Joe scanned the place, searching for some sign of his old pal. Finally, he spotted him, sitting in a booth near the back, a slice of pizza in front of him as he talked to a woman in a blue t-shirt and denim shorts. Joe gave Nancy a knowing grin as he wordlessly pointed Chet out to her. Some things never changed. Finding Chet with food in his hand was something Chet's friends had come to expect.

Sidling up to Chet's booth, Joe clapped his old buddy on the back. "Keep that up and you're never going to get that coveted spot as a Weight Watchers spokesman," he told his friend.

Chet looked up in surprise at Joe. A huge beam lit up Chet's face. "Joe! How've you been? Haven't seen you in here for awhile." Peeking past Joe, he found himself momentarily surprised. "Well," he said, the grin getting even larger. "Look what the cat dragged in!" Placing his pizza on the plate in front of him, he quickly wiped his hands on his pants; stood, and held out his hand to Nancy. "There's a face I never thought I'd see again!"

Nancy reached out to shake his hand. Astonishment overtook her when Chet took her hand, and instead of shaking it, pulled her forward into a bear hug. "Welcome back," he said, patting her on the back. Releasing her, he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Impulsive moment there."

"Uh, no, don't apologize," Nancy said, smiling. "Thanks for the welcome." She looked around the place. "I'm impressed, Chet. You've done quite well for yourself.

"Thanks," Chet replied, blushing furiously. "I couldn't have done it without the help of my business partner here." He looked back at the woman he'd been speaking to earlier. Smacking himself on the head, he groaned. "Where are my manners?" he asked.

"Manners?" Joe asked grinning. "What are those?"

"Something you know very little about," Chet shot back. Motioning to the woman still seated at the booth, he said. "Emily, this would be one of my best friends, Joe Hardy. And with him is Nancy Drew. They're both detectives." He paused as he took in the little girl holding Joe's hand. "And this would be Laurie, perhaps?"

Laurie nodded. "That's me!"

Joe shook the woman's hand. "I've heard a little about you, Emily. You're the business end of this partnership, I take it."

Emily smiled. "Yes, I'm all about keeping the books. Ordering, payroll, taxes, that kind of thing. Chet here runs the public end of the place. He keeps the employees and the customers happy, thereby keeping us in business."

Nancy looked around. "Looks like he's doing a really good job of that." Chet continued to beam.

Emily nodded. "You bet he is. Chet's a born salesman. At least when it comes to food. It's the best investment I've ever made." Standing up, she stretched slightly. "Well, I'd better get back to work. I'll leave you guys to get caught up with each other."

Watching her walk across the restaurant and disappear into the back, Joe let out a low whistle. "Wow, Chet. May I say you that did quite well in picking a business partner."

Chet admired the view along with Joe. "Yes, I did, if I do say so myself."

Nancy shook her head. "You two are awful."

Joe grinned. "No, Nan, we're not awful. We're just guys."

Chet laughed. "Speaking of guys, aren't you hanging out with the wrong Hardy, Nancy? This one's a bad influence you know." He motioned for them to join him at the booth.

"Yeah, I know," Nancy said as she slid into the booth after Laurie. "But somebody has to keep an eye on him and Frank's busy."

"Oooh, funny," Joe said. "You're becoming quite the comedian." He turned to Chet. "Actually, we're on a case and looking for a little help."

"A case? Already? Has Nancy even been in town long enough for you guys to get her caught up in a case?"

"It doesn't take long for me to get involved in a good mystery, Chet," Nancy said. She gave the waitress, who had quietly appeared at the table, an order for drinks. Glancing over the menu, Joe asked. "What looks good to you?"

"Pretty much anything," Nancy said. "But Laurie's going through a sausage or pepperoni phase."

"How about we get both, then?" Joe asked.

Laurie wrinkled up her nose. "No. Not both. Just sausage. Or just pepperoni."

"Ok," Joe said, looking at the menu again. "How about we make 1/2 of it sausage and the 1/2 of it pepperoni?"

"Yeah!" Laurie said. "But the pepperoni and sausage can't touch!"

"You heard her," Joe said, flashing his most charming smile, as he handed the menu back to the waitress who had returned with their drinks. We want a large pizza, thin crust, 1/2 pepperoni and 1/2 sausage - but not touching." The waitress smiled back, and left with the order.

"Ok, Joe," Chet said once she'd left. "What gives?"

"I need some information on a kid that we think may be one of your employees."

"Really? Which one?"

"Jeff Masters."

Chet finished the slice of pizza he'd been working on and wiped his fingers once more, this time using a napkin. He stared thoughtfully past Joe for a moment, then asked, "What's he done this time?"

"This time?" Nancy questioned.

