A half hour before the school day was to end, Frank found himself on the back doorstep of the DP’s house with his father. No-one had answered the doorbell. Frank had been furious when Black had told him what Joe had heard was not enough to get a warrant to search the man’s house, but Fenton had assured Black that he and Frank would go off to have a coffee together to discuss ‘further options’. Instead of driving his frustrated older son to a café, Fenton had driven them to the DP’s house.

‘We’re not going to break in, are we Dad?’ asked Frank in amazement.

‘Certainly not,’ replied his father, ‘but there’s no harm in finding an open window and taking a few pictures.’

The Hardys ‘encouraged’ the laundry window to open and they entered the house. Darcy’s house was neat and orderly. They found nothing of importance until Frank discovered a handle on the ceiling of the hallway. As Frank got up on a chair to pull on the handle, Fenton fetched the ladder they had seen in the laundry. As they climbed into the roof, Frank’s jaw dropped in amazement. There were multiple PC’s, DVD players, and other pieces of audio visual equipment. A more careful examination revealed several digital cameras. After exchanging delighted grins, Fenton and Frank spent a very enjoyable twenty minutes taking photographs.

‘Your brother has done an excellent job on this case,’ Fenton told Frank. ‘You both have. The regional director and Chief Black will be very pleased once this has all been wrapped up.’

Ordinarily, Frank would have been delighted in the praise spoken by his father. He wondered, however, if the price paid for solving the case was going to be a compromised relationship with his brother.

……..

Biff, Frank and Joe sat around the kitchen table in the apartment that evening. Frank was able to reveal what had been discovered in Darcy’s house earlier that day.

‘That’s great!’ enthused Biff, clapping Frank on the back. ‘I mean, it’s not great that a deputy principal is the rotten apple, but doesn’t this mean the case is solved?’

Frank smiled thinly at Biff’s response. Joe hadn’t said anything. He was still being disturbingly cool and detached.

‘We’re on the home stretch,’ Frank agreed. ‘Black wants to take things a little bit further before we arrest Darcy. He wants to prove that Darcy has been selling the goods. Us taking photographs of the stuff in his house isn’t really enough.’

Biff frowned, confused.

‘But he’s got all that stuff in his house, and he assaulted Joe as well, trying to frame him!’ he said.

Joe fiddled with the coffee mug on the table in front of him, staring at the pattern on it.

‘He can always say he didn’t know that gear is in his roof,’ the younger Hardy said flatly, without looking up. ‘If I say he roughed me up, it’s my word against his.’

The three boys sat in silence for a little while before Frank cleared his throat.

‘Black and Dad think the best move is for me to approach Darcy as if I’m a prospective buyer and dealer. I’d be wired.’

When he didn’t continue, Joe finally looked up from the coffee mug and met his brother’s eyes.

‘And?’ Joe asked his brother, who looked decidedly uncomfortable all of a sudden.

‘They, um, they wanted to know what..what you thought the next move should be.’

Joe kept his steely gaze on his brother for what seemed liked an eternity. He wanted to say something really sarcastic and cutting to Frank about what the sudden need to consult with him about anything was about. He also felt he should be expressing concern about Frank going anywhere near the man who had recently inflicted such violence on Joe. Eventually he did neither. He got up, placed the coffee mug in the sink and sat back at the table.

‘Just give us the details,’ he requested in a disinterested tone.