Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Frank remained motionless, straining to hear the conversation between the boys. For several moments he stayed still, trying to make out the rest of their words. He watched them sharply, dark eyes keenly alert on their actions as they continued to push at each other. If they’re partners, working together, they don’t seem to look or act much like it! I wonder if they’re pretending, just goofing around – or trying to show off for anyone who might be watching them? If so, they’re liable to get the attention of any police officers who happen by!

And what a stupid place to talk about something – well, whatever it was! Frank continued his musings. There are police officers everywhere around here now, and they could easily be overheard at any time!

Well, he had to admit, most of the police were in seminars right at the moment, but still…it was very strange, that these guys would risk it…if they were actually up to no good, as it seemed they were….

“Frank?” A soft voice and a soft touch on his arm recalled him to his surroundings, as Megan rolled over, looked up at him and smiled, and gently stroked one finger along his wrist.

“Hey, baby.” Frank smiled down at her for a moment, then leaned close. “Listen, I just overheard something kind of odd….” Softly, he repeated the strange conversation as best he could remember it.

She listened in frowning silence; when he finished recounting the boys’ words, she sat up. “Let’s get out of the sun for a little bit,” she said clearly, and reached for her long-sleeved cover-up. “I burn pretty easily – curse of being a redhead!”

Frank followed her lead, and pulled on his t-shirt. They gathered up their belongings, turned in their boards at the nearby stall, and headed back toward the hotel, walking hand in hand…and now that they were in no danger of being overheard, quietly discussing the disturbing conversation Frank had eavesdropped on.

“Could it have just been a prank?” Megan ventured. “There were other people on the beach…might have been friends of theirs….Maybe they were just trying to have some fun…get a rise out of them?”

“I don’t know.” Frank shook his head doubtfully. “Threatening to shoot someone seems a little overboard for a prank. Maybe I heard them wrong…”

“That’s possible, I suppose…” The little redhead tilted her head and briefly flashed her dimple. “But I’ve never known you to mishear things before, not when you were trying to hear them, anyway…so why would you start now?”

Frank laughed. “I don’t know, baby. Water in my ears?”

They walked around a corner and began to go up the inclined path that led to the hotel. Dismissing for the moment the troubling incident, both Frank and Megan paused momentarily to admire the view of the luxuriant hotel grounds.

“Flowers, flowers, flowers…” Megan chanted softly. “Look at all the colors! All the beautiful flowers, all for me…!” She smiled impishly up at her tall boyfriend. “They are all for me, you know…put here just for me!”

“I know,” he said agreeably. “I’ll pick one and put it in your hair, how’s that? You’ll look beautiful with tropical flowers in your hair.” He dropped a brief kiss on the top of her auburn curls. “You look beautiful without tropical flowers in your hair too.”

“You’re supposed to be admiring the flowers,” she chided.

Frank gave a perfunctory glance to the vegetation. “They’re really pretty,” he conceded, “but you know what? In my considered opinion, they aren’t the prettiest things in the immediate area!” He pulled her close and kissed her again, lightly, then wrapped an arm about her waist and steered her up the path.

“Watch out for sharp shells,” he warned, a moment later. Both of them were barefoot, their sandals draped over their shoulders along with their beach towels. The path was mostly large rocks and sand, but occasionally a smaller rock or shell protruded. They slowed down, watching where they stepped, then paused for a moment to admire their surroundings once more.

Megan caught her breath in a soft gasp of astonishment, as a beautiful blue butterfly flittered towards them and daringly alighted directly on Frank’s nose! Involuntarily jerking back, Frank crinkled his nose at the tickling sensation, and then sneezed. The butterfly took off, heading towards a flowering shrub nearby, and Frank laughed.

“I wish I’d had a camera!” Megan cried. “No one will ever believe what just happened!”

“Baby, I am so glad you didn’t have a camera!” Frank replied, grinning ruefully. “I can just imagine what some of the guys would say if they saw that…much less what Joe would say! I’d be known as ‘Butterfly Boy’ in no time!”

