Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Restlessly, Joe paced his small room at the B & B. While he knew Seth was right, they had done all they could possibly do for the moment, he still felt as if he needed to be doing something more. Even on a normal case Joe wasn’t very good at waiting, and this case was far from normal. And truthfully, Joe wanted something to distract him from the conversation he’d had with his brother and the Pandora’s box of emotions it had unleashed.

Pacing past the bed yet again, Joe brushed against it, sending a few papers cascading to the floor. He watched them flutter slowly and settle on the plush carpet. His gaze wandered upwards to the rest of the file Seth had copied for him, its contents spread haphazardly across the bed. Joe stared and frowned. For all the information those papers contained, he’d learned nothing except where Luke had stayed the first few days of his life. As he continued to stare, almost mesmerized, a light bulb went on and Joe felt a glimmer of hope. Might he be able to get some information from the orphanage’s website, if they had one? Or possibly by hacking into their computer system?

Collecting the papers and organizing them into a messy stack, he placed them on the bedside table. Grabbing his laptop, Joe sat on the bed and settled back against the headboard. Waiting for the computer to boot up, he shuffled through the stack of papers until he found the one he needed. Pulling it out, he laid it on the bed next to him and logged onto the Internet. Googling “Sandersville Children’s Home,” Joe held his breath.

‘Yes!’ he exulted silently. The orphanage had its own website, making Joe’s task that much easier. For the next several hours, he pored over the website with a single-minded intensity, looking for anything that might help him. Once he’d satisfied himself that nothing in the public areas would be of any use to him, he turned his attention to the area that was supposedly off limits to the general public. While Joe often joked that Frank was the brains of their partnership and the firm’s resident computer geek, he’d picked up a few things from watching his older brother and was no slouch himself when it came to hacking.

It had taken several starts and stops and Joe had to try more than one method but his dogged determination paid off. Almost an hour later, he found the initial file on Luke Doe and the foster family who’d taken him in. Joe forced himself to concentrate, reading slowly and taking fastidious notes, not knowing what might come in handy down the road. The foster family had kept Luke only until he was old enough to be adopted. With adoptable infants being in high demand, an adoptive family had been found almost immediately. And that’s where Joe’s search ended. No further information was contained in Luke Doe’s file. Once he’d been legally adopted, his case had been closed.

Disheartened, Joe squinted at the screen and rubbed his eyes. Glancing up, he saw it had gotten dark out, the only light in the room coming from the soft glow of the computer screen. He reached out and switched on the bedside lamp. Making a few more notes, Joe shut down the computer and stood up, groaning as he did so. His muscles were not happy about the hours of inactivity and were more than happy to let him know it! His stomach rumbled, letting him know it wanted some attention, too.

Grabbing his cell phone and jacket, Joe left the room, locking the door behind him. Once outside he stopped a moment to get his bearings and then headed off down the street. The small diner Seth had taken him to the other night was a short walk away and he knew the night air would revive him.

Ten minutes later, Joe was seated in a booth in an out-of-the-way corner of the diner. He smiled at the waitress as she placed a drink in front of him, smiled in return and retreated to the kitchen to place his order. Eyeing his cell phone on the table, Joe glanced around to make sure he wouldn’t disturb any other diners – or be overheard by prying ears – and then picked it up and flipped it open. Now would be as good a time as any to check in with Jodi and make sure she’d gone for a DNA test that morning. Recalling their last disastrous conversation, he thought calling from the diner would also afford him an out should this conversation take the same kind of turn.

“Hey, Jodi, it’s me – Joe,” he said when she answered. She hesitated a moment before responding and when she did, Joe thought he heard a wariness in her voice.

“Hi,” she replied, asking tentatively, “Anything new?”

“I found out where he was taken after being turned over to the police. A children’s home in Sandersville. He was only there a few days before they found a foster family for him. Once the waiting period was over, he was adopted almost immediately,” Joe related everything he’d uncovered that afternoon.

“Do you know by whom?” Jodi asked, a hopeful note in her voice.

“Not yet. Those records are sealed. Which is the reason I’m calling. I wanted to make sure you went for that DNA test this morning.”

“First thing. I told my doctor everything and asked if they could rush it. He said he’d do what he could but we’re kind of at the mercy of the lab,” her voice trailed off dejectedly. She was quiet for a moment and then asked, “Did you get tested, too?”

