“Fenton? Boys? I’m home,” Laura Hardy called out as she closed the front door behind her.

Humming softly to herself, Laura took off her light spring jacket and hung it in the closet.  She was in an incredibly good mood, having been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time.  Her husband, world renowned private investigator Fenton Hardy, and their two sons Frank and Joe – well known investigators in their own right despite being average American teenagers – had finally agreed to take a much need break from crime solving.  They had been going nonstop for months, case after case, one right after another with barely a moment’s rest in between and it was finally starting to take its toll.

Frank, her calm, cool, serious, level-headed older son who had more common sense in his pinky than most people had in their entire bodies had been quite jumpy of late, seeing ulterior motives in even the most mundane things. 

Joe, her younger son, had an unfortunate knack for attracting trouble of all kinds.  It seemed that lately, almost every case the Hardy men became involved in resulted in Joe’s kidnapping, or attempted kidnapping.  It’d been happening so often of late that he had changed the voice mail message on his cell phone so callers now heard “Hi, this is Joe.  I’ve probably been kidnapped again but leave a message and I’ll return your call as soon as Frank and Dad find me.” 

Fenton seemed to be even worse off than the boys.  He was always tired, very distracted and had gotten quite forgetful.  When he’d forgotten the boys’ names and had taken to calling them Hank and Moe, Laura put her foot down.  Fenton had promised her that when he wrapped up the case he was working on, he’d take a few days off, as would the boys, and spend time together just being a family.

‘And my family time starts now,’ Laura thought with a smile. She heard Fenton respond to her initial greeting and the smile faded.

“In here, honey.”

Laura frowned.  Her husband’s voice was serious.  Too serious.  She quickly walked towards the living room, stopping as soon as she crossed the threshold.  “My, God, what happened?” she gasped. 

There was an overturned chair in the middle of the room, shards of broken glass surrounding it.  Her husband was bent over, closely examining the light switch on the wall.  He held a small brush in one hand and a plastic container of black powder in the other.  Frank was standing on a ladder in the middle of the room coating the ceiling around the light fixture with black powder.

He looked down on her from his perch on the ladder and replied seriously,  “Someone set a trap to kidnap Joe.”

It was then that Laura noticed her youngest child, Joe, stretched out on the couch, holding an ice pack to his head. She rushed forward, kneeling on the floor beside him.  “Oh, honey, are you all right?” she exclaimed, stroking his blonde hair.

Joe opened his eyes and smiled weakly.  “Don’t worry, Mom.  I’ll be fine.  Just a little bump on the head.  Apparently someone tried to kidnap me again.”

 “What happened?” she asked, worriedly.

“When I got home from football practice I thought I’d watch a little t.v. till it was time for dinner.  I came in here and flipped the switch to turn on the light but the bulb popped and burned out.  I thought about waiting until Frank got home so he could change it—“

“And you should have!” Frank admonished his younger brother.  “You could’ve been killed, Joe!”

“I know, I know, but it was dark.  I was barely able to find the remote and then I couldn’t read the T.V Guide even when I squinted.”  Joe sighed heavily.  “I had no choice.  I had to change the bulb myself.  So I dragged that chair over,” he stopped and pointed at the chair lying haphazardly in the middle of the floor, “and stood on it to unscrew the light bulb.”

“You played right into the kidnappers’ hands, Joe!” his brother cried out.  “They must have had the house under surveillance for weeks.  How else could they have known that was the chair with the wobbly leg?!”

“You’re right, son!  I hadn’t thought of that!” Fenton stood up, a quizzical look on his face.  Quickly he returned his attention to the switch plate. 

Laura looked from her husband to her two sons, bewildered, but remained silent.  It sounded to her like a simple burned out light bulb.  She hoped the story would become clear if she listened more carefully.  Reaching out, she squeezed Joe’s hand, encouraging him to continue.

“I stood on the chair and unscrewed the bulb.  Suddenly the chair gave way – it just broke!” Joe cried out, shuddering at the memory.  “I fell and hit my head on the floor, hard!  The light bulb I was holding in my hand shattered, and sent pieces of glass flying everywhere.”

“Just like the kidnappers planned!” Frank surmised, a knowing look in his deep brown eyes.  “They hoped you’d be out cold, maybe even bleeding to death!” he gasped at the thought.

“You’re right, son!  I hadn’t thought of that!” Fenton cried out, turning to bestow a proud smile on his son, and then returning to his task with a vengeance.

Laura frowned, now even more confused.  She glanced from Frank to Fenton and back again.  “Frank, honey, what exactly are you doing?” she asked.

“Dusting for fingerprints,” he replied, his gaze fixed on the black powder he’d spread in a neat circle around the light fixture.  “And I suggested Dad dust the switch plate for prints, too.”

