To Whom It May Concern (aka, you):

Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. I do; however, own Claire and Lexi. They actually come from my own mystery series which some day I may post on fiction press. If I ever do I'll let you guys know.

Much luv,

Political Blonde

PS:

This chapter was BETA read by msnancydrew; I thank her and you should too. So please, if you review, thank her for her hard work.


Ch.3 A Poetic Death

Lexi was the first to regain her senses and she immediately let the others know she had with a very high pitched and blood curdling scream. She pushed away from the corpse, slipping and sliding in the mud, causing Nancy and Claire to be pushed into the goop several times before they could properly breathe.

"It is a dead body!" Claire gasped frantically backing away from the corpse as mud slipped through her fingers.

"I believe we know that," Lexi snapped.

"It's so yucky!" Claire squealed trying to put more distance between her and the corpse but failing miserably.

"Shut up you two! The corpse isn't the only person here, remember? Where is a flashlight?" Nancy grumbled trying to feel for the desired object while avoiding the corpse. Her fingers met only mud.

"Here's one, I think. Eww, never mind! It's this person's hand."

"Here we go—I'm sure this is one," replied Lexi's voice. Suddenly a small circle of light surrounded the three muddy girls. Claire plugged her nose looking as if she was about to puke as she rolled over the dead body.

Two large brown eyes stared unblinkingly up at them. Claire, shuddering, pointed at a knife sticking out of his head with what appeared to be a piece of paper tied to it. Nancy searched for her bag in the mud and upon finding it pulled out a plastic glove and a zip lock bag. No matter how ill she felt sitting in a hole with a corpse she still needed to do this right the first time. She grimaced as she pulled off the note and read it, her blue eyes wide.

Curious, Lexi and Claire looked over her shoulder. In deep red letters was written:

A pity he is already done,

But he is only number one,

There are, I suppose, still a ton,

That'll go just for my fun,

And when you all in fear do run,

You'll meet a dead end, a true pun,

And whether you be daughter or son,

You will inevitably meet with the end of my gun!

"Whoever wrote that must be completely twisted," Lexi hissed her nose wrinkled and caked with brown goop.

Nancy glanced at her and nodded. "And that psycho could be watching us right now and we're in no position to defend ourselves."

"I think we should alert the Hardys before they meet with the end of his gun or before we meet with it." Lexi gave an involuntary shudder. "I believe we have found what we were looking for," she added. The others nodded.

Claire reached into her pocket and pulled out a whistle. "I really hope they hear this," she mumbled before taking in a large breath and blowing sharply three times on the whistle.


Frank sighed as he ran his flashlight back and forth across the forest floor staring intently at every rock and twig searching for some sign of their spy. "So Joe, what's your opinion of Claire and Lexi so far?"

Joe's circle of light bounced as he shrugged. "They're fine I guess. A little hyper and they seem like they have a ton to learn about sleuthing. The fact that they're new at this may get in our way."

"Yeah, I was thinking that too but we all had to start somewhere."

"Too true, but I will give them this, they are cute." Joe gave a smug grin. "I'm glad we're with them rather than someone wrinkly and old."

"Joe-"

"Not that I have anything against seniors. So, did you ever find out why Nancy was so out of it this morning?"

Frank sighed. "I don't know for sure but I believe it had something to do with the fact that she broke up with Ned two weeks ago. I overheard her telling Lexi about it. Apparently she and Ned got engaged and she wasn't home enough so they broke it off."

Joe whistled. "Wow, Nancy engaged and then broken up with Ned. A lot has happened since we last saw her. But I guess that's a good thing for you. Nancy's finally free."

Frank closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Joe," he warned, "there is nothing between Nancy and I. We're just friends. I've got-"

"Callie," Joe had stopped and his arms were crossed. "I know, you've got Callie but to be honest I don't like her. She is always on your case about leaving for cases and on mine for taking you with me."

"Joe, we've been over this before. She's just worried about me."

"She isn't worried about you. She's worried you'll leave her. Why else would she be pushing you to propose to her?" Joe retorted.

