Thank you for the reviews and for reading! As always, thank you to Drumboy100 for being the best beta and for helping me navigate this fandom!
It took Nancy no more than ten minutes to discover the meaning of the inscription, which was a new record for her. Kenzie listened to Nancy reading aloud from the website, her blood slowly turning to ice with each word she spoke. Jake Hurley himself had believed the train to be haunted by the ghost of his late wife and had reported seeing strange, glowing orbs floating along the side of the train, right outside his private train car. The man had eventually taken to calling them dancing lights, due to his wife's love of dancing.
"I can't believe we're actually considering this train might be haunted," Joe scoffed with a shake of his head.
"Don't be ridiculous," Frank chuckled, "either Jake Hurley was crazy, or it was some natural phenomenon."
"Personally," Kenzie piped up suddenly, "I would rather not find out if the train is haunted."
As expected, all eyes turned to her. The unwaveringly rational detectives stared at their friend as if she'd just sprouted a second head that was now speaking in tongues. Not that she hadn't expected this reaction.
"You believe in ghosts, Kenzie?" Nancy asked in a very diplomatic manner, clearly not wanting to hurt her friends feelings by questioning her sanity, while secretly doing exactly that.
"I don't not believe in ghosts," she muttered defensively.
Joe let out a short chuckle, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
"What she's trying to say is that she's just kind of a scaredy cat," he clarified, "I mean, whenever we'd watch scary movies she used to-"
Joe cut himself off mid sentence. He had almost casually strolled down memory lane like nothing bad had ever happened between the two of them, causing the almost forgotten awkward tension to surface once more. She dared a glance in his direction. His eyes were sad, perhaps he was feeling regret. Kenzie wondered if she would receive an apology from him that weekend. Not that she particularly wanted one. At least, that was what she told herself late at night when the memories of happier times refused to leave her alone.
When the silence had stretched on for a minute too long, Nancy finally cleared her throat and flashed them an obviously forced smile. "I think I'm going to go change into something less cocktail and more sleuthing. Frank? Can I see you outside for a moment?"
The pair quickly disappeared, leaving Kenzie and Joe alone with nothing but an awkward silence for a buffer. She thought about saying something, anything to break the ice, but there was nothing to say. His actions were unforgivable and the thought of pretending like none of it had ever happened caused a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. It would be impossible for the two to ever repair the damage and become friends, that much was clear.
Just as she could hear Joe draw a breath, the compartment door opened. Frank stepped through cautiously, as if he was expecting to walk right into a confrontation, his shoulders visibly tense. When he was satisfied that nothing had happened in their absence, his posture relaxed and his mouth quirked up in a friendly smile.
"We should go investigate Jake's private car," he spoke conversationally, "Nancy'll meet us there when she's done changing."
Kenzie hung back, letting Frank and Joe walk out of earshot while she followed. She felt out of place without Nancy there, knowing the brothers would always stand united. But when had it become an us vs them situation? They were all adults and could surely understand that sometimes these things happened. Couples break up all the time. Deep down however, she knew that Frank saw her as the bad guy. She doubted Joe had ever confessed any of his short comings to his brothers, letting it seem like she had simply skipped town without explanation, leaving his little brother broken hearted.
"Hey, Kenzie."
She startled at the sudden greeting, finding Joe now walking in step with her. Frank was nowhere to be seen. Kenzie had been so deep in her own thoughts, she hadn't even noticed the two conspiring for Joe to ambush her and now it was too late to escape. Her feet refused to move faster, her mouth refusing to tell him to leave her alone.
"Hi," it was lame and quiet but all she could muster in the moment.
"I believe we have some unfinished business to sort out."
She could tell by his tone that he wouldn't take no for an answer. This conversation was going to happen whether she liked it or not. Kenzie sighed and squared her shoulders, preparing for the inevitable anger and hurt that would surface.
"What exactly is there to talk about, Joe?"
His hand shot out in front of her, touching the wall and forcing her to stop and look at him. Her eyes surveyed his face. Disbelief.
"How about you start by telling me why you left town and disconnected your number without any explanation?!"
A bitter laugh escaped her throat. "Really? You're going to pretend with me too now?"
"Pretend what?!"
