Landmine

Chapter 16

Author's Note: So, you really liked the last chapter, huh? I am really glad that I can convey the emotions of everyone that you are able to believe them. It is sometimes hard to write emotional stuff and I want to make it as realistic as I can for you. Because if I don't enjoy it, I know you won't either.

Well, let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I know I haven't put one of these up lately, so I better cover my tail. I don't own anything associated with Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys…just the characters I created. And I am also not responsible for any medical problems that may result from this story…so don't think about sending the bills to me!

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"Mr. Nickerson, what is your profession?" Gwen asked after he had taken his place on the witness stand.

"I'm am insurance agent employed at Morton Brothers Insurance in Chicago," he explained.

"That's how you met Dominic Shepard, isn't it?" Gwen asked.

Ned nodded. "Yes—he came to my office asking me to look at some property that he had bought. He said he was interested in getting it insured."

"And what property was that?" she asked.

"The old Roxie Theatre right outside of River Heights," Ned said.

Gwen glanced at the jury and saw some of them wore a surprised expression. Feeling satisfied, she turned to look at Ned again. "What happened on the day of October nineteenth, Ned?"

Ned leaned forward in his chair. "As I said, Mr. Shepard came to my office and wanted me to take a look at some property that he had bought. I didn't have any other clients at the time and he seemed like he was in a rush."

"Is that odd for a client to do that?"

Ned shook his head. "Not at all. In fact, most of our clients are like that."

"So what happened after that?" Gwen asked.

"Mr. Shepard drove us to the Roxie Theatre," Ned said.

"Why did he drive?" Gwen asked.

"He knew where the property was and it was just as easy for him to drive as it would have been for me. He assured me that it wouldn't take too long so I didn't argue," Ned said.

"Did you get suspicious at any time?" she asked.

"No, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. But when we got to the Roxie, I kind of wondered who in their right mind would buy a piece of property like that," Ned said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"The Roxie has been abandoned for years. The exterior of the property was in total disarray. I brought that up and he told me that the inside was much better," Ned explained.

"How did the inside look?" Gwen asked, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Practically brand new. It was like the entire inside had been redone," Ned answered. "But he had added his own personal touch to it."

"Could you elaborate?" she asked.

"The building was flooded in lights so I could see everything. He had the whole stage area covered in pictures," Ned said.

"What kind of pictures?'

"They were mostly pictures of Nancy, but he also had some of his victims," Ned said.

"What did you do when you saw those pictures?" she asked.

"I couldn't do anything," Ned answered. "I didn't even have time to comprehend anything before I felt electricity coursing through my body. He had pressed a stun gun to my side."
"So you were knocked unconscious," Gwen said.

Ned nodded.

"When you finally woke up, what did you see?" she asked.

"I was tied up along with Frank Hardy," Ned said.

"Was Mr. Shepard present?" she asked.

"Yes," Ned answered.

"Where was he?"

"He was across the stage with Nancy," Ned answered, feeling anger course through him. But he kept it under control.

"What was he doing?" Gwen asked.

Ned glanced at Nancy and saw that she was gazing at him intently. He then looked at Gwen again. "He was standing beside her and caressing her face. Frank and I started to struggle in our chairs; we didn't want that bastard touching her."

Judge Kent cleared his throat. "I will not tolerate that kind of language in my courtroom, Mr. Nickerson."

Ned glanced at the judge. "I'm sorry Your Honor."

Gwen continued with her questioning. "Was Mr. Shepard saying anything?"

Ned let out a bitter chuckle. "He was telling Nancy to choose," he said.

"Choose what?"

Ned sighed. "He wanted to show Nancy that he had a little but of humanity left in him—his words, not mine. So he wanted her to choose who was going to live and who was going to die—me or Frank."

"Thank you, Mr. Nickerson," Gwen said and went back to her seat.

Carson stood up as she sat down. "No questions, you Honor."

"Mr. Nickerson, you may step down," Judge Kent said.

Ned looked momentarily surprised. But quickly stepped down and took his seat beside Nancy.

"Ms. Lawson, you may call your next witness," Judge Kent said.

"Prosecution would like to call Frank Hardy," Gwen said, standing up again.

Frank rose from his seat and made his way to the witness stand. He remained standing as he was sworn in and then took his seat.

"Mr. Hardy, how did you become involved in the Never Again murders?' Gwen asked.

"My brother, Joe, and I were called down here from our home in Bayport, New York by Ned Nickerson," Frank said.

"Why did he call you down here?" she asked.

"After Nancy had been attacked the first time, he became concerned that it may happen again," Frank said. "Knowing our past with Nancy on other cases, he figured that we may be able to help protect her and investigate."

"So you got here after the two murders?" Gwen asked.

"Yes," Frank said.

"What happened on October nineteenth?" Gwen asked.

"We had gotten the photo of our suspect from Ann's book signing so we had brought it to the hospital so we could confirm with Nikki Masters that he was the guy we were looking for," Frank said. "Nancy was trying to talk to her, but she left when we got news that Ned may have been kidnapped.

"I stuck around the hospital because we really needed Nikki to confirm her attacker was the guy that we had in the photo," Frank continued. "When she did confirm it, I called Lieutenant Hawkins to let him know that he was our guy and that I was on my way back to the station."

"Did you ever make it back to the police station?" Gwen asked.

Frank shook his head. "No. As I was about to get off the elevator at the hospital, I was attacked with a stun gun."

"Did you see the person who attacked you?" Gwen asked.

Frank shook his head again. "He had a ball cap pulled over his eyes so I couldn't get a very good look at him. Later at the theatre I saw it was the guy from the photo."

"So, who was the guy in the photo?" she asked.

Frank nodded towards Dom. "The defendant—Dominic Shepard."

"What happened at the Roxie Theatre, Mr. Hardy?" she asked.

"Everything that Ned said. I woke up and saw Mr. Shepard standing near Nancy. He then started to taunt us and told Nancy she had to choose who he was going to kill—me or Ned," Frank said. "I signaled to Nancy that I was trying to get free, so she started to stall. I finally got free as he was coming towards us and I fought with him and thought I had knocked him out, but…"

"But what?" Gwen asked.

"He must have been only stunned because as we were trying to find a way out of the theatre, he grabbed Nancy again and threatened to kill her if we tried anything," Frank said.

Gwen smiled at Frank. "Thank you, Mr. Hardy. No further questions."

Judge Kent glanced at Carson. "Mr. Drew?"

Carson stood up. "No questions, you Honor."

"All right, Mr. Hardy—you may step down," Judge Kent said. He waited until Frank sat down before he spoke again. "We will adjourn for lunch. We will resume again this afternoon at one o'clock." He banged his gavel and just like the previous day, the room rose as one as he left for his chambers.

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Some of you may wonder why I didn't have Carson question Ned and Frank. I was talking with another author and we both kind of agreed that they were Carson's weak witnesses. There was nothing that Carson could really ask them that would plant doubt into the juror's minds.

And many of you are asking about Dean, and he is coming up in a couple of chapters. The next witness will be Nancy and then Dean, because he is the prosecution's strongest witness and I wanted to save him for last. I am still trying to decide if Dom will testify, so why don't you let me know what you think…

There are not many more chapters left in this story. I'm not sure how many I will end up with, but I do know it's coming to an end soon.

I'll try to update as soon as I can!