Lydia stared out her bedroom window, she glanced over at the clock – it was now midnight. She let out a sad sigh. There was only one thing she could do. Lydia had to leave. She didn’t want to – she really liked Ms. Chase and then there was…Phil. It was pure bad luck that Mrs. Tanner lived in Bayport. Everything would have been fine if Tanner hadn’t seen her. No, Lydia amended – everything would have been fine if the accident hadn’t happened. And it was an accident but no one would believe her now. With a heavy sigh, her thoughts went back to that fateful day….

Lydia waved goodbye to Ms. Chase before going inside the school.

She went to her locker, putting away the books she didn’t need. She checked her watch before heading upstairs to the library. Lydia smiled at the janitor and adjusted her book bag. Holding onto the railing she started up the steep stairs. She was almost to the top when she heard someone gasp.

“It is you! I knew it – I couldn’t believe it but I knew it was you, Clair!”

“I’m sorry but my name is Lydia – Lydia Barlow.”

Anne Tanner shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re up to, Clair, but you’re coming with me to the principal’s office.”

Anne reached out and took hold of Lydia’s arm as she took a few steps down the stairs. Lydia tried to pull her arm away but Anne kept a tight grip.

“Let me go!” hissed Lydia, not wanting the janitor to hear.

“You’re coming with me! I want to know why you’re pretending to be someone else and a teenager at that!”

Determined to get away, Lydia yanked her arm away then pushed Anne away from her. One misstep caused Anne to fall down the stairs, breaking her neck as she fell.

Lydia shuddered, trying to block the image out of her mind. She had only wanted to get away! She hadn’t been too worried when Phil told her Frank and Joe were going to investigate the accident. It wasn’t until she learned that Fenton Hardy was going to Chicago in search of Clair Miller. She had to get rid of Mr. Tanner! She was a little worried that there hadn’t been any news reports on his death.

Lydia got into bed. She would wait one more day. She wanted to see how much Frank and Joe knew – if Fenton had found any information on Clair Miller. If he had, then she would leave. Become someone else.

*****

Fenton, Frank and Joe walked into the Bayport police station just as Ezra Collig happened to walk out of his office and spotted the Hardys.

“Fenton, what are doing here?” His eyebrows shot up when he saw Frank and Joe. “Should I assume you’re on a case?”

“Yes I am and it appears that the boys’ case may be linked to mine. Is Con in?”

“No, he called in sick today. Is there anything I can help you with?” asked Chief Collig when he noticed their disappointed faces.

“Would you mind if we looked at Con’s files on Lydia Barlow?”

Collig’s brow knitted in concern. “Is Ms. Chase having problems with her? When Con brought her in she seemed like a nice girl.”

“You’ve met the girl?” asked Fenton as he followed the Chief into his office.

Closing his office door, Chief Collig waved Fenton to a seat. Frank had to move back to let Chief Collig walk by; taking advantage of the situation Joe quickly followed behind the Chief and took the last chair. Frank ignored Joe, who smiled up at him, and leaned against a file cabinet.

“Con had worked a double shift that day. He was heading home when he found Lydia sleeping on a park bench. He got her some food then brought her here. I called Betsy Chase; I knew she’d take her in till we could go to court to find her a permanent place.”

“She’s still at Ms. Chase’s home, did she decide to have Lydia stay with her?” asked Frank.

“Yes, the following morning she went into court to request that Lydia stay with her. From what I gathered from Betsy, Lydia ran away from an abusive home. I’m still waiting to hear from Child Services in New York.”

“That’s been over a week…isn’t that a long time for them to report back to you?” asked Joe.

Chief Collig leaned forward, placing his palms on top of his desk.

“Just exactly what are you looking for? Why all these questions about a teenaged girl?”

“It has to do with Mrs. Tanner’s death,” began Frank. He told the Chief about the principal asking him and Joe to look into the accident, and their suspicions that Lydia may have seen something or could be involved herself.

Fenton then told Collig about Mr. Tanner asking him to search for a former student of his wife’s. He related his trip to Chicago – finding the foster parents of the former student and finding more questions. Of learning of Mr. Tanner’s supposed suicide attempt and finding that he had been drugged.

“Paulson left not too long ago to question Mr. Tanner. Why don’t we go see if he found out anything?”

*****

Officer Dave Paulson waited on the seventh floor of Bayport General – the psychiatric ward. When he arrived the doctors were making their rounds and had just gone in to see Mr. Tanner. While he waited, he received Chief Collig’s call letting him know that he and the Hardys were on the way. Dave informed Collig that he had yet to see Mr. Tanner.

“Wait till we get there before you start to question him,” Chief Collig told Officer Paulson.

The doctor had been gone for ten minutes before Dave decided to enter the room. He heard the ping of the elevator announcing its arrival and turned around. Chief Collig and Fenton were the first to step out, followed by Frank and Joe.

“Hey, Chief – I was just about to go in.”

“Good, I was afraid the doctors would still be in there.” Chief Collig pushed open the door and walked in.

Sean Tanner was sitting in a chair, staring out the window. He turned his head when he heard the door open. A look of relief crossed his face when he saw Fenton.

“Mr. Hardy, am I glad to see you! I swear, I did not try and kill myself!” exclaimed Mr. Tanner as he rose from his chair.

“Please, sit down Mr. Tanner,” said Fenton in a calm, soothing voice.

“Mr. Tanner, we know you didn’t try and commit suicide,” said Chief Collig.

“Then why am I…?”

“For your own safety,” Officer Paulson said as he opened the file he held. “A standard drug test was done and there were traces of Rohypnol found in your system. The drug was also found in the glass you were drinking from.”

Mr. Tanner’s mouth dropped open in shock; he had been leaning forward while listening but now he slumped back against the chair. He shook his head in disbelief.

“Can you remember anything about that night?” Collig asked.

“I was drinking…I knew I shouldn’t but the pain was so overwhelming! I…I think the doorbell rang…there was a…a…girl…I think I let her in….I didn’t want to drink in front of her but she practically pushed the drink towards me. After I drank it…everything got fuzzy…. I thought she was taking me to my bedroom…next thing I know I’m in here.”

“Do you think you could describe the girl? Did she tell you her name?” Chief Collig fired off the questions.

“Umm…average height I guess…dark hair…Melissa…I think she said her name was Melissa!”

Frank and Joe weren’t sure if they should feel disappointed or glad that it wasn’t Lydia. Fenton opened the yearbook and showed Mr. Tanner the photo of Clair Miller.

“This is a picture of Clair Miller – is this who your wife was going to talk to Principal Hayden about?”

Mr. Tanner stared at the photo. “I don’t know. I never saw a picture of her. Although…she does look kind of familiar.”

Before they left, they assured Mr. Tanner that he would not be staying in the psychiatric ward for very long. It was just past ten o’clock, so Fenton decided to take Frank and Joe to school. He wrote them a note explaining why they had missed their first two classes.

Fenton went home, heading straight for his office. He started up his computer intending to do another search on Clair Miller. He opened his mail box and found an email message with an address he didn’t recognize. Opening it, he discovered it was from Mrs. Smithson.

Dear Mr. Hardy,

I didn’t think to give you a picture of Clair. The attachment is a picture of me and Clair that my husband took. I hope this will help you in your search.

Clicking the attachment Fenton stared at the picture of Mrs. Smithson and a young girl sitting on a sofa. The girl had dark hair that she wore in two pigtails that hung down the front. Fenton printed the picture, thinking he would show it to Frank and Joe.

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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.