J.M.J.

Thank you for continuing to read! I'd especially like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far. I sent you all private messages, but I don't know if you have been able to see them due to this website's allergies to sending email notifications. So again, thank you all very much. I especially love hearing guesses/suspicions and several of them have been quite good so far, but alas, I can't say which without giving spoilers. I hope you all got to see the Northern Lights last night if you were somewhere that they were visible. If you were unfortunate enough to be like me and fall asleep and miss it (true story, I'm afraid), I hear there is a chance that they will be out again tonight. Since I'm still working on playing through the new Nancy Drew game, I will try using that to keep me awake and see if I can see anything. I hope you enjoy the chapter! God bless!

Chapter 4

"This is the spot," Griffon said, gesturing toward the side of a gravel road. Tire marks in the gravel were still visible, but that was the only obvious indication of what had happened. The road itself was about an hour out of Vancouver in the Mount Seymour Provincial Park. Griffon had given the four visitors from River Heights a ride out to the deserted spot. Nancy couldn't help shivering.

"This is just a service road, and it's not open for visitors to use," Ned commented. "It's surprising both that Frank got hit here and that anyone found him."

Griffon nodded. "It was some of the summer maintenance crew that found him. We checked all the maintenance vehicles. None of them could have been the hit-and-run vehicle."

"You're positive?" Nancy asked.

"An accident like that should have damaged the vehicle, and none of them have any dents. The park service wasn't satisfied with that, and so we had a forensics analyst look them over. There was no trace of blood or DNA that would be consistent with the accident."

"How long do you think he was out here before he was found?" Nancy asked softly.

"We're not sure, but it couldn't have been long. I doubt it was more than an hour or so. He was found early in the night, and most likely, the accident happened after dark."

"If it was an accident," George added.

Griffon glanced around at the four Americans. "You don't think this was an accident?"

"Do you?" George countered.

"So far, we don't have any evidence that it wasn't," Griffon said. "He could have just been a very unlucky young man to be hit by a car on a road where there shouldn't have even been any cars. Personally, I'm more interested in why he was out here in the first place."

"You said you thought he had walked a long way," Nancy replied. "Where could have he come from?"

Griffon shrugged. "Could be just about anywhere. He could have walked a long way in this park without meeting anyone, especially if he got off the trail somewhere, and of course, he might not have started out in the park. There's a lot of wilderness around here."

"Yes, but he didn't just drop out of a plane into the middle of the wilderness," Nancy pointed out. She shook her head. "Let's look around. There might be something."

Griffon joined in with the others to search, even though he had already searched the area thoroughly. Nancy appreciated that, but at the same time, she would have been more hopeful about finding anything herself if she could believe that Griffon was incompetent. Leads were evaporating quickly, and after this, Nancy didn't know what to try next. She looked down the road away from where they had come in. The trees were tall and thick here, casting a shade over the road that kept it cool. They were blocked from view, but Nancy knew the Rocky Mountains were spreading out far ahead of her in three directions. Somewhere in all that wilderness was the answer to what had happened to Frank, but it would take an eternity to search it blindly.

"Where does this road lead?" she asked finally.

"Farther into the mountains and the trees for a few miles," Griffon replied. "Then it comes to a dead-end. There aren't any hiking trails leading directly to it, so Hardy was probably off-trail when he reached the road."

"Let's walk along it for a little while," Burt suggested. "Maybe we can find where he got on the road."

"And then try to follow his trail back into the woods?" George asked skeptically.

Burt shrugged. "What else are we going to do?"

The others agreed, but they all knew that it was more desperation than anything. The men walked faster than Nancy, who was taking more time to examine the sides of the road, and George stayed with her.

"I was thinking," George said after a little while. "What if Frank was kidnapped and someone brought him out here to drop him off, and they tried to kill him in a way that would look like an accident?"

"That wouldn't explain his shoes being worn out," Nancy commented, "but maybe there's some other explanation for that. Still, if they wanted to make it look like an accident, why pick a road where no one would have any business being?"

George didn't respond directly to that. "I think he probably was kidnapped. They must have taken his phone and wallet."

"He might have escaped," Nancy said. "If whoever kidnapped him had him out in the wilderness somewhere, then that would explain what he was doing out here and why he had walked so. Maybe they tracked him down and hit him by accident. Or else because they were trying to kill him."

"That's probably what happened. At least they didn't bother to make sure he was dead."

"Most likely, they did check, but they probably didn't think anyone would find him out here, at least not in time to save him. That would have been less risky for them than finishing him off, since then forensics might have shown that it really was murder."

"It would have been a calculated gamble," George agreed. "But they lost that gamble. What do you think they'll do when they find out?"

Nancy felt her heart beat a little faster at the thought, but she forced herself to think rationally. "They'll probably keep gambling. Frank's chances aren't….aren't great, and so they would be willing to watch and wait. If he doesn't wake up, then they haven't lost anything except a few days of worry, but if try anything at the hospital, their chances of getting away with it are even worse than the chance of Frank being able to tell everything. But they'll be monitoring the situation closely. Depending on what Frank knows, it might be worth the risk to them to keep him quiet."

George made a face. "Maybe we shouldn't have left him alone at the hospital. What if someone tries to get to him?"

