DISCLAIMER: Still not mine. Still wishing it was.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry it took so long. Complications at work. Thanks! Read and review please.

Chapter 21

"How? When?" Hannah asked, surprised by the reply.

The strawberry blond gave an ecstatic grin. "Tonight, Hannah, tonight. I know how to get him. Oh, I know how to get that stupid crook!"

"Well, spit it out," the housekeeper said.

"You see, it just clicked. There have been guards at the Raybolt estate at night keep watch over the crime scene. The fire inspectors have been investigating the ruins. Today they were supposedly finished so they won't need the guards anymore. Don't you get it? A criminal always returns to the scene of the crime and Raybolt has an extra special reason for doing this."

"The papers that Joe Swenson mentioned in his diary?" Hannah asked, catching on. "Yes, of course. He'd have to come and get them. That would be a pile of evidence against him."

"Exactly! I have a feeling that he's been waiting for this. He has to be coming tonight to get those papers. And there's only one place that the safe could be. Swenson said that he had a cellar. The only place they could be hidden is in the stone walls of that cellar. I have to catch him! I'll go with Bess and George and have a stake out."

Hannah gave her a disapproving look. She was worried, obviously. "That sounds pretty dangerous. I don't like it. Can't you take some more… muscle with you? A man?"

Nancy though for a second. "Well, dad isn't coming home until late. I can call Ned. I already kind of told him I'd probably need him tonight."

"Yeah. Call Ned. Get him to go with you. Please," Hannah said with a sigh. "When you and George get together you seem to think that you are invincible."

Nancy made a face and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed Ned's number, but his machine came out. She left a message and hung up, staring at the phone a little disappointed.

"Hmm. That's odd. He usually has it on and I did tell him… Whatever. Anyway, on the way up, I'll call again or pass by or something. Don't worry Hannah. George is the judo master, remember?"

"Sure. Judo master. Right. She can certainly whip a person with her words, but I'm not so sure. She's pretty small, you know."

"She's tougher than she looks, Hannah, and you know it."

Hannah simply snorted. "Just, be careful, okay? And, if at all possible, get Ned to go with you. So he can… cradle you in his big strong football player arms!"

"Hannah!" Nancy exclaimed, moving to playfully shove the housekeeper as she fled. "Shut up, okay? All of you are so annoying."

But Hannah was busy making kissy-noises out in the hallway. Nancy rolled her eyes and called the cousins to tell them of the plan. George picked up on the first ring.

"What up, dude," she answered.

"George! I need you tonight."

"All right. So, I'll crawl in through your window again?"

"Shut up, you tard, and listen to me. I know how to catch Felix Raybolt." That got George's attention and Nancy outlined her plan. "So dress for some dirty work, okay?"

"You know how I love to get dirty. Okay, see you later. Tell Bess not to be a pussy."

Nancy laughed and hung up the phone. She called Bess next, leaving out what George said about being a pussy and coaxed her into a sense of security. Bess hesitantly agreed, but she didn't like the idea of being out at some spooky ruins at midnight waiting for a ruthless crook. Nancy tried Ned again, but got his machine right away.

Nancy met the two cousins up at Bess's house. They piled into George's jeep, the best equipped car for the job, and set off to Mapleton. Bess looked out the window up at the sky.

"It's going to be really dark tonight. The Weather Channel said there'd be no moon," Bess said, anxiety present in her voice.

"What did I tell you about being a pussy?" George threatened.

"Shut up, ass-head."

Nancy changed the subject, stemming the fight. "It's better that there's no moon. No one will be able to see us from the road."

"Yeah and we won't be able to see anyone either."

"Don't worry, Bess. Besides, we have flashlights."

Nancy directed George towards Ned's house to see if he was home, but he wasn't. None of the family was, in fact. Nancy puckered her brow in worry, but pushed it aside. She wrote a note and taped it to his door so that he'd find it when he got there. She got back into the car with her friends and they drove to the Raybolt estate. George drove past the actual house and hid her car in a thickest of trees, unnoticed. They got off the car and quietly started up the driveway, shovels and picks in hand.

