It was a glorious April Day, one of those days that make you forget that bad weather ever existed. There was blue sky as far as the eye can see and on the Californian seafront a wonderfully cool wind blew in from the ocean to cool down the sunbathers, surfers and volley-ball players.

One of the surfers was Frank Hardy. He had been out for about half an hour but decided to call it a day. He figured it was too hot to surf anymore and there was an ice cold root beer in the fridge with his name on it. He crossed the road from the beach and into the beach front apartment he shared with his brother Joe.

Frank had to suppress his laughter as he walked in the door to the living room. His brother was bent over the table trying to figure out a math’s problem and looked like he would throw the book out the window at any moment!

One of the problems that can occur when you are amateur detectives is that you occasionally get injured and miss college time. A bad fall from a church roof chasing a suspect had kept Joe out of class and meant he had to do some make up exams.

Joe looked up as his brother came into the room.

"The person who scheduled make-up exams for April was obviously a sadist. Who in their right mind wants to spend their time studying in weather like this?"

Joe looked out at the clear blue sky and sighed.

"Well little brother you will go chasing bad guys across roofs and break three of your ribs in the process." Frank tried to look serious as he said this, but couldn’t help smiling at the frustrated expression on Joe’s face. The younger Hardy hated being cooped up, especially in fine weather.

"Thanks Frank, that makes me feel a whole lot better" Joe said, with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "How was the surfing anyhow, there looked to be some pretty good waves out there?"

"Not bad baby brother, not bad at all" Frank walked through to the kitchen and deposited his board outside the backdoor before coming back into the living room and sitting down opposite his brother.

"I would tell you all about the sun, sand and waves, not to mention the pretty girls on the beach, but I really don’t want to disturb you. You are obviously enthralled with your calculus problems!"

Frank had to duck in order to avoid the pen that Joe threw at him in disgust!

"It is nice not to have any cases on at the moment though", continued Frank. My brain needed the rest"

Joe grinned "Your brain never rests big bro, that’s why you are the thinker and I’m the do-er!"

"Well in that case, I think you had better spend some more time doing that calculus problem, because as the thinker I can tell from here that you have the wrong answer"

Joe screwed the piece of paper he had been working on in a ball and threw it into the bin in the corner, a perfect three-pointer. "I honestly don’t see where calculus comes into Criminology anyway; I’m hardy going to capture any bad guys using compound fractions am I?"

Frank laughed and then stood up and stretched his 6ft 1 frame. "I’m going to take a shower while you finish that and then do you want to grab a pizza?"

"You bet" replied Joe, as he turned his attention back to his book.

An hour later the brothers were sitting on the deck eating pizza and enjoying the sunset. Joe was just thinking about Vanessa when the phone rang. Frank was nearer the phone but he let Joe answer it and was rewarded when he heard Joes voice saying "Hey baby, I was just going to call you"

Knowing that the love birds would be on the phone for at least an hour Frank decided that a walk along the beach would clear his head. It was a still, clear night with a full moon. Frank thought about the last time that he and Joe had walked along this beach at night.

Frank smiled as he remembered that hug, and the way Joe and he had talked and laughed all the way back up the beach. He did trust his brother with his life, he thought, although he hoped in would never come to that.

At this stage Frank was almost back at the apartment.

"Joe, are you still yapping to Vanessa, I swear to you I am not paying any of the next phone…..oh god!" Frank stopped suddenly in the doorway of the kitchen. Joe was no longer sitting at the counter chatting on the phone to Vanessa.

What Frank saw in his place was a blood splattered chair, Blood covered the walls behind the chair and the smashed remains of the phone were scattered all over the floor.

There was very little chance that the person who had lost that blood could be still alive.

Frank felt his legs go weak and his world became suddenly darker. "Joe" he cried before falling to the floor and into darkness…