The key opened a panel that had another code to be typed into it. "Boy
Frank you have either became paranoid in your years working for the network
or just extremely cautious. She typed in the fourth password that she had
been given. The code opened the rest of the panel door to reveal a little
room of carefully labeled tapes and DVD's. Inside the room if she were to
bend down she would find another surprise. She didn't though since she had
found the tapes that she had wanted. They were obviously some of the top
ones because that was the case they had been working on. "Well here goes."
She popped open the laptop cod player.
- - -
"Joe come and look at this." She had found a tiny pin with a Greek symbol on it.
"Ever study ancient languages?" Joe asked her.
"No, should I have."
"No it just would have helped with this symbol." They searched the rest of the warehouse to find nothing. - - - 'I hear somebody talking to me and he sounded like he was really troubled. I didn't understand why the voice was making my head hurt because of the harsher beat of my heart against my chest. Why does this voice make me want to kill him? It was very familiar. I know it isn't Nancy. Her voice is sweet and melodic. Just as the voice continued talking I realized who it was. I knew what it was that made me angry. I had to wake up. He was going to try to win my Nancy back by solving this case! I can't have him hurt her once again. He hurt her really bad for a long time. I wonder how she is.'
-Ned-
Ned watched as the Frank about his charge/rival began to stir. "Nancy?" Frank whispered to the air around him. - - - Hey everyone! How were your holidays! I hope that they were as good as mine.
Katie- He will eventually help because he wants to. Right now he has an ulterior motive for trying to help other than they need it. Don't worry he will reconsolidate with them soon enough. Of course you know that from A Christmas Story. But between here and there are a lot of stories that have yet to be told that were started with O' of all the luck. Even if you don't see it.
Erincamille- The different view points will be seen as we go along. There are too many characters here not to do something like that and the fact that they are not always in the same place at the same time.. Well you know what I mean. They all have different things that they must do to solve the case.
Princess Skywalker- Don't worry I'll get around to the fraying of the trio. If not in this chapter then in the other chapter.
Vivian 1- Thanks. I like to know that I have all of the bases covered.
Dizzy-izzy- Yeah the old jealousy ploy works every time. Doesn't it? I look forward to seeing where I would go with this.
Disclaimer: I don't own them! I just have fun writing them. I believe that Stratmeyer Syndicate and Simon and Schuster own them.
Chapter 6
Nancy was about to give up watching the tapes. She had watched six tapes each of them being 6 hours long. She heard a knock at the office door. She stopped the tape before she opened the door.
"Nancy have you slept at all?" Fenton Hardy looked at the girl that at a glance could be told she hadn't been sleeping.
"I took a catnap for about an hour. I have got to find out what is going on here." Nancy's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Well you're going to go to sleep and eat a meal. You're not going to do anyone any good by not sleeping." He was worried about the young woman. He hadn't seen her like this very often.
Nancy could tell by his tone of voice that she was to give no argument. "Yes sir. Let me get things wrapped up in here." She was about to close the door in his face when he stopped her.
"Nancy you have five minutes to get things wrapped up in there." She nodded her acknowledgement of those orders.
"You promise that you will wake me after two hours." Her face held just as determined a look as he had just given her.
"I promise." He could remember when he would work on cases around the clock like this. Laura had to make him get some sleep. If he didn't listen to her then she would take it to the next level and go to the chief that he worked under. Problem here was that he wasn't sure who she really worked under let alone his sons.
That would be interesting to know." He muttered to himself. "Does she work under that Detective Marshall or under someone else? He had tried to find out before who his boys were working for. He couldn't find out though. It seemed as though there were so many loopholes and everything like that it made it next to impossible to find out. They said that it was some kind of government agency but when he checked into it there really wasn't anything that this company did. There had been no connecting company. It was the biggest ring of false leads that he had ever seen. He still wanted to know though. He would eventually find out.
Nancy showed up at the door five minutes later. "If they call about Frank don't wait for the two hours to pass." She slipped into the hall as Fenton Hardy watched her almost step into her room. She seemed to decide against it as she went into her room.
-Bess and Joe-
"Dad where is Nancy?" Joe asked his dad when he walked into the room.
"She's asleep. I want her to stay asleep."
"Let me guess she stayed up trying to find clues on whatever she was working on." Bess queried.
Mr. Hardy chuckled at the girls guess. "You know her best. You tell me."
