Nancy sat silently at the table outside Scoops, playing absently with her phone, "It's been two weeks since they were here," she confessed, "And we haven't heard a word from them. They use to always keep me up to date about their cases," she glance up at where she thinks her friends are, "You don't think they just haven't called me because of my eyes do you?" she asked meekly, while the amateur detective was now willing to go out with her friends, she was still self conscious about her lack of sight.
"Come on Nan, I know for a fact that there are times on cases that you have to go radio silent, or something happens to your phone," George insisted, "Have you tried calling them?"
"Yes," Nancy said, "It went straight to voice mail.
"Huh," Bess said, "Sounds like another detective that I can think of while she's on a case."
"Former Detective," Nancy insisted, "I'm not a detective anymore, remember."
"Honestly Nan, I think you are over reacting," George insisted.
"You're probably right, I mean, why would they call me, it's not like I can help them."
"So tell me," Bess said something, "If you weren't, well, you know, blind, what would you do about it?"
"If I wasn't blind I would have joined them," Nancy pointed out.
"Well, supposed you hadn't, perhaps that you were working on your own case, but your case is over with now, and you have time to help the Hardy Boys but they aren't answering their phones, what will you do?"
"They mentioned something about a psychic show," Nancy said, "That was in Chicago..." Nancy trailed off as she heard the clicking of keys that told her that George had pulled out her trusty laptop and connected it to Scoops free wifi.
"I can get tickets to that show easy," George said, Nancy didn't need to see to know that she had a grin on her face.
"Okay," Bess said, "We have tickets, then what do we do?"
"We need to get the evidence that Frank and Joe needed to prove that the show is just one big scam, and that they are making big bucks by scamming people," Nancy said.
"And how are we going to do that?"
"By doing the one thing that I've vowed never to do in the first place," Nancy said, "Join a social media website."
"What!" Bess exclaimed, "I've been trying to get you to join UR Page for years."
"I need bait for my trap, and from what Frank and Joe told me, a UR Page account for a blind girl that wishes to travel the world will be the perfect bait. They won't even know that the whole things a trap until it's too late."
"So," George said, "How is this trap going to work?" she asked, "and how can I help?"
"First off, I'm going to need your computer skills, George, they might get suspicious of a new account, is there anyway that you can make my account look older?"
"I can probably hack the system and change the date of some of your posts," George confessed.
"What about me?" Bess asked.
"A quick google search brings up way to much evidence that I'm a detective," Nancy confessed, "I need you to create a character for me, name, backstory, everything, come up with some good post ideas that will tell those scammers that I'm willing to pay good money to get something I want."
"I can do that," Bess agreed.
"Well," George said, her keyboard clicking as she continued to work on it, "We have the bait, now we just need to figure out the trap," she insisted, "We go to show, they get a hold of your fake information, and start sending you fake ads. How do we prove that the ads are fake and come from the show?"
"We also need to make sure that we don't have any unpleasant confrontations with them," Bess insisted, "We don't want a repeat of Nancy's last case."
Nancy winced as she heard the sound of flesh smacking flesh as George smacked Bess upside the head, "Bess, totally inappropriate."
"What I was just saying that we don't want to be confronted by some maniac with a firecracker or hand grenade or something like that," Bess insisted.
"We won't, when we go to the show that's the closest we're going to get to them," Nancy insisted, tapping her chin with her finger, "But George does have a point," she added, "We need someway to prove that those ads are fake… I have a feeling if we can prove that, and trace them back to where they come from, we'll have our culprit."
"But how do we do that?" Bess asked.
"I don't know," Nancy confessed, grabbing her white cane, "But I know someone who might have an idea, George can you drive me over to Dad's office, please?"
…
Carson Drew was working on some paperwork when his secretary told him that his daughter and her friends where there to see him. He frowned slightly, in the pass, if Nancy visited him at work it was usually to ask him to look into something for one of her cases, or vice versa. He couldn't fathom what she could want now, since last he checked she wasn't ready to take up another case. Although, she had been getting a little anxious lately, especially after the Hardy Boys visit a couple of weeks ago. For the first time in his life he hoped that the anxious stirrings of staying in one place too long that Nancy had inherited from her mother would actually get her out of the house and doing something productive. Even if it meant she was chasing down a new mystery.
