A/N Enjoy.

Chapter Eight

Nancy's POV

A lot of people out there think that the work of a detective is all action. A whole bunch of sneaking around and then gun fights or something. Mostly, my work is spent like today with a whole bunch of miscellaneous phone calls and visits.

After Frank and Joe left for work this morning, I finished getting ready and headed down to the police station. I was hoping that I might be able to get some additional information out of Officer Turner.

I stepped up to the front desk in the police station after I arrived and asked the young woman, "Is Officer Turner in today?"

She glanced at me before picking up her phone and telling him that someone was here to see him.

I waited less than a minute before Officer Turner came up to greet me.

"Nancy Drew correct?" he asked with a smile.

"Officer Turner," I greeted after nodding in affirmation.

"Please, call me Cole," he replied as he ushered me through the station to where his office was located.

After closing the door to his office, he gestured for me to have a seat across from his desk. I sat down and took a quick look around at his office. Everything in it was generic for any police station. I did notice that Cole only had a few personal items in here. Other than a picture on the wall of him with a couple other people in the wilderness and a diploma, the office was completely devoid of anything to make it look used.

"So what can I do for you today, Nancy?" Cole asked leaning back in his chair.

"I wanted to know if the police department had already put traces on phones and credit cards for the two individuals in the video," I told him.

Cole nodded, "We started that this morning after the suspects' identities were confirmed."

"I want to be on the contact list if anything goes through," I told him.

"Now, I'm not so sure about doing that," Cole responded hesitantly.

"Cole, you know that it helps to have as many people working on a case as you can," I responded sweetly hoping to talk him into it. "I would be able to help you out greatly if I'm allowed access to any information."

"I'll allow it, but only as long as you don't get in the way of the investigation," Cole relented.

"Thank you," I told him. "I don't suppose you have any new information on the case?"

Cole looked at me speculatively. "I might be willing to divulge any potential new information over dinner tonight?"

I did my best to keep my face from registering shock. I felt an unbelievable to need to find out anything that might be new with this case, but I didn't want to go out on a date with this man sitting in front of me. Even though he was warm and welcoming on the outside, there was still something about him that made me uneasy about going somewhere with him.

"I'll think about it," I hedged as I stood up to leave.

Cole grasped my hand in his before I could exit his office. "I do hope you'll take me up on the invitation."

I nodded politely and he released my hand from his grasp. I tried to keep from walking in a hurry from his office, but I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally made it back outside to my car.

I got in the car considering where I should head off to next. It was already lunchtime and I considered calling Frank to check up on him, but I decided that I should hold off because he might not be available to really talk about the case right now.

With that in mind, I put the keys in the ignition and drove down the road to find a decent place to eat lunch.

I pulled to a stop in front of a little cafe. I saw a newspaper stand nearby and paid for the paper before walking inside. The hostess led to a small table on their patio so that I could enjoy the beautiful weather.

I enjoyed a delicious bowl of soup and half a sandwich while taking my time to catch up on some current events. After paying for my meal, I got up with a plan.

I was going to go to the homes of Jacob Black and Bella Swan and see what I could find. I didn't know where Jacob lived, so I found a pay phone and went through the ratty phone book that was there.

I scrolled through the listings until I found his name. I copied down the address and phone number on a little notepad I had in my purse. I wasn't really planning to call him, but I thought having a number might be beneficial.

I found my way back to my car and got in. I pulled out of the parking spot and headed down the road toward the address I had for Jacob Black.

When I reached the neighbourhood Jacob lived in, I could immediately see that he probably didn't have a lot of money. The area was a little on the shabby side with extremely small houses that were in desperate need of some fresh paint.

I found Jacob's house easily, but there wasn't a vehicle parked out front. I didn't really expect my job to end up being so easy that I would find both Jacob and Bella inside this house, but it's always worth a shot.

Looking around, I noticed how quiet the neighbourhood seemed. I was pretty sure that most people were at work right now. I decided to get out of the car and walk up to the front door. I walked up to the door and tried the knob. Of course the door was locked so I took another quick glance around to make sure nobody was out and about before pulling out my set of lock-picks from my purse.

I carefully jiggled the pick inside the slot before hearing a tiny click that meant the door was now unlocked. I put the set back in my purse before walking inside and closing the door behind me.

