Chapter 8

"Okay, so what are we gonna do?" Joe said, thinking aloud. Joe, Frank, Nancy and Bess were sitting in the girls hotel room, thinking up a plan for the meeting that night.

"Well, lets look at what we know so far. Maybe if we look at the facts we can figure out something important, or at least think up some kind of plan." Nancy told them.

Frank nodded. "Okay, so what do we know?"

"Well we know that the guy, Kenny Cornet, had been acting creepy and suspicious. He could be the murderer." Joe said.

"Yeah but he said that he was being threatened. If you thought that someone was going to try and kill you, you would be edgy too."

"Bess." Joe sighed. "He could very possibly be lying. Murderers do that when they think that there about to be caught. And for all we know, the meeting tonight could be a trap to get rid of us because we know to much."

"Well he seemed sincere." Bess told him.

"Okay. So we know that we cannot trust this guy." Nancy interrupted them. "I think that someone should stay behind, so they know where we are. Or someone could stay out of sight and watch to make sure that no one tries to sneak up on us and whack us in the head with a baseball bat or something. That'll work since he doesn't know theres four of us."

"I agree with Nancy. But the question isn't if someone should stay behind, its who." Frank said. "I definitely think that Joe should be one of the people to go to the meeting and talk to Cornet. Since they've already met."

Joe agreed. "I think that Bess should stay at the hotel. It would be safer if she stays here. Cornet might expect something since shes not there, but that might give him another reason not to try anything funny. Nancy should probably be the one to stay in the shadows, that way if Cornet tries anything, me and Frank have the muscle to stop it while Nancy calls the Police."

"I think thats whats best too. Bess, the meeting starts at 7:30. He is supposed to tell us everything that he knows, so it could take a while. If we are not back by ten, its probably safe to say that something has happened, and then you need to call the police. Tell them about being undercover and the meeting so they can come as fast as possible. Unless we call and tell you not to." Nancy told her.

"Okay. I can do that." Bess said nervously. Nancy smiled at her.

"Don't worry Bess. You'll do fine." Nancy told her.

Bess took a deep breath. "So what time are you meeting him?"

Frank looked at his watch. "We're going to meet him at seven thirty. Its five right now so we still have a while to think. What else do we know about the case?"

"Well we know that the Fregans are hiding something." Nancy said. "The conversation that we heard seemed pretty suspicious, like they were afraid of getting caught."

"Yeah, but we were afraid of getting caught to. We could have misunderstood." Frank told her.

"Maybe but I don't think that we did. What if there the murderers?" Nancy asked. "They could try something while were gone. They know where we're staying and if Cornet is working with or for them, they could try and break into the room while were gone and surprise us."

"Bess maybe you shouldn't stay in the room. You would be safer in a crowd so stay in one of the cafès." Frank told her. "But I think that we should just go to the meeting. We don't have to worry about anything being stolen, we can ask Mr. Bristen to put our important things in his office. And hopefully by the end of the meeting with Cornet we'll know who the killer is."

"Frank's right, now what do we know about the victims?" Joe asked.

"We know that they were young newly weds. And that Missy Briggs had a stalkerish ex-boyfriend." Nancy said. "Hey are you guys sure that there is no way to figure out who that was?"

"I tried to get Mr. Bristen to tell us the guys name but he wouldn't." Joe said. "And I highly doubt that the restraining order would be on the Internet. Why does it matter anyway? I thought we thought we already had our murderer."

"I don't know, I just have a weird feeling about it." Nancy told them. "Couldn't you try again?"

"If he didn't tell us last time why would this be different?" Frank asked.

"You guys should be able to come up with something. You've stopped killers before but you can't get a man to tell you the name of his sisters ex?" Bess asked.

"Well, if you put it that way, then we have to try." Joe said. Frank just rolled his eyes. They left the room and Bess looked at Nancy.

"Do you really think that this boyfriend lead will take you anywhere, you already have a compelling case against the Fregans and Cornet and having them as the killer makes more since."

"But I feel like we're missing part of the puzzle and I'm having trouble figuring out the motives," Nancy told her. "Something feels weird about this case. I feel like the guys are just trying to catch Cornet whether he is the killer or not."

Bess sighed. "Are you sure your not just feeling strange being here with Frank. You and him have been acting strange around each other today."

