"Fire and Ice"
"Fire and Ice"
Chapter 6
For a moment, the world seemed to freeze. Joe stared straight into Ned's eyes, not quite sure that he'd heard him accurately.
Sensing immediately what Joe was thinking, Ned took control of himself and blurted the one thing that he was sure Joe needed to hear. "It's not Vanessa, Joe," he stammered. Then, noticing Frank's stricken face, he added, "And it's not Callie, either."
"Oh my God—Charlotte…" Joe managed to stammer as Ned headed immediately for Nancy and took her hand.
Nancy turned to him. "Wh... what happened?" she managed.
With a sigh, Ned squeezed Nancy's hand and sat down on the bed next to her. Taking a deep breath, he began. "You know how I was supposed to keep an eye on Vanessa and Charlotte at their job today?"
"You were WHAT?" Joe interjected, incredulous. If there was anyone who was going to protect Vanessa, it was going to be him, not Ned.
"Joe," Nancy cut him off. "Listen. I knew I was meeting you and Frank here today to go over the details of the case. I also knew that Callie was going to be with your parents. The only logical thing that Ned could do, other than talk over the case with us, was to keep an eye on Vanessa and Charlotte at their job."
"She's right, Joe," Frank added, gaining back some of his color. "Ned was just trying to help."
"Well, he didn't so such a good job, apparently," Joe shot back. He hated being lectured by Frank, but it was ten times worse with Nancy being around. They always seemed to know exactly what to say to make it sound like they were ganging up on him.
Seeing Nancy's horrified expression, however, and the look of pure shock on Ned and Frank's faces, left him immediately regretting his outburst.
"I'm sorry," he said, quickly. With a deep sigh, he added, " I know you were trying to help, Ned… I'm just upset. Is Vanessa okay? What on earth happened?
"You know, Joe," Ned responded, evenly, meeting his eyes. "If this were another place and time, I would be more than happy to discuss your 'attitude' with you outside." If there was one thing Ned couldn't stand, it was a hothead.
Seeing Joe about to take Ned up on his offer, Frank finally stood up.
"Guys, knock it off," he said in exasperation. "We need to know what happened, and we need to find out now. There's a possibility that whoever did this is right around here now, and we need to get on his trail."
"Frank's right," Nancy agreed.
"Do you have a tape recorder that says that?" Joe asked sarcastically.
Frustration and anger were beginning to build up in him hiding the one emotion he couldn't let get the better of him—fear. Charlotte had always been a nice girl, and he and Vanessa had gone out with her and her boyfriend several times. It was horrific what had happened, but the thought that it could have been Vanessa almost paralyzed him. He knew he was acting out, but he almost couldn't help himself.
"Whatever, Joe," Nancy managed, affronted.
Expecting Frank to jump right in and defend Nancy against his comment, Joe almost couldn't believe his ears when Frank cut in.
"Stop it!" his brother exclaimed. "Nancy, Ned," he said, turning to them. "Look, Joe was out of line, but he's upset—we all are. The first thing he thought was that something had happened to Vanessa, so cut him a break, okay? And Joe," he continued, turning to him, "I think you need to understand that Nancy and Ned are here to help, and that Ned knows what happened, so can we all agree to just get on with it already?" He let out a shaky breath. They couldn't afford to be at each other's throats right now. Besides, he knew exactly what Joe had felt only an instant before when Ned had come through the door. And his thought had been the same-- only it concerned Callie. If there was something to be done, they needed to do it.
"Okay," Joe mumbled.
"Agreed," Nancy added. Then, turning to Ned, she said, "Go on."
Ned took a deep breath before continuing his story. He was still shaken up by the events of the morning, and was caught between overwhelming sadness and a need to drag Nancy out of there as quickly as possible. The thought that she could in any way be harmed by a case that she hadn't even wanted in the first place was simply not an acceptable option.
"Like I was saying," he started again. "I saw Vanessa arrive at work today, and I saw Charlotte arrive as well. She had been dropped off by some guy, probably her boyfriend or husband. Things were okay. No one left the building in the morning, and I didn't see any "unusual" suspects lurking or anything. I watched the office all day, and I kept an eye on their cars. No one left. About 1:00, I saw a police car pull in. I didn't think anything of it until I saw another. Then another." Ned paused, and then finally admitted, "I had no idea what happened, until I finally went in to see for myself. I was allowed to the fifth floor, where Vanessa works. That's where I got the first part of the story."
"You spoke with Vanessa?" Joe prompted.
"Yeah," Ned went on. "She was pretty upset. Apparently, Charlotte had received a phone call a few hours earlier. She had said that she had to go down to get a special delivery from her boyfriend. It was their anniversary, I think. Anyway, she did go downstairs. She never came back up." Ned looked directly at Joe. "When she didn't return after a while, Vanessa got a bad feeling. She called the police. She did try to get you," he added, nodding in Joe's direction," but you didn't answer. Anyway, the police did come. And… only because I knew you guys, I was able to find out that Charlotte had been found. The police had put out an APB on her."
Joe, incredulous, looked down at his cell phone. Cursing under his breath, he noted that Ned had been right. Vanessa HAD tried to call him—several times. His phone had gone right to voicemail, the button to ring inadvertently shut off.
"That means that someone took the time to get personal information on Charlotte," Nancy hypothesized. "Someone is going out of his way to make sure that everyone knows this is a case of revenge. We need to check up on that angle."
Joe had to admit that Nancy did play it cool under pressure.
"It also means that someone might have seen him. He obviously was bold enough to drive right into the building. There may be surveillance cameras that could check on the parking garage, if there are tapes available," Frank added, forcing himself to try and remain calm and analytical.
"Someone is gathering information about… the girls," Nancy added again. She tried to keep her expression as neutral as possible, and she sensed that Frank was doing the same. It was an unarticulated, but understood idea between them, now, that "the girls" was the expression that they would use in this case. To say "Vanessa" or "Callie" made it so intensely personal that all neutrality would be null and void in this case, and all clear thinking obscured.
Nodding solemnly, forcing himself to suppress his own emotions, Frank agreed, admitting that, "Yeah. And they're in serious danger now."
"We have to protect them," Joe declared, standing up.
"We need to get to the police station—pronto," Frank asserted.
"Guys…There's one more thing," Ned added. Sensing the deep sadness in his eyes, Joe stopped short of heading for the door and calling Vanessa, and looked back at Ned.
Ned knew what he was about to say should be positive, but it was not. Not knowing how to say it, he blurted out….
"She's alive…."