Author's Note: Thanks to all those who have reviewed my story, it's the reviews that keep me going. And to however asked, and signed their review as anonymous, I have no idea what color Callie's hair really is, let's just say that it's a dark color for this fanfiction. If anyone out there has read the Nancy Drew on Campus Series, what is Michael's father's name? Oh, and extra points to anyone who can tell me the name of the place that Joe and Frank used to hang out in. I know it was a pizza place.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Sweet Rodriguez, and a few other characters in this story. But Nancy, Frank, Joe, George, Bess, etc. ARE NOT MINE! At lease that's what Dixon and Keene keep telling me.
Chapter 4
Finally! Michael's brain screamed at him.
Nancy had remembered that one of the people they were looking for, the woman, had some kind of medical condition and needed to see a doctor. She was now asking a waiter some questions, "So you know who these three people are?"
"Yes, they come in here to eat every week " a red haired, short teenager answered, "I have overheard them talking about the woman's condition a few times."
"What is wrong with her?" Michael asked.
"She has diabetes," the waiter said smiling, proud that he could be of service.
"Diabetes, that's great!" Nancy exclaimed, receiving odd looks from other people in the diner.
Michael looked at his girlfriend/partner then turned to the confused waiter, "She means it helps us a lot."
Nancy nodded then placed a hand on the waiter's arm, "Do me a favor," she looked at his nametag, "Gage. Don't let these people know we are looking for them."
"Why?" Gage asked, "Are they fugitives?"
"We can't divulge any information at this time, but trust me you would be doing everyone a favor." Nancy recited the line as she had been trained to by her father.
Michael looked at Nancy. Not for the first time he began to wonder if Nancy had ever received training from any special source. Sure he knew to recite lines and play on human emotions to get what he wanted but that came from having a cop as a father. So what was Nancy's excuse?
* * *
"Man I'm telling you there is something up with your girlfriend."
"Shut up and spot me Gus."
"You have too many weights on the bar, " Gus said absentmindedly before launching into his next sentence, "I mean you are always telling me that you think she is hiding something from you. Why do you think so?" Not waiting for his friend to answer, Gus went on, "Because you are a reporter, born with the same instincts as your father. If you sense something wrong then you are probably on to something important."
Michael stopped bench pressing and sat up. He hated to admit it but his friend had a point. "What if it's something horrible and I feel sorry for making her tell me?"
Gus shrugged, "Whether or not you ask is for you to decide."
Michael sighed. "Look, this is my first serious relationship, I don't want to screw this up."
"Michael what does her father do for a living?"
Michael frowned, "I have no idea."
"So you know everything about her except what her dad does?"
"No," Michael said slowly, "Come to think about it the only thing I really know about her is that she has a real talent for journalism and that she has the same family situation as I do."
"Which is?"
"Our dad's are divorcees and we both have to deal with them dating, even though it makes us feel left out."
Gus shook his head, "Unbelievable man. I know this is your first serious relationship but its just common sense to ask your girlfriend stuff about her."
"Whatever Gus, let's just go, we've been here working out for three hours."
"Where to now?"
"My dad's house, I promised I would stop by to hang out."
* * *
Sweet sat in her attic. She was looking for boxes. When she had moved into her new house she hadn't unpacked completely. Fortunately her dad's anal air force ways led him to label every box and separate them into different areas. She quickly found the four large boxes she needed. Each was labeled Sweet's stuff/fragile.
It took four trips but Sweet finally got each box into her room.
"Sweet!" Her father yelled from the first floor.
"YES!"
"What are you doing!"
"Unpacking!"
"When you are done, dust the attic!"
She rolled her eyes. "YES SIR!"
Who in their right mind dusts their attic? Oh wait, that's right, this is the Colonel we're talking about.
Sweet took the next hour to carefully dust the house's rather large attic. She made sure to dust every square inch so as to pass the Colonel's inspection. She then ran back to her room to open her boxes.
RING!
Why won't people leave me alone?
Sweet answered her phone. "Who is it?"
"Sorry, did I call at a bad time?" Vanessa asked cautiously.
Sweet relaxed, "No, I've just been trying to unpack for the last hour and people keep distracting me."
Vanessa smiled on her end of the phone, "Would you like me to come over and help?"
Looking at her watch, Sweet saw that it was already 8pm. "And your parents will let you out this late?"
