Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the HDA - Boardwalk Bust

We thanked Mr. Jardine, and headed back to our hotel to get a couple of hours of sleep before dinner. We were going to be up all night and we didn’t want to fall asleep on the job.

It was around 6 P.M. when we woke up and we were both hungry. We got dressed in shorts, T-shirts and deck shoes, packed all our overnight essentials in a backpack and headed downstairs to get some dinner.

We were waiting for our food to come and going over the case when I spotted Summer and Madison. They were wearing slinky jeans and snug tank tops that barely reached the waistband of their jeans. They saw us and veered in our direction.

Summer lifted a hand and almost touched my cheek. “That looks painful.”

I’d forgotten about the lifeguard’s ring scraping my cheek in that fight. “Only when I laugh.”

Summer giggled and settled down at our table, Madison next to her. “You did good with that martial arts move. He never saw it coming.”

Frank leaned forward. “You know martial arts?”

Madison nodded. “Jujitsu and aikido, mostly. My dad wanted me to be able to take care of myself. I’m an only child. Summer here has two older brothers.”

I pretended to glance over my shoulder. “Nowhere near here, right?”

Summer rolled her eyes. “They’re back in Oklahoma.”

“Good. No stress for me,” I said, winking at her.

Summer looked at her cousin, kind of cocked her head to one side. Madison lifted her shoulders in a shrug. Summer nudged her and Madison sighed. “So what are you guys doing tonight?”

I glanced over at Frank, arched an eyebrow. “What are we doing tonight. It’s early yet.”

Frank gave me a look as if to say, You know what we’re doing tonight. I pretended to ignore him and turn back to the girls. “What are you two doing tonight?”

“The pier. We want to check out some of the rides at the amusement park. Maybe ride the Python.”

I sat up straighter. “Steel or wood?”

Summer grinned. “Compact steel, looping.”

“I knew there was a reason we encountered each other. What’s the best coaster you’ve ridden?” I felt Frank kick me under the table but I just kicked him back. We couldn’t do much until after the boardwalk shut down anyway.

“The Montu, steel inverted, at Busch Gardens in Florida,” Summer said. “You?”

“Cyclone at Coney Island, wood twister.”

Summer pretended to swoon. “Ooh, I want to ride that coaster one day.”

“Steel inverted looks awesome,” I said as we finished our dinner.

Summer nodded. “Nothing beneath your feet. Can you imagine, feels like you’re flying. And then when you hit the loops and you’re upside down. Total rush.”

We left the restaurant, Summer and I walking ahead, leaving Frank and Madison together. It wasn’t dark yet but the amusement park on the pier was lit up with lights. We could hear the screams from the roller coaster from here. Summer and I shared a grin and headed for the long line waiting for the coaster. It was going to be a fun night after all.

By ten o’clock, Summer and Madison were ready to call it a night. We’d rode the Python three times, the Wild Mouse and the Flitzer once. There were other rides to check out too. We said good-bye at the end of the pier and the girls headed off to their hotel or wherever they were staying.

We left the pier and headed out to the beach. At this time of night it was pretty much deserted except for one or two couples strolling hand in hand under the stars and lights of the boardwalk.

Since we had some time to kill, I kicked off my shoes and waded into the water a bit, splashing Frank occasionally. “So...you had fun, didn’t you? We would have sat out here for hours and hours, bored to tears if we hadn’t gone with the girls.” I splashed him again for good measure.

Frank dodged the water. “Yes, I had a good time,” he said, sounding exasperated. “Joe, stop.”

“And you actually had a good time with a girl without worrying what would Callie think...right?”

He stopped and looked over at me. “Oh, now you bring that up.”

I looked around, pretending to search for what he thought I was talking about. “What?”

“You’ve waited nearly a month since Philadelphia to bring that up.”

“It’s been over a month, bro.” I left the surf behind and picked up my shoes. My feet were too wet to put the shoes back on. I plopped down on the sand and stared up at the stars. “You know, once the lights go out, we’ll be able to stargaze like crazy.”

Frank sighed. “You know, you’ll make a good prosecuting attorney one day, driving a vintage Mustang, own a big mansion in a gated community.”

