HDA - Classified Secrets by Cherylann Rivers Introduction

Almost four hours later, the group arrived at the outskirts of Elmwood High School, which was currently surrounded by a lot of people, both professional detectives and health officials. The ride up to Elmwood had been surprisingly pleasant, Frank thought. He had driven and Callie had sat up front with him, to allow Iola and Joe time to talk in the back. For the first three hours, while all of them talked and joked around, Joe and Callie hadn’t even fought. Frank knew Callie well enough to tell that she was uncomfortable being in the middle of Iola and Vanessa. No one mentioned it, but her friendship with both girls seemed to underlie moments of silence.

Still, Frank had to admit that maybe Callie was right. Today was turning out to be fun after all. Frank had told Joe in the car that he hadn’t wanted to worry their father, and that’s why he hadn’t said anything. Of course, he had wound up looking like a liar anyway, but he was willing to accept that. Hours three and four in the car had been a bit rough with Callie’s and Joe’s zingers and sarcastic remarks, fueled, Frank had to admit, this time by Joe. However, thanks to Iola’s presence, Frank’s refusal to get in the middle of things, and the CD which Frank had strategically brought with songs that Callie and Joe couldn’t help but to sing along to, they had made it thus far without any real casualties.

As soon as they arrived, they parked a reasonable distance away, trying to avert any unnecessary attention to themselves. Frank and Joe had decided to pose as students from the high school who were just curious to find out how things were going. That would be easy enough since there were, indeed, kids who were mulling around. What they really wanted to find out was the name of the first person who had contracted the disease, and to get some information about her or him. They also were waiting expectantly to get the famed "shoe" cutout, or, more accurately, to get a look at it. The mailbox was obviously heavily surrounded, but somehow, they’d have to find a way.

Turning to Callie, Frank said quietly to her, while Joe spoke with Iola, "Now stay here. You promised."

Callie squinted her eyes at him. "Yes, I know."

"Be good."

"Yes, mom."

Frank couldn’t believe it! Joe had called him that just this morning. This was too much.

"I’m serious."

"You always are."

"Callie…"

"Frank…"

"I…"

"Frank, I’ll be good, okay? I will stay here like a good little girl. I will even keep Iola company and keep her away from the bad guys. Even if I see you are in dire danger, on fire and running from the building, I will refrain from offering you water and will instead call the proper authorities who are more qualified to assist you."

Frank smiled tightly at her and patted her shoulder. He motioned Joe away, leaving the girls behind. Maybe I should have looked at those personal ads more closely, he thought warily.

"So… ready for action?" Joe asked.

"Sure."

"Boy, that girlfriend of yours…"

"Joe, stop it. Please. I’m not in the mood."

Joe laughed. "Hey, guess what? Before we left today I saw the personals ad out in the paper. Maybe you should check it out. That’d be ironic, huh? You could find the love of your life in a paper and get rid of the real-life person!" He laughed again.

Frank’s mouth dropped open, and he shut it with an audible snap. "Joe, you have no idea how ironic that very statement is."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind."

"Okay."

The first part of this investigation would be easy. Frank split up with Joe so they would not be conspicuous. Walking up to a health officer, Joe put on his most concerned expression and poked him eagerly on the back of the shoulder.

"Huh?" The officer turned around. "Look, kid. You can’t be here. Go back and play with your friends. You should be a minimum of 1,000 feet off the property. If you won’t move, I’ll get someone to move you."

Friendly sort, Joe thought. Still, he persevered. "Gee, mister, I’m awfully sorry to be a bother…" Joe tried to look sympathetic. He thought he sounded too Leave-it –To- Beaverish, but he knew that often, feigned naivete was the only way to get someone to talk to you.

"What do you want?"

"Well, my friend is in the hospital now and he’s real sick."

"Oh yeah? Who?’

Uh oh. The who was the part he hadn’t expected. Quickly, Joe searched his mind for the names of someone he had heard of being in the hospital. He came up with nothing. As he felt each second tick by, he came up with the only name he could think of. "Mike." There had to be a Mike. Every school had a Mike, right?

He watched the officer’s expression change. "Oh yeah? I’m sorry about that. I know his family. I hope he’s doing well."

Whew! Joe had to remind himself to start being more detail-oriented like his brother. Luck like that could only get him so far.

"Oh, thank you. Well, he was wondering about the kids who … died. Did they ever find out where the initial contamination came from?"

The officer looked suspicious again. "Why?"

"Just wondering. A lot of people are curious."

"Well, I’ll tell you because it’s no secret and it’ll be all over the news tonight. Maggie Hunterdon. She was only eighteen, poor thing. Would have graduated in a few weeks. Say, what did you say your name was again?"

Joe had the info, and was only too glad to escape. I didn’t. It’s, um, Mike."

"Hey, wait a minute…"

Joe ran off as fast as he could and disappeared from site. Stupid! Of all the names in the entire world, he had to pick Mike- and twice!

About two minutes later, Frank came up behind him. Joe was still panting. "What happened? I saw you talking and then running. Did you get caught or something?"

"Nah," Joe said. "I’ve got it under control."

Frank doubted that, but Joe had gotten the info they had looked for.

"Well, on the other side of the campus, the mail was already delivered with police escorts, of course. Nothing. That means, if the pattern hold true, it’ll either be delivered secretly tonight or it was previously mailed and will get here tomorrow. So, right now we could…"

"Check on Maggie Hunterdon!" Joe finished.

"You read my mind!"

Both boys knew, as they headed back to the car, that getting a family member of the deceased to talk to them would be a difficult job. However, they had about a half an hour to come up with a plan. Frank had brought along his laptop, so breaking into the school’s directory , he expected, should not be a problem for him.