"Late? What are you talking about? It's only 8pm."
"Oh yeah, I forgot you aren't a military brat. There is no way in hell my dad would let me out past 8." She paused, "But I'm sure it's okay if you come over."
* * *
"So what is in the boxes?" Vanessa asked, sitting on the hardwood floors of Sweet's room.
"Spell books, charms, that kind of thing."
"No, really, what's in them?"
Sweet opened a box, revealing a stack of old, tattered books, "Spell books."
Vanessa stood up, "Are you into the witchy thing?"
Sweet laughed, "Yes, I love the Wicca thing."
Vanessa blushed. "So I'm assuming you want these books right over there." She pointed at an unused light brown bookshelf sitting in one corner of the room.
"Yup, and if you come across the box full of charms and stuff just put them on the bottom shelf."
Vanessa paused in the process of putting a book on the shelf. "What's this?"
"What's what?"
Vanessa pointed at the title of the book, Utopia.
Sweet grinned sheepishly, "Oh, that. That's just a book of my poetry."
"You write poetry? That's amazing," Vanessa looked her friend in the eyes, "I love poetry, can I borrow the book?"
"Sure," Sweet shrugged, "But it's really no big deal."
Vanessa opened another box. "You have the most interesting stuff," she said as she picked up a crystal ball and a vile of what looked like blood.
"Be careful with that," Sweet replied while attempting to place books on the top shelf, an amazing feat at her height, "Frog blood is $30 a vile."
"This is frog's blood?" Vanessa asked in awe.
Sweet turned to her friend, "You don't seem grossed out."
"Why should I be?" Vanessa placed the objects on the shelf.
"Well I had friends in L.A. into the whole Wicca scene and they were still grossed out."
Vanessa grinned, "I'm taking anatomy, we've dissected everything from a pig fetus to full grown cats."
Sweet shuddered, "That's why I'm taking a math based science."
"Don't tell me the thought of slicing into cold flesh bothers you," Vanessa teased her friend.
"Hey, in my defense it isn't just the animals being dissected that bothers me, I happen to have a healthy fear of sharp objects."
One hour later the girls had everything from the boxes on the bookshelf.
Vanessa sat, legs crossed, on the bed. "So what do you do for fun?"
"Whatever comes to mind." Sweet sat on a chair in front of her computer. "I really don't have much to do since I moved out here from L.A."
"You should start hanging out with us more."
"By us, I'm assuming you mean Joe, Biff, and stuff."
"Yeah, and others that I could introduce you to."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"And why not?"
"I never seem to fit in, I mean sure people understand my sarcastic humor but that's about it. I go off on tangents about literature, physics laws, and all that stuff and I usually end up getting odd looks." She sighed, "And besides, I doubt I'll be living here for very long. My dad could get reassigned to a new air base at any time."
"Well, we'll just have to deal with that if it ever happens."
Sweet looked at Vanessa, sensing sincerity. "So why don't you have many close friends?"
"Hey I have close friends, Joe, Biff, among others."
"Don't lie to me," Sweet chided, "I've gotten military training. I can tell when a person is lying."
"Alright, my only really close friends are those two knuckleheads. But Junior year I was friends with Frank, Callie, and Chet."
"Who?"
"Oh, um, Frank is Joe's older brother, Callie was his girlfriend, and Chet was a close friend of Joe and Frank's."
"Joe has an older brother?"
"An older, *responsible* brother."
"RESPONSIBLE!"
"Yeah, cute too. But to tell you the truth I never felt all that close to Chet, Frank or Callie. I was just the replacement."
"Replacement?"
"Before I moved to Bayport Joe was dating this girl named Iola Morton, Chet's sister. She died in a car bombing meant for Joe."
"How horrible!" Sweet exclaimed, eyes wide.
"Yeah, I think the three of them had a hard time accepting me into their circle. Don't get me wrong, they were all nice and all of that but they never really took to me."
"What about Joe and Biff?"
"The only reason Joe didn't think of me as the replacement was because he was dating me." At Sweet's confused glance she went on, "He's the type of person that always has to have someone. He needs people around. And I really can't explain Biff, we just hit it off."
"I still have one question though, why would anyone want to kill Joe?"
Vanessa quickly explained about Joe and Frank's detective status.
