When Ned pulled up to Nancy's house, there was a single light on in the living room. When he stepped out of his car, it was eerily quiet. That really bothered him.

He ran up the porch steps and stopped when he came to the door. It stood ajar and this made the hair on his arms stand on end. He pushed the door open carefully, just in case someone was inside waiting for him. The sight he saw made his blood run cold.

Nancy was lying on the floor, unconscious with blood pooling all around her. Ned knelt beside her and felt for a pulse. He found one, but it was very weak.

Ned looked beside Nancy and found her flip phone still open, lying next to her.

911! I have to call 911! Ned thought frantically.

He went across the living room and picked up the cordless. Just as he was about to dial the number, he heard sirens in the distance.

"What the..." Ned put the phone back down and raced outside. He didn't know if the sirens were headed his way, but he knew for sure he was going to make them stop. He walked in the middle of the street and was met by the sight of an ambulance and two police cars. He instantly recognized the husky frame of B.D. Hawkins emerging from one of the police cruisers.

"Ned, what happened?" B.D. asked, hurrying over to him.

"Nancy...she's inside," Ned said, dazed.

"What happened?" B.D. asked, more forcefully.

Ned seemed to snap out of his daze. "She was stabbed."

B.D. didn't say anything, but pushed past him into the house. "Get that ambulance in here now!" he shouted into the darkness.

Ned watched as a pair of paramedics pulled out a stretcher and a bag from the ambulance cab. He followed them as they made their way into the Drew house. He was about to walk in the house when B.D. came out and pushed him back into the cool night.

"What happened here tonight, Ned?" he asked.

Ned shook his head. "I don't know. Nancy and I went to the movies and I drove her home. All of a sudden, she calls me and tells me she needs my help."

"What time was that?" B.D. asked.

Ned looked at his wristwatch. "Maybe fifteen minutes ago."

"You didn't check the house before you left?" B.D. asked.

"I begged her to let me stay with her tonight, especially after the missing picture," Ned said. "She refused and told me she would be fine."

"Whoa–" B.D. held up a hand. "What missing picture?"

"There's a picture of me and Nancy that's missing," Ned said, running a hand through his brown hair. "We thought someone may have moved it, but the more that Nancy thought about it, the more she was convinced that it was taken."

"She didn't tell me about this," B.D. said.

"I found it right before we went out tonight," Ned said. He looked into the house to try to see what was going on with Nancy, but all he could see were the backs of the paramedics.

"Did she tell you about what she had discovered earlier?" B.D. asked.

"About the killer acting out Ann's book?" Ned asked.

B.D. nodded. "And you still let her go in the house alone. You should have known better, Ned."

Ned became furious. "Look–I already blame myself for this! Do you think I haven't been doing that since I saw Nancy lying on the floor with blood all around her? I know I should have been here! I could have stopped that bastard and he would be dead right now! The only thing I care about right now is if she's going to be okay!"

B.D. sighed and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Ned. I shouldn't have said that. This case is just so frustrating and just when I think we have a break, he does something that takes us all by surprise."

Ned shrugged. "Can I just see how she's doing?"

B.D. nodded and just as Ned was almost in the house, he said something else. "Ned, did you call in the 911?"

Ned stopped by the door and turned around. "No...I was about to call when I heard sirens approaching. So, that means..."

"Maybe our killer has a conscience, after all," B.D. said.

Ned and B.D. exchanged uneasy glance. He then went into the house. He stopped by the stretcher where the paramedics had just loaded Nancy.

"Is she going to be okay?" Ned asked, quietly.

"We've got her stable for now, but she's lost a good amount of blood," one of the medics said. "We need to get her to the hospital to be sure."

Ned nodded and leaned down to kiss Nancy on the forehead. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you, baby."

He stepped back to let the paramedics push the stretcher out of the house. He turned around and saw that B.D. was talking with one of his officers, who was taking photos.

He knew what he needed to do next. He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. This was one phone call that he didn't want to make.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dom stormed into his tiny apartment and slammed the door.

What had he done? He only wanted to talk to Katie, not hurt her. But she had hurt him, and he had to show that it couldn't be tolerated. He wanted her to bleed, and she did. But why wasn't he happy? Why was he feeling like this?

He didn't turn on any lights. He didn't have much furniture anyway, so it was easy to move around in the apartment. He needed to be in the dark; he needed to collect his thoughts. He needed to think about what he had done. He sat in the corner and just stared up at the ceiling.

It wasn't in the book, and he had been so careful to follow the book precisely. He wasn't supposed to steer from it until the very end. But he had–did that mean that everything was going to fall apart on him?

"No," he whispered.

He had to do something to regain control of his emotions. He couldn't let Katie get to him like this. He couldn't let her affect him in any way. She had seen his face after he had stabbed her. She had seen his moment of weakness. Yes, he had made a mistake; but that could be fixed. He just needed to think things through and then go from there.

But he still had that empty feeling in the pit of his stomach, and it wasn't from hunger. It was a different kind of hunger. He needed to kill again; he needed to feel like he was in control again.

Dom stood up and felt a new energy go through him. He had messed up–he realized that. But he was going to fix that. Sure, it was risky to kill again especially after he attacked Katie, but he would have to be careful. It was a risk he was willing to take.

Yes, it was time to find another.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Nancy woke up, she didn't recognize the room she was in. It was white and sterile and she was wondering what she was doing there. But then it came flooding back to her.