Bess smiled. She thought about all the times that Nancy had done that since she had refused to allow George or her help with the case.
-Flashback-
"Nancy you can't do this. It will end up killing you!" Bess confronted her friend after she had received the message on her answering machine saying that Bess's help wasn't needed any more.
"Bess what would happen if something horrible were to happen to you. What would I tell you're fiancée?" Nancy's answer was quiet enough. It just chilled the room all around them.
"Nancy why? We've worked together since we were 16 years old. Why now?" Bess wanted to cry.
"You're engaged now." The answer remained the same but the tone was different. It was almost sad.
"Is that what you told George last year when we found out that she was pregnant? Why didn't you tell her that when she was engaged to her husband?!" Bess's voice rose a couple of octaves.
"Bess please don't yell. I love you and I don't want you to miss out on the best years of your life because of me. These years belong to you two." Nancy was crying.
Bess remembered wanting scream. "You haven't cried since you lost Ned. What else is going on that you haven't told us about?"
Bess knew that Nancy lied at the next answer. "Nothing."
- -
"Bess I need to talk to you." It was Carson Drew's voice over the phone.
"Not a problem sir. Where at?" She asked her friends father.
"At my office."
"I'll be there in ten minutes." Bess had been waiting for a call from him. Something was going on with Nancy and she wanted to know what it was.
Ten minutes later she pulled in front of the lawyers office. "I'm here to see Carson Drew. He's expecting me." She put on her best professional face.
The secretary eyed wearily. "Mr. Drew there is a young woman by the name of Bess Marvin here to see you."
"Send her in. Cancel the rest of my appointments for the day."
"Yes sir." The secretary looked to see that Bess had already left the desk area to go to the office.
"Mr. Drew I'm worried about Nancy. She's pushing both of us away. She has always had us as back up." Bess said.
"I know. I saw her do it. First it was George and now you." Carson Drew observed the young woman. She held a lot of promise as a detective. She had been helping Nancy far too long to not know what she was doing.
"Why is she doing this sir?" Bess whispered.
"She thinks that she is keeping you safe."
"I don't want to be kept safe. I know what she was working on out there. It isn't safe for her to do it alone." Bess was pacing the room.
"Bess sit down. Let me tell you a story." Carson Drew ordered trying to keep her calm.
"This better be good." She sat down begrudgingly.
"It is." He started the story. "You know that I was married at one time. Nancy and Elizabeth were the perfect mother-daughter. I spent what time I could with them but I was always being called away on a case. She remembers us spending less and less time together. We were fighting the last time I saw my wife. I received a report that she had been killed one day in a car accident. I left the case that I had been working on in the hands of my seniors at the time. Nancy was heart broken. She would cry for hours into the night wanting to know where her mommy was. All I could tell her was that her mommy would never be back. I didn't know how to explain to a three year old child that didn't comprehend that her mother was dead."
"I'm sorry." Bess whispered. She hadn't realized what had happened because Nancy had never talked about her mother. She always said that she didn't remember her. That was acceptable because she had been too young.
"That was when I decided to look into getting a housekeeper. She turned out to be Hannah. Hannah worked wonders with Nancy and things soon went into a routine. I watched Nancy as she grew into a beautiful young woman. She looks just like her mother. Elizabeth would be proud to see Nancy now." Carson ran his hand through his hair.
"I see part of the reason why she is trying to push us away then." Bess's head was down. "What about you? Nancy is so busy now that she doesn't have time to breathe let alone to make phone calls and let you know that she is alright."
"She does call. It doesn't prevent me from worrying about her though. I don't know the extent of the work that she does most of the time." Carson sighed.
-End flashback-
In truth Bess didn't sit that case out. She had helped her best friend and Nancy couldn't do anything about it. After the case was finished she had never been allowed to help her any. She was tired of sitting on the sidelines all the time waiting to be told that it would be alright if she were to help her best friend. She was going to do it now whether she wanted the help or not.
"Bess." Joe was trying to get her attention. "You zoned out there."
"Sorry Joe." Bess muttered.
"Bess what are you doing here?" Nancy's voice came from behind.
"I'm helping to investigate Nancy." Bess took a short breath.
"Why aren't' you sitting with Frank ready to call me if anything changes?" Nancy's arms were crossed.
"Ned asked if he could help and I told him that he could. I was helping Joe check out the warehouse that Frank had been in. Did you find anything on the tapes?" Bess changed the subject form her to what Nancy had been working on.
