A/N: First, let me apologize for not posting mid-week. I was all ready to post this chapter, when I decided that I had tried to cram too much, and not enough, into it, and undertook a nearly whole-sale rewrite of the bugger. Anyway, the upshot is that though I didn't post mid-week, I should be able to post a couple chapters this weekend. I hope that is enough to make up for missing the midweek posting!

As always, thanks to those who reviewed! I'm so glad to hear that I am keeping you on your toes, and intrigued. I'm anxious to hear what you make of the clues I drop in this chapter. It's loaded!

I don't own Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, and I make no money from this. So please, give a poor author a little something, and hit the review button at the end of the chapter!

Chapter 10: Snoops and Spooks

"I thought that you girls should have party clothes for the club opening. So I told Phillip that while he kept your boys company, I was going to take you back up to our suite and find you something suitable to wear tonight."

"That's very generous, Yvonne, but really unnecessary –," Vanessa started.

"Oh, nonsense. I have more clothes than I could ever wear again. I'm sure we can find something for each of you. It will be fun."

Nancy looked from Yvonne to Vanessa, both tall and slender, and shook her head. "Yvonne, I seriously doubt you have anything that's going to fit me –"

Yvonne took her arm with a determined smile. "You just watch me."
She caught Vanessa's arm as she dragged Nancy to the door. "You boys behave while we're gone."

Nancy glanced back, and Frank's dark, still-smoldering gaze made her breath catch. Yvonne had lousy timing. She raised an eyebrow at him and indicated the desk in the living room with a pointed glance. Frank nodded slightly to indicate he understood, and turned away to go make sure that their work from earlier was hidden from their unexpected guest.

Resigning herself to Yvonne's ministrations, Nancy pasted a smile on her face and accompanied her out the door without further protest.

In the elevator, Yvonne leaned against the wall, and looked at Nancy with a teasing smile. "So, Frank looked far less than happy to have me whisk you away, Nancy."

Vanessa laughed. "Yeah, but Joe was glad you showed up."

"Joe definitely wouldn't have been happy with the course my and Frank's 'talk' had taken. It probably is a good thing you showed up when you did, Yvonne," Nancy admitted.

"I just can't get over how head over heels Frank is with you, Nan." Vanessa was still chuckling.

Nancy could feel her face redden. "He's not alone."

Yvonne's gaze was thoughtful. "When you find the right man, they certainly can turn your life upside down, can't they? My guy did that to me, too. We've been together nearly two years now, and I still can't get enough of him."

The elevator doors opened, and they moved into the hallway together. Vanessa put an arm around Nancy's shoulders. "I think Frank has been waiting for you for a long time, Nan. I saw him and Cal together quite a bit, and never did he look at her like he looks at you. The sparks are practically visible."

Yvonne nodded. "As are the daggers. And Vanessa is right. The look on his face when he walked out of the bedroom made me want to fan myself. I don't usually go for tall, dark and handsome, but Frank could make a woman change her mind."

Nancy took a deep breath, and swallowed. Listening to Van and Yvonne, she was uncomfortably aware of her body's spontaneous reaction to even just talk of Frank. The physical manifestation of the need he seemed to arouse in her was difficult to stifle, especially with the two of them going on about him.

"Can we please change the topic of conversation?" Nancy begged.

Van squeezed her shoulders, her grin teasing. "Sorry, Nan. We promise not to talk about Frank . . . too much."

By now they had reached the Presidential Suite and followed Yvonne into the bedroom.

"Well here's a change of subject for you," Yvonne said, as she opened the walk-in closet with a flourish. "Honestly, Vanessa, you can have your pick. I think you and I probably take the same exact size."

"How long have you been staying here?" Vanessa asked in awe. "It looks like you live here."

"No, but Daddy lives here in town, and I sent for my essentials from home when Phillip and I arrived. I have a whole other closet-full of dresses and clothes at home."

Nancy let Yvonne and Vanessa start rummaging through the closet while she took the opportunity to snoop. Vanessa seemed to take the hint, asking questions to keep Yvonne's focus off Nancy.

Nancy's attention was immediately drawn to the dresser. A large jewelry armoire that she suspected was Yvonne's occupied much of the space, but next to it sat a small, ebony box with pearl inlay. Nancy bypassed the armoire and opened the box. Inside she found a wallet, a Rolex watch, and several other pieces of men's jewelry. Glancing back, she made sure Yvonne and Vanessa were still occupied, and started picking through the contents, looking at each item briefly.

The only jewelry of interest in the box was a class ring, and this she picked up and examined closely. It appeared to be a department-store type class ring, which seemed odd for a guy who came from money. The school was indicated with generic initials, 'BHS,' over a deep blue stone with a starburst underneath. On one side was a billiard table with the name 'Guy.' The other side had a yin yang symbol with what she assumed was a graduation year, 2001. The name 'Gaetano Mancini' was etched into the silver metal of the inside of the band.

