Chapter 01

"Nancy, how'd you like to come to New York for the weekend?"

The pretty redheaded nineteen year-old smiled excitedly down at the phone. Nancy Drew was average height with straight hair that hung just below her ears. She had sparkling, bright blue eyes that held proof of her love for anything adventurous. She had inherited her love of problem-solving and challenges from her father. She clutched the phone eagerly.

"Yeah, totally, Aunt Eloise," she said into the receiver. "What's with the sudden invitation?"

"Well, someone here wants to see you," Eloise Drew said with a smile in her voice.

"Oh my God, you aren't trying to set me up again, are you?"

"That was only once and who knew you two wouldn't hit it off?"

"He was nickname was Goober. And he admitted to it."

"Okay, okay! So, I'm not perfect. Jesus. Anyway, this isn't for a set up. I have a brand new challenge for you."

Nancy's pulse quickened. "I live for brand new challenges. And spring vacation just started. Tell me about it."

"Nope. Too long to tell over the phone," Eloise said in a taunting sneer. "And anyway, I don't really have all the details. I have a friend who's a private investigator and he wants your help with a case."

"You think I can hold my own with a pro?" Nancy asked, raising a brow.

"Sweet, I think you can hold your own with an army of pros." Her aunt always called her "sweet," never the whole "sweetheart."

"Come on, you can't just tell me a little," Nancy begged.

"Not a prayer," Eloise replied cruelly. "You'll hear about it when you get down here."

"About that, I have to ask Dad if he'll let me go."

"One step ahead of you, Nance. I called him earlier and he said it was fine. Can you be here tomorrow morning?"

"Sure thing. See you tomorrow, Aunt Eloise."

Nancy hung up the phone and lingered, staring into space and wondering what the case was. She mulled it over, chewing her lip, then spurred herself into action. She walked into the living room where her father was watching Sports Center and stood with her hands on her hips.

"The things that go on behind my back," Nancy said in false anger.

Carson Drew was a famed and prominent attorney in River Height and neighboring cities. People from all over came to him for his help. He was tall and handsome, with broad chest and shoulders and wavy, well-groomed salt and pepper hair. He had been a widower since Nancy was three years-old. He gave a charming, roguish grin at his daughter.

"Travelling?" he asked.

"Come on, Dad," Nancy said with a look, sitting next to him. "Have I ever said no to a challenge? I think not."

"Only thing is, I've got an early morning meeting tomorrow. How are you going to get to the airport?"

"I'll call George and see if she could take me."

Nancy flipped open her phone and dialed her best friend. George Fayne was the definition of the word tomboy. Anything rough, rugged, dirty, and tough was right up George's alley. She wasn't a fan of girly and sweet. George was short and athletic. She had dark hair cut into a short pixie cut and critical, skeptical brown eyes and the sharpest tongue to ever grace the earth.

"Yo," she said, picking up the phone.

"What's up, Georgie?" Nancy asked, teasing. George hated being called Georgie. It was what her mom called her.

"If you want something, you're starting off on the wrong foot," George growled into the receiver.

"Okay, sorry. I take it back. Hey, I need a ride to the airport tomorrow."

"Sure. I got Bess sleeping over, mind if she tags along?"

"She better not," came Bess's voice from the background.

Bess Marvin was Nancy's other best friend and George's cousin. She was the opposite of George in every way. She was tall and curvy and she made the best of it. She took delight in clothes and shoes and shopping… and food. She loved anything sweet and managed to maintain a size 04 through divine intervention. Football games weren't so much her thing, she'd rather participate in a manicure.

"Where the hell are you going anyway? We just got here," George asked Nancy.

The three girls attended Emerson College and had just come home on spring break. They had arrived that morning and planned to spend the weekend with their parents.

"My aunt invited me to stay with her in New York for the weekend," Nancy explained. "She's says she has a friend who's a private investigator and he wants my help with a case."

"Awesome. So, when you say morning… how early are we talking?"

Nancy rolled her eyes. "I have to be at the airport at seven thirty."

"You're such a bitch. I hate you."

Nancy hung up with a laugh and meandered into the kitchen. She grabbed an Oreo from the cookie jar and watched as Hannah made lunch.

"So, what's going on?" Hannah said over her shoulder.

Nancy's dropped her cookie. "You too?"

Hannah laughed. "I'm sorry! Your aunt really wanted to tell you herself!"

Nancy huffed and shoved another cookie into her mouth. She and Hannah talked of what the case could possibly be and then gave up. She kissed Hannah goodnight and went up to sleep. At six thirty the next morning, the girls picked her up. George was not a morning person and was in a foul mood. Bess was chirping and smiling beside her, taunting her cousin with her cheerful dimples. George said nothing as they girls piled into her Jeep and drove to the airport. Nancy kissed them at the gate and was in New York at nine that morning. She took a cab to her aunt's apartment and stepped into the empty elevator. She pushed the fourth floor button and the car lurched upwards.

