Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

"Her sister, the sane one. And yet," Treadway shook his head. "Cassandra could talk her sister into just about anything." He sighed. "So what is it you want to know?"

Ethan shifted in his seat. "To be honest, Catherine is my fiancee. I guess I'm just curious as what she was like when she was a teenager."

Treadway fiddled with a pencil for a moment, twirling it around his fingers, staring down at his desk blotter. "Catherine is the quiet one, the rock. She's practical, logical---"

Ethan grunted. "You make her out to be like Mr. Spock. I've checked, no pointed ears."

Treadway raised his head and smiled. "What I'm trying to say, Mr. Ashworth, is Catherine was the reliable one. And yet, she was as stubborn as her sister. If she was trying to prove something, she'd move heaven and earth to prove it."

"I kind of noticed that," admitted Ethan.

Treadway studied him for a moment, then cocked his head to one side. "Did Catherine tell you about her and her sister's......exploits?"

"No. Dare Danvers told me."

The other man looked blank. "Who?"

"Dare Danvers. He said he went to school with Casi and Cathy. He said he was with Casi when she was helping her actress friend."

Treadway shook his head. "The only young man I remember is Darell Stamford. He left Boston years ago, for awhile, Cassandra even tried to insist on a missing person case."

Ethan took a deep breath. "What do you know about the New York bank robbery?"

Treadway arched a black eyebrow at the subject change. "Only what was officially reported. What has that got to do with Cassandra, or for that matter your fiancee?"

"What do you know of the art theft last week in Provincetown?"

Treadway shook his head. "I don't know what you're trying to fish for, but those cases are unrelated. Bank robbers don't normally go sophisticated enough to do a gallery theft. People who hold up banks, nine times out of ten, they want easily transportable cash. Paintings tend to be harder to hock."

"And if by some unforeseeable anomaly, they are related?"

Treadway narrowed his dark brown eyes and looked Ethan over. "If the two crimes committed were related however improbable that might be, it would be a cover for something else."

Ethan nodded and pushed himself to his feet. "That was what I was thinking. Thanks, Captain."

Treadway stood up. "Just who are you?"

Ethan cleared his throat. "Best if you just leave it at that. You are right, you know. It's a cover for something that could very well threaten national security. That's all I can tell you."

Treadway frowned. "FBI? CIA?"

"No. And no." Ethan walked to the door and reached for the knob. He glanced over his shoulder. "You know you're right. Cathy is the reliable one. Guess I lucked out."

"Mister Ashworth, one more thing." Treadway skirted his desk, his expression saying he wanted to say much more. "I have noticed that Cassandra ignores well-intentioned advice when it comes to something close to her heart. If she's already involved with whatever this is, and she has a personal stake in it, you'll catch hell trying to exclude her."

Ethan pulled open the door and paused, staring at the chipped doorframe. Finally he turned to look at Treadway. "I'll pass that along," he said, then he left the man's office and walked out of the Fifth Precinct building. He headed to his rental car, but spotted a familiar blond head across the street. Distracted, he walked on past his rental car.

Just as he passed the trunk, something thunked into the metal. A second later, came the explosion-----

***

"They have a chain of these stores. I can personally vouch for their brand." Joe placed the plastic bag full of frozen dinners in her trunk. "These are good."

Casi grunted. "What, you only grill at other people's houses?"

"What's wrong with that? That way I don't have to shell out big bucks on a deluxe grill."

"It was on sale."

"I didn't say a word."

They finished loading the trunk with the white and blue plastic bags. Joe frowned. "There wasn't that much on that list, was there?"

"I know Marcus. He forgot half of what he wanted to tell Cat to buy." She pulled out her keys and walked to her side of the car.

Joe slammed the trunk, just as an explosion ripped through the air. "What the---?" Before he finished the sentence, he saw the fireball and saw its location.

Casi spun around. "Oh my God. Treadway." She started across the parking lot at a brisk walk, still holding her keys in one hand.

Joe darted in front of her. "No."

"If that was Treadway, I----" She shook her head, looking dazed. Finally, she looked over at Joe. "He tried his best to protect me all these years, I..." Her gaze shifted slightly, moving from his face to his shoulder. Her whole expression changed and she pushed him hard.

Joe hit the parked car behind him at an odd angle, bounced slightly, then landed on his butt on the asphalt, Casi landing on top of him. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"You had a red dot on your shoulder, like from a rifle's laser scope."

