Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction - Presenting "The Great Train Mystery" by Aar-bear and Foo-burger

Frank moved up near where Joe and Ron were playing ‘Highway Robbery’. Ron was winning, but Joe was close behind. Frank smiled. As far as he knew, Joe had never played the game before. Their father was a private detective and told them that this game was ‘in poor taste’. To win, you have to steal and kill. Frank knew Joe wasn’t playing to disobey their father; he was playing to catch a thief.

"There Squirt! Told’ya I would win!" Ron said with a grin on his mean face.

"Yeah, you’re pretty good at a game, but I bet you couldn’t steal anything in real life!" Joe challenged. Frank grinned as he realized what Joe was doing.

"Like you would, Squirt!" Ron said.

"I do it all the time," Joe said, shrugging his shoulders. "Me and my brother have been casing this whole train."

"What’s ‘casing’ mean?" Jeff whispered to Ron. Ron frowned and stared at Joe.

"It means," Frank spoke up, "We’ve been looking around and checking out what kind of valuables people are leaving open and easy to grab." Frank gave Joe a quick wink. He was proud of the way Joe had moved in on their suspects and that he used the word, ‘casing’. The boys knew lots of police and detective words because of their father’s work. Using them made both Frank and Joe feel like real detectives.

"Who are you guys?" Ron asked.

"I’m Frank and you already met my brother Joe," Frank said. Frank then turned to Joe. "Are you ready to pull another job, Joe?" He tried to sound like an experienced thief.

"Ready when you are," Joe grinned. Even though he didn’t like the idea of stealing, Joe was getting caught up in the ‘pretending’, and he liked the excitement he felt.

"So what have you guys stole?" Jeff asked.

"We got a stash of goods hidden," Frank said.

"I think they’re lying!" Ron said.

"No we’re not!" Joe said, his cheeks getting red, "We got lots of cool stuff. We’re just not tellin’ you ‘cause, ah, cause…"

"We don’t know if we trust you yet," Frank added. "Anyway, we gotta go do this job. Maybe we’ll see you guys later." The Hardy brothers left the car and made their way toward their room.

"You ready?" Frank asked Joe as they neared their parent’s door. "I’ll keep them talking while you take anything you can get. Then we hurry out and run to that last car. We’ll pretend to check out our catch when we get there."

"Are Ron and Jeff watching?" Joe whispered.

"Yeah," Frank said, "I saw them follow us. They’ll follow us to the last car. I’ll have the tape recorder ready."

"Okay," Joe said. His stomach felt a little sick and he hoped that his parents would understand when they found out why he and Frank were stealing from them.

Frank spied Ron and Jeff at the end of the aisle between the cars, peeking in the window. Frank pretended to look around carefully. He used his library card to make it look as if he were breaking into the room. Quietly, he and Joe slipped inside.

Let the author know what you think of this story

Home Library Authors Rogue's Gallery Vehicles Chums Message Board Rap Sheet Links Contact

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.