DISCLAIMER: None of the Hardy Family, Drew Household, or any other characters featured in the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew books belong to me. All other suspects and characters are of my own creation.
Author's Note: Hello all! After a lengthy hiatus from writing fanfiction, I have decided to return for my second story. My first piece (linked here) followed Nancy and the Hardy Boys through some dangerous times at a boarding school. It is not necessary to read that first, although I would recommend it, particularly because there is a character from that story who is also in this story as well. In order to maintain this timeline, Nancy and Frank are 19, while Joe is 18, and all three are in college. I hope you enjoy this sequel in Bayport!
If there was one thing that would be the death of Joe Hardy, it was cleaning.
"I expect that shower to be pristine by the time you're done with it!" Aunt Trudy called from another room. "And your room still has clothes everywhere, they had better all be in drawers or your hamper by the time our guest arrives."
Joe shook his head; he loved his aunt dearly, but this was a bit overboard. "Aunt Trudy, Nancy is literally going to have no reason ever to be in my room during their visit."
His aunt's stern face appeared in the door. "I do not need your sass right now, Joseph. It's the idea of a clean house that matters."
Joe rolled his eyes, making sure he was facing the shower so his relative couldn't see. "It's stupid that Frank gets out of having to do all this cleaning today simply because he has play practice today. He isn't even in the production."
It was summer break, but unlike Joe, who could easily entertain himself for hours binge-watching shows on Netflix, Frank had to find some job or hobby to keep himself occupied without being bored aside from the occasional mystery. This summer, that meant working as the stage manager for the Bayport Theatre Company's production of Waiting for Godot. Opening night was just a handful of days away.
"Now Joseph, stage managing is a very important job," Aunt Trudy contended. "I'm sure Frank is very stressed right now. I remember being the stage manager for my school plays in high school, and it was a much harder occupation than anyone else realized."
Joe groaned, returning his attention to scrubbing the interior of the shower and wondering just how stressed his brother actually was.
As it happened, at that particular moment, Frank's head was about ready to burst.
"What do you mean, we don't have a moon prop!?" He could feel flecks of Craig Marston's spit assaulting his face. "At the end of Act One, the moon comes up. That means we need a moon. Do I need to do your job for you?"
"No, Craig," Frank replied through gritted teeth. "It just wasn't on the list of props you gave me, so I didn't happen to find or make one. What size do you want it to be? And how do you want it to appear?"
"Do I look like the stage manager? No." Craig turned his gaze from Frank back to the stage. "I already have enough to deal with being the director. Figure it out." Craig stalked back to the front row of the auditorium to take his seat and continue the rehearsal.
Frank kept all the nasty thoughts in his head, his face beginning to burn with embarrassment. Knowing Craig, he could come back with the perfect prop moon, and he would find something wrong with it.
"Oh well," he muttered to himself, "if he's giving me creative license, then he'll have to deal with whatever he gets."
As the director had mentioned at least a dozen times within the hour, they were exactly a week away from opening. What the hell could he pull together for a moon in that amount of time? Frank made his way around to the side entrance and took the small hallway to the backstage area of the Bayport High School Auditorium.
"Sounds like Mr. Marston is mad at you," someone commented as he entered. Frank squinted to see in the dim lighting and saw Henry Burke.
"Yeah, just a bit," the Hardy boy replied, smiling. He wasn't the only one who despised working with Craig among those in the cast and crew, but the 11-year-old playing the role of the Boy made the whole experience much more bearable.
"He can be a bit bratty," Henry agreed. Frank was shocked; he had never heard Henry talk about their director like that.
"Let's not speak unkindly about Mr. Marston."
"Tell me I'm wrong," Henry challenged. He grinned when Frank stayed silent. "Yep, I thought so."
Frank smiled, too. His smile vanished when he heard Craig's commanding voice calling for him yet again.
"What's up, Craig?" he asked, stepping onto the stage so the director could see him.
"You need to remind Lily that her hat stays on the stage for Act Two. If it doesn't it's going to screw Vladimir over and that's the last thing we need."
Frank flashed an apologetic smile to Howard Monroe, who played Vladimir, for Lily Pickering's mistake. "Alright, I will." Frank stepped back off and went in search of the actress playing the mute slave, Lucky.
Once he had given the director's note to the petite lady, he went back to his task of figuring out a moon. Frank had somehow become the props and costume manager as well as the stage manager for the production, all of which he enjoyed. What he didn't enjoy was working with Craig.
