Sorry it took so long to update. I've been so busy this past month but things have slowed down again. So without further delay, here's Chapter 7. I still don't own Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys.


The next morning, everyone agreed to investigate some of Matt's closest friends. Frank, Nancy and Maddie would go as one group. While Joe and Bess would go as another.

Joe and Bess walked up the driveway to Ryan Dwyer's house. The house was conveniently just one block away from Maddie's. Joe rang the door bell and stepped back.

The door opened, revealing a guy who looked to be about in his mid twenties. He had dark brown hair, tan skin and was near the height of 5'10.

"Can I help you?" His eyes casted wearily between the two.

"Actually yes. I'm Joe Hardy and this is Bess Marvin. We're friends of Maddie Jones and we're helping her to find out what happened to Matt. Maddie told us you're close friends with him."

"Oh ok. Yeah, we're close. Maddie actually mentioned you guys might stop by."

"Can we ask you some questions about Matt?"

"Sure, come in." Ryan said stepping to the side letting them in.

He led them into his kitchen and they all sat down.

"So, what do you want to know?"

"Was Matt acting strange or unusual before he was kidnapped?"

"Umm, I don't think he was acting strange. Maybe a little more jumpy than normal but nothing extremely out of the ordinary."

"Ok. Does he go to Work out World? Or do you know if anyone has offered him a membership?"

"No, not that I aware of. He's been going to Chris's house to work out with the rest of us. Chris has a mini-gym set up in his basement."

"Does anyone else you know go there?"

"Well, Jimmy was talking about going there. But, he still comes to Chris's so I'm not sure. What does this have to do with Matt's disappearance anyway?"

"We found a W.O.W membership card in Matt's apartment. Since it looks like it's not his, we think the kidnapper may have dropped it by mistake." Bess filled in.

Ryan nodded, allowing Joe to continue his questions.

"Do you know anyone with a grudge or any reason that would cause them to kidnap Matt?"

"I honestly don't know." He said after a minute. "Matt was always a calm guy, never got into fights with people and was really good at controlling his anger, if he ever got mad. The only time when he really blew his top was when he and Jimmy got into an intense argument."

"What was the fight about?" Maybe this could give them some sort of lead. Joe thought desperately.

"Let's see about I don't know six months ago, Jimmy was going out with Maddie. But she dumped him claiming that he didn't treat her right and that it was just not going to work out. The, about three weeks later matt and Maddie hooked up. Jimmy then got really angry, saying Matt had stolen his girl. He started spreading some nasty stuff about him around. When Matt confronted Jimmy about it, things went from bad to worst in only a couple of minutes. It went as far as Jimmy punching Matt in the face. The poor guy had a black eye for nearly two weeks." Ryan shook his head clearly he disapproved of what had happened.

"But you said they're friends now. What happened?"

"Well Chris and me were actually there. So, as soon as Jimmy threw that punch we steeped in and pushed them away from each other. I calmed Jimmy down enough so that they could just talk it out. And they did, but it's still not the same with them."

Joe and Bess thanked Ryan for everything, promising they would try to find matt as soon as possible. As they walked back down the sidewalk, Joe couldn't help but think that so far this may be the best lead they had yet. He knew he was grasping at straws but he couldn't shake the gut feeling he had that somehow, Jimmy was a big piece to the puzzle.


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