Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Frank and Joe Hardy followed Lance Mc Intyre into the huge stable. As promised, he’d kept his conversation to a minimum so Frank could translate for Joe.

They entered through a side door that took them into a small room with a table and chairs. One wall was lined with lockers.

"This here is the room you’ll come to when you get here ev’ry morin’." Mr. Mc Intyre informed the boys, careful to face them both for Joe’s sake, "Bring a lock with you on Monday and put your personal stuff in any of the unused lockers."

"Check on this here board," the foreman continued, pointing to a bulletin board next to another door that the Hardys assumed, led to the stable area. "This is where you’ll find your work assignment for each day. Any questions?" The brothers both shook their heads negatively.

Lance smiled at the boys, then lead them through the door near the bulletin board into the stable. Both boys were impressed with the vastness of the building. The entire stable was built in a large "U" shape, consisting of the main stable, the East wing and the West wing.

"We keep an average of 80 to 150 horses at Wagner Ranch. This stable has enough stalls for 240 horses, but we use some for storage and birthing." Mr. Mc Intyre informed the brothers. "Most of the horses are out on the range during the day. The ranch hands herd them back into the stable at dusk."

"Do they all belong to the Wagner’s?" Joe asked.

"No," the foreman replied, "The Wagner’s have 43 horses. The rest are owned by others who just stable their animals here."

Tad Creet heard voices and walked into the main room of the stable from his small office. He saw Mc Intyre with two young men. Not being a social man, he tried to quickly duck back into his office without being seen.

"Tad!" Lance called, noticing the old man, "Come and meet these boys." Tad shuffled across the floor toward the trio.

"Frank, Joe," Mr. Mc Intyre began, "This is Tad Creet. He’s been with the Wagner family for over 30 years. Tad, this is Frank and Joe Fredricks."

The old Indian shook hands with Frank, then Joe. He noted that both boys wore genuine smiles and seemed to have a friendly manner about them. Frank and Joe exchanged a quick, knowing glance; they had both realized the same thing. Both Mc Intyre and Creet were at the ranch when Jimmy Mc Curdy died.

As Creet moved back into his office, the trotting of a horse could be heard coming from the East wing. A young man was leading a pale gold Palomino into a stall at the far end of the main stable.

"Randy," the foreman called to the boy, "Come on over here." Randy Sampson came over to the trio and was introduced to Frank and Joe.

Randy grinned broadly as he shook hands with the brothers.

"Are you gonna clean stalls too?" Randy asked them.

"I’m going to be working here on the building," Frank offered, "but Joe will be working with you, cleaning the stalls."

* * *

A group of Boy Scouts and their leader were hiking through the woods on the North edge of Silverthorne.

Mikey Hart was lagging behind. He was tired of hiking and just wanted to go home and play with his ‘Game Boy Advance’. He glanced ahead at his former best friend, Brian Walker. It was all Brian’s idea to join the stupid Boy Scouts anyway. Now Brian was always hanging around with the Scout Master’s son, Peter Webber.

Mikey began to distractedly kick at the dry leaves that covered the edge of the path. Suddenly, Mikey felt something soft under the leaves. Maybe it was a dead rabbit or something. The boy kicked again, stirring the leaves.

Mikey Hart’s scream tore through the quiet woods, drawing the attention of his entire troop. The Scout Master ran to the boy, turning pale as he took in the spectacle before him.

Mikey’s eyes were riveted to a spot among the leaves near his feet. Staring at the boy from amid the dry leaves, was the unseeing eyes of Homer Chotto.

* * *

By late afternoon, the Hardy men left the Wagner Ranch and headed to their temporary home. As Fenton Hardy pulled up the drive, he was surprised to see an unfamiliar Plymouth station wagon parked beside the house. Fenton turned off the ignition and all three of them climbed out of the jeep.

Mr. Hardy turned as he caught sight of two figures coming toward them from the Anderson house. Fenton peered through the late day shadows and smiled as he recognized the pair.

"I don’t believe this," Fenton cried, extending his hand to greet Colt Tanner and Cindy Kai, "What in the world are you doing here Tanner?"

"Let’s just say I’m here to visit my sister," Tanner replied, "If we could go inside, I’ll elaborate." He smiled a greeting to Frank and Joe as the group entered the Fredricks house.

Frank and Joe quickly made some fresh coffee and served it in the living room. Their father already had their guests seated comfortably.

"When Anderson never called me back, I couldn’t help but think he was in some kind of trouble," Colt was saying. "I was afraid I’d sent you three into a real bad situation here."

"I have to admit," Mr. Hardy stated, "Collin Anderson’s absence here is not a good thing. I’m afraid someone felt threatened enough to get Collin out of the way. I just hope, he hasn’t been put out of the way for good."

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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.