Disclaimer: I don't own Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. The OCs are all mine, for what that's worth.

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Chapter 24: Sins & Salvation

The woman who answered the door was pretty in a very plain way, dressed in a t-shirt and faded jeans with slippers on her feet. Her out-of-a-bottle auburn hair fell to the middle of her back in unruly waves that had obviously not been tamed by a professional beautician in awhile. Her face was open and friendly though there was a guardedness obvious in her hazel-green eyes.

Vanessa held out her hand. "Grace? I'm Vanessa Bender and this is Anna Haggerty. I spoke to you on the phone earlier. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice."

Grace shook the offered hands and then opened the door to the tiny bungalow wide. "I have to admit, I was surprised to hear Eliza's name after all these years."

They followed Grace into a cozy living room filled with mismatched furniture. The only new item in the room was the large, flat-screen television hanging on the wall that had obviously replaced the old television that still sat in the corner.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Grace asked.

They both declined and their hostess sat in a glider rocker as Vanessa and Anna took seats on the couch.

"I just can't believe Lizzy's dead," Grace said. "I mean, I wondered why she stopped coming around but I thought . . . it doesn't matter what I thought. Lizzy tried to keep her new life in Chicago separate from her old life. She was always saying that the only way to live life was forward. It had to be hard on her daughter, though. Growing up without a mom. I feel terrible that I didn't even know. I hope you'll tell her how sorry I am. Really, truly sorry."

Grace seemed uncomfortable and Vanessa decided maybe she should start off with some innocuous background questions first.

"I'm sure Nancy will appreciate that, Grace. I was hoping maybe you could start by telling us how you met Eliza."

Grace's full mouth turned up in a spontaneous smile. "Lizzy wasn't like anyone I'd ever met in group home. A lot of the kids were lifers, like me – never really knew a stable home life, you know? Lizzy, though, she was determined to find another real home like she had with her folks . . . before her baby brother was kidnapped, anyway."

"She told you about Zachary?" Anna asked.

"She never talked about him a whole lot – it made her sad. But she told me all about her life before Zack was kidnapped. It sounded like she had an incredible family at one point. She was angry about what happened to her brother – to her whole family, really. Sometimes it was almost like she was angry at Zack but Lizzy was a smart one – she knew it wasn't his fault. You just can't always control those kinds of feelings. Like me, I was angry at the world when I met Lizzy. I'm not exaggerating when I say that she saved my life."

Grace stopped and shifted before standing abruptly. "You sure I can't get you nothing to drink?"

Vanessa smiled at the woman. "No, thanks, we're fine, really. You were telling us how you knew Lizzy. It sounds like you were good friends."

Sinking back into the rocker, Grace said, "Lizzy and me did become really good friends. I was just a couple years older than her and we bumped along together through the system. She had this idea that she was going to find a foster family that could replace her parents. She was always disappointed, though. I tried to tell her."

"Did that cause her to lose hope?" Vanessa felt a great deal of empathy with Eliza Morgan and couldn't help the sadness that sounded in her voice.

Grace looked at Vanessa with a thoughtful smile as she relaxed back into her chair. "You know that was the amazing thing about Lizzy. She never lost hope. She was . . . what's the word I'm thinking of? Determined? We both ended up back in group a few times together – we even got placed at one home together – and she never, ever lost sight of what she wanted. She even helped me find some hope for the future. She used to tell me that life was what you make of it."

"Sounds like she was very optimistic," Vanessa said.

"No, that's not the right word. Determined, like I said. Lizzy had a real dark side and optimistic is not a word I'd use to describe her. Hopeful maybe, and determined definitely. But she was convinced that it took hard work to make the life you wanted. It wasn't just going to come to her – she thought that more and more the older she got. I guess, in a way, the system took its toll on her. She never gave up the dream, though – even after she graduated."

"What do you mean?" Vanessa asked.

"That guy she ended up marrying, Carson, she said he made her dream come true. She may never have found a family like she had as a kid but she said he helped her create a family like that. She said he was the best thing that had ever happened to her."

"You two kept in touch after Eliza moved to Chicago?"

"Kind of. Lizzy would visit sporadically, just to check up, you know. But she really wanted to put her life in Ithaca behind her and I tried to respect that. I knew it wasn't because she didn't care about me. By then we both had our own lives to live. Lizzy always said there was no sense in looking back when you had so much looking forward to do."

"You said you and Eliza bumped through the system together. What happened after you graduated?"

