The drive to Foundling Hall was the longest in Frank’s life.  He sat in the backseat of his father’s car and pantomimed pressing on the accelerator in an attempt to make the vehicle go faster.  

Hang on Joe, he kept thinking over and over again, just hang on.  Big brother’s coming….  

He alternated between feeling guilty for leaving Joe at Biff’s to wanting to wring his neck!  But in the end he decided that he was almost as much to blame for this as Joe was.  After all, Frank knew exactly how impulsive his brother was – and he had been the one who told Joe where he could find William…and then left!!  

“You had better be all right, Joe,” Frank whispered grimly, as he glanced at the passing scenery, “Just hold on a little longer…”

* * *

Dr. Bates was shocked as he looked down at the pale, still man lying on the ambulance gurney.  He knew this man, and not just casually!  

This was Officer Con Riley, not his patient, but a good friend of the Hardys.  And a too familiar face in his hospital corridors, some times!  

Hastily examining the officer’s wound, he put in the call for a surgeon, even as he wondered just what in the world was going down this weekend?  Bert said he treated Joe Hardy yesterday, and now their cop friend was in here today.  Then Dr. Bates corrected himself, but it wasn’t Joe the other doctor had treated now, was it??* * *

The Chief was halfway to his car when his cell rang.  He moved away from Biff, who was going to get a ride with him to Foundling Hall, and answered it.  

His face, already grim as it was, glowered at the phone for a moment before he snapped it shut.  Motioning for Biff to get into the passenger side, Ezra told him, “The fingerprints on the knife found in your dog’s house do belong to Joe.”  

Biff raised an eyebrow as he reached for his belt buckle.  “You didn’t believe us?”  

“It’s not that,” Ezra denied as he put on his own seatbelt and turned the car on, “But proof is proof.  And I’m a cop first and a friend second – it’s a close second, but at times like this it can’t be any other way.”  

“Are you always the cop first?” Biff demanded as he was treated to a rare insight into the police chief.  

Ezra gave him a wry smile.  “I am…when the evidence allows….”  

And Biff had no idea if he was joking or not.

* * *

As Fenton pulled through the large gates leading up to Foundling Hall, he noticed the other two buildings behind it. And before Sam could ask, the dark-haired detective said, “Foundling Hall is actually one of three buildings owned by the state. The other two are condemned due to asbestos, and Foundling is the only one still in use.”  

He shared a look with his partner even as Frank said, “Then William won’t take Joe to Foundling.  He’ll need somewhere private.”  

“Two buildings – 50/50 chance of picking the right building,” Sam said as Fenton drove past Foundling Hall towards the other Halls.  

“Okay.  Frank, you and Sam check out that one.”  Fenton parked and indicated Usher, “and I’ll take this one.  And be careful!”  Nodding in understanding, the group split up.  

The detective would have preferred to go with his son himself, but he was concerned that Sam might not know who was who if he came across the twins, and they could afford no mistakes.  

As he pulled out his gun and slowly went into Burke Hall, Fenton heard the police sirens and heaved a sigh of relief; they could use all the help they could get.

* * *

Joe shivered as the kerosene was poured over his body and then evaporated, leaving him cold and his skin tingling.  

He’d closed his eyes and held his breath to keep from getting the accelerant into his eyes, mouth or nose.  But that didn’t stop him from sneezing as the pungent odor tickled the inside of his nose, when he finally could hold his breath no more.  

William smiled as he put the now empty can down.  “That should just about do it, I think.”  

“You’re crazy if you think you’re going to get away with this!” Joe cried out in desperation, as he watched William take out his cigarettes again – he knew that the twin kept his matches in the pack along with the smokes.  “You can never be me…NEVER!”  

Slowly opening the pack, William took a smoke out and lit it – enjoying how Joe flinched when he struck the match – and then inhaled deeply as he regarded his helpless brother coldly.  “You have until I finish this smoke and then, poof, it’s over…for you.”  