"Oh Bess!" Nancy flopped down on the bed and buried her face in a pillow. "He kissed me." She mumbled.

"Was that English? Because if it was, I didn't catch any of it." Bess said sarcastically.

Nancy sat up, glared at Bess, then looked depressed again. "I said that he kissed me."

"Yeah." Bess sat there waiting. "Wait, that's it? Thats why your so freaked out?"

"Well, yes. Do I need another reason?"

"No, but don't you think that your over reacting a bit?"

"Bess, a guy who is not my boyfriend kissed me, and then told me that he had feelings for me, and I may or may not have feelings for him too. How is that not bad?"

Rolling her eyes, Bess said. "Of course you have feelings for him." Bess was quiet for a moment. "Bright side. If you get killed tonight, you don't have to worry about it!"

Nancy laughed, "Killed by murdering creep, talk about my feelings with Frank. Can't decide which sounds better."

Bess was laughing at her joke when Joe and Frank came in. "Now how come we're doing all the work and your sitting here telling jokes?" Joe asked.

"What did you find out?" Nancy asked, ignoring the question.

"Not much. Just background info on the victims. Mr. Bristen gave us some of the stuff we asked for. Credit reports and Bank statements, stuff like that. He also told me that they knew each other at Brooksvile High, thats where he thinks that Missy met the stalker boyfriend." Frank told her.

Nancy picked up Missy's credit report. "Well this doesn't look to bad. Looks like she really didn't use her credit card much, and when she did she always paid it off quickly. Nothing really big." She turned to the second page. "Or at least she didn't until recently." Nancy kept looking. "Wow it looks like she had two of her cards maxed out, and had a big debt on another one and she just paid her debt not to long ago and it was four months late."

"Wow." Bess picked Craig's report. "He has a large debt too. One of his credit cards are maxed, and he had debts on two others." She closed the papers. " It was paid at the same time as Missy's."

"Well that would be a good motive for the Fregans. He said Mr. Bristen owed him the money his sister borrowed and that it was a lot.

Frank sighed. "We can't follow the Fregans tonight." He thought for a moment. "How about this. Tonight we'll go to the meeting as planned, b--"

"How would that help if the Fregans are the murderers?" Bess questioned, cutting him off.

"Let him finish Bess, geez" Joe told her. Bess rolled her eyes at him as he said, "Continue" to Frank.

"Like I said. We go to the meeting tonight as planned. We need the information that Cornet has, he is either lying and is the killer, or he knows who the killer is. Before we go though, we'll ask Mr. Bristen what the Fregans are doing tonight and tell him to keep an eye on them. That way if they do anything suspicious, Bristen can call us."

"I'll call him." Nancy announced, getting up and walking toward the room phone. She punched in the number for the front desk and wanted.

"Hello. This is Allison at the Front Desk." Allison said.

"Hello. This is Nancy Drew, I'd like to speak with Mr. Bristen."

"One moment please." Hold music came on. After a moment the music stopped and Mr. Bristen answered.

"Hello Miss Drew. What can I do for you?" he sighed.

"In's Sorry for bothering you. We just wanted to know if you could tell us what the Fregans are doing tonight?" Nancy asked.

"Is this about the case?"

"Yes sir."

"Give me a moment and I'll check." The hold music came back on for a few minutes.

"What did he say?" Fran asked.

"I'm on hold...I'll tell you in a minute." Nancy replied.

Mr. Bristen came on. "Yes Nancy they're getting ready to go on out beach side tour, that starts at Seven. Why?"

"Really? Well Mr. Bristen, we were wondering if you could keep an eye on them. . . By the way, does that tour go past the Boardwalk?"

"Why yes it does. How did you know? They actually stop at the boardwalk to do some shopping." Mr. Bristen told her.

"Thank you for telling me. We were also wondering if you could have someone keep and eye on them at all times, and if they see them do anything suspicious, tell them to call either me, Frank or Joe. Okay?"

"Yes Miss Drew. I will have someone keep and eye on them. Is that all?" He asked.

"Yes. Goodbye, Mr. Bristen."

"Goodbye." Nancy hung up the phone.

"So whats happening?" Joe asked Nancy.

"The Fregans will be at the board walk."