Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Early afternoon on a weekday ensured Joe and Jodi had the beach all to themselves. The warm spring afternoon was a perfect backdrop to relax and renew an old friendship. After parking their cars in the empty lot, Joe pulled a blanket from the trunk of his car while Jodi removed her high-heeled shoes, letting them dangle from her fingertips. Strolling partway down the sand towards the water, they stopped. Joe laid the blanket on the sand and then he and Jodi settled down on it. Jodi appeared wistful as she looked out over the waves crashing onto the shore.

“You can’t possibly miss this place,” Joe said, as he pulled burgers and fries from the bags, handing one of each to Jodi. He knew her stay in Bayport had not been a pleasant experience.

“I miss the beach,” she smiled and turned to him. Taking the burger from him, she unwrapped it and peeked under the bun. “I can’t believe you remembered,” she said softly

“No pickles,” he grinned. “A good detective never forgets the little things.”

“Hmmm… I never knew I’d been under surveillance,” she teased, then turned serious again. “There was one other thing I missed besides the beach.”

Joe raised his eyebrows questioningly, popping a few fries in his mouth.

“The one true friend I made while I was here.” She gazed at Joe for a moment and then looked away, deftly steering the conversation towards him. “So what have you been up to for the last seven years? Joined your Dad’s firm, I see.”

“Yup, both Frank and I did,” Joe said proudly acknowledging the realization of one of the brothers’ childhood dreams. “And it’s been great.”

“You never regret not leaving Bayport? You used to talk about that sometimes,” Jodi recalled.

“No,” Joe shook his head, pausing to take a sip of his drink. “Back then I barely knew which way was up, let alone where I wanted to be when I got done school. At the time I just wanted to run away… forget everything,” Joe replied, briefly recalling the dark days following Iola’s death. “But I’m glad I didn’t. Bayport is exactly where I want to be. My family is here. Vanessa is here.”

“Vanessa?” Jodi quirked an eyebrow.

“My fiancée,” Joe beamed.

“Oh, you’re engaged?” she asked, hoping she had masked her disappointment quickly enough that Joe hadn’t seen it. Although Jodi knew Joe didn’t reciprocate the long ago love she’d had for him, seeing him now she realized she still had feelings for him, even after all this time. “Congratulations. Where did you meet her?” Jodi asked.

Joe chuckled, remembering the day he and Vanessa had first met. “Believe it or not, in the parking lot of Bayport High School. Someone had slashed her tires so Frank and I stopped to help her.”

“Always playing the hero,” Jodi teased. Taking a bite of her burger, she thought for a moment, her brow creased in concentration. “I don’t remember any Vanessa from school.”

“She transferred in from New York City a few months after you left. Best day of my life. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” Joe smiled broadly.

“So when’s the wedding?”

“September 24^th. It’ll be the hottest ticket in town,” he joked. “Your turn. What have you been up to? And where did you go when you left Bayport?”

“Upstate New York,” Jodi replied vaguely. She wrapped up her half eaten hamburger and put it back in the bag. She glanced at Joe and then turned towards the beautiful blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Joe noticed the sadness had returned to her eyes and remained silent, hoping she would finally tell him why she was here. Despite the fact that she had already requested his help, she now seemed reluctant to return to the subject. Reclining back on his elbows, Joe waited her out, not saying a word. Knowing most people were extremely uncomfortable with extended periods of silence, he was betting Jodi would start talking just to fill the empty space.

“We lived on a mountain if you can believe that. Dad decided it would be the prefect place to build a church for his ‘faithful’,” Jodi finally began speaking again, a trace of bitterness evident in her tone. “I stayed just long enough to get my diploma and then I got out there as fast as I could. Went to college and never looked back.” She sighed heavily and ran her fingers through the sand, pushing it around absently. “You want to know why I’m here, right?”

“Well, you did say you needed help,” Joe reminded her gently.

“And I do,” she said, trying to prepare herself for Joe’s reaction. “I want you find my son.”

Joe wasn’t sure what he was expecting Jodi to say but that definitely wasn’t it. “Your…son?!” he repeated, dumbfounded.

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded, tears immediately forming in her eyes.

After getting over his initial shock, Joe listened with rapt attention to Jodi’s story. His heart going out to her the more he learned about what she had been through since he had last seen her, as it became clear her father’s mental state was not anything close to normal.

