Forword: Wow! I didn't know I could get eight reviews for just one chapter! And there are already 90 hits to my story! I know that the last chapter was short and not much filled with action. Well, in this chapter, a shocking news about Mrs. Drew will be disclosed. Also, for the first time ever, you'll know what her first name is! Of course, Mrs. Drew's first name is my original, and I have reasons to name her what I named her (sounds kind of awkward to say it). But Mrs. Drew's name isn't that important. What's importantis why a thief would bother to get into Mr. Drew's office. (For those of you who have watched the show, you may find the scene to be very similar to the theft that occurred in Mr. Drew's office in Nancy Drew: Whispering Walls, which is one of the episodes in Nancy Drew TV series starring Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew. If you get the chance, maybe you should take a look. I recommend reading it, but you might not like how the actors and actresses portray some of the side characters, especially Ned and George. Wow, I think I'm getting off topic here!)

Well, this story will be all-new and original. It'll also include the never-before-seen combination of characters from both Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series! The mystery deepens in this exciting first chapter of my newest novel.

Enjoy and review, please!

Chapter 1

The Lost File

The girl detective thought frantically about her next action. Should she go in and attack the thief using her karate skills? No, the burglar might be armed with a gun or a knife. It was too dangerous for her to get near him. What should she do?

Nancy went to the kitchen without making any noise. Getting inside, she silently closed the door and stopped lest the thief had heard something. Realizing that the culprit wasn't taking notice of her, the girl detective took the receiver of the phone and dialed 9-1-1. She waited, holding her breath.

"This is the River Heights Police Station. How may I help you?" a voice asked from the other side of the line.

"Hello? I got a burglar in my house, and I want the officers here right away," answered Nancy.

"Is he armed?"

"I don't know. I saw him in my father's file room."

"Has he noticed your existence yet, ma'am?"

Nancy looked through the crack she made from opening the door slightly. "No. I don't think he noticed me yet. I want help as soon as possible. And please don't let the officers turn on the alarm; it might scare the thief and he might hold one of us hostage if that was the only choice left."

"All right. The officers will be there shortly. What was your address?"

Nancy gave the address and hung up after she did so. She then waited patiently for a few seconds.

Then, the burglar made his next move. He went toward the desk in which Mr. Drew kept all his data concerning the past clients and cases. Nancy wanted to curse her father for not using the computer to store his information.

"I hated how Dad never relied on technology!" Nancy muttered softly, quietly enough so the burglar wouldn't hear her. "And he would've saved a lot of time when finding those files."

As the burglar used his knife to violently but quietly try to open the locked drawer, Nancy backed up a little bit and accidentally bumped into one of the metallic bowls which Hannah had forgotten to put back the night before. She held her ears as the bowl fell from the table and onto the floor with an ear-splitting crash.

"Now I've done it!" Nancy thought to herself as she held her breath. With the crash, the thief's masked face went up. And cautiously, he backed up. With a swift motion, he opened the window and ran out with a file in his hand.

A few seconds later, Mr. Drew and Hannah came out of their rooms, quizzical and concerned. Nancy explained to them what had happened. She and her father then went outside to investigate. Hannah waited inside.

Using a flashlight, Nancy looked at the window which the burglar used to exit. She noticed that the window had a hole in it. The circular hole was about five inches in diameter and seemed to be made using a special tool. "The thief must have entered through the window," Nancy murmured.

She then shone the flashlight outside. The culprit was long gone, and there were a set of footprints outside, right under the window which he used to get in and out. Nancy deduced that the footprints were about eleven inches long.

"The thief had a pair of huge shoes!" she mused.

A few minutes later, the officers arrived, but Nancy told them that the thief had already left.

"Hmm, so do you know what was taken?" the officer asked.

Mr. Drew immediately went back to his file room and looked into the drawer which was forced open. He squinted as he tried to read what the file names were, for he didn't have his glasses on. Sighing, Nancy handed him his glasses, and the attorney continued searching through his files.

"That's strange," he muttered after a while. Nancy asked him what was strange. "The only file missing is the one about the case I handled twenty years ago!"

"What case was it?" asked his daughter.

"A murder case," replied the attorney.

Nancy continued thinking. Why did the burglar bother to take a file which was twenty years old? And why would he want that now?

"Dad," Nancy started, "what was the case about?"

Mr. Drew thought for a while. Then, a shocked expression spread over his face. He seemed to have seen a ghost right in front of him. He then sat down onto his chair, which was right behind him. It was a good thing that the chair was where it was, for if it wasn't Mr. Drew would've fallen down on the ground.