“I hadn’t thought of that!” Fenton told his wife, as he studiously applied tape to several areas of the switch plate.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand…. What does the light bulb burning out have to do with a kidnapping plot against Joe?” Laura asked, now hopelessly lost.

All three Hardy men turned and stared at her for a moment.  They then looked at each other and shook their heads sadly.  Frank climbed down off the ladder and moved to his mother’s side.  Gently he took her hand and spoke in a low, soothing voice as if he were talking to a small child.

“Mom, I know this is upsetting to you but we have to face facts.  Someone has obviously been watching Joe for weeks now – maybe months! – plotting the best way to kidnap him without attracting undo attention to themselves. They carefully planned this, hoping they could spirit him away and subject him to God knows what kinds of unspeakable acts of torture.  They somehow got past the security system – maybe they found out the alarm code when they had the house under surveillance—“

“You’re right, son!  I hadn’t thought of that!” Fenton said, smiling proudly at his elder son.

Frank took a moment to bask in his father’s praise before returning his attention to Laura. “Once they got into the house, they replaced the light bulb in here with a defective one, knowing Joe would come in here after practice today.  Having familiarized themselves with Joe’s habits, they knew he’d use that wobbly old chair to try and unscrew the burnt out bulb, rather than going to the kitchen closet to get the step stool.”

“I played right into their hands!” Joe muttered, furious with himself.

“Don’t blame yourself, Joe,” Frank tried to reassure his shaken sibling.  “They are obviously professionals.”

“Who?” Laura asked in alarm.  The more Frank tried to explain what had happened the more lost she became.

“The kidnappers, Mom!”  Frank cried out.

“What kidnappers?” Laura asked, becoming alarmed at her sons’ and husband’s adamant belief that Joe had been the victim of yet another attempted kidnapping. 

“The kidnappers who obviously caused the light bulb to burn out!” Frank said, his tone indicating he was losing patience with his mother.

“Frank…honey…” she said gently, wishing she had insisted they take this ‘quality family time’ break months ago. “Couldn’t the light bulb simply have burned out because it was old?”

Frank chewed his bottom lip, giving this serious consideration, but ultimately decided against it.  “But that wouldn’t explain Joe falling off the chair.  That wasn’t just coincidence, Mom.  It had to be planned.”

“Sweetie,” Laura tried again, stroking his cheek, “Joe is lazy.  He grabbed the closest thing he could to stand on, knowing it wasn’t stable.”

Frank was shaking his head almost immediately.  “Mom, I know Joe is your baby and you don’t want to believe it, but sticking your head in the sand and refusing to see the facts that are clear as day won’t protect Joe.  This was exactly what it appears to be – a diabolical plot to whisk Joe away from us! Trust me – trust us!” Frank said theatrically, waving his arm to encompass not only himself but Joe and Fenton as well.  “We know what we’re doing.  We’ve examined all the evidence and although it was cleverly disguised as a simple burnt out light bulb, we were able to read between the lines, piece together the evidence and determine this was a very clever and well planned kidnapping attempt!”  Frank patted Laura’s hand and then kissed her cheek.  “But don’t worry, Mom.  As soon as we finish dusting for prints and run them through Interpol’s database, we’ll know who was behind it.”  Frank turned Laura towards the doorway.  “Why don’t you go start dinner, Mom?  We’ll need to fuel up before we head out to catch whoever it was that tried to kidnap Joe.”

“You’re right, son!  I hadn’t thought of that!” Fenton cried out, beaming at Frank before he began methodically peeling the strips of tape off the switch plate.

Numbly, Laura made her way to the kitchen in a state of total disbelief.  This couldn’t be happening!  Her men had finally been pushed to the brink and beyond.  What else would explain the surreal conversation she’d just had with Frank?  They truly believed there was a nefarious plot afoot to abduct Joe when in reality it was nothing more then a burned out light bulb!  Laura shuddered.  Were they too far gone already?  Could she still save them?  Contemplating her limited options, Laura came up with a radical plan.

 ‘An intervention of sorts…’ She mulled over the idea that had taken shape in her mind.  It was good in theory but she’d never get Fenton, Frank and Joe to agree to it.  Not when they were convinced the burned out light bulb was really a major clue in a sinister plot to kill Joe.  Laura rolled her eyes heavenward at the thought.  ‘I’ll have to trick them somehow,’ she decided.  Getting up from the table, she grabbed her keys.  Laura walked to the front hall, stopping to take one last look over her shoulder. 

Fenton was now spreading black powder all over the wall near the light switch, a gleam in his eyes that sent shivers down her spine.  Frank was holding a large magnifying glass, intently examining the ceiling for any sign of fingerprints.  From his spot on the couch, Joe was calling out words of encouragement to both Fenton and Frank.  

Shaking her head, Laura ran out the door thinking, ‘Drastic times call for drastic measures.’ 

