Chapter 1 - A Phone Call from Bess
"Can I get you anything to drink?" a voice asked.
Nancy Drew awoke with a fright and for a few seconds she did not remember where she was, until some light turbulence and the monotonous humming of the aircraft brought her back to her senses. She did not know how long she had been asleep or how much longer it would take for the plane to reach New York. Suddenly Nancy realized she was being asked a question. "Can you repeat that?" she asked.
"Can I get you anything to drink?" a good-looking young flight attendant asked again.
"Is there coffee?" Nancy replied. She watched the flight attendant as he poured her a cup of hot coffee, after which he handed it to her along with sugar, milk, a napkin and a plastic spoon.
"Here you go, Ms. Drew", he said. Did the flight attendant know who she was? Or did he memorize the names of all the people traveling in business class? He could have just been reading off a passenger chart. Nancy thanked the young man and looked behind her as he continued serving the rest of the passengers. She stretched her legs as she emptied the tiny milk capsule into the coffee cup. No sugar though, Nancy never drank her coffee with sugar. It felt so good to stretch her legs, she thought, and she was grateful to Dagny Silva for booking her flight, and in business class no less. Usually whenever Nancy had to travel somewhere for a case, she flew economy class, because she wasn't usually making any money from the cases she was solving. All those treasures, diamonds and gold, crystal skulls, jewelry and priceless artefacts that Nancy had uncovered over the years, she had selflessly turned over to the authorities every time. Even though she had been the one to find them, she told herself, they didn't belong to her. Even that treasure she had just found a few days past in the ice caves. Magnus had told her she could keep it, but Nancy had decided to give it to the town of Skipbrot since it's part of their history.
Nancy reminisced further about her adventure in Iceland. She felt happy for Magnus, Elisabet, and their dog, Tumi, and she was confident that after finally being reunited they would be able to fix their relationship. Gunnar had offered to drive her to Reykjavik airport, which was so kind of him considering he rarely ever left his hometown. Nancy wished the kind man all the best. She had not seen Soren again after Alex and her team captured him and turned him over to the police. She felt bad for Soren. All those years of being discriminated against for being an outsider, and never fitting in despite his numerous contributions to the community, it must have been hard for him. She understood why he did the things he did, but of course she did not condone them since he had risked quite a few lives in the process, including Nancy's. She wondered what would happen to him. Nancy had solved so many cases that it was difficult to follow up on all the culprits she had caught in her career. Many of them had gone to prison, she assumed. Some of them got community service. And those whose crimes were minor ones compared to the others, they went free.
Nancy had not said goodbye to Dagny either. Her relationship to Dagny was tumultuous and she could never really tell if Dagny liked her or not, or even enjoyed her company. One thing was for sure, though, Dagny was very grateful for Nancy's services. She knew how much Nancy was aching to return home to River Heights and escape Iceland's cold and darkness. So last night, Nancy found the flight ticket on her pillow at the Misti Skip, with a little note from Dagny with just the words "thank you" and her name signed at the bottom. Nancy had wanted to find her that night and thank her for the ticket, but she was nowhere to be found. The next morning Magnus had told her that Dagny left town and he didn't know where to. Nancy wondered if they'd ever meet again.
Nancy's thoughts were interrupted by an announcement: "in preparation for our landing, please make sure your seatbelt is securely fastened." Nancy was caught by surprise as she looked out the window and gazed upon the New York City skyline in the morning light. She must have slept for at least five hours or so. The gigantic city and the sunny cloudless sky were such a stark contrast to Skipbrot that it all seemed so unfamiliar to Nancy. She would need some time to get used to being in the USA again. For the past months, Nancy had taken on four consecutive cases outside the US. First she was in Glasgow foiling a terrorist plot, and straight after that she had flown to New Zealand to compete in the strangest reality TV competition the world had ever seen, along with her best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne. None of it had been televised yet, and Nancy wasn't sure she wanted to watch herself on TV. Immediately after the New Zealand adventure, Nancy had been called to Greece to solve a mystery there, and just as she had solved it and was getting ready to finally go back home, Dagny had requested her help in Iceland. What a crazy few months it's been, Nancy thought to herself.
