Warning: This chapter contains adult language and incestuous homosexual situations.

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Chapter 8: A Little Teamwork

Unfortunately, Joe and Frank did not get home until dinnertime and Fenton was already there, working in his study.

"Damn!" Joe muttered. "I was hoping to get a little screwing in this afternoon."

Frank patted his arm. "Don't sweat it. He's going to that AA meeting tonight, remember?"

"I thought his meeting was last night and he missed it."

"Yeah, but I keep the schedules for all the local AA organizations handy. There's a meeting in River Heights tonight. He'll go up for it and use it as an opportunity to visit Chief Jones."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. Let's get dinner started."

"I'll do it," Joe said.

"No, you've got homework." Frank grinned. "If you want free time later, you better get it done."

"That's blackmail!" Joe laughed.

"Damn right!"

Joe got his backpack and pulled out his textbooks. "I've got math, history and economics. I hate econ."

"It's good for you."

"Not as good as a nice fuck would be."

"I'll agree with that, but you still have to do it."

"Great," Joe grumbled sarcastically.

Joe did his homework while Frank made dinner. Fenton came in from his study while they were working.

"What's for dinner?" Fenton asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Cornish game hens and artichokes. I made pesto sauce for the artichokes."

"Sounds good. Did you talk to Sheriff Becker?"

"Yes, we did. We told him everything we've learned in the last few days. It may not mean anything, but maybe it will help."

"Good." Fenton gave the boys a stern look. "Now you stay out of the Sheriff's way. It's one thing if he asks for help, but you shouldn't go off investigating on your own."

"Of course, Dad. We know that." Frank gave his father one of those we-would-never-do-anything-we-shouldn't smiles.

Fenton looked doubtful. Then he cleared his throat. "Well, I think I might run up to River Heights this evening for a few hours after dinner," he said with forced casualness. "I expect you boys will be in bed by the time I get back."

Frank grinned at Joe behind Fenton's back. "Ok, Dad. Joe, clear your things off and set the table. Dinner's almost ready."

"Sure thing."

Fenton left right after dinner, leaving the boys to clean up.

"I've still got a little homework to do," Joe said mournfully.

"That's just as well. I want to get Nancy on instant messenger for a few minutes so I can get the names of the people she's investigating. I'll do that while you finish." He patted Joe on the top of the head. "Come up when you're done."

Frank headed upstairs and turned his computer on. He called Nancy while it booted up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Nancy, it's Frank."

"Hi Frank! What's up? How'd it go with the Sheriff?"

"No problem. Like I said, he and I get along just fine. I told him everything we've found so far, but I want to do a little more investigating. That empty picture frame of yours really has me curious."

"Me, too. I was thinking of going back to talk to Julie's neighbor. The woman told me she fed Julie's cat for her when she was away, so maybe she would know what was in that frame."

"Good idea. Hey, what instant messenger are you on? I'd like to get your list of names." It took a few minutes, but then Frank and Nancy got an IM session going and Nancy typed in the names and locations of all the people she'd found. Frank diligently pasted them into another document. "I think talking to Julie's neighbor is a good idea, but if you don't mind, I'd like to go with you."

"That's no problem. Can you drive up tomorrow?"

"Yes. We also need to locate the rest of the people from Darren and Tonya's clique. You said Kevin Brown and Kimberly Watson moved away?"

"That's what it looks like. I think the other two, Lisa Delaney and Jack Trowbridge might still live in town, but they're not listed in the phone book and no one I talked to was still in touch with either of them."

"Ok. Why don't you try to find those two, and I'll see what I can find out about the ones who left town."

"All right. See you tomorrow. What time do you think you'll get here?"

"I'll shoot for around eleven a.m."

"Great. See you then."

Nancy disconnected and logged out of the IM session.

Frank did the same. He immediately started a web search for Jack and Kimberly.

Joe came into Frank's room shortly after. "Homework's done," he announced. He flopped down on Frank's bed. "How's Nancy?"

"Fine." Frank stared at the screen. "This is weird. I found a ton of references to Kimberly Watson, but I'm not sure it's the person I'm looking for."

"Why's that?"

"Apparently, there's a porn star named Kim Watson who's done dozens of hard-core sex videos. The video producer is local, though, so it could be her. And the pictures look kind of like her. Come look."

Joe got up and leaned over Frank's shoulder to study the screen. Then he picked up the picture they had copied from Darren's yearbook and squinted at it. "Got a magnifying glass?"

"Yeah." Frank fished one out of his desk drawer and handed it to Joe.

Joe studied Kimberly's picture through the magnifying glass and then looked at the porn star on the computer monitor again. "I think it's the same person. The hair's different, but the face looks the same."

Frank frowned. "That's what I thought." He sat back and crossed his arms. "I have no idea how to get in contact with her."

"Can't we just call her producer?"

"Oh, like he's going to just give out information about one of his stars to possible sex perverts."

"We might be sex perverts, but at least we aren't interested in her that way." Joe grinned and Frank laughed.

"Still," Frank said, "I don't think it will be that easy." He turned in his chair to face Joe. "I haven't been able to find anything promising on the other one: Kevin Brown. But I don't feel like looking any more right now. Let's go to bed."

"Finally!" Joe exclaimed. He began taking off his clothes. "I was starting to think you're more interested in a bunch of dead people."

Frank smiled. "Never, little brother. This one just has me stumped, that's all."

"And you hate not knowing what's going on."

"It's a character flaw, I admit it."

"Well, come to bed and indulge your other character flaw for a while."

Frank stood up and began undressing as well. Joe crawled into Frank's bed and stretched out on his back. Frank got in with him when he was naked and draped himself across Joe's body.

