RESCUE
ME!
by
CQB
Chapter 7
The Chapters
“So, what’s the hold up?” Sam Radley asked form the front passenger seat of the car.
“I finally got to speak to one of the officers,” Fenton Hardy said as he climbed back into his silver Concord. He and Sam had been on their way to Amy Gantz’s house in Southport when traffic crawled to an unexpected stop. “There’s been an accident.”
“The boys?” Sam anxiously asked.
Fenton shook his head. “Two cars and a pick-up truck; no black van.”
“We could cruise down the shoulder of the road and take the Midland exit,” Sam suggested.
Fenton sighed. It would add an extra 20 minutes to the trip, but waiting for the accident to be cleared could take much longer. He signaled and carefully pulled the sedan onto the far right shoulder of the road, following several other vehicles doing the same thing. In minutes, they reached the exit ramp and drove into the small seaside town of Midland, where they could pick up an alternate route to Southport.
* * *
“Tim’s demise made me executor of his estate, which of course, included the new game,” Amy Gantz continued. “As the owner of the game now, I plan on having Cyrus market it. With Tim’s past successes, the game will sell.”
“In fact,” Cyrus Landles added, “Tim’s untimely death will help the game sell even more. I plan on marketing it as the last Gantz game. It will be an instant winner.”
“You killed your own brother for money,” Joe said, not hiding the disgust in his voice. He couldn’t help but glance at his own brother; he loved Frank and would give his life for him.
Frank decided to try his best to keep Amy and Cyrus talking. He was sure they would eventually kill him and Joe, but if he stalled long enough, his dad and Sam might get there in time.
“You’re not a very big woman and I know that your brother was over six foot tall,” Frank said, “so how did you over power him?”
Amy smiled. “Tim always took a couple sleeping pills in the evening to help him relax. I waited until they had started taking effect.”
Frank couldn’t get over how casually she was speaking, as if killing her own brother was perfectly natural.
“You strangled him and then made it look like a suicide,” Frank stated. “But you couldn’t have gotten him to the tree in his yard by yourself.”
“Actually, I was just going to dispose of Tim’s body somehow. I knew the police have all kinds of tricky ways of finding killers now,” Amy explained, “but if there was no body, there would be no evidence of a murder. I burned the nylon cord I choked him with and was going to wait until dark to move his body out to my car. The longer I waited, the more I worried. Like you said, Tim was a big man. I was afraid I couldn’t get him in the car myself. So, I called Cyrus.”
“When I got the call, I started thinking that if Tim vanished, it might be years before we could market the new game,” Cyrus took up the story, “so when I arrived, I told Amy that we could stage a suicide. The drama and tragedy of it would help the sale of the new game.”
“This has been pleasant boys, but all good things must come to an end,” Amy said, waving the pistol in front of them. She looked at Cyrus. “Tape them up.”
Cyrus nodded and, tucking his weapon in his waistband, began securing Frank’s and Joe’s wrists behind them with duct tape.
“I have a question,” Joe spoke up suddenly. Frank glanced at his brother and could tell from Joe’s expression that he, too, felt the urgency to stall for time.
“Oh all right,” Amy responded with a dramatic sigh. “What’s one more question? Ask away.”
“Why wait? I mean, Tim’s been dead for three weeks,” Joe asked, “why haven’t you started production on the new game?”
“That’s an easy one,” Amy replied. “The case isn’t closed yet. Although Tim’s death was ruled a suicide, there were a lot of questions. No suicide note and no real motive for killing himself are both big issues.”
“We were just waiting until it was all wrapped up before proceeding,” Cyrus stated.
“No more questions,” Amy said firmly. “Let’s go.”
“Are you going to tell us where you’re taking us?” Frank asked desperately.
“Why, silly boy,” Amy said with an evil grin, “we’re taking you to get the new game disk.”
* * *
“It’s almost ten o’clock and we’ve not heard from anyone,” Callie Shaw said as she paced in Frank’s bedroom.
“I know what you mean,” Vanessa Bender replied. “This is making me crazy.”
“I feel so helpless and so totally useless just sitting here!” Callie cried, exasperation evident in her voice.
Suddenly, Vanessa sat up straight in the desk chair and smiled.
“What are you thinking?” Callie asked.
“Let’s take our cell-phones and head for Amy’s house too,” Vanessa said. “I’ll get the Hardy’s home phone number transferred to my cell temporarily. That way, if Mr. Hardy or the boys call, we’ll still be able to answer it.”
“Great! At least I won’t feel so restless,” Callie agreed.
In minutes, the girls were in Callie’s blue Cobalt heading toward Southport.
* * *
Sam hung up his cell phone. “Ethel said that Landles has been associated with a gambling racket and siphoning money from clients, but he’s never been caught.”
Fenton nodded. “Look. We’re here.”
“The place is all dark,” Sam stated as he and Fenton walked toward Amy’s house. “Where is everyone?”
“I’ve got a bad feeling Sam,” Fenton said, and pulled his hand gun from his shoulder holster. “The boys’ van is still here along with two other cars, which means, they should be here. Keep alert – something is very wrong.
“Pull the car into the shadows on the far side of the house. It will be well hidden there, just in case.”
They made their way onto the porch and noticed that the front door was unlocked. Fenton gripped his gun and nudged the door open with his foot. The house looked empty.
Not wanting to announce their presence, the two detectives kept all the lights off and systematically searched the small ranch house using small flashlights. They met in the living room after a thorough search of the other rooms.
“Something went wrong with the plan,” Fenton murmured as he searched a cluttered desk.
“Fent,” Sam suddenly cried out, “Look what’s here!” He reached down and picked up a small recording device from under the edge of the sofa.
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors 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.