Joe went cold. It wasn't, it couldn't be happening again. Oh God, he couldn't take it again. Suddenly, he focused on her. "How---?"

Casi looked pale but she rolled her eyes. "Movies, research, I could go on. I think we kind of stirred up a hornets' nest. Joe, your father."

"Your cell phone is in your car."

"If we keep down, we can make it back there."

"And have a sniper shoot your car?"

She seemed to go paler. "God, no. Not my car. We'll work our way back to the store. But that ice cream is gonna melt if we---"

Joe clapped his hand over her mouth. "Babble later, just get off of me." He yanked his hand away a split second later. "And no biting."

Casi glared at him. "I was not babbling." She slid off of him. "And what's got your briefs in a bunch. I saved your life."

"You could have said duck."

"And you would have said where's Donald."

Joe groaned. "Casi---" He shook his head and rolled into a kneeling position. He peeked over the fender of the car, noticing he'd added a slight dent to the fiberglass body. "Damn, someone will notice that."

"Only if they keep a photographic record of damages. Come on."

Joe started to follow her when he caught a glimpse of a man across the street. He looked dirty and bruised, but...."Ethan..."

Casi glanced over her shoulder. "What about---Joe, no. Don't tell me that was him."

"He's okay."

Casi let out a sigh. "Thank God." She sat back on her heels. "Considering the explosion's potential for drawing a crowd, I doubt the sniper's still in the vicinity."

"I swear I'll disconnect your cable." Joe turned to look over at her. "You watch too many of those damn shows."

"They're educational, they save a lot of bone-numbing research at the library. Chill."

Joe was in the mood to do anything but chill. He sighed and shifted into a crouched position. Then he stood up. A second later, before he could tell her to stay down, Casi was up too. She glanced over at the police station, and then headed for her car. Joe saw no reason to try to stop her or argue with her. He just followed and got in the passenger side of the car.

Casi started the engine moments before he thought that there might be a different trigger here. When nothing happened, he sighed. Casi shifted gears and frowned over at him. "A busy parking lot like this?"

"What, you can read minds now?"

"I know yours. You were thinking about the bomb scare earlier at the hospital. Put that with the explosion just now..." She shrugged. "It did go through my mind too."

"And you still started the car."

"I live dangerously sometimes." She backed out of her parking space and headed for the street.

Joe nearly choked on his shock and not a little bit of anger. "Sometimes? Damn, woman, you have a gift for understatement." He found he couldn't say another word until she made a long block around the building, coming up behind the police substation and parking away from the crowd in front.

They got out of the car, Casi moving around the hood to head for the crowd, when Joe grabbed her arm. He pulled her close and kissed her hard,until they were both breathless. When he finally raised his head to look at her. "Stop scaring the hell out of me."

Casi searched his face for a heartbeat, then pulled her arm free. "Goes double for you," she snapped and walked away. Joe stared at her as she waded through the gawkers and police officers. In an instant, his anger fled away, replaced by something he didn't want to dwell on too long. Was it possible she felt the same way about him that he did about her after all?

"Damn it, I'm fine," said Ethan wearily. He moved to brush his clothes off when an auburn-haired gawker rushed up. "Leave me alone."

"I will not put up with two bull-headed macho men," she replied. "You need a paramedic."

"I need air and a valid excuse to give to the rental car people." Ethan moved to step around her.

Casi stepped with him. Her eyes met his and suddenly, he forgot the reason he was trying to get away. And despite the voices and the general cacophony around him, her low voice was crystal clear. "I will not subject my sister to the pain and sorrow of losing her fiance before she can even be married to him. Damn it, you have cuts and bruises all over you, God knows what the explosion could have done. Let me help."

"She'll do it anyway."

Ethan snapped his head up and regretted it immediately as his neck muscles protested. "What, you're on her side?"

Joe shrugged and took his partner by the arm. "Come on."

Feeling more bruised than he cared to admit, Ethan let Joe practically drag him into the police station. When everyone headed for Treadway's office, he didn't even protest. They passed the police captain in the corridor. "Damn, what happened?" asked Treadway, spinning around and following them back to his office.

"Sniper." Joe was a little gentler planting his partner in a chair. "We need a medic to check him out."

"Ambulance is on its way, I'll send one of the paramedics in here."

Ethan sighed. "If everyone would just leave me alone."

"You probably have a concussion," said Casi. She glanced at Joe. "A matched pair."