"Like I said, I don't think we'd have to worry about that unless he starts showing signs of waking up. Even then, whoever did this might not want to take the risk. They might not even really care whether he's alive or not. They might have just wanted to be cruel."

George shook her head. "I don't understand it. No matter how many crimes I learn about, I just don't understand how anyone could ever kill another person in cold blood."

Nancy only nodded absently, her mind drifting back to past cases. It wouldn't be the first time she had seen such cruelty.

"Nancy?" George said, bringing her back out of her reverie.

"What?"

"You don't suppose this is related to some case you and the Hardys worked on together once, do you? After—you know—that case, Frank never talked about his cases with you, so why would he try to involve you now, unless you were already involved?"

"I've thought about that a little," Nancy admitted. "I don't think it is. If it had been, and Frank wrote that note so I'd be contacted, and all he had to write with was a pencil that was about to break so he had to make every count, he would have started with something that would tell me that that's what this was. That would be more helpful than the whole 'white horse' thing."

She was watching as she walked, and she noticed some marks in the road. She paused to examine them for a few moments. George also stopped to look.

"It looks like someone tripped here," Nancy said. "He must have been following the road for a little while."

That was the only sign they were able to find of anyone having been on the road. Disappointed that they hadn't learned anything more, they returned to the car.

It was a quiet trip back into Vancouver, Nancy and her friends had already reserved hotel rooms, and so after stopping for supper, Griffon dropped them off there since it was getting late. Nancy and Ned said good night to the others as they each went into their rooms.

Nancy flopped wearily onto the bed. "I don't know what to do tomorrow."

"We'll figure something out." Ned set their luggage off to the side before sitting on the bed next to Nancy.

"I don't want to waste George and Burt's time, especially since they have to use vacation time to be here," Nancy went on.

"We won't be wasting time, even if all we can do is stay at the hospital. Like that doctor says, Frank needs someone with him."

Nancy was about to reply when her phone started to ring. She had dropped it on the bed next to her, and so she had to scramble awkwardly to pick it up again. She breathed a soft sigh of relief when she saw that it was Sam Radley calling. "Hello? Sam?"

She was almost afraid that it would be someone else besides Sam, but she recognized the detective's voice immediately as he replied. "What's going on, Nancy?"

"I was hoping you could tell me."

"So I take it you didn't get any answers." Sam let out a huff. "I talked to Collig, so I already know most of it. How is Frank? Did you see him?"

"I saw him. He's still unconscious. Where have you been? We've been trying for days to get in touch with you. I thought you were missing, too."

"I'm sorry about that. I was working on a case down in the southwest. There wasn't good cell reception. Collig says that Fenton, Laura, and Joe are missing, too."

"He said you were supposed to know how to contact Fenton. In fact, Fenton told him to contact you if anything came up."

"I know. And I don't understand it. He didn't anything about it to me, and he knew that I'd be in sketchy reception." Sam scoffed. "Camping in Canada, too. That really narrows it down. Not that I believe it, anyway. Laura likes going on cruises and things like that if they're going on vacation."

Nancy frowned. "I forgot to ask Collig if he spoke to Fenton in person or over the phone. I just assumed he was sure it was really Fenton."

"It was over the phone, and I'm sure it was really Fenton. He must have already been in trouble when he called. Whoever kidnapped him must have forced him to call so that no one would notice that he and Laura were missing. At least, that's the only thing I can think of that makes any sense at all, and it doesn't make very much. Why would the kidnappers bring Canada up if that really is where they're at?"

"It's a big country," Nancy said. "Knowing they're somewhere in Canada is about the same as knowing a person is somewhere in the U.S. It's almost like the kidnapper is taunting us by giving us that much information."

"Possibly," Sam didn't sound convinced. "Unless they're trying to throw us off-track. I don't know. I do know that Fenton was between cases at the moment. I think Frank and Joe were working on one, but I don't know what it was about. I'm going to New York to try to find out. Chances are that this is related."

"Okay. Well, I'm glad you're all right, at least."

"We'll stay in touch."

Sam ended the call, and then Nancy looked at Ned.

"I could hear," Ned told her before she started to explain.

"You're almost as much an eavesdropper as I am," Nancy said in a half-hearted attempt at a joke.

"Only in the line of duty." Ned's tone became more serious as he added, "It seems like the only thing anyone can say about this case is that they don't know anything."

Nancy rested her head on Ned's shoulder. "And nothing we can follow up on. Maybe Sam will find something out in New York."

Ned wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "You'll find something, too. You just need a good night's sleep, and maybe in the morning, some lead will turn up."

Nancy took in a deep breath. "I hope so."

They stayed like that a few more minutes before getting ready for bed. Nancy was brushing her teeth when her phone rang again, and so Ned answered it.

"This is Griffon again," a now-familiar voice said. "I was called to the hospital again a little while ago."

Ned drew in a deep breath and stole a glance at Nancy before turning so that she couldn't see his face. "Did something happen with Frank?"

"No, no change there. But someone showed up at the hospital, asking about him. Dr. Rogate called me right away. This woman is claiming to be a friend of Hardy's. I was wondering if you and Nancy would be able to confirm that, eh?"

"Maybe. What's her name?"

"She says her name is Callie Shaw."