Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Chapter Title: Many Phone Calls

Joyce looked at her watch, "It’s time to contact Tomlin. You’re the only one who can do that, Karen."

Ivana said, "I don’t know where he is yet myself, but I have a number. I have to call from a random pay phone. Stop at one. Then, you two need to stay away while I talk."

Joyce said, "We’re going to stand and listen to every word you say to make sure you don’t say anything bad about us. Don’t give me that baloney about it being his orders not to do that either."

Jason nodded in agreement.

Ivana shrugged indifferently, although seething inside. She knew Fritz had lost the white car and worried her brother had been injured when his hot rod hit the cement barrier. Now that they were in this stolen large brown car, she felt untraceable and very alone. She wondered why she’d seen Fritz and not John. She found herself worrying that Fritz had survived the gas attack, but John had not. She had assumed John had survived once she saw Fritz, but now she was not sure.

Dr. Ruby’s cell phone rang, loud in the crowded hotel room, and he answered. The others in the room could tell he was speaking to Chief Clymer. They were shocked to hear Dr. Ruby say, “Have Christine arrested immediately!”

“What’s going on?” Fritz demanded.

Dr. Ruby hung up, then addressed all in the room, “A couple hours ago, a person matching Christine’s description impersonated a nurse at the hospital. She checked for Fritz and John’s bodies. She visited all the areas the bodies could have been. Her determined search got various hospital staff involved. Nobody realized she wasn’t really a nurse until she vanished. She catalyzed a search that is continuing and doomed to fail.”

Conrad commented, “Christine mentioned as she sent me off to the airport that she was going to try tracking down the bodies, just to prove there were none. I didn’t know she’d impersonate a nurse.”

Dr. Ruby asked, “What else was she doing?”

“She had Vicky trying to break into the Port City Police’s computer system.”

Fritz appealed to Dr. Ruby, “Christine’s showing great initiative. She shouldn’t be arrested for that!”

“She’s causing major damage to this case. We’ll drop the charges later, but she’ll be out of the way for now. John, turn on the television and search the channels. Mr. Morrow, do the equivalent with the radio. Fritz, send e-mail to the system administrator at the Port City Police warning of a computer attack.”

They got busy with their tasks, although Fritz looked very unhappy.

At a pay phone in a parking lot, Ivana dialed Tomlin’s number.

A cultured male voice said, "Hello."

Ivana said, "Hello, I’m with your credit card company. I have a question about an outstanding balance of twelve thousand, three hundred and twelve dollars."

Standing right behind Ivana, Jason and Joyce exchanged a look of understanding. This was the same figure Karen had used to prove her identity to them.

"I’ve been waiting to hear from you, Karen. What have Jason and Joyce been up to?"

Karen glanced at Joyce, then said, "They’re standing right here so can tell you themselves."

"What? Put Joyce on."

Ivana handed the phone to Joyce. Joyce soon sounded like a motorboat as she said into it, "But...but...but...but."

Joyce then angrily shoved the receiver back into Ivana's hands.

Joyce said, "Get in the car, Jason. We’re going for a drive."

"Where?"

"Around the block," Joyce said as she headed to the car herself. "We’ll keep circling until Karen is done with the phone."

Jason protested, "You mean she told the truth about what Tomlin said?"

"Yes," Joyce replied. "Get in and drive!"

Jason began his drive.

With those two gone, Ivana began her rundown of events to Tomlin. She didn’t tell him everything, of course. She left out that Fritz Hardly, on a motorcycle, was following them earlier. She also maintained the illusion that it had been Gordon Snuff in the hot rod. Tomlin also concluded Snuff was an Entangle agent.

Tomlin informed Ivana, "I saw the Hardly boys’ parents on the television news. The father seemed upset, but the mother looked like she was faking her crying. I’m worried the Hardly boys aren’t really dead. How was the attack carried out?"

Tomlin listened as Ivana told him, then remarked, "Why was only Joyce at the house and not you and Jason?"

"She claimed Jason isn’t very good at surveillance and shouldn’t come."

"She’s right about that. You should have been there, though."

"She insisted I not be," Ivana said truthfully. "She wanted the credit for the kills, refusing to share it with me. She assured me she succeeded."