As the city came closer and the landing was just moments away, Nancy thought of what she should do during her layover in the Big Apple. Her flight back to River Heights was not until the next morning. Luckily though, Aunt Eloise still had her house in Manhattan and had offered Nancy to spend the night there. Although Aunt Eloise lived in Florida, she frequently visited New York for work and she always let her many friends and relatives stay over whenever they wanted. She was in Florida right now but would travel to New York later in the afternoon, which meant that Nancy wouldn't see her until late at night. As for the house, Aunt Eloise said that her neighbor, Mrs. Pappas, had an extra key.
Nancy got out of the plane as fast she could, and while she was waiting at the baggage claim, she called her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson.
"Nancy!" he shouted with excitement after picking up.
"Ned! I'm so glad to hear your voice. How are you?"
The couple talked for a few minutes to catch up. Nothing had changed at all in River Heights, Ned said, and everyone was so excited to see Nancy again. Her dad and Hannah were planning a welcome-back party and had invited some of Nancy's closest friends. Bess and George would be there, obviously, and they also invited Alexei Markovic, the antique store owner, who was dying to hear about all of Nancy's new cases.
"You know who else is coming?" Ned asked. "Guess."
"Deirdre?" Nancy quipped.
"Good one, Nancy", Ned laughed. Deirdre Shannon's dislike of Nancy was no secret to anyone, but ever since Deirdre helped Nancy on that murder case in that research facility in Colorado, she felt that her and Deirdre were bonding and could possibly overcome their petty rivalry.
"I don't know, tell me."
"Frank and Joe Hardy!" Ned exclaimed.
Nancy couldn't believe it. "Frank and Joe Hardy?! Why I haven't seen those two in the longest time. I'm so excited!" The last time she had seen Frank and Joe was in Hawaii during her internship with Dr. Quigley Kim, the entomologist. She forgot what exactly the brothers had been doing there. But while she was in Greece, she had called the Hardy Boys and they had helped her with her case. Last she remembered, they were involved in a case of their own. Nancy couldn't wait to hear all about it.
"Nancy, I've missed you so much," Ned said.
"I've missed you too, Ned. Are you still picking me up from the airport tomorrow?"
"Of course!"
Nancy ended the call as she saw her luggage coming up on the belt. Once outside the airport, she got into a taxi and gave Aunt Eloise's address to the driver. After a few minutes in the cab, Nancy almost dozed off until suddenly her phone rang. It was Bess.
"Nancy!" Bess exclaimed.
"Hi Bess, what's up?"
"When were you going to call me?! I've been dying to talk to you!" Bess sounded excited and anxious at the same time, and a little out of breath. "You'll never believe what George and I saw on the news this morning – we were having coffee in the living room as George's mom was making pancakes and then we turned on the TV and we were just flipping some channels you know and then this news program was on and we –"
"Bess, calm down!" Nancy interrupted. "Just tell me what you saw."
"It's Dwayne Powers," Bess replied. "I think he's dead!"
Chapter 2 - Apple Crumble
"What do you mean, you think he's dead?" Nancy asked. It took her a while to process this news. It came so out of the blue that Nancy had trouble believing it and thought Bess must be pulling a prank on her.
"I mean," Bess began, "I'm sure it was him, I really am. Only, they said a different name on TV. They showed a photo of him, taken from his ID I think, and they said if anyone has any information about the victim, about Dwayne, they should come forward. But they said a different name. They said his name was Owen W. Spayder."
"Owen Spayder?" Nancy repeated, shocked. Nancy remembered every single detail about the case she solved in New York a few years back. Dwayne had been threatening the life of TV soap opera star Rick Arlen and had attempted murdering him, Nancy and Lillian Weiss at one point before Nancy managed to capture him with the help of Ralph Guardino, a security guard at WWB Studios. She remembered that Dwayne managed to do all of this by pretending to be a stage hand named Owen Spayder so he could get access to the studio. And 'Owen W. Spayder' had turned out be a silly anagram for 'Dwayne Powers'. "Tell me everything, Bess."
"I recognized his face, I'm sure it's him. I could recognize that face anywhere, anytime."
