hardy boys fan fiction
MANSION MYSTERY
hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction
by
CQB
Chapter 1
hardy boys fan fiction
THE CHAPTERS
“Wow! Look how bright the moon is tonight,” Joe Hardy
commented, glancing up at the nearly full, white sphere.
He wasn’t surprised when no one else responded to his
observation. The
eight-year-old looked behind him and saw his older brother walking side by
side their babysitter, Marybeth Gelfin.
The small, blond boy sighed.
Frank always acted really goofy when Marybeth watched them.
He remembered his mom saying that Frank was…what was that big
word? Infr…infrat…infatuated.
Yes, that was it.
Joe didn’t know what it meant but he knew he didn’t like
it one bit. He wanted Frank to
talk with him,
not some dumb girl.
Besides, Joe didn’t even think they needed a babysitter.
They weren’t babies anymore.
Frank was ten and Joe himself would be nine in a couple weeks.
But his parents didn’t agree, obviously.
Fenton and Laura Hardy had gone to a dinner party in
Joe looked behind again and saw that he was quite far ahead
of Frank and Marybeth, so he slowed down a little bit.
As he swished his sneakers in the dry October leaves, Joe sighed,
realizing that it could have been worse.
His parents could have gotten Mrs. Snodgrass to baby-sit
them. The boy wrinkled his nose as he thought about the white-haired old
lady that smelled like medicine and always wore a scratchy, gray sweater,
no matter what the temperature.
At least Marybeth was fun; for a girl.
She took them to the park or played games with them or, like
tonight, she took them to the movies.
The movie was about a giant war in space.
His friend Biff Hooper had already seen it and told Joe how awesome
it was. Joe and Frank had been excited when Marybeth suggested they go and
see it.
As he walked, Joe imagined himself as the hero, saving the
princess from the evil ruler. Boy,
he and Frank would have a blast re-creating scene after scene.
He glanced up from the autumn leaves he’d been kicking
around and realized where he was.
Joe’s eyes grew wide as he peered through the wrought iron fence
of the Hoffman House.
The boy quickly glanced down the street and saw Frank and
Marybeth just turning the corner onto
Now, the white stone building stood like a silent tombstone
in the center of a manicured lawn. The
glassless windows were boarded, but some dark holes between boards
revealed the burned support beams within. The blond boy shivered.
No one in their hometown of Bayport understood why Miss Edith
Hoffman didn’t have the house torn down.
The old woman had no intention of moving back into the burned out
mansion. She lived in a new
condominium on the other side of town.
Instead, she had old Jon Parker keep the grass cut, the hedges
trimmed and the ‘No Trespassing’ signs posted.
Joe didn’t know what happened at the old house, except that
there had been a terrible fire five years ago and his father told him and
Frank to stay away from the mansion.
‘Those burned timbers
inside that house could come crashing down on anyone foolish enough to go
inside,’ Mr.
Hardy had warned the boys. While
Joe sometimes tested his father’s rules, this was one time when he
didn’t intend on disobeying.
Joe had also heard the stories and rumors…that someone had
been killed in the house and their ghost walked within the burned walls.
Joe looked past the old house and saw the lights of the
houses in his own neighborhood, just a few blocks away.
He suddenly had an urgent need to be in his own house, but he
didn’t want to get to the house before Marybeth and Frank.
With his parents out for the evening and his Aunt Gertrude away
visiting a friend, their house would be dark and empty.
Joe sighed again and turned his back to the creepy old house.
He leaned against the fence that surrounded the Hoffman property.
He’d just wait for them right here.
For the first time since they left the ‘downtown’ area
where the movie theater was located, Joe noticed that there was very
little traffic on
Joe wished they would hurry.
He was cold and feeling like he really just wanted to get home –
the sooner the better.
Suddenly, Joe stiffened.
He held his breath and felt his heart beat faster.
In the silence of the night, he heard a distinct tapping sound.
Tap-tap-tap.
He slowly turned to face the burned out house.
Tap-tap-tap.
He swallowed hard when it became clear to him where the sound
was coming from. It sounded
like it was coming from the very heart of Hoffman House!
“T-the ghost!” Joe hoarsely whispered.
Without hesitating another second, Joe started running down
the street to where Frank and Marybeth were walking.
*
* *
“It was not
my imagination!” Joe Hardy cried indignantly at the breakfast
table the next morning. Frank
had taken great pleasure in telling their parents all about Joe’s
“over-active imagination.”
It had been frustrating enough when neither Frank nor
Marybeth had believed he’d heard anything in the old Hoffman mansion,
but this was worse.
