Fame: A Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Mystery

13. Joe

   "Joe, do you see her?" Frank calls up.

I was dangling from the tree we had put Nancy into not even an hour ago. She had mysteriously disappeared and I could find anything that said where she had gone. It was impossible to see where she was sitting from the base of the tree and there was no note, or footprints, or even a sign that she had been up in the tree in the first place. She must have seen something or someone and followed them and in typically Nancy Drew style left nothing behind.

   "No, there is nothing. Watch out." I call as I slip out of the tree. I land hard on the ground and lose my footing, tumbling around on the forest floor. "Why would she leave without any clue? How could she leave without any clue?" I look back at the dirt path I have just left and try to imagine how she even got down in the first place.

   "Where would I go if I were Nancy?" Frank mumbles to himself.

   "After the mystery," I retort. I stand with my hands on my hips and scour the ground for some clue. "I am going to call Nikki and see if anything else happened on set." I pull out my phone and after dialing I hold it up to my ear and squat down to get a better look at the tree's base. Frank walks a little ways into the woods, lost in thought.

   "Hey, Nikki here. Who is it?'

   "Nikki, this is Joe Hardy."

   "Joe? What da ya want from me?"

   "What makes you think I want something from you?"

   "Because that's what you Hardys do?"

   "Okay," I am still confused by her suddenly aggressive tone. I can only assume that it has either been a bad day or she is teasing me. "Has anything happened at the set?"

   "How would I know? I'm just a film student."

   "Nikki, you always know something."

She blows out a breath. "Nothing, okay. Nothing has happened except for chaos. Everyone blames everyone for his disappearance, tons of yelling and arguing, Mr. Spann is still trying to run the show but now Peace won't even leave her trailer"

   "Whose disappearance? Is everyone still so riled up about the producer going missing?"

   "Oh, no. You haven't heard? Jake Perrault went missing. He supposedly went left the set for the day, but the guy never leaves except for shoots and besides, his car is sitting in the parking lot."

Great. Just great.

   "Thanks for the update, Nikki."

   "Anytime." She hangs up and I listen to the phone beep a couple of times before I throw my phone into my pocket. Frank looks up expectantly and I jog over.

   "Jake's missing, and no, he didn't just leave to go see the town."

   "Great," Frank says falling back to lean against a tree. "Now what? We're missing three people and we know for sure that at least one has been kidnapped." Frank runs a hand through his hair and the veins on his forehead pop out exactly like they do when I frustrate him.

   "Frank? Can I ask you a question?"

   "You just did." He points out and I scowl. "I don't know if I can answer, but sure; shoot."

   "Nancy is like the little sister you never have, isn't she?"

He looks down at the ground and the moon illuminates his face. He sighs. "Do I have to answer that right now, Joe?"

I nod.

   "Yes, Nancy is like a little sister to me. And sometimes she is better than you because I know that is what you were going to ask next. He bows his head, his chin hitting his chest. "And right now she's missing and she isn't protected. Not that Nancy can't fend for herself, but she fell off a roof recently. Barely even two months ago. She has weak legs, a wrist that is inside a brace and she isn't strong enough to be out there on her own. That's why we told her to wait and now she disobeyed and ran off or got kidnapped. I injured her when we were in the woods earlier; I could tell even though she tried to hide it. So yes, she is like a sister and I worry about her as if she were you."

And here I thought he was trying to push the "friend zone line" in the other direction. But hey, trespassing when we were already told to leave is a perfect time to have a heart-to-heart about a girl you care for. Impeccable timing.

I finally speak up. "If I were Nancy, I would go to that cabin and look for any lead that I could find. I wouldn't wait around in a tree when action is calling."

Frank looks up. "If you were Nancy, how would you have gotten out of that tree?'

I shrug. I have no idea how Nancy could have done it. By strong legs and lofty height, I got down, but Nancy has neither. I decide to not respond and let Frank mull over that mystery. "Let's go check out the cabin."

The whole way there we tried our best to stay out of sight. Frank and I simultaneously had the same idea and covered our noses with our shirts. I peer around a tree, hoping to see Nancy, fine and already on a hot trail but the only thing different about the cabin is that the kayak, life vest, and backpack are all missing. I cautiously creep out and toward the cabin and I see Frank parallel my motion from the other side of the house. I turn to round the back and I spy a slightly uncovered window. I purple penlight stamped with business information for Carson E. Drew lays on the ground, it's light shining into the dark woods. If it had simply fallen out of a pocket, it would have been off but this proves that Nancy had been using it when it was dropped. Frank comes around the house as I bend down to swoop up the little light. I am very thankful for A.T.A.C.'s insistence on sign language training when I tell Frank my findings. He nods from the corner of the house and responds that he thinks she was kidnapped and he doesn't think anyone is inside. He walks closer as I peek in the window with Nancy's light.

   "Any ideas on where she could be?" I ask.

   "No," He sighs. All I see inside are scattered papers. I click off the light and pocket it. "But there are some footprints by the lake. There enter the lake and disappear meaning that her kidnapper must have left by water."

How does that translate to a 'no'?

   "Let's walk to the edge of the lake and see what we can see," I suggest.

   "Alright. But we are not going too far. I am not going to risk getting lost. That won't help us find Nancy."

Frank, worrying about every case, no matter the case or where we are.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Do you see anything?" Frank calls out. We were each a distance away with a little strip of lake separating us. I had chucked my shirt at Frank and swum across a while ago.

   "All I see is a few cabins in the woods. How about you?" I call back. We had abandoned whispering and sigh language a long time ago. If the kidnapper is nearby, who cares if they hear us?

   "I give up, Joe. we are going to have to approach one of these cabins and see if they will talk to a teenage boy at 8:30 at night. You can stay there or swim over."

Whoa, brother! There is no way that he is leaving my site now that we are completely lost in the woods. I swim a slow freestyle over to the cabin that Frank had pointed at. Fortunately, a plethora of cozy little cabins dots the lake's shore, some even with their own docks. For a Texas summer, the water sure was cold. I was shivering by the time I crawled out of the lake. I shake out my hair and look for Frank's figure in the moonlight and cabin lights. I spot two figures further on the horizon than I thought Frank had gone. I start walking that way.

    "Hey, do you know where I can-" I shout.

   "Joe," a figure with Frank's voice says.

I squint, trying to make out the figures in the almost dark.

   "Hey Joe," the hooded figure beside Frank has a feminine voice.