Chapter Seven

Frank led the way back up to the stage. People were either running around checking to make sure no one was hurt or to see what happened. When the group arrived on the stage, Joanna gasped, her eyes quickly filling with tears. The light fixture that Grady and his crew were working on earlier lay in a heap in the middle of the stage. Even the floor was damaged though only slightly. Frank looked around for a few faces and sure enough he spotted the Shannons as well as Jared MacMillan. The three were clustered together on the main floor near the orchestra pit. Frank shook his head, wondering if any of them were responsible.

"This is a disaster!" cried Joanna. "How are we going to put on a show without lights? Without a stage?"

"It will be okay, Joanna," Grady replied. He came over to her and wrapped his arm around the woman to comfort her as she cried. "We'll get this fixed somehow."

"Frank," Joe asked softly so as not to interrupt the moment. His brother turned to him. "I think we need to…"

"Don't say it," Frank held up his hand. "I know. I just didn't want to make the call. I wanted her to stay out of this."

"I know but I think we need not only information from Nancy about a few people but also maybe some help in a different way," his brother replied. "Like getting the funds to fix a few things. Besides, she needs to know what's going on around here. That isn't helping with the case either. She should be here though, that's a given.

Frank looked at his brother and knew he was right. He hung his head in defeat and sighed. He walked away as he pulled out his phone and dialed Nancy's number.

Nancy laughed as she sat at a small table with Bess and George. The three had spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon shopping but were currently sitting in the food court of the River Heights Galleria Mall. Nancy was tired from all the walking but grateful for her friends' company. She rubbed her belly when the baby gave her a swift kick. Although she still had several weeks to go, Nancy was feeling anxious to hold the baby she so desperately wanted.

"So, how did Frank react when you told him you were pregnant, Nancy?" Bess snickered. She had just finished telling them the story of how Marshall reacted to Bess telling him. Her husband had passed out and hit his head on the way down causing a huge scene in the restaurant they were in at the time.

"I thought I already told you, Bess," Nancy smirked. She took a few french fries from the plate in front of her then dipped them into her chocolate milkshake before swiftly stuffing them into her mouth.

"Ew," George grimaced. "If you're doing that because of pregnancy cravings, Nancy, then consider me never having kids."

"You know, I think I grossed out Frank a few days ago too," she laughed after swallowing. Nancy gave George a knowing look. "What if Dean has other plans though?"

"So far, his plans continue to be to work his ass off and ignore me," her friend huffed folding her arms in front of her. She leaned back in her chair and pouted. "That's all he ever does anymore! Work, work, work. Why do you think I stayed behind after he left yesterday? I'm tired of being alone!"

"Somehow I don't think he's ignoring you, George," Bess stated thoughtfully. Her cousin looked at her strangely. "Oh, come on! He's head over heels for you! Maybe he's working all the time because he's saving up for something. Ever think of that?"

"Or he's just nervous about asking," Nancy chimed in then took a drink from her milkshake, the straw making a slurping sound. "You saw how long it took for Frank to come to his senses. Men have this innate fear of commitment or just a fear of rejection. Who knows but I agree with Bess. Dean's not the kind of guy to just ignore his girlfriend especially after all the times he was rejected. You have to remember that I was one of those who rejected him."

"I remember that," George nodded.

"Marshall was the same way," Bess pointed out. "You just gotta be patient, George. Dean will come around when he's ready. Just don't give up on him so easily."

"I guess you're right," her cousin said glumly.

"You know we are!" Nancy and Bess cried together. The three broke into fits of laughter as Nancy's cell phone rang. Her laughter died down a little as she stared at the phone confused.

"What?" George asked. "Something wrong?"

"It's Frank," she said as the phone continued to ring. "I didn't think he'd be calling. He and Joe are supposed to be at the theater with Joanna. I hope everything's okay."

"Then answer it!" cried Bess exasperated.

"I will!" George cried grabbing the phone from Nancy. "He knows he's not supposed to talk to you about the case so I'm just going to let him have it!"

"George, no!" Nancy cried reaching for her phone but the girl already answered.

"Nancy Drew's phone," George replied sweetly. "She can't come to the phone right now because she's not supposed to be talking about a certain case with you."

"George! Give me the phone!" ordered Nancy. Several other shoppers turned their way at the outburst Nancy didn't care. George still held the phone away from her as Frank nervously spoke.

"George? Why are you answering the phone?"

"Why are you calling?" she snapped back. "I thought we were supposed to keep Nancy away from you two until this evening."

"Hey!" Nancy called out. She didn't know that that was the plan and was rather put off about it. Finally snatching her phone from her friend, Nancy stuck her tongue out at her friend. George laughed and rose to throw out their trash. Bess joined her looking perplexed. "Was that really why we went shopping, Frank?"

"No," he said after a brief hesitation.

"Uh, huh," she replied but didn't believe him. "What do you want anyway?"