Megan let her eyelashes flutter in imitation of the departed butterfly’s wings. “I can’t imagine a more charming butterfly boy than you,” she purred throatily, and stretched upwards to kiss his cheek.

Frank blushed, but leaned down to brush his lips against hers. “If that’s the kind of response I get, I may have to arrange for more butterflies to land on me,” he murmured.

“You might try smearing yourself with honey…” she suggested, trying to look wicked – but not succeeding very well. Frank elevated one dark eyebrow, considering the various possibilities of that remark.

They walked slowly towards the elevators, knowing that they would have to part ways to change for dinner, and rode up to their floor, silent now…parting reluctantly at the doors to their respective rooms.

“Oh baby…” Frank broke the silence as he pulled Megan tightly against him and kissed her yet again. “I wish we were here – in this place – alone!” he whispered into her hair, and hugged her, hard. “Just you and me!”

And then he hastily released her, and went into his room.

*****

“You know—” Joe opened the door to their room, nearly an hour later, and entered like a small whirlwind, slamming the door behind him. “That seminar wasn’t so bad! I didn’t know Dad was such a good teacher, you know?”

Frank, who had had time to shower, dry his hair, get dressed for dinner, and lie down on his bed for a 30-minute power nap while waiting for his brother, reached for a pillow and tossed it in Joe’s direction. “Idiot,” he said fondly, “He’s been teaching us our whole lives! How could you not know he’s a good teacher?”

Joe, retrieving two pillows from his own bed, threw them at Frank, and nailed him neatly with both, despite his brother’s trying to duck out of the way. “Idiot, huh? Same genes run in you, ya know!”

Declining to get mussed up, Frank didn’t return fire. The two boys grinned at each other, affection evident on both their faces, and Joe sat down on his bed.

“Dad said we’re supposed to meet him and mom for dinner – we’re going to a luau on the beach, that the hotel puts on!” the younger Hardy announced happily.

Frank grinned at that – spending time on a Hawaiian beach at a luau sounded good to him! “When’s it supposed to start?”

Joe flopped backwards to lie flat on the bed, his feet still on the floor. “Seven…until whenever we get done,” he replied.

Deciding that he could dress a little more casually for a luau, Frank began to look through the dresser drawers and the closet. He decided on his one Hawaiian-print shirt and a pair of blue shorts, then changed into them, carefully hanging up the slacks and polo shirt he had previously worn.

Joe watched him, frowning slightly. “Did you steal that shirt from me?”

Frank looked down at himself. “No,” he said finally, “ I RECLAIMED it from you! I liberated it from you! It was mine to begin with…remember?”

Joe dismissed that with a wave of one hand. “Vanessa likes that shirt on me,” he announced. “She says it brings out the blue in my eyes.”

The older boy rolled his eyes at this. “Joe, you have six shirts like this. It’s not like you need mine – my only one – to add to your collection!”

Muttering things best left unheard, Joe pulled out a similar shirt from his own things, and put it on, along with a pair of shorts. He went into the bathroom to comb his hair, then popped his head back out. “Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something…did you hear about the car theft earlier?”

Frank shook his head. “No, didn’t hear anything. What happened?”

“After we split up, after lunch, Vanessa and I were nearly flattened in the parking lot, by a Mercedes. It turns out that the car belonged to one of the police officers here on the Big Island, and someone stole it from the parking lot…whew, was he ticked off! Anyway, I talked to Chief Pauahi about it, and he said that a car theft ring seems to have developed here.”

“That seems strange,” Frank commented. “There’s nowhere for the cars to go…here on an island. Nowhere that they won’t be found, anyway.”

Joe nodded his agreement. “You’re right, and that’s what Chief Pauahi says, too. It doesn’t seem to be a very cost-effective scheme – but still, the cars are missing, and the police haven’t been able to find them. In fact, until this afternoon, there hadn’t been any witnesses to the thefts.”

“Now there’s you and Vanessa,” Frank observed.

