Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Vanessa barely had time to reclaim her seat on the sofa when Joe stormed out of his father's office. She felt guilty for listening in, but this did concern her. She shivered and then realized Joe was looking directly at her. He glanced over his shoulder at the closed door and then looked back at her.

Vanessa blushed and got to her feet. Joe caught her arm before she left the room. "It's okay," he said quietly. "I would have probably done the same thing."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't eavesdropping intentionally, I heard my name and—”

"It's okay. Come on." He tugged on her arm and led the way up the stairs. Once in the hall, he sighed. "Look, we'll take care of everything. We'll protect you."

Vanessa shook her head. "Joe, don't do anything foolish."

"Me? Foolish? Don't be silly." Joe gave her a gentle smile.

"Joe—"

"Joe," came Frank's voice from the foyer.

Joe looked at Vanessa, patted her shoulder and then kissed her. "Relax, I won't do anything too foolish." He headed back down the stairs. "What?"

Frank glanced at the closed office door. "Dad doesn't want you to do anything stupid—"

"Stupid? Foolish? Geez, you all have such a low opinion of me."

Frank shook his head. "No. We just know you. You want to do some damage to James for his obsession with Vanessa. I'd feel the same way if were Callie."

"But you're saying that you'd restrain from breaking his skinny little neck."

Frank frowned. "Stop putting words in my mouth."

Joe took a deep breath but before he could speak, Vanessa hurried down the stairs. "Don't either of you talk about me as if I weren't here." She looked at Joe. "I'd rather not have to visit you in prison for the next ten years."

"Twenty, if it's murder one," said Frank. "Maybe even life."

Joe grunted. "Don't help, Frank." He paced around the foyer for a minute and then shook his head. "I don't like someone treating you like some prize, Van. It's just downright freaky."

"I know," said Vanessa, shivering. "I don't like it either."

"We have to do something," said Joe.

Frank arched an eyebrow. "What do you suggest?"

"What, you don't have any ideas?"

Frank swatted Joe's arm. "Keep it up and I'll do something more drastic."

"I'm a little tense right now."

"No, never would have guessed," muttered Frank, heading for the front door. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" asked Joe.

"Find out where James lives and have a little talk with him." Frank pulled open the door. "Um, Vanessa, do you mind distracting Dad for just a second?"

Vanessa's jaw dropped. "Your dad? Me? I—"

Joe gave her a quick kiss. "Thanks, Van." He followed Frank out the door and they got in the van. "See? I knew with enough prodding, you'd have an idea."

"Joe," said Frank as he started the engine and backed out. "I'm driving. I can always push you out."

Joe snorted. "Idle threats, big brother. Idle threats."

***

Vanessa had enough presence of mind to close the front door just as she heard the office door open. She swung around and managed a smile. "Mr. Hardy, um..."

Fenton Hardy looked to the closed front door and then at Vanessa. "Doesn't seem fair that they'd ask you to distract me, does it?" he asked, dryly.

Vanessa turned pink. "Um..."

"It's all right, Vanessa. I've known my sons for a long time."

Vanessa frowned. "You knew they'd head out there, didn't you."

Fenton nodded. "I suspected they would, yes." He started to back into his office but instead he turned to look at Vanessa. "Are you truly all right?"

Vanessa took a deep breath. "I think so, Mr. Hardy, it was just so..." She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Any ill effects from whatever he drugged you with?" asked Fenton in as gentle a tone as he could.

Vanessa shivered again. "I – I don't think so." For a moment she looked dazed but then a hard look came over her face. "My God, he would have had to..."

Fenton recognized her expression. "As I'm constantly telling Joe, don't do anything you might regret later."

"He had no right," she said softly but there was a thread of steel in her voice now.

"No, he didn't." Fenton reached out a hand and then hesitated, wondering if she'd welcome someone touching her. He let his hand fall to his side. "I'll make certain he never does it again."

Vanessa nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Hardy," she said in a whisper and then bolted out of the living room. He heard her run up the stairs and a moment later, a door close.

Fenton walked back into his office and reached for the phone. He had a feeling he'd better call the police before James did and head them off. God only knew what his sons were planning this time.

***

"Good grief, it's a hotel." Joe stared out his side window at the huge mansion. A three-foot brick wall topped with wrought iron marked the property's perimeter. Joe could see a brick-paved circular drive with a fountain in the middle. Gargoyles topped the eaves at strategic intervals. "It's ugly."

Frank glanced at his brother. "Looks like a state of the art security system," he said, pointing to the cameras and the guard at the gate.

Joe just grunted. "Well, can't beard the monster in his lair. We'll have to draw him out somehow."

"How do you propose to do that?"

"How I should know? I'm thinking off the cuff here."

"Now I know I should be worried," muttered Frank, focusing on his driving.

"I heard that." Joe glared out the windshield. "I don't want him near Vanessa ever again."

"I know that. I don't want him anywhere near her either but we have to be careful, Joe. Without proof that he was in her room, her home, we have no legal right to harass him."

Joe resisted the temptation to punch a hole in the windshield – just barely. "All right. So what can we do?"

"I'm thinking."

"Maybe if we both think at the same time, we'll come up with something."

