He turned away from the window and looked at Ned. He was sleeping on the couch. Maggie had been taking his temperature every hour, and it was slowly going down, which was a good sign. But the fever had not broken yet.

He about to continue looking out the window when he saw Nancy come into the room. He watched her sit down on the edge of the couch and take Ned’s hand in hers. She reached up and moved his hair off his forehead.

Joe shifted his weight and the floor creaked. Nancy jumped as she turned to face him. Joe said, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right. What are you doing?”

“Looking for Frank.”

“He’s not here?”

“No.” Joe shook his head. He looked back out the window. “He went to the arena with Melissa and hasn’t returned yet.”

“Most of the day.” Joe turned away from the window. He went over to the other couch and sat down.

“And Frank hasn’t called?”

“No.”

“That’s not like Frank. Do you think something happened to him?”

“It’s possible,” Joe said.

“What’s possible?” Bess asked sitting beside Joe.

Joe glanced at Nancy. He didn’t want to worry the others, or Aunt Maggie. He said, “It’s possible Frank is having a good time at the arena with Melissa.”

“He probably is,” George admitted coming into the room.

“Hey, are you guys ready for the concert?” Jeremy asked following George into the room.

“Sure,” Joe said. “It’ll be a blast.”

Jeremy looked at Nancy. “Nancy, are you ready?”

“I don’t know if I want to go.” Nancy looked at Ned.

“Come on,” Jeremy said. “We’ll have a great time.”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you should go,” Maggie said coming into the living room. “Ned needs his rest. He’ll probably sleep the entire time you’re gone.”

“I don’t know,” Nancy said.

“Go ahead,” Maggie urged. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Nancy remained silent. She knew there was nothing she could do to make Ned get better any faster, but she didn’t want to leave him. Also, she knew if something happened to Frank, Joe was going to need her help.”

Joe said, “Going to the concert might make you feel better. Besides, you can tell Ned what he missed.”

“I guess I’ll go,” Nancy sighed.

“Good,” Maggie said. “Just let me know when you’re leaving.” Maggie left the living room.

Once they were alone, Joe said, “I expected Frank and Melissa to be back by now.”

“Seeing what goes on at the arena takes a lot of time,” Jeremy said moving toward the fireplace.

“I seriously doubt Frank is getting a tour of the arena,” Joe said.

“Do you really think Frank was going to confront Jake?” Nancy asked.

“Yeah,” Joe said. He got to his feet and moved over to the table where the papers were. He picked up the disk and book. We know someone’s been embezzling money. We just need to know who.”

“If Frank confronted Jake, he might be onto something and hasn’t been able to call,” Bess said.

“It’s possible,” Joe said. “But I have a funny feeling something is wrong.”

“The concert starts in an hour. We should get going,” Jake said.

“You’re right,” George said looking at her watch. “We’ll probably meet up with Frank when we get to the arena.”

“You’re probably right,” Nancy said.

She remained quiet as Bess and George went to get their jackets and Jeremy went to tell Maggie they were leaving. Nancy looked pointedly at Joe. “You think Frank’s in trouble, don’t you?”

“If Frank had gotten a clue, he would’ve let us know.” Joe looked at Nancy. “Jake has to be involved.”

“We’ll check him out when we get to the arena,” Nancy said. “We’ll find out what’s going on.”

“Then let’s go,” Joe said. “We need to solve this as soon as possible.”

* * * * *

A half-hour later, Jeremy pulled the van into the crowded arena parking lot. He managed to find a parking spot near the road. The five of them got out of the van and started toward the arena. As they were about to go inside, Joe stopped them.

“Nancy and I are going to Jake’s trailer and get Frank,” he said. “We’ll meet you at our seats.”

“All right,” Jeremy said pulling out their tickets from his pocket and handing them to Joe. “We’ll see you inside.”

As Jeremy went inside with Bess and George, Joe led Nancy to where the trailers were located. As the headed for the trailer, a security guard stopped them and asked, “Where are you going?”

“My brother is with Jake Marshall, the manager. Jake was showing him what goes on behind the scenes of a concert.”

“I haven’t seen anyone around with Jake.”

“He’s probably getting a feel for all the paperwork,” Joe said quickly.

“Probably,” the guard said and waved them on. “Go ahead.”

“Thanks,” Nancy said.

Joe led Nancy toward the trailers. They reached the trailer. Joe knocked on the door and they heard a voice yell, “Come in!”

Joe looked at Nancy and she nodded as he put his hand on the doorknob. Joe pulled the door open and they went inside. “Hey, Jake.”

Jake was sitting at his desk. He looked at them. “hi.”

“Jake, have you seen Frank? We were wondering if he was going to join us for the concert,” Joe said.

“Frank planned to wander around and check things out backstage,” Jake said focusing on the papers in front of him. He avoided meeting their eyes.

“Did he say anything about meeting us?” Nancy asked.

“Not to me.” Jake shook his head. Nancy noticed his hands were shaking as he shuffled through the papers. He was nervous about something. She wondered if it had anything to do with Frank.

“Where’s Melissa?” Joe asked.

“She’s in her dressing room getting ready for the concert.” Jake looked at his watch. “The concert will be starting shortly.”

As Joe talked with Jake, Nancy looked around the trailer. She didn’t know how much more time they had before Jake kicked them out. She realized there wasn’t anyplace to hide anything. The one door inside the trailer was open and led to the bathroom. She looked down at her feet and noticed a patch of red on the carpet. Without bending down, she couldn’t tell if it was blood or not.

“We should really get to our seats before the concert starts, Joe.”

Joe looked at Nancy. He wondered what was wrong. He caught the look she was giving him and knew she had come up with something. Joe turned back to Jake. “Nancy’s right. If you see Frank, let him know we’re all ready in our seats.”

“I’ll let him know if I see him.”

“Thanks, a lot,” Joe said. He turned and followed Nancy out of the trailer.

As they walked away from the trailer, Joe grabbed her arm and said, “I know you saw something. What is it?”

“I don’t know if it’s anything, but there could have been a patch of blood on Jake’s floor.”

“Could it be Franks?”

“I don’t know,” Nancy said shaking her head.

“Let’s go find Melissa,” Joe said. “She might have an idea where we can find Frank.”

“Let’s find her dressing room.”

Nancy and Joe snuck into the back of the arena. They walked around searching for Melissa’s dressing room. They wandered around and saw a room with a gold guitar on the door. They also saw a man standing in front of the door.

The man was very muscular with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He had on a pair of black sunglasses. He was bald and had a black mustache.

Joe and Nancy stayed behind the corner. They knew that was Melissa’s dressing room. “So, how do we get in?”

Joe peeked around the corner, the pulled back. He looked at Nancy. “How are your acting skills?”

Nancy looked at Joe. She knew what he wanted. She said, “My acting skills are quite well. Give me a few minutes.”

“Got it.”