HDA - Where Troubles Melt by Cherylann Rivers Introduction

Two days later, Frank, Joe, and Vanessa found themselves at a small motel in the heart of Charlestown, Missouri. Frank sat quietly by himself, mulling over the local newspapers that had covered the robbery from a few days ago. Like many of the other small towns that had been hit, Charlestown was rather nondescript and had an unusually low crime rate. Still, he searched through the article, hoping to find any clues that he could before they would all head over to the Lee’s Jeweler’s themselves in a little while to do some personal investigating.

As Frank’s eyes wandered over the page, he found himself idly highlighting important facts and times. He knew that this case was bizarre, and that it could potentially be very dangerous, since somehow, it looked as though their father’s old case was, in fact, now theirs. If that was the case, even though the threats appeared to be moving away from the boys, they still had to be careful. Frank sighed. He’d never gone looking for threats before! Still, he hated being on this case right now. Callie was back at home, in Bayport, and within a day or so, she’d find out the news. As he thought about it, Frank felt his hands quiver slightly. He should be there right now for her; instead, he was pursing a case that he didn’t even know for certain had anything to do with him or his family. With a heavy heart, Frank’s focused on the case at hand, realizing that he really didn’t care very much about it at all.

Joe meanwhile, sat outside with Vanessa, caring very much about the case for his own reasons. As he looked at Vanessa, he felt a slight twinge come to his heart. Whatever had gone on between him and Iola, he knew he had to tell her about. He had almost lost her once; he wasn’t about to lose her again.

Vanessa caught him staring. “Um, Joe? Is there something the matter? We really ought to discuss when we’re going to the police station.”

Joe sighed, and turned to her. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her; at least, not yet.

Vanessa narrowed her eyes slightly, sensing that something was on Joe’s mind. Slowly, she got up, crossed the space between them, and sat down on his lap, putting her arm around him. “Okay, Hardy, what’s up?” she asked. “ I know something’s bothering you, so you might as well spill it before I have to beat it out of you.” She winked at him to let him know she was only kidding.

Joe gave her a small smile, and wrapped both his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder. He looked into her eyes, and, unexpectedly kissed her.

“Hey!” she giggled. “Nice try, but no can do. Seriously Joe, what’s going on? Is this case bothering you?”

Joe let out a breath, slowly, and gave her a wry grin. “Yeah, sort of,” he replied.

“Sort of what?” Vanessa prodded. She hated to see Joe like this, and if she could help him, she would.

Leaning back, Joe gently rubbed Vanessa’s back as he spoke. “This case is something, huh?” he began. ‘I hate being outwitted by my enemy. The frustrating thing is that I don’t know if these guys are even my enemy, or if this is their form of psychological mind games, OR, worse yet, if we’re on the totally wrong track and this case has nothing to do with us.”

Vanessa listened, and then replied, “Hon, I think it’s pretty clear that these guys have something to do with you, even though they’re not directly after you. I don’t totally get it, either, but that’s what I think.”

Joe laughed softly, and sighed. “AAAHH, Vanessa. Yep- I know exactly what you mean. Whatever happened to the days when the greatest mystery was who cheated on a test or something?” He gave her a rueful smile.

Vanessa playfully ruffled his hair. “You’ll solve it, don’t worry. By the way, what’s going on with you and Frank? I mean, you’re obviously still talking and all, but he seems—I don’t know—still kinda out of sorts. Is he okay?” She stopped, and then met his eyes. “Are you okay?”

Joe paused. He knew he’d sworn not to say anything to anyone about Callie and what was going on, but he had already messed up and told Iola when he and Frank weren’t speaking. What was the harm in telling Vanessa? He knew he could trust her completely.

With no drama, and acting totally straightforwardly, he blurted out to her, “Well, Frank’s bummed out because he wants to get engaged to Callie because she’s pregnant.”

Vanessa almost fell off the chair. Standing up, she stuttered, “W… what? Are you out of your mind? That’s crazy! Callie would have told me! She’s one of my best friends! Oh My God!”

Joe stood, too, and started pacing. “Yeah—look, you have to promise not to say anything. Frank would kill me. He’s still trying to decide what to do—you know, get married or… well, don’t. I guess Callie still has options,” he finished, emphasizing the last word. “Anyway, that’s why they’ve both been so freaked out lately, and I guess why Callie’s been sick. She’s supposed to hear from the doctor in like a day or two to see if things are positive or negative, because I suppose initial tests can be wrong. Swear you won’t say anything!”

