Foreword: Here is the fourth chapter. In this chapter, Joe's tragic past will be revealed. He will remember about the girl whom he fell in love with ten years ago. Also, for those of you who are anxious about what will happen between Iola and Joe, here is the answer. But don't just believe what is written here, since there will be more twists in the story. But for now, please enjoy the chapter.

As you might have figured out, I'm shifting from Nancy to Frank and Joe in this chapter. Also, there will be another new character added into the story. Because he/she will be on the list of suspects, never believe that he/she is completely innocent until proven so. In other words, don't just believe that a person is not the culprit based on what they say or what they do. This will help you very much when trying to figure out who the bad guy is in this mystery.

That's all I'm going to say for now. Read, enjoy, and please review!

Chapter Three

Il y a dix ans…

Ten Years Ago…

Frank Hardy yawned as he looked at his watch. He then turned to Joe, who was sitting next to him in the passenger's seat. "Joe, did you finish reciting yet?" he asked.

"I need to make this perfect," said Joe. "Besides, I don't want her to be mad at me for no reason. I didn't even say that I wanted a new girlfriend. I just said I wanted a friend that's a girl to talk to." Joe then turned around and sighed. "Women are always like this; they never look at a guy's side of the story."

Frank snickered. "And you look from a girl's perspective, also? I doubt that."

Joe then took the bouquet of flowers that he had bought from the nearby store. He looked at the assortment of flowers. There were pink ones and yellow ones arranged in perfect symmetry. There were also small, white flowers that occasionally went in between a pink flower and the yellow flower. However, the flower that was at the center of attention was at the center of the flowers. The largest flower was the red rose that was in the middle of the bouquet as if wanting all the attention from those who held it.

Joe sat there for a few minutes smelling the flowers and observing their beauty. Then, he suddenly remembered the even that happened long ago…

Iola Norton wasn't the one whom he first had a crush on. It was another girl, named Diana Windham. Diana was in his class when he was in Bayport Elementary School and used to sit by him. For the first three years of grade school, the two were best friends. They played together and ate lunch together every school day. Because of that, some of his friends called them a couple and teased them quite a bit.

Diana and Joe never minded, though. They used to discuss what they wanted to be when they were all grown up. Diana said she wanted to be a schoolteacher, and Joe said he wanted to be a detective.

"Detective?" Diana asked one day when they were in first grade. "Why do you want to be that? Isn't it dangerous?"

Joe smiled. "Sure, it might be. But I like busting criminals and catching bad guys, just like Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. I don't have any of the powers or gadgets that they have, but I have my willpower and brains. I don't need superpowers or cool machines to catch crimes. I'll use my head and skill to put the bad guys in jail."

Diana sat there without a word. Joe looked at her to see if she was surprised. But she wasn't. She was smiling.

"You're going to be a great detective, Joe," she said. "And I'll try my hardest to become a schoolteacher."

Joe smiled. He then thought of something. "Say, let's make a promise," he said. "I'll try my hardest and will be a detective. And you should try your hardest to become a schoolteacher. By the time we are adults, we should see which of us kept our promise. How does that sound?"

The brown-haired girl looked at Joe in surprise, but she nodded with an even broader smile. "Promise!" she said. "And let's make that someday today ten years later!"

Joe nodded. "Okay!"

But Joe never talked to her again since when they were in third grade. When May came, Diana suddenly moved away. She never told him where. She never even told him why. All she did was tell him that she was moving away and that she always liked him.

"But where are you going?" asked Joe. "Why are you leaving so soon?"

Diana seemed to be trying hard not to cry. And so was Joe. "I…I'm sorry, Joe. I can't say much on the phone…"

"But what about the promises?" asked Joe. By now, he was shouting. Frank and Mrs. Hardy came into the room concerned, but Joe didn't care. He kept shouting at the phone. "Please tell me, Diana! I like you! Please don't hang up!"

"I…I must go now, Joe," said Diana. She couldn't help herself anymore, and she burst into tears. "Goodbye, Joe. Take care."

That was the last thing Joe heard from Diana.

Joe cried for a few days after the sudden farewell from the girl whom he liked very much. He never thought she would leave without a proper explanation.

He and Iola were then in the same class the following school year. At first, Joe never thought she was very interesting. She was cuter than Diana, but he didn't get to talk to her as much. He also thought she was just a normal kid in the school.

But when the talent show came, Joe was quite surprised to hear that Iola was going to be in it. When her turn came, Iola went up to the stage with a short pink dress and a microphone. She then started singing a song of her favorite singer. Joe was very surprised to hear her voice. It was so charming he immediately thought that she was special.

When the show was over, Joe went to see Iola. As he and Iola met, the girl smiled and asked, "Did you like my singing?"

Joe blushed and said, "Yeah. That was really nice. Um… What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Iola seemed surprised at first, but she then giggled. "Of course I want to be a singer, silly!" she said. "I want to be the world's most famous singer that travels across the world singing and letting the world hear my voice. That's my dream."

Joe suddenly snapped out of his flashback when Frank shook his shoulder. "Joe, are you still there? Come back to earth, okay?"

Joe shook his head to clear his mind, then nodded. "I should get going." With that, he exited the car.

Frank watched as Joe went to ring the doorbell and smiled. "Go get her, bro!" he muttered as he saw the door open.

"Oh, Joe, it's you," said Iola as she found out who the visitor was. "What do you want?"

Joe smiled. "It's just…" He then took the bouquet from behind him. "Here. I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to say what I said."

