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“You're a mess.”
Joe snorted, hand on his nose as he flipped his brother off. It was Frank's fault his profile was ruined. He didn't think his nose was going to go back straight, even if it was crooked before.
“You're the one who landed on me.”
“Maybe you should have been a little faster,” Frank said, rubbing at his wrist. Joe supposed of the two of them, he was the lucky one. When the fire escape broke, Frank had fallen further and landed on his arm, breaking it, and he almost looked worse than Joe did, except Joe's injury was right smack in the middle of his face. “Or maybe if you'd kept your mouth shut...”
Joe shrugged. “Annoying the bad guys is what I do.”
“Yeah, well, Dad isn't thrilled about coming here to get us from the hospital,” Frank muttered, fidgeting in his chair.
Joe rolled his eyes. “We saved the day, saved a drugged up idiot, and solved the case. We did good.”
“Yeah.” Frank still wasn't happy. Joe figured he was still upset about being caught and held while the drug dealer debated what to do with them. They'd escaped and gotten the arrest, so Joe was fine with it.
Other than his nose, that was.
“Frank, it'll be okay.”
Frank nodded, distracted. Joe sighed, expecting another lecture, but then he got spared it when Frank rose. “Hey, that's Nancy.”
Nancy looked up at the sound of her name, expecting her father. She'd tried to prepare what she was going to say to him, but she still didn't know and she felt guilty. This wasn't good. Then she saw Frank and smiled. A few more minutes without her dad was okay, and she did want to ask Frank about his case. She hadn't seen him since the party.
“You're hurt,” she exclaimed, looking at his wrist. “What happened?”
“I could ask you the same,” he said, pointing to her head. She grimaced. That looked worse than it was, and she didn't want to explain it to her father. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I had a little accident getting away from some kidnappers. You?”
“Same here, actually,” Frank admitted. “Joe and I found our drug dealer, and he took us hostage while he decided if he was going to kill us or not. We escaped, but the fire escape wasn't up to code and I tried not to let Joe break my fall, so...”
“Is he okay?”
“He mouthed off and got hit in the nose. Kind of a habit with him.”
She laughed, then winced. “I'm sorry. That isn't really funny.”
Frank shrugged. “I think humor in our line of work is a little left of normal. Same with clothes and hobbies.”
She smiled back at him. “Yeah.”
Frank shifted his feet, looking a little uncomfortable. “Oh, so I did some thinking about your case. You think you found Dehlia's daughter, right? So if you did, and there was a will providing for her... Dehlia's killer is likely someone who stood to lose if her money went to her daughter. I know... Obvious conclusion, but if—”
“If I track down who benefited from Dehlia's death, then I might have her killer. It could be Z or it could be...” Nancy almost smacked herself. “Oh, I didn't tell you! I did find the will. That is how I ended up kidnapped.”
“Really? Where?”
Nancy grinned as she started to explain. Sharing mysteries with Frank Hardy was fun.