hardy boys fan fiction
MANSION MYSTERY
hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction
by
CQB
Chapter 3
hardy boys fan fiction
THE CHAPTERS
By the time they got home, Frank had once again convinced Joe
that there were no ghosts living at the Hoffman House.
After their parents went to bed that night, they put together
a bag with flash lights, rope, a bottle of water and a pocket knife. Frank
carefully removed the security alarm tape from his bedroom window before
opening it; he’d watched his father replace some of the tape the night
before, so he knew how to do it without setting off the alarm. The Hardy
boys climbed out Frank’s bedroom window into the Elm tree beside the
house and then snuck off down the street.
Frank and Joe went around through the woods to the back side
of the Hoffman property so they couldn’t be seen from the street.
They found a part of the wrought iron fence where a tree had
fallen. Using the tree as a
stepping stool, Frank hoisted himself up and over the fence, carefully
avoiding the sharp points at the top of each rail.
“Toss the bag, and then climb over Joe.”
Joe tossed a small sack over the fence to his brother.
He then started climbing over the old fence, too.
He was about to jump to the other side, when he froze.
The bushes near the fallen tree were moving.
Someone was coming!
“Jump!” Frank ordered, and Joe did as he was told,
rolling as he hit the ground. Frank
helped his brother up and the two began running toward the burned out
mansion.
“Hey, guys! Wait
up!”
Recognizing the voice, both Hardys stopped and looked back at
the fence. Biff Hooper stood
on the other side, staring back at them.
“I’m coming too,” the tall, blond boy announced and
began climbing the fence. When
he reached the other side, the brothers joined him.
“I followed you earlier today and heard you planning. I
decided to join you.”
“Why?” Joe asked as his blue eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“First, ‘cause I’m curious about the old place,” Biff
explained, “but mostly because of Artie.”
“Your older brother? What’s he got to do with this?”
Frank asked.
“Artie’s been working all summer for old Jon Parker, the
caretaker,” Nine-year-old Biff stated as the trio moved into the shadow
of the old house. “Old Mr.
Parker told him last week that he’d keep Artie on ‘til the leaves were
all done falling. But then
something happened.”
“Go on,” Frank urged.
“This week, Artie came to mow and rake with Mr. Parker as
usual. He got here early and
while he was waiting for Mr. Parker to show up, he peeked in one of the
first story windows.
“Well, Mr. Parker showed up just then.
He got real upset with Artie and told him he wouldn’t need him
the rest of the fall, after all.”
“How does this tie in with our mystery?” Joe asked.
Frank rubbed his chin, just like he always saw his father do
when he was piecing clues together. “Mr.
Parker always liked Artie, right?”
Biff nodded.
“Why would he suddenly fire him for no reason?” Frank
pondered.
“He certainly didn’t fire my brother because he doesn’t
need the help,” Biff answered. “Mr.
Parker’s old. Artie’s
sixteen now and he’s really strong. Mr. Parker counts on Artie doing all
the heavy work.”
“So there has to be another…” Frank began.
“The house!” Joe exclaimed, excited.
“It must be the house! He
saw Artie looking in the window and was afraid Artie would see something
Mr. Parker didn’t want him to see!”
“But, like I said,” Biff responded, “Mr. Parker’s
old. He couldn’t be involved
in those robberies, could he?”
“Maybe he knows about the ghost?” Joe suggested quietly.
Biff sighed and shook his head. Frank just rolled his eyes.
“There are no such things as ghosts,” Frank firmly
stated, getting a scowl from his younger brother.
The boys crept quietly up to the mansion.
“Stay here while I look for a way inside,” Frank
whispered. Joe and Biff nodded
and sat below a boarded up window.
The two boys sat silently waiting for Frank’s return, when
they heard an unexpected sound. Somewhere
inside the house, someone was talking.
The voice was deep and part of a sentence carried through the open
window.
“…a few more days, so what’s the…?”
The voice trailed into an indiscernible murmur.
Joe turned to face Biff.
“Somebody’s in there!” Joe started to rise, both afraid and
excited, but Biff sat still.
Biff grabbed Joe’s arm and pulled him back down.
“Those voices sounded funny…kinda hollow…l-like a g-ghost!”