Joe hesitated. He’d thought about it but ultimately decided against it. “No, it would raise too many suspicions here. The local sheriff is helping me out and as far as he, or anyone else around here is concerned, there’d be no need for me to be tested.”

“Oh.” It was only one word but Joe could hear the disappointment – and disapproval? – in it. There was an awkward silence before she spoke again. “So…have you talked to anyone else today? Vanessa, maybe?”

Joe frowned, puzzled. “No, should I have?”

“No, no, not at all!” Jodi stammered, raising Joe’s suspicions. “I just thought…assumed…you know, that you’d be checking in at least with Vanessa.”

“Yeah, I do. But she didn’t answer when I called early this afternoon so I left a message.”

“Ah,” Jodi said in reply. Joe noted the same wariness in her voice. Another uncomfortable silence followed and then Jodi surprised him by ending the call. “I – I really have to go. Talk to you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Joe replied, bewildered as she bid him a hurried goodbye and hung up.

Joe stared at the phone for a moment, confused. Every time Joe had called her prior to this, Jodi had always seemed reluctant to hang up, sometimes treading into territory that made Joe uncomfortable. He wondered briefly about her sudden change in attitude – had something happened that he didn’t know about? Trying to shake the uneasy feeling that had suddenly crept up on him, Joe stared out the window of the diner, thinking about his response when Jodi had asked if he’d been tested. There was some truth to it – suddenly deciding to have a DNA test for seemingly no apparent reason couldn’t help but arouse some suspicion, but Joe felt that deep inside, there was more to it than that. As much as he wanted to find out if this child really was his, there was a strange kind of comfort in not knowing for sure.

Trying to ignore the feelings of apprehension that began to flutter in the pit of his stomach, Joe picked up his cell phone again, absently staring at the display. As the time of day registered, he groaned inwardly and flipped the phone open quickly pressing one of the buttons. He was fifteen minutes late checking in.

“You’re late.”

Joe winced at Frank’s abrupt greeting. “Yeah, I know. Sorry. I just now noticed the time.” He heard an exasperated sigh and suddenly felt very lonely. That simple act of frustration on Frank’s part had reached out and wrapped itself around Joe’s heart. Despite the way their last phone call had ended, with Frank letting Joe know exactly how disappointed he was with the choices Joe had made thus far, Frank had still been worried about him. Staring at his own reflection in the glass of the window, he swore he could see his older brother sitting next to him, concern clouding his eyes as he ran a hand through his dark hair. Joe closed his eyes, wishing more than anything that he was back home in Bayport. “Really, I am sorry,” he repeated. “It won’t happen again.”

Without warning, the emotions Joe had pushed aside earlier in the afternoon came roaring back at him. The loneliness and isolation engulfed him, weighing on him so heavily he almost couldn’t breathe. The despair at having cut himself off from the one person he could turn to no matter what, was fast chipping away at what little resolve he had left. Keeping the promise he’d made to Jodi suddenly felt impossible.

“Joe? Are you there? Are you okay?”

Frank’s voice, laced with concern, startled Joe and he actually pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at if for a few seconds. How could he possibly have picked up on Joe’s anxiety over the phone?

“Joe…answer me!”

“I…yeah, I’m here,” Joe stammered and heard his own shallow breathing. He rolled his eyes, realizing Frank had also heard it and obviously noticed it. Still, that did little to temper Joe’s anxiety, and in fact only made him more aware of just how alone he really was.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, fine. Fine,” Joe lied.

“Were you able to make any headway on this guy you’re looking for?” Frank asked, apparently trying to avoid all mention of their last conversation.

“He’s a kid,” Joe said absently, still trying to get his runaway emotions under control.

“You’re looking for a child?” Frank asked, obviously surprised.

“Yeah. A little boy,” Joe replied, covering the hitch in his voice. He suddenly wanted to blurt out that he might very well be looking for his own son and desperately wanted Frank’s help. Even though on some level he realized he couldn’t carry on any kind of conversation with Frank without spilling his guts, he hadn’t intended to hang up, so Joe was shocked when the words tumbled from his mouth. “I gotta go, Frank. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.”