She had been stabbed in her own home.

Nancy turned her head to see that Ned was sleeping in a chair next to her. She lifted up her hand and softly touched his arm. He jerked awake and smiled when he saw her.

"Hey," he said, softly.

"Hey," Nancy said weakly, grinning at him.

"How do you feel?" Ned asked.

"I feel okay," Nancy answered. "How long have I been out?"

Ned looked at his watch. "For about ten hours now."

Nancy groaned. "It doesn't feel like it's been that long."

"It's been long enough to scare me," Ned said, quietly. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.

"What did the doctor say?" she asked.

"Luckily, whoever stabbed you didn't hit any organs or major arteries," Ned explained. "You lost a good deal of blood, though."

"I feel like crap," Nancy said.

"You're going to feel that way for a while," Ned said, apologetically.

Nancy was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. She looked over and was surprised by who came in.

"Frank! Joe!" Nancy exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"That's something you should ask Ned," Frank answered.

"What?" Nancy asked, confused. She looked over at Ned. "You care to tell me?"

"I called and asked them to come here," Ned said. "I want them to help you."

"I told you I didn't need any help," Nancy protested. She seemed to forget that Frank and Joe were in the room.

"I'm not going to sit around and watch you get hurt again or worse," Ned said. "Besides, I knew you wouldn't let the police help you, so I decided to go to the two people you trust the most."

Nancy looked at Ned, but couldn't say anything else. He was right–she did trust Frank and Joe. But she had wanted to keep them out of it so they wouldn't be used against her. Still, it had been hard for Ned to call on them to help–especially, Frank. They had never gotten along and were always at each other's throats.

"I'm sorry, guys," Nancy said to Frank and Joe. "I don't want you to think that I don't want you here."

"It's okay," Frank said, with a small smile.

Nancy smiled bak at him and then looked at Ned again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Ned said softly. He sat beside Nancy on the bed as if staking out his claim to Frank. Frank just ignored him and turned his attention to Nancy.

"What happened last night, Nancy?" Frank asked.

There was another knock on the door and B.D. walked in. "I see I'm late for the party," he joked when he saw everyone.

"You might as well come in, B.D.," Nancy said. "I was just about to tell them what happened last night."

"Just what I came by to hear," B.D. said. He found a vacant chair and sat down.

"Last night after Ned brought me home, I double-checked all of the locks on the doors and windows. I left the lamp on in the living room and I started upstairs. Just as I was about halfway up, I heard a noise from above, as if someone was moving around. I didn't want to announce my presence, so I slowly made my way downstairs.

"Just as I was almost down, I tripped and fell. When I looked up, I saw a man standing at the top of the stairs. He had a knife in his hand."

"Did you see what he looks like?" B.D. asked.

Nancy shook her head. "No–he was wearing a ski mask."

"What happened next?" Frank asked, gently.

Nancy sighed. "I got up from the floor as he made his way down. There was a vase on a table and I threw it at him. We fought a little bit and then he stabbed me."

"Why did he stab you?" Joe asked.

Nancy shot Joe an annoyed look. "Because he's a killer."

Joe gave Nancy a look of his own. "I see that the sarcasm hasn't left you."

B.D. spoke up. "Did he say anything to you?"

Nancy sighed. "I tried to get him to talk to me, but he wouldn't say much. He kept calling me Katie, though. When I would ask him about it, he would just shrug me off. He said that I wasn't scared of him and he didn't like that. He wants me to fear him."

"Definitely psychotic," Joe muttered.

"Yeah," Nancy said. "Well, if he wanted me to be scared, he's got another thing coming to him. I'm more determined than ever to catch him."

"You leave that to us, Nancy," B.D. said.

Nancy looked at B.D. "You do realize who you're talking to, don't you?"

"Yes," B.D. answered. "A brick wall."

Nancy gave him a small smile. "You have nothing to worry about, B.D."

"Right," B.D. said. "Says the woman lying in the hospital with a stab wound."

Nancy looked over at Frank and Joe. "Besides, I have reinforcements now."

"Reinforcements she calls us," Joe said to his brother.

Frank shrugged. "I could think of worse things to call us."

Nancy turned her attention to Ned; he seemed to be uncomfortable. "Have you heard anything about Brenda's funeral?"

"It's going to be a private ceremony," Ned said. "Mr. Carlton only wanted close family."

"That's understandable," Nancy said.

A cell phone started to ring and B.D. pulled it out of his pocket. "Lieutenant Hawkins," he barked into the phone.

Everyone watched his facial expressions as the person on the other end talked to him. He grew angrier and angrier as the conversation drew to a close.

"Thanks," he said and hung up the phone.

Nancy was the first to speak. "B.D., what's going on?"

His jaw was clenched in anger. "There was another victim."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note: So, now the Hardy boys are on the scene and were called on by the last person they would expect...Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter. I figured I would take you by surprise on that, but I didn't know it would be that good of a surprise! All of the reviews have been wonderful and encouraging and you have all expressed concern for me while I went through Hurricane Katrina–I thank all of you for that!

Andy–The first appearance of B.D. Hawkins in the Nancy Drew Files is in #71 Hot Tracks. He was a homicide detective in that one, but I have aged him a little and gave him a job promotion in this fic. The book never says what "B.D." stands for, so I guess you could make up your own name. You can also see B.D. Hawkins in File # 93, Hotline to Danger.