Gone: A Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Mystery

5. Everyone

FRANK

The last time we were in the lawyer's office it hadn't been too good. Let's say he never knew we had been there. He definitely knew someone was there though. George knocked on the office door with

CARSON E. DREW

on the nameplate.

"Come in," the man behind the door called.

We entered to see Mr. Drew standing by his desk. He wore literally all black and while that is not uncommon for a man of his profession, I knew differently. Mourning colors, he thinks his daughter is dead, I remind myself.

"Hello, George, Bess, Frank, Joe," he gave each of us a nod and sat down. His face is etched in lines on crying and sleepless nights and his blue eyes look hollow and lost rather than the energy that usually bounces inside. His body sags without the usual spunk that he shares with his daughter. "What can I do for you?" he asks, staring at his computer and clicking the mouse. We all sit down in the red swivel chairs that Nancy picked out when she decorated his office. Looking at Joe I could tell he was trying really hard to behave when all that he wanted to do was spin. His feet plant on the floor and he has a white-knuckled grip on the desk in front of him.

"We were wondering what you could tell us of your late wife," I ask gently.

Mr. Drew leans over and turns around a picture frame on his desk.

"This is Stella," his lips hint at a thoughtful grin that never reaches his eyes. The photo is from a wedding and it pictures a young man with light brown hair and the biggest smile in the world with his arms wrapped around a Nancy look-alike. I pick up the photo and Joe looks over my shoulder. The girl in the picture has the same figure, hair, face and all around air of the Nancy Drew we know.

"She was my bright and shining star," Mr. Drew shakes his head softly. He folds his hands together and lays them on his desk. I realize that he is still wearing his silver wedding band. "We met in college. She was looking to be a doctor, me a lawyer. The dream couple with high ambitions and looking at a pile of a whole lot of debt." Mr. Drew snorts lightly and almost smiles. "Parent's dreams come true. We got married two months after the end of that school year in the heat of summer. After we graduated we worked in Chicago for a time, only passing each other in and out of the house on the way to our separate jobs.

"Everyone loved Stella. She was an intelligent and talented doctor and she genuinely cared about her patients. She rose higher and got promotion after promotion, becoming Chief of Staff and Head Surgeon. She was incredible; it was like the word 'doctor' was created for her, and solely her. She could cure anyone and people that she worked on rarely died. People came from every corner of the United States to seek her care and healing hand. She took some leave when Nancy was first born, but then she jumped back into her work as strongly as she ever had. She loved her job. Around that time we hired Hannah to be Nancy's nursemaid and eventually as a housekeeper since Stella was rarely home. I kept telling her we had enough money, that she should stay home, but for almost three years she barely saw her daughter. I could tell she loved her daughter but she loved performing medicine just as much. In the meantime, I was becoming one of the best lawyers in my practice by week and raising my daughter during the weekend. Then it happened." He paused.

We all patiently waited. Even George and Bess were on the edge of their seats, hanging on every word. I guess Mr. Drew never told this story to anyone. It makes me wonder how much Nancy knew.

"It was February twenty-sixth. No one knew for a while after, probably because of all the rain and ice. She ran her car down a hill, hit an electric pole and the car burst into flames. When a neighbor found the car, all that was left was a few scraps of metal in a flooded river. They never found any of her. Nancy was too little to remember her mother at all. She knows little pieces of the story but I never sat down and explained the whole thing, mostly because I can't look into Nancy's reflection of Stella's eyes and tell her." He stops and breaths in. "Do you think Nancy might still be alive?"