Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

"What are those pipes for, Frank?" Joe asked as they made their way across the town square, "Do they have something to do with the coalmines below us?"

"I suspect that they were put in to release steam and heat," Frank answered. "Funny, but I didn’t notice them before. Now there are several that have steam pouring out of them."

As if on cue, the pipe nearest the Hardys let out a hissing billow of steam that made the brothers jump and almost lose the grip on their make-shift sack.

"Man, I want outta here," Joe said, trying to sound less terrified than he was.

"Yeah," Frank agreed, "I hope Trista’s having a talk with the Keen police right now."

* * *

Trista Kelly drove into Keen and headed for the Sherwood’s house. Evelyn and Max Sherwood were her parent’s closest friends, and she assumed that was where her parents were staying.

It had taken nearly 45 minutes to drive around the Scranton Loop and reach the small town of Keen. Trista smiled as she recognized her parent’s Jeep Liberty parked in front of the Sherwood home.

She was surprised to see the lights still on the downstairs rooms as she ascended the front steps. She knocked on the door, but jumped back in surprise as Evelyn pulled the door open.

"Mary Beth! Thank Go…" the older woman cried, but the sound died on her lips. Seconds later, Max came up behind his wife. His face showed shock, and then disappointment at seeing Trista on the porch.

"Trista, sweetheart," Max recovered quickly, "Come on in. We’d hoped that maybe you were Mary Beth." He held the door for Trista, and then guided his sobbing wife to the living room.

"Trista? Honey? What are you doing here?" Doris Kelly asked her daughter. Trista finally pulled her eyes off of Mrs. Sherwood and focused on her mother. She suddenly remembered why she was there.

"Mom, you’ve got to call the police; something awful is going on in Reedville!" Trista told the Sherwoods and her parents what had transpired in Reedville that evening. At the mention of the dead girl in the church, the Sherwoods urged Henry Kelly to call the police.

"Trista?" Mrs. Sherwood asked softly, "Did you see the girl in the church?"

"No Ma’am," Trista answered honestly, "Frank and Joe just told me about her."

"Then maybe it’s not my baby, Max?" She cried, "Maybe Mary Beth is okay."

"I’ve called for the police. The local cops are on their way over, and the state troopers are heading out to Reedville," Henry stated, coming back in the room.

"Oh no!" Trista cried, "I forgot to call Mr. Hardy!" She grabbed Frank’s cell-phone and dialed the number Frank had given her.

* * *

Fenton Hardy had been dozing when his cell-phone chirped a tinny rendition of "Yankee-Doodle". "Finally!" he said aloud as he recognized Frank’s cell number on the screen.

"Frank? Where are you?" Fenton asked into the phone.

"Ah…I’m not Frank, but I’m calling for him," Trista said. "Frank and Joe asked me to call you, Mr. Hardy. They’re in trouble." For the second time that night, Trista told the story of what was happening in Reedville.

As soon as he hung up the phone, Fenton got out his laptop and checked the map. Reedville was about two hours away by car. That was far too long. There had to be another way to get to Reedville faster. He smiled as the idea formed in his mind. He’d need to call in a few favors, but his boys’ lives were at stake. In minutes, he was in a cab headed for the small Wilks-Barre airport.

* * *

"Whoa!" Joe cried as he beheld the shreds that had once been their ‘Trista’ dummy.

"Should’a thought of that," Frank said, shaking his head, "He came looking for Trista after we left."

"By the looks of it, he’s not real happy with us right now," Joe commented, picking up some of the bigger pieces. "We’d better hurry."

"I think you’re right, little brother," Frank responded. "If he’s ticked, we don’t have much time. Just pick up the big stuff, the sheet will cover the rest." Joe nodded and gathered the scraps of material.

The brothers than moved the dead girl’s body to the choir loft, out of sight. They carefully spread the sheet on the alter. In a small storage room, they found some candle stands and a small, wooden pulpit. They set up the furnishings and placed doilies and candles on the stands and along the alter rail. They placed the open Bible in front of the pulpit, where it could be seen from the center aisle.

Finally, Frank used two big carpenter nails and hammered the cross to the wall behind the pulpit. He joined Joe at the foot of the stairs and looked over their handy-work.

"Wow," Joe said softly. "It’s amazing."

"I almost feel like I’m really in church," Frank quietly added.

"What do we do now, big brother?" Joe asked.

"We wait," Frank replied, "Up in the choir loft. We’ll see him before he sees us."

"Up there with her?" Joe swallowed. Frank grabbed his brother’s arm and they were soon crouched out of sight, peering over the low wall that separated the loft from the platform.

They didn’t have long to wait. The Hardys had no sooner gotten out of sight, when the doors on the front of the church groaned open.

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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.