HDA - Innocent by Red Chapter 8

Frank looked at the clock beside the bed. '2:10 am' glowed in red. He was having trouble sleeping again but this time he didn't mind at all. He had stopped by to see Joe on his way home, hoping his brother might give him five minutes to apologize, but fearing Joe wouldn't even speak to him. To his utter surprise, upon seeing Frank, Joe had rushed to his older brother hugging him so tightly Frank almost couldn’t breathe. He didn't know exactly what had caused Joe's change of heart but he thought it had something to do with Bear.

'Bear.' He smiled to himself.

He recalled the small, fuzzy brown bear he had purchased for Joe to protect him while he was in the hospital after having his tonsils removed. At five years old, Frank was absolutely certain that bear had magical powers and would keep his little brother safe until he returned home where Frank could watch over him. He hadn't seen Bear since they were in college and assumed Joe had finally gotten rid of him when he and Vanessa moved in together.

Laughing softly, Frank thought the bear looked pretty pathetic although he would never say that to Joe. It's one remaining eye was barely hanging on by a thread, the fur was missing in several places and he lost count of how many times Bear had been sewn up by his mother or Aunt Gertrude after being "injured" in one of Joe's many childhood misadventures. But to his brother, that pathetic looking little bear, and everything it represented, was priceless.

Frank hadn't left Joe's until after midnight. They had laughed, cried, and talked for hours about the past, the present and the future. He couldn't remember the last time they had talked like that and he only wished they had done it sooner. It was obvious Joe had been holding a lot of things inside and tonight he let them all come pouring out.

Frank shivered recalling the raw fear he had seen in Joe's eyes when he told Frank how scared he was that he might actually be found guilty of murdering Chris Taylor and sent to prison. After everything they had seen and done in their lives, Joe had gotten to the point where he was no longer afraid of anything, until now. Frank wanted to comfort and reassure his younger brother that he had nothing to worry about but he couldn't. Joe's worries were justified and he had every reason to be afraid of what would happen should he end up in prison. Seeing the terror on his brother’s face, Frank promised himself he would not rest until he found some kind of evidence to prove Joe's innocence. With that promise fresh in his mind, he finally fell asleep praying it would be a promise he didn't have to break.

When Frank awoke several hours later, the first thing he noticed was a sense of peace that he hadn’t felt in a while. There was still a lot of work to be done to prove Joe’s innocence, but last night he had gotten his brother back and their bond was stronger than ever. He hoped that whatever “hell” Chris Taylor’s soul was burning in, he would somehow know that his elaborate plan to destroy the special relationship between the brothers had failed miserably.

With a single goal in mind, he quickly showered and changed eager to start the day. The sooner they got started tracking down the evidence needed to clear Joe, the sooner he and Vanessa would be freed from this nightmare.

He made his way downstairs to the kitchen where he found Callie sipping a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper.

“Well?” he asked pointedly, staring at the newspaper.

Callie smiled and held up the front page so he could see the headline – “Victim of Circumstance.” Peering closer, he saw that Liz Webling had written it, as promised.

“What does it say?” Frank asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. “The condensed version.”

“Basically, it’s a complete retraction of yesterday’s article, with an apology for – and I quote – “subjecting our readers to the immaturity and unprofessionalism of the writer, who is no longer with the paper”. It also says there is no tangible proof that Joe killed Chris Taylor, just some circumstantial evidence, which they did not print, that probably won’t be admissible in court.” Callie smiled.

“Well, that helps.” Frank said pensively. “But they’ll never be able to “retract” the fact that now everyone in town knows Vanessa was raped.”

“I hope it doesn’t set her back, once she finds out about it. We were just starting to see a little bit of the old Vanessa.” Shaking her head sadly, Callie changed the subject. “You got in pretty late last night.”

“I stopped by to see Joe.” Frank said, with a smile Callie hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Judging by that smile, things went pretty well.”

Pulling out a chair, Frank sat down and excitedly told Callie how he and Joe had spent hours and hours talking, both of them saying things they had never put into words before. She held his hand comfortingly when his tone turned serious and he told her how scared Joe was that he might end up in prison.

“No, he won’t.” Callie said with quiet confidence.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I know you. And I know you won’t give up until you find what you need to clear him.”

He stared into her eyes for a moment, and kissed her softly.

“Thank you. Will you remind me of that when I start to get frustrated?”

“Of course.”

Looking at his watch, Frank stood up. “I have to run. I’m not sure what time I’ll be home tonight. I’ll call you later, ok?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m sure I can find something to amuse myself if need be. You just concentrate on finding the evidence to prove Joe is innocent.”

He gave her another quick kiss on the cheek and left, heading for Andrew Worth’s office. When he arrived, he found his father and Andrew seated in the conference room with their heads together discussing something in earnest.

“Am I interrupting?” Frank asked, hesitantly.

“No, come on in, Frank.” Andrew said, waving him in. “We were just looking over the statements of the eye witnesses.”

“How bad are they?” Frank asked, although one look at his fathers face told him everything he needed to know.