I looked over at him as he sat down beside me. “What? Where’d that come from?”

“Your ability to jump from subject to subject with a single bound.”

I rolled my eyes. “All I was saying was you can have fun with a girl, without making a big issue out of it. Right? Did you and Madison talk or did you ignore her – ah-ha, you bored her to tears, telling her about Callie.”

Frank grunted. “Joe, shut up.”

I grinned and threw a handful of sand at him.

“Hey! Joe, stop.”

“It’s been awhile since we had a knock-down drag-out wrestling match. I’ll pin you in two throws.”

“You couldn’t pin me in three.” Suddenly Frank made a silencing motion with his hand. We could hear voices along the boardwalk.

From the accents, we wondered if it was the two Russians we’d encountered before.

“You have to give back, Nicolai. Big trouble if you keep.”

“Finders keepers, Vladimir. It’s mine now.”

“You know it’s stolen, Nicolai, you have to give it back.”

The voices drifted off and I shared a look with Frank. “I guess Nicolai is the guy who found the ring.”

Frank nodded and looked around. “We’d better get under the boardwalk before anyone spots us down here.”

“We should have brought snacks,” I whispered as we settled down under the boardwalk.

“You ate a ton of cotton candy at the pier.”

“Cotton candy is spun air, bro. It disappears in a poof, gone, stomach empty.” I pulled a folded brochure out of my pocket. “Hey, found the addresses and schedules for the other jewelry stores. We can check them out tomorrow.”

Frank nodded and pulled the night vision scope out of the backpack. He slipped it in his pocket. “So we’ll be ready when it’s dark.”

“Sounds good.”

We sat there for awhile and I think I dozed until Frank kicked my ankle. I kicked him back. “You’ll have to do something less violent to keep me awake.”

“You had a nap before dinner.”

“So?”

“We talked about martial arts. She’s a brown belt.”

I grinned. “Good.”

Frank bopped me on the shoulder. “Stop that.”

I laughed. “Bro, relax. Just because you date Callie, doesn’t mean you can’t hang out with another girl.”

Frank shook his head. “Whatever.”

We heard footsteps on the boardwalk above us and then things got really quiet. We could hear the ocean in the distance. I thought I heard a ship’s horn.

I stretched out on the sand. “Probably was like this when Ocean Point first began.”

“Did you know the Monopoly game was based on Atlantic City?”

“And you say I jump subjects in a single bound?” I frowned. “You mean there really is a Baltic Avenue, Park Place...?”

“Yep, the way the board’s set up, it goes from the cheapest to the most expensive.”

“You know, it’s been awhile since I’ve played Monopoly. Maybe we’ll have to play when we get home.”

“Yeah.”

Finally, the boardwalk lights blinked out. I scooted out just enough to see the sky. Stars glittered like diamonds on black velvet. “Wow.”

Frank snapped open the night vision scope and scanned the empty beach. I rolled onto my side. “What do you see?”

“A very sleepy drunk...a couple making out...there’s a guy fishing....”

I sighed and rolled onto my back. “Fine, never mind, tell me when you see something interesting.” I counted to ten. “Well?”

“Joe...”

I counted to twenty. “Am I going to get a turn or are you just going to play with that thing all night.”

“Here,” he said, giving it to me. “If you’re going to nag me about it.”

“We’re supposed to share, you know.”

I heard Frank grunt as I peered through the scope. The spot we’d chosen for our stakeout looked out on the stretch of beach where the first ring was found.

I scanned the beach, getting used to everything being in various shades of green. I blinked when I thought I saw something move, near the water line. “Near the edge of the beach, close to the pier. Something moved,” I told Frank in a low voice.

“Let’s go check it out,” he said.

Still staring through the scope, I got up out of our hiding place and headed for the pier with Frank on my right, holding on to my arm because he couldn’t see where he was going. It was that dark.

Suddenly he let out a grunt and I felt him let go of my arm. “What the—?”

Then I felt something hard come down on the back of my head. As I crumpled to the sand, all I could see were stars...

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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.