Bess, George and Nancy rarely looked back on what happened during their vacation on Dread Isle in the Bahamas, but Nancy could always tell that Bess was a little traumatized by it. Getting kidnapped is no laughing matter, and although Bess had been found in less than twenty-four hours and she had not gotten hurt, the experience must have been very unsettling for her. Dwayne had kidnapped Bess to get revenge against Nancy, and to blackmail Nancy into finding El Toro's treasure for him. In the end it seemed he had escaped. The police had found Dwayne's boat out at sea, but neither him nor the treasure were on board. Dwayne had vanished. At the time, most people seemed convinced that he had fallen overboard and drowned, but Nancy had never been sure of that. He could have met with an accomplice out at sea, for example, and gotten away on another boat.
"How did he die?" Nancy asked.
"They didn't say," Bess answered. "All they said is where he was found – where his body was found, I mean. And they have no leads. They have no idea what happened."
"Where did they find his body?"
"San Juan Island."
"San Juan Island? The one in Washington state?"
"Yeah. It's so strange. They found him on a beach there. That's all I know, Nancy. I can't believe it! George is online right now trying to find more information, I'll let you know if she finds anything."
"Thanks, Bess. Thanks for calling. I don't know what to think about all of this."
"I just wanted to let you know. I thought you'd want to know as soon as possible. Anyway I'll let you go, let's call again later, okay? And we'll see you tomorrow, right?"
"Yes! I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Can't wait. Bye, Nancy!"
The taxi pulled up to the curb as Nancy realized that she was already at the house. She paid the driver and walked up to the house to the left of Aunt Eloise's. She rang the bell and about half a minute later she heard a voice through a speaker: "hello?"
"Hello. Is this Mrs. Pappas?"
"Yeah?"
"This is Nancy Drew, I'm Eloise's niece?"
"Oh come in!"
The door buzzed open and Nancy stepped inside the house with her bags. Bess's news had completely taken her by surprise and Nancy felt like she couldn't think straight. What was Dwayne Powers doing on San Juan Island?
Mrs. Pappas was a short elderly lady with curly grey hair. She stood in the doorway to what looked like her living room and offered to help Nancy with her bags, but Nancy declined. "Don't worry, Mrs. Pappas, I got it."
"Oh I know, honey, I know, you look like a strong young lady. I like that. Come in, come in, come in, you want coffee? You want tea? I made apple crumble, do you want apple crumble? I got ice cream, do you want ice cream? Do you want apple crumble with ice cream?"
"Thank you, Mrs. Pappas," Nancy said, as she suddenly realized something. "I would love some coffee and some crumble, you're too kind."
"Oh it's no trouble, honey, come in, come in."
Nancy ploughed down on Mrs. Pappas' couch as she tried to remember what the name "Pappas" reminded her of. The old lady was in the kitchen preparing the coffee and pie. Nancy looked around the house and noticed some photos on a living room table. In one of the photos, Mrs. Pappas stood next to a tall middle-aged man holding his arm around her shoulder. The photo seemed to be taken right here in this living room.
Mrs. Pappas came out of the kitchen and set a tray of coffee and pie in front of Nancy.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Pappas", Nancy said. The old lady muttered some kind words as she walked over to a cabinet and took something out of a drawer.
"Nancy, honey, I'm glad to finally meet you. Eloise talks about you a lot, you know. Not that I see her often. She still in Florida? Oh that's right, she's flying in tonight, isn't she. I'm glad to finally meet you, Nancy, honey, you know, I don't get too many visitors. When you live to reach my age, honey, all your friends start dying left and right. Anyway here's the key to Eloise's house, it's right next door. Oh what am I saying, you know where it is, you've been there before."
Nancy was still gazing at the photo and suddenly remembered where she knew the man on the photo from. "Mrs. Pappas?"
"Yes honey?"
"Are you by any chance related to Bill Pappas? He's a producer at WWB Studios, or at least he was, I'm not sure."
Mrs. Pappas looked at Nancy in astonishment. "How do you know Bill, honey?"
"So you are related?" Nancy was happy that her hunch turned out to be correct.
"Bill was my son, honey."
"Was… do you mean he passed away?" Nancy asked carefully.