"Dad?" Nancy was concerned. She had never seen her father so shocked, since he was such a composed person all the time, both at home and in the court. "What's wrong?"

The prominent attorney looked up at Nancy and then covered his face. He let out a huge sigh. Nancy knew that what he was thinking wasn't a good thing; her father never acted like this before, and she was more baffled than ever.

"What's wrong?" she asked again.

Her father kept quiet and shook his head. After the police officers finished dusting for fingerprints, they went out of the house, leaving the place as quiet as it had been an hour ago. Nancy helped Hannah prepare for breakfast as she saw her father coming toward them. "Dad, if you don't want to tell me what's bothering you, it's all right. Hannah and I prepared a breakfast that might cheer you up."

She then pointed toward the homemade pancakes and her father's favorite: bacon and egg. Hannah always reminded him that his cholesterol was too high, but she agreed to make the dish, for he hadn't eaten bacon for nearly a month.

Mr. Drew smiled weakly and sat down. The breakfast was eaten quietly, and when he finished the attorney went to the fireplace, which was not lit, and sat down by it. He then motioned Nancy to come. Nancy looked at Hannah.

"Go ahead. I'll clean up by myself," replied the housekeeper.

"Nancy, I want to tell you something about the file that was lost," he said. "You already know from a talk with Mrs. Fontaine that your mother was killed, don't you?"

Nancy nodded grimly. She saw beside her father on the couch. She felt like a three-year-old again, sitting next to her father just as though he was reading a book to her. Another teardrop rolled down her cheek. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Mr. Drew sighed. "Well, after your mother was killed, you couldn't remember anything for a few days. You even forgot your own name and birthday. But a few days later, you started to remember the life you had before the tragedy, but you never remembered your mother's death. I knew it was a bad thing to tell you that your mother was killed. I just told you, when you asked, that she died of an illness, and that was how things were explained. You didn't suspect a thing until just a few days ago."

Nancy looked out the window. "I really hated the fact that you were lying to me all the time, but I know now that it was for my best. But tell me," she said, facing him now, "what was the file about? You seemed awfully shocked to realize what the file was."

The middle-aged man chuckled lightly, but his eyes weren't laughing much. They looked sad. "Well, the file was from fifteen years ago, just a month before your mother died."

Nancy's eyes got wider. "Really?"

Mr. Drew nodded.

"But what was the file about?"

"It was about a case your mother worked on for a few weeks. She was a very talented detective, as you've heard from Mrs. Fontaine. She was so talented the people of River Heights once called us the 'Mightiest Crime-Bustin' Couple' for a long time. You know, that was true: your mother handled dozens of cases before and after you were born. She was the one collecting the evidences against the crimes while I was the one making the evidences into use at the court."

Mr. Drew chuckled again. "Good old times don't last long, do they?" he asked, mainly to himself.

"So what was the case?" Nancy wanted to know.

"Well, there was a rich lady in Titusville, and she was killed in her mansion. She was a widow, so she lived alone. The police knew that a robber entered the house, found that lady, and killed her because she saw his face. But they didn't know who the robber was. So your mother did her investigation and started collecting clues and strands of hair and anything she could find.

"The case was given up by the police force, but your mother still tried. She interrogated suspects herself and made sure that their alibis didn't have holes. And she finally found a culprit, a man named Charles Fender, a merchant who lived in a town a few miles from Titusville. He was then called to the court, and I put him to jail. He received a sentence of life in prison."

"So the case was finally over?"

The gray-haired man nodded, taking his glass off and rubbing his eyes. "That was all to it, but then your mother was killed when a car ran over her while she was shopping with you." He brought his wrist up and showed Nancy. Nancy's eyes got wide.

"That's…"

Mr. Drew grinned. "I guess you remember now. Yes, this was the watch which you and your mother picked to give me as a birthday present. Now, it's the most prized possession I own—" he then looked at Nancy, "—excluding you, of course. You are the most precious thing I have."

Nancy finally smiled. "Thanks, Dad," she said, hugging her father. "I'll go change now. The entire ruckus made me wide-awake!"

She then went to the stairs. As she exited the room, Mr. Drew looked at the watch on his wrist and sighed.

"Carol…" he muttered.

"Earth to Joe Hardy!" Frank called. "Come back here from your trip to Pluto!"

Joe looked up. Frank was staring at him with a grin on his face. "Well, did you have a nice nap there?"

"I… I wasn't taking a nap!" Joe muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"Sure you weren't," Frank said sarcastically. "Then why were you drooling on your English project you have to do for next fall?"