The situation has escalated from zero to a hundred with only a few sentences, much as she had expected. Joe had always had a bit of a temper, nothing violent, but it didn't take much to make him raise his voice and become confrontational.
"Pretend that you didn't leave me alone and break promises constantly because of your work! Or pretend that you weren't screwing some super model looking chick behind my back!"
For a moment, Kenzie could have sworn she saw genuine confusion in his eyes.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" he stopped, drew a deep breath and lowered his voice. "Yeah, I put too much of myself into my work and you paid the price, I know that. But I never, ever cheated on you."
Somewhere throughout the course of their conversation, the air had left her lungs. Tears stung her eyes, threatening to spill. She wasn't ready to re-live this heartbreak, not with him lying straight to her face.
"I saw you with her," her voice was barely a shaky whisper, "and I don't want to hear your lies or excuses! It doesn't matter anymore anyway."
Refusing to listen to anymore, Kenzie turned on her heel and walked briskly in the opposite direction, desperate to escape the conversation she had hoped to never have.
"Frank Hardy!" Nancy Drew was out for his head, coming down the aisle of the empty train car like a mother who had just caught their child doing something unspeakable.
Frank found his posture shrinking ever so slightly. He knew what he had done and fully stood by his decision. However, that didn't mean he didn't feel the slightest bit bad for making Nancy mad.
She finally reached him, jabbing his shoulder with her index finger.
"I leave you alone for a few minutes to go change and you decide to do the one thing I asked you not to do!"
His first instinct was to ask her to calm down but he knew better. No one had ever, in the history of arguments, been soothed by the phrase calm down. Drawing a slow, deep breath, he stared into her eyes, hoping against hope that his calm demeanor would serve to dissipate her anger.
Frank had known all along that his decision would upset his girlfriend and that he would have to deal with the fallout, and so he had a speech prepared and ready to go.
What he should have prepared for, but hadn't, was the fact that Nancy could see right through him. Before he had even drawn breath, her finger was in his face, her eyes smoldering with anger.
"Don't you dare give me some Frank Hardy speech about how this was for the best!" she spoke through her teeth, her voice quiet and menacing, "Kenzie is in my compartment, in tears because your brother decided to ambush her!"
"I think that's being a bit dramatic, Nance. He hardly ambushed her."
The moment those words had left his lips, Frank regretted them. Instead of soothing her anger, they seemed to have only served to fuel it, Nancy's eyes now practically burning him alive.
"I don't give a shit about semantics, Frank Hardy!" she growled, "Kenzie felt ambushed!"
"And Joe has a right to know why she left! He just wants some closure and she owes him that much at least!"
"He would be lucky to get anything from her after what he did!"
Frank looked at Nancy, as if she was a stranger. Never before had he seen this much anger in her, her hands practically shaking with the emotion. The air had suddenly become thick, burning his lungs with each breath he drew.
"What could he have possibly done to deserve that reaction?" he asked quietly, "Joe isn't capable of anything that cruel or hurtful."
Nancy rolled her eyes.
"Here we go. Typical Frank Hardy, always making allowances for his little brother."
He was taken aback by the sudden venom in her voice. She was treating him like he was the enemy, pushing him away and trying to hurt him. He had never before seen her act this way and it was confusing to say the least.
"What is happening here, Nance?"
She was silent for what seemed like forever, staring into his eyes as if debating whether or not to speak. But Pandora's box had already been opened and the lid couldn't be put back on.
"I'm tired of you always making allowances for Joe's behavior," she replied finally, her voice calm yet firm. "He doesn't respect our boundaries and you just laugh it off like it's no big deal. Like him crashing this trip! Why the hell did he think it was any of his business who we were going with or what we were doing?" Nancy moved her arms animatedly as she spoke, as if it would help to drive her point across. "And then to go through your computer and to show up here uninvited!" she shook her head, "there's no excuse, Frank. You need to have a conversation with him and it needs to stop, especially if you want to keep me in your life."
A cold sensation spread through his veins, as Nancy turned on her heel and stormed off, back the way she had come. He could tell that this wasn't just another argument. She was serious, and when Nancy Drew's mind was made up, there was no changing it.
As the suddenly very real possibility of their relationship being over sunk in, Frank stared at the spot where Nancy had stood just moments before. "I can't lose you, Nance," he whispered into the nothingness she had left behind.