"I think it’s time we let our friendly neighborhood policeman in on this." he announced, and leaned backwards so as to reach the cell phone in his pocket.

"Police!" Kiwi’s eyes went round. "Dude, aren’t you forgetting something here? – namely, me!"

Frank chuckled a little. "Joe’s not calling for a squad car, Kiwi." he assured their friend. "You heard us mention Con Riley, the police lieutenant who gave us the lists, and got me the job at the military police? – well, that’s who Joe’s calling."

Kiwi still looked apprehensive. "I don’t know, guys – this doesn’t feel like a good idea to me….I’m wanted, remember?" He nervously watched Joe’s fingers punching digits, then suddenly lunged forward, snatched the tiny phone, and pressed the power button off.

Kiwi jumped up from the bed. "If I’d known you guys were going to dob me in, I’d have stayed on the streets where I was safer!" he shouted in a panicked voice, and headed for the door.

"Calm down, Kiwi," Frank said in a soothing tone, rising to stop his friend’s departure.

"But…" Kiwi started to say, only to be interrupted by Joe, who had just dialed again.

"Kiwi, it’ll be okay; Con’s cool with – hey, Con! It’s Joe…." Joe paused, evidently letting Riley reply.

Kiwi groaned loudly, realizing that Joe had, indeed, phoned his police friend. "No way – I don’t believe this! I should have just stuck it out on my own…."

"We have something we’d like to talk over with you – oh? You do?" Another pause. "We’ve come up with some interesting stuff – all tying in with the MP’s, believe it or not – that job you got Frank was the key!" Joe looked over at Kiwi and winked. His friend still had his hand on the doorknob, with Frank’s hand hovering just above, but at least he was standing in abeyance and not trying to leave.

Now, as Joe listened to Riley speaking on the other end, a puzzled frown creased his forehead. After a moment, he said, "Con – just where are you, anyway?" Kiwi, listening to the one-sided conversation with a scowl, and Frank, who was listening with interest, exchanged speculative glances – why would Joe ask something like that?

Whatever Riley’s answer was, it made Joe flush and squeeze his eyes shut for a moment, apparently in shock, although he looked as if he was trying not to laugh, too. "Can you come over to the B & B for a bit, Con?" was all he asked, however. When the lieutenant evidently replied in the affirmative, Joe added one last request. "And Con – tell Vanessa I said ‘hi,’ will you? See you in a few – oh, we’re in Frank’s room, by the way."

He flipped the phone shut, ending the call, then lay back on the bed and laughed until tears filled his eyes. Frank, figuring out what had transpired, chuckled too, while Kiwi merely looked mystified while still glowering. Finally, Joe sat up, red-faced and still spluttering.

"He’s at the Benders’, visiting Andrea!" he chortled. "I heard Vanessa’s laugh, in the background, while he was talking!" Seeing Kiwi’s bewilderment, he added: "Apparently, Con has a crush on Andrea Bender, Vanessa’s mother! As if that’s going to happen; Andrea’s way out of his league!" He shuddered, but kept on laughing. "It’s a horrifying thought…but…but….jeez, it’s funny!"

Kiwi laughed a little, obligingly, but his eyes were shifting warily from side to side. "Dude, I think I’ll go into the other room, if you don’t mind…meeting up with your policeman mate isn’t my idea of a good time, just now."

Frank placed a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder. "Kiwi, it’ll be okay – but if it will make you feel better, go ahead. We’ll tell Con about you first, and make sure everything’s all right before we bring you in to meet him; how’s that?"

"I don’t know – maybe I should just leave…."

"That’s not necessary! Trust us, Kiwi; you know we’d never put you in any danger."

Kiwi swallowed nervously, then finally nodded his approval. He exited the room, and Frank noted he was chewing on the corner of his lip as he departed. They heard the door of the room opposite close with a definite thud. The Hardys exchanged glances; Joe sober now.

"It will be okay," he stated, positively, and then spoiled the effect by adding, "won’t it?"

"Let’s hope so." Frank sighed.

*****

Less than ten minutes later, they heard firm footsteps approaching their door, and then came a light tap. "Con here." Riley’s deep voice was heard on the other side of the panel.