"She isn't pushing anything onto me," Frank replied opening his eyes.

"Really, what about-?" Joe never finished his sentence.

"What!" A soft scream like yell was heard in the distance.

Frank put his hand up to silence Joe. "Did you hear that? It sounded like someone yelling," he whispered. Joe nodded his demeanor becoming less irritable.

"Ahhhh!" another shriek pierced the forest.

"Let's go. That might be the girls!" Frank and Joe whipped around in the direction of the scream and ran forward, their argument temporarily forgotten.

Bushes and low branches tore at Frank as he weaved in and out of the rows of trees. What had happened? Were the girls all right? Was Nancy alright? He couldn't shake the uneasiness he felt and he began calling out the girls' names. "Nancy! Claire! Lexi! Where are you?" He could hear Joe behind him doing the same. But their only response was three sharp whistles.

The brothers turned to the left slightly and ran towards it, terrible thoughts still crossing Frank's mind. "Where are you guys?" Joe yelled loudly behind him.

"Slow down! If you don't you'll end up like us!" That was Nancy's voice. Frank stopped immediately, causing Joe to run into his back. Slowly they made their way forward, their flashlights illuminating the forest floor.

"Look. There's a hole up there," Joe whispered in his ear. Frank sped up to a brisk pace and came to stop at the edge of the pit. Nancy's frightened aqua eyes looked up at him and his breath caught in his throat.

"We found you," Frank gasped as relief swept through Nancy's eyes causing him to let loose the worried breath he'd been holding. Her clothes clung to her and her hair lay matted against her face.

"Thank God you came so quickly. We found the source of the commotion." She pointed one muddy arm at the dead body.

"We more like landed on him. It was disgusting," Lexi added. Frank noticed the body for the first time and grimaced.

"Well, it seems people are taking this competition way too seriously."

"You mean they're dead serious?" Joe asked with a grin.

Claire looked at Joe like he had grown a second head. "Not funny. A guy is dead and whoever did it is out to kill us all!" Claire whispered her voice quavering. "They left us a note. A threat per say."

Both the Hardys now faced her with questioning looks but it was Lexi who spoke. "We found this note on the corpse. It's a poem from the killer. It reads:

A pity he is already done,

But he is only number one,

There are, I suppose still a ton,

That'll go just for my fun,

And when you all in fear do run,

You'll meet a dead end, a true pun,

And whether you be daughter or son,

You will inevitably meet with the end of my gun!" Lexi shuddered as she finished.

Frank knelt beside the hole. "Is there anything else on him?"

"Give us a moment to check." The girls, though quite disgusted, rolled the body over searching for other clues.

"Here we go!" Nancy said suddenly. She pulled a note from his hand that was covered with the same red scrawl.

"Number One

Ahh yes you are number one,

you man of dirty hair

I see you wish I'd end my fun

So you'd no longer despair!

So run I order, flee I say

My, the chase is most enticing

The suspense a joyous thing

But I promise, my knife will come slicing

Moments before you utter your last breath!"

"So let me get this straight. We're not even through day one of this competition and we've already got a corpse and a crazed killer who writes poetry." Joe had the decency to look disgusted.

"Umm well, in that case I've found our next clue. It was on the back of his overall warning," Claire gasped pointing to the paper in Lexi's hand. She abruptly yet fearfully read it.

"Number Two

You are cordially invited to your death

My victim number two

As I have grown tired of your wasted breath

And decided to murder you

Psycho I am and mad I'll be

But over your shoulder you'll still look

In hopes of evading me.

But alas, so much like a book

You will abruptly come to an end

For a shot to the head

You yourself can't defend

When you're snug and asleep in your bed!"

The group looked at each other with wide eyes. Their killer was starting to sound like a serial killer.


Like I said I'm rewritting. As you may have noticed Lisa became Lexi. This is because Lexi and Claire are from an original series I'm writing and I changed her name in that so her name needed to be changed here for consistancy. Well, enjoy rereading.

Much luv,

Political Blonde