DISCLAIMER: Still with the not owning of the Nancy Drew...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hope you like this chapter guys. Sorry it took me so long. Thanks for the reviews and please, keep them coming!

Chapter 16

George was sitting in the drivers seat, fuming. Bess was on the verge of hysterical tears. Nancy was deep in thought, trying to think a way out of this situation. Possibly a way to get Swenson out of trouble. She was certain that he wasn't to blame about the Raybolt estate. George parked at the police station. Nancy hoped to see Officer Johnson there, but he wasn't. She cursed to herself under her breath.

The officers put the four of them together in a room. They sat in a stony, nervous silence. Each face held a different emotion. George was anger, Bess was fear, Swenson was worry, Nancy was determination. The cops kept them in that windowless room for a while.

George shook her head and leaned back in the stiff, uncomfortable chair. "Oh, what would dear old Ned say if he could see his pretty, little Nancy Drew now?"

Nancy glanced at her and smiled deviously. "Hey, he's saved us before. If things get real bad, we can call him to help us out. Again."

The girls began a desperate, nervous giggle when the door opened and two detectives walked in. The room went dead silent as the detectives sat before them all.

"My name is detective Davil and this is my partner, detective Rock," one of the officers said, shifting in her seat. "I'm going to need you to answer a few questions."

"When did you first plot the death of Felix Raybolt?" Rock spoke up suddenly in a harsh, brash tone. He pointed a thick finger at Swenson who jumped back at the barked question.

"Plot the… what are you talking about?" Swenson asked, confused.

"Don't play dumb with me," Rock replied, shaking his head in disgust.

"I didn't plot anything, especially to kill anyone. You're just blaming me because you don't have anyone else to blame."

Rock faltered for a second and Nancy saw a chink in his armor. Rock recovered quickly though and snarled. "We know you were there at his house that day. We have someone who puts you on the Raybolt property and as soon as he comes in and identifies you, you'll be put behind bars so fast, your head will spin."

Swenson floundered for a minute, staring at the officers in disbelief. "The reason I was on that property was because I had an appointment with Raybolt about some business matters."

Davil took over, softer, more inviting. "Come on now. Everyone knows that Raybolt was a jerk. He robbed you, swindled you out of money, maybe? You got mad, it's understandable. So you went to his house, rigged a couple of explosives and gave that bastard what he deserved. Things will go much, much easier for you if you just admit that and get it off your chest."

"Whoa, whoa," Nancy interrupted. "That's crossing the line, detective. Mr. Swenson isn't going to say anything else until his lawyer is present."

Rock growled unhappily, but Davil played it smart and leaned back, looking at Nancy with a complacent smile.

"That's fine," she said. She looked at Mr. Swenson. "Do you want to call him?"

Swenson looked up at Nancy, confused. She looked at the officers.

"Can I borrow a piece of paper and a pen?" she asked politely.

Rock produced it and she wrote down her father's cell phone number and his name. She handed it to Swenson with a comforting smile.

"Here. Just tell him who you are and that you're a friend of mine. He'll come right away," she told him.

Davil held out a coin for Swenson to use and escorted him to the phone. Rock turned his gaze on the girls.

"Now, you three," he said, not as harshly as before. "What were you doing with Swenson out in the countryside?"

"We were just giving him a ride home," George replied, showing no fear in her voice. Bess nodded meekly beside her.

"A ride home, huh? And I'm guessing you knew nothing about him being wanted by the police."

"He's a friend of our, we didn't think we were doing anything wrong," Nancy replied, avoiding the actual disguised accusation.

Rock sneered at her. "Oh, and you aren't going to call a lawyer?"

"Don't you worry, sir, he's on his way. Fortunately, we have the same lawyer, Mr. Swenson and us girls."

"Oh, is that true?"

"Look, are you going to book us for something? We didn't mean to do anything wrong," George asked, exasperatedly.

Rock hesitated. "No. There are no charges against you three, but you will have to answer some questions."

"That's fine," Nancy said, relieved. "And Mr. Swenson?"

"Your friend," Rock drawled, "is looking at a charge of arson."

"If he's being charged with arson, why are you asking him if he killed Felix Raybolt?" Nancy asked, suspicious.

Rock was blown back by the question, recuperated and said to them, "I'll do the asking, if you don't mind."

George gave a snide smile. "You don't even know if he's dead or not. You're just guessing."

Rock glared at her, but said nothing as Davil and Swenson filed into the room again. Nancy requested to make a phone call as well and was permitted to do so. The girls were asked a bunch of question. Swenson was put under the spotlight. They only answered certain questions, refusing to say much more than what the officers already knew. Swenson said nothing much else, except that the girls had nothing to do with anything at all. After they realized that Swenson wasn't going to talk much, they turned back to the girls.

"We're going to need you names, addresses, and phone numbers," Davil said with a sigh, taking out a booklet. George went first, then Bess in a tearful, frightened voice, then Nancy. As Davil scribbled her information down, she raised her eyebrows.

"Nancy… Drew?" she repeated. "From River Heights?"

"Yes," she replied and George gave a snicker.

"Drew as in…"

"Yes, as in Carson Drew of River Heights," a deep, serious tone came from the doorway.

They turned to look at Mr. Drew and the girls all brightened with relief. Mr. Drew came in, setting his briefcase down on the metal table. The officer that had let him in, brought him a chair to sit in and as soon as the door closed, he asked the officers what the problem was. They briefed him on the charge facing Swenson, on all the facts they had. For a little while, there was no talking from the four sitting in chairs next to the esteemed lawyer. The officers turned back to Swenson.