So it wasn't Phillip's class ring, after all. But, who the heck was Gaetano Mancini, and why did Phillip Colby have his class ring? Maybe he made a habit of stealing people's jewelry. She set the ring back in the box, her thoughts churning.

She had left the wallet for last. Checking on Yvonne and Van once more, she picked it up and flipped it open, poking through the many crevices of the tri-fold leather contraption – and men had the nerve to talk about a woman's purse, she thought.

She found a pocket hidden under a flap, and folded within it a series of four pictures of two young men. She was fairly certain one of them was a younger Phillip, though in the grainy and faded black and white photos the two men looked very similar. The pictures had been taken at one of those souvenir photo booths somewhere, and Phillip had obviously carried them around with him for some time.

Yvonne's voice floated out of the closet. "Ooo, I think this would fit Nancy, and the color couldn't be more perfect!"

Nancy slipped the photos into her pocket, and quickly replaced the wallet in the box, closing the lid silently.

She joined Yvonne and Van in the closet. "Let me see!"

Yvonne handed her a short, electric blue cocktail dress. "It will be a little longer than intended on you, but I think it could work. Try it on."

Nancy laid the dress on the bed, and unfastened her pants. As they dropped to the floor, Nancy's locket fell out of the pocket. Yvonne snatched it up.

"Oh, I broke the chain. There's a jeweler just down the street. You must let me have the concierge take it down there to be fixed. Then you could wear it this evening."

"That's not necessary, Yvonne."

"I won't take 'no' for an answer."

She spun away, leaving Nancy looking after her. Nancy didn't think there were many people who dared to say 'no' to Yvonne Whitney. The woman was obviously accustomed to getting her way.

In this case, Nancy didn't mind. She was just relieved that the photos hadn't followed the locket out of her pocket. She ensured the strip of pictures was tucked deep in the pocket, and then carefully folded her pants and laid them on a nearby chair.

She jumped when Van touched her shoulder and whispered. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes –"

"Does the dress fit, Nancy?" Yvonne called from the living room.

She stripped off her shirt. "I don't know yet." The answer seemed to suffice for both Yvonne and Vanessa.

Van had picked up the dress, and helped Nancy pull it over her head. Nancy grunted as Van tried to pull the zipper up. "Ouch, easy Van. I'm not a sausage."

Giggling, Vanessa called out, "We're going to have to try again, Yvonne. I think the key may be to find something strapless. Nancy's shoulders are too broad."

Yvonne had returned, and took a turn tugging at the zipper, before she nodded agreement. "Well the shoulders do seem to be the issue. Not a problem. I have a lot of strapless dresses."

"Strapless?" Nancy asked uncertainly.

Vanessa laughed. "Yes, Nancy, strapless. I think Frank might like that."

"Oh, I'm certain he will." Yvonne's smile was wide.

"Well, then, strapless it is," Nancy said with an accepting grin.

*

Frank removed his jump drive, flipped the papers he had been reading face down on the keyboard of the laptop and closed the screen.

"What are you working on, Frank?" Phillip asked.

He turned and held up his jump drive. "I was working on editing my master's thesis."

Joe dropped onto the couch and snorted. "Yeah, he carries that thing everywhere he goes."

"Where are you going to school?" Phillip asked as he sat down in an easy chair near the couch.

"George Washington University. I should graduate soon with a Master's in High Tech Crime." Frank motioned toward the refrigerator. "Joe, what do you have to drink? Phillip, do you want anything?"

"There's soda and beer. Grab me a beer, would ya, bro?"

"Beer sounds good," Phillip said.

Frank returned a minute later with beers all around, and dropped onto the couch. Indicating the television, he said, "I think you can turn that off, Joe."

"What a relief. I'm getting a little tired of the old romantic comedies, but Van loves them." Joe flipped the television off, and turned to Phillip. "So, how fancy is this club we're going to, anyway?"

"Ties aren't required. I think we'll be fine in jackets," Phillip said.

Frank grimaced. "Got an extra jacket, Joe?"

"Yeah, but my jackets look like tents on you, my skinny, little brother."

"I'm not skinny. You're just a moose. And I'm still taller than you."

"Yeah, by like one inch. I've got more than that on you in shoulder width."

Phillip laughed. "Are you two always like this?"

Frank grinned. "We only argue this particular point once per month. We try to rotate our argument schedule so they don't get too stale."

"We do introduce special topics periodically, just to mix it up," Joe added.

"You two act more like best friends than brothers. The guys I knew who were brothers never got along that well."

"Yeah, well, we're more like partners than brothers," Joe said, then scowled. "Or at least we were."

"That would be the special topic du jour, and I'm sick of it already," Frank said sourly.