“You should have seen Joe’s face, Dad,” Frank said
through his laughter. “He
was as white as
“I think that’s enough,” Laura Hardy interjected,
giving both her husband and oldest son a stern glance.
She moved up behind Joe. The
boy looked as if he were about to cry and she knew that would embarrass
the eight-year-old even more than he was already.
She gently placed her hands on Joe’s quivering shoulders.
“Frank, just because you didn’t hear anything, doesn’t
mean that Joey didn’t,” Mrs. Hardy suggested.
Joe glanced up at his mother and smiled.
“True,” Mr. Hardy agreed, having taken his wife’s
warning glance to heart, “though I’m sure there is a reasonable
explanation for the sounds you heard, Joe.”
“Maybe it was a woodpecker?” Frank suggested, trying to
sound serious.
“Doubtful,” Mrs. Hardy replied.
“They don’t come out at night.”
“What if somebody got trapped in there?” Frank asked.
“That is a worrisome thought,” Fenton Hardy stated,
rubbing his chin. He looked
from Frank’s concealed smile to Joe’s frightened eyes.
“Tell you what I’ll do,” Mr. Hardy continued, “I’ll
give Chief Collig a call and have him send some of his men over to check
the place out. How would that
be?”
Frank shrugged indifferently. He still wasn’t convinced
that Joe heard anything, but if Dad thought it was a good idea to check
the mansion out, he wouldn’t argue. Joe, on the other hand, nodded
gratefully at his father.
“Come with me to the study, Joe,” Mr. Hardy instructed.
“Chief Collig may want to take your statement.”
Joe got up from his chair feeling very important.
His dad was a private detective and Joe knew that ‘giving a
statement’ was an important part of an investigation.
He glanced at Frank who seemed to be stunned that everyone
was suddenly taking this very seriously.
Joe couldn’t help himself. He
stuck out his tongue in Frank’s direction.
“Yes Chief,” Mr. Hardy was saying into the telephone.
“Probably about
Joe moved silently into the room as his father waved him in.
“Yes, Sir,” Fenton continued, “in fact, he’s right
here. I’ll put him on.”
Mr. Hardy handed the phone to his younger son and smiled
encouragingly.
“Good morning,
Joey,”
Police Chief Ezra Collig’s voice boomed in Joe’s ear. “Would
you please tell me about the noise you heard at the Hoffman House last
night?”
Joe carefully described what he’d heard, why he was waiting
there and how, after he’d told Marybeth and Frank, they’d heard
nothing more.
“Thank you, young
man,” the
chief responded after listening attentively to the boy. “I’m sending Officer
Riley and Officer Atkinson over there to look around.
You did the right thing by telling someone.”
Joe handed the phone back to his father.
Mr. Hardy talked to the chief a bit more, but then covered the
mouthpiece and spoke to Joe. “Go
on back to breakfast, son. I’ve
got some more business to discuss with Chief Collig.”
Joe left and heard his dad ask something about a local
robbery. He went back to the
kitchen to finish his breakfast.
“I’m going down to police headquarters,” Mr. Hardy
announced a few minutes later. Joe
looked up, wondering if his dad’s visit to the police had anything to do
with the robbery. Before he
could ask, his father started talking again.
“These thieves are good,” Fenton commented.
“They aren’t leaving any clues behind.
No fingerprints, no footprints and no sign of breaking in.”
“Maybe they’re ghosts and they just walk through the
walls,” Joe said with his eyes wide.
Mr. Hardy chuckled and tousled Joe’s blond hair.
“I think you have ghosts haunting your thoughts too much right
now, son.
“Three houses have been robbed so far and the police
don’t have a clue as to who is behind it.
They’ve asked me to give them a hand,” the boys’ father
finished.
Joe put his breakfast dishes in the sink, but his mind was on
the robberies. He didn’t
hear Frank move up behind him.
“Joe, I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you last
night,” the dark haired Hardy boy apologized.
Joe jumped at the sound of Frank’s voice and dramatically
clutched his chest. “Give a
guy a heart attack, why don’tcha!” Joe cried.
Frank laughed and Joe joined in.
“Its okay, Frank; I forgive you.
After all,” Joe said, “you and Marybeth didn’t hear anything.
“I wonder why the tapping stopped?” he questioned.
“When you came running, you were yelling pretty loud,”
Frank reasoned. “Maybe
whoever or whatever was tapping heard you and stopped.”
“Do you think the police will find anything?” the younger
boy asked.
“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” Frank replied,
adding his dishes to the pile in the sink.
Joe looked at his brother and asked, “How do you find a
ghost, anyway?”
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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.