Nancy walked into Maxine's Diner. Okay, she thought, this is it. Time to question suspect one.

She walked up to Daryl Gray. "Hey, detective." he said casually.

"Hi, Daryl." She smiled. Then she took a deep breathe. "Daryl, I found a tape that Jake Rodgers made. It had some interesting things on it about the people around here."

"Yeah, and?" He asked, normally. He looked like he didn't care, but in his eyes, Nancy could see he was nervous.

"On that tape, there was a frame I found interesting. It was of you and a guy. You were exchanging packages. Are you involved in something illegal?" she asked.

Daryl looked down and sighed. "I should've known that you'd find out. I'll explain everything, but not here. How's tonight around 7 behind the high school sound?"

"No, Daryl. Now. If you killed Jake, you'd run out of town by seven."

Daryl leaned toward her, across the counter. In a hushed voice, he said, "I didn't kill Jake. But I suppose you have a right to suspect me. I did find the body, after all." He stood up straight again. "I get off work in about an hour and a half. Meet me out back then."

"And if you don't show up?"

Daryl turned to leave, but before doing so, he looked back at her. "Then you have every right to throw me in prison."

Nancy figured that she had tons of time to spare. So, she drove over to the high school, so she could question other suspects.

She opened the door to the school, and walked down the hall. She turned at the corner, and found herself in the same room as Connie Watson.

"Hey, Nancy!" Connie waved to her in a friendly manner.

"Hi, Connie. Umm, there's something I want to talk to you about..."Nancy replied.

"What is it Nancy? Oh, I see. You finally found out about the tournament..."

Nancy looked up. "How did you...?"

Connie smiled. "The gleam in your eyes. Actually, I was wondering when you were going to figure it all out. I know you probably want some answers. It's not that long of a story, but let's sit down-my legs are killing me!"

"Okay," Connie began, "first of all, I entered the Men's tournament instead of the women's because of the money. I need that money for collage. The women's wasn't enough for it, so I entered the men's in disguise. In the fall, I will become the first Watson to be enrolled in collage." She looked proud.

Nancy was still curious. "How does Jake tie into this?"

"Well, if anyone finds out about this, I will be in a lot of trouble. I'll have to give back the money, the trophy, the medal. And my family will be ashamed. When Jake found out, he blackmailed me into going out with him."

"That's sad." Nancy replied, feeling sympathy for Connie. "Does your family know about this?"

"No," Connie said, looking down. "They have no idea. When the time comes for collage enrollment, I'll confess the truth, but for now....they haven't even seen anything of the tournament."

Nancy was silent.

Connie suddenly looked up. "You don't think I killed Jake, do you?"

"Well, Connie....let's put it this way: I'm a detective. I have to have rock-hard evidence that clears someone before I let them go off the suspect list. Your confession-I have to admit-makes me less suspicious, but I can't rule you out."

"I understand." Connie said, looking hurt.

"I have to go now." Nancy replied.

Nancy got up, and walked out of the room. Study hall was right next to the room she was just in, and she knew that Hal would be there.

She spotted him and walked over. She sat down across from him. "Hi." she said.

Hal looked up for only a second. "Hi, Nancy." He looked back down at his work.

"We need to talk. Do you have a minute?"

"Not really," he said, still looking down.

Nancy decided to hit he nail right on the head. "I know about the test, Hal. I know you didn't ace it on your own." She said it in a hushed voice, so no-one would hear...except Hal.

He looked up. "Who told you?"

"Jake Rodgers's video did."She paused. "Do you want to confess now, or shall we do this the hard way?"

He set down his pencil, and laced his fingers. He looked her in the eye. "I want to confess. I cheated on the test, because I need to obtain the highest marks possible to become a doctor and get a scholarship. Jake found me out, and blackmailed me into doing things I didn't want to. Things like his homework."

"Ouch. I bet you had little time to study."

"Yes, but I didn't kill Jake! What kind of stupid person would I be then? My scholarship? Not even considered anymore. My future? Questionable. My family? Disgraced. Do you still suspect me?"

"Yes, I do. But it's only because I don't have rock-hard evidence to prove you didn't do it."

There was silence.

"I have to go now." Nancy finally said.

Nancy walked over to the gym. She had only about 15 minutes to talk to Hulk, but hopefully it would be enough.

Wonderful, Nancy thought, Hulk's not here.

It was true. She was standing in the small hallway that connected the change rooms, and the gym. The one where Hulk was usually.

Without looking into the guy's change room, she yelled, "Hulk? Hulk?! Are you in there?"

A man's voice spoke up, "Hulk's not here!"

"Thanks!" She yelled back.

She walked around the school for awhile, wondering where Hulk could possibly be.

Eventually, Nancy decided to step outside and walk around. As she walked around the side of the building, she looked at her watch. Great, she thought, I have to be back at Maxine's in 10 minutes.

She turned around, and started heading in the direction of her car. All of the sudden, a shadow came up behind Nancy, and put her in a headlock from behind.

She then heard sinister laughter, and then a thwap on her head, and then everything went blurry.

Nancy woke up some time later. It took her a minute to focus her vison. Once she did, she realized she couldn't see anything, but she smelt horrible!

She saw a crack of light above her, and she realized that she was in a dumpster. She didn't know how she had ended up here.

"Ahhhhh..."She heard a groan from beside her. Someone else was here! "Oh, my head...." It was Daryl!

"Daryl?" Nancy asked in a hushed voice.

"Daryl's not here right now, but please, leave a message."

"Daryl, we have to get out of here."