"She and I ended up working at the same place –" Grace faltered.

Van asked, "Mama's Kitchen in Richford?"

A shade dropped in Grace's eyes but she nodded. "Yes. I had . . . a bad experience there before she came. She actually came to help me cope. Anyway, it made me very hesitant to get involved with anyone, again. But then, one day, Kyle walked in and asked me out for dinner. He's a trucker and had a regular run from upstate to NYC and would sometimes stop in the diner, so I knew him. I never thought he was interested, though I guess he was. I mean, He actually came all the way down to Richford on his day off to ask me out."

"That's so sweet," Vanessa said.

Grace heaved a rueful sigh. "Yeah, it was sweet. But I turned him down. Lizzy happened to be on-shift with me that day. She dragged me into the back and gave me what-for. I ended up going out on that date with him and . . . well, we've been happily married ever since. Twenty-two years, now."

Van knew this was likely to be a sensitive subject. "You said you had a bad experience. I hate to dredge up difficult memories, Grace, but I think it could be really important for us to know what happened. If you feel up to sharing I'd really appreciate it."

Grace stared at Van for several seconds before standing. She wrapped her arms around herself and began to pace. "I . . . I had been working at Mama's Kitchen for almost a year. It's a really great . . . it was a really great place to work. Callisto was a real sweetheart – gave us a cheap place to live and taught us how to do our job so that our customers were happy and tipped well. He even paid minimum wage, which for a waitressing job, at the time, was unheard of."

"Anyway, it was October. The college crowd had started coming in regularly again, and I . . . I met this guy, Stuart. He was charming and handsome and . . ." Grace took a deep breath and turned sad eyes on Van and Anna. "I thought he was the one, you know. He was the first guy I'd met outside the system. I thought he loved me. And then –"

When she didn't continue, Van gently prompted, "What happened, Grace?"

Grace's chin quivered. "I got pregnant and he called me a little whore and told me to get lost. I was so devastated. What was I going to do with a kid and a minimum wage job? And that bastard wouldn't even help – and I knew he had money. His parents owned a chain of sporting goods stores."

She dropped into her rocking chair and buried her face in her hands. "I was so humiliated."

Vanessa hurried over and crouched by Grace's side. Anna followed more slowly.

Van patted Grace's back. "What a jerk! What did you do?"

Grace lifted her face and accepted the tissue that Anna offered. "Callisto was . . . wonderful. He told me not to worry. He went and talked to Stu and – well, he couldn't change Stu's mind about not wanting anything to do with me but he did get some money out of the deadbeat. Callisto was always great that way. He handed me a thousand dollars cash and told me that he would help me through the pregnancy."

"And the child?" Anna asked.

Grace looked down. "It turned out to be a false alarm. Cal told me to keep the money – Stu and his family wouldn't miss it anyway. I know it was wrong but he hurt me so bad."

She looked up at Vanessa, eyes begging for forgiveness. "I would have given the money back if Stu had once come to check on me but he never did. He didn't care. I felt like such a fool."

Van patted her hand. "That's why you were so reluctant to go out with Kyle."

Grace chuckled dryly, "Yes. But like Lizzy said, Kyle is nothing like Stuart. Like night and day. Thank God!"

Van and Anna returned to their seats on the couch as Grace mopped up the tears.

She sighed and gave them a tremulous smile. "You know, there's something freeing about admitting what happened with Stu. That whole thing was such an awful experience. I don't know what I would have done if Callisto hadn't helped me through it. That's why I find it so hard to believe that he could be doing anything illegal. He was like – the caring father-figure none of us had ever really had. He wouldn't hurt any of the girls that worked for him – he just wouldn't."

Vanessa refrained from pointing out that extorting money from a man was illegal. The truth was she felt like Stuart owed it to Grace for being such a jerk. But that didn't make it any less wrong.

In her head, Vanessa went over her and Frank's conversation about the things she should try and learn from Grace. She realized with a start that there had been no mention of Grace and Eliza's other friend within the system.

"Grace, what about Mary Boroski? You haven't mentioned her."

Grace stood, her face a stony mask. "I don't remember her. Really, I have a lot to do today. If that's all I think you should leave."

The change was startling and Vanessa stood as well. She crossed her arms and faced the woman.

"Why the sudden change in attitude, Grace? Where is Mary Boroski?"

Full mouth compressed into a thin line, Grace leveled Vanessa with a wary, calculating gaze.