Chet nodded. "Jeff is quite the handful. He doesn't give me any trouble, mind you, but he's got a reputation around town as a troublemaker. Has a pretty good sized juvenile record, from what I've heard."

"Any ideas about what might be on that record?" Nancy asked him.

Chet shrugged his shoulders. "He's told me a few of the things he's done. Mostly fighting, but there's been a few instances of petty theft and one breaking and entering. He spent several months at a boys detention center for the breaking and entering." He paused. "That was a couple of years ago, though."

Joe looked up and smiled as the waitress brought them their pizza. "Hey," he said to her. "How are you today?"
The waitress returned the smile. "I'm fine. I haven't seen you around here before? Are you new in town?"

Joe leaned forward, propping his chin on his hand. "No, I'm from here. I've been in California for the past couple of years. Modeling."

Nancy and Chet watched, amused, as both the girl's eyes and smile widened. "Really? I'd love to hear about it some time. I'll bet that must have been exciting."

"And he'd love to tell you about it, but he'll have to clear it with his girlfriend first," Nancy said, much to Joe's dismay. As the waitress slipped away quickly, Joe turned back to Nancy.

"What did you do that for? I might have gotten some information from her."

"Yeah," Chet said. "Like her phone number." He shook his head. "Same old Joe."

"Someone has to protect you from yourself," Nancy said. "You wouldn't want it getting back to Vanessa that you were flirting with another girl, would you?"

Joe wagged his finger at her. "You're as bad as Frank. Always spoiling my fun." He looked over at Laurie, who was doing her best to try not to giggle. "Your Mommy's going to turn into a boring old lady, isn't she?" Laurie nodded, her mouth full of cheese as the giggles finally erupted.

"Seriously though, Nan. She might have known Jeff."

Joe turned back to Chet. "I'm sorry, Chet. I sort of broke your story there. Getting back to Jeff..."

"Yeah," Chet said. "He's trying to turn it around. That's why I hired him. He got expelled from high school this past spring over a fight with his girlfriend. He never has told me exactly what they were fighting over, but it must have been pretty big because it ended in both of them throwing punches. And before you think it, I don't believe this kid's the abusive sort. All of his previous fights have been with guys."

"Anyway, I felt sorry for him. Because of his reputation, no one would hire him. So I gave him a shot. He's actually a pretty good worker, once I taught him the ropes."

Nancy smiled. "It's good that you took an interest in him Chet. It sounds like he needed a friend to help straighten him out."

Chet blushed again. "Well, I don't know if I'm the one who's straightened him out or not. Or if he even is straightened out. But I hope I've helped a little." His gaze moved past Nancy's shoulder toward the door. "Speak of the devil, there he is now." Chet glanced at his watch. "Ten 'till noon. Right on time for his shift. Speaking of," he said apologetically. "It's starting to look pretty busy, so I'd better go lend my staff a hand."

"Thanks for your help, Chet. I don't suppose you could spare Jeff a few minutes to let us talk to him, could you?" Joe said.

"Sure," Chet said. "Let me go speak to him a minute." He turned to leave, then changed his mind. "Hey, Joe, you never answered my question."

"What was that?" Joe replied.

"What do you guys think he's done?"

Joe and Nancy exchanged a look. "Nothing, yet," Joe said. "But we wanted to see if he knew anything about the death of a teacher. Thought maybe he might have heard something."

Chet stared at him a moment. "Um, hmm. Right. He might have heard something. I know you better than that, Joe Hardy. But at least it gives me a story to tell Jeff. Before I go, I want you to know, that I don't see this kid as having anything to do with killing anyone. Nope. Fighting and stealing, yes. I don't think he's a murder, though." He looked at Nancy. "It was nice seeing you again. Don't be a stranger. And bring that little cutie there with you when you come in." He waggled his fingers at Laurie, who gave him a sauce stained wave back.

As Chet disappeared in the same direction that Emily had went earlier, Nancy leaned in toward Joe. "Well, what do you think?"

"I think," Joe said, finishing a bite of pizza, "that we didn't learn a whole lot. Except that Chet has taken a liking to this kid and is trying to straighten him out."

Nancy tapped her fingers on the table. "Then I hope for Chet's sake that Jeff has nothing to do with this."

A few minutes later, a tall young man dressed in khaki shorts and the signature red polo shirt of Ernie's walked over. He brushed a lock of dark brown hair from his forehead and smiled nervously at Nancy and Joe. Piercing green eyes met Nancy's as she held out her hand to him.

"Hi," she told the boy. "You must be Jeff. My name is Nancy and this is my friend, Joe." Jeff's eyes flitted between Nancy and Joe, then landed back on Nancy. "Chet said you wanted to talk to me about something at school."

She smiled. "That's right. Why don't you join us?" She motioned to the now empty spot next to Joe. "Would you like something to eat? Or drink?"