"Bess that trick isn't going to work. I'm the one that taught you that trick remember?" Nancy had turned cold at the mention of Ned sitting by Frank. It wasn't that she was worried about what he would do to Frank because he wouldn't do anything to his superiors if he didn't want to get into a lot of trouble. "Why are you helping Joe then?"
"I'vebeendoingdetectiveworkmyselfallsinceyouhaven'tallowedmetohelpyouwithany ofyourcases." Bess said in a nervous jumble.
Everyone stared at her. Nancy though couldn't believe that her friend had been working solo since last year. "Bess did you just say that you had been working of your own cases?"
"Yes! I'm tired of working on the sideline Nancy. Don't you think that life got a little boring after solving mystery after mystery with you?" Bess replied.
"What about your husband?" The lovely redhead asked.
"My husband knows that I do extra work on the side occasionally." Nancy didn't miss the fact that Bess didn't mention that he knew what she was doing.
"You know this is dangerous right?" Nancy asked.
"Yes, I believe that we all know that." Bess looked at their friend evenly for the first time since they had started this conversation. "I want to do this."
"Yes. I understand Bess." Nancy was resigned to what she knew her friend wanted. There was nothing she could do to stop her.
Bess went back to her question that she asked earlier. "Did you find anything earlier?"
"No. I only have one more tape to watch." Nancy responded before she looked at her watch. "Before I do that though I want to call Ned and see how Frank is doing."
She stopped just before she made the needed call. "What did you find?" Bess showed her the little Greek pin that they had found.
-Ned-
Ned looked at the now sleeping form. 'I have to call them and let them know that he is doing alright.'
The phone rang. "Hello!"
"Hello Ned." It was Nancy's cold voice that got his attention.
"Nancy I was about to call." Ned quietly said to her.
"How is he?" She asked quietly.
"He's sleeping. The doctors say that he will wake up soon." Ned informed her quietly so as not to wake him up.
He heard Frank stirred on the bed. "Nancy?" He asked opening his eyes. Ned nodded his head. "Let me talk to her." Frank ordered before he was handed the phone.
"Nancy how are you doing?" Frank asked.
"I'm okay." She answered.
"What is he doing here?" Frank asked her.
"He said he wanted to help. I told him no and Bess sent him to watch over you." Nancy said.
"Did you find anything on the case?" Frank asked.
"I didn't find anything yet. I'm about to watch the last tape that you have." Frank winced at the slight movement of his arm. "That is after I come and get you."
"Nancy how much sleep have you gotten?"
The other end of the line was silent. Frank heard a different voice come on the phone. "You know I had to make your girlfriend go to sleep."
"Dad, how are you doing? What did you do to Nancy?" Frank didn't say girlfriend because he didn't know exactly where they stood at the moment. He wasn't sure that she knew where they stood at the moment.
"I'm doing fine. I had to almost pull her out of your office to get her out of there. Then she would only consent to sleeping for a couple of hours which she didn't even get that much." Mr. Hardy was saying over the line before it was taken.
"Frank I'm glad to hear that you're talking now. That must mean that you're in the world of the living."
Frank groaned. "Joe that is the worst one that you have come up with. Promise me something."
Joe muttered an okay. Frank could almost see his brother twisting the phone cord in his hand when he said that. "Promise me that you will keep an eye on Nancy until I can get to her."
"You don't have to worry about that I will." Joe assured.
"You better I don't want anything to happen to her." Joe chuckled at the other end of the line.
Bess took the phone from Joe. "Frank you've got to get better soon! Nancy is almost intolerable without you to keep her in line." Frank heard a resounding thwack of paper over the phone.
Hey Nancy was that really necessary?" Bess teased her friend.
"Let me see if I can talk to her." Frank said to the blond.
"Frank don't believe a thing that they say! None of it's true! I just want to get this case solved." Frank chuckled. It hurt him to do so though.
"Don't worry just promise that you will get some sleep and be careful." After he received that promise he hung up the phone with all of them.
-Ned-
Ned watched with dread as Frank chuckled at Nancy. He wanted to be the one to do that. 'Nancy why did I have to ruin everything between us. I have to get you back. I feel so empty without having you by my side. I don't care if I come in second.' He fingered the ring that he always had with him. He had hoped that one day she would wear his ring once again.