"Oh honey, no, he's alive. I said 'was' because… because sometimes it feels like he's gone forever. He moved to L.A. with his new wife and he never comes to visit. Some son he is. I haven't talked to him in years, he never even calls. When Light of Our Love got canceled, Bill changed. He didn't find other work. I tried to talk to him, I tried to be honest with him, you know. He was really depressed. I said it's because of the way he treats people. I shouldn't have said that, I'm sure he still resents me for it. You know Bill so you know he can be very unkind to people. I think all that unkindness built up over the years and bit him in the ass. I don't know why he turned out like that honestly, I thought I raised him well. But here we are. He didn't give me any grandchildren, as far as I know at least, and he shut me out of his life completely." Mrs. Pappas paused for a second. "Nancy, honey, it's been so nice meeting you. I have some errands to run now. I guess you'll want to rest a bit in Eloise's house."
Nancy was ushered out of Mrs. Pappas' house. As she walked out the door with her bags, she turned and decided to ask her. "One more thing, Mrs. Pappas", she began, "do you have Bill's phone number? I want to ask him something."
Chapter 3 - A Nice, Hot Bath
Nancy was soaking in a nice, hot bath. Being in Aunt Eloise's house again brought back a lot of memories. After all, Nancy was staying here with the actress Mattie Jensen while she was solving the mystery of Rick Arlen's death threats. She wondered about all the people she met during that mystery, where they were now, what they were doing. Mattie and Rick had gotten married and moved to London, that was public knowledge. They had kind of disappeared off the grid in recent years, and they hadn't been featured in any tabloid news as of late. Nancy wondered if the two lovebirds had retired from their acting career. Millie Strathorn, the founder of WWB Studios, had passed away not too long after Mattie and Rick got married, she remembered reading about that. Nancy had fond memories of old Millie sitting in her prop room as if she was guarding it. All of this probably contributed to Light of Our Love getting cancelled, Nancy thought, although the show had been on a steady decline for a while due to the decreasing quality of the writing.
Mrs. Pappas had not been too eager to give Bill's phone number to Nancy, but she had given it nonetheless. Perhaps the old lady was planning to interrogate Nancy about her son's life later, since she was obviously too afraid to call him herself. Nancy took her phone from the toilet seat next to the bathtub and dialed Bill Pappas' number.
"Hello?" a man's voice answered.
"Hello. Is this Bill Pappas?"
"Who is this? Make it quick."
"Mr. Pappas, I don't know if you remember me. I'm Nancy Drew, I saved Rick Arlen's life when I defused that bomb in his dressing room. We met briefly after Dwayne Powers was caught."
"Rick Arlen? Are you kidding me? Rick Arlen? I never want to hear that name again! That part of my life is over, you hear me, over! I'm not with WWB anymore, hell, I'm not a producer anymore. Now get to the point, what do you want?"
Nancy was startled by Bill Pappas' bluntness. "Have you heard what happened to Dwayne Powers?"
"Dwayne who?" Bill replied.
"Dwayne Powers… he's the one who –"
"Listen, honey, I meant what I said. My life in New York is over. If you want I can give you Lillian's number, maybe she'll answer your questions."
Nancy saved Lillian's number on her phone as quickly as she could while Bill was dictating it.
"Mr. Pappas, do you have any idea who –" Nancy began, but her question was interrupted by a click. Bill had hung up.
Nancy wondered what had happened to Bill Pappas and why he was so disinclined to talk to her, but she decided to not think about it much longer. She thought about Lillian Weiss, who was the director of Light of Our Love. Lillian had been in some kind of love triangle with Mattie and Rick, that much she remembered, and if she recalled correctly Lillian had sent Rick a box of nasty chocolates out of spite, which had put her high on Nancy's suspect list at the time. Nancy suspected that Lillian might not be very happy to talk to her either, since they did not get along back then. And it was just as likely that Lillian didn't know anything about Dwayne and what happened to him. But she had to at least try.
Nancy dialed Lillian's number and a voice quickly answered.
"Hello?"
"Hi. Is this Lillian Weiss?"
"Yes, who's this?"
