Chapter 1

Bess

It was two weeks until Christmas and being the procrastinators we are, Nancy and I were heading to the mall to do our Christmas shopping. I was hoping that maybe the River Heights only shopping mall wouldn't be crowded, but apparently everyone had forgotten to do their early Christmas shopping. As Nancy parked the car in the extra lot, I thought about Ned, Nancy's boyfriend. Recently they had been fighting a lot and of course George (my cousin) heard all about that and how she was right or he shouldn't have said that. But somehow they just kept making up and not breaking up. I prayed that he of all people would not be here today. I didn't know if I could control Nancy after last nights fight. I can't remember the last time I saw Nancy so mad. And yet she still wouldn't dump him. I wished that the Hardy boys lived closer to River Heights. Even though they both denied it, Nancy and Frank (the eldest Hardy boy) were totally crushing on each other. Unlike Ned, Frank considered Nancy's comments and checked up on her by phone when she had a tough day. Ned well he was just the opposite of Frank.

As we headed to the mall, Nancy said, "Bess, do you think you know who will be here?"

"Nancy, you can say his name. It's not like Ned's a genie and will pop up when you call. And no I don't think he will be here. Wait, you didn't tell him where you would be did you?"

"I might have mentioned something before our fight last night.."

"Nancy! Didn't I ever tell you, Never let Ned know where and when you are going to be cause he's going to find you, apologize and then break your heart again! Remember last time?" I was referring to when they fought over whether Nancy could handle herself being a deceive or not. Ned was so furious, I was scared Nancy might have been in physical harms way. Then the next day, he shows up at her house with a crappy, wilted bouquet of roses, asking her to be his and of course she goes back to him.

As the entered the decked out mall, Christmas music blared over the speakers. This is what Nancy needs, I thought. If there was anything thing that could get Nancy's mind of Ned, it was Christmas... that or Frank Hardy, but I was fresh out of those. As we entered the food court I spotted George waving us to come over.

Nancy

Bess was just trying to help take my mind of Ned which worked for a minute but then "our song" blared over the speakers and I felt sadness and anger all at once. I remembered our date last night. I had been so excited hoping maybe Ned would do something special for me since it was close to Christmas and all. So I wore my favorite special occasion dress, a red sweetheart neckline strapless dress that reminded me of my mom. She passed away when I was a little girl so I enjoyed wearing things that reminded me of her. I slid on my super high heels and hopped in my car. Ned was taking me to our favorite Italian diner. When I got there he look angry about something but wouldn't tell me what. Once we were seated I asked, "Ned you look like someone stole your tv! What's wrong?" (Ned was religious about his tv time)

"Well you should know shouldn't you?" He angrily retorted.

"Ned, honey, what's wrong? I don't know."

He abruptly stood up and yelled "You've been cheating on me! And with that no good, low life slime Frank Hardy!" What was going on I thought. I didn't like Frank...or well I didn't like him enough to hurt my boyfriend. I mean sure we have several cases together and were married for at least two of them, but Ned didn't even know that. And he didn't know that the small engagement ring I wore was the fake one Frank gave to me on one of the missions. He was under the impression it was my moms.

"Ned," I tried to calmly say, "I'm not cheating on you! I love you with all of my heart!"

"Yeah right. How could you do this," he fumed. "After I told you I love you and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. After we looked at rings!"

Ned was beginning to scare me, me Nancy Drew who had been kidnapped and almost killed multiple times! There was a fire in his eyes that made me very uncomfortable.

"I can't even look at you Nancy!" He cried and stormed out of the restaurant. He left me with the bill and all of the restaurant staring. "Nancy!" Exclaimed Bess. "Earth to Nancy? Helloooo?"

"Oh sorry Bess." I said giving her a weak smile. I could tell she was concerned and wanted to make me feel better. I hadn't exactly told her what happened last night but I did tell her that it was not looking good for me and Ned right now. Right as we saw George I heard a familiar voice that I was in no mood to hear.