He walked out of the room knowing that Frank would be alright for a few minutes. He had to let these feelings of anger, jealousy, sadness, and longing go. He didn't know how to do that. He needed some kind of closure or some kind of encouragement. He knew what he would do first though.
-Nancy-
It was nice knowing that Frank was going to be alright. "I'm going to help you get this case solved." Nancy vowed.
"Joe I'm going to the office." Nancy walked toward the stairs.
"I'm coming with you."
Bess didn't say anything at all. She followed them into the office closing the door behind them. She watched in awe as Nancy typed in some of the codes that she had been given. What surprised her even more was that a panel opened up in the wall in which Nancy typed in one more code before it revealed some tapes that had been in the wall.
"What kind of work do you guys do now?" Bess wondered aloud.
"Detective." Nancy and Joe answered automatically.
Bess didn't buy it but she left it at that as she joined Nancy at the computer. "What are we looking for?"
"I don't know." Nancy answered.
Just then Nancy sat straight up. "Joe what is this?"
"I don't know?" Joe didn't remember seeing that the last time he had been watching these tapes.
Bess took a good look at what Nancy had noticed. "It's a tube of lipstick. It looks like. What is a tube of lipstick doing there?"
"Joe do you have the blueprints and the schematics of the place?" Nancy asked.
"Yes."
"Bess while we look over the blueprints why don't you hack into the systems and check on the employees list. They might have not told us all that had happened." Nancy asked.
"Not a problem." Bess smiled. Finally she was going to be of some use to her best friend.
Joe and Nancy looked over the all the floor plans that the place had. Joe was surprised at what a fresh pair of eyes had found. 'How could I have missed such an important detail? Lipstick. I didn't even think that would be anything of importance. But why would a woman leave her lipstick lying around. She would want to put it back inot her purse so that she could use it later. Unless....'
He didn't finish that line of thought when he heard Bess stop typing. "Nancy I suppose that you want all of the female workers that are there?"
"That's a start. If we don't find anything there then..." the phone ringing interrupted her sentence.
"Hello."
"Nancy I just received another ransom note. If I don't come up with the money that they want they are going to sell it to the highest bidder." Chet said into the phone.
"What does the note say?" She put him on speaker phone so that he could be heard.
"It says that I have to be there at ten o'clock tonight with the money." Chet read the part of the note that he was telling her about.
"Chet I want you to come over to the Hardy's in two hours. Oh and Frank is awake." Nancy informed him.
-Ned and Frank-
"Ned Nickerson what are you doing here?!" Frank was seething at the man.
"I'm here to help get this case solved."
This isn't an agency case. This was a favor for somebody." Frank was sitting himself up.
"Frank you shouldn't be sitting up. You know that Nancy is going to freak out when she comes in and freaks out because you're doing too much too fast."
"Are you worried that she is going to kill you?" Frank's eyebrows shot up.
"Yes."
"Well you should worry!?" Frank shot back.
"What is going on between you two?" Ned asked him.
"That is none of your business Nickerson." Frank glared.
"It is my business. I love her."
Frank snorted. "If you loved her you wouldn't have pulled what you had three years ago. You know that she lost three years of sleep because of that." Frank could barely keep his voice contained.
"I knew that she had lost a lot but I didn't think that she had lost that much." Ned whispered.
"You didn't! How could you not know? I want to know how you slept those three years after you pushed her away. You were tired of coming in second." Frank kept going. "Don't you know that this is her life! That this is what she does?"
Ned looked guiltier and guiltier. "I couldn't have her know that I was working undercover for these people. I couldn't have her be vulnerable. She would have gotten hurt." Ned looked from the floor to Frank.
"I know that you love her would you have done the same thing?" Ned put the question to Frank.
"I would have told her. I don't go around pushing her away in every way possible just to try to keep her safe. She doesn't stay safe. She works as a detective and a top secret government agent. Tell me where in that does she stay out of the line of fire?"
Ned looked at the floor. "No where." He answered.
Frank was up out of bed going to the window. "I can't stay here. There's something going down tonight. I can feel it." Frank said aloud.
"Nancy isn't going to allow you to help." Ned commented. "You shouldn't be out of bed. You should be resting."
"I shouldn't be in bed right now. I need to be helping her. When have I ever let anyone tell me what to do Nickerson?"
Ned though about all the times that he had worked with him. "Never."
"Just..."
"Mr. hardy what are you doing out of bed?!" A deep voice thundered.
