I'm sorry for not updating my story in over a month!So here are two newest chapters. I hope you will enjoy them and write some reviews about them as well!

6

Trustless Suspects

The play went fine. Bess adored the show and its actors, while George tried her hardest not to fall asleep. Nancy kept asking Bess about the actors.

"You see that guy over there in blue shirt? He's Calvin Holm. He's the lead actor. And there is Cornelia Yaupon!"

Bess pointed to the lady dressed in fancy velvet dress. She had a cold blue stare and golden-blond hair. She seemed like one of those 3D characters: her face had no wrinkles, and her hair was perfectly silky. It seemed like they were naturally stuck together in a bunch but were somehow soft and silky.

Cornelia was a great actress. She spoke her lines with great energy and emotion. It was no wonder that so many people came to watch her act. Nancy was enjoying every minute of the play, and the audience—except for George, that is—were moved by the love the main character was showing to the protagonist with whom she was falling in love. Some of them—particularly in their forties—wiped their eyes with handkerchiefs while watching the play.

Just as the play had ended, the girls noticed that it was nine-thirty. The play lasted for about eighty minutes. Time seemed to fly, as always.

"That was a marvelous play, wasn't it?" Bess asked her friends as they exited the theater with the other audiences who went to watch the play that night. George yawned and looked at her watch.

"Yeah, it was more like trying to survive the eighty minutes of boredom!" George said.

Nancy took out her cell phone and dialed the Hardys' cell phone number.

"Hello?" It was Frank.

"Hi, Frank. I was wondering what you and Joe were doing right now?"

"Oh, we were just taking a tour around the city. Right now, we were visiting the gift shop by the ocean. They sold many smashing things, including Statue of Liberty pens where her torch is the tip of the pen. And Joe found something interesting, too."

"But what about you, Nancy? Found any clue yet?" Joe interrupted.

"Hey, am I always supposed to be investigating here? If you didn't know, I came here to work on a case and have fun; we don't go to New York as much as you two do, after all."

"Okay, so I guess we'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

Frank yawned and looked at his watch as he opened his eyes. It was nine-forty.

"Oh no!" he shouted as he jumped out of his bed. Brushing hs teeth as fast as he could, he got ready and went to his brother's hotel room, which was adjacent to his. He knocked on the door. "Joe! Hey, Joe!"

"Hold on a sec, Chet, Frank is banging on the door right now," came Joe's voice. After a moment, the door opened forcefully and Frank's brown-haired brother. "What is it? I was taking to Chet Morton until you interrupted."

"Joe, it's already nine-forty, and we are meeting Nancy in twenty minutes. That means we are going to get into our car in ten minutes. Now hurry up and get ready!"

Joe talked to Chet for a little longer, then he went down to the hotel's restaurant on the first floor with Frank.

"I guess I should call Nancy," Frank muttered, taking out his cell phone.

Nancy was awoken by the sweet scent of the pancakes being served on the table in the kitchen. She yawned as she arose, then changed into her street clothes. As she opened the door, she saw Bess and George getting out of their room and yawning. Checking the clock, Nancy was surprised at how late it was.

"Better hurry, Bess and George. We promised Frank and Joe that we will be ready by ten, and it's already nine-forty-five!" Nancy said hurriedly to her friends.

The trio entered the kitchen to find their friend Bailey sitting down on the table with Mrs. Higgins.

"Good morning, you three," Mrs. Higgins said. "Frank called just a few minutes ago. You forgot your cell phone here last night, so I answered it. They said they were on their way and will arrive by ten. I was planning to wake you up in a minute, but that's needless now. Here, sit down and enjoy your breakfast."

Nancy gladly took her seat—her stomach was growling so loud she thought she was having dozens of drums there—and took the knife and the fork. She then started enjoying her wonderful breakfast.

When she finished, she called the hospital where her father was in coma. The doctor gave her his cell phone number so she could call 24/7. Dr. Bryce answered the call immediately. "Nancy, we are proud to say that your father is out of coma, but he is still not quite conscious yet. I would like if you could come this afternoon at about four. By then, I'm sure your father will be awake."

"Okay, Dr. Bruce. Thank you, I will be there." As Nancy hung up, she told her friends what she had heard. They were all thrilled.

Highway was jammed with cars, since it was a weekend with a very nice weather that made even Nancy wanted to go out and jog around the park in her jersey. Beeping of cars were heard every other second, and Nancy was sick of the car's stopping after running for a few feet.

The radio was turned on, but Nancy's thoughts were on the three suspects she and her four friends were going to visit today.

"So who are we visiting first, Nancy?" Frank asked as he turned around to face the three girls at the back seat of the sedan the Hardys rented. Joe was driving, but his eyes frowned as the car moved slowly, if at all.

