"Nancy! You're back!" Nancy's dad stood up and put down the newspaper he had been reading.
"Hi daddy." Nancy embraced him warmly and kissed his cheek for extra measure.
"The case is solved already?" He asked perplexingly.
"Yeah." Nancy replied rather lamely.
"Does Ned know? You said you'd call him tonight."
Nancy blushed embarrassed all of a sudden.
"Oops?" Then her stomach growled, it wanted food.
"Hungry?" Her dad asked jokingly.
"Yeah I didn't want to stop for anything so last I ate was breakfast."
Nancy's dad hugged her again. "Go. Eat. Hannah will be glad to see… and feed you."
Nancy grinned and walked into the kitchen.
"Hannah?" She called.
Hannah was at the counter kneading some bread.
"Nancy!" She ran over and hugged Nancy with doughy hands.
"I couldn't wait to be home! So I drove straight through… and know my stomach is protesting." Nancy explained once let go.
Hannah nodded happily and walked back to her loaf.
"There's fruit in the fridge."
Nancy opened the fridge to find it full of fancy dishes.
"What-the?" She murmured, choosing a small red apple from the fruit drawer. "What's with the puddings, and stuff?"
Hannah swept a gray bang out of her eyes with her forearm. "That my dear is for… a benefit party that my Garden Club is holding. So keep your fingers out of it."
Nancy knew when people were lying, she was a detective for goodness sake! "Hannah? No it isn't is it?"
Hannah looked down at the bread and didn't respond. She started kneading it again. Nancy was exasperated with Hannah's reaction. She ate her apple, threw the core away, and walked into her room. There on her bed were her suitcases. Dad must've brought them in. She unpacked for a little while but soon grew tired of the monotonous chore. She looked at her wristwatch; it read 8:50. Nancy remembered her promise to Ned. She had promised to call him at 6! Well now was as good a time as any. He was at his house for winter break so she dialed that number. It rang for a while but to no reply.
"That's strange; Ned usually waits all night for my call." She told herself, but something felt wrong. She dialed again. Still there was no reply. She ended up calling his house ten times, all with no answer. The tenth time she had the sense to leave a message.
"Hey Ned, this is Nancy… I told you I'd call. Better late than never right? Hehe. Um… call me back ASAP." It was lame Nancy could admit that. But something still felt a little fishy there.
"Tomorrow I'll go visit Ned. He probably was just out with friends, after you TOTALLY spaced calling him." Nancy moved the suitcases onto the floor and changed into her pajamas.
She was going to bed and in the morning she'll just laugh at her reaction to a normal situation. Once ready to go to sleep Nancy climbed into her soft inviting bed. She was so tired, but couldn't stop thinking about those missed calls. There was something about it, something bad. Well, she couldn't do anything until morning so she might as well sleep. Slowly Nancy drifted off to sleep.
