I'm so sorry I took so long posting another chapter! I really was busy, I swear! Just to show you I'm sincere, I'm going to post two chapters at once!

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Chapter 8: Not a Simple Job

"What the hell are you doing married to Estelle Winters?"

After a day and a half of research, Nancy could not understand what had led August Quito to marry Estelle Winters. They had almost nothing in common. After her divorce, Estelle had held a series of odd, low-paying jobs to support herself and Jolene. Because Thomas had quit his job at the high school, his child support payments had not even covered the rent. But Estelle's last job had been as a checker at River Heights Hardware, which is undoubtedly how the couple had met, since that was about the time August had bought the store. Estelle and August had married barely six months after Estelle's divorce had become final.

"There's no accounting for taste, I suppose. Maybe August just thought it was time to get married. Although, in that case, you'd think he'd treat her better."

Nancy's research had turned up lots of information on August Quito. He had owned dozens of businesses, most of which had ended up in the tank. River Heights Hardware was the one notable exception. But the Quitos' life style seemed more lavish than the income from the hardware store could support. Nancy's instincts were still buzzing.

But all her attempts to locate Thomas Winters turned up nothing. She could understand why Chief Jones thought he had left town. There was no record of him paying rent anywhere, or paying a phone or utility bill. He had no bank accounts. He didn't even have a library card. He had no family in town other than Jolene. If he was staying with friends, there was no sign of it.

"It's like he dropped off the face of the Earth. Damn!" Nancy frowned at her notes. "I should type these up. But maybe I need to get back to the first problem: Jolene. I'll go to her school tomorrow and see what I can find out. Maybe they'll know something about Thomas Winters."

The River Heights Achievement Academy was the sort of school Nancy suspected her father would have sent her to if it had existed when she was young. The neatly dressed students, in matching uniforms, were courteous and well-behaved when she asked for directions to the office before school started the next morning. In the administrative building, she was quickly directed to the office of the school principal, a Mrs. Durbin, when she explained the reason for her visit.

"Miss Drew," Mrs. Durbin said when they were seated at a small round table in her office, "Mrs. Quito told me she hired you to look for Jolene. Does that mean the police have given up?"

"The police think Jolene is a runaway. They're looking, but it's not a high priority item for them."

"That's unfortunate." Mrs. Durbin frowned. "I don't agree with that conclusion at all. Jolene is not the sort of girl to run away."

"I was hoping I might speak to Jolene's teacher and some of her friends. I need to understand what was going on with her just prior to her disappearance to reach a conclusion about whether or not she might have run away."

"Of course. Classes are about to begin, but this is important. I think a little disruption can be tolerated. I'll go take over Miss Kerney's class and send her to the office."

"Thank you." Nancy studied her notes while she waited for Jolene's teacher, Chloe Kerney. When the young woman arrived, she quickly closed the door and took a seat opposite Nancy with a nervous smile. She held out her hand.

"I'm Chloe Kerney."

"How do you do, Miss Kerney?" Nancy shook her hand. "I'm Nancy Drew. I was hired by Estelle Quito to look for her daughter, Jolene."

"I've heard of you, Miss Drew."

"Thanks. Call me Nancy. Miss Kerney, I understand you were the first person to realize Jolene was missing."

Chloe nodded slowly. "I think so. She missed school that day and no one had called to say she was sick. I was worried so I called her home. They had no idea she had not been at school. I felt just terrible."

"When was the last time you saw Jolene's father, Thomas Winters?"

"I'm afraid I've never met him."

Nancy was surprised. "He's never picked Jolene up from school?"

"Not since I've been working here. She's usually picked up by their maid. Sometimes her stepfather picks her up."

"I see." Nancy looked down at her notes. "Has Jolene been having trouble in school? Have you noticed anything unusual?"

"No," Chloe shook her head. "Jolene is a wonderful student. I wish all my students were like her." She smiled sadly. "She's always so friendly and cheerful."

"She didn't seem troubled at all the day before she disappeared?"

"No. She acted the same as always."

"Hmm…" Nancy wrote in her notebook for a moment. "Can you give me the names of some of Jolene's close friends? Oftentimes, children will tell their friends things that they would never tell their parents or teachers."

"That's true." Chloe thought for a moment. "Jolene spends most of her time with three girls: Abby Trask, Kate Johnson and Angela Duncan."

Nancy wrote the names down. "Can you ask Mrs. Durbin if it's all right for me to talk to these girls and send them to the office?"

"Certainly." Chloe stood up. "I hope you find Jolene, Miss Drew. I'm so worried about her."

"I'll do my best."

Nancy had to wait about ten minutes before Mrs. Durbin returned with three pretty preteen girls in tow.

"Sit down, girls," Mrs. Durbin ordered. "This is Miss Drew. As I explained on the way here, she is here to inquire about Jolene's disappearance." She turned to Nancy. "This is Abby," she indicated the only dark-haired girl in the group, "Angela and Kate."

