Chapter Twenty-one: NOOOOOOOO. (Frank Hardy)

After hanging up with Nancy, I make my way down to the end of the train—which always feels eight thousand times longer when you have someplace to get to in a hurry—and find in the machine car none other than Joe, sitting on the floor next to the file cabinet, absorbed in something on his phone.

Guilt—or something very much like it—stops me in my tracks and makes me stand there in front of him, even though he doesn't glance up at me. "Joe? What are you doing?"

"Nothing." his reply comes out sounding either intentionally or unintentionally annoyed. "…What do you want?"

I sigh. "I just.. I wanted to apologize. For last night… how I was pretty hard on you. I'm sorry."

Joe doesn't reply. Or look up. At all. He doesn't even acknowledge that I'm standing here trying to talk to him. He just stares at the phone in his hands, not touching it. Like in a numb kind of daze.

"That's fine—you don't have to say anything," a little sarcasm comes out, uncalled for. But whatever. Now Joe is just going to play the shunning game? How freaking lame.

I turn to leave the train car, giving him the time it takes me to cross the room and open the door to say something—but he doesn't say a word. I leave. And slam the door. Intentionally.

What? I'm not allowed to show some kind of outward emotional frustration from time to time? Does everyone really think that "Frank has no emotions because he is observant and analytical and has a dry sense of humour"? I'm not kidding. Joe has legit called me Mr. Spock in the past. Do I find this at all funny? No. In fact, at times like this, I wish I could do that awesome Vulcan shoulder-hold thing and knock him out. Anyway, all that is totally beside the point.

Right now? I am so freaking frustrated, I could strangle Joe. But I'm not about to go back there and waste more time trying to talk to him again. I'm already late for Lori. I mean, she's going to think that my idea of "first thing in the morning" is 10:30.

"Heyy, Frank!" Lori waves, snapping her book shut and sitting up straighter as I walk through the door and let it close behind me. "I was starting to think you'd never come,"

"Yeah, sorry about the lateness, I.. got caught up with some stuff." I cough awkwardly into my fist, crossing the room.

"It's totally fine! Don't worry about it," she motions violently towards the opposite side of the divan she's been sitting on this whole time and after a few seconds of standing here looking like a total dork, I realize that she wants me to sit down. So I take a seat on the end of the divan, facing her.

"Omigosh, I've been waiting like all night and all morning to talk to you," Lori gushes, twirling her fingers through her short blonde hair.

"Seriously?" I would be lying if I said that I don't feel my ears start to heat up.

"Well yeah! I mean—" she pauses for two seconds, then finishes a little softer, "you're like the only one I can really talk to. I feel like.. you're the only one that gets me." she looks back up to me, smiling a little. "You're the only one who takes me seriously, I mean. Everyone else here thinks I'm a total ditz."

"Oh come on, that's not true."

"It is, but whatever." she takes a breath, lifting her head slightly to keep eye-contact with me—which is hard, because my gaze is being thrown all over the place for some idiotic reason. "It doesn't matter what they think of me.. as long as I have you to talk to."

"Of course, you'll always have me to talk to, Lori." No idea where that came from, but at least I didn't sound like an idiot saying it.

She smiles a little. Faintly. "Thanks, Frank. That's really sweet of you,"

I clear my throat, starting to feel a little awkward and really wanting to just get down to business. "So um, I was going to ask you—"

"I know, I know," Lori cuts in, sighing in slight disappointment, "you're going to want to pick up where we left off last night—what I said about Tino, and all that."

I straighten up slightly, trying to act normal and casual. "I'm just.. really curious." I clear my throat, starting off differently. "You said last night that something happened between you and Tino that made you not trust him anymore. What happened exactly? I need to know—it could end up being important."

Lori's expression falls into something like confusion at that last part of my sentence, but she doesn't ask me why or how it could be important. "I.. I don't know if I should say. I mean, it's probably not a good idea to spread like, rumours about people. Especially people in higher-up positions of the law when you're stuck on a train with them."

A short pause cuts in here. "…So you're saying that Tino's powerful position is sort of… frightening you out of wanting to tell me anything?"

"Well…." her gaze drifts away, "that's one way you could say it, I guess."

Dang. How am I going to get it out of her now?

