That evening after putting on extra clothing, they returned to the lake. The temperature was dropping quickly and the wind was picking up. Just past the parking lot, a trailer was hitched to a farmer’s tractor. As they approached the tractor, Nancy wondered where Bess and George were. They had agreed to meet them for the hayride.

Nancy spotted Bess flirting with the young driver. Nancy looked at the trailer and saw it was already hooked up. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw someone run off into the woods. But when she tried to spot the person, she was unable to.

“Hey, Nancy,” Bess said getting her attention.

“Hey, Bess. Where’s George? I thought she was coming along.”

“She’s already on the trailer. She’s saving us places to sit.”

“Let’s go then,” Ned said.

As they climbed onto the trailer, they saw George sitting near the hitch. They moved carefully toward the front and sat down. Ned leaned against the side of the trailer and Nancy sat in front of him. Frank sat beside them with Callie on his right. Joe sat facing them with Vanessa on one side and Bess on the other. George sat on Ned’s left side.

A few minutes later, the tractor pulled the trailer with a jerk and they were on their way. Once the trailer was moving, some of the couples at the other end started singing.

Nancy closed her eyes and leaned back against Ned. She felt him put his arms around her and pull her close. She smiled. She felt safe in his arms. Her thoughts began to wander to the incident earlier that day. When they had been busy, it slipped her mind, but now that it was quiet, she thought about it again.

I’m probably making something out of nothing, she thought. But I have this terrible feeling there’s trouble brewing. I don’t think the guy was picking people at random. I think he knew whom he was going to grab. There had to be some reason he grabbed me. I just wish I knew what it was. Something isn’t right.

She felt something touch the back of her neck. She felt a kiss on her neck. She smiled even more. She knew it was Ned. She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. “And what was that for?”

“I had to get your attention somehow,” Ned said with a grin. He gave Nancy another kiss. This one on her forehead. “So, what are you thinking about? You seem miles away.”

Nancy knew that if she told Ned the truth, that she was thinking about the incident earlier, he would be upset. She knew they were supposed to be spending time with their friends. She shook her head. “It’s nothing important.”

“It has to be something,” Ned said wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close.

“I was thinking how nice it is that we’re all together without a mystery to solve.”

“It is nice. I know you won’t be getting into any dangerous situations then.”

“Is it my fault things happen when I’m around?”

“You’re a magnet for trouble,” Ned said. “It seems no matter what we do, trouble comes around.”

“I don’t try to bring trouble around.”

“Nancy has a point,” Frank spoke up. Nancy looked at Frank. “When we get together, Nancy isn’t the one who gets us into dangerous situations. It’s usually Joe.”

“Hey,” Joe said looking at Frank. “You can’t pin all the trouble on me.”

“Who is the person who always falls for a girl and then the girl ends up trying to kills us?” Nancy asked looking at Joe.

“Wait a second,” Joe said. “Not every girl tried to kill us.”

“How many girls were there, Joe?” Vanessa asked.

“Uh...” Joe stammered looking around at the others.

“Let’s see,” Bess said, smiling. “If you figure how many cases they’ve been on, you need to assume he met one girl on each one. So, that would come to about...”

“Bess!” Joe exclaimed getting her to stop.

“Joe!” Vanessa said at the same time.

“None of it’s true, Vanessa. I swear.”

Nancy put her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. She could tell Joe was embarrassed. Joe’s face was as red as a tomato. She glanced at Frank and saw he was also trying not to laugh.

“Will someone please tell Vanessa the truth?” Joe asked. He looked at Frank. “Frank?”

“All right,” Frank said. “Vanessa, on the cases, Joe doesn’t usually hook up with a girl.” Frank glanced at Nancy real quick. He looked at Joe. “Most of the time he hooks up with two or three.”

“Frank!”

Nancy couldn’t keep quiet any longer. She pulled her hand away from her mouth and started laughing. A moment later, the others, except Vanessa and Joe, joined in.

Bess calmed down first and said, “Sorry, Joe. I couldn’t resist.”

“This was a joke?” Vanessa asked.

Frank looked at Vanessa. “We’re only kidding. Girls approach Joe, but he won’t even glance at them.”

“Really?” Vanessa asked looking at Joe.

“Well,” Joe began.

“You are so sweet,” Vanessa said giving Joe a kiss.

All of a sudden there was an abrupt jolt that knocked them over. Nancy sat up quickly. She turned and saw the trailer had come unhitched from the tractor. The tractor turned, but the trailer was going down the trail and quickly picking up speed.

Someone from the other end yelled, “The trailers loose! We’re going to die!”

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.