-WORTH THE PRICE-

 

The next morning saw both Frank and Joe sleep late. By the time Joe emerged at midday , he trudged downstairs to find his brother, still in pajama’s, filling a bowl with cereal.

‘This is a bit slack, even by your standards,’ Frank commented, handing Joe another bowl and the cereal box.

‘Well that’s a bit rich given that I just heard you get up,’ retorted Joe, sitting down at the table. ‘Where is everyone?’ he added.

‘Dunno,’ replied Frank, yawning. ‘Hang on a minute. This looks like a note from mum.’

Joining Joe at the table, Frank picked up a piece of paper with his mother’s elegant handwriting on it.

‘Gertrude and I have gone for a walk,’ Frank read aloud while Joe attacked the cereal. ‘Dad’s had to visit a client. Chief Collig rang to say there’s nothing to worry about. See you at lunchtime. Hope you slept well, darlings. Love mum.’

‘So, darling, did you sleep well?’ asked Joe cheekily, his mouth full of breakfast.

‘Yes, darling, in fact I did,’ replied Frank with a smirk on his face. ‘What about you?’

Joe drank the last of the milk directly from the bowl and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

‘Like a baby,’ he told Frank.

It was nearly true. After the talking-to from Aunt Gertrude, and the pledge his family and friends had made, Joe had gone to bed feeling less troubled than he imagined he would. He did lay awake for quite a while, thinking about what had happened, but his eventual sleep had not been plagued by nightmares.

Suddenly Joe spied a newspaper on the kitchen bench. Was it today’s? After a moment’s hesitation, he decided he actually didn’t care what the press had made of the previous day’s events. The love and support of his family and friends, and his brother’s life were the only things that mattered. Let them print what they wanted!

Joe reached over and grabbed the paper. It was the latest edition, freshly delivered by the local paper boy. He could feel Frank’s eyes on him as he scanned the front page. Nothing. Page 2 & 3 were also devoid of anything about Winter. Perhaps it’s too early to be looking for reports, Joe thought to himself. Flicking further, he finally found what he was looking for on page 5. Down the bottom of the page, the only accompanying picture being that of John Winter, was a small article.

 

SERIAL KILLER’S BROTHER DEAD

In a dramatic turn of events yesterday, the brother of convicted serial killer, John Winter, was found dead by police. Carson Winter, believed to have been implicated in the recent kidnapping of an 18 year old Bayport youth, and the murder of Angelica Smith, whose remains have just been discovered after she went missing three years ago, was found by police with a single bullet wound to the chest. The 18 year old, who cannot be named, was found safe and well. Although the exact circumstances of Winter’s death have not been revealed, police have stated that no charges will be laid.

Chief Ezra Collig said that Ms. Smith’s family has been contacted and that they can now finally begin to come to terms with Angelica’s fate.

John Winter, the deceased’s brother, is currently serving a long prison sentence for the murders of three local people, kidnapping and assault.

 

Joe read the article twice, not quite believing its brevity, and then passed it Frank. Frank cast his eyes over it while Joe served himself another bowl of cereal.

Finally, Frank put the paper aside.

‘Angelica’s family must be doing it tough right now,’ he commented.

‘Yeah,’ agreed Joe, somberly. ‘But I suppose it’s better than not knowing and always wondering.’

‘It’s weird really,’ said Frank. ‘We started off being asked by Dad to solve the mystery of Angelica’s disappearance, and it was all a set-up, but the case ended up getting solved anyway.’

‘Yeah,’ said Joe again, with just a touch of bitterness in his tone. ‘And it only took Chet having an accident, Biff getting his leg broken, mum and Callie being scared half to death, you nearly being killed, and me shooting someone dead.’

Frank sat quietly, regarding his younger brother with interest. Over the past twenty four hours he had seen Joe beg for Frank’s life, take responsibility for killing a man, cry his heart out in a police interview room, adamantly deny he had done anything heroic, and now..? What exactly was going on in Joe’s mind and heart now? He certainly seemed like his old self.

‘And how do you feel about all that?’ asked Frank tentatively. ‘And this is your brother, not Sigmund Freud, speaking.’

Joe smiled at Frank. On the other side of the world, a mother could finally stop wondering where her daughter was. Neither of the Winter brothers could ever hurt anyone else, ever again. Above all, the person he loved more than anyone else in the world, was sitting across from him in nerdy, blue, striped pajamas, eating cereal and trying to psycho-analyse him. There had been a price, but Joe had protected Frank from true evil, like Frank had been protecting Joe every day of his life. And he now had another friend he knew he could rely on and trust implicitly. 

‘It was worth it,’ Joe answered him with confidence. ‘It was definitely worth it.’

 

The End

 

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.