Joe shot her a glare but turned to Ethan. "Did you see anything, anybody?"

"Just you, at the grocery store. In fact I was on my way to meet you."

"What do you mean, a matched pair?" Treadway asked Casi.

"Someone hit him in the head during an early morning swim," answered Casi.

"A sniper, you say?" Treadway turned to Joe as he asked the question.

Ethan grunted. "This time the idiot missed."

Casi glanced over at Ethan. "This time?.....Oh."

Joe gave a reluctant nod to Treadway. "A damn good one. The only reason he missed, was Ethan didn't do what he expected Ethan to do. Right, partner?"

Ethan nodded carefully, then looked at Casi. "You won't tell her, will you?"

Treadway's expression hardened. "He was saying earlier that this was out of my league," the black man flung a hand in Ethan's direction. "I don't like being dictated to, and I damn well don't like explosions on my watch."

Casi crouched down to look at him and slowly shook her head. "I don't want to scare her. But you have to promise me something."

"I'm sorry," said Joe, trying to ignore the sadness in Casi's eyes. He forced himself to focus on Treadway. "I can't say anything else except that whoever is doing all this is extremely nervous now."

"What?" asked Ethan quietly.

"All? What all?" asked Treadway.

Casi took a deep breath. "Never scare her like this. She's trustworthy, tell her what you can. Trust her. Trust her to survive even when you can't help her."

Joe swallowed hard, then turned to the police captain. "Two men are dead in Provincetown. Both were involved with the recent art gallery theft."

"All I can do is try," answered Ethan in that same hushed voice.

Casi nodded. "I know."

"Dead how?"

Casi used Ethan's chair to pull herself up and turned to Treadway. "Mysterious collapses, dying in the hospital by heart failure, both with nary a history of heart problems."

Treadway's eyes narrowed. "Damn it." He spun on his heel and headed for his desk. He picked up the phone just as a knock came from his door. "Come in."

"Paramedics are here, Captain."

"Send them back here." Treadway dialed a number and held the receiver to his ear.

"You're not calling Malcolm, are you," asked Casi.

"Damn straight I am, Cassandra. Then I'm calling in a favor."

The paramedics, a man and a woman came into the office and headed straight to Ethan. Treadway moved to sit down behind his desk. "Malcolm, what's been happening over on the Cape?"

Casi pulled Joe over to one corner of the room, mainly to keep out of the way of the medics. Joe looked down at her. "What was the point of all that you told Ethan?"

"I'd say it was pretty obvious."

"Stop it, Casi, he'll have to fudge sometimes. He can't be completely honest, he can't promise to never scare her---"

"Then he can promise to love her with all his heart and soul."

Joe looked down at her face and realized he needed to know. "And your boyfriend, is that what he promised you?"

Casi looked away. "We had an argument back in December about me buying the house. We haven't talked since then." After a long moment, she looked back at him. "Why? Curious? Considering him competition?" She shook her head. "Oh, that's right. He's not. He's got me, you've got your job."

"Don't take that tone with me. It's best this way."

"Don't give me that crap, Joe. You're still playing the coward to the hilt."

"No, I'm not going to the hospital." Ethan pushed himself to his feet. "I'm fine."

As one, Casi and Joe turned around. They saw the paramedics share a look, shrug and leave with their supplies. Treadway hung up the phone. "I don't like this. Seems to me someone's eliminating all witnesses and investigators."

Casi whipped her head around to look at him. "You noticed that too?"

"Stop that," said Joe. "And stay out of it."

Casi slapped at his arm. "I will not. Someone has to be the sensible one here."

All three men looked at her. Only Treadway had the grace not to laugh. Casi glared first at Joe, and then Ethan until both men stopped laughing. Joe took a deep breath. "Casi, you have to admit you haven't been entirely sensible through all this."

"You shut up."

Joe shrugged. "Sometimes the truth hurts."

Casi aimed another swipe at his arm. "Shut up." She turned to Treadway. "We have to do something."

Ethan shook his head and pointed to Joe. "We'll tend to this." A second later, he looked over at Treadway. "Sometimes it's damned if you do and damned if you don't."

Treadway slid a quick glance at Casi, then turned back to Ethan. "Sometimes you're right."

Casi let out a quite unfeminine grunt and stalked out of the office. Joe shook his head. "Now we're in trouble."

"I'd wager you're right," muttered Ethan. "And this time I wish you weren't."

"You always say that."

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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.