The burnt ruins lay before them and the three girls paused, standing side by side, staring at them. Even George was silent, trying to push down the feeling of discomfort as she realized that it would very soon be dark. The house was unpleasantly lonely, unsettlingly abandoned. It had a couple of beams still standing, charred and splintered, but most of the house lay in a charred, ashen heap.

"You know, it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so freaking far back," Bess said in a nervous whisper. "There are, like, no other houses close by. I have this really bad feeling that something horrible is going to happen."

"Nothing's going to happen," George said, swinging her shovel over her shoulder and walking towards the ruins with authority.

Nancy and Bess followed her. They started walking over the crumbling remains of the burnt house, turning their flashlights on as the sun disappeared under the horizon. Nancy tried to pinpoint where the cellar was and found shattered pieces of stone. She signaled to the spot. They weren't interrupted, but they were still jumpy. Bess paused for a second and wiped her brow, glancing around her nervously.

"This is a lot creepier than I thought," she stated and not even George retorted. "Can we do whatever it is we're going to do and get the hell out of here already?"

"You girls take turns with the pick," Nancy grunted, getting a shovelful of debris and tossing it aside. "We have to get under all this."

"What, uh, exactly are we looking for?" George asked, pulling on a heavy piece of stone with all her force.

"We're looking for a secret hiding place."

"You know, now is not the time to play hide-and-seek."

"Stupid," Bess muttered.

"I mean, we're looking for Raybolt's safe. I want those papers. I want them," Nancy said, grimacing as she threw another shovelful of debris back behind her.

"'You can't always get what you want,'" George began singing in a panting, labored voice doing The Rolling Stone no justice. "'You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometime, you just might find…' you get with a Ned!"

"Dick," Nancy muttered, not able to control her laughter as the cousins broke out into cackles, high-fiving each other.

The worked for a good hour, silent and concentrated, but little by little, they tired. They were sweating and panting hard. Bess finally stopped, leaning on the end of the pick heavily.

"God, please, can we stop for a while?" Bess pleaded.

The others complied, wiping their dirty, sweaty brows.

"What time is it? Midnight?" George asked.

"It's not even ten yet," Nancy said, giving her friend a look and a shake of the head.

"Well, if Raybolt was coming, he'd have been here by now, right? So, let's go already," Bess whined unhappily. "My back is killing me and I think my bones are about to shatter into a fine dust. Jesus."

"Just a little longer. Why don't we stake out, then? We'll stop digging, but I don't want to miss catching Raybolt because of this. Come on, please Bess? Please, please, please?"

Bess rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. But no more digging, you promise?"

"Cross my heart," Nancy promised. "Hope to die."

"Aw, poor Ned," George said with a pout.

Nancy shoved her friend and led them to the bushes around the estate where they could get a good view, but not be seen. They sat and waited… and waited… and waited some more. Nancy was still alert, watching the scene. They were no longer excited, just tired from digging after an adventure that had lost its appeal. George lay down on her back on the grass, hands behind her head and in a little while she was breathing deeply. Bess had curled up as well, also asleep.

It seemed like two seconds later when the girls were startled awake by a scream. They bolted up, adrenaline running through their paralyzed, frightened bodies.

"Nancy?" George called out. "What the hell is going on?"

There was no answer.

"Nancy?" Bess repeated, on a more frantic note, squeezing her cousin's arm.

Still, Nancy didn't answer and it was then that they noticed why. Nancy didn't answer because Nancy wasn't there. There was another shrill scream that brought the cousins to their feet, eyes wide, trying to get used to the dark that enveloped them.

"Nancy!" George yelled, jumping out from the bushes, half blind. Bess followed.

The girls stood, angry and afraid. Where the hell was Nancy? Who was screaming? And, more importantly, much more urgently… who was running up the Raybolt driveway towards them?