Joe hastened to admit him. "Come on in; sit down." He waved a hand toward the armchair.

Riley stepped inside the room, his hair windswept. Almost immediately, he looked at Frank, who had gone back to sitting on the bed. "Evening, Joe – Frank, how are you feeling?" Concern etched his features.

"Not too bad – better, even."

"We want to show you something, Con – and after that, we want you to meet someone."

"Oh?" Con asked, intrigued.

Joe had decided not to beat about the bush. He gathered up the sheets of paper Liz Webling had given him, added it to the personnel file Frank had brought home with him, and the list of victims and detectives Kiwi had supplied. "Read these." he commanded. "And note his father’s initials in relation to the ones engraved on the Zippo lighter we found."

Con shrugged his shoulders and accepted the documents from the younger Hardy’s hands. He laid them across his lap and began to read. For a few minutes there was silence in the room as Riley scanned the various clippings and papers. As he read each piece, he laid it down in front of him on the bed, until eventually there was paper fanning the whole bed covering. Finally, he looked up from his perusal, and whistled softly. "I think you have something here."

"It all fits together like a jigsaw." Frank commented quietly. "And it all hinged on our finding that cigarette lighter at Hurd Applegate’s home – and the addition of those other two detectives from Italy and New Zealand into the mix."

Con nodded. "I have some news for you, too." he began. "I checked the photos I took of Frank’s throat against the autopsy pictures." He paused a beat, then continued. "The bruise prints match – it’s not exactly like finding fingerprints on your throat, Frank, but the discoloration pattern is identical. Either the same person choked both you and Applegate, or there are two stranglers running around out there with awfully similar sized hands, who just happen to throttle people using identical choke holds – which is highly unlikely, I might add!"

"Doesn’t this just about clear Dad?" Joe demanded excitedly.

"It’s beginning to look that way." Con nodded. "Though I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to explain it to Chief Collig, and it’s still all circumstantial evidence – however strong!" he added, before Joe could verbally jump on him.

There was a lull as everyone looked at one another, their faces showing their mixed emotions. Finally Con Riley broke the silence.

"You said you wanted me to ‘meet someone’….Who?"

Frank glanced at Joe, and nodded slightly. Over to you, were the unspoken words.

Con’s blue eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything.

"Con, you aren’t feeling especially official tonight, are you?" Frank queried, seemingly at random. "This is all in confidence, right?"

The eyes narrowed further, and the beginnings of a frown puckered Riley’s brow.

"I’ll go get him." Joe offered, and went across the hall. When he returned, Kiwi was behind him, somehow attempting to shrink his 6’5" frame to shelter behind Joe’s 6’ one.

"Con – meet Dave Barton, known as ‘Kiwi’." Joe stepped aside, and Riley’s startled gaze fell full upon almost-familiar features he had before only seen in a "wanted" poster.

"Barton?" he snapped, and rose to his feet, causing Kiwi to back up towards the door, his fingers twitching for the handle. "Barton from Aus—" He paused, for somehow both Hardys had moved to position themselves between him and the tall stranger, shielding him, and their expresssions were grimly determined.

"Our friend Kiwi." Frank emphasized deliberately. "Who has been framed in the exact same way Dad has, Con...and who supplied the information concerning the investigators in New Zealand and Italy."

Riley remained silent a few seconds longer, his face unreadable, then his mouth quirked up at one corner. "You’re a big one, aren’t you?" he asked mildly, and thrust out his hand between Frank and Joe. "Glad to meet you…Kiwi."

Joe stepped to one side. Kiwi exhaled a long, soft breath of relief before extending his own hand. "G’day, Lieutenant."

The four of them found seats – Con in the armchair, Kiwi and Frank perched on the bed, Joe cross-legged on the floor. The younger Hardy had scooped the documents and files off the bed into his lap.

"Con, we’d like you to hear something." Frank said. He glanced at Kiwi. "Can you tell it all again?"

