Sean Prescott pulled the car to a slow stop seeing police barricades and yellow crime tape along the edge of the road.  He had a bad feeling that Chet and Joe were probably dead and the bodies had been discovered by some local fishermen or something.

Before he could voice his apprehension, Fenton Hardy and Chester Morton were already racing toward the officers standing nearby, with Frank right on their heels.  He and Sam Radley exited their vehicle and caught up with the others.

“…anyway, if David Neel hadn’t come along,” a county sheriff’s deputy was explaining, “Both the boys probably would’ve never been found.”

“Were the two boys hurt?” Fenton anxiously questioned.

“I don’t really know what condition they were in, sir,” the deputy replied, “but one boy was taken to the ambulance on a stretcher and one walked to the ambulance with Mr. Neel.”

“Where were they taken?” Chester asked, his voice laced with concern.

“Hale County,” the deputy offered.  He quickly gave directions to the group.

Again, vehicles were loaded and racing toward the hospital.

* * *

Chief of Police Cecil Struthers, and his suspended detectives Everett Calhoun and Chris Masters watched Brian Jackson’s remains being bagged and tagged for the coroner’s office.

“We, ah, were thinkin’, Chief,” Calhoun said as the body was loaded into a waiting ambulance, “that maybe we did jump the gun with that Morton kid.”

“Oh really?” Struthers smirked.

Calhoun studied his shoes for a few seconds before continuing.  “The kid was there with the girl.  I checked out the bridge and I really didn’t think his story was very realistic.”

“Until we remembered Jackson and how he fit the kid’s description…” Masters added.

“Then when those kids went missin’,” Calhoun went on, “we figured that maybe the kid was tellin’ the truth and Jackson’s friends might’a had something to do with it.”

Struthers looked at the two men and frowned. 

Calhoun nervously continued, “Jackson hung out with that guy from the old trailer park, you know, where Thomas lives.”

“Job Thomas, our janitor?” Struthers asked.

“Yeah,” Calhoun answered.

“His next door neighbor is a bum named Dixon,” Masters spoke up.  “He and Jackson were tight.”

Before they could continue their conversation any further, Struthers’ police radio squawked to life.  The Chief of Police picked up the microphone.

“Struthers here.”

The Chief listened with disbelief as the dispatcher reported a major state police bust at the trailer park on the edge of Moundville. 

“We’ve got work to do, boys,” Struthers stated as he faced the two detectives.  He quickly filled them in on the arrest of Vernon Dixon, Morris Grafton and three local troublemakers.

“The state boys are bringin’ Sonny Black, Gene Burress and Tommy Hall to our local lock-up,” he explained. 

“What about Dixon and Grafton?” Masters asked.

“They got bigger plans for them boys,” the Chief of Police replied.

* * *

Fenton Hardy led the way into the nearly empty emergency room of the Hale County Hospital.  Frank and Chester Morton caught up with him as he approached the reception desk.

“Two boys were just brought in by ambulance,” Fenton breathlessly announced.  “We,” He indicated himself and Chester, “are their fathers.”

“Yes,” the receptionist smiled at the men.  “We just had a boy rushed in and another that is being treated right through those doors.”  With her pen, she pointed toward a pair of gray doors off to their left.

The trio started going toward them, but the woman called out politely, “You can’t go in there!”

“B-but our boys…” Chester stammered.

“First,” the woman guided them to a small table, “we don’t even know if these boys are the ones you are looking for, do we?”

“But you said…,” Frank started to say.

“I said we had two young men brought in just a few minutes ago,” the receptionist patiently responded.  “Let’s get some information and then I’ll check and see if these boys really are your sons.”  She handed each of them a clipboard and pen.

Frank wasn’t about to wait.  He saw a cart filled with surgical garb near the doors.  He waited until his father and Mr. Morton were busy with the paperwork, and the receptionist was occupied.  He moved casually toward the nearby men’s room, grabbing some of the surgical wear from the cart on his way.

Sam Radley and Sean Prescott entered the emergency room just as a doctor came out of the men’s room, masked and gowned for surgery.

“Oh, excuse me,” Sam muttered as he passed the man, briefly making eye contact.  The surgeon nodded, but then disappeared behind a pair of gray doors.

Sam and Sean moved to join Fenton and Chester.  It wasn’t until he sat down at the table, that Sam realized Frank was missing.  He glanced toward the gray doors and a smile played at the corners of his mouth.

Sam knew there was no way ‘paperwork’ was going to keep Frank from seeing his brother!

* * *

Beyond the doors that Frank Hardy had just passed through was the emergency room nurses’ station.  He glanced as casually as he could at the dry erase board on the wall behind the large desk.

He found Chet’s name scrawled in about midway down the white surface.  His friend was in room three.  Frank frowned as he searched for his brother’s name, but Joe’s name was not there.

Reining in his emotions, Frank quickly made his way to room number three, but his mind was racing and he felt a deep fear in the pit of his stomach.  Where was Joe?