"Who are you, really?" She finally asked.

"I told you, Grace. I'm a friend of Eliza's daughter, Nancy Drew," Vanessa answered. "Pru Lawson told Nancy that Mary Boroski was a close friend of yours and Eliza's. That's why I was surprised you haven't mentioned her."

Grace's face cleared marginally but she still seemed very much on guard. "Pru told you about her, huh? That makes sense. But, well, I'm sorry, Mary Boroski is . . . gone."

"Gone?" Vanessa was very confused. "Gone as in dead?"

There was a long pause. "You're really friends of Lizzy's daughter? That's why you're here?"

"Yes, Grace. What's going on? What's happened to Mary Boroski?"

"I promised Lizzy," she said quietly.

"What did you promise her, dear?" Anna broke in gently.

Grace considered them both for several long seconds before apparently deciding they were trustworthy. "Mary Boroski no longer exists. But if you're interested in friends of Eliza Morgan you might want to talk to Marianne Beam. She lives just the other side of town."

Grace walked to a nearby table and jotted something on a note pad lying next to the phone. She ripped the page off and held it out to Vanessa.

"I'll call Marianne and let her know you're coming."

nhnhnhnhnhnh

Vanessa's ring tone put a smile on Joe's face. "Hey, babe. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Frank told me to give you a call and brief you on what we've learned so far."

Joe couldn't help but be impressed with Vanessa's succinct summary of what she had learned from Grace Hilyer as well as her theories about what it meant.

Van took a deep breath. "Anyway, Anna and I are at Marianne Beam's now, so I'm going to let you go."

"Please be careful, babe," Joe said.

"If what I suspect is true then I really don't see where I have anything to be worried about. Our biggest problem is going to be convincing Marianne that she should talk to us. Wish me luck!"

Joe smiled and obliged, "Luck, but I don't think you need it. I think you could charm the Pope out of his ring if you put your mind to it. I love you, babe."

"I love you, too." Van rang off and Joe closed the phone. He still wasn't thrilled with her involvement but he had to admit that it was handy having her along to run down these leads while he, Frank and Nancy were otherwise occupied.

He had been waiting now for nearly two hours and was beginning to get antsy. Nancy had texted him a few minutes ago to let him know she was still upstairs, still filling out paperwork. He decided to drop her a quick text. If she was alone maybe she could call him so he could fill her in.

She called moments later. He only had time to give her the bare bones of Grace's story and Van's suspicions about Marianne Beam before she hissed that someone was coming and hung up.

Joe sighed and settled back, holding the newspaper up in front of his face but not really reading it. Though people watching was a pastime he didn't really mind, after two hours of watching people come and go Joe was ready to do some coming or going himself. The only thing keeping him rooted to this spot was knowing that his brother would kill him if something happened to Nancy and Joe was out wandering around instead of at his assigned station.

Shoving the paper back into his pack, Joe decided to work off some nervous energy with a quick walk around the lobby. He was on his way to check out the building directory again, when a middle-aged man in a shabby three-piece suit with sandy hair and a round face bumped into him with a mumbled apology. Joe had a fleeting impression that he should know the guy but couldn't recall from where. So he pulled out his cell to take a quick snapshot of him. Maybe Frank would be able to jog his memory.

The man entered the elevator alone. Joe watched as the doors closed. The elevator went to the ninth floor and stopped. Glancing at the directory, Joe noted that the adoption agency was on that floor. With a shrug he headed back to his seat to resume his station.

Man, did he hate stake outs.

nhnhnhnhnhnh

Frank watched as the last of the morning rush at Mama's Kitchen pulled out of the parking lot. He shouldered his pack and stepped out of the car, deciding that now was as good a time as any to go check out the storage locker he had watched Callisto Padovano enter twice early this morning.

He strolled down the sidewalk in front of the diner, continuing down the next block before turning the corner. He made his way around the block to approach Mama's Kitchen from the side street.

The apartments behind the diner that served as living quarters for the waitresses were accessed by a dirt drive that led off the side street. The storage locker Frank had seen Padovano enter this morning was basically a garage at the street end of the row of apartments.

With a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, Frank strode past the padlocked main entry next to the closed overhead door and slid into the weeds and overgrown shrubs behind the building.

A dirty window with bars over it was centered on the back wall of the garage. Frank peered around the open bay. It was a standard width one-car garage but was at least half a car length deeper than usual. The interior was very clean and orderly.

