins. It put me to sleep and makes my teeth grind."

Bess rolled her eyes at George. "You need to understand the arts, George. A little hobby that's not athletic can be fun, too, you know…"

George sneered. "Mom forced me to play violin when I was ten. I hated it so much I quitted after a month after I started playing it. I don't like that screeching sound it made. Blech!"

Bess sighed. Her cousin was a hopeless tomboy who didn't have anything in common with her. Nancy, on the other hand, enjoyed sports and music equally.

"Oh, come on, George," she said with a chuckle. "I remember taking some piano lessons when I was little, but I liked it."

"Well, piano sounds better than violin, I guess."

After the lengthy shopping spree, the girls finally decided to head home. Nancy said that she had two tickets more, so she asked if they wanted to come, too. Bess said yes to the offer, but George declined. She knew that by the time the concert started, she would be snoozing out loud in the audience. "Also, I need to prepare for River Heights Marathon coming next week. I need to train everyday to be on that marathon. It's really lucky I got picked to participate."

Bess chuckled. "Of course." She remembered that at the place where George bought her shoes, there was a sweepstakes offer for participating in the marathon. "I remember you buying a million shoes just to get the raffle tickets. And how lucky of you to be chosen among, what, forty people?"

George scowled. "There are more than merely forty people entering that sweepstakes. I think there were even a hundred of those tickets sitting at the bottom of the drawing box."

Nancy smiled. "Anyway, I guess this time, I'll be making the trip with Bess alone. Dad's too busy with his work, Hannah is away, and Ned is buried in research assignments and papers to write during the summer. It'll be fun, Bess!"

The two girls got to the airport at exactly seven o'clock in the morning. Bess was still yawning sleepily as the two girls got out of Nancy's blue convertible. It was a great day at River Heights, and George was feeling sorry for her cousin, who was missing a whole sunny day of fun and adventure. Bess ignored her comment, as usual.

Opening the back trunk, Nancy sighed in mock despair. "Oh, heavens!" she said in overdramatic style. "How in the world will the plane fly with so many suitcases in its compartment?"

Bess grinned. "Hey, I brought only four suitcases, and that's a personal record for me. Do you know how many days we are staying in Seattle? Four days and three nights!"

Nancy looked at her friend. "So you need millions of dresses and shirts just for those four days? I mean, you brought a whole suitcase full of clothing for a day over at Seattle! I'll bet you took your entire closet."

Bess frowned. "Nah-uh! This is just a quarter of my entire closet."

"No wonder George almost went MIA when she ventured into your closet to borrow a shirt for the school dance because hers was too small for her," said the titian-haired girl. "Anyway, I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time over there. Just imagine! We'll be touring Seattle and listen to a concert every night!"

Bess nodded in agreement. "It was really nice of Jenny to send those tickets to us."

Inside the airport, the girls were surprised to see so many people.

It is a vacation season, but people didn't have to start a trip on the same day! Nancy thought.

The girls went over to the nearby machines and got themselves the tickets. Looking at the monitor, Nancy frowned. "Great. According to this chart, I'll be seated at 8B, and you at 9A. That means we won't be next to each other."

"It's okay," Bess said. "It's just four hours of flight to Chicago. Once we get there, we'll head for Seattle, which is seven hours from that city. If we're lucky, we'll be able to sit next to each other on the second flight."

The girls went to the security. After half an hour, they were at the waiting area for the next flight. Nancy and Bess sat down and looked at the time. It was still seven-forty, nearly thirty minutes early.

"I can't believe our flight had been full!" a male voice said from behind the girls.

"Yeah," another masculine voice said. This was a little deeper than the first. "We've been waiting for two hours for another flight."

"I'm really thankful they had two seats open. I got 9B. What did you get?"

"8A."

Nancy was suddenly aware of the seat numbers and the voices. The seats were right next to her seat and Bess's! And that voice, it sounded like…

The girl detective turned her head around, fully aware of who were standing there. As she saw the two familiar figures, her grin got even wider.

"I should've known," she said. "It's Frank and Joe Hardy!"

Postscript: Due to my starting a new year in high school, my update will not be as frequent as I wish. I may update this story every other week or every week depending on the work I get in high school. I hope you will read and enjoy this story as much as some of you have read and enjoyed the previous ones.

Preview for the next chapter: strange lady on the flight, rock star in mortal danger.