"Shortened version." his friend answered with a nod. Clearing his throat, Kiwi began quickly relating his story of Linda Gyles and the man he had pursued to New York. At first, Con just listened, then reached into a pocket and removed a pen and notebook. As he did so, a folded sheet of paper was dislodged from the pocket and fell to the floor. Joe reached to pick it up, but Con gestured no and mouthed "later". Joe settled back, listening to Kiwi’s recital. Con began jotting quick notes, his blue eyes on Kiwi’s tense face.

When at last Kiwi finished, Con sat in deep thought for a moment, then slowly closed his notebook and returned it and the pen to his pocket. "You should have come forward sooner – approached the police." he said.

Kiwi arched an ironic eyebrow, smiling slightly. "Oh yeah – a lot of good it’s done Fenton Hardy and the rest of the detectives."

Con raised his own eyebrows. "Good point." he admitted. "So now what?" he asked.

"I have an idea for that." Frank said. "I think we should try searching James Albright’s locker at the MP base, and see if we can’t get some physical evidence. According to his file, he’s sharing quarters with other military personnel, so I don’t think he’d hide any of his ‘treasures’ there…so the locker is as good a hiding place as any."

Joe was skeptical. "And just how were you planning on doing that? How would you know which locker’s his, anyway?"

"Listen and learn, little brother." Frank smiled complacently. "I found something out today. When Chris Walker told me to ‘just go ahead and pick a locker’ he goofed. People are supposed to be assigned lockers, and the number is noted in their personnel files. The reason Walker did that was so that he’d know what locker I chose, so he could later get at my car keys. But now I know better – and looking up Albright’s locker number is as simple as accessing his file. In fact, it’s probably noted in that paper file." he added, gesturing toward the folder in Joe’s lap.

At this prompting, Joe immediately began thumbing through the paperwork.

"Can you get to it?" Riley asked shrewdly. "Don’t you usually stay upstairs in the offices, unless you’re at your own locker for something?"

"And what if someone saw you?" Kiwi cautioned. "People coming and going all the time – how could you search it?"

Frank chewed his lip thoughtfully for a moment, then looked up. "I bet I could get Joe and Kiwi visitors’ passes – I can tell Captain Lee that I’d like my friends, Josh Douglas and Dave Randall, to see where I work, because it’s possible that they might follow me into the military—" He broke off to grin at Joe’s and Kiwi’s involuntary yips of dismay. "—I said possible, guys, not probable!" he reassured them.

"Might work," Riley conceded.

"Well, they can come ‘visiting’ just as I get off work, when it’s quiet." Frank continued the plan. "and we can finish up our tour of the base down in the locker rooms. Then two of us can keep watch while the other one searches Albright’s locker. How’s that sound?"

"Workable," Joe nodded, continuing to leaf through the file folder. "Is this the locker number?" he asked finally, holding it where Frank could see. His brother nodded. "Can you get the passes tomorrow?" Joe continued eagerly.

"Maybe – maybe!" Frank had to laugh. "I’ll try, anyway."

Con got to his feet now. "I’d better go – I have a dinner appointment. I wasn’t intending to stay this long – but I’m glad I did," he added, smiling at Kiwi.

"Lieutenant – thanks for not – for…" Kiwi broke off, not wishing to say Thanks for not arresting me, out loud. He didn’t want to bring his ‘wanted’ status to Riley’s attention again.

"See that the trust is justified." The lieutenant responded somberly.

"No worries."

As Con stepped toward the door, Joe caught sight of the piece of paper he’d dropped. "Con, wait, you forgot this—" He reached to pick it up, and the creases unfolded as he did so. To Joe’s astonishment and chagrin, he found himself looking at the sketch Andrea Bender had done – Con Riley, posing for Rex Rover!

Color high, Con quickly took the paper from an equally-embarrassed Joe, folded it and returned it to his pocket. Frank hid a smile behind his hand, and his dark eyes sparkled with wicked mirth at Kiwi. Kiwi smiled in return, but confusion was evident on his face. What’s so funny?

"Goodnight, boys." Con was heading toward the door again, hastily. "Keep in touch – and remember, this man is dangerous!" he added. "Keep in mind what happened to Frank in the woods." he reminded them gravely, and they nodded soberly in return.