"Let's see," Nancy murmured, taking out her notepad. "Right now we are visiting Clarissa Pevely, a freshman in the nearby university. According to Bailey, she was living alone and had her home just outside New York. Since this is a weekend, I think it mght be the best time to talk with her. After all, she is one of the three suspects in this case…"

As time passed, less and less cars were on the road. Nancy immediately knew why: they were mostly heading to Central Park, a famous park located on Manhattan Island that faced the New York Bay. Even from here, Nancy could see the huge bay that would flow into Hudson River and eventually into the famous Hudson Bay, the largest bay in the world.

It was ten before eleven when they reached the residence of Clarissa Pevely, which Nancy found out by looking into the university's directory. It was a decent-sized townhouse, with two stories, freshly painted walls and newly installed sidings, a cleanly mowed garden, and an old-fashioned front door.

Frank rang the doorbell, then stepped back. After a few seconds, a tall woman with bushy auburn hair opened the door. Her makeup was poorly done, and it made Nancy think of a mime with auburn hair, which would have made her laugh, but, seeing that it was not the right moment, she tried her hardest not to. Instead, she asked the woman, "Are you Clarissa Pevely?"

"How many 'Clarissa Pevely' are in this city of New York? As far as I can see, I am the only one with that pathetic name," Clarissa replied.

Nancy was starting to dislike the woman's arrogant attitude and her needlessly used perfume, which started to tickle her nose after a while since it smelled so bad. She thought the woman had no sense in the use of makeup and perfume. It occurred to her as a surprise that even a woman like this could have a boyfriend. Trying not to wrinkle her nose—even though it was about to make her sneeze so bad—she asked the woman if she had a time to talk to her.

"Sure, sure, come in. I have a few minutes to spare right now." Clarissa then went back inside the house. Nancy looked at her friends. Bess and George were wiping their nose, obviously disturbed by the woman's strong perfume. Frank and Joe didn't seem to be disturbed. They entered the house.

Clarissa sat down onto a couch. "So what is it that you want to ask me?" she asked.

Frank cleared his throat. "Well, Clarissa, do you know a girl named Bailey Higgins?"

"Of course I do! She is a sly thief who took Ian away from me! How can I forget that little brat's name?" Clarissa shouted. She drank out of a bottle of water she had on the table.

"Did you know that she recently had been accused of a theft?"

"Why would I know? I don't really watch the news that much. Besides, I am too busy to do so. Anyway, what's your point?"

George interrupted, irritated, "Okay, I'll get straight to the point: where were you at ten A.M. last Thursday?"

"Me? Oh, I was in my house all along, talking to my boyfriend Kevin Holt. I'm sure he can prove it. I used the telephone over there at the counter, so it was impossible for me to get out of my house, unless the crime scene was three feet away. That telephone has a cord connecting the receiver with the base. It's pretty old-fashioned, I know. The cord can stretch up to three feet. Contact the phone service; I can bet they have the proof that I was here from nine-thirty to ten-thirty in the morning."

The Hardys looked at each other and nodded. They went to the telephone Clarissa was pointing to and took the receiver. She was right; the cord stretched up to three feet at the maximum. Bess, smelling that the room was filled with unpleasant combination of various perfumes, pulled Nancy's sleeve to indicate that she wanted—no, was desperate—to get out of the house. Nancy sensed her friend's plea and thanked the freshman. Then, they went out of the building. Just as they did so, Bess let out a gasp.

"I thought I was going to suffocate in there!" she cried.

The next car ride was a quick one. Frank skillfully turned the wheel as the cars nearby beeped angrily because they were almost hit by the sedan.

Joe looked at the map. "We are going to be meeting this Ian Kolinsky next. He spends his vacation in the university, Bailey says. I think we should go visit him and check his side of the story."

The group of five entered the fraternity building in the university. A husky man who was a year older than Frank answered the door. "What is it?" he asked. He then saw the three girls looking at him. "I thought the Christmas Party was a week later!"

Nancy smiled. "No, we are here to talk with you about something…You know Bailey Higgins, don't you? We are her friends."

"Sure I do! I dated that hot chick for a few wonderful months, back when we were in high school. I thought I saw her with a man a couple of times when we were dating, so I asked her about this. But she said that it wasn't her. She said that I must have made a mistake. But I could swear it was her, talking to that brown-haired guy who was obviously taller and older than her. But I guess it was my imagination, but my suspicion made her really ticked off, so we broke up… I don't really want to talk about it right now. So, what about her?"

"She is in trouble just because someone was framing her."

"What do you mean?" A sudden shock swept over the man's face. To Nancy, he didn't seem to be acting, but if he was he could get an Academy Award for best actor.

"She was blamed for stealing a priceless vase from her neighbor," Frank said. "And we were asking you about what you did on Thursday morning."

