"Dad, how’s Aunt Lisa doing? What’d mom say when you called from Rychfield yesterday?" Frank asked. They had come out of the hills and were going through open countryside now, still about an hour away from Bayport. The radio was still playing oldies. Frank had taken a short spell at the wheel, and now his father was driving again. Joe was stretched out on the back seat half asleep, trying to play snake on his father’s cell phone, wishing he’d brought his along, it had more games in it.

"She’s not too well, Frank," Fenton hesitated and then said, "She’s very ill, in fact. Your mom wants to stay with her for a while more."

Frank nodded in understanding. Aunt Lisa was actually his mother’s favourite aunt, they’d always been very close, and now Laura was her only surviving relative, after her husband’s death a year ago.

"So she may not be back next week as planned?" Joe asked from the back. He was sitting up now and looking back.

"She’ll definitely be back for your eighteenth birthday," Fenton told him smiling. Joe would turn eighteen in a month’s time.

"But dad, she doesn’t have to do that, I mean if Aunt Lisa’s unwell, and she wants to be with her, it wouldn’t be fair to expect her to drop it and come back just for that." Joe said. He knew how close his mother was to Aunt Lisa, and that Aunt Lisa had no on else to turn to.

"She wants to be with you for that, Joe," Fenton said. "Hey, I haven’t heard that song in years." He turned up the volume a little as Top of the World started playing.

Frank looked at his dad, he hadn’t known him to be too much of a Carpenters fan, and he actually seemed to be changing the subject. He figured his dad was upset because of the Laura’s news. Fenton was very fond of his wife’s aunt too. They were all very fond of her.

"She must be lonely living there all alone," Joe said after a while, putting out his hands to balance himself as the car swerved a little. He picked up the cell phone that had fallen onto the floor, and shook it around a little. No signal yet.

"Almost there," Fenton announced cheerfully, as he swung into the highway leading into Bayport., "We’d better pick some food and stuff. The fridge was near empty when we left."

"Thanks to Joe, with help from Chet." Frank said.

"That’s strange," came Joe’s response.

"What?" Frank demanded, "That you needed Chet’s help to empty the fridge?"

"Funny guy! I meant the phone. We should have been able to receive a signal now," Joe said holding up the phone, as Frank turned around. "Umm… dad I think it sort of conked out when I dropped it."

"Well, then I’ll just use Frank’s till we get it straightened out" his dad told him smiling widely. Frank had very naturally picked up the latest hi-tech gizmo in the line of mobile phones, after the old one had been literally reduced to pieces in their last case.

"I just wanted to check the messages in the answering machine," Joe said.

"We’re almost home!" Frank told him. "Check them on the machine."

Fenton pulled out of the highway and entered the turn off into Bayport, "so who’s going to the store."

"I’ll take the van over to the store," Frank volunteered. He figured he could wash up, pick their van from home, get the groceries and stop over at Callie’s place on his way back. He’d really missed her.

Joe snorted, "And you’ll want to stop over at Callie’s on the way back, and we’ll have to wait! Dad, why don’t you drop me at the supermarket on the way home, I’ll get enough stuff for tonight, and walk back home. I really want to stretch my legs. And Frank, you can go over to Callie’s place in the van."

"Sure," His father nodded. He’d secretly been surprised his usually restless younger son had sat through the entire journey so patiently.

 

It was almost evening when Fenton and Frank dropped Joe off at the supermarket and drove home. They parked the car in the drive, and stretched on getting off. The neighbourhood looked quiet and peaceful in the summer sun. As they neared the front door, Frank could hear the phone ringing inside. He looked at his father and shook his head, "Wanna bet it’ll stop ringing by the time we get inside?" he said smiling. They could hear the answering machine come on, as Fenton swung the door open, and stepped inside.

 

Bayport was basking in the early evening sun when Joe walked out of the store with a bag of groceries. He took a brisk walk down to his house through the shaded suburban avenues. The sun cast a pale golden hue over everything, it was a perfect summer evening. Joe walked up the drive, noticing that the car was still in the driveway and the van was still in the garage. Frank’s probably decided to check his mail first, before going over to Callie’s.

He twisted the door knob with his free hand and let himself in. "Frank, dad, I’m back!"

There was a muffled cry from the sitting room. Joe frowned, put the bag of groceries on a table and dashed over to the sitting room. He froze at the doorway. His father and Frank were both there, bound and gagged, held at gunpoint by a woman and a man both dressed in black.

Who’re you?" he demanded, as he moved forward trying to figure out what to do. Before he could move another step, he felt his arms being pulled behind his back and held there, while a second hand snaked around his throat. There was a knife in it. "Hello, Joseph," came a hard voice, "Don’t try anything funny now, or Frank and Fenton get it."

He continued in that same hard voice, "Children, meet your new step-brother, Joseph." 

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boy 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.