The gray-haired man slammed his fist on the table. An unidentified body had been found in the river. From the description of the location, he knew they had found Matt Harris’ body. He was going to have to move a little faster with his plans.

*****

Fenton Hardy was on his second cup of coffee when his office phone rang. He set aside the file he had been studying to answer it.

“Hardy Investigations, Fenton Hardy speaking.”

“Fenton, this is Ezra – I think you should come down to the morgue.”

Fenton clutched the phone a little tighter – he knew that his sons had gone to school several hours ago – Laura was in the laundry room with his sister, Gertrude.

“What’s wrong, Ezra?”

“Did you see the headlines in the morning paper?”

“Yes, a body was found in the river.”

“We think we may have identified it – I think it may be your fugitive.”

“I’m on my way.”

Fenton slammed down the phone, hurrying out of his office. He felt a little sad – if this was Matt Harris, what had happened? Did Matt kill himself due to remorse over the shooting of the police officer? If he had, that was too bad Fenton thought. After watching the security tape from the robbery, Fenton was convinced that Matt hadn’t meant to shoot the off-duty officer. His thoughts still on Matt Harris, Fenton collided with Laura, causing her to drop the laundry basket in her hands.

“Laura – I’m so sorry! I guess my mind was somewhere else!” Fenton apologized as he bent down to help her pick up the clothes.

“You do seem to get that way when you’re on a case,” she chuckled. “Is everything all right?” Laura asked, becoming serious.

“Ezra called – I need to go down to the station. I shouldn’t be gone long.”

Fenton picked up the basket and handed it to Laura – he then gave her a kiss on the cheek before he left to see Chief Collig.

*****

Callie waved when she saw Frank walking down the hallway. She closed her locker while putting on her backpack.

“How are you feeling today?”

“A lot better – thanks for asking.” Frank leaned down to give Callie a light kiss.

“Have there been any more pranks?” asked Callie, her brow furrowed in concern.

“No,” replied Frank, frowning too.

Noticing the look on her boyfriend’s face, Callie knew that this bothered Frank. “Okay, what’s wrong – what thoughts are running through your head?”

Frank opened and shut his mouth, not sure how to answer. Was he making something out of nothing? Maybe he was trying to see a mystery that wasn’t there. He put his arm around Callie’s shoulders, giving her a little squeeze as he smiled at her. “It’s nothing – I guess I’m just over thinking things – as usual!”

“You do have a tendency to do that!” Callie giggled.

The young couple walked down the hallway heading out of the school.

Across the street a man sat in a car – he was watching a dark-haired boy and a blonde-haired girl walk out of the school. The couple met up with a blonde-haired boy and girl who were standing next to a black van.

“Yes, they are definitely Fenton Hardy’s sons,” the man thought to himself. He watched as they all piled into the van – following them with his eyes as they drove out of the school parking lot. When the van disappeared the man started his car and left. Now was not the time – he could wait – he was a patient man after all.

*****

Several days went by without incident, causing Frank and Joe to let down their guard.

The sun shone brightly that Saturday morning as Frank tumbled out of bed. He stretched out the kinks from his body as he went into the shower; Frank was glad that his Aunt Gertrude was back home. Precious never bothered him when his aunt was home.

Freshly showered and dressed, Frank walked into Joe’s room and stood staring at the sleeping form of his brother. Glancing at the alarm clock he saw that it was a quarter till nine, a good time to wake him! A small smile crossed his face.

As Frank started to lean down and remove Joe’s covers, a pillow suddenly slammed into his face. He could hear Joe laughing as he stumbled backwards a few steps. With a low growl, Frank lunged at Joe. The brothers wrestled on the bed, both falling onto the floor with a loud thud.

“Boys!”

Frank and Joe looked up to find their aunt standing at the door, hands on her hips, glaring down at them. Frank helped Joe untangle himself from his blankets, all the while smiling sheepishly at Gertrude.

“Just what are you two doing?!”

“Sorry, Aunt Gertrude, I was – um, I was trying to wake up Joe.”

“And he did a really good job too!” Joe grinned mischievously.

“Hmm – now that you’re up, get washed up; breakfast is ready.”

“Yes, Aunt Gertrude,” chorused Frank and Joe as they tried to appear contrite.

As soon as he knew that Gertrude had gone downstairs, Frank quickly got Joe into a headlock. He mussed up Joe’s hair before letting him go, then ran out of the room before his brother could retaliate.

“When you least expect it, Frank – expect it!” Joe yelled out. Chuckling softly to himself, the young teen gathered up some clean clothes and headed for the shower.

After breakfast Joe and Frank spent the rest of the morning doing yard work. Aunt Gertrude had Frank mowing the lawn and Joe weeding out the edges of the garden. Both boys raked the lawn, and once they were done Joe suggested calling the gang and heading out to the beach.

“That’s a great idea Joe!”

“Dibs on the shower!” Joe cried as he ran past Frank.

While Joe was getting cleaned up, Frank called Callie to see if she would be able to join them at the beach. While on the phone, there was a soft knock at his bedroom door. Frank looked up to see his mother.

“Hold on, Callie – yes, Mom?”

“I have to go to the Red Cross center, your Aunt Gertrude is coming to help me, and your father is meeting Sam for lunch. Do you think you and Joe can stay out of trouble?”

“I can’t vouch for Joe but I know I can!” Frank laughed. “Joe and I were heading out to the beach.”

“Have fun then!”

A few minutes later, Joe finished his shower. Frank ended his call with Callie so he could get ready.

Joe made a quick call to Vanessa and then Chet, knowing that Chet would call the rest of the gang. He then went outside to put their beach gear in the van. Joe remembered that the motorbikes were still inside the van. He was opening the back doors when he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. The last thing Joe saw was the cement driveway as he fell to the ground.

Dressed for the beach, Frank went into Joe’s room. Not finding him there he then went downstairs. When he didn’t find him in the kitchen, Frank wondered where Joe could have gone. Walking out of the kitchen, he noticed a small ice chest.

“All right, Joe!” Frank said as he picked up the ice chest and headed out the door.

“Hey Joe, thanks for….”

Frank dropped the ice chest when he saw a pair of jeans-clad legs sticking out from the back of the van. He ran over to the van; as he reached Joe, Frank started to kneel down when he felt a hand clamp a rag over his nose. Startled, he took a deep breath – immediately regretting what he had done as he smelled the sickly sweet odor of chloroform.

The man dragged Frank into the garage and laid him a few feet away from Joe. He then dragged the younger boy further into the garage. Checking that no one had seen what he had done, the gray-haired man took the motorbikes out of the Hardy van. He then put Frank and Joe in the back of the van and drove off.

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Disclaimer

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.