He looked warily at Joe, then sat down on the edge of the seat. "No, thanks. I'm good. I've got to clock in soon, so I sort of need to make this quick."

Joe nodded. "That's cool. This won't take long. And Chet's an old friend of mine, so he won't gripe if you're a few minutes over."

Jeff relaxed slightly. "Ok. Chet's a good guy. He'd cut me a break anyway." He watched Laurie play with her pizza, then looked at Nancy. "Cute kid."

"Thanks," she said, smiling. "You seem like a pretty smart guy, Jeff, so I'm not going to play any games here with you. I'm sure by now that you've heard about Ms. Lawson's suicide."

He met her gaze. "Sure. She was a good teacher. One of the few that wasn't always on my case."

"You never caused problems in her class?" Joe asked.

Jeff grinned. "I didn't say that. I said she wasn't always on my case. Mrs. Taylor tended to worry mainly about the big things. You know, fighting, stealing, never doing your work. She'd let little things go. If I turned a paper in a day or two late, I didn't get the lecture that I got from other teachers. She'd just smile, and thank me for choosing to participate. If I was talking to someone, she'd kind of walk up by me. Never say a word, just walk up next to me and stop for a second. Then go back to talking about whatever she'd been lecturing on." He fiddled with the silver chain that he wore around his neck. "I liked that. It's like she was trying to give us some respect. Even if we didn't earn it."

"Yeah," Joe said. "I always liked teachers that cut you a little slack, too."

Nancy's eyes sparkled mischievously. "Could it be that maybe you weren't the best of students, either Joe?"

Joe smirked. "Well, I never failed a class, if that's what you're implying."

Jeff relaxed a little more. "I wish I could say that. I've failed a couple. Made them up in summer school though."

Joe made a face. "Ew. Summer school!"

Jeff nodded in commiseration. "Yeah. Definitely not the cool way to spend your summer." He looked thoughtfully at Nancy. "So you guys came to talk to me about Mrs. Lawson. Obviously something's up with her death if you're talking to the high school's troublemakers."

Nancy slid her soda aside, rested her forearms on the table, and leaned forward slightly. "Let's just say that some people believed she didn't kill herself."

"I knew it!" Jeff exclaimed, leaning back in his seat. "It's that jerk she was going to marry, isn't it? Mr. Taylor. I never liked him. Not a bit! She could've picked any guy she wanted." He shook his head. "Nope. I never liked him."

"So we've heard," Joe said. "Tell us why."

"It's hard to explain," Jeff shrugged. "I mean, he's really well liked, right? He's good looking, smart, and smooth. Knows all the right things to say to get people to like him. You know what I mean? But underneath that, I think he's trouble. There was even talk a few years ago about him cheating on his first wife. I bet if you looked into his past, you'd find he's no better than I am, even though he acted like he was."

Nancy frowned. "You don't know this for sure, do you?"

Jeff shook his head. "No, I guess not. It's just a feeling I've got. The guy rubbed me the wrong way."

"Hmm," Joe murmured. He turned so that he was completely facing Jeff. "And this feeling wouldn't have anything to do with your getting expelled from school over a fight he broke up between you and a girl?"

Jeff reddened and squirmed slightly in his seat. "Nah. I didn't like him before that." He turned from Joe to look at Nancy. "Although, I guess that didn't help me like him anymore. Didn't see why he couldn't just break the fight up and let it go at that. After all, it was between my girlfriend and me. Not really his business."

"Do you make a habit of hitting girls when you argue with them?" Joe asked.

"No!" Jeff exclaimed. "I'll knock the crap out of any guy that asks for it, but I've never hit a girl before. No matter what anyone says about me. This was different. Lissa and I'd been fighting for weeks and she'd been getting..." he paused. "She'd been....changing, okay? That day in the hall, it's like I finally lost it. I hit her. I wish I hadn't."

"I take it Lissa is your girlfriend?" Nancy inquired.

"Yeah," Jeff said. "She is."

"If it's not too private, what were you fighting over?" Nancy asked.

Jeff looked uncomfortable. "Just...stuff. Little things, I guess. We're, like, complete opposites. We shouldn't be together, but the first time I saw her, I was like, wow! Completely fell for her. But lately..." He shook his head. "She's just been different."

"What's she like?" Joe asked.

"She's great," Jeff said. "Younger than me, though. And really smart. She skipped two grades coming up through school. When she graduates next year, she'll only be 16. I love Lissa. I'd do anything for her. Anything. People think that just because you're young you don't know what it means to fall in love. That's not true."

"I agree," Joe said, thinking of both Iola and Vanessa. "Sometimes you can form incredibly strong relationships when you're young. I know. I've been there."

