Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the Hardy Detective Agency

"Phil? Maybe you could go and find Joe," Dr. Bates was saying, pulling Phil Cohen back to reality. At hearing the news of Frank’s eminent death, he felt like all the breath in him had been sucked out. Phil hadn’t even realized that Joe had once again disappeared from the waiting room.

"Yes, sir," Phil stammered, getting to his feet. He took Vanessa Bender by the hand, noticing her wide, tear-filled eyes and shocked _expression. "We’ll find Joe." He looked at Callie. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she said she would stay with the Hardy’s.

The pair walked out toward the Hardy van, expecting Joe to be upset or angry. As they neared the van, Joe Hardy turned and looked at them, his face determined and set.

"Hurry and get in," Joe commanded, "We’ve got a lot to do and very little time to do it." Phil and Vanessa exchanged puzzled looks before climbing into the black vehicle.

Phil saw a large envelope on the floor near his feet. "Is this it?" he questioned Joe. Joe glanced to where Phil was pointing.

"Probably, but I haven’t looked inside yet," Joe said, concentrating once again on the road. "Phil, I know where Frank is getting the poison from." Phil Cohen stared at his blond friend. "Think about the phone call. I know you probably couldn’t hear everything, but the caller and Dr. Watson both said the same thing. They both said Frank ‘ingested’ the poison. I’m no scholar, but I believe that means he has been eating or drinking something with the poison in it."

"And he has to be getting it from home," Phil continued where Joe left off, "because the caller said he was still ingesting the poison, and Frank’s been stuck at home since Thursday."

"So," Vanessa added, "We just have to figure out what Frank has been eating that no one else in your family has eaten." Joe shook his head back and forth, bringing frowns to both Phil and Vanessa’s faces.

"Drank," Joe corrected, "He’s been drinking the poison. I think it’s in his grapefruit juice. Frank’s the only one that drinks it and this morning, he asked me to bring him some. There was a funny, yellowish crust on the bottle threads and inside the cap. At the time, I thought maybe the juice was just getting old..."

"Or maybe the poison is, and it’s beginning to crystallize!" Phil smiled, but then frowned. "But Joe, how are you going to test it? Your lab doesn’t have the right equipment."

"No," Joe replied, "but I know someone who does."

At the Hardy’s home, Phil Cohen began scraping some of the crystallized, yellow crust from the grapefruit juice bottle, into a small, zip-lock bag. He also poured a small amount of the juice into a separate, identical bag. He then put both of the small plastic bags into a larger, freezer size plastic bag.

Phil replaced the remaining juice in the refrigerator, but then thought the better of it, and dumped the remaining juice down the kitchen sink drain. As he watched the juice run down the drain, a nagging thought nibbled at the back of Phil’s brain. ‘How did Joe’s mysterious caller know that Frank collapsed before they took him to the hospital?’ the brown-haired youth pondered, ‘They could be watching the house, which would explain how they knew Frank was in the hospital. But how did he know Frank collapsed? Unless...’ Phil dashed up the back stairs to Frank’s room, carrying the plastic bag with him.

Vanessa Bender was sitting in front of Frank’s computer, with Joe Hardy watching over her shoulder. Joe was about to give her instructions on how to hook up a special modem, when Phil ran in the room and put his hand over Joe’s mouth. At the same time, Phil put his finger to his own lips, signaling the need for silence. Vanessa watched the exchange with a puzzled gaze.

‘What’s wrong?’ Joe asked silently, mouthing the words. Phil put down the bag and picked up a pad of paper and a pen from Frank’s desk. Phil hastily scrawled his suspicions on the paper. Joe’s eyes grew wide as he read what Phil had written. Joe nodded in agreement. Joe grabbed the pen and quickly wrote. Phil smiled and began talking about Frank’s condition in a general way.

Joe wrote instructions for Vanessa, but bantered with Phil, covering the sudden silence that might make the ‘Game Master’ suspicious.

As soon as Vanessa was on-line, Joe scribbled a note that Vanessa typed out quickly. With the push of a button, the message hit cyber-space. The three teens continued to talk noncommittally about the recent events, waiting for a response to their request.

* * *

Stephen Ambrose pulled his silver Jaguar to a stop in front of the Hardy home and stared at the black van that sat in the driveway. ‘Why isn’t he at the hospital?’ the man thought.

* * *

Vanessa tugged on Joe’s shirt and pointed to the monitor. Joe clicked the mouse, and a reply to their urgent e-mail opened for them to read.

The three of them gathered around the screen and each read the message in silence.

"AGREE ASSASSINS BEHIND POISONING. WILL GIVE MORE INFO IN PERSON. MEET AT MC ALLISTER PARK 8 P.M. BRING SAMPLES.

GRAY"

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Disclaimer

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 original characters without express permission of the authors.