"Right."

Nancy peered through the crack of light above her to make sure their captures weren't watching. All clear.

Nancy pushed the lid up and took a deep breathe of fresh air. Daryl did the same.

Nancy shouldn't have laughed. But she couldn't help herself. Daryl was an absolute mess! His blonde hair was pointing in every direction possible-with a twizzler wrapper stuck in it. If that wasn't enough, his shirt was covered in Garbage juice stains, and his pants were almost all green.

"What's so funny?!" Daryl demanded. "You're not exactly Miss. America. Just look at you!"

Yes, it was true. Nancy's white shirt looked more like a tie-dye one, and her blue jeans were wet with garbage juice. Her hair was messed, and it had faint streaks of yellow and green in it. Plus, there was a half-eaten chocolate bar permanently attached to her sock.

"Eww!" Nancy shrieked.

"Yeah, 'ew' is right." Daryl said.

"Oh, well," Nancy said, forcing the words to come, "It could be worse. I'll shower when I get home. Right now, we have to worry about getting out of here. You can jump out first."

Daryl climbed up and out of the dumpster. Nancy followed shortly after.

"So," Nancy asked, "how did you get here?"

"Well," Daryl said, "I had just gotten off my shift, and decided to come out here to see if you'd come yet. You had. Only, Hulk was holding your feet, and Connie was holding your shoulders. They were lifting you into the dumpster. I yelled at them, but they only threw you in faster. Then they came after me. They grabbed me, and hit me over the head. The rest is history."

"Well, since we have no idea where we're going, what did you want to tell me?"

"Nancy, I think I know where they're going. To the Drug Depot. The one that's closed. I'll tell you everything on the way. My car's out front. I'll drive."

As they walked over to his car, Nancy couldn't resist. "You know, Daryl...that might just be the first time you've called me 'Nancy'..."

They had driven about a half-a-mile away from Maxine's when Daryl started to talk. "I was helping a dealer. I'd get him drugs, he'd get me cash. I quit about a month ago, but Jake found out, and he just kept blackmailing me."

"Jake did that to a lot of people." Nancy replied, "Why did you start in the first place?"

"I needed cash. My girlfriend at the time was in love with money. I found that out later, and 'realized she wasn't my type.'"

"Do you know anything about Connie and Hulk?"

"Nothing."

They reached the drug depot. In the shadows were Connie and Hulk-looking rather mad at each other.

Nancy fumbled in her pocket. Aha! Her trusty cell phone was still alive! She handed it to Daryl. "Stay here. Call the cops while I'm out there." Nancy said. She crept out of the car, and walked over to some bushes. She crouched behind them.

"Look," It was Connie yelling, "I don't care what you say, we shouldn't have dumped them in that dumpster."

"Yeah?" Hulk replied, flexing his muscles, "Why not?"

"Because they could very well get up and go call the cops!"

Hulk backed-off.

"No wonder they say you're all brawn and no brains," muttered Connie.

"Well, let's go back and make sure they're dead," Hulk suggested.

Nancy let out a small gasp by accident, as they walked towards her, Hulk's huge foot about to be planted in her face.

She suddenly stood up. "Stop!" she yelled bravely.

"I told you it was stupid to throw her in the dumpster...."Connie mumbled.

"Outta the way!" Hulk yelled.

"No." Nancy said.

"Oh, you wanna fight?" Hulk taunted.

"Not really," Nancy whipped back sarcastically. "But if it does come to that, I'd be afraid if I were you."

Hulk looked mad.

"Look, I came here to see if anyone was hanging around here. You know, to get witnesses." Nancy lied.

"Oh really," Connie replied as Hulk folded his arms triumphantly.

"Yeah, really. So, witness anything lately?"Nancy asked lightly, as she laned against the wall.

"Like what?" Hulk said.

"Like, oh, I don't know, someone throwing something large into a dumpster just outside of Maxine's?" she suggested, as she casually examined her finger nails.

Connie's eyes narrowed. "If you're trying to accuse us of throwing you into the dumpster..."

Nancy smiled as she stood up, no longer leaning on the wall, "Funny. I don't recall saying it was a person. And it therefore goes without saying it I never said it was me who got thrown in a dumpster. And finally, I never said there were more than one person involved. So, either you witnessed something, or you just accused yourself."It was now her turn to fold her arms triumphantly.

"That's it!" Hulk charged at her. But at the last second, Nancy turned, and he flew right by her, landing in the bushes.

Connie got in position to try the same thing, when Nancy said, "I don't think I'd try it if I were you, Connie. Because if I'm not mistaken, that would be a police car that just pulled up."

Dear Dad,

Well, it's all over now. Once the police came, Connie and Hulk were immediately arrested-they'll be having their day in court, and are looking at a life-sentence. Daryl and I were at the police station for hours, explaining what had happened. Daryl confessed that he was helping a dealer for awhile, but since he confessed, he's gotten away with only a fine. And, they discovered that the particular dealer he was helping is dead anyway.

Hal has also confessed to cheating on his exam. The professor who gave out the test was extremely disappointed, but he is giving Hal a second chance anyway. Hal will be rewriting his exam, but if one sentence is the same as the last time, he fails.

So, now, I just have to finish packing up here. The school year down here finishes in a week, and then Aunt Eloise is going to New York for the summer. I think I'm gonna go with her. She says strange things have been happening in the place where the person who rents her apartment works...the only problem is, she won't tell me who. Something about wanting not to expose them. Oh, well. I'll find out soon enough.

Love,

Nancy