"It's Nancy Drew. I don't know if you remember me –" Nancy was prepared to give Lillian the same introduction she gave to Bill Pappas when suddenly Lillian interrupted her.
"Nancy Drew. I was wondering when you'd call. Meet me at the WWB lobby at 5."
Chapter 4 - The Lobby
Nancy arrived at WWB Studios ten minutes early, dressed in a casual T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. She had had enough of all the sweaters and winter jackets that she wore in Iceland, and the weather was very nice for early Spring. Nancy was a little anxious to see Lillian again, especially since last time Lillian asked her to meet her at WWB Studios, things got a little dangerous. At least this time they weren't meeting on the set.
The lobby was empty except for a security guard, who promptly asked what Nancy was doing there. It was a different security guard, though, not the one who was working there while Nancy was investigating the death threats.
"It's fine, Jim, she's with me", a voice behind Nancy told the security guard.
Nancy turned around. "Lillian?"
"Nancy Drew. You haven't changed a bit", Lillian retorted. Nancy could not say the same for Lillian, who had dyed her hair a deep red. Her face had aged a little, and she was wearing an expensive-looking dark blue pantsuit and stiletto heels.
As they were walking towards some chairs at the window of the lobby, Lillian filled Nancy in on what was going on with the studio. "I still work for WWB", she explained, "but all we do these days is shoot commercials. Light of Our Love getting cancelled was a huge blow for the studio. They had to fire a lot of people. Of course I was out in L.A. at that time shooting my movie. Which flopped, by the way, don't know if you heard. I had such high hopes that they'd give me a chance out there in Hollywood but the critics totally destroyed the film. They didn't understand it. Nobody did. So that's how my big Hollywood break went. I hope you're not here to gloat, Nancy Drew."
"Of course not, Lillian. I think you know why I'm here. And I'm sorry your career didn't take off in Hollywood, I truly am."
"You're sweet. And so innocent. You really haven't changed. Anyway I moved back to New York last year and WWB rehired me. I guess I should be thanking them. Let's sit. You heard about Dwayne?"
Nancy sat upright, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Yes."
"Dwayne fucking Powers. He called me yesterday. Out of nowhere. Didn't want to tell me where he was, what he was doing. He had some nerve to reach out to me after trying to kill me – to kill us! I didn't even know he had gotten out of prison. First thing he said was he wanted to talk to Mattie. I told him I wouldn't put him through to Mattie even if I could, said she lives in London now and we don't talk. Apparently he had been trying desperately to get in touch with her."
"Interesting…" is all Nancy could say, her mind racing.
"Then he got angry. Started saying some weird things. He said he was immortal, and that living forever wouldn't mean anything without Mattie by his side. What a nutjob. He went on and on about his love for Mattie – the man is obsessed! Was obsessed, I guess. Do you think he's really dead? I mean, it was clearly him on the news, his stupid face."
"I don't know a thing, Lillian. Haven't had the chance to investigate yet. What else did Dwayne tell you?"
"Well for one thing, he mentioned you. Specifically his eternal hate for you. He said you were in Iceland about to board a plane headed to New York. That's how I knew you were gonna be here."
Nancy could barely speak. She stared at Lillian in shock. "He said what?"
"Exactly that. It seemed like he was tracking you, like he was still obsessed with you. Obsessed with getting his revenge. The man was a lunatic, I'm glad he's dead."
"How could he possibly know I was in Iceland boarding a plane?"
"Beats me", Lillian said.
The two women sat in silence for some moments as Nancy tried to process what she just learned. "Lillian", she said then, "can you think of anything else Dwayne said? Anything at all? Something that would indicate how he knew I was in Iceland?"
Lillian thought for a while, replaying the conversation in her mind. "I'm sorry, Nancy. That's it. I got nothing else." She paused. "I better get back to work. It's been nice seeing you again, Nancy. After everything. I mean it."
Nancy and Lillian shook hands and said their goodbyes. After they parted ways, Lillian turned back and called out: "Nancy! One more thing."
"What?" Nancy replied curiously.
"I remember one more thing about Dwayne's rambling. At one point he mentioned a skull. Yes, I remember now. He said 'I have the skull'."
