It was twenty minutes before closing when Fenton and Sheriff Reiner walked into the Sommersville Trust and Fund Bank. Bill Burton saw the two men enter and walked over to them, a smile plastered on his face.

"Hello, gentlemen," Burton greeted the two men. "Have you found Joe or Remy yet?" he inquired.

"No," Reiner snarled. "But when I get my hands on that lowlife..."

"Easy, Reiner," Fenton said. "By the book and he won't get off."

"You're right, of course," Reiner agreed, his face still broke out in a scowl.

"Lowlife?" Burton inquired curiously.

"Cody Wallace," Fenton answered. "When Frank and I were here earlier this morning, Wallace was wearing a medallion. The same medallion Sally said Joe had found in her father's bedroom the night before."

"We searched Wallace's apartment. It looks like he has packed up and has no intention of returning. We were hoping he had decided to finish the workday here so no one would be suspicious about his leaving," Reiner put in.

Burton looked shaken. "No, he isn't here. He wasn't feeling too well and left a few minutes after you and your son did this morning," he said to Fenton.

"Thanks," Reiner said to Burton and turned to Fenton. "I'll call the FBI," he said. "We'll need to alert the airports to be on the lookout for him. With all the money missing from the bank, you can bet he'll try flying out of the country."

Fenton and Reiner left the bank and headed for the cabin. Each knew Burton would wait until he had finished his day at the bank before going to the cabin. There, they were met by Frank, Joe, and Remy. Remy and Joe were tied and gagged and left in the middle of the room. Frank was sent outside to hide the car and observe from the window while Reiner and Fenton hid in the cabin: Fenton behind the sofa and Reiner in the bedroom closet.

They didn't have long to wait. Burton was heard arriving with the screeching of tires. His car door slammed and then the cabin door burst open. He glanced at Joe and Remy, still tied up, and headed straight for the bedroom to the top bureau drawer and opened it. Nothing! He pulled open every drawer and all of them were empty. His face red he stormed back into the main room and yanked the gag from Remy's mouth.

"When was the last time Cody was here?" Burton demanded.

"I'm not telling you anything," Remy replied stonily.

"Oh, no?" Burton asked, grabbing Joe by the collar and pulling him close. He removed a gun from his blazer pocket and aimed it at Joe's head. "You will answer every question I put to you or your surrogate son, here, dies."

"He was here this morning," Remy answered, his face white. He hadn't expected this to happen.

"Did he say anything?"

"Just that it was over," Remy told him. "He said, it was time to take what he could and leave."

"And he just left you here?" Burton demanded in disbelief.

"He said by the time we got free, he would be long gone," Remy said. "He said it wouldn't matter if we told what we knew then or not."

"That bastard!" Burton snarled, throwing Joe down. He began pacing, the gun wavering as he strode back and forth. Fenton remained still, afraid he would be seen. Reiner had left his hiding place and was watching from the shadows in the bedroom.

Burton came to a standstill and looked at the two. "Why couldn't you have left Hardy out of this, huh?" he demanded of Joe. "If you had just done the investigating yourself, none of this would have to of happened. Remy would have been cleared and Todd would be behind bars. But now..." he shook his head. "Now I have to kill both of you."

"Murder is worse than embezzling," Remy reminded Burton. "Why not just turn yourself in? Wallace took everything, didn't he?"

"I won't be up for murder," Burton told him. "Wallace will." He pulled Wallace's medallion from his pocket. "I gave it back to him last night and he wore it again. When Hardy noticed it today at the bank, Wallace gave it back to me and asked me to get rid of it." He gave a short laugh. "Now, I'll kill you two and plant the necklace on Joe. It will look like Joe tried to struggle but only got the necklace."

"But why?" Remy demanded. "If you turn yourself in, I am sure things will go a lot easier than you expect."

"Why should I turn myself in?" Burton demanded. "Wallace may have made off with six hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but I still have a million," he informed them. "The money Wallace took was to be used to make Todd look guilty, but now, well, it can frame Wallace just as easily."

"You still have a million of the money you embezzled?" Remy demanded, his eyes wide. "But didn't the authorities check you out? Where did you hide it?"

"Of course they checked me out. It's standard procedure," Burton admitted. "I set up a bank account in Gail's name in Switzerland."

"Your late wife?"

"Yes. Unlike here in the states, over there I don't have to have anything more than her death certificate to get at the account," Burton confessed. "I'll wait until your bodies have been found and then I will be so overcome from grief at having been involved in the death of two such wonderful people, that I must resign my position from the bank. Once that is done, I will move away and no one will be the wiser."

"I wouldn't say that," Reiner said from the bedroom doorway, his gun drawn and aimed at Burton.

Before Burton had time to react, Fenton leapt from his hiding place and quickly disarmed the man. Frank ran inside and he and Fenton untied Joe and Remy while Reiner placed Burton under arrest. Reiner took Burton to jail and Joe and the Hardys dropped Pops off at home.

Remy shook Fenton's hand. "Would you, your sister, Laura and the boys like to come over for a small celebration?" Remy asked.

"Thank you," Fenton replied. "But we have something we need to talk about and it has been put off long enough."

"Be good to them," Remy said softly as he released Fenton's hand. Joe, Frank and Sally came over to the two men.

Sally wrapped an arm around Pops. "Thank you for finding my dad and Joe," she said to Fenton.

"Actually, they found me," Frank put in, grinning.

The three left the Conroys and headed home where Laura and Gertrude had prepared a feast. Joe, who had eaten nothing more than a candy bar and a bag of chips Frank had bought for him at the police station since the previous evening, was starving.

"Before we eat," Laura said. "Fenton and I have something we want to tell you," she said, looking into Joe's eyes.

"You're going to get married?" he asked.

"Well, yes," Fenton admitted to the pleased shouts of all. "But that wasn't what we wanted to tell you." He put his hands on Joe's shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "I'm your father," he said.

"I know," Joe said. "Can we eat now?"

"You know? How do you know?" Laura demanded, shocked.

Joe shrugged. "I was kind of curious about who my dad was and you did say he was a stranger who had amnesia, so I looked up the old newspapers. The mysterious Joe Daniels was identified in the last account as Fenton Hardy."

"You knew? All this time, and you never said anything! Why not?" Frank demanded.

"Well, to begin with, I didn't know if you knew or not," Joe told him. "And secondly," he added, turning to Fenton, "I was waiting to see if you wanted me."

"If I..." Fenton roared, pulling Joe into his arms and squeezing him tight. "Of course I want you. God, if I had only known..."

"Can't...breathe..." Joe gasped. Fenton released Joe slowly to the laughter of those around them.

"I have never had a brother," Frank said, looking at Joe seriously. "But I have always wanted one."

"I don't know," Joe said, returning the look. " I don't think it's going to work out."

Everyone looked at him, worry crossing their features. "You know my secret to winning Monopoly."

Frank burst out laughing, followed by Joe and the others. Fenton ruffled Joe's hair playfully. "This is really okay with you?" he asked, his face turning serious once again.

"What? I get a father, a brother and an aunt all at once. How could it not be all right?" he asked.

"We're going to have to move," Laura told him. "We'll be living in Bayport."

"I know," Joe replied. "I'll miss Remy but I'll have what I always wanted. A family."