Frank spared a look at Joe. "Are you joking or are you serious?"

Before Joe could even dignify that with an answer, flashing red and blue lights behind the van distracted him. He frowned and glanced over his shoulder. "You think James called the police?"

Frank sighed. "Someone did." He pulled over to one side of the road and rolled his window down.

A tall bulky shadow came up to the window. Joe frowned as he recognized him. "Thought you'd left."

"Unfortunately no," said Jesse Sheridan. "I'm stuck here until the first. Seems the paperwork to get me here just now went through and now I've got a ton of forms to fill out to get back home. Your father called the police. Mind telling me why?"

"Just our luck to get you," muttered Joe.

Jesse Sheridan grunted. "I can always find a reason to haul you two in."

"But can you make it stick?" countered Joe.

Jesse cocked his head to one side. "Y'know, I was wrong about that little penny-ante estate next to you. You just rolled past the resident castle."

"You mean hotel," said Joe.

"You know, wise guy, anywhere else that attitude of yours would land you a night in jail."

"So sue me," said Joe.

Frank held back a groan. "Things have been a little tense; lay off, Detective."

"I heard about that." Jesse's eyes narrowed. "You thinking of doing a little harassing?"

Joe folded his arms across his chest and slumped further down in his seat. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Jesse looked at Frank. "Is he always this cheerful?"

Frank shook his head. "Detective, that's not a good idea. It's like poking a stick in a stirred-up hornet's nest."

Jesse nodded. "All right. Your dad would greatly appreciate it if you two would turn around and head home. He wants you accounted for if anything should happen."

Frank and Joe shared a long look and then Frank nodded. "We're heading home, then."

Jesse stared at them. "Well...will wonders never cease." He shook his head and strode back to the car.

Joe looked at Frank. "Accounted for. What's he mean by that?"

Frank checked for cars and made a U-turn. Jesse flicked his siren for a moment and then switched it off as he made a U-turn too. Frank clenched his hands tightly on the steering wheel. "It means that if by some bizarre reason, James turns up dead, we'd be the most likely suspects."

Joe was speechless for all of ten seconds. "That little creep," he growled under his breath. "The lousy little – oooh, I want to get my hands on him."

Frank grunted. "Stand in line."

***

Joe was hardly in a good mood when they pulled up into the driveway at home. For one, Sheridan had escorted them the entire way and now his father was standing on the porch, obviously waiting for them. Joe got out of the passenger seat and slammed his door. "Dad—"

"Vanessa's gone."

Whatever Joe was about to say vanished from his mind. "What?"

"Gertrude said she saw a taxi turn down the street but thought nothing of it. Laura went up to ask Vanessa what she wanted for supper and found she was gone." Fenton took a deep breath. "I'm afraid she's going to do something reckless."

Frank joined his brother in the driveway. "Sounds like Joe's rubbing off on her."

Joe spun around and kicked the nearest tire. Then he slammed the palm of his hand as hard as he could against the door of the van. "We have to find her."

"I called the taxi company and the dispatcher is waiting for the driver to check in."

Joe shook his head and started for the driver's side of the van. "That's not good enough."

"Joe—" began Fenton and then he shook his head.

Frank turned around and yanked open the door to the passenger side. "I'm going with you."

"She can't have gone to too many places. She's in a taxi, not her car."

"I'll call you when the dispatcher calls me." Fenton narrowed his eyes as his sons slammed their doors and the van backed up. He had a very bad feeling about this....

***

Vanessa stood on the threshold of the entrance to her home for a long time, staring into the darkness beyond. Slowly, fingers shaking, she reached in and flipped on the foyer light. The odd shadows transformed into tables and bookcases and she let out a faint sigh of relief.

She stepped over the threshold and after a moment's hesitation closed the front door. She had to do this – he had no right to take her home away. It was her home. The home she shared with her mother. She strode through the house, turning on lamps and overhead lights until the downstairs soon blazed with light.

The silence was wearing on her and she almost switched on the television just to hear the noise and babble of voices. Vanessa decided against it and realized with darkness falling outside, she should really call the Hardy home and let them know she was okay. But she had to do something else first.

She made her way up the stairs, flipping on lights as she went. She pushed open the door to her bedroom and flicked the overhead light on. The comforter on her bed was wrinkled where she'd lain. The rose had fallen to the floor and had never been touched. Already, she could see where the edges of the petals were drying and turning dark.

Vanessa took a deep breath and looked around her room. Her room. Her eyes scanned the framed photos, the vertical row of framed animation cells her mother had made for her when she was little and the little what-nots she'd collected over the years.

Something caught her eye and she walked over to the shelf. There was a picture missing, she realized, feeling that fear wash over her again. It had been her favorite picture – one of her and Joe at a dance last year. She'd worn what her mother had called a tea-length dress in soft blue and Joe had worn a suit. Who would have taken the—?

A noise downstairs made her freeze in mid-move. She'd locked the front door, hadn't she? She glanced at her bedroom door which hung slightly open. It had only a flimsy lock on it, standard on interior doors. Before she could make a move towards it, the door swung inward.

"You came back," said a soft voice from the shadow in the doorway.

Vanessa let out a weak cry and fainted....

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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.