“Technically, it’s all circumstantial evidence. But all these people work in some type of law enforcement.” Gesturing towards the papers, Andrew didn’t look happy. “They are all worded in such a way that I’m not sure I’ll be able to get them thrown out.”

Frank sat down heavily in a chair, looking at his father. ‘He looks terrible. I wonder if he got any sleep at all last night.’

“We were just discussing whether we need to consider bringing Tilghman’s name into this.” Andrew glanced at Fenton.

“You can’t!” Frank’s eyes grew wide. “Dad, you said Joe had to remember on his own!”

“I know, Frank, but we may not have a choice.” Fenton replied, sounding defeated. “I’d rather just tell Joe about it outright and see him free and in therapy for a while, than remain silent and watch him go to prison.”

“Why are you so certain he’ll be convicted?” Frank said, angrily.

“Read them for yourself.” Fenton replied quietly, pushing a stack of papers across the table at him.

Looking down, Frank saw they were the statements from all the officers and investigators who had witnessed the shooting. Picking up the first statement, he read the name of the witness. It felt as if a cold hand was squeezing his heart.

‘It’s mine.’ He glanced down at the name on the next statement. ‘Fenton Hardy.’

He looked up at his father, trying to control the rising anger he felt. Glancing from his father to Andrew and back again, his eyes flashed with rage.

“No one is going to use me to send my brother to prison!” He growled throwing his own statement back on the pile and shoving it across the table at his father.

“Frank, I’m just as upset as you are. But right now, we need to concentrate on finding the best defense for Joe.” His father replied.

"Dad, please don't tell me you still think Joe is guilty."

Fenton looked closely at Frank, considering his choice of words and the look on his face.

"Apparently we both came to the same conclusion last night." He said. "What was it that changed your mind?"

"Just the fact that I know my brother. He couldn't kill another human being - not like that. I'm just ashamed it took me so long to realize it. And you?"

"Something he said. I guess I was still reeling from everything that had happened. I didn't pick up on it right away. Joe said Taylor told him he would be going to prison for Taylor's murder. It had taken seventeen years but Joe would finally get what his father had intended for Joe all along."

"I'm not sure I follow you."

"Joe hasn't remembered anything about that weekend. The only way Joe could know about that is if Taylor told him. Which means Joe was telling the truth about everything else. In order for Joe to go to prison and get what Josh Tilghman had intended for him seventeen years ago, Taylor would have to die and Joe would have to be found guilty of killing him. Taylor couldn't be sure Joe would pull the trigger no matter how much Taylor goaded him. He had to kill himself. But in order to make sure Joe took the blame for it, he made it appear as if he wanted to give himself up first." Fenton shook his head, disgusted with himself.

"Have you talked to Joe yet this morning?" Frank asked. "Have you told him you know he's innocent?"

"Not yet." Fenton looked at Andrew and Frank. "When he gets here I want some time alone with him before we get started. I don't know that he'll forgive me…I don't even know if I deserve to be forgiven for this. But I want him to know I do believe him. I know he didn't kill Taylor."

"He'll forgive you, Dad. He forgave me." Frank told his father reassuringly. He then returned to the problem at hand. "What we need to concentrate on is finding the evidence that is going to prove he is innocent.”

“What evidence are you thinking of? Something specific?”

“Jesse Baumgarten said Taylor was obsessed with Joe. He knew exactly how to hurt Joe the most. He obviously did a lot of research on him. It’s still out there somewhere; we just have to find it. It could go a long way to creating a reasonable doubt about Joe’s supposed guilt.”

Frank got a familiar gleam in his eye, causing Fenton to smile. In his head, he could hear one of the many wise cracks Joe saved for just this occasion. ‘Here we go. I can almost hear the wheels spinning in his brain!’

Pacing the room excitedly, Frank told his father and Andrew about his obvious revelation, the words coming faster and faster. “Taylor was methodical and organized and just arrogant enough to believe he would never be caught. Someone like that would want to keep some kind of record of his ‘accomplishments’. Some kind of documentation, so he could gloat over how well his plans for revenge were working."

Fenton regarded his son thoughtfully, proud of his determination to clear his brother.

"You may be on to something there. But it's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. That could take time, Frank.”

“Something we don't have a lot of.” Andrew interrupted. “I think we have to consider all the options." His voice dropped considerably. "Even if some of them don't guarantee the ending we all want.”

“Andrew is right, Frank. I don’t want you to lose sight of reality. We’re just starting here,” Fenton waved his hand over the pile of witness statements, “but these could be very damaging. Just because we know there is evidence out there somewhere that can prove Joe is innocent, that doesn’t mean the judge will sit back and wait patiently until we track it down. If we can't find it quickly, we may have to consider focusing on a defense that will get Joe as little prison time as possible.” He concluded sadly.

“No.” Frank replied, recalling the terror in Joe’s voice when he talked about what a prison sentence would mean for him. Frank’s eyes burned with an intensity Fenton had never seen before. When he spoke again there was a conviction in his voice that left no doubt he meant every word he said.

“He's innocent. I will find the evidence we need to clear him. My little brother is not going to be the new toy for the inmates in the state prison! The only way he’s going to prison is over my dead body.”

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Disclaimer

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.