He stood over Joe and blew smoke into his face, watching as the younger boy coughed and tried to turn his head away.  “Then I’ll become you. Sure, it might take some time for people to get used to the new ‘you’ but I’m sure once I get rid of Frank, it won’t be too hard to be you at all.”  

“NO!” Joe screamed, lunging against his bindings, “You leave Frank alone!  What did he ever do to you?”  

“He loved you…” William snarled, his face twisted in hatred, “They all loved you. They took you away from me…and they loved you!”  

Recoiling as if he’d been slapped, Joe just stared in horror as his twin then looked at the burning cigarette and back towards him.  “I lied, my sweetie.  You don’t even have until I finish this.  My only regret is that I won’t be here to see that last ‘spark’ of life leave your eyes.…I often dreamed of inhaling your last breath.  But don’t worry, little brother; I won’t let that bring me down….”  

And then making a grand motion, William said, “Good bye, my Madeline, I leave you in your tomb.  I am your Roderick—”  

Joe cut him off, his chest heaving in fear, and his voice was low:  “Are you forgetting, brother dear, Roderick went down with the house.”  

William laughed, amused by this last show of bravado. “Touché, Joseph Doe…. Give my love to Mommy.”  

And without saying anything else, he threw the cigarette….

* * *

Frank raced into Usher Hall with Sam a step behind him.  Just as he started down the corridor he heard a sound that made his blood curdle – it was a scream.  

“Joe!” Frank yelled, recognizing his brother’s scream anywhere – William had hurt him!  

As he raced towards the stairs, Sam grabbed his arm stopping him.  “Hold up, Frank. Let me go first.” Radley already had his gun out, and with a nod from Frank, took the lead up the first flight of stairs.  

Joe was somewhere above them!

* * *

“NOOO!” Joe screamed as the cigarette ignited the kerosene-soaked room, and flames shot up around him.  He knew that he wouldn’t last very long once the fire spread to the chair he was sitting on.  

William watched him with a dispassionate gaze, but as he heard Joe start to yell for help, he realized he needed to do something to shut him up.  Foundling Hall wasn’t that far away….

* * *

At Collig’s instruction the three police cars racing towards Foundling Hall cut their sirens when they got near the State home – they couldn’t take the chance of William hearing them and killing Joe moments before they found them.

* * *

“HELP! HE—”  

Frank heard the desperate cry for help abruptly cut off, and his heart just about stopped.  Shoving caution to the wind, the teenager pushed past Sam and rushed the last couple of feet to the top of the second flight of stairs.  

Beneath them the staircase groaned…as the whole building seemed to shudder under the abuse of passage.

* * *

Fenton had just reached the end of the second floor of Burke Hall when he smelled something.  Rushing to a window, he wiped enough dirt off the glass to see out, and his face paled at what he saw.  Smoke was billowing out of a second-story window of the building Frank and Sam were in.  His heart constricted with comprehension – William!

* * *

Joe’s vision swam and he bit his tongue with the force of the blow William laid to the side of his face.  

“SHUT UP!” the enraged twin screamed, “SHUT THE %#*& UP!”  

Picking up one of the empty cans of kerosene, he swung it back to hit Joe again.  Even empty, it would be weighty enough to knock him out.  William had wanted Joe to be conscious when he died, but some caution was dictated so he’d just have to suffice with Joe being alive when he burned….

* * *

“This way!” Frank said to Sam, as the corridor quickly filled up with smoke that seemed to be coming from a room at the end of the hall.  Frank had no doubts about what he would find there.  He just prayed they were in time.  

Sam took the safety off his gun and then nodded to Frank to open the door. They both had their shirts pulled over their mouths now, to afford some protection from the thickening smoke.  

On the count of three, Frank shoved open the door, and then threw himself across the room as he saw an enraged William start to swing a container at his helpless brother.

* * *

Joe saw Frank, and his relief was short-lived, as he could see what Frank couldn’t.  

“NO…FRANK!  NOOO!” he screamed.

* * *

William saw the movement out of his peripheral vision, and he turned to meet it.  The knife was in his hand before the can hit the floor….  

Frank never saw it coming.

 

 

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.