- - - - -
Okay guys you have to forgive me for being late. I'm not really trying to be late omni stories here lately but I've been busy. I made this chapter longer than I usually do as a sorry. I hope that I didn't make it too long. I promise in the next chapter that I will leave you with a lot of action. In fact the story is already set up for the action. It should be fun to write.
- - -
"Joe come and look at this." She had found a tiny pin with a Greek symbol on it.
"Ever study ancient languages?" Joe asked her.
"No, should I have."
"No it just would have helped with this symbol." They searched the rest of the warehouse to find nothing. - - - 'I hear somebody talking to me and he sounded like he was really troubled. I didn't understand why the voice was making my head hurt because of the harsher beat of my heart against my chest. Why does this voice make me want to kill him? It was very familiar. I know it isn't Nancy. Her voice is sweet and melodic. Just as the voice continued talking I realized who it was. I knew what it was that made me angry. I had to wake up. He was going to try to win my Nancy back by solving this case! I can't have him hurt her once again. He hurt her really bad for a long time. I wonder how she is.'
-Ned-
Ned watched as the Frank about his charge/rival began to stir. "Nancy?" Frank whispered to the air around him. - - - Hey everyone! How were your holidays! I hope that they were as good as mine.
Katie- He will eventually help because he wants to. Right now he has an ulterior motive for trying to help other than they need it. Don't worry he will reconsolidate with them soon enough. Of course you know that from A Christmas Story. But between here and there are a lot of stories that have yet to be told that were started with O' of all the luck. Even if you don't see it.
Erincamille- The different view points will be seen as we go along. There are too many characters here not to do something like that and the fact that they are not always in the same place at the same time.. Well you know what I mean. They all have different things that they must do to solve the case.
Princess Skywalker- Don't worry I'll get around to the fraying of the trio. If not in this chapter then in the other chapter.
Vivian 1- Thanks. I like to know that I have all of the bases covered.
Dizzy-izzy- Yeah the old jealousy ploy works every time. Doesn't it? I look forward to seeing where I would go with this.
Disclaimer: I don't own them! I just have fun writing them. I believe that Stratmeyer Syndicate and Simon and Schuster own them.
Chapter 6
Nancy was about to give up watching the tapes. She had watched six tapes each of them being 6 hours long. She heard a knock at the office door. She stopped the tape before she opened the door.
"Nancy have you slept at all?" Fenton Hardy looked at the girl that at a glance could be told she hadn't been sleeping.
"I took a catnap for about an hour. I have got to find out what is going on here." Nancy's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Well you're going to go to sleep and eat a meal. You're not going to do anyone any good by not sleeping." He was worried about the young woman. He hadn't seen her like this very often.
Nancy could tell by his tone of voice that she was to give no argument. "Yes sir. Let me get things wrapped up in here." She was about to close the door in his face when he stopped her.
"Nancy you have five minutes to get things wrapped up in there." She nodded her acknowledgement of those orders.
"You promise that you will wake me after two hours." Her face held just as determined a look as he had just given her.
"I promise." He could remember when he would work on cases around the clock like this. Laura had to make him get some sleep. If he didn't listen to her then she would take it to the next level and go to the chief that he worked under. Problem here was that he wasn't sure who she really worked under let alone his sons.
That would be interesting to know." He muttered to himself. "Does she work under that Detective Marshall or under someone else? He had tried to find out before who his boys were working for. He couldn't find out though. It seemed as though there were so many loopholes and everything like that it made it next to impossible to find out. They said that it was some kind of government agency but when he checked into it there really wasn't anything that this company did. There had been no connecting company. It was the biggest ring of false leads that he had ever seen. He still wanted to know though. He would eventually find out.
Nancy showed up at the door five minutes later. "If they call about Frank don't wait for the two hours to pass." She slipped into the hall as Fenton Hardy watched her almost step into her room. She seemed to decide against it as she went into her room.
-Bess and Joe-
"Dad where is Nancy?" Joe asked his dad when he walked into the room.
"She's asleep. I want her to stay asleep."
"Let me guess she stayed up trying to find clues on whatever she was working on." Bess queried.
Mr. Hardy chuckled at the girls guess. "You know her best. You tell me."
Bess smiled. She thought about all the times that Nancy had done that since she had refused to allow George or her help with the case.
-Flashback-
"Nancy you can't do this. It will end up killing you!" Bess confronted her friend after she had received the message on her answering machine saying that Bess's help wasn't needed any more.