“Yup. Although,” Joe admitted, “we didn’t get a good look at the guys in the car. Just an impression of dark hair and dark eyes – pretty much like people from Hawaii!”

“That’s a BIG help,” Frank snorted. “But you know, Joe…I think I overheard something this afternoon, when Megan and I were on the beach. These two guys arguing over something – one of them said that the other was going to get them ‘caught.’ And the second one….” He described the threatening ‘shooting’ gesture he’d seen. “Until I saw that, I didn’t think too much about it. And I sure didn’t know what they could be talking about. Now, though…now, I wonder if it could have something to do with the car thefts?”

“Possible,” Joe nodded. “And if you can remember what they look like, or if you see them again, we can search them out later – maybe follow them, see if we can figure out where the cars are being hidden. Until then, though…” Joe grinned wickedly. “Until then, I intend on having a lot of fun on the beach at the luau tonight. Moonlight, firelight, roasting food, and a beautiful girl at my side! You couldn’t ask for more, could you?”

Frank chuckled. “I’m glad Vanessa made it onto that list somewhere.”

Close to seven p.m., the boys met up with their parents and girlfriends, and the six headed down to the beach, where the luau was being held. The traditional kalua pig roasting in its imu, or underground pit, was sending forth succulent aromas, and tables were loaded down with platters of chicken, salmon, purple-hued sweet potatoes, rice, and fresh fruit salads.

Joe threw back his head and sniffed appreciatively. “Mmmm!”

They were given fresh flower leis to wear, and shown where they could sit – a choice of either on mats on the ground, or more conventionally at tables – and then invited to join in the pre-dinner festivities, which included Hawaiian arts and crafts, trying their hands at weaving palm fronds, or taking part in a hula lesson!

“I want to try that!” Vanessa said, and moved towards the dancers as if pulled by a magnet. Megan followed, waving a ‘see you later’ back at Frank. Laura and Fenton wandered off to admire some of the handicrafts displayed.

“Let’s watch ‘em,” Joe invited softly, indicating their girlfriends with a tilt of his blonde head. Frank was swift to agree. The girls were worth watching!

Dressed in long, light skirts and halter tops, their feet bare, Vanessa and Megan blended in with their instructors more than some of the other tourists, although their coloring pronounced them definitely not Hawaiians!

Frank’s eyes were riveted to Megan as one of the Hawaiian women demonstrated how she should position her hands, how she should move her hips and undulate with the rhythm of the music being played. Megan glanced over at him once or twice, her aqua eyes sparkling with delight as she continued to try to master the moves of the hula.

“Vanessa’s doing great,” Joe commented, grinning as he watched his girlfriend, who was working with another of the dancers.

“Megan’s doing just as well as Vanessa,” Frank retorted. The girls were obviously having the times of their lives…and the boys were enjoying the show!

“Howzit, brah?” A new voice interrupted their pleasant pastime, and the Hardys looked up. Four young men, locals by the look, were approaching. “We got room for more players…you wanna play some beach volleyball?” one of them invited.

Joe and Frank exchanged glances, both immediately interested. “Just a minute,” Joe said, and hurried off to confer with Vanessa. When he returned, he was smiling. “They want to practice the hula,” he reported, “and they don’t mind if we go play volleyball.”

The six of them split into teams, three on a side. Frank and Joe found themselves on opposing teams, and were quickly embroiled in an all-out, vicious game! They’d played beach volleyball in Tahoe, but that had been with other tourists like themselves. This was more like undeclared war! The island players were fierce, and had some ferocious spikes in their arsenal – ones that both the boys from the mainland were hard put to defend!

“You guys are a lot better than we are,” Frank admitted to one of the boys on his team, a young man named Jarrod, as a game ended.

The third person on their team, who had introduced himself by saying “Call me Quint. It’s not my real name – that’s Hawaiian, and hard to pronounce – but Quint’s the closest translation!” overheard the comment and laughed. “We play several hours a day, brah. Practice that much, you get good at it. And beach volleyball’s harder than the kind you play on a court – you got to move through the sand, and that’s not easy!”