"For one, don't be mad we planned the day for you," Frank said cautiously. Nancy made a sound, annoyed that the truth finally came out. "The other is that I…" Nancy heard someone clear their throat. "Sorry, we need a favor."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, um…" Nancy could hear shouting and yelling going on in the background but it soon diminished. "Do you think you can get over here as soon as possible?"

"Well, it depends on what you would need me for," she replied sharply. "I thought you didn't want me anywhere near the theater until the case is over. Besides, you heard George. She's not exactly going to agree to drive over there. Maybe Bess but it's going to take some finagling to get George to agree."

"Then ditch them. We need you here."

"I can't ditch my friends!" she cried though she kept her voice low. "What is so important that you need me there?"

"Well, I think they may need more help than we anticipated, Nan," Frank said grimly. He spent the next few minutes telling her everything that happened while he and Joe were at the theater including why the Shannons were there and Jared MacMillan. Her face slowly turned red as she listened. "After what just happened with the lights, I'm not sure if the show will be able to go on without some major help."

Nancy was mad. Actually more than mad. She was furious. Whoever wanted to stop the show was making sure that the theater didn't survive. It would destroy her family's legacy if the theater closed and was torn down. It was all she had left that had memories of her parents beside her home and she wasn't going to let anyone take that away from her. Not the saboteur and certainly not Martin Shannon.

"We're leaving now," she said angrily then ended the call before Frank could say anything more. Nancy scanned the food court for her friends and waved them over.

"What did Frank want?" Bess asked concerned noticing her friend's anger.

"We need to go to the theater," Nancy announced grabbing her purse and shopping bag. "Now."

"Oh, no, we're not," George protested, stopping her. "Frank said you weren't going to be working on the case and it's going to stay that way."

"We're not going to argue about this, George," Nancy said shrugging her off. She walked as quickly as she could toward the exit near where they parked. "If I have to walk there, I will but I prefer not to. There's more trouble there than he thought. Besides the Shannons are there with an offer and they need to be put in their place."

"Fine," her friend conceded following close behind. Bess had a hard time keeping up with the other two. "But we're not going to stay long. You've been walking around all day when you should be taking it easy."

"I'm not an invalid, George," she said angrily. Nancy stopped beside George's car and whirled around to look at them. "I can handle this."

Bess and George exchanged grim expressions before climbing into the car with Nancy. Within minutes, the three were heading out of the mall parking lot. The theater was on the opposite end of River Heights and would take them a good fifteen minutes to get there.

Nancy sat in the front seat staring out the window. She wondered what she could do to help and then it popped into her head. Nancy pulled out her phone, dialed a number, and then waited for the person to answer.

"Hello?" replied a male voice, sounding surprised.

"David?" she replied. "I need some advice."

"Is she on her way?" Joe asked once Frank was off the phone.

"Yeah," his brother said glumly. "And she's pissed."

"At you?"

"No, I don't think so," Frank shook his head. "At least I hope not. It seemed she was more pissed at what's going on. George was the one who was mad at me for calling though. From the sound of it, I really wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of Nancy's fury when she gets here."

"How long do you think it'll take her to get here?" Joe asked looking around. The crew was already starting to clean up the mess while others stood around not knowing what to do. He glanced over at the Shannons and Jared with Mr. Shannon seemingly gloating at the chaos. Joe smirked as he noticed Deirdre completely ignoring Jared as the young man tried to get her attention. So much for her being nice to him he thought. Joe looked back at Frank who was also watching the Shannons and nudged him.

"Maybe another ten minutes," he said nonchalantly. He looked toward the back of the auditorium. "I think I'll go wait for them outside."

"Okay."

Joe watched Frank leave then turned his attention back to the crew cleaning up. He walked over to the group and began carefully picking up fragments from the stage. A woman stood nearby holding a black garbage bag so he dumped what he had into the bag.

"So you're Joe Hardy," simpered a female voice when he knelt down once again. He rolled his eyes as he continued to work seemingly ignoring her. "Oh, you're going to ignore me, huh?"

"No," Joe replied never stopping. He kept his eyes on what he was going. "I just prefer to not talk to strangers especially ones I don't like."

"Oh, you're funny," Deirdre said sarcastically. "You don't even know me."

"I know you well enough to not like you," he quipped. She huffed and folded her arms in front of her. Deirdre noticed the piece Joe was about to pick up and she shifted her foot on top of it so he couldn't touch it. He finally looked up at her and she smiled down at him. "Really?"

"I wanted to get your attention," she smirked.

"What do you want, lady?"

"I just want you to get to know me," Deirdre said seductively. She leaned over just enough to show off a little bit of cleavage. Joe looked away annoyed. "I'm not going to bite, you know."

"Funny you should say that, Deirdre," he laughed remembering Frank's warning. He dumped some more debris into the bag nearby and turned back to her. "Do you mind? Some of us are actually trying to help save this theater. I don't think we need any more useless bodies standing around at the moment."

"Like it's really going to matter anyway," she snickered. "Daddy said that the man who wants the theater is offering a large sum to the town and the mayor is already foaming at the mouth about it. No matter what anyone says, the mayor really has the final say. He's good friends with Daddy too."