"Bess what would happen if something horrible were to happen to you. What would I tell you're fiancée?" Nancy's answer was quiet enough. It just chilled the room all around them.
"Nancy why? We've worked together since we were 16 years old. Why now?" Bess wanted to cry.
"You're engaged now." The answer remained the same but the tone was different. It was almost sad.
"Is that what you told George last year when we found out that she was pregnant? Why didn't you tell her that when she was engaged to her husband?!" Bess's voice rose a couple of octaves.
"Bess please don't yell. I love you and I don't want you to miss out on the best years of your life because of me. These years belong to you two." Nancy was crying.
Bess remembered wanting scream. "You haven't cried since you lost Ned. What else is going on that you haven't told us about?"
Bess knew that Nancy lied at the next answer. "Nothing."
- -
"Bess I need to talk to you." It was Carson Drew's voice over the phone.
"Not a problem sir. Where at?" She asked her friends father.
"At my office."
"I'll be there in ten minutes." Bess had been waiting for a call from him. Something was going on with Nancy and she wanted to know what it was.
Ten minutes later she pulled in front of the lawyers office. "I'm here to see Carson Drew. He's expecting me." She put on her best professional face.
The secretary eyed wearily. "Mr. Drew there is a young woman by the name of Bess Marvin here to see you."
"Send her in. Cancel the rest of my appointments for the day."
"Yes sir." The secretary looked to see that Bess had already left the desk area to go to the office.
"Mr. Drew I'm worried about Nancy. She's pushing both of us away. She has always had us as back up." Bess said.
"I know. I saw her do it. First it was George and now you." Carson Drew observed the young woman. She held a lot of promise as a detective. She had been helping Nancy far too long to not know what she was doing.
"Why is she doing this sir?" Bess whispered.
"She thinks that she is keeping you safe."
"I don't want to be kept safe. I know what she was working on out there. It isn't safe for her to do it alone." Bess was pacing the room.
"Bess sit down. Let me tell you a story." Carson Drew ordered trying to keep her calm.
"This better be good." She sat down begrudgingly.
"It is." He started the story. "You know that I was married at one time. Nancy and Elizabeth were the perfect mother-daughter. I spent what time I could with them but I was always being called away on a case. She remembers us spending less and less time together. We were fighting the last time I saw my wife. I received a report that she had been killed one day in a car accident. I left the case that I had been working on in the hands of my seniors at the time. Nancy was heart broken. She would cry for hours into the night wanting to know where her mommy was. All I could tell her was that her mommy would never be back. I didn't know how to explain to a three year old child that didn't comprehend that her mother was dead."
"I'm sorry." Bess whispered. She hadn't realized what had happened because Nancy had never talked about her mother. She always said that she didn't remember her. That was acceptable because she had been too young.
"That was when I decided to look into getting a housekeeper. She turned out to be Hannah. Hannah worked wonders with Nancy and things soon went into a routine. I watched Nancy as she grew into a beautiful young woman. She looks just like her mother. Elizabeth would be proud to see Nancy now." Carson ran his hand through his hair.
"I see part of the reason why she is trying to push us away then." Bess's head was down. "What about you? Nancy is so busy now that she doesn't have time to breathe let alone to make phone calls and let you know that she is alright."
"She does call. It doesn't prevent me from worrying about her though. I don't know the extent of the work that she does most of the time." Carson sighed.
-End flashback-
In truth Bess didn't sit that case out. She had helped her best friend and Nancy couldn't do anything about it. After the case was finished she had never been allowed to help her any. She was tired of sitting on the sidelines all the time waiting to be told that it would be alright if she were to help her best friend. She was going to do it now whether she wanted the help or not.
"Bess." Joe was trying to get her attention. "You zoned out there."
"Sorry Joe." Bess muttered.
"Bess what are you doing here?" Nancy's voice came from behind.
"I'm helping to investigate Nancy." Bess took a short breath.
"Why aren't' you sitting with Frank ready to call me if anything changes?" Nancy's arms were crossed.
"Ned asked if he could help and I told him that he could. I was helping Joe check out the warehouse that Frank had been in. Did you find anything on the tapes?" Bess changed the subject form her to what Nancy had been working on.
"Bess that trick isn't going to work. I'm the one that taught you that trick remember?" Nancy had turned cold at the mention of Ned sitting by Frank. It wasn't that she was worried about what he would do to Frank because he wouldn't do anything to his superiors if he didn't want to get into a lot of trouble. "Why are you helping Joe then?"