"So you went to Raybolt's house, right Swenson?" Rock asked.

Swenson looked at Mr. Drew, who nodded his consent.

Swenson nodded. "I had an appointment with him that morning."

"What was the meeting about?" Davil asked.

"He had stolen one of my inventions. We were going to talk over the patent issues. I wanted to settle on the money he owed me."

"What did Raybolt say?"

"Nothing," Swenson said, straightforward and to the point. The officers were obviously impressed. "I didn't see him at all. There were no lights on in the house and I didn't hear anyone inside. The house was empty. When I rang the bell, no one answered and a few seconds later… the house blew up. I ran away."

"You left Raybolt in the house to die?" Rock asked.

"That is uncalled for and based on assumptions," Mr. Drew interjected. "My client says that he didn't hear anyone was in the house."

"He just said that he ran away from the house when an explosion went off without Raybolt."

"I don't think Raybolt was ever in the house at all!" Swenson cried out, frustrated.

"No need to shout, just calm down," Davil said. "When did you last see Raybolt?"

"In a restaurant here in town," he replied.

"And you had an argument."

"Well, sort of," Swenson said before Mr. Drew could stop him. "We exchanged a couple of words."

"And that ended in a threat from you."

"No! Never! I swear to it. Look, from the beginning, Raybolt looked nervous, like if he thought I was going to hurt him. I wouldn't do that, not ever. He had all the markings of a guilty conscious; he knew he'd stolen my patent. Once he saw I wasn't going to hit him or anything, he laughed at me, admitted to what he did and told me that I was, quote unquote 'screwed.' I told him that I was going to take the matter to court. He got scared I guess and told me to come over to his house later and that we could talk prices about the patents. I agreed and that's when this whole mess started."

"What do you think started the fire?" Davil asked.

Swenson shrugged helplessly. "All I know is that there was a giant explosion and I practically flew back from the door. I was kind of dazed."

"And then?"

"Then, like I said, I called to see if anyone was in the house. No one answered. I even tried breaking down the door, but it won't budge and there flames coming out of the back door. I heard a car come into the driveway and… and in a panic I figured that I would get blamed for the whole thing. So I ran."

"You sure you didn't leave Raybolt inside on purpose?" Rock asked.

"You've crossed the line detective. Watch it or I will take up your actions with your captain," Mr. Drew snapped in a steel voice. "Officers, my client may have, admittedly, not liked Mr. Raybolt, but he certainly did not plot nor did he have anything to do with his suspected death. If in reality he is dead."

They drilled Swenson about dates and times, but they couldn't trip him up. It was becoming apparent that the officers, even Rock, were impressed with his straightforward honesty. Nancy thought they were on the verge of letting him go. Just then, the door opened and another officer poked his head in.

"Rock, Davil," he said. "Mrs. Raybolt is here. You want me to send her in?"

Davil was silent for a moment, still staring at Swenson and then nodded. "Yeah. Have her come in."

Nancy looked over at her friends and George mouthed a curse word. This was the woman who had sent them on Swenson's tail, she would make a scene for sure. Nancy prayed for the best, but as the woman shuffled in, she knew all was lost.

Mrs. Raybolt was sobbing and pale. Her very appearance inspired sympathy from the officers. She was obviously on the edge of a nervous collapse. She looked like she hadn't slept and had been worrying so much she had forgotten all about eating. She was giving off vibes of distress as she walked into the room with Swenson.

"Mrs. Raybolt?" Davil said soothingly. "Can you identify him?"

Mrs. Raybolt looked up from her weeping long enough to actually get a good look at the people in the room. Her eyes scanned over the girls, looked briefly at Mr. Drew, then stopped at Joe Swenson. Nancy saw uncertainty flash across her face for a few seconds. But the woman only hesitated for a second.

"That's him!" she yelled hysterically, her voice high-pitched and cracking. "That's the man who Felix went to meet. My husband was so afraid of him. He's a heartless, cruel, evil man who burned down my house and burned my husband alive!"

"This is completely uncalled for!" Mr. Drew stated, standing outraged. "This violates procedure entirely."

The officers led the sobbing woman from the room, but the damage had been done. Rock turned to the three girls.

"You girls are free to go," he said in a totally different tone. It wasn't the harsh tone he used to try and intimidate, this was a set, steady voice… it sounded almost dutifully disappointed. He didn't want Swenson to be guilty, Nancy realized.

Nancy started to say something about Joe Swenson, but a small, curt nod from her father cut her off. She withdrew into herself, fuming angrily. She led the way as she and Bess and George walked out of the room and out to the waiting area of the police station. Mrs. Raybolt was sitting on a bench in the front of the office, still crying into her handkerchief. Nancy glared down at the woman who had purposefully came in to make a scene, to make things worse for what Nancy knew was an innocent man. But no matter how badly Nancy wanted to keep walking and not even look at her, manners rose over her and she forced herself to stop by the grieving woman.

"Don't worry about your husband," she said kindly, surprised at how calm she could keep her voice. "I'm sure they'll find him."

Mrs. Raybolt look up at the sound of her voice and Nancy stepped back as she was met with the unexpected hate and anger radiating from the woman's eyes. Mrs. Raybolt stood to face the girl, almost crazed.

"You little bitch! You dare say that to me?" she screeched. "You're with him! I'll bet you helped plot his death!" Nancy reeled back as Mrs. Raybolt slapped her across the face and pounced on her, yelling. "Officer! I demand that you lock this filthy accomplice up!"