Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Joe walked into the small offices of the Corner Ketch sheriff’s department. Like most everything else in town, it was housed in a wooden structure that looked as if it had been someone’s home in a previous life. Joe took a moment to take in his surroundings.

A dark haired, uniformed man in his late twenties sat behind a desk, working on a computer. Through an open door to the man’s right, Joe could see a few iron bars and assumed this was the holding cell, which appeared to be empty at the moment. Another partially open door to the man’s left revealed an office. Joe could hear the murmur of a one-sided conversation and assumed by the nameplate on the door that it was the sheriff’s private office. Just past the office, Joe could see two sets of stairs, one leading up and the other down.

Walking across the hardwood floor, Joe stopped at the desk where a nameplate identified it as belonging to Deputy Sheriff Jake Hogan. As Joe approached, the man looked up. “Can I help you?”

“Yes. My name’s Joe Hardy. I’m a private investigator. I was wondering if I could speak with the sheriff for a few minutes?”

The man eyed Joe before replying, “Hold on and I’ll check.” He rose from his seat and walked into the office. Joe heard the low murmur of voices and then the deputy was back. “You can go ahead in.”

“Thanks,” Joe replied and walked into the office.

Extending his hand to the man behind the desk, Joe said, “Thank you for seeing me.”

Removing his I.D. from his wallet, Joe handed it over to the sheriff and held his breath, hoping this man had never heard of Fenton Hardy. More often than not, over the years, Joe had found the vast majority of law enforcement people he and Frank encountered had at least heard of their father, with many knowing him personally. While Joe was extremely proud of the name his father had made in the law enforcement community, the last thing he needed now was for the sheriff of this small town to turn out to be an acquaintance of his dad.

As the man looked intently at his I.D., Joe studied his face. With sandy brown hair and light brown eyes, he didn’t appear to be much past his mid-thirties. He relaxed a little upon realizing the man was a bit younger than his father and breathed a sigh of relief when he handed back Joe’s I.D. without a flicker of recognition for the name Hardy.

“Sheriff Seth Connor. How can I help you, Mr. Hardy?” he asked, gesturing towards an empty chair.

“Joe, please,” Joe replied taking a seat. “I’m trying to locate a missing person; a little boy about six years old.”

“How long’s he been missing?” Connor asked.

“Pretty much his whole life. His mother hired me to find him. She had him when she was eighteen and was told he was still-born. She has recently found out that’s not true.” Joe stopped for a moment, trying to gauge the sheriff’s reaction. He had no idea if Connor had been the town’s sheriff six years ago when Karl Renault had turned over his own grandson as an abandoned baby; and if he was, whether or not he played any part in the deception.

“So what about the case brings you here?” Connor asked, giving Joe no hint as to whether he might have been involved or not.

“Can I ask how long you’ve been the sheriff here?” Joe responded with a question of his own.

“Three years. Why?”

“Can I ask where you worked before that?” Joe knew he was treading on thin ice, but he wanted to know for sure if this man could have helped Karl Renault in any way before giving away any more information.

Seth Connor stared at Joe for a long moment and then chuckled softly. “Prior to becoming sheriff of Corner Ketch, I was one of two deputy sheriffs in River Glen, a small town two counties over. Before that I did a stint in the Marines; enlisted right after high school where I played football and hockey. Graduated in the top ten percent of my class….Should I go on, or is that enough for you?” he asked, a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Sorry,” Joe apologized with a grin. “It’s just that this little boy was turned over to the authorities as being abandoned and he wasn’t. His mother had no intention of giving him up.”

“And you wanted to figure out if I was a crooked cop before you gave me any more information,” Connor nodded, not the least bit offended.

Joe shrugged but didn’t refute the sheriff’s assessment.

“So why don’t you tell me what you’ve got so far, how my little town fits in and I’ll see if I can fill in any blanks for you,” Seth offered.

“Thanks,” Joe said appreciatively. “First off, who was the sheriff here six years ago? Did you know him and is he still around?”

“Cale Akins,” Seth answered. “I didn’t know him very well. He was your typical small town sheriff. Grew up around here, so he knew everybody. He was pushing sixty-five when he retired three years ago, but he died of a heart attack last year.”

“Oh,” Joe said, disappointed. He had at least hoped to talk to the person who had handled the case. “How well do you know Karl Renault, founder of the New Life Church?” Joe asked, changing the subject.

Seth leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk and clasping his hands. His expression turned from friendly interest to guarded concern. “That is one topic I discussed with Akins as soon as I took this job. What with Waco, Heaven’s Gate….Let’s just say I wasn’t too crazy about having a compound of religious zealots in my jurisdiction. First thing I did when I became sheriff was pay a visit to Mr. Renault. The guy is bizarre, no doubt about that, but he allowed me to search the compound and was very open; answered all my questions, let me look around as much as I wanted, no restrictions.

“I’ve gone back several times over the years, unannounced, and he’s never been anything but cooperative. He’s got quite a band of followers; some live on the compound and some off. They’re all a little too enthusiastic about Renault and his beliefs for my tastes, but hey, they’ve never caused any trouble. They seem to be exactly what they say they are – followers of a new religion.” Connor tilted his head slightly and looked at Joe curiously. “Why the interest in Renault and his church? Do you think he has something to do with this missing boy?”

