Phil had promised to help Lydia with her American history homework. He borrowed his mother’s car and drove to pick her up early the next morning, thinking this would be a good time to question her about the day of Mrs. Tanner’s accident. He was pulling up to Ms. Chase’s home when she and Lydia walked out of the house. Phil got out of the car to greet Ms. Chase.

“Good morning Ms. Chase! Still have jury duty?”

“Good morning and how many times must I have to tell you – call me Betsy! And yes, so far they haven’t picked me. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not!” chuckled Betsy.

Lydia gave Betsy a kiss on the cheek then stood next to Phil, smiling as she took his hand. He pushed his glasses back, a goofy grin on his face. Phil still couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have someone as pretty as Lydia care about him.

“I guess we better let you go! We should get going too – you said you wanted to get an early start with that history assignment,” Phil said.

Bidding Ms. Chase goodbye, Phil led Lydia to the car and opened the door for her. He waited till Ms. Chase drove out of the driveway; she waved goodbye as she drove past Phil’s car. He then drove to the school.

He had driven a few blocks when he came upon a school bus which had stopped to pick up a few students, Phil stopped behind another car and had turned to ask Lydia a question when the car was suddenly pushed forward and hit the car in front of him.

*****

While Phil was picking up Lydia, Frank and Joe had finished breakfast and were helping to clear up the breakfast dishes. Fenton had poured himself another cup of coffee and was heading to his office when his phone rang. Quickening his steps, he went into his office and grabbed the phone.

“Hardy Investigations, Fenton Hardy speaking.”

“Hello, Fenton – I wasn’t sure if I should call you here or your home number.”

“You would have gotten me on either one, Ezra. You got something for me?”

“Actually I may have more questions for you! I finally got word from New York Child Services – it seems they’ve never heard of a Lydia Barlow.”

“Are they sure? Maybe her file got lost or misfiled!”

“I thought of that too but they have no record of her or a ‘Barlow’ family listed anywhere! I have to tell you Fenton, I have half a mind to take her out of Betsy Chase’s house!”

“No, don’t do that! It’s possible that she lied about where she’s from. You said she was a runaway.”

“That’s true but…”

“I’ll tell you what – I could ask Frank and Joe to discreetly get Lydia’s prints off her locker. Then I could send them to you…or better yet, to a friend of mine in the FBI.”

“Okay, and Fenton…could you ask the boys to keep a sharp eye on her?”

“Sure thing, Ezra. I’ll call you as soon as I get any information.”

Fenton hung up the phone and noticed the emailed photo he had printed. He remembered that he had wanted to show it to Frank and Joe. He picked up the photo and went in search of his sons only to find that they had already left for school. He couldn’t show them the photo but he could call them on their cell so they could get Lydia’s fingerprints.

*****

Frank and Joe were in the cafeteria sitting with Callie and Vanessa. They were drinking hot chocolate when Chet and Biff came to the table.

“A little hungry this morning, Chet?” asked Joe when he saw the food-packed tray his friend was carrying.

“I woke up late and didn’t get a chance to have breakfast!” lamented Chet.

“Hey, where’s Phil and Lydia?” Tony arrived, dumping his school books on the table.

“They’re probably in the library; Lydia told me that Phil was going to help her with an assignment in history,” Vanessa said while trying to prevent Joe from eating any more of her cinnamon roll.

“Joe, stop filching Vanessa’s roll – go buy your own!” scolded Frank.

“I would if you gave me a dollar!” Joe grinned at Frank.

“Joe, I loaned you ten dollars two days ago! What did you…? Never mind…here!” Frank dug into his pocket and tossed Joe a wadded up dollar bill.

“Thanks, bro!”

Chet, Tony and Biff glanced at each other smiling and laughing as they watched Joe almost jump out of his chair to get his cinnamon roll.

“I wish I knew what he spent all his money on!” grumbled Frank.

“Not what…who!” Vanessa smiled sweetly at Frank. “I guess I owe you the ten dollars. Joe and I were at the book store a few days ago and I found this great book on graphics but I was short. Joe lent me the rest; I didn’t know he got it from you.”

“Oh,” said a slightly embarrassed Frank. “I guess that means I can’t rag him about paying it back. But then again…that is part of my job as a big brother.”

“You are absolutely correct, Frank,” Chet agreed, a smile on his face.

Joe came back with not one but two cinnamon rolls; he gave one to Frank before sitting down. Frank stared down at the roll then let out a huge sigh. Joe looked at him, a curious expression on his face.

“Something wrong, Frank?” he asked.

“Yes…I mean not anymore! He does this on purpose, I know he does!” mumbled Frank as he took a bite.

Joe looked puzzled as his friends started to laugh; Vanessa gently patted him on the shoulder.

“I’ll explain it to you later,” she whispered in his ear.

The first bell rang; everyone gathered up their books and left the cafeteria. Frank wasn’t concerned when he didn’t see Phil at his locker, figuring that he was already in class. When he walked into the room he was surprised not to see Phil there. It wasn’t until Phil still hadn’t shown up for lunch break that Frank grew concerned.

He found Joe, Vanessa and Biff already sitting at a table in the cafeteria. Getting in line for his lunch, then paying, Frank went over to the table.

“Phil never showed up for school – has anyone seen Lydia?” he asked as he sat down.

“Now that you mention it – I haven’t. Her locker is close to mine and I usually see her between classes,” Vanessa replied.

“Hey guys – what’s with the worried faces?” asked Chet, setting his tray down.

“Has anyone seen, Phil? I need some help in my computer class.” Callie sat down next to Frank.

Before anyone got a chance to reply, Principal Hayden’s voice came over the intercom.

“This is Principal Hayden; would Frank Hardy please come to my office?”

Several students made a taunting noise as Frank got up to leave but he ignored them. Joe had wanted to follow but Frank told him to stay and eat.

“I wonder what that’s about?” Chet took a bite out of his burger while watching Frank leave.

“I wish I knew,” Joe said, turning back to his friends.

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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.