"I suppose just doing a cardboard cut-out would be good," he surmised as he stood just offstage, still being mindful of his cues for scene changes and the like. "But then I would need a talented artist to help out." Nancy's name sprung to his mind. He pulled out his phone and sent her a quick text, even though he knew she wouldn't get it until after she got off the plane.
"Hey, Frank!"
"Sorry about that, Craig." Frank turned his full attention back to the play, feeling bad for missing a cue. Then, as he scanned his script, he realized he didn't miss anything. "What's up?"
The director beckoned to him, so he dropped down off the stage into the front row. "You see that guy up in the back there?" Frank looked to the back of the lower-level seating and noticed a man with a baseball cap sitting in one of the seats. "I don't know who he is or why he's here, but he needs to go. We're in the middle of rehearsing and we can't have just anyone showing up to watch."
Frank nodded. The show was being done as a charity fundraiser for the local hospital, so he understood why Craig didn't want anyone to get to see the play without at least paying admission.
The dark-haired teen walked to the back of the theater. He could feel the man's eyes following him up the steps, which unnerved him just a little.
As he reached the man, he said in a hushed tone, "I'm sorry, sir, but this rehearsal is closed to the public. If you want to see the play, though, our opening night is – "
"I would much rather just sit and watch it now," the man said in reply. At this, Frank began sizing him up. He was a tall man, but pretty skinny; it wouldn't take too much to try and remove him by force. Of course, that was more of Joe's move than Frank's.
"Unfortunately, that isn't really one of the options here," he contested. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
The man glowered at him from beneath his Orioles cap, but stood after a few seconds. "If you insist." He walked to the exit and let himself out, Frank's eyes following him as he went.
After he was sure the uninvited guest had left, Frank returned to his post backstage for the remainder of the rehearsal.
"Alright, let's get everyone out here for some closing comments," Craig called. The five actors in the production and Frank entered from offstage and plopped down. Craig joined them on the stage via a set of steps leading from the edge of the orchestra pit.
The cast and Frank sat through several minutes of Craig's notes, some good, most not-so-good. By the way the director made it sound, Frank would've thought the play was disastrous and falling apart at the seams. It was anything but.
The cast was immensely talented, given that they were all locals. Although it was a small group, they all worked incredibly well as a team despite the vast age and personality differences.
Finally, the meeting was over, and everyone was dismissed for the day. Frank felt his phone buzz. It was Nancy: Of course I'll help you make the moon
The teen looked at the time and did the math, figuring out that if she had just arrived at the airport, his father would probably arrive with her in a couple hours.
"You're certainly in a rush to get out of here," Lily said as Frank hastily packed his bag. Everyone else was mulling about and talking, with the exception of Henry, who had been pulled aside by Craig.
"We have a family friend who's arriving shortly, and I haven't seen her in months now," Frank explained. He straightened up, dwarfing the 30-year-old, who stood barely over five feet.
Lily patted him on the back. "Well, have fun. I hope you don't plan on seeing her too much over the next several days, though, with how our schedule is looking."
"Ugh, I know," Frank grumbled. "Luckily her visit is for two weeks so it's not like I won't get to see her at all. Plus she apparently loves this play and can't wait to see it."
Lily looked stunned. "And how old is she?"
"My age."
"Huh." Lily shrugged. "It's unusual to find someone so young who loves Beckett's plays. Some can have an appreciation for it, like you or me. But if she truly loves it, she's special. In a good way," she added quickly.
Frank laughed. "That she is." With that, he said goodbye and departed, rather than stay with everyone else who was chit-chatting.
He got back to the house to find his mother cooking up a storm and Aunt Trudy yelling at Joe about something or other. Despite Nancy's impending arrival, it seemed like a typical evening in the Hardy household.
"Anything I can do to help you, Mom?" Frank asked, always ready to please Laura Hardy.
"Why yes, Frank. I had asked Joe to make the bed in the guest room and just dust the bureau and side table to make sure it's clean, but it sounds like Trudy hasn't found his room to her satisfaction."
"Yikes, she expects him to get that whole room cleaned before Nancy gets here? She'd have a better chance completing a marathon in that amount of time," Frank joked. "I'll get right on it."
Frank finished prepping the guest room, and then emptied the dishwasher and set the table as well. Just as he finished placing the last glass, his phone buzzed.
"Hello?"
"Hi Frank, it's Valerie Burke."
"Hi Mrs. Burke, what can I do for you?" Frank was confused about why Henry's mother would be calling him, but waited for her explanation.
"I was wondering if Henry was at play practice today. He hasn't come home yet. I tried calling Craig but he didn't answer, so I figured I would call you next."