Vanessa was utterly shocked. She managed. “My goodness! Oh, poor Callie!”

Joe was surprised. “Poor Callie?” he said, shocked. “Poor Frank! Look at what he’s giving up!”

Vanessa, recovering from her initial reaction, was herself shocked upon hearing Joe’s. “Joe!” she said forcibly to him. “I can’t believe you’d say that. This is the hardest decision that she’s ever going to have to make. Like it or not, Callie’s stuck with this child if she decides to have it. There’s nothing to say your brother has to stick around. I mean, it’s the right thing to do, but is Frank really capable of being that selfless? I don’t know.” Vanessa felt herself getting teary-eyed, and her voiced cracked a bit.

“Oh, Van,” Joe said, taking her in his arms. “Don’t be upset. The test might still come back negative. That’s what we have to hope for. Besides, you don’t know any of this, right?”

Vanessa clung to Joe for a moment, and then regained her composure. “You’re right,” she said at last. “I guess all we can do now is to concentrate on the case at hand.”

“Yup,” Joe said, wiping a tear from her eye. “That’s all we can do.”

At that moment, Frank came outside. Vanessa tried to avoid staring, knowing what she now did. Joe would kill her if she said anything. But why hadn’t Callie talked to her?

“Ready to go, guys?” Frank asked. “I figure if we can talk to the jewelers, then we can verify that it was the same pattern. It certainly fits with the time frame, and the papers do indicate that only natural pearls were taken, so obviously these guys know their stuff. Now we just need to see…”

“If the license plate, car, number of people, hostage situation, and alarm situations all fit the pattern as well,” Joe finished for his brother.

Frank smiled softly. “Yeah, that’s right,” he said.

A few hours later, Frank, Joe, and Vanessa had completed their interviews with not only the jewelers, but with the local police as well. Everything had checked out- the Oldsmobile Toronado, the “Totowas” license plate, which they had managed to confirm was multi-colored, the little child who had been used as a shield, the natural pearls taken, the two masked men with the driver, and the dis- activated alarm. In addition, the time of the robbery had, in fact, been exactly one half-hour after the previous one.

Back at the motel, the three sat looking silently at one another, until Frank finally spoke up. “Joe, Vanessa,” he started, “I have absolutely no clue as to what to do next. There’s no rhyme or reason to this pattern and therefore I have no idea how or why these guys will strike next. And what if these are all little robberies? So what? I mean, it’s bad and all, but it’s not like anyone has been killed, or that dad or our family’s been threatened. We should leave it alone, I’m beginning to think.”

“We can’t,” Joe replied, trying to hide his shock. Frank had never given up on a case before. He continued, adamantly, “You know as well as I do that there IS a pattern here- we just haven’t seen it yet. And, I’m sorry if you think these robberies have nothing to do with us, but I can’t agree. There are too many hints to the contrary. And if we’re chasing clues, who cares? There’s a reason we’re chasing after these guys, even if we don’t know WHY yet.”

Vanessa, listening to all of this, suddenly gasped. “I get it!” she managed.

The brothers turned to her. “Get what?” Joe asked.

“Don’t you see?” she asked, animated. “Even though you don’t know what the threat is or how it affects you, if you really believe that these guys are after you, then they must be.”

“Your point?” Frank asked, dryly.

She looked at him, annoyed. “My point, FRANK, is that the robberies started in Bayport, where YOU and your family live. If the clues are leading AWAY from Bayport, these guys must know you’d be after them, right? So…..” She looked at Joe directly. “Would you like to finish my thought?” she asked him.

“So,” Joe exclaimed, seeing the light at last, “There’s some sort of trap leading us away from Bayport on this trail intentionally.”

“And THAT means,” Frank continued, getting it at last, “That whatever is at the end of the road can’t be good, because these guys want us away from home. So either they’re planning to attack us somehow at home, or mom, dad, and aunt Gertrude when we’re away, OR they’re leading just you and I into something.”

“This isn’t good,” Joe said, simply.

The others looked at him. More words weren’t necessary.

“Well, what do we do now, then?” Vanessa asked.

“THAT is a very good question,” Frank replied.

They looked at each other in silence.

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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.