A moment later, Chief Collig, Con Riley and a half dozen officers came toward them. Nathan was immediately put in handcuffs. Debbie was taken over to the nearest cruiser once Ned and Joe were next to Nancy and saw her face was returning to its natural color.

"Nancy, open your eyes," Ned said.

As Ned tried getting Nancy to wake up, Joe looked at the Chief. "Where’d you come from?"

"We had a tail on Debbie since you dropped her off," Chief Collig said. "Is she all right?"

"She will be," Joe said seeing Nancy’s eyelids flutter. "We have his confession on tape."

Nancy opened her eyes at that moment and tried to focus on Ned. Her vision cleared and saw a smile appear on his face. She smiled and asked softly, "What happened?"

"You passed out," Ned said caressing her cheek with the back of his hand. "Do you think you can sit up?"

"Yeah," Nancy said as Ned helped her to a sitting position. Once she was sitting up with Ned behind her, she looked around and saw Nathan was in police custody.

Chief Collig asked, "Who has the tape?"

"I do," Nancy said reaching into her pocket. She pulled the tape recorder out and pressed stop. She handed it to the Chief. "I got his entire confession."

"Good," he said.

"I’m glad you guys got him."

"And Frank is safe," Joe said with a smile.

Nancy could see the strain of Frank’s disappearance vanish slightly from Joe’s features.

"We’ll need you three to come down to the station and give us your statements," Chief Collig said.

"We’ll follow in the van," Joe said.

"All right. We’ll see you there." Chief Collig went over to his officers and they left the woods with their captives.

Once they were alone, Joe said, "That was a stupid move on your part, Nancy. How could you confront him on your own?"

"I had to do something," Nancy replied touching her throat. "There was no way I was letting him get away."

"How are you feeling?" Ned asked.

"Pretty good."

"Then let’s give our statements to the police," Joe said. "Once we’re done, we should make it just in time to see Frank before visiting hours end."

"Okay," Nancy said and was helped to her feet by Joe and Ned.

As they headed for the van, Joe said, "You really threw Nathan off guard when you passed out."

"He probably didn’t realize how tight he had his hands on her neck," Ned said putting his arm around Nancy’s waist.

"At least it threw him off guard to be captured," Nancy said.

"True," Joe said.

"And you don’t seem to be seriously hurt," Ned said as they reached the van. "Thank goodness this is over."

"I agree," Joe said unlocking the passenger side door. "We not only got Frank back, but also caught his kidnappers which turned out to be the same people doing the destruction at school."

"I just hope Frank is all right," Nancy said getting in the van. She sat in the passenger seat while Ned got in back.

"We’ll find out as soon as we give the police our statements," Joe said starting the engine. "Hopefully that won’t take long."

Joe drove along Shore Road heading into Bayport. They were about to go by the pizza parlor when Nancy noticed their rental car was still parked out front. She remembered Joe had said the car had been left there before the hurricane. The car was covered with tree branches and there was a tree trunk laying alongside the passenger door.

"There doesn’t seem to be a lot of damage," Ned commented.

"We’ll get it tomorrow when we have time to dig it out," Nancy said.

"Good idea," Ned said.

*****

When they arrived at the police station, they went inside and saw Con Riley standing by the door leading to the interrogation room. Con saw them and waved. "You’re just in time."

"For what?" Joe asked.

"To give me your statements," Con Riley said opening the door. He led the three of them into a room and they took a seat. Con Riley sat down across from them and took their statements.

Three hours later, the police were finally done with their questioning. They each had gone through two cans of soda and were restless from being cooped up in the small room. When they finally walked out of the police station, they realized how late it was.

Joe looked at his watch and said, "Visiting hours ended more than an hour ago."

"We can go in the morning," Nancy said leaning against Ned.

"That’ll give all of us a chance to get some sleep," Ned said. "Besides, Joe, you could probably use a good nights sleep."

"It might not be good not knowing what condition Frank is in, but right now, I don’t think I can keep going without it," Joe said. "Do you want to go back to the hotel?"

"Definitely," Nancy said. "It’ll be nice to sleep in a bed tonight."

"Let’s go," Joe said.

*****

Joe dropped Nancy and Ned at the hotel and agreed to pick them up the next morning before visiting hours started at the hospital. The two of them went into the hotel and saw there were candles lighting the lobby.

The desk clerk saw them and asked, "Do you need a room?"

"We already have our," Ned said. "We checked in on Sunday."

"All right," the desk clerk said flipping through the registration book. He stopped on a page. "Mr. Nickerson and Miss Nickerson."

"That’s right," Ned said.

"Then everyone is accounted for," the desk clerk said. "You’ll need to use the stairs to get to your rooms. You might want to take a couple candles with you since the power is out. There are extra candles in each room."

"Thanks," Nancy said as the desk clerk handed Ned two candles that were already lit.

They made their way up to the second floor and down the hall to Nancy’s room. Nancy unlocked the door and they went inside. Ned put the candles on the television as Nancy closed the door.

"What a day," Nancy said sitting down on the bed and kicking off her shoes.

"At least it’s over," Ned said sitting down beside her.

"We caught the vandals, and they are in police custody. We also rescued Frank after he was kidnapped," Nancy said putting her head on Ned’s shoulder.

"And we only have two more days here," Ned said.

"This week went by really quick," Nancy said.

"But at least we no longer have to keep up this charade that we’re brother and sister." Ned lifted Nancy’s chin and gave her a kiss.

When they broke apart, Nancy said, "That was nice." She put her arms around his neck. "I’ve been waiting for that."

"So have I," Ned said kissing her forehead. "There were so many times I wanted to kiss you and held back so I didn’t blow your cover."

"I felt the same way," Nancy said and tried to stifle a yawn.

"I’m going to my room," Ned said getting to his feet. "It’s been a long day."

"Night, Ned," Nancy said and Ned gave her another kiss.

"Night," Ned said. He took one of the candles and left Nancy’s room. Nancy leaned back on the bed and closed her eyes.