The Renaults had moved to an isolated cabin in the mountains of upstate New York after Jodi had tearfully told her father she was pregnant. Insisting she had disgraced him, Karl Renault had literally whisked Jodi and his wife away in the middle of the night. Jodi was home schooled for her last year and a half of high school, and though her father would make weekly trips to the small town nearby, she was not permitted to leave the immediate area surrounding their cabin.

At Mr. Renault’s insistence, his wife had been trained as a mid-wife for the sole purpose of delivering Jodi’s baby when the time came. However, Jodi had had unexpected complications during a very long and difficult labor, developing an infection and becoming delirious with fever. When she finally became coherent three days later, her father told her the devastating news – her baby boy had been stillborn. He’d had the baby’s body cremated and scattered the ashes over the mountain, telling Jodi her baby was now free.

Grief-stricken, Jodi moved through each day on autopilot. Isolated and alone, with no friends to speak of, the seclusion of mountain cabin served only to allow Jodi to relive her grief on a daily basis. Taking advantage of being home schooled, Jodi threw herself into her studies and completed the requirements to obtain her high school diploma in record time.

Soon after, Jodi announced she wanted to attend college, fully expecting her controlling and overbearing father to forbid it. Much to her surprise, he agreed. When she began researching grants and scholarships, her father surprised her once more, telling her tuition would not be a problem. During one of his trips to town, Mr. Renault had received a letter informing him that Jodi’s wealthy maternal grandfather had passed away leaving his entire estate to Jodi – his only blood relative. He’d graciously given her father one million dollars, but the rest of his extensive fortune belonged solely to Jodi.

There had been two stipulations included in the will; in order to collect the inheritance, Jodi had to attend and graduate from college, and refrain from having children until after she had received her degree. Only now did she wish she hadn’t brushed off that feeling that something just wasn’t right with the fortuitous timing of the will.

As Joe stared at her, a mixture of consternation and disbelief played over his face.

“I know I never told you this,” Jodi began by way of explanation, “but my Mom was much younger than my Dad. She got pregnant with me by accident when she was eighteen. He married her more out of obligation than anything else. I guess those weird stipulations in the will were my grandfathers way of ensuring I got a good education and didn’t make the same mistakes my mother did.”

“You were not a mistake,” Joe said softly, putting his arms around her and holding her close.

“Thank you,” she whispered, trying not to get caught up in the feeling of being in his arms again. As Joe released her, she sat back and continued her story.

“Once I left for college I never went home again. My father still lives there, and he did start his own church. Or cult,” she added as an afterthought. “We’ve estranged since I left. Then just recently, I started wondering if we might be able to have some kind of relationship.” Jodi stopped and looked at Joe. “I know you might not understand. I mean you had a model family. Every kid at school wished they had parents like yours, and your brother…” she stopped and laughed softly. “Word around Bayport High was no one messed with you, or they’d have to answer to Frank.” Jodi looked at him, sadness enveloped around her. “Your family loved you more than anything in the world. God, I wanted that – just a little piece of it – so badly… All I ever wanted was a family that loved me…”

Joe could almost feel his heart break for her. Thinking back over the past year and a half, Joe had no idea how he would have survived without the support of his family. They occasionally had their differences but there was no doubt in his mind that no matter what, they would always be there for him.

Straightening her shoulders, Jodi forged ahead. “I decided to give it one last shot. After all he’s my father, right?” She stopped again and Joe saw her lower lip start to quiver. When she spoke, her voice was shaking. “I didn’t tell them I was coming. Wanted it to be a surprise. Apparently the day I picked to show up, was the third anniversary of the ground breaking for the church my father had built – with the money from my grandfather. There had been some kind of celebration for it I guess. When I got there, my Dad and stepmother were in the living room talking about how they were able to build the church. I stood on the porch for a minute listening to them. They didn’t know I was there.” Jodi drew in a shuddering breath as a few tears ran down her cheeks.

Silently reaching out, Joe took her hand and held it tightly, knowing she was about to reveal something that was extremely painful for her.

“They were talking about my baby. About how lucky it was that I got so sick and didn’t know what was going on. Joe, my grandfather died before I had the baby, not afterwards. My father knew if anyone found out about the baby, the will would be null and void. He wouldn’t get his million dollars,” Jodi said, her voice dripping with scorn, although it couldn’t completely cover up the pain she felt.

“The baby wasn’t stillborn, was it?” Joe guessed, squeezing her hand.

“No,” she whispered, “he gave it away. He gave my baby away just so he could get his money!” Jodi repeated what she had heard her father say, then collapsed into Joe’s arms, sobbing.

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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.