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Boosting - Chapter 25

Nancy was a worried woman, but for once, not about Frank.

Joe had phoned her the previous night while Frank had been taking a shower. He hadn't been able to talk for long, but he'd wanted to reassure her that she wasn't about to be dumped, not by a long shot, and everything was going to be ultimately okay. Nancy was so relieved that she didn't push for any further information, just said thank you…profusely…and rang off to get an unexpectedly restful night's sleep.

What was playing on her mind now was that Con had promised to phone her to report back on the Ford Fairlane, but he hadn't. Not only that, but the answering machine was still switched on at the office and Con's cell wasn't picking up. All she was getting was a "the person you are calling is unavailable" automated message.

And so here she was, jogging up the stairs to the Agency offices, hoping he'd simply forgotten to turn the answering machine off. She tried the door handle, it was locked, no one was there. "Now I am worried!" Entering, Nancy went to the tabletop refrigerator and pulled the door open to see that the milk carton was still inside with the quarter inch or so of liquid from the day before. Knowing Con's caffeine addiction, he'd never have left the office before having a cup first so he'd evidently not been in.

She picked up the phone and dialled the Bayport Police precinct's number. When it was answered she asked to speak to Chief Collig and told them it was urgent and that it was about Con Riley. Immediately she was put through.

"Nancy Drew – this is an honor!" Collig's voice boomed.

And Nancy somehow knew that he wasn't being sarcastic. "Oh! Well…thanks…I guess," she responded, embarrassed. "Likewise."

Collig chortled. "What can I do for you, Princess?"

"I'm trying to track Con down. He hasn't turned up for work and I can't get hold of him. Yesterday, he said he was going to ask you for some help with viewing one of the stolen cars. Did he do that?"

"Yes he did and I assigned Anderson. I'm sure things went according to plan, but hold on a second there, Nancy, let me see if I can find him."

The phone went heavily down onto the desk and she listened to the squeak of his chair and his heavy footsteps moving away. Seconds later: "ANDERSON!" he bellowed, unselfconsciously.

Nancy cringed. "Crumbs!" she muttered.

Quick, running footsteps were heard returning, and the receiver was picked up. "Hello, Anderson speaking."

"Hi James, it's Nancy Drew. How are you?"

"Nancy! I'm great. Did Con tell you—"

Nancy cut him off mid-sentence. "—Do you know where he is?"

"Who…Con? At home isn't he, waiting for the lab geeks? I left him outside his house, hiding that ugly car in his garage. Is everything okay?"

"Probably." Nancy said vaguely. "Could you give me his address? I want to swing by there."

"Do you want some company?" James asked, concerned.

"No thanks, just his address'll do, I'm sure it's nothing. He probably slept in."

Fifteen minutes later Nancy was pulling up onto the driveway of Con's single-story residence. She noted immediately that his regular car was there but was out on the road. Her expectation would have been for it to be parked in front of the garage doors.

She pulled on her emergency break to stop her car rolling (Con's drive was on a slope) and climbed out. Stepping up to the front door Nancy pressed the doorbell home, hearing it buzz inside. She counted to ten before trying again and getting the same non-result. So she went to the nearest window and cupped her palms to peer in. There was no sign of Con, but she could see that his TV was on, so put her fist to the glass and began rapping loudly. "Hey Con!" she yelled. "Con!"

Another car pulled up onto the drive and Nancy turned to find it was a police cruiser with Officer James Anderson at the wheel having disregarded her earlier wishes. He gave a wave and stepped out. "What's happening?" he asked as he put his cap on and slammed the door.

"I don't know. His TV is on, but no one's answering…why are you here?"

"The Chief sent me. And if he hadn't, I'd have come anyway."

Nancy sighed. "What is it with cops and ex-cops? Don't any of you trust me to do anything on my own?"

"Don't give me a hard time, Nancy, I'm just doing my job! We'll argue about it once we've found Con. Let's try around the back, X-L might be in the yard and didn't hear you." He led her around the side of the house.

There they found the wide-open back gate, swinging and creaking gently in the wind. Before either of them could remark upon it, Anderson stumbled.

Nancy caught his arm and looked down at what had caused him to turn his foot. "Uh-oh," she muttered. "It's the padlock." They looked at the gate to see that the hasp had been torn away. "Looks like someone broke in—."

"—Or someone broke out," Anderson said significantly and went through.