"Lori, look." I lean forward, trying to get eye-contact again. "I promise you that whatever you tell me? It won't leave this train car. Okay? Nothing bad will happen." So maybe that's considered a lie—there's no way I'm not telling Nancy and Joe whatever information I get from Lori here. But Lori doesn't need to know that.

She just stares at me for a few moments before bursting out in total desperation, "Stop doing that!"

I straighten back up, feeling totally confused now. "Doing what?"

"Making that adorable desperate puppy face with your eyes like that—it almost makes me want to tell you everything I know,"

"Please, Lori. I've got to know."

She purses her lips, not saying anything for a few seconds. "Okay, well, if you're sure, then…." she straightens up, pulling in a breath. "It happened yesterday. Around like… I don't know, mid-morning? I was going back to my room in the sleeping car to get something, and I heard a noise. Like, somebody jiggling a doorknob."

I nod slowly. "Go on,"

"So I got kind of curious, y'know? 'Cause at first I thought nobody was in the car with me. So before I went to get my stuff out of my bedroom? I just kind of looked around the corner to the other hallway to see who it was. It was Tino—but that's not what weirded me out. He looked like he was trying to get a locked door open. By jimmying the lock, y'know? At first I thought maybe he had accidentally locked himself out of his own room. But then after I thought about it for a second, I realized that his door is at the end of the hall. This was your room he was trying to get into."

I feel both my eyebrows raise. "Really."

This is a lead.

She nods slowly. Teal eyes wide. "And then I got really curious—I mean, like what the heck was he doing breaking into your room? So I stayed out of sight until he got the door open and went inside."

I'm clinging onto every word at this point. "Uh-huh. And then?"

"And then everything got really quiet. I thought I heard some kind of a beeping noise, but that was it." she starts twirling a strand of blonde hair again.

"Did you see what he was doing in there?" I ask, leaning forward slightly, elbows on my knees.

Lori lets a pause slip by before taking a breath. "Well… I started to sneak up on him—but by the time I was halfway down the hall, I was so scared. I mean, what if he was doing something really horrible or even illegal in there, then I would have been the witness of that! I couldn't do it." she shakes her head quickly, looking genuinely freaked out. But then, she is a fabulous actor.

I won't lie—my heart kind of drops into my stomach when I hear this. "…So what did you do after that?"

"I left," she looks at me, eyes wide like this is such a no-brainer. "I ran back to the caboose and decided that I could get my stuff later."

Though I wasn't planning on letting it out, a sigh escapes my lungs sounding totally let down.

"I'm sorry Frank, was it really that crucial?"

Ha. Yeah, actually. But I don't say that. Instead I force a pathetic smile of wanna-be optimism and look back up at her. "Nah, it's cool. No need to be sorry. I'm just glad that you told me."

Actually, Lori has given me enough information for Nancy and Joe and I to go on, we can really figure the rest out on our own. A lead is a lead. Even a hint is better than nothing.

"When you said you heard a beeping noise,"

"Uh-huh?" Lori nods, looking up to me again.

"What did that sound like, exactly?"

She shrugs, blowing out a sigh. "I don't know! A beeping noise. Like a computer, or a phone or something."

I nod slowly. "Okay.."

Suddenly whatever was left of our conversation is pulled to a halt, as is the train. Seriously. The brakes are slowly applied, jerking everything in the train car back an inch or so, and gradually slowing us down.

"What the heck? Lori jumps up from the divan and goes straight to one of the windows, pulling up the shade and letting a burst of white morning into the shadowy room. "Oh my gosh,"

"What's going on?" I twist around to face her.

"…It looks like we've arrived in Copper Gorge early," she shrugs, dropping the shade. "And it's snowing."

"You're kidding."

She turns to look at me. "You're kidding we're in Copper Gorge or you're kidding it's snowing?"

"Uh, kind of both." I rise to my feet, realizing that everyone is going to be getting off the train very very shortly and I need to catch Nancy to tell her what's new before she vanishes off into this little ghost town. "It was um.. nice talking—"

"You're leaving? Already?" Lori climbs over the back of divan, flopping herself back down, cross-legged. "But you just got here like two seconds ago!"

"I'm sorry Lori, but I've got to run. I need to find Nancy to talk to her before she gets off this train," I start to cross the room, making my way towards the door, "but I promise we can meet up later, okay?"

"Okay," Lori pouts, but goes along anyway. "As long as you promise."

