The Hardy family, and AJ, sat down to a roast dinner with all the trimmings. It was ‘kind of like Christmas’ Joe had remarked, and Aunt Gertrude had felt exceptionally pleased because she knew that her sister-in-law had gone to a lot of extra effort for the first family meal of Gertrude’s stay. Even Fenton had managed to be there for dinner on time. He had breezed in, welcomed his sister enthusiastically, and shaken AJ’s hand vigorously, clearly delighted to see him again. The conversation was friendly and easy. AJ, initially worried that he’d feel awkward, quickly relaxed. This was clearly a family with a lot of time for each other, and plenty to give to others as well.

Gertrude dabbed at her mouth with her napkin then tapped gently on her glass with her spoon to get everyone’s attention. Once the others had fallen silent, she cleared her throat.

‘I would just like to say, Laura, that the meal is wonderful, and the company excellent.’

‘Here, here,’ added Fenton, raising his glass.

‘Before I bring dessert to the table,’ Gertrude continued, ‘I have something to ask our guest.’

AJ’s heart suddenly dropped to his feet. He fixed his gaze down at his plate. He should have known that Joe’s family was too good to be true! After all, he had been in a bit of trouble with the police. Minor stuff, but Fenton Hardy would have found out every detail of the graffiti and thefts! This woman surely wouldn’t want her golden nephews to be hanging around with the likes of him!

‘Call me old-fashioned’, Gertrude was saying, ‘but I simply cannot abide gimmicky sounding names. Tell me dear,’ she instructed AJ, ‘what is your real Christian name?’

‘Umm, it’s umm, Alex, Mrs. Hardy,’ AJ told her, not daring to look up.

‘Alex,’ said Gertrude, sounding pleased. ‘That’s so much nicer than AJ.’

‘But Gertrude,’ protested Laura gently. ‘AJ might prefer….’

‘Nonsense!’ exclaimed Gertrude. ‘The rest of you can call him ‘AJ’ if you wish, and you probably will. But I much prefer ‘Alex’."

‘Th..that’s fine, Mrs. Hardy’, stammered AJ.

‘Good,’ said Gertrude, pushing back from the table. ‘And another thing’, she added as she began to stack the plates, ‘If you call me ‘Mrs. Hardy’, I’ll think you’re talking to Laura. Call me ‘Aunt Gertrude’ like Frank and Joe do. Joseph, stop sitting there with your mouth hanging open. Help with these plates.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ complied Joe, leaping up.

…

Finishing the last mouthful of the delicious apple crumble his sister had prepared for dessert, Fenton Hardy settled back in his chair contentedly. This is family life at its best he thought to himself. While he still loved detective work, being away from Laura and the boys was a definite downside. He listened with amusement as AJ told the story of Joe deliberately getting into all sorts of trouble while he was undercover, and how freaky it had been to find out that Frank wasn’t actually a student-teacher.

‘You look so much more human without a moustache, man!’ AJ was telling Frank, who smiled good-naturedly. Joe gave an impersonation of his brother falling off the chair in front of the class (he still hadn’t tired of it apparently!), and the whole family howled with laughter. The case had turned out to be quite a traumatic one, particularly for Joe, and Frank had nearly been killed, but it had made Fenton re-assess his relationship with Joe, and a strong bond had obviously been formed between his sons and AJ.

As the laughter subsided, Fenton decided that it was as good a time as any to bring up the topic of the phone call he had received that morning.

‘Boys, I’m aware that today’s the start of your term break. If you’re interested, I might have a small matter for you to look into.’

Frank and Joe exchanged excited glances, but before they could reply, Aunt Gertrude looked sternly over her glasses at her brother.

‘Really, Fenton,’ she admonished him. ‘I’m sure the boys have enough normal activities to occupy them without having to go off to goodness knows where to do detective work for you! And besides, I want to be able to spend a bit of time with my nephews while I’m here.’

Fenton raised his hand defensively.

‘Gertrude, please. It’s not a major case or anything like that. The boys won’t need to go very far at all. They might not even be interested. It’s entirely up to them.’

‘What’s it about Dad?’ asked Frank.

‘Maybe I should be going,’ said AJ, making a move to stand up.

‘No, that’s not necessary AJ,’ Fenton told him. ‘If the boys are keen to do a bit of sleuthing, perhaps you’d like to join them?’

AJ sat back down again, a huge smile creasing his face.

‘That’d be ace!’ he said, amazed by the invitation. Joe slapped his friend hard across the back.

‘Okay, that’s settled,’ Joe said impatiently, ‘Now what’s the story Dad?’

Fenton leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his hands. His audience was attentive.

‘This morning I received a telephone call from a man named Winston Carter. He has apparently been following the progress and eventual outcome of the Winter case with intense interest.’

‘Not unlike the rest of the country given the number of reporters camped out on our lawn,’ remarked Laura.

‘True,’ agreed her husband, ‘but Winston’s interest is much more personal. His sister’s daughter, Angelica Smith, disappeared about the same time the young people whose remains were discovered near Winter’s cabin went missing.’

‘Really, Fenton!’ sniffed Gertrude. ‘This is such an inappropriate topic for the dinner table!’

‘But there were no other bodies found’, remarked Frank, ignoring his Aunt’s comment. Gertrude promptly stood up and began to start washing dishes. Laura joined her.

‘That’s correct,’ said Fenton. ‘The police told him pretty much the same thing. And it’s highly unlikely that the missing girl is linked to the Winter killings. But Mr. Carter implored me to help him; to at least see if I could come up with something the police might have missed. I’m just too bogged down in another case at the moment, so I thought you boys might be interested in providing fresh eyes and ears to the case.’

‘I’m keen’, Frank told his father. ‘What about you Joe?’

‘Count me in’, announced Joe, happily. ‘Fancy a bit of sleuthing AJ?’

AJ nodded, happy to be swept up and included in the goings-on of this somewhat unusual family.

‘I think it’s outrageous that the police have closed that girl’s case,’ said Gertrude from her position at the sink. ‘Her poor family! Not knowing what became of her!’

‘To be fair,’ explained Fenton, ‘so many young people go missing every year, it’s extremely difficult to separate the voluntary disappearances from the abductions. It may actually be the case that Ms. Angelica Smith doesn’t want to be found.’

‘It’d be hard never knowing what actually happened to someone in your family’, commented AJ. ‘You’d always be wondering what had happened to them.’

‘It would be very difficult’, agreed Gertrude. ‘I’d almost prefer to know for sure that a loved one was dead instead of wondering and living on false hope.’

A somber silence descended over the table. Frank took a quick sideways glance at Joe whose face was impassive. Frank knew his brother well enough to know that he didn’t agree at all with his aunt’s last statement. False hope was the only thing that had kept Joe functioning during a difficult time not so long ago. Coming to terms with the reality and finality of his loved one’s death had almost crushed him.

‘So what are the details, Dad?’ Joe asked suddenly, breaking the silence. Fenton smiled.

‘You’ll hear the details from Mr. Carter tomorrow, ‘he told his son. ‘I kind of anticipated you’d be interested so I’ve invited him over tomorrow morning.’