Rounding the corner, they found that the back of the house was also wide open. "This is not good!" Anderson said and drew his gun. He flicked the safety off and held it towards the sky. "Dried blood around a door handle is never a good sign." He motioned for Nancy to stand back and approached, checking the windows as he went.

Anderson eventually reached the door and pressed himself flat against the brickwork before spinning and stepping in front of the opening with his gun hand outstretched, supported by the other. All at once something big and heavy shot out, knocking him squarely on his behind.

Giving a startled squeal, Nancy jumped, staring wide-eyed at the large animal that had so easily bowled James over.

"Hi-ya Rebel, you okay, laddy?" Anderson asked. "What's goin' on, eh?" he asked, rubbed the dog's big head and pulled himself out from beneath the excited animal who was clearly delighted to see the young cop. "You're darned lucky I didn't shoot, ain't ya?" he chuckled and kissed Rebel hard on the head before finally getting to his feet.

Nancy was still eyeing Rebel nervously, having retreated closer to the gate.

"It's okay, Nancy, it's Con's pooch."

"That's no 'pooch', that's a proper hound! Con never told me he had a dog. Okay…he's big."

"He's a big softie is what he is, and he's near enough deaf which is probably why he didn't sense me until I showed myself." Anderson leaned down, caught Rebel's eye and pointed towards Nancy. "That's Nancy, she's nice, so be a gentleman." He put this thumb up. "Where's your daddy?" he asked loudly making a sweeping, pointing motion with his finger. "C'mon lad, lead us to Con."

Rebel immediately turned tail and went back into the house, followed by Anderson with Nancy trotting up behind.

Anderson and Nancy both exchanged a look as soon as they entered. There were blood splatters leading right the way through the length of Con's abode.

"Oh no!" Nancy muttered.

Anderson hadn't re-holstered his weapon, preferring to keep it handy and held high. They continued to follow Rebel who had disappeared into the kitchen out of sight, to appear seconds later with a "c'mon!" expression on his face. They stepped through the doorway to find Con lying unmoving inside the garage, the Ford Fairlane still behind him.

"Con!" Nancy shouted and ran to kneel down, now not at all frightened of Rebel, whose warm brown eyes were watching her as if to say: "Make my friend well again". Nancy put her hand to Con's cheek feeling a pleasant emanating warmth. "Con?" she asked again, positioning her face close to his and scanning him for signs of awareness.

Con muttered incomprehensibly, but didn't open his eyes. When she took his hand, he squeezed it hard for an instant before going limp again. He wasn't in good physical shape, black and blue, half his face a bloody mask, presumably from the open scalp wound running along his hairline. "Who did this to you?" Nancy asked, but didn't get a response.

Shocked and pale, Anderson also crouched. "Okay, X-L, you're gonna be fine, we'll get-cha fixed up," he said gently with a squeeze to Con's shoulder. He then looked behind and back into the house before turning disturbed hazel eyes down on Nancy. "Call for an ambulance and back-up, tell them we've got an 'officer down,' they'll come quicker. I'm going to check there's no one still here…Jesus, there's blood everywhere, this can't be all Con's! I suppose whoever did this must have come up against Rebel. I'm glad I followed you now."

"So am I," Nancy admitted, reaching for her cell phone and noticing Con's FBI badge, wallet and broken handset lying a little away from him.

"Don't touch anything if you can help it."

"I know the drill, James," Nancy assured him and keyed 911.

Before leaving, James looked at Rebel and put his palm out. "Stay Rebel, look after Nancy and Con," he ordered and moved off through the kitchen, muttering, "whoever did this had better not still be here, or I'll do time for murder!"

Before long, the house was swarming with cops – clearly Con had been a popular member of their extended family. Far more officers were there than necessary and most were only entering the house to come through to the garage to check Con out – every one of them showing tangible anger. He still wasn't responding at all, completely out of it...even when Collig yelled a direct order.

Rebel and Nancy were Con's constants, staying at his side – Nancy still gripping his hand and hoping for another reassuring squeeze, and Rebel lying down the length of his master with his head on his shoulder. Nancy was wiggling her fingers into Rebel's fur for comfort, as much for him as herself.

Nancy was convinced Rebel was the reason why Con had been so warm when she'd felt his face. That hound, Con's loyal housemate, had probably laid curled and pressed up next to him the whole night, almost certainly ensuring Con's survival for the time he'd been lying there in the cold. Ever the pack animal.