"I'vebeendoingdetectiveworkmyselfallsinceyouhaven'tallowedmetohelpyouwithany ofyourcases." Bess said in a nervous jumble.
Everyone stared at her. Nancy though couldn't believe that her friend had been working solo since last year. "Bess did you just say that you had been working of your own cases?"
"Yes! I'm tired of working on the sideline Nancy. Don't you think that life got a little boring after solving mystery after mystery with you?" Bess replied.
"What about your husband?" The lovely redhead asked.
"My husband knows that I do extra work on the side occasionally." Nancy didn't miss the fact that Bess didn't mention that he knew what she was doing.
"You know this is dangerous right?" Nancy asked.
"Yes, I believe that we all know that." Bess looked at their friend evenly for the first time since they had started this conversation. "I want to do this."
"Yes. I understand Bess." Nancy was resigned to what she knew her friend wanted. There was nothing she could do to stop her.
Bess went back to her question that she asked earlier. "Did you find anything earlier?"
"No. I only have one more tape to watch." Nancy responded before she looked at her watch. "Before I do that though I want to call Ned and see how Frank is doing."
She stopped just before she made the needed call. "What did you find?" Bess showed her the little Greek pin that they had found.
-Ned-
Ned looked at the now sleeping form. 'I have to call them and let them know that he is doing alright.'
The phone rang. "Hello!"
"Hello Ned." It was Nancy's cold voice that got his attention.
"Nancy I was about to call." Ned quietly said to her.
"How is he?" She asked quietly.
"He's sleeping. The doctors say that he will wake up soon." Ned informed her quietly so as not to wake him up.
He heard Frank stirred on the bed. "Nancy?" He asked opening his eyes. Ned nodded his head. "Let me talk to her." Frank ordered before he was handed the phone.
"Nancy how are you doing?" Frank asked.
"I'm okay." She answered.
"What is he doing here?" Frank asked her.
"He said he wanted to help. I told him no and Bess sent him to watch over you." Nancy said.
"Did you find anything on the case?" Frank asked.
"I didn't find anything yet. I'm about to watch the last tape that you have." Frank winced at the slight movement of his arm. "That is after I come and get you."
"Nancy how much sleep have you gotten?"
The other end of the line was silent. Frank heard a different voice come on the phone. "You know I had to make your girlfriend go to sleep."
"Dad, how are you doing? What did you do to Nancy?" Frank didn't say girlfriend because he didn't know exactly where they stood at the moment. He wasn't sure that she knew where they stood at the moment.
"I'm doing fine. I had to almost pull her out of your office to get her out of there. Then she would only consent to sleeping for a couple of hours which she didn't even get that much." Mr. Hardy was saying over the line before it was taken.
"Frank I'm glad to hear that you're talking now. That must mean that you're in the world of the living."
Frank groaned. "Joe that is the worst one that you have come up with. Promise me something."
Joe muttered an okay. Frank could almost see his brother twisting the phone cord in his hand when he said that. "Promise me that you will keep an eye on Nancy until I can get to her."
"You don't have to worry about that I will." Joe assured.
"You better I don't want anything to happen to her." Joe chuckled at the other end of the line.
Bess took the phone from Joe. "Frank you've got to get better soon! Nancy is almost intolerable without you to keep her in line." Frank heard a resounding thwack of paper over the phone.
Hey Nancy was that really necessary?" Bess teased her friend.
"Let me see if I can talk to her." Frank said to the blond.
"Frank don't believe a thing that they say! None of it's true! I just want to get this case solved." Frank chuckled. It hurt him to do so though.
"Don't worry just promise that you will get some sleep and be careful." After he received that promise he hung up the phone with all of them.
-Ned-
Ned watched with dread as Frank chuckled at Nancy. He wanted to be the one to do that. 'Nancy why did I have to ruin everything between us. I have to get you back. I feel so empty without having you by my side. I don't care if I come in second.' He fingered the ring that he always had with him. He had hoped that one day she would wear his ring once again.
He walked out of the room knowing that Frank would be alright for a few minutes. He had to let these feelings of anger, jealousy, sadness, and longing go. He didn't know how to do that. He needed some kind of closure or some kind of encouragement. He knew what he would do first though.
-Nancy-
It was nice knowing that Frank was going to be alright. "I'm going to help you get this case solved." Nancy vowed.