“That’s for sure!” Joe put in. “My legs are already sore…and I know I’ve worked out harder than I do at practice during football season!”

“You did good, though,” Jarrod complimented, and slapped his back as they walked back to have dinner. Although the boys weren’t hotel guests, apparently they were managing to slide surreptitiously in and share in the luau’s food!

Megan and Vanessa were with Fenton and Laura, apparently introducing two lovely-looking Hawaiian girls to them. As Frank and Joe joined them, they were included in the introductions. Evidently the Hawaiian dancers and the beach volleyball teams were already acquainted.

“This is Akemi, and this is Jasmin,” Vanessa said, “our dance instructors! Girls, Frank and Joe Hardy.” She grinned, and winked at Joe. “Our Significant Others.”

Megan nestled against Frank and hugged him. “How did the volleyball game go?” she asked.

“Joe’s team is ahead, two games to one,” Frank admitted ruefully. “And the games were only won by two points, each time.” He eyed his new acquaintances with respect. “They’ve got to be the most brutal volleyball players we’ve ever tried to play with!”

Joe laughed. “You should have seen it, Red…Frank made some really artful dives into the sand—”

“You were face-down in the sand more than once, yourself,” Frank commented mildly, at which all the boys laughed.

“They did okay for haoles,” Quint acknowledged. “Let’s get some food, huh?”

They heaped their plates with the delicious luau food, and sat down on woven mats together – the Hardys, their girls, the four local boys, and Jasmin and Akemi. When they had progressed to dessert – coconut cake and haupia, a coconut-flavored cross between pudding and Jell-o, the evening’s entertainment began.

First came a brief history of the settling of the Hawaiian Islands, telling how the Polynesians had set out across the ocean and traveled in their outrigger canoes. Then there was a description of some of the Hawaiian gods and goddesses, which featured Pelè, whose home, the volcano Kilauea , was right there on the Big Island. Then came an exhibition by fire-knife dancers, who lit their torches and began to twirl them around in bright arcs, tossing them carelessly into the air and catching them again…seemingly without effort!

Frank, Joe, Megan and Vanessa were wide-eyed with wonder as they watched the skilled fire-knife dancers, marveling at the brilliant display, ‘ohh-ing’ and ‘ahh-ing’ breathlessly.

“Oh! His headdress!” Megan squealed involuntarily once, and jumped, sure that the flaming baton was going to catch one of the dancers’ beautiful headpieces on fire. Fortunately, the dancer caught it before it landed, jumping back slightly and catching the baton in one upraised hand.

The six islanders sitting with them laughed. “He knows what he’s doing; he’s never torched it yet,” Akemi said. “Although that was closer than usual, I’ll admit!” Megan blushed slightly, glad it was fairly dark. She had nearly upended her plate into her lap.

“That was brilliant!” Vanessa exclaimed, when one set of dancers paused and a new group prepared to take their places. “So beautiful, too! Can you imagine how long it must take to learn to do that – without burning yourself?”

“It takes a long time,” Quint agreed, “Kids can apprentice early to learn, usually with one of the current performers…and yes, they can get burnt…but of course, they don’t start off with burning torches! They start with plain sticks, and learn the method that way. They don’t graduate to actually juggling fire until much later.”

Frank had been sitting very quietly, and looked rather pale in the soft glow of the Tiki torches and the moonlight. He watched the dancers move with their fire-batons, and swallowed nervously as they made the fire obey them…bent it to their wills. Finally, shivering, he got to his feet and walked away.

Megan stood also, and hurried after him, clutching at his arm. “Frank? What’s wrong? Where are you going?”

He stopped and stared at her…and then looked back at the blazing fires, a haunted expression in his eyes.

“I…don’t know,” he said, finally. “I’m sorry, Megan. You stay here. I…I think I’m going to take a little walk.”

And then he turned from her and walked away.

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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.