Sweet nodded. "You haven't answered my first question, though. Why don't you have a lot of close friends?"
"I don't know, I just don't really like that many people. I'll hang out with them cuz they're nice and all that but I can never really find anything in common with any of them."
"I know the feeling. But hey, can you tell me about some of Joe and Frank's cases?"
For the next hour Vanessa told Sweet about all of the major cases the brothers had taken on. "Oh and there is this chick, Nancy Drew, that they worked with occasionally."
Sweet raised an eyebrow, "Is her father a lawyer?"
"You know him?"
"Kind of, he helped out a friend of my dad's who was accused of killing a man. Which in my opinion was a bullshit case cuz he killed the man while fighting in the Gulf War. Anyway go on. Do you know Nancy?"
Vanessa nodded, "I met her while she was visiting Frank and Joe here in Bayport." She giggled, "It was actually comical watching Frank torn between her and Callie."
The other girl giggled, "That's so cruel."
"But it was," insisted Vanessa, "I mean, no offense to Callie but I was hoping Frank would choose Nancy." Vanessa looked at her watch, "Crap, I should get home. I'll see you at school."
"Alright," Sweet sighed, "I guess you are going to leave me alone with the Colonel."
* * *
"Michael what is wrong?" his father, Daniel Gianelli, asked him.
"Nothing," Michael looked up from his plate of spaghetti.
"Don't lie to me or I'll use my scary cop tactics on you."
Michael laughed, "Dad you might scare criminals but I have nothing to fear."
"Well what in God's name is wrong?"
Michael put his fork down, "Nancy is hiding something from me."
Daniel frowned; he liked the girl a hell of a lot more than the other girls his son had brought home over the years. "Why would you say that?"
"It's just the way she acts, I really can't explain it."
*Drew*, thought Daniel, *why does that name sound so familiar?*
"Have you bothered asking her about whatever it is?"
"No," Michael admitted sheepishly.
His dad rolled his eyes, "Well usually to get information out of a person you have to ask them questions."
"Thanks for the sarcasm dad, that really helps."
"Just ask her what she's hiding." Drew...Drew...Drew, I know that name from somewhere. Why can't I place it?
* * *
Next morning:
"Fenton! Laura! You're home already!" Gertrude exclaimed when she saw her brother and sister-in-law at the door.
"Yeah, had to cut the vacation short." Laura said regretfully.
"Why?" Gertrude asked as she helped them bring in their suitcases.
"Work calls." Fenton answered.
"Somebody called Fenton's cell phone and let him know that he had an urgent case to work on," Laura explained, setting the last of the suitcases inside the house.
"Well that's too bad," Gertrude said. "But I'm sure that Joe will be more than happy to see you two home so soon. Would you two like breakfast? Eggs? Or pancakes?"
"Yeah," Fenton said distractedly.
"Don't mind him," Laura told Gertrude, "He's just distracted by his new case. Apparently its so important he can't even tell his wife what its about."
Fenton certainly was distracted. He couldn't stop replaying his conversation with Agent Griswald.
Flashback
"What do you mean it's happening? How could this happen?"
Agent Griswald could sense that Fenton wanted answers immediately. "I don't know but they sent me a message, it says that they have the girl."
Fenton could feel the sweat dripping down his forehead. How dare those FBI apes....He let his thoughts trail off as he forced himself to remember that the FBI had no control over it.
"Agent Griswald, I'll get right on it."
"Really?" There was hope in Griswald's voice.
"Well what else would you expect me to do?" Fenton snapped.
"Look Fenton don't get mad at me, I had nothing to do with it. I wasn't even aware that it was still going on."
Fenton gripped the phone tighter, "Why won't those bastards stop? You would think that they would've learned their lesson from the last time."
"Guess not. Fenton, there is an address that you should have checked out. I would do it but its closer to you."
Fenton listened carefully.
"In Philadelphia there's a place called 'Grassroots,' at least that is what it was called when it was open. It shut down at least three years ago but there was a reported disturbance three weeks ago."
Fenton nodded without realizing that Agent Griswald had no way of seeing him. "Alright, what is the exact address?"
The FBI Agent gave it to him. "And if the local police give you a hard time just let them know that you are working with the Washington D.C division of the FBI."