Iola looked at the bouquet, and then at Joe. She smiled. "Wow, thanks. That's a nice bouquet." Taking the flowers from Joe's hand, she put them into the vase that she placed on the piano. "Do you want to come in? I was planning to bring it to you, but I guess you can have it now." She then noticed Frank that was in the car. Smiling, she waved for Frank to come in.

When the two brothers were in the house, Iola closed the door and said, "Go to my kitchen," she said. "I'll get some water for these flowers."

The boys went to the kitchen, and they were surprised to find a pie in the middle of the dining table. "Iola," Joe called. "Is this…"

Iola came into the room with the vase of flowers and smiled. "Yup, I was baking that for you. I was planning to bring that to your house, but I guess it's okay as long as you two eat them. Here, sit down." She pointed to the chairs. "And I'll get some drinks for you. What do you want?"

"Lemonade," answered Joe.

"I'll have some iced tea," said Frank. "If you have it, that is."

"Of course," said Iola, heading towards the refrigerator. "My mom loves tea."

"By the way, where's your brother?" asked Frank.

Iola looked at the clock. "I think he'll be back soon. He went fishing, so I think he'll be back soon."

The two boys then ate their slices of pie. To Joe's delight, it was apple pie, which was his favorite. After the two finished eating, Iola asked, "Are you two really going to France, then?"

Frank and Joe nodded. Frank said, "We've been invited to go on a TV talk show featuring crime solvers from around the world, including the famous detective Clement Charlock."

"I've heard the name before," said Iola. "Isn't he the one who solved the infamous 'Black Mansion Murders'? I read that he found the way the killer could have escaped from a perfectly sealed room without a single guard witnessing his escape. I think he's the most amazing detective ever!"

Joe grinned. "If you want, I can get an autograph from him for you."

"It's okay," said Iola. "I can go see him myself."

Joe seemed surprised. "What do you mean? Are you saying that you're going to fly to France just to see him?"

Iola chuckled. "Of course not! I'm going to be in France for two weeks staying in my friend's house. Because she just moved to France, she needs to have some people to talk over, so she invited me. I'm planning to have as much fun as possible while I'm there!"

Frank seemed surprised. "Wow, so you're going to be in France, too? Can you speak French?"

Iola answered, "A little. I took French for three years, so I think I can understand most of what they'll be saying. Besides, those French people will be able to speak English, anyway. I'll just ask them if they know English before I go using my funnily-accented French."

"That's quite a coincidence," mused Frank. "There must be something special between you two."

"Stop teasing, Frank," Joe said, blushing slightly.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Iola stood up and went to the door. "I'm guessing it's Chet," she said as she stood up.

"I'll go with you," said Joe.

But as Iola opened the door, she found that it wasn't. A tall man who seemed to be in his forties stood there. He had a hard expression on his face, and he seemed to glare at everything he saw.

"Whoa, who is this guy?" thought Joe, but he immediately saw that he wasn't a bad person when the man smiled as soon as he saw Iola.

"Hello, my little pudding!" he said as he hugged the girl.

Giggling, Iola pushed him away and said, "Stop it, Uncle Serge! I'm not seven anymore. I'm seventeen now!"

The man whom Iola called Uncle Serge laughed out loud. "Time sure passes quickly, doesn't it? Why, the last time I saw you, you were just a little girl with extraordinary eyes that seemed to glitter all day!"

Iola stopped giggling and introduced Joe to Uncle Serge. "This is my boyfriend," she said. And to Joe, she said, "This is Uncle Serge. Well, he's not exactly my uncle, but he and my father were close friends ever since they got into the same college. I called him Uncle Serge since the time I could talk!"

The man looked at Joe with smiling eyes. "So this is the guy you were talking about in almost every letter that you sent me, then? Well, he sure looks like me when I was little," he said.

"Oh, and I forgot to mention," added Iola. "Uncle Serge's name is Serge Beauchamp. He owns a big pastry shop called Croissant Pâtisserie in Paris. In fact, I'm about to visit there to order some of his magnificent desserts."

"But why are you here in the US?" asked Joe.

"I was just coming to discuss about making a chain store here in United States. I was just coming back to my hotel when I realized that my pud—I mean, Iola's—house was in the same direction. So I thought of visiting here." He then turned to Iola. "And I've heard that you're coming to France, right?"

Iola nodded. "I'm going to stay there for a couple of weeks. In fact, Frank—Joe's brother—and Joe are going to come, too."

"That's very nice," said Mr. Beauchamp. "Oh, I have to go now. See you in France!"

As the taxi in which the man came in drove away, Iola turned to Joe and asked, "So you aren't going to France to make new girlfriends?"

Postscript: Did you enjoy the chapter? As I said before, don't just believe that Joe and Iola are okay now, since I'm going to add a handful of twists in this story to make it more of a romantic story.

P.S. I know that the ending of each chapter is not much of a cliffhanger. The reason I can't add many cliffhangers is because I'm shifting viewpoint between Nancy and the Hardys many times. But I'm glad to say that once they are in Paris, there will be many, many thrilling cliffhangers for you to enjoy. Some involve physical danger while others involve twists in relationship... You'll just have to wait and see:-)

P.P.S. I've finally decided what I should write for the next story. As you might have known, my previous story focused on mystery. This story will focus on romance. And the next story...action, of course! The next story will be filled with breath-taking actions, but you won't know what it'll be about till the last chapter of this story. But be sure to keep reviewing and telling me what you think about this story so far. Who knows? I might add a character, include more romance, or even change some parts in the plot!