While Sheriff Connor was speaking, Joe paid special attention to his mannerisms, looking for any sign the man might be hiding something. He looked Joe squarely in the eye and candidly answered Joe’s questions without a trace of evasiveness. Being unfamiliar with the surrounding area and its people, and having essentially isolated himself from Frank and Fenton, Joe realized he needed an ally. Watching the sheriff now, his gut instinct was that Seth Connor was a fair and honest man dedicated to upholding the law.

“Karl Renault is the boy’s grandfather. And he’s also the one who turned him over to Sheriff Akins as an abandoned baby,” Joe replied.

Connor sat back in the chair, his eyebrows raised in only mild surprise. “So the mother is Renault’s daughter?”

“Mm-hmm. She’s been estranged from him almost since the baby was born. But he’s the only family she has and she wanted to try and reconcile with him. She came to see him a few days ago and that’s when she found out about the baby. Overheard her father and stepmother talking about the day he was born. She said there was some kind of celebration for the church recently?”

“Yeah,” Connor replied a little distractedly. “They had some big to-do up there last weekend. It was for the fifth anniversary of the ground-breaking for their church… you know I don’t recall Renault or Sheriff Akins mentioning a daughter.”

“I’m sure they didn’t,” Joe replied, disguising his anger. “Renault’s daughter was an unwed mother; still in high school. In fact, they moved up here so no one in the town where they’d been would know she was pregnant. He told her she’d humiliated him and was such an embarrassment he didn’t want her seen in public. Akins may have had no idea she even existed. ”

Connor let out a low whistle. “Pretty cold for someone who claims to be so righteous. So how’d he get away with that story of the baby being abandoned…and his own grandson at that!” he added before allowing Joe to respond.

“They went to a lot of trouble to hide the pregnancy and the baby’s existence. His wife – she’s his second wife – was trained as a midwife for the sole purpose of delivering the baby at home. There were complications and Jodi – the daughter – was completely out of it from the time the baby was born until about three days later. She had a high fever, delirium, in and out of consciousness…”

“And they didn’t even call in a doctor? Sounds like she could have died!” Connor broke in.

“I know, but they apparently didn’t care,” Joe said, clearly disgusted with Renault and his wife. “When she finally came out of it they told her the baby had been stillborn and that they’d cremated him and scattered his ashes over the mountain.

“Up to that point, Renault had kept her totally isolated on that mountain. She wasn’t allowed to come into town; if anyone ever did visit them, they never saw her. Her father or stepmother was with her all the time. They never let her out of their sight.”

Connor shook his head in amazement and disbelief. “Seems pretty extreme. They could’ve just put the baby up for adoption! Would’ve been a whole lot easier – and legal!”

“That’s just it,” Joe shook his head. “Jodi was eighteen by the time she had the baby – a legal adult. And she had no intention of giving it up. For better or worse, she wanted that baby more than anything in the world. And then there’s the matter of the will…”

Seth Connor listened wide-eyed as Joe went on to explain about Jodi’s inheritance, the stipulations in the will, and the million dollars Karl Renault stood to lose if anyone found out about Jodi’s baby.

“Well that explains a lot,” Connor said once Joe had finished. He started to speak but stopped, his brow furrowed in concentration for a moment. “Hey, where was the baby’s father while all this was going on? Don’t tell me he’s one of those dead-beat losers who knocks a girl up and then disappears like he had nothing to do with it?!”

Joe flinched at the harsh words despite knowing there wasn’t a shred of truth to them. “Jodi never had a chance to tell him. As soon as she found out she was pregnant and told her father, he basically whisked her away in the middle of the night so no one would know. She was only seventeen at the time and didn’t have a lot of say in the matter. The father has no idea this child even exists,” Joe answered, surprised at how calm he sounded and hoped his words were true. As much as he wanted children, he wanted them with Vanessa – and only Vanessa!

Connor nodded in understanding. “So we can hit up Renault with a nice little list of criminal charges. What kind of proof do you have?”

“Well, that’s part of the problem,” Joe admitted. “Right now all I have is what the client told me. Until I find the boy and they do a DNA test on him, proving he is my client’s son, then it’s just a case of he said/she said.”

“Hear-say,” Connor nodded with a frown.

“Exactly. So I was hoping to get a look at the file on this case. If Akins believed the baby was abandoned, he would have been turned over to a state agency and put up for adoption. That would leave a paper trail, which should give me somewhere to start. My first priority is finding the boy. Once I do that, everyone involved can be tested. When we can prove he’s her son and she testifies that she never consented to giving him up – that she never even knew he was alive! – then we can go after Renault,” Joe explained. He now opened the folder he’d brought with him and pulled out a piece of paper containing the meager details he had so far. “That’s the child’s birth date,” he said handing it over to Connor.

Connor looked over the information and leaned back in his chair. “You know, one of the joys of being sheriff of a sleepy little town is there’s not much crime. If you’d like a little help…” he offered.

Joe smiled and nodded. “I’d love it.”

“Great.” Connor stood up and came out from behind the desk. Returning the paper to Joe, he led the way out of the office. “All the old case files are downstairs in the basement.”

“Lead the way,” Joe said. Following the sheriff, Joe wondered if he would soon be meeting the son he never knew he had.

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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.