2
Mystery Loves Company
Frank Hardy was the first to turn around. He couldn't seem to believe his eyes. "Nancy! What brings you here?"
Nancy smiled. "An invitation, of course. A friend of ours is having a concert and we're invited to three consecutive nights of concerts! George couldn't come this time. Bess did." She turned to Joe. He was aware of her presence, too, and was looking at Bess, who also turned around.
"We were here because someone called us to be his bodyguard," Frank answered.
"Oh, really?" Nancy asked, surprised. "Who is that?"
"A guy named Jack Rocky," Frank answered.
Bess's eyes got wide. "Jack Rocky? That's the hottest rock singer these days! Why would he want you to be his guards?"
Joe shrugged. "He said his life was in danger somehow. Said someone was going to kill him."
Bess's expression changed. "Really? Why doesn't he just call the police?"
Frank was the one who answered. "The police didn't believe him, as usual. When he's a big super star like he is now, it's not unusual to get a few notes from fanatic fans. They've seen many threats sent to those people and none of them actually come true. So they aren't doing much of an investigation."
Nancy was deep in thought. "So are you going to be with him twenty-four seven?"
Joe shook his head. "No. We just need to stay close to him during the night. When I say night, I mean midnight till morning. He got us two rooms in the hotel adjacent to his house."
Nodding her head in understanding manner, the girl detective thought about where she and Bess were going to stay in. In the letter, Jenny stated that the girls were to stay in Colonial Hotel just minutes of driving away from the concert hall.
Just then, the announcement stated that the flight to Chicago just arrived. In the plane, Nancy sat next to Frank and Joe next to Bess. Bess seemed to like the companion, and she talked to him from the time they went on the plane. Joe seemed to be interested in Bess, and the two talked about many things.
Nancy and Frank were discussing the current mystery the Hardy brothers were working on. Frank was stubbornly refusing Nancy's help, and Nancy stated that she and Bess were on vacation, so she wouldn't be in the case unless the Hardys wanted her to.
Frank told the girl detective everything he knew from the time he got the letter.
It was just a week ago, and the Hardys were back from the beach in Bayport. Since Bayport, like River Heights, were next to the Atlantic Ocean, the detectives enjoyed swimming and getting a nice tan. Summer vacation could not get better for them.
Everything changed when Mrs. Hardy went to the mailbox and took out the mail for the day. She flipped through the bills with slight disgust and the women's magazine with delight. But there was something other than those mails put into the Hardys' mailbox. An unfamiliar beige envelope caught her attention, and the middle-aged mother of the two detectives quickly took it out and examined the senders' address.
"Seattle?" she muttered with wonder and worry. "To Frank and Joe?"
The woman immediately went into the house. The boys were in the kitchen taking out some cold sodas to cool them down from the heat. Inside the house, the air conditioning wasn't working. Just a few days ago, Mr. Hardy promised to call the repairing company, but he hadn't done so in over three days. The other Hardys, including Mrs. Hardy, Frank, Joe, and their aunt, Miss Gertrude Hardy, were mad at the delay at first, but had used to it and found ways to deal with the intense heat. The boys decided to go swimming more often, their mother went to the nearby supermarket, where the air conditioning was always on, and their aunt drove to the library more often than usual.
The rising gas price was a major pain, and Frank and Joe weren't allowed to use their car anymore, since they always were using up the gas and having to pump the gas in every three to four days. Because of this, the boys had begged their girlfriends, Callie Shaw for Frank and Iola Morton for Joe, to come pick them up to the beach. The two young couples agreed on a bargain: one time of picking the boys up meant one hour of dating time for the week.
Mrs. Hardy went to the boys and handed them the letter. Frank, who was making himself a sandwich, looked at the envelope with questioning look. Joe, who was drinking the soda, opened it using the kitchen scissors. Inside, there were a letter folded up and two airplane tickets to Seattle. Joe read the letter:
" 'Dear Frank and Joe,
" 'Hi, this is Jack Rocky, otherwise known as Brian McMillan. Do you remember me?'"
"Hey! That's Brian!" Frank interrupted, suddenly remembering the name. "He was one of Aunt Gertrude's friends' kids. I believe he's a nationally recognized rock star."
"Are you kidding?" Joe asked, not believing what Frank said. "Iola totally adores that guy! Well, not as much as me, but she says he is really something."
Frank grinned. "Let me see that." He then took the letter from his brother.
" 'I want you to come to Seattle for a few days next week. I want to hire you two as my guards. Well, I keep getting these weird messages threatening my life, like how I will die a terrible death, or something. That's why I want you to come here. I figured out that the sender sent the letter from Seattle, and I live in Seattle. Since I travel a lot around the globe, I'll only stay in my house for a few days, but I think the sender will kill me when I'm there.
" 'The police won't investigate just because there are many letters like this sent from crazy fans to stars and celebrities. If possible, I want you to come and investigate this for me.
" 'I know I can trust you because Miss Gertrude Hardy is one of my mom's best friends. I also read about your detective works on the newspaper. Please come next Friday to Seattle. I already enclosed two tickets for you. I'll be waiting at the Boeing Field/King County International Airport for you two to arrive.
