Disclaimer: I still own nothing...

Author's Note: Sorry it's taken me longer than usual to post this chapter. I've just been taking care of everyone in my house because they were sick and now I'm coming down with it. Ain't life grand...Please read and review. (And by the way, you can now review my story anonymously. I didn't know I had blocked those reviews.)

TesubCalle You found my grammatical error. I realized what I did wrong after you pointed it out to me! Thank you for that!

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"Are you sure?" Luke asked, looking at the counter where Nancy was staring. He then turned to her with an amused expression on his face.

"Yes, I'm sure." She saw Luke's expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nancy, I'm telling you right now that there is no way that man is a killer." Luke said.

"How do you know that?" Nancy asked.

"Because he's one of my good friends from high school." Luke said.

Nancy looked back at the counter to see the guy holding up a hand at Luke. He gave the cashier his money and pointed at their table. He then made his way over to them.

Nancy slightly tensed when he stopped next to them.

"Luke, man! What's up?" he asked. Luke stood up and they shook hands.

"Just working." Luke said. He pointed at Nancy. "Nancy, I want you to meet Eric Warren. Eric, this is Nancy Drew."

Nancy looked up and could have sworn that she saw Eric's smile falter for the slightest second. He quickly recovered and held out his hand to Nancy. Nancy forced a smile and shook it, but she couldn't stop the chill that ran down her spine.

"What happened to your leg?" Eric asked, sitting down next to Luke.

"I had a car accident with a tree. The tree won." Nancy joked.

Eric chuckled at her. "I know how that is. I got into a wreck about four years ago."

"I didn't know that." Luke said.

"I was working up in Maine at the time." Eric said.

"So, what brings you back yo Huntingdon?" Luke asked. Macy came to their table and handed Eric his food.

"Don't be a stranger around here, Eric." Macy said.

"Thanks, Macy." Eric said. He turned his attention back to Luke. "I just missed it here. And I have a few things to take care of."

Nancy choked on her drink and started to cough.

"Are you okay, Nancy?"Luke asked.

Nancy waved her hand at him. "Yeah, it just went down the wrong way."

"How's the construction business going?" Luke asked.

"A little slow right now. But it always is this time of year. How's the hardware store?" Eric asked.

"Busy." Luke said. "Though I'm taking a couple of days off right now." He said looking at Nancy.

"When did you have your wreck, Nancy?" Eric asked.

"Yesterday," Nancy said. She kept watching him. She was sure that he was the man that she saw last night. But she didn't want to be around him anymore. She forced a big yawn.

"I'm sorry." she said.

"No, don't be," Luke said. "You've had a busy day." He grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket and threw some ones onto the table. "You should really be getting some sleep anyway."

Eric stood up to let Luke slide out of the booth. "I'm gonna be in town for the next few days if you want to do something."

"Yeah. I'll be at the house." Luke said.

"It was nice to meet you, Eric." Nancy said.

"You too." Eric said and handed Nancy her crutches. "Maybe I'll see you again."

Nancy gave him a nervous smile." Yeah...maybe."

Nancy could feel Eric watching her as she left the diner.

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"Are you okay?" Luke asked Nancy. They were on their way back to his house and she hadn't said a word to him.

Nancy looked over at him and forced a small smile."I'm fine."

Luke looked over at her. "You're not fine, Nancy. And you suck at lying." He looked ahead of him at the road. "You still think Eric is the one you saw, don't you?"

Nancy sighed. "I can't help it Luke. I look at people differently than most others would. I've taught myself to remember everything about a person and I know that Eric is the one that I saw last night. I know that he is a friend of yours, but I'm sorry–he's the one that I saw kill Maddie last night."

Luke didn't say anything. Nancy could tell that he was thinking about what she told him. When he turned into his driveway and shut off the truck, he finally looked at her.

"I'm not going to be mad at you, Nancy, if that's what you're worried about. But I am telling you that I don't think Eric is the one that you saw. And I know that I haven't given you any reason to believe me."