The three girls took seats and regarded Nancy curiously. One of the blonds giggled nervously and Abby nudged her. "Shut up, Angela!" she whispered.

Nancy smiled at them to try to put them at their ease. "Thanks for coming. I understand the three of you are good friends with Jolene."

"Oh yes!" Abby nodded vigorously. "We've been friends, like, forever." The other two girls nodded quickly in agreement.

Nancy leaned forward. "Has Jolene ever told any of you about problems at home?"

"Nothing special," Abby said. She appeared to be the spokesperson for the group. "Her mom is totally into herself, you know? So she ignores Jolene all the time and sometimes Jolene would get upset about that. Especially when Angela's mom would take us all out for ice cream or to the arcade. She sometimes wished her mom would do stuff like that."

"I see. What about her father? Has she ever said anything about wanting to spend more time with him?"

"All the time," Kate piped up. "Jolene was always talking about how nice her dad is and how she hated that her mom was always interfering in his visit weekends. I don't think she's seen him for a while."

"He wanted to take her to Europe," Abby said, "but her mom wouldn't let her go. She cried."

"Do you think she would have run away so she could go to Europe with him?"

The three girls exchanged glances.

"Maybe," Angela said quietly, "but I think she would have told us, so we wouldn't worry."

"Yeah," Abby agreed. "Jolene wouldn't have gone without telling us. She's really thoughtful."

Nancy carefully noted down the girls' opinions. "Did anything unusual happen the day before Jolene disappeared?"

"Yeah," Angela giggled. "We got to go home early!"

Mrs. Durbin made a face. "That's right. Mr. Jordache, the chemistry teacher, had an accident during a lab and chemical fumes were released. He evacuated his room and called the fire department. I decided to close the school for the rest of the day as a precaution."

"Who picked up Jolene?" Nancy asked.

"No one," Mrs. Durbin replied with a frown. "We could not reach her mother or her stepfather. I finally gave her permission to get a ride home from Abby's mother."

Abby nodded. "We dropped her off at her house. That's the last time I saw her."

Nancy frowned. "Did you see if she actually went in the house?"

Abby thought for a moment. "No, I didn't. We didn't go in the driveway. Mom just pulled up in front of the gate."

"The gate was open?"

"Yeah. I remember Jolene waved at us and ran up the driveway. Then we drove off."

"You're thinking she never made it into the house?" Mrs. Durbin leaned forward, looking worried.

Nancy could tell from her expression that Mrs. Durbin was feeling responsible for having released Jolene into someone else's care. "No, I'm sure she must have made it home safely that day. Her parents did not report her missing until the next day, so they must have seen her that night."

Mrs. Durbin sat back and her face cleared. "Oh, yes, that makes sense."

"At this point," said Nancy, "I'm not sure what happened, except that I think she must have disappeared on the morning of the day she first missed school." She smiled at the three girls. "Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me."

"We really hope you find her, Miss Drew," Abby said gravely. "We miss her."

"I hope I find her, too."

"All right, girls," Mrs. Durbin said, "time to head back to your classroom. Please don't speak about this to the other students. You understand that this kind of investigation is confidential."

"Yes, Mrs. Durbin," the girls chorused.

When they were gone, Mrs. Durbin turned serious eyes on Nancy. "Tell me honestly, Miss Drew. Do you think Jolene is still alive?"

Nancy frowned thoughtfully. "It's hard to say at this point. It's possible that she's with her father somewhere, in which case she should be all right. But it's just too early to say."

"I see." Mrs. Durbin stood up. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"When was the last time you saw Thomas Winters?"

"I think…" Mrs. Durbin paused for a moment, looking up at the ceiling in thought. "I think it must have been last fall term. He got to keep her for the Thanksgiving weekend and he picked her up from school that Wednesday." Mrs. Durbin pursed her lips. "They looked so happy together. Jolene jumped into his arms and he swung her around in the air. It was obvious they have a very close bond, despite the difficulties Mrs. Quito imposes."

"So it is possible she ran away to be with him."

"She might have," Mrs. Durbin agreed reluctantly.

Nancy stood up and held out her hand. "Thank you for the time, Mrs. Durbin. This has been very helpful."

"You're welcome, Miss Drew."

In her car, Nancy leaned on her steering wheel. "Did you run off with your dad, Jolene, or is it something else entirely?" She stared at nothing for several minutes. "What is it about this case that nags at me? I'm missing something, but what? Why can't I just accept the obvious answer, like the police? Damn!" Nancy started her car and headed home. "I'll just do a little more research on August and then I'm going to track down Thomas Winters."

At home, Nancy got to work immediately. She had printed several pages of information about August Quito's old businesses without really going through them. Now she poured over the information carefully.