"Oh, I think not, Deirdre," came a voice from below them. Joe didn't have to look to know who it was. As he turned to meet the newcomer, he gave Deirdre a wink and a smirk as if saying "good luck with that."

"Nancy!" he cried jumping off the stage. Joe wrapped his arms around his friend, her face softening to his greeting. "Glad you could come over here so quickly. Deirdre was just telling me about her father's client."

Deirdre seethed from the stage, glaring at her rival who stared right back. Frank stood next to Nancy while Bess and George were a little ways back though still watching the scene unfold. Joe eyed his sister-in-law with awe. Even being seven months pregnant, Nancy still looked intimidating.

"Why, Nancy!" Deirdre finally said, oozing with fake enthusiasm. "How good to see you!"

"The feeling is not mutual, Deirdre," Nancy replied. "I think it's time for you to go though. That is unless you'd like to pitch in and help clean up. I'm sure Mr. Grady would appreciate it no matter how slow you move."

Deirdre sneered but didn't move as her father approached Nancy.

"Hello, Nancy," Mr. Shannon replied as cheerfully as he could. The three turned toward him as he spoke. While Frank glared at him, Nancy was expressionless. "I was hoping if I could have a moment of your time to discuss matter that needs to be attended to."

"I don't think so, Mr. Shannon," she replied bluntly taking him by surprise. He gaped at her, his mouth slightly open. "I already know what you need to talk to me about and the answer is no. The Winslow Theater is not for sale and never will be. I may not be on the board of regents but I do have a say in the matter and they will respect it even if they don't like it."

"Nancy, I…"

"You say that the mayor is 'foaming at the mouth,'" she continued, interrupting the lawyer. "I think not. You both seem to forget that he was close friends to my father as well. I'm sure he'll agree with me in the end especially if your client is found to be behind the so-called 'accidents' that are going on here."

"I know nothing about that," Shannon replied. Though he said it quickly, Nancy felt that he was telling the truth, no matter how it hurt the sleazy lawyer. "My client has nothing to do with this place other than wanting to own it. I was hoping that we could negotiate the terms together in a more…private setting."

The man looked nervously around. He noticed that every person in the room was watching them with intent. Shannon didn't want to cause a scene with Nancy but he didn't have a choice at that moment.

"Okay, you want to negotiate," Nancy nodded. "If your client really wants the theater so badly, he can have it."

Mr. Shannon suddenly smiled a dazzling smile, showing off his perfectly white teeth. Several members of the crew gasped at her words and Joanna looked as if she were about to faint.

"I thought you would see it my way, Nancy," Shannon nodded proudly. "Your father would be proud of you."

"You didn't let me finish, Mr. Shannon," she replied sternly. The man's smiled seemed to disintegrate at her demeanor. "Your client can have the theater only if he doesn't tear it down and restores it to its former glory. If he even so much as changes anything against the will of the contract, the deal would be null and void and he will be sued by every person in this room and the city of River Heights."

"You know he'd never go for it," Shannon muttered in a low voice.

Nancy leaned forward, keeping her voice low though loud enough for the whole room to hear. "Then I suggest you get out of here and tell him that he won't be getting anywhere near this place anytime soon."

Cheers from the crew and others echoed in the auditorium. Mr. Shannon looked around knowing he'd lost he motioned for Deirdre to get off the stage but before he left, he turned back to Nancy.

"You may have saved this place for now," he growled, "but I assure you when the loan is due next month, my client will have the last say."

"We'll see, Mr. Shannon," Nancy smiled sweetly. "Have a good day."

The man sniffed angrily, reminiscent of Lucius Malfoy, and stormed out of the auditorium with Deirdre following quickly behind. Jared seemed to disappear from the room in the midst of the conversation between Nancy and Shannon. It wasn't until the door closed that Nancy blew out the breath she was holding. She felt a bit lightheaded from the ordeal but remained steadfast. Martin Shannon would be back, bringing more trouble. For now, all she could do was take a deep breath and pray that when the time came, the show would go on no matter what.

Author's Note:

Thanks so much for continuing to read and support the story! Special thanks to everyone who has been leaving a review. To smithy, I watched Glee and enjoyed it (except for the final season that was absolutely horrible) so I know of Matthew Morrison. He does have an amazing voice but when I was thinking of this story, I was thinking that Frank had a different singing voice, maybe deeper than that of Morrison's. I'll say more later on that. Yes, Rose12, Carson, David, Gerald, and the mayor were in the same high school together. Thank you for reminding me! Lol! There are times that I need to go back and take a look at what I wrote before because the story changes so much as I write! And to those who are trying to get a good picture of what Jared looks like, think of none other than Screech from Saved by the Bell. Only with the acne and pockmarks. I'm not trying to make fun of people with acne issues (I'm one of them) by the way. There are just some people who have a chip on their shoulder about it and Jared is a prime example of that. Don't worry though. We'll hear more about him from Nancy soon enough. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Have a great week and God bless!