There were rows of metal shelving in the rear portion of the garage that from Frank's limited range of vision appeared to be loaded with boxes of restaurant supplies and dried and canned goods. Additional boxes lined the other two walls of the garage, with wooden pallets holding bags of potatoes, onions and carrots lined up in the area where a car would normally sit.

In short, it looked like a storage locker for a restaurant. Lacking any other smoking gun in the visible portion of the garage, Frank decided that it would be worthwhile to gain entry and take a closer look at what he couldn't see.

Making short work of picking the padlock, Frank hung it back in the latch so it appeared locked and slipped into the garage undetected. He checked his watch and marked the time – he didn't want to be in here too long. Frank nearly jumped out of his skin when his cell buzzed as he was making his way to the back of the garage. He made a mental note to check the message when he got back to the car.

Along the very back wall Frank found sets of shelves filled with file boxes. There were far too many for him to look through but it was encouraging. He wandered down the row, reading through the labels on each box. Most appeared to contain historic diner financial and personnel records. He poked through a couple of the personnel files but didn't find anything immediately interesting and moved on.

He found two anomalous boxes of pregnancy tests on a lower shelf, nestled among the file boxes. One of the boxes was marked with a plus sign, the other with a plus slash minus. He puzzled over them briefly but his attention was quickly drawn to a windowed door near the end of the row that opened into a small office area.

The door was locked with an armed alarm system. Frank studied it for several minutes, his mind mulling over why this office had a security system while the garage itself was just padlocked, even as he tried to figure out how to get inside.

Following the leads out of the alarm pad, Frank gave a satisfied smirk. Opening his pack, he pulled out a couple of wire leads. He opened his pocket knife and, after checking the time, he set to work. With some careful manipulations he was able to disarm the alarm, smiling when the amber light turned to green.

He checked the time again. He only had a few more minutes left on his self-imposed time limit. Inside the room he found a good-sized safe in one corner and next to it several locked filing cabinets.

The filing cabinet locks were easy enough to pick. Frank opened the first, quickly flipping through the contents. The files were labeled with last names and each contained at least one ledger of what appeared to be monetary amounts. Each separate ledger had another name on it and what really confused him was that the names on the ledgers did not match the names on the files. He opened the next drawer and the next, looking for anything to give him a clue about who or what the ledgers were for.

It was the last drawer he opened – the one in the bottom of the far left filing cabinet – that caught his eye. Near the back of the drawer he found a file labeled 'Murphy, G.' and a few files further forward a file labeled 'Morgan, E.' The Morgan file had a ledger inside with the name 'Drew, Carson' at the top with an Ithaca address. Other than that, the ledger was blank. The Murphy file also had a ledger page with the name 'Dunham, Stuart' at the top with an address and phone number, followed by several monetary entries. Frank pulled out his notebook and jotted down Stuart Dunham's information before replacing the file.

Searching through the same drawer, he was again puzzled. Assuming the 'Murphy' file was for Grace Murphy and the 'Morgan' file was for Eliza Morgan, Frank had assumed he'd find a file labeled 'Boroski' but he didn't. Maybe he was misinterpreting what he found.

He replaced the files and relocked the drawers, then exited the office. He carefully removed the leads before rearming the alarm. He made it out of the garage and back to the car without being detected.

As he settled into the seat to resume his vigil, he remembered the text he had received while snooping. He pulled out his cell and found he had received a pic-text from Joe. The text 'do u know' accompanied a fuzzy picture of a man getting ready to enter an elevator.

Frank turned the key in the ignition even as he hit the speed dial for his brother. He didn't give his brother chance to even say hello.

"Joe, that picture you sent me. It's Jim Bowers. He knows who Nancy is."

"I knew he looked familiar. Don't panic, big brother. He actually went up to the ninth floor, which is where an adoption agency is located. He probably works with them on adoption cases – you said he was a family lawyer, right?"

Frank swallowed the worst of his fear, allowing the logic of what Joe said quell his initial panic. There was really no reason to think Nancy was in any danger.

"Have you had any contact with Nancy? Is she still in the TNT offices?"

"Yeah. I talked to her a little bit ago – gave her a quick rundown on what Van learned. She was still working on intake paperwork."

Frank blew out a relieved breath but he was still unaccountably anxious. "Joe, I don't think there's anything I can really do here at Mama's Kitchen until Nan gets here. I'm going to head your direction. Would you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Go up to the TNT offices and just make sure that Nan's ok."