"I'm going up to do a little investigating with Nancy tomorrow. I probably won't get back in time to pick you up from school," Frank said.

Joe wrapped his legs around Frank's hips. "Planning a little dalliance?"

Frank wrinkled his nose. "Hardly. It's business. We're going to try to find out what was in the broken frame Nancy saw."

"Do you want me to search for Kevin Brown when I get home?"

"That would be good."

"Ok. Now, if you don't mind, I've been waiting for this all day."

Frank laughed softly and kissed Joe on the nose. "So have I," he murmured and reached for the lubricant.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Nancy was excited and not because she had a date with Ned on Saturday. Frank was coming to see her and since it was a school day, he would probably be alone. Nancy was looking forward to the opportunity to spend a little time alone with Frank Hardy. She spent the morning at the gym with George and Bess, but she did not tell them she was meeting Frank later. They would just give her a hard time about it and she wasn't in the mood to deal with that. She made sure she was back at the house before eleven, showered and dressed in one of her most flattering outfits. Leggings and a form-fitting, scoop-necked t-shirt showed off her figure quite well, and Nancy wasn't above a little advertising, on occasion. When the doorbell rang, she had to force herself to walk to the door sedately.

"Hello Frank," she greeted him serenely, hoping like hell that her cheeks didn't look as flushed as they felt.

"Hi, Nancy." If he noticed her cleavage, he didn't show it. "Ready to go?"

"Yes, let me grab my purse. I'll drive, since I know where we're going."

"Ok."

"Were you able to find Jack Trowbridge or Lisa Delaney last night?" Frank asked as they drove to Julie Baker's neighborhood.

"No, but I may have a lead on Lisa. One of the people I talked to said she knew an old boyfriend of Lisa's and would see if he had a current number for her."

"Good." Frank drummed his fingers on the car door. "I'm really starting to worry that we're going to find another corpse."

They pulled up in front of Julie Baker's neighbor's house. Yellow police tape was still strung across the front door of Julie's house. Nancy led the way up to the neighbor's door and rang the bell. A moment later, the door opened to reveal the same elderly woman Nancy remembered, her gray hair twisted into a neat bun on the top of her head.

"Oh, you're the young lady from yesterday!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, I am," Nancy said. "My name is Nancy Drew. This is my friend Frank Hardy. We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions about Julie Baker, Ms…?"

"I'm Mrs. Reddy," the woman said. "Please, come in." She held the door open for them. Nancy and Frank entered and she closed the door behind them. "Please, come through here." Mrs. Reddy led them into her neat, spotless living room. "Have a seat. May I get you something to drink? I have fresh lemonade."

"Lemonade sounds great, Mrs. Reddy," Frank said.

"All right. One moment please." She bustled out of the room.

Frank leaned toward Nancy. "I bet the police talked to her already. We should find out what they asked her, if possible."

"Right."

Mrs. Reddy returned with three tall glasses of lemonade on a tray. "I love fresh lemonade!" she said brightly. "I make it myself. I hope you like it."

Frank and Nancy each took a glass and sipped it.

"It's very good, Mrs. Reddy," Frank said.

She beamed happily. "Thank you!" Then her smile faded. "But you said you wanted to ask me about poor Julie."

"Yes," Nancy said. "You told me before that you fed her cat for her when Ms. Baker traveled. Have you been in her house very often?"

"Oh, yes, I looked after the place whenever Julie was away." Mrs. Reddy looked unhappy. "The poor dear! I feel just terrible that she was lying there all that time and I didn't know."

"Ms. Baker had several diplomas hanging in her front hall," Nancy said. "Did you ever look at them?"

"Well, not closely. I used to dust them."

Nancy sat forward and set her glass down on a coaster. "There was one near the end close to the door about this big." She held her hands up, about eighteen inches apart. "It had a black metal frame. Do you remember what was in it?"

"Near the end? In a black metal frame?" Mrs. Reddy frowned in concentration for a moment. "Do you mean her high school certificate? From her club? I think that was the only one in a metal frame. The rest were all wood."

"Yes!" Nancy confirmed excitedly. "What was the certificate for?"

Mrs. Reddy flushed. "Oh, it was silly, really. Julie used to say that she kept it as a joke." When Nancy and Frank both continued to stare at her expectantly, Mrs. Reddy continued, a little flustered. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now, does it? It was a celibacy certificate. Julie and several of her friends from high school swore a pledge to remain virgins until marriage and they had these fancy certificates made up to commemorate their commitment. Julie said that at the time they were all very serious about it, but it seemed so silly in retrospect."

Frank and Nancy exchanged a startled stare.

"I assume you spoke to the police, Mrs. Reddy," Frank said. "Did they ask you about the certificate?"

"Heavens, no! They just wanted to know when I saw Julie last and if I had seen anyone at her house recently." Mrs. Reddy shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid I was of little help to them."

"Well, you've been a tremendous help to us, Mrs. Reddy," Nancy said. "Thank you so much for your time!"

"Yes, thank you very much," Frank echoed.

At Mrs. Reddy's insistence, they finished their lemonade before leaving, but they made their goodbyes and got back out to the car as quickly as they could. Once there, they stared at each other in amazement.

"A celibacy pledge!" Frank exclaimed.

"And both Darren and Tonya were mutilated so they could no longer have sex, aside from being murdered," Nancy added.

"Neither one was married," Frank said. "They both broke their pledge."

"But Julie was married!" Nancy objected. "Why was she killed?"

"I don't know." Frank stared at the police tape blocking access to Julie's front door. "We have to talk to someone from that group. We have got to find one of the others."

"We have to find them all and warn them," Nancy said gravely. "Or they may all end up dead."