And then it stopped.

"Oh, hell no," Nancy said, feeling for the buttons. "Oh come on. Come on! I can't believe there's a power outage."

Nancy searched in her bag for her keychain. Attached to her house key was a mini-flashlight, which she aimed around and found the "Emergency" button. She pressed it. Nothing. She pressed it again, harder. Nothing.

"Shit!" she said, stomping, frustrated.

She looked through the tiny crack in the elevator and saw that she was between two floors, probably the second and the third. She waited for the power to come back on, calming herself. She felt for her bag and rummaged for her cell phone. The little light came on when she flipped it open and pressed her aunt's number in. A little beep sounded in her ear and she looked down at the screen.

NO SERVICE

"Shit!" she exclaimed, pounding on the metal siding of the elevator. She dragged in a deep breath. "It's alright, Nance. They'll fix it any minute now."

Ten minutes meandered by.

"Any minute now," she said to herself sarcastically. "Why does this kind of shit always happen to me?"

She tried her phone again. NO SERVICE. She hit the doors with her fist. An idea downed on her and she began pounding furiously on the doors. Someone had to have the brains to come and check that kind of noise out, right...? Wrong. Maybe yelling?

"HELLO! I'M STUCK IN HERE! GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" she screamed. A minute or two passed. "HELLO! HE – FREAKING – LLO!"

There was another pause, then a faint, "Hello?"

"Oh, thank God! Hello! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I can hear. I don't know who can't hear you with all that racket you've been making. I can't watch my TV."

"Oh great," Nancy sighed to herself. "An old guy."

She sucked in a breath. The old guy was rambling on about a power outage and that he knew one day that would happen. That's why he always liked the stairs more, but with the arthritis acting up and the walker and all them pills made him so darn sleepy… them damned doctors didn't know what they were talking about. You know, back in the good old days…

Okay, the "good old days" was where she drew the line.

"Sir? Can you hear me?" she called again.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, the elevator. Anyway, what I was saying-" the man started.

"Wait, hold on, what floor are you on?" Nancy asked.

"Let's see here… what floor is this again. I always forget. That's how come I get lost coming home from the free clinic all the time. I'll tell you-"

"The number should be on the side of the elevator shaft. The number next to the doors."

"Oh, yes… there it is. Why didn't I ever think to look there? Let's see now, it says three. Three? Right, of course. I'm on three."

"Okay, sir, my aunt is named Eloise Drew, she lives on the fourth floor in apartment 4C. Can you please call her down here? Or send someone?" It was a risk. The man didn't even remember what floor he lived on, she doubted he'd remember her aunts whereabouts.

"Now that's a lot of information, sweetheart. Let me see if I can get someone up there. JIMMY!" the old man yelled and she heard him shuffle away.

He was gone for a good ten minutes. Nancy sighed. He'd probably forgotten all about her being trapped in here and had gone back to his beloved TV. She'd have to start pounding again. Her fists hurt already.

"Hello? You still there, sweetheart?" came the gravelly, old voice again.

"Oh my God, yes! I'm here! Did you get her?" Nancy asked, relieved.

"No, no, I brought my neighbor, Jimmy. He's a fine young boy and he'll be able to run for your aunt. This lady says her aunt is name Ernestine Darby and lived on block C…"

"No! That's not it!" Nancy yelled up at him.

"Thanks, Mr. Carter. I think I've got it from here," another, younger male voice said. "Can you hear me, ma'am?"

"Yeah, I'm stuck between the second and the third floors. Listen, my aunt is name Eloise Drew and she lives in apartment 4C. Is there any way you can let her know that I'm stuck here? I was supposed to be there about half an hour ago."

"No problem, ma'am, I'll run right up and get here. Just sit tight."

Brilliant advice. Where the hell was she going to go?

"I'll stay here and keep the poor thing company, Jimmy," Mr. Carter offered.

"Are you sure you aren't too tired?"

"Are you kidding? Not even on the TV is there something this exciting. Though it is causing my corns to act up. You know-"

"All right, Mr. Carter, I'll be right back," Jimmy said and Nancy heard him trot away.

Mr. Carter rambled on and on for another ten minutes about the invasion of fast food and how food that fast had to be evil. He was positive that the Russians had sent it over here in the Cold War and that them damned commies were going to strike when we were least expecting it. Nancy was trying to entertain herself by imagining what George what do in this situation…

She decided that George would probably have ripped a hole through the metal and climbed her way up and out of this hot and dark hellhole.