Disclaimer: I do not own, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the characters associated with them, or any pop culture references I may choose to include.

Author's Notes: Thank you for your reviews. I'm glad that you all are supportive of this story. I promise that what is going on with Nancy will be cleared up eventually.

Sorry about the delay. I was at my camp, and we're seriously lucky that we have indoor plumbing there, so internet access was out of the question.

Italics are thoughts.

Chapter Four

"When was the last time you saw Dr. Millet and his wife?"

Frank looked over to the police detective that was interviewing him and sighed. He had been in Port Winston for what was technically less than a day and already he had been forced to talk with the police for what was now the third time. It was starting to get rather tedious.

He and Joe had gone to the crime scene (the Millet's home) the moment they had received the call from the police. Detectives investigating the case had naturally started to question them for more information about what had been going on in the Millet's lives that would lead to such a shooting. Joe, knowing very little due to his preoccupation with Camilla, was done long before Frank. With there being little else to do Frank had sent him back to the hotel to ensure his being well rested.

On the other hand he had been talking for quite some time, after going into the interview already thoroughly exhausted. "When I dropped him off here after the accident in the parking garage." Frank answered easily. " I was in the entryway for a minute while I explained everything to Mrs. Millet."

"Explained what?" The detective looked for clarification.

Frank swallowed and his expression darkened. "I explained that Dr. Millet was perfectly safe, and that the guy who had tried to run him down was dead. I had assumed that he was the same guy that had been --,"

"It was a perfectly natural assumption." The detective assured him as he cut him off. It was clear that Frank was feeling a little guilty about what had occurred that night, even though to him it seemed that nothing could have prevented the incident. He glanced down at his notes. "Did anything seem out of the ordinary to you?"

Frank thought for a moment. "Not really." He paused before speaking again. "Mrs. Millet did mention that someone was waiting for Dr. Millet in the living room, but I didn't notice a car or anything in driveway."

"Did you see this person or get his name? Anything that may help us locate him?"

"Well, she said it was a colleague…a doctor. I kind of get the feeling that she didn't know him that well, since she didn't remember his name. After that, I left."

"When you left did you notice anything?"

"No." Frank shook his head. "I think Mrs. Millet said something about going up to bed. Nothing seemed abnormal."

"That's interesting." The detective mused. "We found her in the kitchen."

"Where was Dr. Millet?"

"He was in the living room, like you said."

Frank ran a hand through his hair. "We need to find that doctor. He might have seen the killer coming to the house."

"He very well might be the killer."

"Morning Tom." Nancy greeted as he entered the ER.

The handsome doctor flashed her half a smile as he entered. "Hey Nance. Did you hear about Dr. Millet?"

Nancy sighed. She had heard about the sudden turn that the Hardys now had to deal with. The moment she had entered the ER one of the night nurses had informed her about the sudden death of their colleague and his wife. The first thing she had thought about was the Hardys; what had happened, and was it case related? "Yeah, I just heard. I can't believe it."

"I know. He must have seriously ticked someone off." Tom removed his jacket.

"What do you mean?" Nancy frowned.

"You didn't know they were shot?"

"No…just that they were dead and that the hospital was having a small memorial service upstairs this afternoon." Oh boy.

His dark eyes flashed a little. "We should go to that, pay our respects." He suggested casually. He had offered all that he was going to for information, but he wasn't done talking in the least. There were many other topics he was interested in touching on with Nancy.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Nancy smiled a little, deciding to push away from the dark topic of death. It was not her case to be worrying about. The Hardys would handle it. Besides, she had her own work to do. "And maybe afterwards…" She trailed off, realizing what an awkward transition she was about to make.

"Maybe afterwards we could go have some dinner together?"

Nancy was surprised a little by Tom's apparent mind-reading capabilities; he asked her what she had been about to ask him. It was a more than welcome suggestion that made things much easier on her end. "That sounds great. I look forward to it."

"So do I. You know I've been meaning to ask you out for a while now."

Which is so apparent by the way you seem to go out with a different girl every week… Nancy had to stop herself from rolling her eyes a little at this comment, instead choosing to smile sweetly in a way that caused her blue eyes to twinkle. She needed to go along with this. "Well, I'm very glad you did."

"So am I."

They went into a silence, that Nancy was eager to break. "So, I'll meet you in the lounge before the service?"

"Sure." Tom glanced around. "I'd better get to work."

"Yeah, me too."

"See you around, then."

What Tom did next surprised Nancy a bit more. As his lips met hers her hand instinctively went up and ran through his curly brown hair. He flashed a smile and winked as he pulled away, turning and heading towards the doctor's lounge. "See you around." She muttered under her breath. As she looked around the main desk area she saw that she was earning the gaze of many coworkers and her cheeks tinged pink. "OK, back to work." She encouraged, her eyes falling on one particular pair of men that were walking towards her. And here it comes.

"Why Nancy, that was quite the lovely performance."