Joe sighed. "Sorry, just slips out sometimes. Dealing."

"What's wrong?" Phillip asked.

"Nothing," Joe snapped.

"He's pissed because I'm moving to Chicago, instead of back to the Bayport area."

"Bayport, New York?"

"Yeah. That's where we grew up. Our folks still live there."

"You live there, Joe?" Phillip asked.

"Van and I have an apartment in Brooklyn," Joe said. "It's convenient since Dad bought a small office building in Rosedale and moved Hardy Investigators there. That's where I work."

"But the lovely Ms. Drew is here in Chicago, so Frank won't be joining the family business. Now I understand the problem," Phillip said.

"I just don't understand why Nan won't even consider a move to New York. Dad would hire her in a heart beat. He knows what a killer team we are." Joe slumped further into the couch, expression sullen.

"Nancy is the only family her dad has. I don't feel right asking her to move away from him. We've been over this, Joe."

"He's right, Joe," Phillip said. "You don't take an only daughter away from her father. I think that's a rule somewhere."

"Is that why you're moving away from New Canaan?" Joe asked.

Phillip seemed to shut down at the mention of New Canaan. "There was nothing for me at home, anymore. I haven't been there in some time." He chuckled, and added, "Giving up the good life in the French Riviera, however, was definitely a sacrifice."

"Is that where you met Yvonne?" Frank asked.

"I met her in France, yes. She had been studying at the Sorbonne, and was . . . shall we say, ready for a break."

Frank raised an eyebrow at him. "Sounds like you weren't such a good influence on the lovely heiress."

A flash of emotion crossed Phillip's face, and Frank's impression was that of guilt, or perhaps shame. He couldn't be certain, and the emotion was hidden as quickly as it had appeared.

"Probably not, but that will be our secret. She skipped out, and we toured the entire Mediterranean. Personally, I would have been very happy to continue travelling, but Yvonne was ready to come home."

"So you gave up all that freedom for her, huh? Are you nuts?" Joe asked.

"I'm pretty nuts about her, yeah."

The New Canaan uppity accent had been dropped entirely during that last statement. He sounded just like any other guy walking the Jersey streets. Phillip Colby was a study in contradictions, but Frank had to admit that he was starting to actually like the guy. He just wasn't sure he trusted him.

Taking advantage of Phillip's forthcoming disposition, Frank asked another question, "How long did you and Yvonne travel before coming back to the states?"

"A little over a year."

"And her father didn't have a problem with that?" Joe asked in surprise.

"Actually, he wasn't at all happy that she had left France without telling him." Phillip seemed to relax into the story. "He even came to Italy while we were there, and tried to talk Yvonne into going back to school. But she was adamant, and as he always does, David gave into her."

"You met David Whitney then?" Frank asked.

Phillip shook his head and smirked. "Yvonne told him she was traveling with a girl friend that she had met at the Sorbonne. She didn't think her father would be nearly as agreeable if he knew she was traveling with a couple guys."

Frank raised an eyebrow. "A couple guys?"

Phillip stiffened, and Frank got the impression he hadn't meant to reveal that. "Yes, well, when I met Yvonne, I wasn't traveling alone. A friend of mine had joined me."

"Someone you met in your travels?" Joe asked. "That can be dangerous, you know."

"No, it was an old friend from back home. His pare . . . um, he had lost his father, and taken off a few years before my parents were killed. He was in Turkey when it happened, and immediately came to Yemen when he heard. He convinced me to take a break from school and travel with him for awhile. I was in a deep state of shock. I'm not sure what I would have done if Guy hadn't shown up."

Frank sat forward. "How were your parents killed?"

"It was a car bombing." Phillip said.

"I remember that," Joe said. "It was about two years ago, wasn't it? It was all over the news in New York."

"Not quite two years," Phillip said.

"Had you been traveling for awhile before that?" Frank asked.

Phillip looked at Frank warily, but answered evenly. "Some, but not like afterwards. I was in school, and could only travel during my breaks."

Frank could tell he was pushing too hard. If he wanted to keep Phillip from totally shutting down, he was going to have to back off.

He smiled sympathetically. "I can't imagine losing both my parents so suddenly. It must have been a real shock. It's a good thing you had a friend so immediate, especially considering where you were."

Phillip relaxed slightly. "Yes, he had been traveling for several years all around Europe and the Mediterranean. Guy had been like a brother to me, but we lost touch when he started traveling, and I went to school – you know, the usual thing that happens to high school friends. If there's one good thing that came out of my parents' death, it's that I was able to renew and strengthen an old friendship."

Liesle strode in at that moment, her face set in a grim expression. "Well, I just received word back from the office. We have an identification on our cameraman, and it greatly complicates things."

Frank grimaced. He didn't think things could get much more complicated than they already were.

Apparently he was wrong.