On her way back home, Nancy stopped by a falafel place to get some food for home. She hadn't eaten since the plane. Her mind was racing, trying to give meaning to what Dwayne said to Lillian. He said he was immortal. Could that just be the psychotic rambling of a lunatic or was there some logic to it? After all, there's no such thing as immortality. And why would he talk to Lillian about me? Nancy thought. Did he think I could lead him to Mattie? And what does that skull have to do with everything?
After she got her falafel, Nancy tried calling another cab. Aunt Eloise's house was too far to walk, and she didn't know New York well enough to try and take public transport. Suddenly, her phone rang. Now what?
"Nancy?"
"Yeah?"
"This is Katie. Katie Firestone. How have you been?"
"Katie Firestone? Wow I haven't heard from you in ages! I'm good, how are you?"
"I'm fine, Nancy. Still doing whale watching tours. I'm sorry I haven't been in touch."
"I'm sorry too."
"Listen", Katie said. "I'm at the Hot Kettle Café with Holt and Jenna. We got some news."
"Tell me", Nancy said, unsure if she could handle more surprising news.
"It's about Andy Jason. He got released from prison."
Chapter 5 - Pancakes
Nancy had not given much thought about what had become of Andy Jason since she left Snake Horse Harbor. Bess and George had arranged the vacation for her, and had arranged for her to stay with George's friend Katie Firestone, who owned a whale-watching boat. During that vacation Nancy had discovered that Andy Jason, who had seemed like an innocent citizen of the town, had been the leader of a gang that had been using an orca to retrieve smuggled cargo from an old shipwreck. He had also kidnapped Katie and tried to harm Nancy during her mission to rescue Katie.
"One of my contacts found out that he was released this morning", Katie said. "We knew we had to call you as soon as we found out."
"Thanks for letting me know", Nancy said. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah we're okay. Andy's never coming anywhere near Snake Horse Harbor again, that's for sure. When he was released from the Seattle prison he was seen getting into a car that drove East, deeper into Washington state, instead of West towards the islands. I'm sure he never intends to come near us again, not while we have you on speed dial."
Suddenly Nancy remembered something that Bess had told her about Dwayne. She said his body had been found on a beach on San Juan Island. "Katie", she began, "did you hear about the body they found on San Juan Island?"
"We heard something about that, yeah. Watched it on the news. His name was Owen something?"
"Yeah that's the guy. Do you think it's possible that Andy had something to do with that?"
"Seems unlikely", Katie answered after hesitating a few moments. "Like I said, he was seen driving East. And if I remember correctly, the newscasters said that the body washed up on shore very early this morning, and they implied that he had been out there for several hours. Andy's release happened after they found the body, I'm pretty sure of that."
Nancy pondered for a moment. "It still seems suspicious", she told Katie. "Can you let me know if you find out anything else about Andy or about the body? I'm all the way in New York at the moment, and I feel like you and Holt and Jenna will more easily obtain new information since you're so close to the action."
Katie promised she would keep an eye on things. Nancy gave her regards to Holt and Jenna and ended the phone call. It was really nice to hear from them again, she thought. At first sight, though, she couldn't figure out how Andy's release could possibly tie into Dwayne's death, but at the same time she realized that it would just be too much of a coincidence if the two events weren't connected. They happened at more or less the same time and the same place.
Nancy arrived back at Aunt Eloise's house about half an hour later. The jetlag was getting to her and the overload of new information made her head ache. She managed to eat half of her falafel before she decided to lie down on the guest bed. Nancy quickly set her alarm so she wouldn't miss her flight, and then she fell into a deep slumber.
The smell of pancakes filled the air as Nancy woke up to the sound of her alarm. She had some strange dreams during the night, she realized, but she couldn't remember what they were about. Nancy quickly checked her phone to see what time it was and then quickly got out of bed when she remembered she had to leave for the airport very soon.
"Don't leave without having a pancake, Nancy, I beg you!" a voice exclaimed from the kitchen while Nancy was gathering her luggage. It was Aunt Eloise.