Frank nodded. "Yeah, he was there today for the full rehearsal. I happened to leave before him though, so I'm not sure where he went after that. If you'd like, I can go take a look around the auditorium."
"Oh, no, you don't have to do that," Mrs. Burke replied hastily. "I'm sure he's just off with his friends somewhere. I don't want to make any trouble for you."
Frank scrunched his eyebrows together. "Alright, well, feel free to call me back if you find him."
"I will. Thanks, Frank."
Frank ended the call and stuck his cell phone back in his khaki shorts. Something about the whole thing didn't sit right with him. Henry wasn't always the perfect angel, but he didn't ever seem the type to play hooky from his parents.
"Hey Joe, you wanna go on a field trip?" he called up the stairs. Soon his brother's head appeared over the banister.
"Um, depends on what it is. Plus, isn't Nancy due in soon?"
"It shouldn't take too long." Frank outlined his plan to go down to the auditorium and check to see if Henry was there. A couple minutes later, the duo was bidding their mother and Aunt Trudy goodbye.
"Just call me if Nancy shows up and we'll head back," Frank instructed them as Aunt Trudy planted a firm kiss on his cheek.
"Good luck, and call me if you need anything," Mrs. Hardy instructed. The brothers both assured her that they would.
"And I don't care what it takes, you'll be getting that room clean soon enough," Aunt Trudy informed Joe. Everyone laughed except the blond, and the Hardy Boys headed out to the car.
Frank and Joe pulled up to the high school about 10 minutes later, then walked down the path to the auditorium entrance. The only two people who had been granted keys to the building were Craig and Frank as the director and stage manager, and even then, the key only got them into the auditorium; the rest of the school was closed off for the summer.
Joe arrived at the door first, rattling the handle. "It's definitely locked. I don't think your kid is in here."
Frank shrugged. "Yeah, I guess not." He felt a buzzing in his pocket, and immediately reached for his phone and pulled it out, hoping it was Mrs. Burke. Instead, the caller ID read Dad Cell. Frank answered it. "Hello?"
"Hiya, Frank. Just calling to let you know that Nancy and I just arrived. Your mother filled me in. . . are you two going to be much longer?"
"Nah, the auditorium is locked up. We should be home in about 10 or so." Frank turned back to go to the car when he stopped in his tracks. Oh no.
"Dad, we're going to be a little bit." Without hearing his father's response, Frank hung up and turned around. Joe ran into him.
"Oof! What're you doing?" his brother asked. Frank pointed, and Joe followed the direction of the finger straight to a bike chained to a bike rack.
"That's Henry's bike. He never left practice today."
Joe's mouth set in a thin line. "That's not good." The Hardy Boys turned back around and made a beeline for the auditorium.
Frank grabbed his key and inserted it into the lock, pulling the door open and releasing a blast of cool air. "Well, there's another good reason for coming back. Seems like Craig forgot to turn off the A/C again."
"Why don't you go take care of that, and I'll start looking for Henry in the auditorium itself," his brother suggested.
"Good idea," Frank agreed. He really wanted to find Henry, but he could still do that on his way to turning off the A/C in the main office. Unfortunately, his search for the boy proved fruitless, though he did succeed in his other mission to turn off the air conditioner.
Finally, Frank headed into the auditorium, satisfied that there was no other place outside of it that Henry could be.
"Dude, you're gonna want to come see this." Joe's head popped around the backstage curtain. "It's not good."
The older Hardy's walk turned to a jog at his brother's urgent tone. "What?"
"Footprints."
Frank hopped onto the stage, careful to avoid any props, and followed Joe behind the curtain to find a trail of footprints, leading from the props storage room and out a side door. The trail was left in blood.
"You follow the prints, I'll look in the props closet," Frank ordered. The blood was a bad sign. A very bad sign. On the other hand, the footprints were small enough that Henry could've made them. That eased the nausea Frank was experiencing, although not very much.
The detective made his way closer to the closet, careful to avoid the evidence that led from one door to another. He tried the knob, and found it unlocked.
"I definitely locked this today," he mumbled. With a quick shove he opened the door, and nearly tripped over something on the floor in the darkness. Frank grabbed his phone and turned on the flashlight.
It was a body.
I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, cliffhanger and all! As it stands, the plan is for a twelve-part story, though this may be adjusted depending on how the story flows. Some of the future chapters have been completed but I want to stick to a one-per-week schedule. Who's dead? Where's Henry? Will Joe ever clean his room? Some of your questions will be answered in the next chapter!