Biff said.
Frank was back a few minutes later, but before he could say a
word, Joe told him about the voices.
“This is serious,” Frank said, his forehead creased in a
frown. “I think we need to
go tell Dad.”
“But they’ll get away!” Joe wailed as loud as he dared.
“We don’t know how many men are in there,” Frank
stated. “We’re only three boys. What
can we do by ourselves?”
“But what if it’s a ghost, not men…,” Joe stopped,
getting a look from his brother.
Joe sighed and Frank picked up their bag.
The three boys made their way across the manicured lawn, over the
fence and into the woods.
The Hardys bid Biff good-night and hurried home.
They climbed back through their window and Frank carefully
re-connected the security alarm tape to his window.
*
* *
On the way to school Monday morning, Biff met up with Frank
and Joe. The three talked
about the voice they’d heard.
“So, what’d your dad say?” Biff asked.
“He was in his study with the door closed when we got
home,” Frank said in a dejected voice.
“This morning he was gone by the time we got up.”
“Mom said he was working on the burglary case and we
shouldn’t bother him,” Joe added.
“What do we do now?” the tall blond boy asked the Hardy
brothers.
Frank paused and looked at both his brother and Biff.
“If the robbers are using that place, they won’t be there
during the day. Right after
school, let’s get over there and check it out.”
“Okay,” Biff agreed with a shrug.
He didn’t think the old mansion would be as scary by day.
“But if my mom asks why I’m late from school, I’m telling her
I was playing around with you guys on the way home.”
“Yeah,” Frank nodded, “We’ll use the same cover.”
He looked at his brother who hadn’t said a word.
“What do you think Joe?”
The eight-year-old shrugged.
“I’m okay with it.” But
he thought, ‘I’m glad we’re going to the old house in the daylight;
ghosts only come out at night.’
*
* *
Artie Hooper had football practice after school on Monday,
and looked forward to being on the field enjoying the warm October day.
He was glad his younger brother Alan was hanging with the two
Hardy brothers. Artie no
longer had to drive Alan home from school before going back to the high
school for practice. It was
never a burden to Artie; just took too much time.
‘Not Alan,’ Artie remembered, “Biff.”
He chuckled to himself as he thought of Alan’s “new”
name. His baby brother had adopted the name after seeing their Uncle Biff
win an amateur boxing match recently.
Artie ran out of the locker room and onto the
Somewhere deep inside him, a little voice was warning him
that Biff was in trouble. Artie
frowned.
Just then, Coach Barns blew the whistle and Artie dismissed
the thought. His brother
temporarily forgotten, he ran to center field with his teammates.
*
* *
Joe Hardy could hardly wait for the dismissal bell to ring.
When it finally did, he tore out of the elementary school faster
than lightening.
“If Principal Quill sees you running like that, you’ll
have detention for a month,” said a girl’s voice as Joe dashed down
the outside stairs.
He stopped abruptly and turned around.
Iola Morton smiled and waved to him. Joe felt his cheeks suddenly
grow warm. He glanced around quickly to make sure none of the gang was
around to see.
Joe didn’t speak to the dark haired girl.
Instead, he stuck his hands in his pockets and marched away from
her purposefully.
What was with her, anyway? Joe wondered.
He used to play with Iola as much as anybody.
She could catch a ball, climb a tree and skip stones across
“At least,” he grumbled, “she used to before she became
a…a…girl!”
“Hey! Joe!”
The blond boy looked up and saw Frank and Biff calling to him
from the sidewalk in front of the school.
He hurried to catch up with them, hoping they hadn’t seen Iola.
“Let’s go, slowpoke,” Frank said with a grin.
“Joe was too busy making goo-goo eyes with Iola!” Biff
chimed in, much to Joe’s horror.
“Was not!” the younger Hardy protested with a scowl.
Biff got a warning glance from Frank to lay-off, so he
didn’t reply. He’d learned
long ago that Frank could fight really well for his size and Biff didn’t
want to tangle with him right then. They
had a job to do.
“Sorry, Joe,” Biff finally said as the trio headed for
the Hoffman House.
“Okay,” Joe gave his teasing friend a small smile.
“Let’s go do some detecting.”
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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.