Chapter Two

"Did you see anything suspicious?" The investigating officer asked.

"N-no." Nancy stuttered. She was pretty shaken up. Ned noticed this and decided to be the one to explain everything.

"My wife and I came here on our honeymoon. After we got settled, we went and walked along the beach, seeing all that was around us. It was getting late so we decided to head back here to get ready for dinner. On our way into the lobby, Nancy accidentally bumped into Mrs. Cross. She was on her way out of the bathroom. She was pregnant and was having real bad nausea. Then, Mr. Cross came over, we introduced ourselves and they revealed that they were here on their honeymoon as well. We liked them so we invited them to dinner. After dinner we sat good night to them. We left them at the room of their door and we went into our room."

"And what did you do after you were in your room?" The officer asked.

"Nancy and I got a shower and have a private moment. It is after all, our honeymoon." Ned said bluntly. He didn't feel that he had to give every detail to this stranger.

"Of course." The officer wrote something down. "And this morning?"

Nancy continued from there. "We woke up about maybe ten or fifteen minutes before we heard the maid. I was telling Ned about my plans for the day. Marie, I mean Mrs. Cross and I had plans on going to the spa at noon. Anyway, I was telling him about my plans when we heard the maid scream. We ran down the hall and saw what she was screaming at."

"Hmm." The officer paused. "Did you notice Miss. Rogers on this floor at all last night?"

"Miss. Rogers? No. After we got settled we went to the beach. When we checked in was the last time we saw her." Ned's brow arched up. He had been along with Nancy a few times when she was working on a case. He knew what was going on. "I don't think Miss. Rogers had anything to do with this though." He added.

"That is what we are here to find out." The officer clicked his pen.

Ned turned and faced Nancy. "It seems you have another mystery on your hands." He said.

She shook her head. "No I don't. Not this time. This time we will leave the professionals to their job."

Ned was taken back. This was not the Nancy that he knew and loved. "But…" He started.

"I'm sorry, Ned. I can't. I saw them laying there. We had just met them. Marie was pregnant for heaven's sake!" Nancy was close to tears. You could hear it in her voice.

"I know you, Nancy Drew. You can never let sleeping dogs lay. Because we knew them should be a good enough reason to find their killer." Ned paused. "And I will be with you every step of the way."

Nancy looked at her husband. "You really think I can do this?" She asked.

"We can do this." Ned assured her.

Nancy nodded, getting into detective mode. "Officer Stallone?" Nancy called.

Officer Stallone turned. "Yes, Mrs. Nickerson?"

"I was wondering if I can have a look at the crime scene?" Nancy asked.

"I'm afraid…" He started. Nancy interrupted him.

"I'm a detective. An amateur detective. I go by Nancy Drew and I live in River Heights."

The officer's eyes got nice and round. "The Nancy Drew?" He asked. Nancy nodded. "I've heard a lot about you. You're good at what you do. It would be an honor to have you on the case."

"My husband has helped me before and I want him to be involved now." Nancy said.

"Certainly." The officer paused.

"About that crime scene?" Ned pushed.

"Right. This way."

- - - - - - - - - -

"What do you think?" Ned asked.

Nancy bit her bottom lip. "It's hard to tell. It doesn't look premeditated. It looks as though they were in the wrong place at the wrong time." Just then, Officer Stallone joined them. Nancy told him what she thought. She slipped on rubber gloves. She put a hand on Bobby.

"What are you doing?" Officer Stallone asked.

"I'm just checking a hunch." Nancy replied. She rolled Bobby onto his stomach and found what she was looking for. "It seems that they were in the middle of something intimate." She pointed to the single stab wound by Bobby's right shoulder blade. "The attacker must have snuck in the room, stabbed Bobby. Bobby probably rolled over to see what happened and that's when he met his untimely fate." She paused, picturing the whole thing in her mind. "But…" She started.

She made her way over to Marie. She rolled her over. There were no wounds on her back. "If Bobby was the first to be attacked, why didn't Marie scream? I'm sure that if we heard the maid scream, we would have heard Marie."

She looked at Ned. The clogs in his head were moving. She could tell. "Ned?"

"Okay. Look at both bodies. Tell me what you see and don't see." Ned instructed. Officer Stallone stood back and compared the two bodies. Nancy did the same.

"Other then the wound on Bobby's back, I can't tell any other differences." Nancy said. Officer Stallone nodded in agreement.

Ned pointed to Bobby's body. "Look at the way he was stabbed. It looks as though the attacker went into a rage. It's sloppy. Some stab wounds go into each other. Like the attacker just stabbed when and where he could. Just took the object and just went at it. Where as Marie was stabbed a few times less and most of the stab wounds are in her stomach area."

"Where the baby was." Nancy concluded.

"Here's what I'm thinking." Ned began. "Maybe they were drugged, or at least Marie was. Either way. They were in the middle of intimacy and either they both fell asleep or Marie fell asleep. That's why she didn't or couldn't scream."

Nancy thought about it. His theory made sense. She looked around. "It doesn't seem like a struggle went down. At least not much of a struggle."

"So we're going with the drugged theory?" Officer Stallone asked.

"Once the bodies are taken for autopsies, we'll decide then. Right now we have to decide who would have access to the room and what their motive would be." Nancy said. "If they were drugged, someone would have had to been able to get to their drinks."

"We'll start with the waiters and waitresses." Ned said.

Nancy turned to officer Stallone. "When they go in for autopsies, we need to know what they were stabbed with and how deep. The angles of the wounds and how deep they are will help us determine weather the attacker was right handed, left handed, tall, short, weak, strong, etc."

"Thank you, Nancy. Even though this doesn't happen a lot, we do know what we're doing." Officer Stallone said.

Nancy winced. She could tell by his tone that she had embarrassed and made him feel inferior. "I'm sorry. When I get on a case, I get kind of crazy."

Officer Stallone accepted her apology. "I guess that's why you're good at what you do." He paused. "You know. A murder happened here a few years ago at another hotel."

Nancy's sixth sense went crazy. Coincidence? Nancy didn't believe in coincidences. "Do you think they're connected?"

"I don't know. You can find the general information out at the library in the old slides. When I get back to the station, I can dig up the police record for you if you need it." Officer Stallone suggested.

"Thank you." Nancy said. She turned to Ned. "Change of plans."

"To the Library." Ned said, reading her like a book.