Joe chuckled. "You got it, big brother."

nhnhnhnhnhnh

Nancy slid the cell phone back into her pocket and looked at the door expectantly. Joe's hasty summary of what Vanessa had learned from Grace answered the question about the scam at the diner – extortion. It all made sense, now.

But Mary Boroski raised a whole new set of questions. Nancy felt pretty confident that Vanessa was right to suspect that Marianne Beam and Mary Boroski were one and the same person. The reason for the identity change threw a whole new monkey wrench into what was going on at Mama's Kitchen.

Realizing no one was entering, Nancy sighed and closed the file with the completed forms. She bent down and rummaged in the backpack and found Nancy Miller's license and birth certificate and set them on top of the file. Then she stood and wandered around the room, too keyed up to sit still any longer.

The room she had been left in for the last hour and a half was an inner office that had been set up with half a dozen student desks, a couple white boards, a file cabinet with blank forms and various office supplies and that was about it. There were two exits from the room, plus a door into a back storage room.

When Nick walked back through the door, Nancy was once again sitting at the desk, rechecking the forms just to occupy her time. She noted with interest that he had donned a suit jacket over his shirt. It seemed odd.

"Finished?"

Nancy stacked the forms neatly, closed the file and handed everything to Nick. "I think that's everything."

"I'll be back in just a moment."

True to his word, he returned mere minutes later and sat on the working surface of the desk across from Nancy's. His gaze was cold and distant, a stark contrast to the warm concern he had projected when they first met.

"Tell me, Nancy, why are you here?"

"I told you –"

The door behind Nick opened and Jim Bowers stepped into the room. Nancy froze.

Nick leaned down so his face was within inches of hers. "Yes, you told me. Now I want the truth."

"Nick, I told you, she's just here to learn more about her mother!"

Jim sounded panicked and looking at the man whose face was currently consuming most of her field of vision she figured he had reason to be. Nick Turner could be charming when he wanted, he could seem kind and caring, but the sheep's clothing was slipping and the wolf was currently staring Nancy right in the face.

She also realized why he had put on his suit jacket – to hide the shoulder holster he was wearing. Grinding her teeth, she considered her options. They were pretty minimal.

"I came here to get a job, hopefully at Mama's Kitchen – where my mother worked after she graduated." Nancy said.

"Why?" Nick asked.

"Like Jim said, I'm trying to get to know my mother." Nancy held Nick's gaze steadily.

His hand flashed up and Nancy bit her tongue to keep from crying out when he grabbed her chin. "You aren't telling me something. Why are you so interested in Mama's Kitchen?"

Nancy jerked out of his grip and he let go but he didn't back off.

"We . . . I think they're exploiting the young women you send to them for employment."

"Really? How are they exploiting them?"

"I'm not sure. That's why I was going undercover. I considered telling you but decided to wait."

Nick stood and crossed his arms. "You said 'we' earlier. By 'we' do you mean you and your fiancé?"

There had probably been no avoiding that revelation. After all, Jim had met Frank himself.

"Yes."

"Where is your fiancé now?" Nick asked.

"Not here, obviously. He's running down other leads."

"Leads to what's going on at Mama's Kitchen?" Nick clarified, his tone carefully neutral.

Nancy looked first at Jim Bowers and then at Nick Turner. Jim's expression was an open book – concerned but sympathetic. Nick's was guarded and intense. She was walking a tight rope between how much to tell and how much to hold back.

"Yes. Not only did my mother work there after graduation but two friends of hers did as well – Grace Murphy and Mary Boroski. Grace is living up in Rochester and we're hoping to learn something more concrete from her."

Nick tried for a casual tone. "And where is Mary Boroski? I haven't heard from her in years. I remember placing her at Mama's Kitchen. She worked there for quite some time."

"We haven't located her."

"Really?" Nick said, his gaze disbelieving. "That's too bad."

Nancy concentrated to keep her expression carefully neutral. She got the distinct impression that Nick Turner would really like to find Mary Boroski.

And she seriously doubted it would be good for Mary's health.

NH

A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed last chapter: Severedwasp, marbleandtoast, Princess In Love, Confidential Brunette, JackieJacks, and smilingspaz.

I also really appreciate those who put the story on alert or favorite!

By the way, I did post a link to a picture on my profile of the inspiration for Nancy's wedding dress if anyone is interested.