Secrets Can StillKill

Chapter 1

"There... is... absolutely... nothing... on...TV!" Bess Marvin groaned and fell back onto the couch.

Her cousin laughed and plopped down beside her. "Oh, come on, Bess, don't mope. We could always watch something on HBO." She stuffed a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

"There's nothing. They keep showing that stupid movie we saw last week." She reached for the bowl of popcorn George held.

"Chill out," in came a titan haired teen, the cousins' best friend. "Let's look again." She sat down in the comfy chair and flipped through the channels.

"We could always watch the cooking channel," George teased her cousin, "I hear they're having this special on cakes today!"

Bess glared at her. "Very funny. You know I'm on a diet right now."

George rolled her eyes. "We had ice cream for breakfast this morning."

Bess shrugged. "I guess I'm starting now."

Nancy Drew wasn't really listening to their conversation. She hadn't had a mystery in almost a month and she all but screamed for one. The last mystery she did was with the Hardy Boys. She had in that time began to feel different about Frank. But she wasn't worried. She cared too much about the boyfriend she had and loved right now. She had hoped to talk to Ned Nickerson soon, but he hadn't called her for awhile. She had phoned him many times but he never answered. She couldn't help but worry.

"Nancy? Hello? Earth to Nancy!" George was waving her hand in Nancy's face.

"Oh," Nancy returned to the present, "what?"

"Were you thinking about Ned again?" Bess said this with her mouth full of popcorn.

Her friends knew her too well. "I wish he would call me."

"Don't worry, Nan, he loves you. Maybe he's stuck with homework."

Nancy sighed and sipped her cola. "Yeah, I guess you're right. So," she changed the subject, "how it going with you and Dan?" She referred to Bess's new boyfriend.

"He's great. We went shopping yesterday for hours! And he didn't complain once! I have truly fallen in love!"

George gagged. "And this would be different form the other million times you've fallen in love, how?"

Bess shot her a look. "Dan is different from all of them. He's..."

"Special." George and Bess said at the same time. Nancy laughed.

At that moment, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, Hannah." Nancy called to her housekeeper. She had lived with Nancy and her father for 13 years now and was like a mother to Nancy. Her real mother died when she was only three years old.

Nancy opened the door to a wonderful sight. "Ned!" She smiled at her boyfriend.

"Hey, babe." He grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her hard. Nancy loved every second of it.

"You know," a voice spoke behind the couple, "after a minute of not breathing, oxygen stops flowing to your head."

"Dad," Nancy stopped kissing Ned and hugged her father, who had returned from work.

"Oh, I see." The lawyer pretended to be hurt. "Your boyfriend gets kissed but I'm just your father; I get hugs."

Nancy kissed her father. "Better?"

He smiled. "Much." They all walked into the house.

A fresh cup of coffee lay out on the table. Hannah had laid out some freshly baked cookies and cornbread. Carson smiled. "Now this is a way to be greeted." He pulled up a chair and snagged a cookie.

"Oh great," now Nancy pretended to be sad, "I get sold out for cookies, bread, and coffee."

Her father laughed. "Sorry, honey, but you know how good Hannah cooks."

"Yes, I do." Nancy hugged Hannah with appreciation. Nancy led Ned out to the living room. The four teens exchanged greetings just as the phone rang.

"Hello?"

The voice at the end sounded muffled and disguised. "I warned you to stay away, but you didn't listen. I killed someone but you still meddled. Well now, I have killed again and it's you who will be blamed for his death."

Nancy's heart literally stopped. "Who did you kill?"

She begged into the receiver. Ned, Bess, and George stopped talking and stared at her pale face.

"Well, he had blonde hair, blue eyes, and is about you're age."

Nancy was puzzled. "What's his name?" She repeated.

A hard, cruel chuckle came through the other end of the line. "Hardy."