"Right," Jeff said. He looked at Joe for a minute. "Anyway, Mr. Taylor never liked me. I mouthed off way too much in his class, I guess. And then, when I smacked Lissa that day in the hallway, he used that to his advantage. He wrote it up to make it sound like I'd half killed her. I was out, which is exactly what he wanted to begin with."

Nancy turned to watch Laurie, who had finished her food and was now quietly coloring in the coloring book she'd brought along with her. "If I'd been the one kicked out, it would have infuriated me."

"Oh yeah," Jeff said. "Me too."

Nancy met his eyes. "I might have tried to get even."

"How?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know," she said. "I'd have to think about it."

Jeff's eyes narrowed. "Oh, I see where you're going with this."

"Where?" Nancy asked.

"You think maybe I had something to do with Mrs. Lawson's death. Maybe to get even with Mr. Taylor for kicking me out." He shook his head. "Sorry. That's not my style."

"What is your style?" Nancy asked.

He grinned and looked around the restaurant. "Ok, if you tell anyone I said this, I'll just deny it. But if you check out the police reports for vandalism for about a month after I got kicked out, you'll see where Steven Taylor got up one morning and found all four of his tires slashed." He glanced around again. "That's more my style. I'm not a killer. I'm just..." he searched for words that he'd heard the school counselor use before"...a troubled young man."

Nancy and Joe both sat back, unsure of what else to ask. Jeff sat still, watching them both in silence.

Finally, Nancy spoke. "I don't know why, Jeff, but I believe you. We probably need to talk to your girlfriend though, to officially cross you off our suspect list."

Jeff's expression became unreadable. "I really wish you wouldn't. She's had a rough year and you grilling her about our fighting will only make things worse. It'll make her sister come down even harder on her about our dating."

He added. "Her sister hates me."

Nancy opened her mouth to speak, but Joe laid a hand on her arm. "We can respect that," he said. "For now. We may have to talk to her later, but right now, we'll leave her out of it."

Jeff nodded. "Thanks," he said, glancing at the clock behind the counter. "Hey, I really need to get to work."

Nancy smiled. "Ok, we'll turn you loose, then. Thanks for talking with us."

Jeff shrugged. "Sure. I hope you find whoever killed Ms. Lawson, if it really wasn't suicide." With that, Jeff headed to the counter to speak to Chet.

"What do you think?" Nancy asked Joe. He shook his head.

"I don't know," he said. "I think we need to see if his story about the vandalism checks out. I was all set to blame him, but if his story checks out..." he looked past Nancy. A smile crept across his face as he continued. "I think he's exactly what he called himself, a troubled young man. But that doesn't make him a killer, does it?"

"No," she said, studying Joe's face. "What? What is it?" She started to turn in the direction he was looking, but jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Frank!" she exclaimed. "You scared me. Again."

"Sorry," he said, smiling.

"Sure you are," she accused. "What are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting with the Chief."

"I did. I managed to move it to this morning." Hand still on Nancy's shoulder, he met Joe's eyes. "Let's just say that he's less than pleased that we haven't made any more progress than we have."

"Oh, well," Joe said. "It wouldn't be the first time he's been less than pleased with us over something."

"No," Frank agreed. "It wouldn't be. Probably won't be the last, either." He looked down at Nancy. "I've been thinking..."

"Ooh," Joe said. "Haven't I told you that's a dangerous way to start a sentence?"

Frank threw him a look. "Only if it's coming from your mouth," he retorted. Looking back down at Nancy, he continued. "I was thinking about yesterday. The deal with the car. I was out of line. You do need a car and I'd like to help you shop for it. If you don't mind, of course," he added.

Nancy glanced at Joe in surprise. Joe grinned. "Sure," she said. "The more, the merrier, right?" Putting Laurie's crayons and coloring book into her bag, she stood up. "I'd say we're ready to go, too, wouldn't you Joe?"

"Oh yeah, sure," he said. "Ready to go. Let me go pay for our food, and I'll be right there."

After paying for lunch, Joe joined Frank and Nancy. Taking Laurie's hand, he heard Frank explain how he'd been online earlier that morning, researching cars.

"I think we'd should look for something like a Honda Accord or a Honda Civic. They sounded like they did pretty well in safety tests. Of course, they also get stolen a lot, but we can install a good anti theft system on whatever you get."

"Boring," Joe said, cutting in front and holding open the door.

"See, I knew I needed to come along," Frank said to Nancy. "He's going to head straight for the sport cars." Turning to Joe, he persisted. "I want them riding in something safe."

Nancy heard Chet's laughter as she started out the door after them. Turning, she saw him wave to her. "Have fun this afternoon," he called out, still laughing.

"Fun," Nancy said, as she stepped out into the bright summer sun. Watching Frank and Joe debate over what she should buy as Frank buckled Laurie into the backseat of Joe's car, she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."