End Flashback
Now Fenton was worried. Of course it's always like this, the government stirs up trouble and the regular people are left to deal with it. But how do I do that? I couldn't stop it before, what makes me think I can stop it now?
* * *
Sweet was at her locker, putting away some of her books.
"Sweet."
She turned around, no one.
"Sweet," a voice whispered.
Again she turned around. She shook her head. Must be hearing things.
"Sweet."
"That's it! Whoever is doing that show yourself right now!"
"Geez," Joe said stepping out of the locker next to hers. "Didn't know anyone could have a violent reaction to hearing their own name."
"Joe? How did you...Nevermind." She closed her locker and began to walk away.
"What?" Joe asked innocently, as he followed her. When Sweet said nothing he went on, "I happen to like hanging out in lockers."
"You are strange."
"Says the girl wearing the skull belt."
Sweet stopped dead in her tracks.
Oops, thought Joe, never insult the outfit.
"What do you have against this belt? Or maybe you just dislike my whole outfit."
Joe looked Sweet up and down. She was wearing tight fitted black jeans, a black turtleneck, black stiletto boots, a belt of metal skulls on a chain, and black rose earrings. "Well no, I happen to love the gothic look."
"Oh, and I guess I should take fashion advice from the guy wearing the..." she saw Biff round the corner and changed her tone, "sexy pants."
"Huh?"
Sweet moved in closer and placed her hands on his pecks, "And this shirt, it just turns me on beyond belief! I could just eat you up with a spoon!"
Biff had stopped walking towards them.
"Really?" Joe asked.
"Yeah, and I could just picture you without the shirt on. It just gets me sooo excited!"
Joe smiled and Biff's jaw dropped.
Sweet sighed, "I'm already late to meet Vanessa for lunch. I'll see you later."
Biff and Joe just watched Sweet walk away.
* * *
"You did what!" exclaimed Vanessa.
Sweet and Vanessa sat outside, under a massive oak tree, eating their lunch.
"Yeah," Sweet smiled, "It was actually really fun."
"So what are you going to do to them next time?"
"I have no idea."
"Really? Well I have one. This is what you should do...."
* * *
Sweet walked up to Joe and Biff, eating lunch in the cafeteria with four or five other people.
"Hey Sweet," Joe said cheerfully.
She looked at Joe annoyed before turning to Biff, "Hey Biff," she said in a voice dripping with honey.
"Hey," Biff smiled. "What are you up to?"
Sweet sat down next to him and placed her left hand on his thigh, "I hear you are really good at physics."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, and I was wondering....." She bit her lip, "If you would like to tutor me tomorrow after school. You know, a study date?"
"Sure." Biff continued smiling. "Can you meet me at Doc Holliday's at four?"
"Yeah. Great, I'll see you then." With that she walked away, swaying her hips.
"What the hell?"
"What Joe, did you really think you could win this bet?" Biff asked.
"But, she has an A in physics."
"Maybe she just wants to spend more time with Biff." The guy seated next to Joe, Jason, said.
The rest of the people at the table laughed. Joe fumed; there was no way he was going to lose this bet.
* * *
"Where to now?" Asked George.
Nancy was silent as she backed her car out of a parking space. She had decided to keep searching for clues in her new case while her boyfriend spent the day in classes. "I'm not sure George."
"What? The almighty girl detective is stumped?"
"George, I'm so confused it's unbelievable. Usually I know what my case is about. This time I have no idea what the hell is going on."
"But you know their names, that's something to go on."
"Yeah I guess."
George looked over at her friend. "What's wrong?"
"What?"
"You seem...deflated."
Nancy laughed, "Deflated?"
"For lack of a better word."
"It's nothing."
"Don't make me hurt you."
"Alright, no need to get violent. It's Michael, he's starting to get suspicious."
"How so?"
"I think he is beginning to suspect that I have something I'm not telling him."
"You mean the whole amateur detective thing?"
The strawberry blonde simply nodded.
"Why not just tell him?"
"I wanted to leave all of that in River Heights."
"Why?"
Nancy sighed, "It's too hard to explain."
George looked out her window, "Nancy where are we going?"
"Back onto campus. I have to call my dad. Maybe he can look these names up."
"What are the names anyway?"
"Jack Maher, Berney Valleys, and....." Nancy searched her brain trying to remember the woman's name. "Sweet Rodriguez."