Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the HDA - With This Ring

The next morning found Fenton, Sam, Frank and Joe gathered around the conference table once more, steaming mugs of coffee close at hand. Frank had several piles of reports stacked neatly in front of him and was now the focus of their attention as he began to explain his theory.

“I know at first glance all the businesses don’t seem to have anything in common but-”

“But you found something, right?” Joe cut him off excitedly, nodding his head before Frank could confirm or deny his suspicions. “Right?” When the other three tried to hide their amusement at his enthusiasm, Joe looked slightly offended. “What?!” he demanded, looking at Fenton and Sam then turning to Frank. “I am right… right?!”

Frank chuckled softly knowing Joe was just itching to get out and do something to find Vanessa’s ring. “Yes, Joe, you’re right.”

“HA!” Joe stabbed a finger in the air then leaned back in his chair. “Do I know my brother or what?” he grinned. “Okay, okay come on already! What have you got?!”

Frank just shook his head knowing it would be useless to point out to Joe that he was the one holding up the explanation!

“Yeah, Frank, don’t keep us in suspense,” Sam winked at him, egging on the younger Hardy. “What are you waiting for?”

“Yeah, spill,” Joe ordered, now leaning forward expectantly.

Frank let out a long suffering sigh, glanced at his father who was admirably not laughing and shook his head. “As I was saying, the businesses that were hit do have a few things in common. Number one, they are all very successful with at least half of their business being done in cash versus credit cards. Number two, they’re all located downtown in the center of, or very close to, the business district of the city. That means they’re pretty much surrounded by office buildings, most of which close around five p.m. Number three, all of the businesses that were robbed stayed open much later than their neighbors, usually until ten or eleven at night, sometimes later. So just by virtue of their location, by closing time the streets around them would be virtually deserted. And that means few, if any, witnesses.”

Joe frowned and opened his mouth to speak but Frank held up a hand stopping him. “I’m not done yet.” The reprimand caused Joe to snap his mouth shut, sit back and… pout.

“They hit Southport twice, Kirkland twice and Bayport twice,” he continued, pointing to the police reports that corresponded with each city. “All those towns are pretty close together which could indicate they’re staying in areas they’re familiar with, where they feel comfortable. What if now that the focus is on Bayport they decide to go back to Southport or Kirkland for their next hit? And if they are, maybe we can use their pattern – hitting successful businesses located in an area where there would be few potential witnesses – to pick out possible future targets?”

Frank sat back, glanced at Joe and said, “Now I’m done,” then grinned and took a sip of coffee.

“Show off,” Joe muttered, even as he let slip a smile of admiration.

Fenton, who had been sitting quietly, rubbed his chin thoughtfully and stared at the reports in concentration.

“Nice work,” Sam said, giving Frank a nod of approval.

Finally Fenton looked up and gave Frank a brief smile. “Yes, good work, son,” he immediately agreed. “I think trying to figure out where they’ll strike next is a daunting task but right now, it’s our best option. But it’s going to require quite a bit of research and digging…” his voice trailed off for a moment and while Frank and Sam waited patiently, Joe stared at his father, noisily drumming his fingers on the table.

Finally Fenton glanced at Joe’s rapidly moving fingers and then at Joe, one eyebrow raised. “That really isn’t helping.”

With a muttered, “Sorry,” Joe quickly removed his hands from the table and, much to Frank’s amusement, sat on them.

After another moment of concentration, Fenton leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Okay, I think we definitely need to move on your theory, Frank. Check out other successful businesses in Southport and Kirkland in the downtown area and see if you can narrow down a few possibilities. I also want to go back and talk to all the witnesses again, starting with Prito’s.”

Joe, while remaining silent, was now vigorously nodding his head in agreement.

‘Yeah, and I can just guess which assignment you want, little brother!’ Frank thought wryly.

“Frank,” Fenton began, “why don’t you and Sam stay here and work on the researching end of it-”

“Yes!” Joe cried out softly with a triumphant fist pump.