"Hello Nancy, girls," he greeted them warmly, "What can I do for you today?"
"I have an idea on how to get the evidence that Frank and Joe needs, but I think I'm going to need some help from you… and possibly the police," Nancy explained her idea of setting up a fake social media account and going to the show that Frank and Joe had told them about, "When we get mail addressed to my fake name, we'll know that it's fake," Nancy explained, "but knowing it's fake and proving that it's fake are two different things, and I was hoping that you..."
"Can use my connections to dig up information on the companies that don't involve googling them, like say, calling up a harbor master where a cruise ship is supposed to dock and ask about the ship."
"Exactly," Nancy said, smiling brighter than she had in months, she truly was happiest when she was on a case, "Then you can take the evidence you gather and go to the police."
"That would prove that those promotional pamphlets are a scam, not that this show is behind it," Carson pointed out.
"Surely the fact that those who receive the ads all attended the show prove that they have something to do with it?" Bess insisted.
"Proving that the Ads are fake will be a big blow to them," Nancy insisted, "It will go on the news and everyone would be encouraged to double check everything, like if it's a flight, double check with the airport that there is a flight, or if it's a cruise, double check with the harbor that it starts at if it's there. That would reduce the amount of scams they can do, and when a culprit gets desperate, that's when they start making mistakes."
"By the time we get to that part the pieces might just fall into place," George agreed.
"I just wish that I can contact Frank and Joe somehow, let them know what I have up my sleeve," Nancy said with a sigh, "I'll I get is voicemail, and I hate it when we get in each others way. It always leads to Frank and I having a big argument and Poor Joe having to break it up."
"That is the only time you will hear the term 'Poor Joe' come out of Nancy Drew's mouth," Bess announced.
"That's because that was the only time that Joe actually is the level headed one of the Hardy Boys," Nancy pointed out, "Honestly, he should have been an actor not a detective with how dramatic he can be."
"Have you tried contacting their father?" Carson asked, "Fenton might just know of a way for you to get a hold of them."
"Good idea Dad. Thanks," Nancy exclaimed, jumping up, "Come on girls, let's catch us some scammers."
…
Fenton Hardy dropped his briefcase next to the door before sinking into his favorite armchair, "Have you heard anything from the boys yet?" He asked his sister, who shook her head sadly.
"No nothing."
"They promised that they would remain in contact," Fenton muttered, "We haven't heard from them since they called to tell us that they arrived safely."
"They might have had to go off the grid," Gertrude insisted, "Heaven knows that you did that plenty of times."
"Not without alerting my family of what was going on before I did," Fenton insisted, before adding, sheepishly, "Most of the time."
"And the boys follow your example," his sister insisted, "They let you know most of the time, but sometimes they don't have time to contact you before hand."
At that moment, Mr. Hardy's phone started to go off.
"Is that them?" Gertrude asked.
"No," Fenton said, "It's Nancy Drew."
"Well, seeing as she lives in the area, and they have a tendency of teaming up, maybe she knows what's going on with the boys."
Fenton nodded, answering the phone, "This is Fenton Hardy," he said, "How are you doing, Nancy."
"I'm trying to contact Frank and Joe, but I can't reach them. Which is kind of weird because they told me to call them anytime."
"You aren't with them?" Fenton asked, "They said that they were picking you up first."
"They stopped by, but I had a really rough case a while ago, and I'm just getting back on my feet now. I wanted to tell them that I have a plan to get the evidence they need for their case."
"That's great, but I haven't heard from the boys since they got there," Fenton said, "I have no way of contacting them but the usual phones and emails have you tried those."
"Yes, phone calls go straight to voicemail and they haven't responded to any emails."
"All I can tell you is to head to Chicago and try to see if you can't track them down, if you want, I can send you their hotel information."
"Yeah, that will be great, thanks."
"Can you even use that information?" Bess's voice asked from Nancy's side of the phone.
"I have an app that reads emails out loud to me, and if that doesn't work, well, that's what you and George are for," Nancy's voice said softly, obviously away from the phone, "Thanks for the help Mr. Hardy, I'll make sure that the boys call you as soon as I meet up with them."
"Thank you Nancy, I'll speak to you soon I hope."