Joe looked down. His brother was right; the blond detective's book was spotted with his saliva, and some of the words were too wet to read.

"Wuthering Heights, huh?" Frank asked, looking at the book's cover. "I read this a while back. It's a good book, isn't it?"

Joe shook his head stubbornly. "No way, bro. Nothing gets more uninteresting."

Frank chuckled. "You mean less interesting?"

"Whatever."

The Hardy brothers were at their home in the busy city of Bayport, about seventy miles away from the town of River Heights, where Nancy Drew lived. The city was always busy. During the weekdays, people went to downtown to their offices and workplaces. During the weekends, they still went to downtown to swim in the Atlantic Ocean or to go to different museums. Bayport had it all; Science Museum, Art Museum, Literature Museum, Technology Museum, Music Museum, and numerous exhibits and concerts. Because it was summer, kids and teens were free from school and were hanging around the city and talk with their friends and eat at local cafés.

Mrs. Hardy went out of the house to go shopping. Mr. Hardy was reading in the living room. Ms. Gertrude Hardy, Mr. Hardy's sister and the boys' aunt, was busily taking care of the garden.

The telephone rang. Frank immediately stopped making fun of his brother and ran to the phone, which was located in the kitchen. He almost slipped on the tiles but managed to maintain his balance. He took the receiver and said, "Hello?"

"Hi, Frank!"

Frank grinned. "What's up, Callie?"

Callie Shaw was Frank's girlfriend from the time he was a junior in high school. She had blonde hair and beautiful translucent eyes. She liked to study and read books, but she also liked to hang out with Frank. She was as energetic as Joe sometimes and was always equally outgoing. It sometimes came to Frank that Callie and Joe could make a good couple, but he knew that Joe had a girlfriend as well, named Iola Morton. Her brother, Chet, was the Hardys' best friend for years and was a little plump, probably because of all the donuts he was consuming daily. But he was always like that even from childhood, and old habits failed to die as time passed.

"I just called to let you know that I got two tickets to a movie. Wanna come?"

Frank immediately accepted. But he then felt awkward. "Why are you inviting me to a movie?"

"Because I haven't seen you in ages all because of your hanging out with Nancy out in Seattle, I just felt like inviting you to some time off. But seriously, when a girl invites her beloved boyfriend to a trip to the movies, is it necessary for her to always have a reason?"

Frank smiled. "All right, then. I'll come. When?"

"At three in the afternoon."

"And where?"

"At the Bayport Cinema."

The dark-haired detective said yes and said goodbye. After hanging up, he went to Joe. "I'll be going to the movies now," he said. "And it's already two."

"Sure, sure," Joe said, not even listening to his brother. After Frank was gone, he closed his book with a sigh. Time was being wasted because of that book, and he needed to take a break or go investigate some more cases. He wished that someone would call the Hardys.

And his wish was granted: a second later, the doorbell rang. Joe answered it.

"Yes?" he asked as he opened the door.

A plump teenage boy was standing in front of him. "Hi, Joe," he said.He was Chet.The Hardy brothers'best friendwas holding something behind his back. His face looked grim. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

Chet brought his hand from behind his back. He was holding an envelope. "This just arrived. It's from my aunt in Maine. She's really distressed about something, and I thought you and Frank could help her."

Joe asked, "What is it?"

Chet paused for a minute. "Well, she says the hotel she owns is haunted."

Postscript: I'd say that haunted house and theft at the main character's residence is the most typical starting point for a very typical Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mystery. It actually reminds me of the good-old days of original edition books. I've read some original versions and am surprised to see how boring the revised edition looks when compared to the old ones!

Anyway, even though the basic mystery the detectives will be solving sounds too normal, I guarantee that the story will get a ton of twists and red herrings. I can't tell you too much now. You'll just have to read the next chapter to find out more!

Now, as I said before in the epilogue of Out of Tune, there will be a total of FOUR mysteries that the detectives will be solving. The first one is the theft. The second one is the haunted house. The third and the fourth ones are yet to be uncovered, but I guarantee that this single story will have as many mysteries as four Nancy Drew books or four Hardy Boys books combined! And I didn't just put these mysteries into the story to make it long. Each mystery will have a special meaning that will be uncovered near the end of this novel (I'll say around the eighteenth chapter). Why did the thief steal that file? Why is someone trying to make the hotel look haunted?

Oh, and one more thing. The reason I named Mrs. Drew "Carol" is because I consider Carolyn Keene to be Nancy's "mother" because she wrote the stories.

More will be coming soon!