“And Joe and I,” Fenton continued with a smile, “will go to Prito’s. When we’re done there, we’ll move on to the other businesses and see how many we can squeeze in today. Is that agreeable to everyone?”

“Yeah, yeah, they love it,” Joe said already out of his seat and halfway to the door. “Come on Dad, let’s go!”

Fenton watched Joe disappear into the hall and stood up to follow him. “See if you can get your possibilities narrowed down to the four most likely targets. Then we can each stake out one of them and if somebody up there likes us,” he raised his eyes heavenward, “we just might get lucky.”

“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!” Joe’s impatient voice reverberated down the hall causing Fenton to stop mid-stride and shake his head. At Sam’s snickering Fenton turned on his friend in mock-annoyance. “Maybe I should stay here and you can go with Joe.”

Sam quickly grabbed a stack of folders from in front of Frank and flung them open, spreading the papers out haphazardly. He made a show of staring at them intently, waited a beat and then looked up at Fenton innocently. “I’m sorry… did you say something? I was so absorbed in my work I must have missed it.”

Fenton narrowed his eyes and headed for the door as a single word floated back into the room…

“Chicken.”

*****

“Ya know I can’t believe the ring hasn’t turned up anywhere yet,” Joe complained as Fenton drove. “Between me, Frank and Sam, we hit every possible place it could be fenced in three towns! I mean if I stole it, I’d try to get rid of it ASAP. So why hasn’t anyone seen it yet?” Joe thumped the window in frustration and then snapped his head to the left, looking at Fenton nervously. “Crap, you don’t he took it to New York City to pawn it, do you? Geez, we’ll never find it!” Joe wailed.

Fenton gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. By the time Joe had arrived at work the previous day, Frank’s theory about what had happened to the ring had been discussed and they’d moved on. Joe had been itching to find something to go on and they had become engrossed in reviewing the police reports almost immediately. It hadn’t come up again and Fenton hadn’t really thought about it until later that night after Joe left. He promised himself he’d tell Joe first thing in the morning but once again they’d gotten caught up in Frank’s newest theory and he quickly forgot about it… until now.

Fenton gave Joe a sideways glance. ‘Well… no time like the present.’ He took a deep breath not sure how Joe might react when he realized the full implication. “No, I don’t think he’ll try and pawn it in the city. In fact, I don’t think he’ll try and pawn it at all…”

“Why not? What else would he do with it?” Joe asked, confused.

“I don’t know how much Vanessa told you about exactly what happened given how upset she was, but both your mother and Andrea offered to give this guy all of their jewelry if he would just pass on Vanessa’s ring,” he began, gingerly testing the waters.

“No, she didn’t tell me that,” Joe admitted, but said nothing more.

“Well, we – Frank, Sam and myself – found it a little… odd. If he just wanted to fence Vanessa’s ring for money, he could have gotten a lot more with the pile of jewelry he turned down. And if he was greedy why didn’t he take all of their jewelry? Why just Vanessa’s ring and nothing else?” Fenton pressed.

Joe looked at him, guarded and wary.

“Maybe he doesn’t intend to pawn it or sell it.”

“What else would he do with it?” Joe interrupted, a little agitated.

“Maybe he intends to use it… to give it to someone himself…”

Fenton fell silent, letting the comment speak for itself. Glancing at Joe he saw the veil of confusion slowly lift. As understanding dawned on him his mouth formed a small ‘oh’ and he sat totally still for a moment – and then exploded.

“You mean ‘use it’ like he’s gonna propose to someone?!” Joe cried out in angry disbelief. “With MY ring?! The one I had made just for Vanessa?!”

“Unfortunately that seems like the most likely scenario,” Fenton confirmed.

Joe sat, openmouthed for a moment, letting it all sink in and then reacted exactly as Fenton thought he would. “Damn it! What am I supposed to tell Vanessa now? ‘Sorry, Babe, it’s hopeless. You’re never gonna get your ring back. The guy who stole it gave it to his girlfriend.’ Yeah, that’ll go over real well.” Joe cursed under his breath as he turned to stare out the window.

