Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Chapter 13 - Phil

You know in the beginning, when I moved to Bayport and Frank and I became friends, I was jealous of their relationship, his and Joe’s, I mean. I was jealous of the fact that they both had someone that they could rely on, trust and love 100%.

Someone that they would lay down their life for, and that in turn would do the same thing for them. I wanted that so badly and I could never attain it.

There’s nothing wrong with being an only child, until you see how close some siblings can be, that is. There is a saying: You don’t miss what you never had. I never had a brother, and for a long time I never wanted one; I had my parents, and my computers, and that was all that I wanted.

But when I moved to Bayport and got to know Frank, and then when I saw him and Joe talking and chatting after school, or joking around at lunch, I realised what it must be like to be comfortable enough around another person to allow you to just be yourself. That no matter what you did, that person wouldn’t think any less of you.

And yes, things were a little…tense between Joe and myself, although looking back I think that I was the main cause of that. I never let him in, never really talked to him. And for a while Frank was caught in an awkward position; I was his ‘best’ friend, Joe was his brother.

But you know what, as time went on, Joe and I, we started to talk, and even though we have absolutely nothing in common, we still get along really well. Sometimes I think that Joe feels he has to protect me, you know? Not in a patronising way though, in a kind of ‘if you’re my brother’s friend I’ll do all I can to make sure it stays that way.’

And I’d do the same for him; I was trying to do the same thing, but we still had to find Radley.

Fenton Radley had a plan, or so it would seem. Revenge on his father primarily, and then on anyone else whom he felt had wronged him in the past. Also, he was mentally unstable, that much became perfectly clear.

I had tried to sleep for a few hours, but it wasn’t easy; I could hear Callie and Vanessa moving about, or Chet pacing up and down the living room. More than two-and-a-half days had passed at this stage, and still nothing. Frank, Tony and Biff had been gone for hours.

Sam Radley had shown up about an hour previously, and he and Frank’s father had left again just as quickly. Neither of them spoke whilst he was in the apartment, but Sam looked like a man from whom all the good things in his life had suddenly vanished. I could see the anger, the betrayal in Mr. Hardy’s eyes as he saw him step out of a taxi, and I think Sam saw it too. It was like 30 years of friendship had suddenly disappeared.

But it wasn’t my place to pry; I knew that they would still work together to find Joe, no matter who had taken him, no matter how closely they were involved.

Then Frank rang me.

“He planned it all Phil, apparently he’s been planning it for more than a year; he got Harris to arrange for someone to smash into Joe’s car. Harris impersonated the cop, took Joe and handed him over to Radley, who took him somewhere, but we haven’t the faintest idea where.”

Frank’s voice became increasingly louder with every word, and Phil knew that his friend was far from calm and miles away from rational. He had to try and be calm for both of them.

“Did he have any idea whereabouts Frank, did Harris say anything, anything that might help?” Phil was determined to get Frank thinking again.

“No Phil, nothing, he said nothing, just that Radley wanted to kill Joe, to make him suffer and in turn to make us all suffer.”

There was a pause, and when Frank spoke again his voice was close to breaking.

“But for what, huh Phil, for what? For being a good kid, for doing well in school, for being popular? For being his FRIEND? WE DID NOTHING TO HIM…nothing.”

“We’ll be back at the apartment in ten minutes,” Frank continued, “Has HE arrived yet?”

Phil couldn’t help but wince at the venom in Frank’s voice. ‘HE’ was Sam Radley.

“Yeah, Frank about an hour ago; he and your Dad took off pretty much straight away, they were going to talk to some friends of Fenton’s that his Dad met once or twice.”

“Okay, we’ll be back in ten minutes.” Frank hung up.

I started to think then, sitting there beside my computer, What would I do if I was Fenton Radley? Why would I go to all that trouble, kidnapping Joe, bringing him somewhere that no one could find him, tying him up and leaving him to die? Why not just kill him straight away?

And the more I thought about it, the more I began to realise something; and by the time Sam Radley and Mr. Hardy had returned to meet Frank, a definite idea was beginning to form in my head.

He wanted to make Frank suffer too, right? And his father and their father. The whole point, the whole revenge part for him wasn’t seeing Joe suffer, although that was part of it, it was watching everyone else suffer.

Frank walked in the front door of the apartment, closely followed by Tony and Biff. One look at his face and I could see that he figured it out too.

“Frank? I think that Radley…” Phil began.

….is watching us…” Frank finished the sentence for me. “Which means that we’re all in danger,” he continued. “So we need to get the girls out….”

But Frank never did finish that sentence; there was the sound of a ‘click’ from the kitchen, and there standing at the doorway was a man, about our age, holding a shotgun.

And he was pointing it directly at Frank.

Fenton Radley.

“Hello everyone, now please, don’t try to make any sudden movements or Frank gets a bullet through the head. Come out where I can see you, EVERYONE…”

They all crowded into the living room. Fenton Hardy, Sam, Tony, Chet, Biff, Phil, Callie, Vanessa…and Fenton followed them in, all the time training the barrel of the gun against Frank Hardy’s forehead.

“You all seem a little anxious,” Radley continued, “still can’t find Joey, I see. Well let me put you all out of your misery. I’ll tell you exactly where he is: on an abandoned farm 300 miles east of here, close to Barstow ; Miller’s Farm, it’s called. Everyone in the area knows it, but no one goes out there because it’s meant to be haunted.” Radley laughed. “It will be for real, soon. Joe wasn’t looking too good the last time I saw him.”

“So now you all know where he is, but it doesn’t really matter, because by the time anyone finds him, he’ll be dead. And perhaps he won’t be the only one.”