*****

Glancing at the speedometer, Laura hesitated briefly, and then pressed down on the accelerator.  Getting a speeding ticket was the least of her worries.  Her family was on the verge of falling apart and she was determined to prevent that no matter how many laws she broke.  Laura would not give up her men without a fight.  Roaring into the parking lot of the travel agency, Laura parked haphazardly in the first space she came to.  Bolting from her car she ran to the doors of the agency, her plan having taken considerable shape on the short drive.  Her husband and sons were so overworked she knew they were on the verge of losing it completely.  ‘I just hope I’m not too late!’  Entering the brightly lit office, she summoned one of the travel agents to her side.

“I want to book a vacation for myself, my husband and our two sons,” she announced.

“Where would you like to go?” the travel agent asked.

“I don’t care as long as it’s completely isolated.  No phones, fax machines, computers, pagers, cell phone towers… no possible contact with the outside world at all…”

An hour later, Laura arrived back home.  It had taken some doing but she had made all the necessary arrangements to get her mentally exhausted family out of Bayport the following morning.  Rushing into the house, she tried to sound both excited and a little frightened.

“Fenton!  Frank!  Joe!”

Footsteps thundered on the stairs and the door to Fenton’s office opened and closed with a bang.  Within seconds, all of her men folk were standing before her expectantly.

“You were right!” Laura cried out, sounding appropriately sorry and scared at the same time.  Throwing her arms around Joe, she hugged him tightly.  “Someone did try to kidnap my baby!”  Not wanting to overdo it and arouse their suspicions, Laura released Joe and looked at her husband.  “I ran into Chief Collig in town.  He said to tell you that he’s uncovered a plot to kidnap Joe, beat and torture him mercilessly, and leave him for dead on our doorstep!”

“Who?!”

“When?!”

“Where?!”

The questions came in rapid succession.  “He’s not sure who it is,” Laura continued her tale, ushering her husband and sons into the living room.  She stopped, momentarily stunned as she gazed about the room.  Every conceivable surface was covered with black or white finger print powder!  ‘Oh my, it’s worse than I thought!’  Pulling herself together, Laura resumed her story.  “But he said the gang is holed up on a deserted, secluded island in the Bahamas.  It’s completely cut off from the outside world.” She settled in on the couch, insisting Joe sit next to her.  Turning to him, she stroked his cheek.  “They’re planning to take my baby there and do horrible, horrible things to him but I won’t let them!”  She turned to Fenton, hoping she looked furious.  “I’ve made reservations for us to fly to Nassau tomorrow morning.  From there we’ll take a charter that will drop us off on the island.”

“But, Mom,” Frank began, “You can’t…”

“I most certainly can, young man!” she said, using the no-nonsense tone he would never disobey.  Looking first at Frank, then Joe and finally Fenton, she announced they would leave first thing in the morning and together they would track down and apprehend Joe’s would-be kidnappers!

*****

It was almost two weeks later with Laura and Fenton sitting in lounge chairs on a white sandy beach, watching their sons snorkeling in the ocean.  The first few days had been difficult.  Fenton and the boys had been stunned to learn she had kidnapped them, and things got a little dicey when they found out they truly were cut off from the rest of civilization.  They had been short-tempered and rather grumpy, which Laura attributed to some kind of bizarre withdrawal at having no mystery to solve.  However before the first week was up, Frank, Fenton and Joe realized just how obsessed they’d been. The ensuing days were everything Laura had hoped for.

As she watched her sons make their way out of the water and up the beach, she felt Fenton take her hand and lift it to his lips, kissing her softly.  “Thank you, sweetheart.  I had no idea how desperately we needed a break from crime fighting.”

“Yeah, Mom, thanks for kidnapping us!” Joe grinned as he flopped down on a towel and shook the water out of his hair.

“Add my thanks to the list,” Frank said, leaning over and kissing her cheek.  “I still can’t believe we were so far gone that we turned a burned out light bulb into the kidnapping of the century!”

Laughter cleared the air at the absurdity of such a thought.

Meanwhile, back in Bayport…

“Trust me, Boss, it’ll work like a charm!”  the beady-eyed man, seated in a car across the street from the Hardy home, said into the cell phone.  “I wired the light fixture so when the kid turns on the light, the bulb will burn out.  He’ll grab that wobbly old chair and stand on it to change the bulb…yes, I’m sure!  We’ve had him under surveillance for months now!

“When he stands on the chair, it’ll give out, he’ll fall and crack his head on the floor.  He’ll be out like a light in seconds,” he laughed gleefully at his own joke.  “Then we just waltz in, grab him and leave.  No one will be the wiser!  The kid will be yours to do with whatever you please!”

On the other end of the phone, an old nemesis of Fenton Hardy picked up a photo of Joe and laughed evilly.  ‘Who would’ve thought a simple burned out light bulb could be the key to such a well orchestrated kidnapping?’

Maniacal laughter echoed in the air and somewhere in Bayport, a light bulb burned out….

THE END