Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the HDA - Boardwalk Bust

Well, that was interesting. It was a whole other side of Mayor Bump that we hadn’t seen before. There was something else to the guy, underneath his salesman personality. Something gritty and distrusting. It made me wonder what else he knew about the robberies going on in his town – and what he might have reason to hide.

“Hey, Frank,” I said. “I’ll bet Bump knows more than he’s telling about the robberies.”

Frank turned to me and shook his head. “You’re going to have a nasty scrape on your cheekbone tomorrow.”

I touched the spot gingerly. “How bad does it look?”

“Don’t worry about it. Consider it a war wound.”

“Frank...”

“Trust me, you look no worse than you usually do, after a fight.”

I glared at him. “You’re not helping.”

Frank grinned at me. “Come on, little bro.” He led the way to a big map bolted to the railing of the boardwalk. “Let’s see where those stores are.”

I pointed to one. “The Shore Thing is closest. Hey, there was an advertisement done on the beach for this store.”

“You mean a sign on the beach?”

“No, it was drawn in the sand. Really fancy.”

Frank eyed his clothes for a second, looked over at me. “And we’re definitely not.”

“I’m sure they get people in bikinis walking in there, it’s on the boardwalk. You think people actually go to the trouble of getting dressed up just to go in the stores?”

Frank shrugged and pointed in the direction we had to go. “Then let’s do it.”

The Shore Thing was not what I’d expected in a jewelry store on the boardwalk. From the fancy awning to the insanely expensive stuff in the display windows, this place reeked of class. Maybe we should have changed clothes.

I guess I should have known. Only a place this ritzy could afford to pay for that advertisement engraved in the sand.

“Hey, Frank,” I said, catching up to him before he went inside. “How are we going to handle this?”

He grinned. “Leave it to me. Just follow my lead and let me do the talking.”

“Frank...”

“Relax, nothing you have to do.”

I wasn’t sure he meant that, considering what some of his plans had entailed for me. I followed him inside and waited to see what he was up to this time.

A bell tinkled somewhere and this woman came out from the back of the store. Her heels were high, her dress looked expensive and she was gorgeous.

She gave us the once-over and her bright smile dimmed somewhat. “I’m Mary Fleming, the owner. Can I help you boys?” I could tell from the look in her eyes that she didn’t hold out high hopes for us as customers.

“I was looking for a ring for my girlfriend,” said Frank.

One of her eyebrows arched. “Aren’t you a bit young to be thinking about marriage. You’re probably just out of high school.” She shook her head.

“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that,” said Frank. “Just a ring – with her birthstone.”

“Okay,” Mary said, going over to the display cases and opening one up. “When’s her birthday?”

“April first,” said Frank.

I blinked. I knew good and well Callie’s birthday was not on April Fool’s day. She always had her birthday party a couple of weeks after school started, if I remember right. What was Frank up to this time?

“Ah,” the woman said with a smile. “She’s going to cost you. Diamonds are the birthstone for April.”

Frank took a step back. “They are?”

“How about a nice cubic zirconium?” Mary suggested.

“You mean a fake?” Frank said.

“Well, yes, but a very good one. She’ll never know. Most jewelers have a difficult time telling the difference.”

Frank shook his head. “I wouldn’t lie to my girlfriend.”

The woman laughed and I could see that Frank had won her over. “You’re such a sweet boy. She’s a lucky girl.”

Frank cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. “May we see the diamonds, please.”

Mary laughed again and went to get a tray of diamond rings to show Frank. “Your friend’s a big spender,” she told me.

“My brother,” I said. I didn’t add that I thought he was crazy – if he really followed through.

“Miss Fleming,” Frank said, “I heard this store was broken into recently. Is that true?”

She went very still and gave us a long, hard look. After a moment, she looked at the tray of rings and back at us. Finally as if she’d decided something, she brought the tray over and set it on a nearby table. “True.”

I could see it still unsettled her, that the place had been broken into.

“Were you here when it happened?” I asked.

“No, it was overnight.”

Frank gave me a look and I rolled my eyes. He turned to her and asked, “Did the police catch the guys?”

