"Owwwwwwwwww! That hurt…" he mumbled.

"Sorry, sorry! Didn’t mean that Jason!" Frank apologized hastily. Joe rolled his eyes at his brother over Vanessa’s shoulder, and Frank shrugged sheepishly. He put Jason down because he wanted to go to Boomer, and then Frank said to Joe,

"Well, at least he’s not crying anymore…" Joe agreed. Frank then ran to turn of the water, as Joe, Boomer, Jason, and the still-shaken girls went inside. Once Frank came back, he and Joe let Jason play with Boomer, and they sat the girls down to explain what had happened.

"Okay, so what happened now?" Joe asked, puzzled. Staci took a deep breath.

"Well, we were inside…me and Vanessa…sorry, Vanessa and I were cleaning up after breakfast, and Jason was in his room, playing with his Lego set…all of a sudden, something hit the tree and exploded! Boomer, who was in the kitchen, ran to the door and Vanessa opened it, and ran out, following Boomer, trying to see who it was. Jason ran out at that moment, right when I went out too." Frank squeezed Staci’s hand, and Vanessa took up the story.

"When I got outside, I saw a guy running towards the bushes in the front, and then down the street. Then, Boomer ran after the guy, and caught him He bit him really hard. But, then, the guy kicked Boomer in the ribs, and ran off. He got on a motorcycle, and was gone. I started to go after him, but remembered his gun…by the way, are you okay Joe?" she stopped and asked. Joe nodded, and smiled, and Frank realized, in all the excitement that had been going on, he hadn’t asked his brother that! But, then, Vanessa continued. "Well, he was gone, and I went to check on Boomer, who was lying on the ground."

"Wow, is Boomer okay?" Joe asked. Vanessa nodded.

"Yeah, I checked his ribs. It wasn’t too bad a kick. But, he bit that guy hard! It probably led like crazy…not that he didn’t deserve it." Frank and Joe sighed in relief that no one, except the bad guy had been hurt.

"Then what?" Joe asked. Staci then took back the story.

"Well, while Vanessa was chasing the guy, I told Jason to stay in, and then went to grab the hose and put the fire out. I think the tree out front might be dead. Soon, Vanessa came back with Boomer, and took Jason, and that’s when you guys came back." Staci said. Frank gave Staci a kiss, at the exact same time Joe gave Vanessa one.

"What were those for?" Vanessa asked, smiling.

"For being so great!" Joe replied, laughing. Frank and Staci also laughed, but then Frank got back down to business.

"Can either of you give us a description of the guy?" he asked. Vanessa nodded.

"He was short…and slim. That’s about all I can tell you. He was wearing a ski mask, so I couldn’t see his face." Vanessa said.

"Hmmm…he wasn’t wearing khaki pants, by any chance, was he?" Joe asked. Staci shook her head.

"Nope…black pants and a black jacket, it looked like. And, of course, the ski mask." Frank and Joe nodded, and sighing, turned to each other.

"So much for trying the khaki pants clue," Joe muttered. Frank shrugged.

"That was from the killer. This is from the stalker. We’ve basically established that they are two different people." Joe nodded, then said,

"Well, let’s go outside, and see if he left any clues at all." Frank nodded, and the two went out, while Vanessa and Staci went to go get ready. Outside, Frank and Joe looked around the tree, but found nothing there. But, when they got to the bushes, they saw a white piece of paper sticking out. It was a note! It said

Joe sucked in his breath angrily.

"Once again, the stalker’s struck," he whispered. "Frank, when I get my hands on this guy…" Frank shared his brother’s sentiments, and also felt like strangling this man, whoever he was. Frank carefully picked up the note from the corner, and then they went inside. They heard Vanessa in the shower downstairs, and Staci in the one upstairs. They peeked in on Jason, and saw him once again playing with his Lego set, Boomer carefully by his side. Seeing he was okay, they went into Frank’s room, and got the other notes from the stalkers, and compared them under a magnifying glass. Sure enough, the handwriting matched.