Returning to their car, Joe noted that both Callie and Iola were exactly where they said they would be. Hmmm. Maybe Callie finally was realizing that her place was not in the detective field and was settling down.

Frank informed the girls of their destination, and he heard Callie say to Frank as they were getting into the car, "Gee? Did I behave? See? I’m a good detective after all. What listening skills I have!"

With a small chuckle, Joe thought, Nope. I was wrong. Callie Shaw will never settle down.

And with that, the boys set out to find out what had happened to Maggie Hunterdon.

As they approached the Hunterdon residence, Frank and Joe stopped decided to stop about two blocks away. Telling the girls they’d be right back, they had decided to take a little walk and to decide how to approach the family. They also wanted to stake the place out in case they needed to snak in for some reason. This left Callie and Iola sitting in the car, awaiting their return.

Iola looked at her friend. "Cal? You seem annoyed. Are you okay?"

Callie turned wearily to Iola. "Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just that I can’t stand this! I’m perfectly capable of going to that family and acting the part. I mean, I’m the person who performs in plays, I’ve worked on the paper, and I want to be a journalist. I really want to see some action! But NNNOOOO. I’m a girl. I can’t do it. I just can’t stand waiting around!" With a sly look around, she continued, "Come on! Let’s go!"

Iola looked petrified. "N.. No! we can’t do that."

Callie looked at her impatiently. "Why not?"

"Because, you know, Joe wouldn’t like it…"

Callie’s eyes flashed. "Iola, I could really go places with that remark, but I won’t. Now, give me a real reason."

"Well…" Iola faltered. "I mean, I don’t really want to. Why do you want to get involved in these cases? I don’t like cases, and I never did. They’re dangerous."

"And?" Callie asked.

"Well, I don’t want to get hurt. I’d prefer to just relax here with Joe."

"Oh, Iola," Callie sighed. "No risk, no reward. I don’t want to be a detective, but journalism does involve a lot of detective work. And you know what? I’m good at it. Frank and Joe work well together, and I’d never try to break up their team. But I can help, and I have helped, and no one wants to listen. Frank I can somewhat deal with. I know he’d always let me help and ask for my advice. His problem is that he really worries about me because he cares. He’s got to realize that although I sincerely appreciate that, I am capable. Joe, on the other hand, is obnoxious, sexist, and downright insulting. It’s ridiculous!"

Iola disagreed. "No, he’s not. He’s the protective one. He’s probably just looking out for you."

Callie had to laugh. "Please."

"No, seriously. And when did you two start fighting so much? Before everything.., happened… with me, you always got along pretty well."

Callie pondered that. "Yeah, I guess that’s true. I never thought about it."

Iola changed the subject. "Sooooo… I kind of wanted to ask you something."

Callie raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"It’s about Vanessa. Were she and Joe, you know, serious?"

Callie felt the color rise in her cheeks. This was one topic she didn’t want to talk about. Still, she felt obligated to answer. "Um, yes. No. Sort of. I don’t know."

"Well, thanks for clearing that up."

Callie cleared her throat. "Iola, for a long time after you were gone, Joe didn’t see anybody. He was too grief-stricken and he felt too guilty, I think. Then, he went through this sort of crazy phase for a few months when he dated tons of people. He was out of control! I think he did that so that he didn’t have to become too attached to any one person. Then, Vanessa came into his life and they were pretty exclusive. I mean….well, yeah, Iola… Joe did love Vanessa."

Iola said simply, "Oh." She then continued. "I mean, Vanessa was great and all, and she really helped me out at the Clinic, but I don’t think we’ll be talking too much. I’m glad Joe found someone when I was gone."

Callie was surprised at that. but remained quiet.

"It was good for him. Even though, you know, it’s funny. She’s not his type at all."

Callie was startled. "I wouldn’t say that…."

Iola interrupted. "Look, Callie. You can be friends with her if you want. I don’t have anything against her. But she was a fling. I was Joe’s first love, and he was mine. We’re meant to be together. We even talked about this."

Callie, for once, had no idea what to say. She managed, "I see."

"I mean, look at how happy we are together! You see that, don’t you?"

Callie could only nod yes.

"Joe’s gonna tell Vanessa soon. I feel badly for her, but we’ve both made our decision. She’s a nice girl, and I respect the fact that Joe and her were together. She’ll find someone new, don’t worry."

Callie felt sick to her stomach, and she didn’t know why. It was perfectly logical for Joe and Iola to end up together. They had once shared something very special. Still, Vanessa was her good friend, and she knew that Joe had once loved her, to. She felt terrible. Maybe, she thought, Vanessa will find her real

Prince Charming soon, then.

"You okay?" Iola asked, concerned.

"Hmmm? Yeah, I’m fine, really. I just… well, where are the boys?"

"I guess they’re still checking out the place to see if anyone else is asking the family questions. You know how thorough they are when it comes to that stuff."

"Uh huh." Callie paused, then continued. "You know what? I’m tired of waiting. If they come back, tell them I’ve handled it. I’m going to find out exactly who this girl was. Wait here." She walked out of the car, in the direction of the house.

"Callie!" Iola shouted after her.

"I’ll be fine." In a minute, she disappeared from sight.

About 5 minutes later, Frank and Joe returned to the car, confident that they could speak with the family in less than a half hour, since clearly visitors to the home were beginning to leave. They had decided to take an alternate street back to the car, simply to check out the surroundings, which is probably how they missed Callie.

Frank was laughing at something Joe had just said. He peered into the car. "Hey, where’d Callie go?"

Taking a deep breath, Iola relayed Callie’s intention as she simultaneously watched Franks’ face drain of color and Joe’s turn bright red.

Alone, the three could only wait now for the outcome, helpless to do anything about it.

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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 them without express permission of the authors.