Hardy Boys - More Than Just The Fun Uncle

Foul Play

Frank didn't even bother to grab his bag. As soon as he'd pulled into the driveway, he was out of the car and running inside.

"Callie?" Frank asked upon entering the house. "Callie!"

"In the kitchen!" He heard his wife call.

Frank found her sitting at the table, hands clasped with Vanessa who sat across from her. Both women's eyes were rimmed with red. He looked between his wife and his sister-in-law in law before his eyes halted on his wife.

"Callie, can we talk?" He asked. "Privately?"

Callie looked back to Vanessa, giving her hands a quick squeeze before following Frank into the living room. Once the two were alone, Frank turned to face Callie. He knew the worry he felt must be evident in his eyes, but he pulled himself together enough to be able to speak calmly.

Shooting a quick glance into the kitchen, Frank asked, "If Vanessa's here then who's watching Fenton?"

"Laura is watching both Fen and Elyse." Callie took a deep breath. "Frank, you didn't let me finish talking before you drove out here."

"What's there to finish?" He asked. "I wasn't about to wait one second longer than necessary with my daughter missing."

Callie shook her head sadly. "Vanessa isn't here to help comfort me. We're together to comfort each other."

Frank furrowed his brow. Now Callie wasn't making any sense. He knew he hadn't let her finish talking on the phone before he was out the door and on his way home, but surely he couldn't have missed that much. Could he have?

"I don't get it, Cal. What are you talking about?"

"Frank," Callie said, bringing her voice to a whisper, as though she was concerned about someone overhearing. "Katherine's not the only one missing."

"What?" Not the only one? Frank was afraid to ask. "Wh-who else?"

"Andrea. Joe. They all disappeared yesterday afternoon."

Frank shook his head. It seemed everything Callie said only went to confuse him more. Kitty, Andrea and Joe? Was somebody targeting their families? "Callie, what happened?"

His wife took another deep breath. "I let Katherine go with Joe and Andrea for a play date yesterday. Everything seemed to be going fine until they just... disappeared."

"You let Joe take her? After what happened?" Frank fumed, but he managed to keep his voice fairly quiet so as not to disturb Vanessa in the next room. "I thought I'd made myself clear about how I felt."

"I know, but I just thought-"

"You thought it wouldn't hurt if I didn't know about it? Look what happened!" Frank clenched his jaw muscles, something he always did when he was trying to keep from losing it entirely. "How do you know this isn't just some ploy of Joe's to get back at me for punishing him?"

"Frank!" Callie scolded. "I'm ashamed at you. You've spent your whole life around Joe. I know you don't believe a word of what you just said. Your brother is missing and all you can think is that maybe he's just trying to prank you?"

Frank downcast his eyes. He knew it wasn't true. He just wanted the disappearance to be anything but what it was looking like. At least if it was a prank, then Joe and the girls could pop out any time, laughing and unaware of the fright they'd caused. But that wasn't the case. Something was seriously wrong.

"I'm sorry, Cal. You're right. Joe knows better." Frank met his wife's eyes once more. "Do we have anything to go on?"

Callie nodded, though, based based on the look in her eyes, Frank could tell that the news wasn't good. "Con found evidence of foul play." Frank's heart skipped a beat. Foul play was always the most dreaded answer a family could receive. "He's coming by later to give us the results on the DNA test from the blood, as well as the prints from the abandoned phone."

Blood. Abandoned phone. It wasn't looking good at all. Frank could only hope that they'd found this evidence in time to help Joe and the girls.

FJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJFJ

It had now been hours since the van had come to a halt and the three prisoners were pulled out and ushered into an old white house. Joe recognized it as the old abandoned one a mile or so down the road from the Morton's farm. It pained him to think about it. So close to friends, yet so far from help.

The house itself stood out about as much as a cricket in a field of grass. It's white paint was barely discernable beneath all the dirt and grime that had collected over the years and ivy grew in long, almost beautiful vines all across the sides and front of the house.

Now Joe sat in a small, cold room in the basement of the abandoned home. The only bit of light shined in from a small window at the very top of the room, too high to reach without any help. Based on how much light there was, he guessed that it was likely in the very early hours of the morning. Andrea and Kitty had both fallen asleep long ago, each girl resting a head on one of his thighs.

Smiling sadly down at the two girls who so closely resembled their fathers, Joe wished he had his hands free to be able to wrap them in a big hug or comb his fingers through their hair. Andrea had always found the combing comforting and would seek out her dad after a bad dream and ask him to 'pet her head,' as she called it.

Both Andrea and Kitty were such sweet girls, some of the sweetest Joe had ever known. What had they ever done to deserve this? They were just two innocents caught in the crossfire. Of course Joe himself was also innocent of wrongdoing, but he'd at least done something to provoke the wrath of these men. Andrea and Kitty deserved to be home right now, laying in their own beds under thick, warm covers, their mothers' voices singing soft tunes, lulling them to sleep.

But here they were, and Joe couldn't help but feel responsible. He'd tried to be the good, responsible uncle Frank wanted him to be, but he'd failed yet again.

"I'm so sorry, Frank." He whispered under his breath. "I swear I'll protect her. I will protect them both till my dying breath."

The door across from the trio suddenly opened, allowing blinding light to pour in through the crack it created.

"Good morning, Joseph."

Oooooo cliffie!

I'd like to make it very clear that Frank never really did believe that Joe would prank him like that. It was just a reaction or a desperate reach for another possibility other than kidnapping. People don't think as clearly when they're put in such stressful situations.

Thanks for reading!