I didn't want to be caught in the home, so I decided to make this as quick as I could. I walked through the house quickly. Jacob didn't own a lot of furniture leaving the small spaces open. I rifled through his mail and looked around for anything that might be incriminating. After about fifteen minutes of searching, I couldn't find anything that would either help me with the murder investigation or even show where he might be located right now. Jacob really didn't have a lot of personal affects.

At a loss as to where they might be found, I quickly left his house and locked the door behind me. The only place I had left to check was Bella's apartment. I knew she wouldn't be there, but maybe she had left a clue that would give me a hint as to where she was hiding.

Since Edward had given me a key to her apartment along with directions on how to get there earlier this morning, I started up my car and turned around heading off to her place.

I arrived at Bella's apartment building about twenty minutes later. She lived in a nice apartment complex that seemed well kept. I walked up the stairs to her second floor apartment and used the key to open the door.

Unlike Jacob's place, Bella's apartment was perfectly clean and nicely decorated. Bella looked like the type of person who didn't spend a lot of money on furnishings, but was capable of making things work together to get a look that worked for her. I smiled as I looked around. She had picture frames on many of the surfaces. It seemed to be a mixture of her family in friends in most of the photos. I saw several of Edward and Bella that made me smile because of the love they clearly had for each other.

I noticed her phone sitting on an end table with a notepad by it. Bella didn't have a message light blinking on her answering machine, so I didn't bother with that. I looked at the notepad again and found a pencil nearby. I lightly traced over the surface of the paper to see if something had been written on the sheet before it. I shook my head as I saw that the only depressions left on the paper indicated the beginning of a grocery list.

Sighing heavily, I looked around to see if there might be any more good places to find a clue to her whereabouts. I started into the kitchen as my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered without even checking the caller ID.

"Hey Nan, how was your day?" Frank asked.

"Well, I haven't found anything that would help lead me to where Bella's hiding out," I replied. "And the officer at the police station was a little too helpful in my opinion."

"How could a police officer be too helpful?" came Frank's puzzled response.

"It didn't faze him a bit to give me access to any phone and credit card records for one thing," I told him. "And second, he practically begged me to go out with him."

I could almost imagine Frank's frown as he said, "I hope you told him no."

"Of course I did," I said. "The guy was kind of creepy anyway."

"So where are you now?" Frank asked changing the subject.

"I'm at Bella's apartment looking around. I already went by Jacob's place, but I didn't find anything there. I was hoping to find a clue or something here, but it's not looking too good right now," I replied.

"How was your day?" I asked as I opened the door to the refrigerator. "Did you find out anything about the murder?"

I noticed that her refrigerator was full of ingredients for dishes that she probably hadn't gotten around to making yet. Some of the food was already beginning to go bad on her.

"Joe and I didn't even make it over to the lab until a little before lunch," Frank responded. "This guy, James, trained us on some of the things we'll be doing before we went to lunch with everyone else."

"Did you guys have a chance to talk to anyone there today?" I asked as I moved into Bella's bedroom.

"We talked to a few people at lunch today, but they couldn't really pinpoint anyone that might be a suspect in Jane's murder," Frank told me. "Pretty much all we learned was that nobody liked Jane."

"So everyone is a suspect," I concluded.

"Right now, yes," Frank confirmed. "I'm hoping that tomorrow Joe and I will have more time to really talk to people and find out something that could lead to a clue. The only thing I've got right now is that James went off somewhere for about thirty minutes today. I don't know where exactly he went, but he was acting pretty suspicious."

"Are you talking about the James that's in charge of your training?" I asked.

"One and the same," Frank answered. "Find anything in Bella's apartment?"

I was about to reply when I heard a quite click of Bella's apartment door opening. I hung up the phone and looked around for a place to hide. I didn't know who might be coming in to her apartment, but I was pretty sure that I wouldn't want to be found.

I saw her closet and quietly opened the door. The closet was tiny and not even full of clothes, which surprised me. I didn't have much time to contemplate this fact because I could hear footsteps coming closer to the bedroom. I ducked into the closet and quietly closed the door.

I couldn't see anything in the darkness of the closet, but I could tell when the mystery person came into the bedroom. I then froze and felt myself stop breathing as the footsteps came toward the closet where I was hidden.

The door to the closet was yanked open and I stared into the dark eyes of someone I had never seen before.