" 'Sincerely,
" 'Brian McMillan, a.k.a. Jack Rocky.
" 'P.S. I'm sorry I can't put a phone number in here, since my phone broke recently and the new one won't arrive till the end of next week.
" 'P.P.S. Also enclosed is one of the threats I keep getting. I'll send it for you to examine. I hope you can solve this mystery soon. I have a feeling this is not just a message from a crazed fan…'"
Looking at his brother, Frank asked, "So, bro, what do you think?"
Joe smiled. "A new mystery just a week after we solved a new one; not bad for a detective agency!"
Frank managed a grin. He looked into the envelope again. There was a piece of paper in it. Opening it, he read a message made from letters cut out from magazines.
" 'You'll pay for it, Jack. You'll pay with your life.'"
The message was simple, yet Frank thought there was more meaning than meets the eye. He thought about it.
"I'm really worried about Brian—I mean, Jack—because these threats look pretty menacing."
"So who was the letter from?" a voice asked from behind them. They turned abruptly. It was Mrs. Hardy. "Well?"
Frank decided not to tell her about the mystery part. "It's from one of our old friends in Seattle. He says he wants us to come to his concert that's held in Seattle. Can we go?"
"Seattle? That's all the way across the States!" his mother answered in surprise. "Are you sure it's just a concert?"
Joe nodded. "Yeah. If it's okay, we'll stay there for a few days to look around Seattle."
Mrs. Hardy thought for a moment. "Okay, I guess. But your 'vacation' two weeks ago turned into a disaster. I just hope you are careful."
The boys smiled. "We will." But in their minds, they were sure this mystery was going to be rough. In fact, this could be one of the most exciting ones they've ever had!
Nancy Drew looked out the window of the airplane. The plane was taking off, and she could feel the uneasy sensation in her ears. She gulped a breath of air, and that sensation was gone. She looked down at her watch. Good. The flight was on time. If they were lucky, they would arrive there at night, just before the concert.
She was thinking about Seattle. Looking back, she didn't recall a mystery she actually solved in Seattle before! This could be another adventure she would have at a land unknown to her. The last case, which she called Ocean of Deceit, took place in Miami, Florida. She had been to that place before and was familiar with the food there. But Seattle was different; she had never traveled there. Now that she thought of it, the girl detective traveled to many different states already during her mystery-solving career. She just couldn't help but wonder if it was her destiny to solve mysteries and bring criminals to justice.
The River Heights Airport wasn't a big airport like the O'Hare, but it was big enough to bring the girl detective to many parts of the United States and more. Internationally, she had gone to England, Scotland, France, Turkey, and even Japan, Hong Kong, and Kenya! The most recent mystery she had solved outside of United States was The Thirteenth Pearl, but she knew she was going to travel out of the country sometime soon.
Nancy took out a notebook. Recently, she had used this notebook to write down notes and maps to help her solve the case. It helped her a lot when she was struggling to reveal the killer in her most recent mystery, which seemed to disappear into thin air, leaving Frank in the same room with the body. The killer was extremely smart, but Nancy was smarter, for she had revealed the truth and found evidence against the suspect as well. In her opinion, Nancy thought that detectives and criminals are two different kinds of people, but their intelligences were nearly the same. The more intelligent the criminal was, the more thorough his criminal plan would be, and the more intelligent the detective was, the faster she could reveal the criminal and put them into jail.
The girl detective closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the stewardess smiling as she asked her if she wanted anything to drink. Nancy asked for a cup of tea, and the lady opened the compartment and poured a cupful of tea with ice cubes floating on the surface. Nancy thanked her and took a sip. The stewardess asked the person sitting next to Nancy. For the first time, the girl detective turned toward the woman sitting beside her. She was a strong woman who seemed to be in her forties. Her hair was still brown with no trace of white in it.
"I would like some orange juice, please," the woman said. The stewardess gave her a cup of orange juice and left. After the stewardess was gone, the woman looked at Nancy and smiled.
"So, you are visiting Seattle, too, am I right?" she asked. Nancy nodded.
"I'm Matilda Fontaine. I'm Jennifer's mother."
Nancy's eyes got wide. "Oh, so you are going there to watch her perform, too?"
Mrs. Fontaine smiled. "Yes, I am. Being a violinist myself, I was the one who taught her to play violin. But when she got so well, I just had to find a good teacher for her."
"But why were you in River Heights?"
"I had to go here for a business meeting."
Nancy grinned. "I'm sure she's glad to see you."
After a pause, Mrs. Fontaine excused herself and went to the washroom. Closing the door as she got in, the woman washed her hand using the sink that was in the washroom. Bringing her face up, she looked at herself in the mirror. She grinned.
"Nancy Drew," she murmured to herself. "Well. This ought to be interesting…"
Postscript: Who is this mysterious lady who calls herself Jenny's mother? Who is sending threats to the rock star? Don't miss out the next installment of the story!
Keywords: the meeting, the threats, the accident