Fenton continued driving in silence, knowing his son very well. Joe wasn’t finished yet. He’d heated up and vented his anger and, in a moment or two, he would descend to the other end of the spectrum – hopelessness. That was Joe, Fenton thought, a contradiction of extremes!

“I promised her, Dad,” Joe suddenly said, his voice forlorn and defeated. “I promised I’d find her ring. Now what am I gonna do?”

Fenton couldn’t help but feel sorry for his son. Joe always wanted to be Vanessa’s hero, her knight in shining armor. If he couldn’t find the ring as promised, he would feel as if he’d failed her miserably. “First of all, you’re not going to give up,” Fenton responded. Joe’s reaction was feeding his own anger at the man who stole the ring and his determination to help Joe get it back. “Now, if we put all our focus on simply looking for the ring that could very well be an effort in futility. But if we work on tracking down the gang of thieves, once we find them we’ll find the ring by default.”

Joe looked at him and chewed on his lip, mulling it over for a moment. “You really think so?” he asked hopefully.

“Seems like a logical chain of progression,” Fenton replied, pulling into the parking lot of Prito’s. “And we’ve solved cases with much less information to go on than this.”

Joe nodded slowly and then got out of the car and walked with Fenton into the restaurant.

*****

Driving home later that night Joe had mixed emotions. Frank, Sam and Fenton were still at the office, narrowing down a list of potential targets and while a part of Joe had wanted to stay and help, another part of him wanted to be home with Vanessa, knowing she was still a little nervous being home alone.

He and Fenton had visited four of the six businesses that had been robbed and while they didn’t get any glaringly obvious clues, they had more than they started with. Joe had mostly watched silently, still sometimes in awe seeing his father work. Fenton had been able to glean more information than even the police had gotten simply by asking the right questions. By the time he was done questioning everyone they knew the eye color of every suspect, approximate height, hair color of at least two of them and the fact that they could say with about ninety-nine percent certainty that they were all men. Even three police departments hadn’t been able to elicit that much information from all the witnesses put together! Seeing his father in action reminded Joe he still had a lot to learn but, he thought proudly, at least he could learn from the best.

Pulling into the parking lot of his building, Joe parked the car and got out. Walking to the side door and climbing the stairs to the apartment his pace slowed as his thoughts kept returning to Frank’s theory about the ring. It had been easy not to think about it all day while he’d been working but driving home alone had allowed the idea to resurface and take control. Joe carefully considered everything Fenton had said. Initially, it sounded very disheartening. But Joe reminded himself that his perennially positive outlook had gotten him this far in life and he shouldn’t give up on it now. Granted, he’d hoped whoever stole the ring would immediately try to pawn it. With the way he, Frank and Sam had blanketed every pawn shop and jewelry store in three towns, Joe was certain they’d be notified the second the ring turned up. Frank’s theory pretty much blew that scenario out of the water.

‘Okay, so it’s gonna be harder than I thought.’

Joe stopped in front of the apartment door now thinking about all the new information they’d acquired in one day. It might break the case wide open or it might just be a few pieces in a very large puzzle. Either way it was a lot more than they had that morning and, Joe smiled, it was all due to his father.

As a little boy, Joe had always thought Fenton something of a superhero, certain there was nothing the great investigator couldn’t do. Even now as an adult, when he thought with the heart of a seven-year-old boy, he held his father in the same esteem. Add the talents of Sam, who Joe thought equally highly of, and Frank whom Joe sometimes still put on a pedestal and he decided maybe finding Vanessa’s ring wasn’t so hopeless after all.

Feeling a little better, Joe was now confident he could give Vanessa a positive progress report that even he believed. He put the key in the lock and opened the door hurrying inside, wanting to have dinner ready and waiting when Vanessa arrived home.

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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.