Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys.
"Joe, go get a file," Nancy said.
"What kind of file? A nail file? A mail file?" Joe asked.
"Either is fine," Nancy said hurriedly.
"Follow up question: Where would I find either one of those items?" Joe asked as he started to leave the office.
"Go ask Vanessa. Most girls carry them around in their purse," Nancy said.
"So why don't you have one?" Joe asked.
"Because it is upstairs in my room," Nancy said annoyed. Joe quickly left the room to go get a nail file from Van. Both Frank and Nancy picked up a snow globe and looked around for a way to open it.
"I think we will end up needing the file. I think that the bottom will come off if we pry it open," Frank said.
"That's what I was thinking. I don't want to break any more snow globes. Especially the one of me and my mom. That was my mom's last gift to him before he died," Nancy said. That's when Joe came back with Vanessa, Bess and George in tow.
"They wouldn't stay put," Joe mumbled.
"You use my file, Hardy, I get to come," Vanessa said defiantly.
"And we were not about to be left out of the loop," George agreed.
"Alright, I give up," Joe said throwing his hands in the air. Vanessa smiled contently.
"Just give me the file, Joe," Nancy said. As soon as Joe handed it over, she put it in the bottom of the first snow globe from Madi disappeared. She gently pried open the bottom, and sure enough a note came out.
"'If you want to find Madi, follow this carefully. You will need the help of the boys you call friends. They provide a clue as to what I want from you, Miss Drew. As for who I am, the time is too premature. But the next person I will take goes by Sammie. You can save her, times not up yet. But don't hesitate too long. Your Deathly Admirer,'" Nancy read.
"So you could have saved Sammie," Joe said.
"Joe, don't do this," Frank warned.
"I know. If I had only opened the freaking snow globe, I would have been able to save her," Nancy whispered.
"Nance, he didn't give a last name. It could have been any number of Sammie's. There is no way to guarantee that we could have saved anyone," Frank pointed out.
"And the note doesn't answer the big question: who is he?" Van said.
"I don't know," Frank said, "And as for the clue that Joe and I could provide it was the pictures. That showed that this person knew us well enough to get into my house undetected or is someone that has been stalking us for a long time."
"But why have all of these directed at Nan?" Bess asked, "If they are after both of you, why are the notes only addressing her?"
"I don't know, Bess. But this person did want us involved," Frank pointed out.
"Let's read the next note," Joe said quickly.
"The ever so patient one," Frank said under his breath.
"Heard that," Joe mumbled as Nancy opened the next snow globe. This one was left from when Sammie disappeared.
"This one says, 'You were too late to save Sammie before I got her, but you have a chance to save them both before it is too late. You will be able to find them safely hidden away in a cabin in the woods not too far from River Heights. You know where this place is. And I am not done yet, Miss Drew. And I feel as though my next victim might be close to you. Your Deathly Admirer,'" Nancy read softly.
"He warned you about your dad in this one," Bess said.
"I could have saved him. I could have protected him," Nancy whispered.
"What about the cabin in the woods?" Frank asked.
"Dad and I used to rent a little cabin in the woods just north of River Heights. He must have had them there at one point. We need to check it out later," Nancy said.
"So that means you might have had no lead at all. The dude was going to take your dad no matter what," Joe pointed out, "It was nothing you did."
"Don't worry about it, Nan. We will find them," Vanessa said.
"I am just angry that I missed this. The guy practically told me where they were and that he was going to take my dad and I missed all of the hints. How did I not realize that the snow globes opened? I thought he had to be leaving notes somehow but I never would have thought in the snow globe. I thought the bottoms were just bottoms," Nancy groaned.
"You are being a pain right now, Nan," Joe said, a little annoyed, "You can't blame yourself for any of this or you are going to make all of us miserable. You have to just accept the fact that what happened happened and you need to move on. You are not going to find this 'deathly admirer' person if you go on feeling sorry for yourself. Yeah, some guy is kidnapping people including your dad. But turn your pity for yourself into determination. You have never not solved a case before and don't make this the first."
Everyone was silent after Joe's rant. Nancy was stunned. She didn't know that this is what Joe thought of her right now. It hurt a little, but she realized that he was right. She was being self-centered and a pain. She needed to focus on finding Katie, Sammie and her dad, and not wallow in her own fears and problems.
"Your right, Joe. I need to stop this crap and get working," Nancy finally said.
"Nan, we're a team. I know your hurting right now, but you need to focus on trying to turn your hurt into determination," Joe said.
"Thanks, Joe," Nancy said.
"Okay, now that that is over with, open the last damn snow globe," Joe said with an impish grin.
"Sir, yes sir," Nancy mocked. She carefully opened up the snow globe of her and her mom. "'Daddy dearest is now gone. This one must hit the closest to home. You have missed your chance once again to save someone, and this time it was the closest person to you. I have grown quite tired with Madi, so it is almost time to get rid of her. If you come to Newbery Park tomorrow at 7, I will return Madi to you. Come alone. Your Deathly Admirer.'"
"So he was planning on taking you that night," Frank said.
"Where do you get that from?" Joe questioned.
"The only reason he would want her to come alone was if he was going to take her. He probably has a gun or else he would not have been threatening. If we went with her, we would get Madi back and assuming he had a gun, he would get away. He planned on dropping her, taking you, and running," Frank said logically.
"But that's all assuming he has a gun," Nancy pointed out.
"How would he have been able to take your father in the middle of the night if he didn't have a gun?" Joe asked, agreeing with his brother.
"By threatening to hurt me. If my safety came into question, he would do anything," Nancy reasoned.
"But the 'come alone' part made it seem like he was going to take you," Frank said, starting to get annoyed. Why was she not getting this? He thought.
"He might have, he might not have. We will never know because I never went," Nancy said.
"And anyway, how do we know he would have returned Madi alive? He didn't say that he would," Joe pointed out.
"That is actually a good point. We don't know that," Frank said.
"I think we need to check out that cabin that Dad and I used to go to," Nancy said.
"That can wait until morning, though," Frank said, "It's getting late."
"Yeah, Nan. Bess and I are leaving and we will meet up with you tomorrow," George said.
"Thanks for helping," Nancy called as the cousins left.
"Where are we sleeping?" Joe asked.
"There's the guest room and the couches here," Nancy said.
"Van can take the guest room and Joe and I will take the couches," Frank said.
"Why can't we have the guest room?" Joe whined.
"Because Vanessa is a girl and girls need their privacy," Nancy said.
"I agree," Vanessa said with a laugh.
"The bed in the guest room is all made. Frank, there are linens in the closet for you and Joe. I am going to go clean up the broken glass and then go to bed," Nancy said with a yawn.
"Good night," Frank said, as Nancy headed up the stairs to her room with Vanessa at her heels.
I am so sorry for the long update. I had so much writers block and I just couldn't figure out how I wanted this chapter to go. I am sorry for making you all wait so long and I hope that I will be able to update soon. The Christmas holidays are coming up so I will definably update over the holidays. Special thanks to all of my awesome reviewers. It was those of you who asked me to update soon who got me moving again and determined to get another chapter up for you guys. So thanks to: TrixieNancy124, Meg Cahill, Cupcake, Guest 1, kvance, Guest 2, Gabriella91, .188, Cynthia Darling, and ILUV ZAMMIE andDanTrixie.