"Gee thanks Joe." Nancy looked at the blond brother, and then to the brunette brother, who's skin was slightly pale and he was starting to get dark circles under his eyes. "Morning Frank. You look like you need some sleep."

"That's because he does." Joe's tone was way more energetic then his brother appeared, which only seemed to add on to Frank's annoyance. "I tried to get him to stay at the hotel and get some sleep, but he insisted on coming here and figuring out what happened last night."

"Yeah, I heard about that." Nancy nodded sympathetically. "Do you guys have any ideas about what happened?"

"We have a few leads." Frank answered tightly. He had been planning on attempting to be nicer, but the display he had seen upon entering the hospital had pushed every thought of that out of his mind. "The police will be coming in here later to interview the staff. Someone from here was the last person to see Dr. Millet alive."

"We thought that we'd come down here before visiting hours to see you and see if you had any idea who would be visiting the good doctor so late in the evening." Joe continued his brother's statement.

Nancy thought for a minute. Even if she did have an idea, and she didn't, none of her coworkers seemed like they would be able to kill someone. "I can't think of anyone. No one is…was that mad at Dr. Millet. I guess it could have been someone that he does studies with but… Are you guys sure it was someone from this hospital?"

"His wife said it was a doctor and a colleague." Frank gave his answer quickly. "So yes, we're sure."

"Well then, I guess I can't be of much help. Sorry guys."

"That's OK." Joe lightly slapped her shoulder in his classic friendly and reassuring way. "I'm sure that between the police and us we'll be able to find some sort of lead."

A silence followed. Frank was staring rather coldly at Nancy, which is what caused her to be a little addled when he was the one who opened his mouth to speak first. "So who was that guy?"

Nancy breathed a sigh of relief. That wasn't nearly the remark that she was preparing herself for. "Tom Phillips. He's a doctor here."

"So he's your boyfriend?" Frank pushed, his tone unrelenting in its impersonality.

"No. He's no one special."

Joe shot his brother a look. "Relax Frank. What's with the third degree?"

Frank's eyes darted to his brother, and then back to Nancy. "I'm curious to find out about Nancy and how she just gives herself away like that for someone that's 'no one special.'"

Frank barely had time to react as Nancy's hand collided with his cheek, the momentum of which sent him to the ground. She thrust her hand angrily into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, handing it to Joe, who was quick to notice the way her eyes had managed to go shades darker in a matter of seconds. "Bess asked me to give this to you. I'll talk to you later."

She turned and left quickly, leaving the boys in a stunned silence. Most of the room was watching them. After a brief moment, Joe reached down and help his brother up. "Come on Frank, let's go see Cami."

Joe sat in the hospital cafeteria, waiting for his brother. They had agreed to meet for lunch after Frank had decided that his time would be better spent helping the police with their investigation. He had been somewhat glad when his brother had left, if only because he didn't know how long he would have been able to resist hitting him, himself. Frank's attitude was getting out of control, and as much as he wanted to stand by his brother, it was getting hard to.

However when his brother walked up to the table he was sitting at, he realized that Frank had gotten quite a bit of what he deserved, and a bit of his own annoyance melted away as a smile went up on his face. "Wow, did she slap you or punch you?"

Frank did his best to glare at his younger brother, but it was hard to take the glare seriously when his face was looking far from what it usually did. His right eye was swollen rather nicely, and it's color was attempting to match the bruise on his eyebrow he had received from chasing down the mugger the day before. "She punched me."

"Ouch. Did you put any ice on it?" Joe couldn't fight the giddiness he was getting from his brother's pain; he deserved it. However in his credit he did manage to fight back any actual laughter.

"OK, I seriously don't need this right now. I'm gonna go back to work on the case." Frank made to stand.

Joe stopped him quickly. "All right, all right. I'll stop. Have you guys found anything out down there?"

"Just that Dr. Millet was a very beloved and hardworking individual, and no one can think of anyone who had any ill feelings towards him." Frank sighed. "He's like…a male Mary Poppins or something."

"Well, that's a good thing then."

"How is that a good thing? It means we still have no idea who was at his house last night."

"Mary Poppins was only practically perfect in every way. There's a flaw in his system somewhere. We just have to hunt it down."

"You do realize we're speaking in strictly metaphors right?"

"Strictly Disney metaphors." Joe corrected. "Which reminds me, I promised Cami we'd watch a little bit of Beauty and the Beast before her nap. I'll talk to you later."

Joe was gone from the cafeteria before Frank had time to protest. He glanced down at his tray, that held a slightly less than green salad and a worse looking piece of chicken. It didn't take him long to decide he didn't really have that much of an appetite, and he stood, bring the tray to the trash can and dumping it.

"Yeah, I found out last night that she used to be a detective."

The male voice drifted into Frank's ear, and he glanced to it's source by a payphone; it was the doctor he had seen kissing Nancy…Tom.

"Don't worry, it'll all be taken care of by the end of the night…we have a date… Yeah…by the end of the night, Nancy Drew isn't gonna be around to even try and investigate anything."