Ian scratched his head. "I was here all along. It was eating breakfast from seven to eight. Then, I was watching the rerun of the game I missed. I guess the rerun lasted until eleven o'clock. Three of my friends were in the room watching the game, so that's not a problem proving it. After that, I started eating lunch until noon, and…"

"Well, I guess that's enough," Nancy interrupted. "I guess you are busy at the moment. We'd like to get going now." She stood up and glanced at the clock. It was nearly noon. "Thanks a lot for your time."

"No problem," Ian said, also standing up.

George and Bess also stood up along with Frank and Joe. They left the building and headed for the sedan parked on the parking lot right next to it. As they got in, Nancy sighed. "Well, I guess these two have perfect alibis. Now, all we need to do is visit this Alan Humphrey…"

"But before that, I need some fueling," Joe said. "I'm starving."

"Same here," Bess said, groaning as she rubbed her stomach. "Got any idea to where we should eat lunch?"

Frank said, "I do."

The attention was then turned to Frank. "Aunt Gertrude took Joe and me to this old-fashioned restaurant when we were still in grade school. Do you remember The Yorker's Cuisine, Joe?"

"Oh, that!" Joe shouted and then chuckled. "I loved the hamburger they served, with the amazing grilled burger and their specialty sauce… I always had to go there whenever we visited New York City."

"And Joe would roll around the floor and cry whenever Aunt Gertrude would say no. But that was way back when he was just a first grader," Frank said and laughed.

Joe turned to his brother in mock anger. "Hey, you needn't say that, Frank! That's embarrassing!"

The three girls laughed and they agreed to go there to have lunch.

"Here you go, the Yorker's Delicacy Burger with freshly made buns and crisply fried French Frenzies," the waiter said cheerily as he set down on the table five plates with a hamburger, a salad, and a smaller plate with French fries arranged neatly on each. "And with those are two root beers, two Pepsis, and a diet coke."

The root beers were passed to the two Hardys, the Pepsis to Nancy and George, and the diet coke to Bess, who was always concerned about her expanding waistline, which even Nancy could agree a little after seeing how her friend ate in a buffet back in River Heights. It was just a week ago, when they were celebrating Nancy's solving her newest case Warewolf in Winter Wonderland. Bess, George, and Nancy were celebrating by going to the Old County Buffet for dinner. But Nancy couldn't believe how much her blond friend ate as she set her eyes on the buffet table; she thought that the place would go out of business because of one customer's eating all the food there!

"So are you passing the fries, Bess?" George asked her cousin.

Bess looked at the fries and then at her stomach. She had a mournful expression on her face that made Nancy worry that she would cry. But, of course, she didn't. She—for the first time ever, at least as long as Nancy could remember—passed her plate of French fries to the athletic brunette next to her. Nancy could see that even Frank and Joe were perplexed.

"I think this hamburger is big enough to fill me up for the day," Bess said, taking a bite out of the hamburger. "Wow, this is the best hamburger I've ever eaten!"

To this Nancy could agree. "This certainly is. The beef isn't like any other you'd taste in River Heights."

Nancy was about to dip her fries into the restaurant's specialty sauce when she saw a redheaded man open a folder with the name "Alan Humphrey" written on it.

Nancy looked up. "Excuse me, are you Alan Humphrey?"

The redheaded man turned around. He wore a pair of glasses with black rims, and he was wearing a jacket with the logo "New York University" printed on it. He nodded curiously. "Yes, I am Alan. And you are?"

"I am a friend of Bailey's," Nancy said. "You know, the girl who accidentally threw the notebook with your research in it."

"Oh, yes, I do remember that girl. I saw her name on the nametag she was wearing."

"I wanted to as you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Well, I guess it's all right. But I do have to be at the science convention at one o'clock."

"Bailey has been blamed for the theft of a treasured vase, and we thought that someone was trying to frame her. I would like to know where you were Thursday morning."

Frowning, Alan said, "That girl is a scoundrel, and I won't be surprised even if she had stolen that vase, or whatever it was she had been accused of stealing. Anyway, I was at the meeting with other students at the New York University. We were there from nine to noon. Then, I got out and ate lunch. That's all you need to know. If you would like, I can provide you their names just in case you were wondering if I was telling the truth."

"Oh, that wouldn't be necessary, Alan," Nancy said. "Sorry for interrupting your lunch, by the way."

They remained silent. Nancy saw that Alan finished his lunch and was paying for it and tipping the waiter. As he left the restaurant, George sighed. "Well, it seems to me that he also has a solid alibi, Nance. What should we do? We asked all three suspects about their alibis, and they all had solid ones."

Frank and Joe were thinking about the same thing, and unless they could find out who was telling the lie, they were going to be stuck in this case—for good!