Nancy spurted towards the kitchen. "Aunt Eloise, you shouldn't have!" Nancy embraced her aunt and then sat down at the kitchen table, where a delicious-looking pancake was waiting to be devoured. Aunt Eloise joined her at the table and the two started chatting and catching up. Nancy briefly told her about everything that happened during her recent cases, but she didn't want to get carried away and go too much into detail because of the lack of time. She had to leave very soon. Aunt Eloise said she had arrived home at midnight. They started talking about Florida and the school where her aunt worked.
"Oh Nancy, do you remember Daryl Gray?"
"Daryl Gray? How could I ever forget that boy!" Nancy exclaimed, wondering why Aunt Eloise had brought him up. Daryl used to be a student at Aunt Eloise's school in Florida and he was involved in the murder case that Nancy solved there years ago. During the case Nancy had gotten close to Daryl, but after she left Florida they had not kept in touch.
"Well guess what, he works for the school now! After graduating he studied to become a teacher, and the school hired him just a few weeks ago. He's teaching science to seniors now. He's grown into a very kind and knowledgeable young man and everyone gets along with him splendidly."
Nancy was delighted to hear this. She wished Daryl nothing but the best, and she started to reminisce about those days when she was pretending to be a high school student and Daryl was working at that diner. "Oh shoot", Nancy realized. "I've got to go. Don't want to miss my flight. Aunt Eloise, thank you so much for everything!"
"Anytime, dear. Anytime."
After a moment's hesitation, Nancy decided to ask her aunt: "do you think you could give me Daryl's phone number? It might be nice to get back in touch with him. I'm curious to find out how he's been doing."
"Why of course, Nancy, I'm sure I have his number here somewhere in my phone."
Nancy saved Daryl's number in her phone and then parted ways with her aunt. As she got into a taxi she decided that one day in New York was more than enough. She was dying to get back to River Heights and see her friends and family again.
As she was just about to board her plane at the airport, Nancy got a phone call from George. Nancy said she didn't have much time to talk, but George just wanted to tell her one thing. It was about Dwayne. Apparently the police confirmed that he'd been murdered.
Chapter 6 - Homecoming
True to his word, Ned had been waiting by the arrival gate at River Heights airport to pick up his sweetheart. It had been so long that the couple had seen each other, they were almost in tears when they finally embraced once again. Nancy was overjoyed to be close to her boyfriend again, and as they walked to his car, they started catching up. As they were driving home, Ned told Nancy about everything that had been going on with him since she left, and he begged Nancy to tell him about all her adventures abroad. But Nancy wasn't in the mood to talk about all of that just yet.
"Oh Ned, can it wait? I'll tell everyone when we're home. I just can't be bothered to tell the same stories twice", Nancy joked as she touched Ned's shoulder and smiled at him. "I love you, sweetie."
Ned smiled back. "I love you too."
As they pulled up to the driveway, Nancy saw Bess and George waving at the door. "Nancy!" they shouted excitedly.
Nancy jumped out of Ned's car when it came to a halt and gave the two cousins each a great big hug. "Am I happy to see you guys!" she exclaimed. "George, how's your leg?"
George had injured her leg when she fell through that rope bridge in New Zealand. Luckily the Pacific Rim team had paid for all her medical expenses and the doctors had said her leg would recover quickly. "All good", George said. "I still feel it ache sometimes but I have no problem walking anymore, or even running! I've been going jogging every day."
"I'm so happy to hear that", Nancy told her friend. "And Bess, how's Sonny?"
After Pacific Rim finished shooting, Bess had finally managed to gather all her courage to talk to Sonny Joon. The two hit it off, and went on a few dates together. Bess even stayed a bit longer in New Zealand because of him, while George flew back to River Heights and Nancy flew to Greece. "Nancy, I had such a good time with him, we traveled around the country and saw so many beautiful things! I want to tell you everything."
"Wow, Bess, I'm so happy for you! Where is Sonny now?"
Bess was about to answer but she got interrupted when Hannah Gruen, the Drews' long-time housekeeper and mother figure to Nancy, leapt out of the house and embraced Nancy tightly. "Nancy! Welcome back, my sweet girl." Nancy couldn't help but smile out of pure joy as she looked around at Hannah, Bess, George and Ned huddling around her on the driveway.
"Is Dad inside?" Nancy asked.