I nod, reaching for the handle of the door. "Yes, I promise." And turn to leave.

But Lori stops me, "Is she your girlfriend?"

I freeze in my pursuit of getting out of here—turning around. "What?"

"Nancy." Lori makes her eyes do that thing again. Wide and doubtful and teal. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"What? No," I almost laugh—actually I think I do laugh a little. "No she's not my girlfriend. We're just friends."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

I shake my head slowly. "…No," Stop blushing, you idiot.

"Oh," she lets out a little hint of a smile, "okay." picking up her book again and flipping it open, pulling her eyes off of mine. "I'll see you later then, Frank."

"Right." I nod and snap out of my slight idiotic daze, turning to push the door open and let myself out onto the platform. Cold, snowy blur. The train has slowed considerably at this point.

Yeah it was difficult to talk with Lori back there, but it was worth it. Even though she didn't see exactly what Tino was doing in mine and Joe's room, break-in entry is a major deal. That explains why when I came back to our room yesterday to synch the phones, the door was unlocked when Joe specifically told me that he had locked it. I'm guessing that Tino must've been in a hurry to get out of there and forgot to lock the door.

This lead could push us ahead really far. I've got to find Nancy.

"Oh man, you have got to be kidding me," my voice comes out with a heavy dose of frustration. "I can't believe this. Where the heck is she?"

It's not a good feeling to be standing in the middle of a snowy, freezing backwoods ghost town in the mountains that obviously does not believe in hosting cell service, with no idea where the only person you need to talk to is.

Not. Good. Okay. Press rewind. This is how the whole deal in Copper Gorge went down. I searched every single car for Nancy, until finally finding Charleena in the dining car, who told me that Nancy was there a minute ago but she left. To go find Joe. Possibly off the train, which had come to a complete halt at this point.

So I tried to call Nancy. No service. Typical. I had a feeling that searching for her outside was going to be totally fruitless. Copper Gorge is a small town, but still. She could be virtually anywhere at this point, possibly still trying to find Joe, who had apparently gone missing, too.

So I checked the whole train again, all the way down to the caboose (Lori had already left, thankfully) and back. Both Nancy and Joe were nowhere to be found. Totally frustrated at that point, I took my search outside. It was snowing hard—the cold white stuff freefalling out of the sky in big, slushy flakes. Everything else about this place looked even colder and more desolate than the last time the train stopped here. Everything except for the warm, orangey light trapped inside the big picture windows of the diner.

Apparently sudden spring snowstorms aren't rare occurrences in this town. After searching around the train stop and the store fronts, finding absolutely no trace of life here, I'm left standing in the middle of this empty, icy gravel lot. Still no service.

I feel like stepping on my phone. Or putting it on the tracks and watching the train wheels crush it to pieces. Okay, that was really stupid and irrational (like something Joe would do.) I would never really do that—this phone is way too important.

Getting desperate, I cross the lot and bang up the icy steps of Buell's storefront, pushing through the door, immediately greeted by a blast of warmth and tungsten light.

Fatima isn't at the counter like usual, but after a few seconds of standing there in the quiet emptiness of the store, I can hear the taffy machine grumbling from behind the Employees Only door. So I slam my fists into the door as hard as I know how.

"Fatima? Are you in there?"

"Who is it?" she yells back in that edgy southern accent. "And what do you want? I can't hear you."

I sigh and fall against the door, but it doesn't give. Shut tight and possibly even locked. "It's Frank Hardy."

"Frank who?"

"Would you please just shut off the machine for a minute?" I shout through the door.

"I will in my own sweet time, Mister Frank No-Name."

I roll my eyes, letting my head bash into the door. This is what happens when you dare to venture to a place with no cell service.

I wait for a few more moments until I hear the grumbling machinery come to a sickly, coughing halt.

"Now. What'd you say your name was?" Fatima asks, still not bothering to open the door at all.

"Frank Hardy."

"And whadda you want?"

I blow out a sigh, dropping my shoulders. "I need to use your phone."

She scoffs. "Now what makes you think I gotta phone? And that I'd let'cha use it?"

"Because… you can't live without a phone,"

And for some reason she finds this funny—bursting out laughing. "Well aren't you just like one a' them kids who can't go enjoy the outdoors n'less you gotta computer in front of your face."