"Joe I'm going to the office." Nancy walked toward the stairs.
"I'm coming with you."
Bess didn't say anything at all. She followed them into the office closing the door behind them. She watched in awe as Nancy typed in some of the codes that she had been given. What surprised her even more was that a panel opened up in the wall in which Nancy typed in one more code before it revealed some tapes that had been in the wall.
"What kind of work do you guys do now?" Bess wondered aloud.
"Detective." Nancy and Joe answered automatically.
Bess didn't buy it but she left it at that as she joined Nancy at the computer. "What are we looking for?"
"I don't know." Nancy answered.
Just then Nancy sat straight up. "Joe what is this?"
"I don't know?" Joe didn't remember seeing that the last time he had been watching these tapes.
Bess took a good look at what Nancy had noticed. "It's a tube of lipstick. It looks like. What is a tube of lipstick doing there?"
"Joe do you have the blueprints and the schematics of the place?" Nancy asked.
"Yes."
"Bess while we look over the blueprints why don't you hack into the systems and check on the employees list. They might have not told us all that had happened." Nancy asked.
"Not a problem." Bess smiled. Finally she was going to be of some use to her best friend.
Joe and Nancy looked over the all the floor plans that the place had. Joe was surprised at what a fresh pair of eyes had found. 'How could I have missed such an important detail? Lipstick. I didn't even think that would be anything of importance. But why would a woman leave her lipstick lying around. She would want to put it back inot her purse so that she could use it later. Unless....'
He didn't finish that line of thought when he heard Bess stop typing. "Nancy I suppose that you want all of the female workers that are there?"
"That's a start. If we don't find anything there then..." the phone ringing interrupted her sentence.
"Hello."
"Nancy I just received another ransom note. If I don't come up with the money that they want they are going to sell it to the highest bidder." Chet said into the phone.
"What does the note say?" She put him on speaker phone so that he could be heard.
"It says that I have to be there at ten o'clock tonight with the money." Chet read the part of the note that he was telling her about.
"Chet I want you to come over to the Hardy's in two hours. Oh and Frank is awake." Nancy informed him.
-Ned and Frank-
"Ned Nickerson what are you doing here?!" Frank was seething at the man.
"I'm here to help get this case solved."
This isn't an agency case. This was a favor for somebody." Frank was sitting himself up.
"Frank you shouldn't be sitting up. You know that Nancy is going to freak out when she comes in and freaks out because you're doing too much too fast."
"Are you worried that she is going to kill you?" Frank's eyebrows shot up.
"Yes."
"Well you should worry!?" Frank shot back.
"What is going on between you two?" Ned asked him.
"That is none of your business Nickerson." Frank glared.
"It is my business. I love her."
Frank snorted. "If you loved her you wouldn't have pulled what you had three years ago. You know that she lost three years of sleep because of that." Frank could barely keep his voice contained.
"I knew that she had lost a lot but I didn't think that she had lost that much." Ned whispered.
"You didn't! How could you not know? I want to know how you slept those three years after you pushed her away. You were tired of coming in second." Frank kept going. "Don't you know that this is her life! That this is what she does?"
Ned looked guiltier and guiltier. "I couldn't have her know that I was working undercover for these people. I couldn't have her be vulnerable. She would have gotten hurt." Ned looked from the floor to Frank.
"I know that you love her would you have done the same thing?" Ned put the question to Frank.
"I would have told her. I don't go around pushing her away in every way possible just to try to keep her safe. She doesn't stay safe. She works as a detective and a top secret government agent. Tell me where in that does she stay out of the line of fire?"
Ned looked at the floor. "No where." He answered.
Frank was up out of bed going to the window. "I can't stay here. There's something going down tonight. I can feel it." Frank said aloud.
"Nancy isn't going to allow you to help." Ned commented. "You shouldn't be out of bed. You should be resting."
"I shouldn't be in bed right now. I need to be helping her. When have I ever let anyone tell me what to do Nickerson?"
Ned though about all the times that he had worked with him. "Never."
"Just..."
"Mr. hardy what are you doing out of bed?!" A deep voice thundered.
- - - - -
Okay guys you have to forgive me for being late. I'm not really trying to be late omni stories here lately but I've been busy. I made this chapter longer than I usually do as a sorry. I hope that I didn't make it too long. I promise in the next chapter that I will leave you with a lot of action. In fact the story is already set up for the action. It should be fun to write.