The paramedics arrived and asked Nancy to move away, which she did, extracting her cell phone again and going to the other side of the Ford Fairlane to make a call.

Anderson had found a leash from somewhere and he and Rebel were now standing solemnly watching as the medics went to work on their fallen comrade.

Nancy was watching the paramedics' progress as she scrolled for Joe's number. She was feeling a little guilty that perhaps she should be phoning Frank, but it didn't feel appropriate as he'd effectively quit and this was agency business. She hoped that Frank wouldn't mind being demoted from his top-of-the-pile boyfriend status on this occasion.

"Hi Nancy!" Joe said. "Babe, you're goin' to have to quit ringing me, Frank's starting to suspect something!" he quipped and then said, "Ouch…" as Frank had obviously sucker punched him.

"Joe—" she started.

"—What's up?" he asked, interrupting, his voice now serious. She heard Frank mutter a question in the background. "I dunno," Joe said in response.

"Con's been hurt, someone attacked him at home," Nancy answered.

"Is he okay?"

"No, he isn't. Can you—?"

"—Where are they taking him, Bayport General?"

"Yes."

"We're comin'," was all Joe said before disconnecting.

Nancy mentally thanked Joe for his directness at not wasting time by asking any more questions and called out to James over the top of the car. "What are we going to do with Rebel? He can't very well stay here, can he?"

"He's comin' home with me, I'll take care of him."

*****

The Hardy boys were already at the hospital when Nancy arrived, sitting in the waiting area, helmets under their chairs, and…well…waiting!

Nancy couldn't help but smile at how handsome they looked in their leather jackets, jeans and boots – both dressed similarly, but looking oh so different.

Frank was leaning his elbows on his thighs and was staring at his feet or maybe his knee, his face stoic and unmoving. Joe was upright, scanning the faces of the other people milling about with an intense, unreadable expression, his brows set low. Frank's walking stick was leaning up against the chair next to him, fully assembled.

Turning his head, Frank went to say something and Joe leaned towards him, but almost immediately Frank's attention was switched having sensed Nancy's presence. His eyes locked straight onto her and Joe did the exact same thing a split second later, but only because Frank had.

The older Hardy rose to his feet to move towards Nancy with the aid of his walking stick and immediately was cupping her chin and drawing her face up to his.

Joe leaned back in his chair and took a sudden all consuming interest in a poster giving the link between skin cancer and sun worshipping as his brother and his girl kissed and hugged.

"Nan, I'm sorry I caused you to think—" Frank began to whisper, but Nancy cut him off by putting a finger to his lips.

"Shush, doesn't matter. New start?"

"Yeah, okay," Frank said and pulled her into another round of deep kissing, only parting to move and sit once Joe started a round of significant coughing.

Before Nancy sat, and when Frank wasn't looking, she silently mouthed a 'thank you' at Joe and he gave her a curt and almost indiscernible 'you're welcome' nod back and a half-wink.

"Has Con arrived yet?" Nancy asked, sinking down.

"Yeah, they wheeled him through a while ago. What the hell happened to him?" Joe asked. "He was beaten to a pulp…someone did a real job on him!"

"I'm not sure—" Nancy began and stopped because they heard the sound of charging footsteps coming up the corridor from the direction Nancy had just come from. Seconds later, a still uniformed but hatless Officer Anderson rounded the bend and skidded to a halt nearly running into someone. "Oops, sorry!" He craned and sought Nancy out before blurting: "What's the news?"

"We don't know yet…do we?" Nancy asked, turning questioningly to the Hardys.

Joe shrugged. "No, nothing yet. You okay, Anderson?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You seem a bit wired…doesn't matter." Joe turned to his brother, "Frank, this is James Anderson, he was the cop who helped to destroy Pandora with Con, Nancy and Van, and took out Rodden, that cop who was really with The Network."

Frank stood and James came forward to accept his hand and they both exchanged a few words – Frank thanking him for his assistance that night, and Anderson enquiring after the older brother's physical health.

Nancy was watching Anderson. She was sure from his reaction to Con's assault that he cared a lot more about his ex-boss, or 'X-L' as he'd suddenly started calling him, then he would normally have let on. All that winding up of Con was obviously an attention seeking mechanism and it was something he'd apparently started doing after Con had left the force – he certainly hadn't been doing that during the Pandora case. In actual fact, she suspected Anderson probably looked up to Con, hero-worshipped him, and it was kinda cute! She wondered if Con had noticed.