"Joyce might be our mole, Karen. The Hardly boys might still be alive because she could be in league with them. Have you seen a pair of men, riding on motorcycles?"

"Why motorcycles?"

"I researched the Hardly boys. I found out that many decades ago, they used to drive around on motorcycles. They might resort to using them now that their van is destroyed."

Ivana said, "I wish I thought of that! We saw one guy on a motorcycle while driving on the highway, but not two."

Ivana didn’t like mentioning that, but she found it wise to tell as much of the truth as she could in these situations. After all, Joyce and Jason had seen the motorcyclist and might remember him.

"That wouldn’t be the Hardly boys, then. They only travel together. How many times have Jason and Joyce circled the block?"

"Three."

"See any cars or motorcyclists following them?"

"None," Ivana replied.

"Good! I want you to steal a car with a large trunk."

"We already did that," Ivana said.

Tomlin asked, "Did you leave the rental car in the same parking lot you stole that car from?”

Ivana confirmed, “Yes.”

Tomlin explained, “I have a source that let me know the cops were given a description of rental car by Fritz Hardly, and found it already. The cops are currently looking for a car stolen from that same lot. You need to get rid of that car fast. I’d prefer to have another rental car so the cops wouldn’t be on the alert, but from what you told me, Agent Gordon Snuff seems wise to that. Therefore, steal another car. After that, have Jason drive around for the next hour using anti-tailing techniques. He took a course in that at training camp."

Ivana said, "That makes good sense. Sorry I didn’t think of having them switch cars again myself. It’s good to learn from an expert like yourself."

Even though Ivana couldn’t see him, she could tell Tomlin was smiling by the tone of his voice, "After that hour, during which I want you to make sure Joyce has no access to a phone or other ways of communicating, come here. I have the poison gas device waiting."

Tomlin then gave Ivana the address.

After Ivana hung up the phone, she immediately picked it back up. She dialed Dr. Ruby’s number. She smiled happily at Jason and Joyce as they glared at her as they went around the block for the fifth time.

Conrad messed with the clock radio in the hotel room, then yelled he had found something important. He turned up the volume. The disk jockey reported as a humorous piece that the hospital had lost two dead bodies. He made a joke about how these must have been the bodies of vampires. The disk jockey did not any names.

Fritz lifted his head from the laptop, “The system administrator reports a hacker has gotten into the Port City Police computer system. The administrator is doing a trace.”

“First your girlfriend gets in trouble,” John whispered to Fritz, “and now mine. Want to bet Dr. Ruby has Vicky arrested too?”

Dr. Ruby’s face indicated that he’d made a major decision and he said, “Fritz, do you have the phone number for where your parents are staying in Florida ?”

Fritz nodded.

“Let them know you are still alive. That’ll be better then getting it from the media, as they soon will given that radio report. If they already knew, as you suspect, find out who told them.”

Fritz did that on his cell phone, since the computer was connected to the hotel room’s phone line. John’s channel surfing indicated the missing bodies report hadn’t made it to television. Conrad scanned other stations of the radio. Dr. Ruby’s cell phone rang. It was very noisy in the room for the next few minutes with two phone conversations, the television on, and the radio playing.

Fritz finished his call first, then whispered to John, “They knew our bodies were missing before the reporter came to interview them. Christine had called them right after she left the hospital where our bodies were missing, which was before the reporters got to them. Dad figured they should pretend to be grieved, guessing this was related to a big case. Christine didn’t call until after Aunt Grace had already been interviewed, so Grace’s grief was more genuine.”

“Christine is in even bigger trouble for doing that,” John remarked.

Dr. Ruby, still on the phone, grabbed a pen and jotted notes. Fritz looked down at the laptop and began furiously typing.

Dr. Ruby hung up the phone. He was smiling, “We’re back in business!”

Before Dr. Ruby could say more, Fritz said, “I’ve got the hacker’s phone number. It’s not Vicky’s or Christine’s. I’m in the database. I’ve got the address. It’s a suburb.”

Dr. Ruby asked, “Is this the address?”

He read from his notes. Fritz nodded, dumbfounded.

Dr. Ruby explained, “I got that directly from Ivana.”

As he started to tell them what else Ivana had said, Dr. Ruby was interrupted by his cell phone ringing again.