Chapter 09

"Swenson?" George repeated, looking after the figure in the blue work shirt. He had a fast-paced walk. "Well, come on! Catch up to him."

The light was green and Nancy weaved her way through traffic. She kept the man in sight. They were gaining after a couple of blocks. George cursed as he turned into a narrow street. Nancy, with a determined face, sped up and followed him down the street. When he reached the end of that street, he turned again into what seemed like an even narrower street.

"We're going to talk to him if it kills me," Nancy muttered, focusing on the where the figure had been a moment ago.

She was about to wheel around when she saw that the street was roped off. A policeman waved his arms for her to go to the right. Nancy and George watched as Joe Swenson sighed and melted into the crowd that was waiting for a parade to go pass. The officer looked at her pointedly and motioned to the right. With a sigh of defeat, she turned the wheel and went around. It was getting late now and she headed back towards River Heights.

"Crap! We were this close," George snapped. "You think he knew we were following him?"

"No, I don't think so. He didn't look like he was trying to avoid us and he looked kind of bummed about the parade crowd," Nancy said, shaking her head.

"Of all days to have a stupid parade. So, what do you think Joe Swenson was doing in Stanford?"

"Working, I'm sure of it. And I'm almost positive that it was at Weston Electronics."

"Weston said that he wasn't working there, though," George mentioned, confused.

"Yeah, under the name of Joe Swenson. I think he used another name for some reason. I'll call sometime this week and see Weston will give me the names of all the new hires starting from two weeks ago."

"Damn, when you get rolling, you're on fire. I didn't even think about that."

Nancy dropped George off at her house and went home. The next couple of days went by without much to say. The three girls finished their finals. Thursday was the last day of school. George and Nancy had a volleyball team farewell party after school.

"Hey, Hannah. I'm home," she called out, dropping her bag by the door. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie from the freshly baked batch on the table.

Hannah smiled. "Hello, baby. How was the last day?"

"I cried. Bess sobbed. George… well, George was bouncing off the walls, but she got teary-eyed at the end of it all."

Hannah laughed. "That sounds like George all right. By the way, a certain Ned Nickerson has called about five times since two-thirty for you."

Nancy's head snapped up from her cookie. "Ned called?"

Hannah grinned as the phone rang. "Now who on God's good earth could that be?"

"I got it!" Nancy yelled, but Hannah beat her to the phone.

"Drew residence," Hannah chirped into the receiver as Nancy fought to grab the phone from her hands. Hannah ignored her and turned the phone away from her. "Why, Ned, hello again. Yes, as a matter of fact she is. Just a moment." She turned to Nancy, who had stopped fighting for the phone and stood, arms crossed and glaring at Hannah. "It's for you."

Nancy grabbed the phone from Hannah. "Thank you. Hello?"

"Nancy?" Ned's voice asked from the other end. He was smiling as if he knew what was going on.

"Hi Ned. How's it going?" Nancy turned and saw Hannah, listening to every word. "Can you hold on a minute, I'm going to go to my room." She covered the mouthpiece and looked at Hannah. "Hang up when I tell you please."

"All right," Hannah answered, unconvincingly.

"Okay? You promise?"

"I swear to it!" Hannah said, one hand on her heart, the other hand in the air.

Nancy handed her the phone and raced up to the phone in her room. "HANG UP!" she yelled downstairs. "Hello?"

"Yeah," Ned replied.

"Hannah! Hang up!" Nancy yelled again.

"Okay!" Hannah yelled back.

"Hello?" Nancy repeated.

"Yeah," Ned laughed. "I just called to remind you that I'm coming to get you at six-thirty. Is that still okay?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll be ready," Nancy replied with a smile.

"Great. See you soon, then," Ned said. "Bye."

"Bye."

Nancy hung up the phone and sat staring at it for a few seconds with a goofy smile on her face. Then she sighed and rolled over, catching a glimpse of the clock. She sat up quickly.

"Shit!" she yelled.

It was already five o'clock. She only had an hour and a half. She ran to the bathroom, grabbing her towel and jumping in. She washed her hair and shaved her legs, exfoliated and moisturized. She toweled off, put on her underwear, blow-dried her hair, sweeping her long bangs drastically to the side. After that she put cream on her legs, finishing crème in her hair, and perfume on her neck and wrists. She pulled out the dress Bess had helped her buy a couple of days ago and pulled it on. Hannah walked in then and she turned her back to her.

"Can you zip me up?" Nancy asked.

Hannah did so and turned her, holding her gently by the shoulders and looking her over with a smile. She was wearing a pretty pale green, fifties style cocktail dress that swept off the shoulder and had a somewhat low back. It had a wide, patent-leather black belt over her waist. It was just below her knees with a small layer of tulle at the bottom. She was wearing black pumps and a patent-leather black clutch purse.

"You look gorgeous," Hannah replied.

Nancy smiled widely. "Thanks Hannah."

"Your father is home if you want to see him."

"Great, I can tell him about Joe Swenson."

Nancy met her father in the living room where he had just turned the news on. He looked her over.

"Well, you look beautiful," he said. "Just like your mother."

Nancy smiled softly. "Really?"

Her father nodded. "A splitting image of her." Nancy saw that tinge of sadness creep into his eyes even though she knew he tried to keep it from her. He smiled brightly after a second. "Don't you think it's a little too fancy for dinner though?"

"Dad, I'm going on a date. With Ned."

"Ned? Date?" Mr. Drew repeated, standing to face her.

"I told you on Sunday, remember?"

