📚 NANCY DREW📓
in
🎠SNOW MYSTERY🎠
by Ann ♪
~A Nancy Drew Fanfic~
Chapter Seventeen
Miranda found her voice after a couple of seconds. “Why should I?”
“For wrongly accusing me of blowing up your car for one. I put it on Emmie’s vehicle. They must have found it then put it on some other car to make you think it was yours. Ha! Funny.”
“Yes, that was real cute of them. I even had to pay a fee. Me! I shouldn’t have had to go through that trauma.” Miranda gave a melodramatic sigh. “You can’t do anything right and you’re going to turn on me after all I’ve done for you. Ingrate.”
Patricia scoffed. “You’re one to talk. You were telling that reporter that we were acting on our own.”
“I wasn’t referring to you. You’ve got to believe me. I’m not lying,” lied Miranda.
“I know you too well to fall for that.” Patricia shook her head “I guess you’re going to tell me you didn’t try to have me killed.”
“My most favorite cousin? Of course not!”
“How can I believe anything that you say? You’re like a walking example of that saying, the only time you lie is when your lips are moving. But somehow, you even lie without moving your lips.”
“That wounds me.”
“I doubt it. You’d have to be a human being with feelings for that. And we both know better. So, will you help me?”
“Yes, my sweet cousin, if you do one or three tiny little things for me.” Miranda used what she felt was her honey smooth, syrupy sweet, cajoling, charming voice. It made Patricia roll her eyes, as well as feel nauseous.
“What would those one or three tiny little things be, Miranda? As if I couldn’t guess.”
“Well, I’m not entirely sure I can trust you.”
“You didn’t even give me a chance! You started setting it up for the rest of us to take all the blame, then you sent goons to make sure I didn’t talk while in custody, whether it was to scare or kill. Is that loyalty-inspiring, I ask you?”
“Look, it was a misunderstanding.” Miranda went on to tell her cousin that she would never have her killed or let her take the rap for everything. She wasn’t convincing to Patricia, who didn’t let her know that fact.
“So I can really trust you, Miranda?” Just the right amount of skepticism was called for in Patricia’s voice.
“Oh absolutely! We’ll just shove all that misunderstanding aside and go with our loyalty to each other. Best friends and cousins!”
“Let’s not overdo it.” Patricia raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, well, you’re in the perfect spot to help me. And for me to help you. Where have you been hiding out? I expected you to come to my house when I heard you had escaped.”
“I didn’t know how safe that would be. Remember the ‘misunderstanding’?”
“That we’re supposed to shove aside! I hear the sarcasm. Now, let’s try harder, shall we?”
“What do you have in mind, Miranda?”
“There is something you need to realize right now or you’re to have problems I won’t be able to get you out of. You need my help. Not the police. Not Nancy Drew. No other individual, but me. I can pay other people to do a better job than you. You’re my cousin, though, so I’m going to help you. This mess requires my resources, my genius, my influence, and my money-“
“I get the other things, but what genius are you referring to?”
Miranda ignored her cousin’s unflattering comment. “Look, you can’t get out of this mess yourself.”
“And who got me into this mess?”
“The person who decided that receiving money was worth doing jobs that could bother some peoples’ consciences. You.”
Patricia couldn’t deny that fact. She’d had help, like pressure and influence from others, but, when it came right down to it, her choices had been hers to make. Now she really felt just how bad those choices had been. First it had been small decisions, little wrong deeds that had snowballed. How she felt when she realized how low she’d gotten, when she put the explosives on Emmie’s car, was something she’d always remember and remind herself. The most miserable she’d ever been, worse than all of the bad times she’d ever had.
“I can get you out of the country, a new identity, and plenty of money. You know I can.”
There was a long sigh. Then, “What do you want me to do?”
“Finish the job you messed up. But there’s something else I want you to do first.”
“What?”
“Get rid of another problem. Two, really. Nancy Drew and Ned Nickerson have been worrying me since I found out they were on their way to Hopeville. The longer they’re here, the more time they have to ruin my plans. Do you think you can succeed where others have failed?”
“Sure. If I choose to.” Patricia’s expression changed from indifference to disdain. “That with Emmie, that was the first time you had me try to kill anyone. And we both know that wasn’t the only time you’d requested that from someone. I want to know why you not using whoever that was again.”
“If you must know, that person no longer does that kind of thing.”
“Why? Are they in jail?”
“No. Try city politics, as in a mayor. I won’t say where, but obviously, not Hopeville’s mayor. It’s funny, really. This individual isn’t representing the people, just themselves. And they didn’t turn their life around, their morals are still the same – nonexistent.”
Patricia knew the world was a messed up place. Then almost immediately she thought of the good people in the world, not of it. Many of the residents of Hopeville. They stood up to Miranda and stuck by their beliefs and principles. Patricia felt energized and ready to help them.
“I’ll be waiting to hear of your success.” Miranda turned back to her phone and posting lies about herself and others.
“Miranda. Do you want me to just scare them?”
Turning back to her cousin with cold eyes, Miranda took away any doubt of what she wanted. “Kill. Them.”
************
Watching the live stream that Patricia had set up for them, Nancy wasn’t surprised at what Miranda wanted done. She felt Ned reflexively put his arm around her. Appreciating his care, she didn’t like for Ned to be put through such worry.
“Well, we know Patricia isn’t really going to make those hits for Miranda.” As soon as Nancy said that, she started reevaluating her statement, but tried to keep it off her face. Not surprisingly, Ned already put Nancy’s safety first.
“Do we know that for sure, Nan?” Ned’s eyes were focused on her, his love for her easy to see. “We need to be very careful not to let our guard down.”
“I agree. We can proceed with the plans. At least Miranda didn’t say how she wanted it done. That gives us space to work.”
Ned nodded, his arm around his girlfriend, wanting to keep her safe always. Prayer, he knew, made the difference.
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Hardy and Drew Mysteries 