"Thank you, Luke." Nancy said as she opened her car door. "But when I talk to the sketch artist tomorrow, the description that I give them will look just like Eric."

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Frank rubbed his tired eyes and stretched. He had been hunched over his laptop for the last hour and a half, looking for any information that he could find on Luke Medina. And he had to admit that the search was futile.

Frank jumped in his chair, startled, when Joe walked back into the motel room carrying a bag of food and two drinks. Frank shut the laptop with a click and went over to grab the drinks from Joe.

"What took you so long?" Frank asked. "I thought you went right up the road."

"I did." Joe answered. "But I got...sidetracked."

"By a girl, I presume." Frank said sitting down at the small table in their room.

"You know me all too well." Joe said. He set the bag of food in front of Frank.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Frank asked.

Joe sat down on his bed against the headboard. "I already did." He gabbed the remote to the small television and turned it on.

"With the girl you got sidetracked by." Frank said.

"I was never one to turn down a girl." Joe said seriously.

Frank rolled his eyes and took a bite of his burger while Joe started to flip through the channels,

"So, did you find anything out?" Joe asked.

"Nothing on missing persons. I sent out a bunch on emails to our contacts around here, so maybe we'll know something soon." Frank explained.

"Find out anything else?" Joe asked.

"About what?" Frank asked.

Joe just looked at his brother and grinned. Frank ignored him and went back to eating. He figured that his brother would know what he was really searching for.

"I couldn't find out anything about him." Frank finally said five minutes later.

"You actually took my advice?" Joe asked.

"That's a shock to you?" Frank asked.

"Well, yeah." Joe said. "I'm not exactly Joyce Brothers."

"You just got me thinking." Frank commented.

"We really need to start recording our conversations." Joe said.

"Are you finished making jokes yet?" Frank asked.

Joe thought for a moment. "For the next couple of minutes, sure."

"He's exactly as he seems." Frank said. "I found a site to the local high school and as it happens they have an archive section on past graduates. He was second in class, played football and baseball, and was president of his senior class."

"Sounds like a good person to me." Joe said, watching television.

"Sounds too good to me." Frank said.

Joe turned his gaze away from the television and looked at Frank. "Take the name away and he's you, Frank."

Frank was about to protest but decided against it. He knew that Joe was right. He and Luke were almost the same. So, that's it, he decided. Just drop it before someone gets hurt.

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Nancy sighed when her head finally hit the pillow. She had to admit that she really was tired. And the encounter at the diner didn't help her nerves any. How could a killer just show himself in public like that?

But Nancy really wanted to believe Luke when he said that Eric would never do anything like that. People always wanted to believe the best in their friends. But she had come across way too many people who had secrets and would do anything to keep them. And it was hard for her to trust anyone.

So why is it different with Luke? she was suddenly asking herself. She didn't know where that question had come from. But why was she trusting him so quickly?

Nancy turned on her side and closed her eyes, trying to force herself to go to sleep. She needed to stop over-thinking things. Her leg was starting to hurt a little and she knew that she was exhausted. She finally closed her eyes fifteen minutes later and fell into a deep sleep.

Nancy never even heard her bedroom door open or noticed the shadow that passed over her body. That's why the hand that clasped over her mouth came as a total shock to her. Nancy's eyes popped open and she let out a scream as she saw that she was staring at Eric Warren. She tried to struggle with him, but he brought his other hand to her throat and squeezed.

"Don't scream again." he whispered fiercely.

Nancy looked at him, anger in her eyes.

"Good." He said. "I know you recognized me at the diner tonight, Nancy. You tried to hide it as best as you could in front of Luke. If you continue on with this story about me killing Maddie, I'll come back and do the same to you. Understand?"

Nancy hesitated and he squeezed her throat a little harder. When she nodded he loosened his grip.

Eric grinned at her."You'll tell the police you imagined everything that you saw. If I find out that the police are still looking for me, I'll be back. And next time, I won't wake you up."