Mr. Drew waved her comment away. "This 'Ned' guy… the same one who brought you home from the Raybolt fire?"

"Yes, dad, that Ned."

"I don't know if I like the idea of you dating a guy that is coincidentally at the site of explosions. And guys who almost steal your car."

"He wasn't stealing my car, he was moving it and he did not blow anyone's house up. You'll like him," Nancy promised. At that moment, the doorbell rang and Nancy gave her father a face. "Be nice, okay? Remember how much you love me."

Mr. Drew mumbled something under his breath. Nancy went to the door and pulled it open. Ned looked up from his shoes at her. He was wearing black slacks and a clean, pressed, white button-down shirt with a simple black tie. His hair was, as always, gorgeous and flopping over his forehead and half into his eyes. He stopped dead for a moment and looked over Nancy, his face falling in awe.

"Wow," he whispered in an amazed tone. "You look… really… wow."

Nancy blushed. "Thanks. You too."

From behind them Mr. Drew made loud steps and cleared his throat exaggeratedly. They both wheeled around, coming to their senses and Ned smiled charmingly.

"Ned, this is my father, Carson Drew," Nancy presented. "Dad, this is Ned Nickerson."

Mr. Drew returned the smile and shook Ned's hand. "Nice to meet you, Ned." From behind Ned Nancy gave a nod and a thumbs-up in approval. The next moment, her father shot her down. "I hear that you drive strangers an hour and a half home."

To their surprise, Ned laughed. "Well, I couldn't just leave them there."

"They could have caught a bus."

"That would have taken hours and besides, a bus is no place for three nice girls."

Mr. Drew smiled widely then and Nancy knew that Ned was in the clear. He had passed the test and her father approved.

"That's a good head you've got on your shoulders."

"Thank you, sir, I plan to keep it."

Mr. Drew laughed. "So, where are you and Nancy going tonight?"

"A fraternity brother of mine is having a dinner party at his parent's house."

"Ned goes to Emerson," Nancy chimed in. "He's on the football team."

"Really?" Mr. Drew said, leading him to the living room couch. "That's a great team. A great school. Nancy was planning to go there. It'll be good knowing I have someone up there to look after her."

They talked for a little while more, then Nancy insisted that they had to leave. Mr. Drew followed them to the door.

"Have a good time," he said as they stepped out of the door. "And try to be home by twelve-thirty, the latest."

"Sure thing, Mr. Drew," Ned said. "See you later."

"Bye daddy," Nancy said, kissing his cheek.

Ned opened Nancy's door, then slipped behind the wheel, heading towards the highway.

"So," he asked, a small smirk on his face. "Did I pass?"

"With flying colors," Nancy responded. "Dad really likes you."

"Oh yeah? How do you know that?"

"Because he usually tells boys to have me home by eleven."

Ned shot her a look that had various meanings. He was glad that her father approved. He wasn't all that thrilled about the 'boys' part. "Boys? How many boys has he said this to?"

"Hold on, give me a minute…" Nancy teased, pretending to think back.

Ned dismissed her when he saw she was joking. They talked on the ride up and after a while they got to the Raybolt fire. Nancy told him about Mrs. Raybolt and about what Baylor Weston had said. She stopped, looking worried. Ned glanced at her from the corner of his eye for a moment and asked what was wrong. Nancy thought about it for a second and then told him what she knew about Joe Swenson and that she'd seen him at leaving the Weston plant. Ned's eyebrows raised and he wished her luck on that, then he very cleverly managed to twist the conversation back to something light and had her laughing in less than a minute.

They pulled up to a huge house where there were a lot of cars parked. Ned was greeted instantly. He introduced her to his fraternity brothers and their dates. She liked the people she met. They had personality.

"Well, well, well, Nickerson, don't we look fancy in them shiny shoes?" came a voice from behind.

They turned and were faced with a grinning boy. He was average height, saved from being short by an inch or too, but was nicely built. He had shining blond hair and bright blue eyes that were laughing at his frat brother.

"Look at those shoes, Dave," he continued. "At certain angles, they can blind you."

The boy standing beside him, Dave presumably, mimicked his grin. He was tall, a little taller than Ned, with black hair and pretty, deep green eyes. He was lean and rangy, with a beautiful smile.

"You'd better be careful there, Ned, you're just looking for a lawsuit," Dave replied and the blond nodded.

Ned ignored the comment. "Nancy, this is Dave Evans and Burt Eddleton, my two best friends. This is Nancy Drew and if you start talking crap about me behind my back, just remember that we share a dorm and I will kill you in your sleep."

"Oh, he likes you," Burt said, shaking her hand.

"I can see why," Dave commented and Ned gave him a black look.

"Yeah, Ned, how'd you managed to talk a girl like this into going out with you?"

"Have you seen his car?" Nancy said, speaking for the first time.

All three of the boys laughed for a long while and then Ned explained that she had an even better car. Dave gave her a look of awe and Burt whistled.

"Seriously, how? She's got looks, brains, a great car," Burt said. "You've got a great car…"

Ned punched his arm.

"No, seriously guys, I'm not that shallow," Nancy said, shaking her head. "It's wrong to date someone just because of their material possessions. I'm dating him because he has absolutely gorgeous hair."

Again Burt and Dave laughed. Ned shot her a fake look of anger, but smiled as well.

"See you jerks later," Ned said, slipping an arm around Nancy's waist and leading her away from the boys.

When they were out of earshot, Nancy leaned closer to him and asked, "So. Did I pass?"

"With flying colors," Ned laughed.