Hannah nodded. "Go! Go to him!"
Carson Drew was in the kitchen preparing some cold drinks for everyone. It was a warm day in River Heights, despite it still being early in the Spring. As he was finishing up the drinks, he was chatting with Alexei, the antique store owner and new family friend.
"Hi Dad", Nancy said.
Carson turned around. "Nancy…" he said solemnly. "Finally." They embraced. "Promise me you'll stay in River Heights for a while now? I worry about you so much when you're traveling for one of your mysteries. What happened in Glasgow –"
Nancy and her dad exchanged a meaningful look. It was a look that said, Let's talk about Glasgow later. Let's talk about Mom later. Nancy had not seen her dad since she learned all those new things about her mom. About who she was and what happened to her. She knew that she had much to discuss with her dad.
Nancy hugged her dad again and noticed Alexei smiling at her behind her dad's back. "Hi Alexei!" she said.
"Hi Nancy, welcome back! So nice to see you again." Alexei gave Nancy a firm handshake, since he wasn't the hugging type. The two had been through a lot together when Nancy had been framed for arson in River Heights a while ago. Brenda Carlton, the local reporter, had burned down the town hall in an attempt to discredit Nancy and get her locked up. But with the help of her friends and Alexei, Nancy managed to clear her name and get Brenda arrested instead. Nancy was still surprised to this day about what Brenda had done just to spite her. She had known that Brenda and her did not get along, but she never knew that Brenda's hate for Nancy was that intense until it all blew up.
"Thank you, Alexei, nice to see you too!" Nancy returned the handshake.
Suddenly she heard commotion outside and wondered what was going on. "Must be Frank and Joe!" her dad said. "They said they would be a little late."
Nancy rushed outside to greet the Hardy Boys. As she embraced them, she saw Ned glancing over at them. Nancy had always worried about what Ned thought of her relationship to the Hardy Boys. Obviously they were all just friends, but Nancy feared that Ned might get a little jealous at times. After all, Frank and Joe were detectives just like Nancy, and they shared a special bond, a bond that only fellow detectives can share. It was a bond that she also started to feel with Alexei, who had been a detective as well in his younger years.
"Nancy, you're back!" Joe Hardy exclaimed like an excited puppy.
"Hey Joe!" Nancy laughed. "Hey Frank." Nancy smiled.
"Nancy, you're gonna tell us everything right?" Frank Hardy said. "We've been dying to know. How did that case in Greece turn out? Did you catch the culprit?"
"Oh guys, there's just so much to talk about. How about you guys go first? Last I heard you were in Europe." Frank and Joe started telling Nancy about their case on a train in Europe which involved some rich family called the Romanovs. The boys seemed to be a little disappointed with how the case turned out, Nancy feared. Maybe the boys just haven't been getting any interesting cases, she thought. But how cool would it be if all three of us could work on a case together again in the near future!
Hannah and Carson called everyone on the driveway to assemble in the living room. As everyone took a seat on the Drews' comfortable chairs and couches, Hannah served the drinks that Carson had made earlier. It feels so good to be home, Nancy thought. For the first time in a long while, she felt truly safe and comfortable.
Everyone kept urging her to talk about the recent mysteries she's been involved with, so Nancy decided it was finally time to bring everyone up to speed. They all listened intensely to Nancy's every word, and there were gasps and shocked faces whenever she got to the most dangerous parts. She ended with the story of when she found Magnus in the ice caves, and Soren had walked in with that giant axe. Nancy was trying to remember the name that Soren had given to his precious axe when all of a sudden the doorbell rang.
"Are we expecting someone else?" Nancy asked her dad.
Carson Drew thought for a moment. "Chief McGinnis told me he might swing by to see you."
"I'll get it", Nancy said. She walked toward the front door and opened it, fully expecting to see the beloved police chief behind the door. She hadn't seen the chief since Brenda Carlton's arrest. But when she opened the door, it wasn't Chief McGinnis she saw. Instead, she laid eyes on a frightened young lady with frizzly black hair who looked vaguely familiar. It took only a few seconds, though, for Nancy to remember.
"Corine?!" she exclaimed.
"Hi, Becca. I need your help. I think I'm in danger!"