"Our neighborhood hazard stalker has struck again…" Frank muttered. He turned to his brother. "We can’t do anything here, now. I think we should send Vanessa, Staci, and Boomer to Vanessa’s house, if it’s okay with Andrea, and then, go to see Professor Richards, and see if we can get into student records. Joe nodded, and just then, Vanessa appeared in doorway, followed by Staci. Both were ready to go. The boys talked to them about their idea, and Vanessa quickly called her mom, who agreed. After giving Jason a quick shower, they set out. They stopped for lunch at McDonald’s, where they surprisingly ran into Tony Prito, a good friend of the Hardys. They sat down to eat together, and The Hardys quickly told Tony what was going on. He was shocked.

"Gosh, that’s terrible. I’ve been hearing about the murders on the news...that’s really bad." They all shared a remorseful sigh, while Jason looked at them as if they were crazy. Suddenly, Tony perked up.

"Guys, I just had a great idea! Why don’t we round up the gang, and we can help you out! I know what we can do, too! Chet and Biff can go to Vanessa’s house, and help guard the girls and Jason. Me and Phil can follow you in another car to see if anyone else is following you guys? What do you think?" Frank and Joe glanced at each other, and then at the girls. All were starting to warm to the idea.

"Okay," Frank replied. "Let’s call everyone and see if they’re available." Joe took out his cell to call Chet, while Frank called Phil on his cell, and Tony called Biff on his. Within minutes, all boys agreed to it. The boys told their friends to meet them at Vanessa’s house, and soon, they were all assembled there. Vanessa’s mom brought them drinks and cookies, and while the munched (even though it was right after lunch!) they planned their strategy. It was decided that Frank and Joe will call Professor Richards and ask to see student records. When they are going to the University, Tony and Phil will follow them to make sure no one else was following them, while Chet and Biff would stay with the girls. Soon, Frank went to call Professor Richards. Finding Richards home number in the phone book, he called there, figuring that he was there instead of the school because of the renovating.

"Hello, Professor Richards? This is Frank Hardy," Frank said when Richards answered.

"Well, hello Frank! How are you doing?"

"Fine, sir, and you?" Frank replied.

"Doing quite well in my old age!" Richards laughed heartily. "To what do I owe this call?" He asked.

"Well, we were wondering if you could let us into the school, and into student records to see if we can find any leads there," Frank replied.

"Well, I’m technically not supposed to let people do that…" he hedged.

"Oh," Frank said, disappointed.

"But," Richards continued, "If it’ll help with your investigation, then I guess I can bend the rules a little bit," he finished.

"Oh, thank you!" Frank said happily.

"You’re welcome. It’s one thirty right now. How about I meet you at the university at two thirty?" Frank agreed, and then hung up the phone. He told the others about what was going on, and then Frank and Joe departed, followed by Tony and Phil. At o thirty on the dot, Frank and Joe walked into Professor Richards’ office.

"Hello boys! Welcome, welcome!" he greeted them. Frank and Joe noticed the bandage on his arm.

"Hi, Professor Richards," Joe replied. "What happened to your hand?" he asked.

"Oh, my stupid dog bit me! The mutt thought I was a burglar!" Richards laughed, and Frank and Joe laughed with him. Soon, though, they got down to business. Richards had already conveniently pulled all the victims’ folders, and he, Frank, and Joe got to work looking through them. They divided them up into piles, and each went through, and wrote down notes about each boy’s academic and extracurricular activities. Then, when done, they started to compare each other’s lists.

"Here, I’ll write down all the similarities between them," Richards volunteered. Frank and Joe agreed, and then Frank said,

"Okay, from what I can see, they were all jocks." Richards picked up the pencil with his right hand and wrote this down. Joe watched as he did this. Then, Frank continued. "They also all had good handwriting." And then, to Joe’s astonishment, Richards picked up the pencil and started writing with his left hand!