Frank watched as the doctor hung up the phone and exited the cafeteria, then he frowned deeply. This was serious. He didn't know what was going on with Nancy, but now it was clear that she was in danger, and like her or not, he had to warn her.

"Margie, can you bring little Jenny here up to x-ray?" Nancy asked. The nurse nodded and Nancy exited the room, only to be confronted with the last person she wanted to see at the moment. She turned to the admissions desk, with the intent of looking at her charts, completely ignoring him.

Frank was not going to be put off by this though, and he quickly followed her. "Nancy, are you going out with that Tom guy tonight?"

Nancy opened up one of her charts taking a pen and starting to make notations. "Not that it's any of your business, but yes."

"Well, don't."

"I don't think that you're in any position to tell me what to do, Frank." She closed the chart and grabbed another one as she spoke in a tone that rivaled his own previously icy one. "Now leave, I have work to do."

"Nance, look I overheard him up in the cafeteria, and he--,"

"I have work to do." Nancy cut him off, repeating herself. She opened the new chart, and was about to continue mark it up when his hand came down on top of it.

"At least hear me out Nan. I think this going out with this guy is a bad idea and--."

Nancy grabbed his wrist and lifted it off of the charts. "Quite frankly, I don't give a damn what you think right now because everything you've been saying has been filled with childlike insanity and petty jealousy." She took a deep breath. "If you want to check out some stuff for your case, there is a small memorial service for Dr. Millet and his wife upstairs in the main meeting hall. You'll probably be able to meet someone helpful there. Now I suggest you leave, because I do not want to deal with you right now."

Frank sighed and turned away, somewhat defeated, but formulating a new plan.

Nancy walked at the end of the service, with Tom's hand in the small of her back, guiding her through the sea of hospital workers who had come to learn more of his passing and pay their respects. She was a touched by the gesture, even though she wasn't that overcome with grief; Dr. Millet was someone she knew and worked with, but they weren't close. She opened her mouth to say something to him along those lines when she saw him coming through the crowd. Not again. "Frank get away from me." She spoke the moment he was in front of her. "I have nothing to say to you."

Frank frowned, fighting not to lose his temper in such a crowd. " Nancy I just need you to listen to me."

"You have nothing of value to say to me." Nancy quickly countered, grabbing Tom's hand. "Come on Tom, let's get out of here."

She started to walk away but Frank grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop. "Nancy just give me one minute and hear me out."

"Fine. One minute. Tom, I'll meet you downstairs." Nancy brought Frank over to a corner that the hospital employees seemed to be avoiding. "OK. You have one minute. Go."

Frank started by taking a deep breath. "Look, I overheard that guy up in the cafeteria, and he's up to something. I don't know what it is exactly, but it involves you."

"It's called dating Frank. We're going out, together, on a date." Nancy gave him a look that said he was wasting her time. "If that's all, I need to get going."

"No. Nan, it's more than that. He said something about finding out that you used to be a detective. I don't know why you were hiding it, but he knows, and he said that he's gonna take care of you tonight." Frank's tone softened a bit more. "It sounded like he was going to try and kill you. You can't go out with him tonight."

For the briefest of moments, Frank saw Nancy's eyes falter, but they hardened back just as quickly. "Whatever Frank. I'm a big girl, who can take care of herself. I can go out with who I want, and don't think some story you have is gonna change that." Once more she took off before Frank could get another word in.

Joe looked up from the magazine he was reading by Camilla's bedside when Frank entered the room. Camilla was sleeping peacefully still in the middle of her nap. He frowned when he saw the look on Frank's face. "What's wrong?"

"That…woman is impossible!" Frank practically spat the words out.

Joe jumped to his feet and pulled Frank out of the room so he wouldn't wake Camilla. "You mean Nancy?"

"Yes."

"What did she do this time? Is her hair purple?" Joe still had to tease his brother a little; it was in his nature, and despite the bruise, his brother still deserved it.

"No. She's still going on a date with that Tom guy."

Joe tsked. "And after how nicely you tried to woo her."

"She won't listen to a word of what I'm trying to tell her." Frank continued to rant.

Joe held up a finger. "That one might have to do with the fact that you basically called her a--,"

"I know what I did Joe. And, once again, you're not helping. I'm trying to warn her not put my foot further in my mouth."

Joe's expression turned serious. "What are you trying to warn her about?"

"I overheard that Tom guy in the cafeteria. He said that he knows she used to be a detective and he's going to take care of her tonight."

Joe's frown started to run very deep on his face. "Did he say anything else?"

"He mentioned something about her not being able to investigate something. Why?"

"Watch Camilla for me."

Joe started to take off down the hall towards the elevator bank. "Wait, Joe! Do you know something?" Frank shouted after his brother, but got no answer. He sighed, falling back and leaning against the wall. "Why do I get the feeling that I am missing something really important?"

OK, I promise the next chapter will be up a lot sooner than this one was.

Thoughts?