As he disconnected the call Joe heard the echo of Frank’s voice: “Joe! Wait!”

Tossing the phone on the table in disgust, Joe rubbed his eyes tiredly. He’d failed Vanessa miserably, just up and leaving town and letting her deal with the fallout. Frank was obviously disappointed in him, growing more so with each conversation. ‘And why shouldn’t he be?’ Joe thought with disgust. He hadn’t given Frank one good reason not to feel disillusioned with decisions he’d made recently. Joe crossed his arms on the table and laid his head down. Just how many relationships was he willing to sacrifice to keep a promise he’d made to someone he hadn’t seen in over six years?

*****

Standing at the kitchen counter preparing dinner, Callie listened to Frank’s half of the phone conversation. Initially she’d been relieved when the phone rang, knowing it was Joe calling to check in. He’d been late and Frank had spent the last fifteen minutes staring at the clock, his expression growing darker as each minute passed. They had been speaking for less than a minute when she heard him yell “Joe! Wait!” followed by a colorful expletive. When she heard the phone clatter to the table, she turned to look at her husband.

“He hung up on me – again!” Frank announced, glaring at the telephone.

“Seems to be going around. Vanessa hung up on me, too…well, sort of,” Callie said, chagrined. She crossed the room and stood next to Frank, frowning thoughtfully. “And you know that thing Joe does where he doesn’t really lie, but—”

“But stretches the truth to within an inch of its life?” Frank finished dryly.

“Yeah, that,” Callie agreed. “I got the feeling that’s what Vanessa was doing to me today.”

“She’s picking up too many of his bad habits,” Frank scowled.

Callie smiled, but continued. “She said she was going into the city to meet somebody. How vague can you get? Still, it can’t really be called a lie. I mean even if you go into New York City with plans to spend the day completely alone, it’s pretty much impossible, just given the sheer number of people there!” She sighed and shrugged. “And then she hung up.”

“What is it with them and this habit of hanging up on people all of a sudden?!” Frank exclaimed in frustration.

Callie reached down and began massaging Frank’s shoulders, smiling when he dropped his head forward and let out a contented sigh. “So I take it you couldn’t get any more information out of him this time?” she asked, kneading a particularly tight knot in his back.

“Mmmm…that feels so good….” Frank murmured, raising his head slightly so his voice wasn’t so muffled. “Yeah, he finally threw me a bone. This missing person he’s looking for is a little boy.”

Callie thought for a moment, throwing out a theory on Joe’s strange behavior. “You think that’s why he’s acting so weird? Because it’s a little boy? Maybe it’s hitting a little too close to home for him.”

“I thought of that, but if that’s the case wouldn’t he want all the help he could get to find this kid as quickly as possible?” Frank wondered, shifting slightly to position Callie’s hands on a nagging tightness in his neck. “It’s like he’s been doing everything he can to keep me away.”

“Maybe because he knows you’re working on that report?”

“Nah. He’s worked with the government enough to know that once I do finish it, it’ll sit on some guy’s desk for a month before they even realize it’s there. I could easily put it off for a few days to help him and he knows it. It’s something else, something I can’t put my finger on.”

Callie continued her ministrations in silence, contemplating something she was sure Frank had already thought of but wasn’t ready to act on – not yet. “And he still won’t tell you exactly where he is?”

“No.”

“There’s no way for you to find out?”

“There are a lot of ways, but I don’t particularly like the idea of investigating my own brother. Technically, he doesn’t need my help – he can find a missing person on his own – and he’s made it clear he really doesn’t want it…”

“But…” Callie knew her husband well enough to know something more was bothering him.

“When I talk to him he sounds so…so…I can’t even find the right word for it! Scared? Sad? Desperate? There’s just something in his voice…he’s taking this case way too personally. And even if it is because it hits too close to home for him, that still doesn’t explain what’s going on between him and Van.”

The concern in his voice ignited a protective spark in Callie. Leaning over she let her arms fall across his chest and hugged him. “I just want to help him, Cal,” Frank said miserably. “Why won’t he let me help?”

She hugged him a little tighter, grateful it was a rhetorical question because she had no answer. Some things about Joe Hardy would remain a mystery to her forever, and his penchant for shutting out the people who loved him when it appeared he needed them the most, was at the top of the list.

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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.