“Are you kidding?” Mary said. “Do they ever catch anybody? They’re way too busy giving parking tickets to my customers.” She picked up a small ring. “Now this one’s not too expensive...” she added, trying to switch subjects.

Frank examined the ring. I wasn’t standing too far from him but I couldn’t see a diamond at all. It had to be tiny.

“How much?” asked Frank.

“Fifteen.”

Frank looked surprised. “I’ll take it.”

“I mean fifteen hundred dollars,” Mary said, clarifying things.

“Oh, never mind.”

She narrowed her eyes and looked us over. “You didn’t come in here to buy diamonds, did you,” she said, her voice suddenly low and hoarse.

“Uh, no—” began Frank.

“What do you want from me?” Mary grabbed the tray of diamonds and started backing away, toward the display cases. “Why are you asking me all these questions?”

So much for following Frank’s lead, he was about to give the whole kit and kaboodle away. I started to say something when he spoke up, “We’re trying to track down the jewel thieves. We’re detectives, Miss Fleming.”

If I’d been closer, I would have kicked him in the ankle. What the heck was he doing?

“Private detectives?” asked Mary, sounding cautious now.

“Yes. We may look young for our age but we’re on your side.”

She slid the tray of rings back in the display case and locked it. “I’ve already told the police everything. Why can’t you ask them?”

Frank sighed. “We’d rather not compromise anything at the moment, Miss Fleming.”

Oh now, he doesn’t want to compromise things. I resisted the urge to drag him out of the store. I’d love to know what was going on in his mind right now.

“Why don’t you just tell us what happened – from scratch. There might be a little detail in there that the police missed. It could be the key piece to the puzzle – you never know,” said Frank.

Mary rested her elbows on the glass counter and stared around the store. “It had to be an inside job,” she said in a low voice. “The security alarm never went off. There were no signs of a break-in.”

“Who do you think could have done it?” I asked her. “You must have some ideas.”

“I’ve thought about it ever since that night. I thought it might be John Silverton. He owns Long John’s Silver over on Atlantic Avenue, but then I found out he’d been robbed too – the day before I was.”

“Is there anybody else who might know how to beat your security system?” I asked.

“Not that I can think of...” Her eyes suddenly clouded over. “Wait a minute...” She shook her head. “No, that’s a terrible thought...”

“What?” Frank prodded her.

“I did fire one of my younger employees a few weeks ago, a man in charge of maintenance and cleaning...because he kept coming in late. But—”

“It’s something,” Frank said. “Maybe he was angry and decided to get back at you by robbing the place.”

“But why would he rob the other two stores, then?” Mary asked, looking puzzled.

“She’s got you there, Frank,” I said.

Frank shot me a glare and turned back to her. “Well, what’s his name, anyway? We can at least talk to him.”

“I’ll give it to you,” Mary said, “but please – don’t harass him in any way. He’s probably innocent, and I wouldn’t want him to be angry at me...”

Something about the way she said this made me think the woman was deathly afraid of her former employee. Wonder if he was as hot-headed as that lifeguard...maybe he was that lifeguard?

“His name is Ricardo Myers.”

Scratch that idea, then. “Where can we find him?” I asked.

“Well, somebody told me he got a job tattooing up the beach...on the pier, I think. You could ask around there.”

“Thanks, Miss Fleming. You’ve been very helpful.”

She shook his outstretched hand. “Here’s my card. Please call me if you find anything out.”

“You got it,” Frank said and then we were out of there, the little bell tinkling behind us.

“What were you doing?”

Frank looked over at me. “What?”

“You gave it all away in there. What if she’s the culprit? What if she robbed her own jewelry store? Huh? Now she knows everything.”

“No, she doesn’t. She thinks we’re private detectives. She doesn’t know the truth.”

“It might have been simpler to just spill your guts. We’re supposed to be undercover, remember?”

Frank shook his head. “Stop worrying. She’s not going to tell everyone we’re detectives. Let’s go find Myers.”

I followed him along the boardwalk. Call me crazy but there was just something about Mary Fleming I didn’t like.

Let the author know what you think of this story

Home Library Authors Rogue's Gallery Vehicles Chums Message Board Rap Sheet Links Contact

Disclaimer

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.