I sigh again. "Look, Fatima—I need to get in contact with someone. A phone would really be helpful right now."

At this point, I hear the lock click and the door is thrown open, almost sending me into a nasty face-first fall. But I catch myself, tearing around to face her.

"Okay, fine, I've gotta phone you can use,"

At first I don't even recognize her. And I wouldn't recognize her if she wasn't talking to me in that trademarked southern drawl. She's sort of tallish. Thin. Freckles. Brown hair. Plaid shirt. Jeans. Muck boots.

"Whadd'you staring at?" Fatima rolls her eyes and pushes past me to cut across the room.

"Uh, nothing—I've just never seen you without that costume on." I clear my throat, trailing behind her as she leads the way out the front door of the store.

"Hm. So ya haven't." she shrugs, tossing her messy braid over one shoulder. "Well how in heck you think I'm s'pose to run that taffy machine wearin' some stupid costume?"

"I don't know—I never really thought about it," I follow her out the door and onto the porch area, which is starting to collect pockets of the snowdrifts.

Fatima doesn't say anything else on the subject. She just leads me all the way to the end of the porch, where I find mounted to the outside wall a pretty dated looking pay phone.

"This here's my coin phone."

I just look at it for a second. "I believe they're called pay phones, now."

"WHATEVER." she rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "It don't take coins no more, so you can make as many calls as you want. This here's a new instalment—them phone wires and what-not. It cost me an arm n' a leg to get that dang phone comp'ny to come all the way up here and do this. And those dang wires're still hangin' down too low." she tosses her hands up in what seems to be total disgust, heading back inside and leaving me standing here by the pay phone. "I told 'em—I said, one a' these days some train's gonna come on by n' rip them phone wires right out. But did they care? Ohh no…" Fatima disappears inside, shutting the door after her to slam out the cold.

I all but jump on the phone, punching Nancy's number into the chunky plastic buttons. This thing looks like it just popped out of a subway circa 1980. But whatever. It'll do the job. Pick up, Nance, come on. PICK UP.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Frank—"

"What number are you calling from?" Nancy sounds fully confused.

I sigh. "Just a pay phone outside Buell's—my phone's service is dead here."

"Wait—outside Buell's?" Nancy asks. "You're not back on the train?"

"No, I was trying to find you. I need to tell you something that Lori told me about Tino—I swore not to repeat it but I have to tell you—apparently yesterday morning, when we were all going over the case in the dining car? She caught Tino breaking into mine and Joe's room—"

Nancy cuts me off, sounding flustered, "Frank, you need to get back on the train—we're leaving!"

"You're what?"

Like on cue, I'm interrupted and temporarily deafened as the train whistle blares from the station, hissing out a stream of smoke and letting out that telltale sound of brakes being released, rolling forward. I rip around, watching in something like shock as the train starts to leave.

"I'm sorry, Frank—" Nancy is all but freaking out when I get the phone back to my ear again. "I thought for sure you were back on the train—"

"Nancy, just—" I pause for a split second, throwing my surroundings a panicked glance. "—just see if you can get them to stop the—"

And this time I'm cut off by a much more gut-wrenching sound. The sound that comes from active wires being brutally torn out of their electric source. You know that hissing, buzzing, dying sound? Instantly the phone in my hand goes dead.

"No." the word escapes my mouth in a paralyzed gasp. "No no no, this cannot be happening!"

At this point I completely drop the phone in my hand, letting it drag to its full slack on the cord, running to the end of the porch to look out into the station and the snow storm and barely visible through the fog of cold the dead, ripped phone wires hanging down on the frozen ground.

Somebody please whack me in the head and tell me I'm just dreaming. THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING. But it is happening.

And by the time I peel my brains off the ground and shove them back into my skull and drag my gaze away from the phone wire wreckage and look up to the station? The train is gone.

FlightFeathers: I'm so glad you liked that part with Joe talking to the robot. XD It was a lot of fun to write and definitely based on a real experience. Haha! ALSO YES. I'm so in love with him it's ridiculous gaaaah. 3 OMG WHEN YOU SAID THAT YOU FEEL AT HOME READING THIS FANFICTION. Thank you! I try to make these characters true to their original selves, so that makes me very very happy. :D You've got it! Tino cloned Joe's phone and is watching him very closely… . EEP I hope you like this chapter!