"Wait a minute!" Nancy stopped halfway down one page, staring at a name. "I know this guy!" She flipped through several other pages, searching for the name. "I'll be damned! He's all over the place. August Quito knows Walter Surrey. They're business partners."

Even though she wasn't really supposed to, Nancy went to her dad's home office and searched through the electronic copies of his closed cases. "Here it is." Nancy read through the file carefully. It had happened a few years ago. One of Carson Drew's clients had sued Walter Surrey for breach of contract. The case had been settled out of court, but Nancy remembered her father talking about Surrey and calling him a very shady customer. In fact, if she recalled the conversation correctly, Carson had referred to Surrey as "a damned crook".

Nancy began to worry. "If Quito is into something criminal and Jolene found out about it…" She hurried back upstairs to search for more information. "There's got to be something."

It was very late when she sat back from her computer and stretched her arms above her head with a wide yawn. She had skipped dinner to keep tracing down several different leads on the businesses of August Quito and Walter Surrey. Ultimately, she had been led to a shipping business they ran together that barely broke even every year. It was the only one of August's business ventures that had not failed outright, except for River Heights Hardware. The business owned several warehouses, one of which was in River Heights.

Nancy glanced at her watch. "It's too late to go there tonight, but tomorrow's Friday. I can swing by the place in the afternoon and check it out." With a sigh, she stood up, stripped out of her clothes and crawled into bed. "My date with Ned isn't until Saturday, so there's time."

-o-o-o-

The warehouse was a typical looking place, except for the two characters smoking cigarettes in the alley by the entrance, leaning up against the back of a large van. One of the men was big and thuggish-looking. The other was a skinny, weasel-like sort. They didn't talk as they lounged there, just watched the people going by. They looked like they were waiting for something. Nancy didn't dare drive by a second time to get another look. She was certain they had seen her the first time she went by.

She turned the corner and parked a few blocks away. Then she walked back, taking a route that would take her past the other end of the alley, away from the entrance. When she reached the alley, she ducked quickly down it, hiding behind a convenient trash bin. She peaked around the bin, but there was no other cover in the alley to speak of. If she stepped out, she would be in plain view if the men came around the van.

"I guess I wait here," she murmured. After watching for a few minutes, a car pulled up at the far end of the alley and stopped. She couldn't see what was happening, but then the car pulled away and the two men appeared on the steps leading up to the warehouse door. The skinny man was carrying a pizza box and a six pack of soda. Nancy waited. About ten minutes later, the men reappeared empty-handed, climbed into the van, backed out of the alley and drove away.

Nancy stood up. "They left the food in the warehouse. I wonder if someone's inside." She looked up at the tall dirty-brown wall. "I'll come back tonight," Nancy said to herself. "It won't hurt to have a look inside the place."

That night, Nancy parked her car down the street and approached the warehouse on foot. It was quiet and the alley by the entrance was empty. The warehouse had two entrances: a man-size door at the top of a small flight of stairs and a wide roll-up door on the shipping and receiving dock. After looking around carefully, Nancy moved up the steps to the small door and tried the handle. It was locked. Smiling grimly to herself, Nancy pulled a lock pick out of her belt pouch and applied it to the lock. She worked the pick into the lock, feeling for the tumblers, pursing her lips with satisfaction at each successful click.

Then the doorknob turned in her hand and the door was yanked open, jerking her off balance so she fell into the open doorway. A big hand clamped over her mouth, cutting off her startled yelp, and a thick arm encircled her waist, dragging her inside.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" a deep, husky voice growled in her ear. "This here's private property." The man kicked the door shut and dragged Nancy further into the warehouse. At the top of a flight of stairs, light spilling out of another room allowed Nancy to get a look at her captor for the first time. It was the larger of the two men from the alley!

He grabbed her by her shoulders and held her at a distance, looking her up and down. "I know you!" he exclaimed, startled. "You're that detective girl; the one who's always solving the cops' cases before they do. Shit! I better call Quito." The man gripped her firmly by the arm and dragged her to another door. "You can just wait in here until I find out what to do about you. But you don't need this!" He yanked Nancy's belt pouch loose and tossed it aside. "Now in you go!" He pulled the door open and thrust Nancy inside. "Be a good girl and we'll feed you. Otherwise…" he glowered at her and then slammed the door.

Nancy kicked it, furious with herself. "I can't believe this!" she shouted. "Dammit!"

"Oh please don't shout, Miss!" a young voice spoke up behind her. "He means it. If we make noise, he won't bring any food or drink."

Nancy turned around to find Jolene Winters standing behind her. "Jolene!" Nancy exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"You know me?" Jolene asked in surprise. She stepped closer and stared up at Nancy with a frightened look on her face.

"Your mother hired me to find you." Nancy stepped forward and put an arm around Jolene's shoulders. "It looks like I succeeded, but not in the way I intended." She looked back at the door. "Nobody knows I'm here. I'm afraid I've screwed up pretty badly, Jolene."