"But your mother should still be at home," Fenton pointed out.

"She noticed he wasn’t here before she said anything," Frank insisted. "She’s bluffing. Mom’s probably outside in the flower garden and Joe just got held up in traffic."

Fenton walked back to Marylin Anderson. "Where do you have him?" he demanded.

"Let us go and we’ll release him," she returned.

"Where did you get him?" Frank asked, still not believing Joe had been taken prisoner.

"Outside," she replied smugly. "He was just getting out of his van."

Fenton turned to Collig. "Find the van," he requested.

Collig sent three men outside to search but they found nothing. "Of course it isn’t here," Marilyn told them with a short laugh. "You think we’re amateurs? We didn’t leave it for you to find."

Collig glared at the woman and moved out of her earshot. He put out an APB on the boys’ van. As an officer, he could not let them go but he had to make every effort possible to find Joe before having the prisoner’s taken away. He owed the Hardys that much even if it hadn’t been required of him.

Almost immediately, a report came back. The van was still parked in the driveway of the Hardy home. He walked back to where Fenton and Frank were trying to get more information from Marylin. "Nice try. The van is still at the Hardy’s home," Ezra informed the woman He looked at his men. "Get them downtown and book ‘em."

"Why is Joe still there?" Frank wondered aloud, concern evident in his voice.

"Patch me through to the officer at the Hardy’s," Collig ordered dispatch.

"Meckinridge here," the officer responded.

"How many vehicles are present?" Collig asked.

"The van, a Saturn and two motorbikes," Meckinridge responded.

"Anyone home?" Collig demanded.

"Negative, Sir. No movement. Doors and windows are locked and no answer to my knock," came the reply.

"Break in," Fenton ordered Collig who relayed the command. "We’ll meet you there," Fenton told Collig, heading out of the university with Frank on his heels.

When they reached home, Officer Meckinridge was on the front porch. "Are they here?" Fenton asked as Frank rushed inside.

"No, Sir," Meckinridge replied. "And there’s no sign of a struggle or forced entry."

Fenton went inside and upstairs where Frank met him in the hallway. "Joe’s overnight bag is gone," he informed his father.

Fenton hurried into his and Laura’s room and looked beneath the bed. "One of Laura’s cases is missing too," he told Frank grimly. "You check your computer. I’ll check the bulletin board and answering machine. Maybe they left a message."

"Where could they have gone?" Frank asked his dad a few minutes later after both searches had revealed no fruit.

"Maybe Axemeyer knows," Fenton said, starting to leave the house and go next door.

"Hold it," Collig ordered him, stepping in front of him. He had arrived while Fenton had been listening to the answering machine. "You aren’t allowed over there," he reminded Fenton.

"Axemeyer answered the phone the last two times I called here," Fenton informed Collig and Frank. "Maybe he knows where they went."

"Why was he here?" demanded Frank. "And why did you talk to him? Didn’t you speak to Joe or mom at all?"

"Calm down," Fenton ordered his irate son. "I had him checked out. He’s clean."

"As a mud pie," mumbled Frank, but no one heard him.