Frank led his brother back to the conference room where they took seats across from Fenton and Andrew.

“Ok, let’s get started.” Frank said, offering no further explanation for their abrupt departure a few minutes before.

Watching his youngest son closely, Fenton could see that although Joe was still nervous about the trial and very tired from lack of sleep, he seemed more relaxed than he had been earlier.  He leaned back in his chair and smiled to himself.  He could almost see the bond between his sons growing stronger by the minute.

‘Take that, Taylor.’

Fenton refocused his attention on Andrew Worth, who was about to lay out the options for Joe’s defense.

“First off, we all know you are innocent.” Andrew said, looking at Joe.  “However, you know the criminal justice system as well as anyone.  Just because you’re innocent, doesn’t guarantee a verdict of not guilty.

“There are a couple of different ways we can go with this.  Obviously, the best case scenario is that Frank and your father find the evidence to prove your innocence and you are cleared of all charges.  Unfortunately, that could take time since they don’t even know what it is they are looking for; let alone where to start looking.

“Since the prosecution presents their case first, that buys us a little more time.  Dennis has a lot of witnesses to call.” Andrew gestured towards the pile of witness statements. “The bad news is, every single one of these witnesses is some type of law enforcement officer or private investigator.  And their statements are virtually identical, making them all a lot more credible, even though it’s still all circumstantial evidence.”

“What do they say?” Joe asked, not quite sure he really wanted to know.

“Basically they say you and Taylor were already struggling for your gun when they arrived; you got control of the gun; Taylor surrendered after exchanging words with your father; he started to raise his hands as you ordered him to do and the gun was fired.”

Joe stared at the rather large pile of statements but said nothing.

“Dennis has agreed to wait and call you, Frank and Evan Graham as his last three witnesses.” Andrew said, speaking to Fenton.

“I understand about Dad and Frank but why Evan?” Joe asked, referring to the young Bayport Police Department officer he had been riding with the night Taylor died.

“I believe during the briefing that night, Chief Collig specifically instructed everyone that should they find Chris Taylor, they were to wait for back up before moving in.”  Andrew responded.

“Call for back up.”  Joe corrected him.  “And we did.  If we hadn’t, Dennis wouldn’t have all these eye witnesses to use against me.” Joe said disgustedly, thinking how following the rules so often seemed to land him in trouble.

“Ok, call for back up.”  Andrew paused and shuffled through the stack of papers pulling Evan’s statement from the pile.  “Evan says he told you to wait until back up arrived before moving in.  He also says he tried to physically restrain you but you pulled away and went after Taylor on your own, anyway.”  He looked up at Joe.  “Is that true?”

Joe looked at his father who was obviously hearing this for the first time.  He didn’t even want to see the look on Frank’s face.

“Yes, I did pull away from him- ” Joe started to answer.

“Joe, why?” his father asked, upset.  “We were specifically instructed to wait for back up!”

“No, we were not!” Joe replied getting angry.  “Chief Collig said call for back up – CALL – not wait.  And if I had waited that women would have been raped before any of you arrived to help.  Were Evan and I supposed to stand by and watch that happen?!”

“If that’s the case, then it’s good that you didn’t wait for help.”  Andrew jumped in trying to head off the explosion he saw coming between father and son.  “No juror would hold that against you.  In fact, if you had waited they would question why you stood by and let a woman be raped when there were two of you there to apprehend the suspect.  Don’t worry, Joe.  That will end up working in your favor.”

“You said there were a couple of ways to go, Mr. Worth.”  Frank finally spoke also trying to diffuse the situation between Joe and Fenton.  “What else were you thinking of?”

Andrew sat silently for a moment – a very long and uncomfortable moment.

“It’s not something any of you are going to like.  But you’re paying me to do everything possible to keep Joe out of prison. I wouldn’t be doing that if I didn’t consider all the options.  There is no guarantee you are going to be able to find the evidence we need.  It would be foolish to focus on that one line of defense to the exclusion of all others.”

Joe got a sinking feeling in his stomach, knowing with absolute certainty he was not going to like Andrew’s second “option.”

“We don’t like any of this, Andrew.”  Fenton said, tiredly.  “And you’re right; we are paying you to do whatever it takes to keep Joe from being convicted – whether we like the methods or not.  If we can’t find the evidence we need in time, what do you suggest as the next line of defense?”

Andrew took a deep breath and steeled himself for the verbal assault he knew would follow.

“Temporary insanity.”

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors 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 them without expressed permission of the authors.