"Whoa!" he cried out, earning him weird looks from both Richards and Frank. "Professor Richards, you can write with both hands?" he asked in surprise.

"Oh, yes, it’s an old habit I picked up, and then perfected. I do it without thinking now," Richards replied.

"That’s cool!" Frank said with a smile, and Joe nodded in agreement. Richards laughed, and then suggested they get back down to business.

"Well," Joe said, "From what I can see, there was no rivalry between these people. All of them were good kids…" He sighed. "We got zilch here," he told his brother. His brother agreed, but then turned to Richards.

"Well, thanks anyway, Professor. It was a nice try!" They all shook hands, and then the boys left. As they walked towards their car, Joe glanced at his watch.

"Whoa, time sure flied! It’s seven thirty! I’m starved," he told his brother. Frank nodded, and suggested they get home quickly.

"It’s about to rain, look," he told his brother. Sure enough, deep, dark, threatening clouds were looming overhead.

"What about Jason?" Joe asked. Frank thought a minute, then said,

"Let’s go home first, get some grub. Then we can go to Vanessa’s house and compare notes. Call Tony and Phil and tell them that they can go now, we’ll be fine. Tell them to meet us at Vanessa’s house at nine tonight." Joe nodded, and quickly called Tony.

"Hey, Tone, you can go ahead and leave. Doesn’t look like anyone is following us. Just meet at Van’s place at nine tonight, okay?" Tony agreed, and quickly said his goodbyes. Within minutes, Frank and Joe were home. As soon as they reached home, the rain started. It came pouring down in torrents.

"Whew, made it just in time!" Joe said, emptying his pockets of his cell, wallet, and other knick-knacks. Next to him, Frank did the same. Then, they went into the kitchen to get some grub. While Joe was rummaging and Frank was getting two plates, a crash sounded through the kitchen window. Both boys whirled around to find a brick lying on the ground. Both then looked through the window, and saw figure of a man standing there. Joe immediately ran out the kitchen door, followed by Frank. The man ran away, and was quite fast. Even with that, and the rain, both boys followed the man all the way down the street, and as he hoped backyards. Soon, he was in the woods. Running through the woods behind the man, they saw him run into an old abandoned house. Without thinking about it, they ran in hind him. As soon as they were inside, the door slammed shut, and they heard a key turn! Frank and Joe whirled around, but it was pitch black, and they saw no one there. Frank reached into his pocket for his penlight, but then realized that he didn’t have it. Silently cursing himself, he whispered,

"Joe? You there?"

"Yes," his brother replied back.

"Okay," Frank whispered back. And then, loudly, he said, "Who’s there? Come out, whoever you are! Open this door!" But no one answered him…not even the sound of a breath. The rain kept coming down, and a huge clap of thunder sounded close. Frank jumped a little.

"Let’s try to get the door open," he whispered. Both brothers grunted to kick the door down, but the lock and heavy door held. Then, they decided to try the windows. But, as soon as they got to a window, lightning flashed, and they saw iron bars on both sides of the windows. All of a sudden, a voice ran out.

"Frank and Joe Hardy…" it hissed.

"Who’s there?" Joe shouted. "Come out here!" But the voice was silent. Frank tried again.

"Who’s there? Turn on the lights, and come out here!" No one answered, but another huge clap of thunder sounded. Both boys jumped. Very slowly, they were getting scared. The, the voice spoke again.

"Hardys…let’s play a game of Hide and Seek. I hide, you seek. If you find me, I’ll let you go. If I find you first…I kill you. You dared to love someone else…now, you pay…with your life! This game starts…NOW!" As if on cue, another flash of lightning came, followed a clap of thunder. In that moment of light, both brothers stared at each other, sheer horror on their faces.

They were stuck in a huge, old, abandoned house, with no way out, and no way to call for help, on a dark stormy night…with a killer!