Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys or any of the canon book characters, and am making no monies from this story. Any Original Characters belong to the author(s).

This story was originally written in the early 2000s. There are many technological differences from today's world.

Co-written with RokiaHDA, who wrote back then under the name of Aspen.

Ides of August

By EvergreenDreamweaver and RokiaHDA

Chapter 10

Fenton and Laura strolled along the sidewalk towards the Stateline police station, hand in hand. It's enjoyable to be able to combine business and pleasure, the detective admitted to himself, letting his thoughts roam. Laura's fun to be with – always – and she's got a good head on her shoulders as far as cases go, too….

He continued to ponder as they walked along, trying to find a way to tie everything together. How did the murder, the poisonings, and the thefts correlate? Or did they? Could it be that they were all just coincidences? Nothing seemed to fit together – it was all too chaotic! The murder might possibly go with one or the other – but nothing tied the poisonings and the thefts, they were simply too – different!

"What do you think you'll find out from the police?" Laura asked him, a welcome interruption to his troubled thoughts.

"I'm just hoping to get more information," he replied. "I read through that list Lieutenant Hunt gave me last night, but I haven't figured out any connection yet. They're all different sorts of places – and when I tried to look them up on the Web last night, I hit a roadblock."

But when they walked into the police station, it was to a scene of utter chaos. People seemed to be hurrying all over, on various errands, all with frowns of concentration or consternation on their faces. Telephones were ringing constantly. The Hardys went to the front desk, and found someone different manning it, naturally enough, since the shifts would have changed.

"Excuse me," Fenton addressed the sergeant, a good-looking man with dark hair and large dark eyes, whose name badge read 'Jesse Galvanos.' "Is Lieutenant Hunt in, by any chance? And if so, could we speak to him?"

"Sorry," Sergeant Galvanos shook his head. "We're really busy here this morning, dealing with the Caesars Palace murder, and Lieutenant Hunt's gone to Reno, to get the medical examiner's findings from the autopsy." The sergeant glanced at his wristwatch. "He should be back pretty soon, though."

"Reno?" Laura asked curiously.

"Yes, ma'am, Reno. That's where the closest crime-scene unit is based," the sergeant informed her courteously. But he looked inquiring. "Why do you want to know – and what do you know about all this?"

Fenton explained about their having been aboard the Royal Tahoe the day before, and that he had talked to the Lieutenant the previous evening and gotten information from him; and that he had come by in hopes of getting more. He produced the list Hunt had given him, and showed it to the sergeant.

Galvanos read the list and nodded. "I remember these; I took one of the reports myself," he said. "I'll give you what I can, but there's not too much more available, I'm afraid."

"What I really need to know," Fenton told him, "is whether any of these places have anything in common with any of the others!"

To the detective's surprise, Galvanos nodded again, and grinned. "I can tell you that right now: yes, they do!" he said. "They're all owned by Cameron Jacobs, a local bigwig in the area. And he happens to own the Royal Tahoe, too."

"Now that's interesting!" Fenton said, meaning it. He leaned over the partition, fixing Jesse Galvanos with his best warm, interested, tell-me-all-you-know expression. "Do you think someone might have a grudge against Jacobs? A vendetta?"

The sergeant shook his head. "I'd be very surprised if anyone did, although I admit it looks suspicious," he said. "Sure, people with Jacobs' kind of money can hold grudges, but he's one of the more upstanding casino owners in the community – and from what I've heard, he's a good employer. At any rate, he has a very low turnover rate among his employees."

Hmmm…still, someone may be out to ruin Jacobs' business…. Fenton mused to himself. Business rivals! "Do you have any idea how much business Jacobs has lost due to the food poisoning incidents?" he asked.

"No, sir; I don't keep track of things like that – sorry," Galvanos apologized. "The Lieutenant probably knows. He keeps track of all kinds of things that I don't know."

"I think it would be very difficult to accomplish," Laura observed. "I don't see how one person could get to the food in so many places."

"You're right, ma'am; I don't see how either," the sergeant agreed.

"Well, perhaps I can talk to Mr. Jacobs," Fenton said, more to himself than to either Laura or Galvanos. "Thanks for your time, Sergeant. If you would, just tell Lieutenant Hunt that I stopped by…thanks." He and Laura departed.

Once more out on the sidewalk, they wandered somewhat desultorily down the street. Fenton clasped his wife's fingers, but with his free hand he was rubbing the back of his neck and thinking hard. Maybe Laura's right about it not being one person…maybe it's more than one person….Business rivals…. I really need to ask Jacobs about it. He lifted his head, from where he had been staring at the pavement, and met Laura's encouraging gaze.

"Want to take a little detour to the Grand Tahoe Resort?" he asked, grinning.

#####

Ow – ow – ow! Ooooh, my head! Frank lay sprawled on the sidewalk, holding his head and blinking dazedly in the bright sunlight. He rubbed at the sorest spot, and winced. Somehow, he'd managed to not land on his camcorder – again. I'm lucky I didn't knock myself out, falling like I did – it blasted well hurts, though!

A sudden flurry of footsteps announced the arrival of friendly forces, and Frank found himself surrounded.

"Frank!" Joe and Megan were both crouching beside him, and Vanessa was hovering over Joe's shoulder. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

"I'm fine – I'm fine," Frank tried to reassure them. "I've got a headache the size of China, but I'll live." He sat up, letting Joe aid him, grateful for his brother's solid shoulder to lean against for a moment or two.

"Did that loony on the motorbike actually try to run you down?" Joe growled, gazing into the distance, after the long-gone assailant. He hit his clenched fist into his palm again. "That was just plain malicious! Why would someone try to run over you – they didn't even try for the camera, this time, did they?"

"No," Frank responded tiredly. "The guy came out of nowhere. If I hadn't turned around when I did, he'd have sent me flying."

"Do you think it was the same man who tried to hurt you yesterday, Frank?" Megan's large eyes filled with concern as she held her boyfriend's arm.

Frank shrugged. "I don't know, baby. Maybe it was just a local having fun with a tourist. Maybe it was the same guy. I was too busy trying to get out of the way to tell."

Joe was definitely not happy, and his mood showed clearly in the glint in his blue eyes. "I'm gonna find that guy and pound him!" he vowed, scowling.

Vanessa chuckled. "You'd better keep that temper in check, boy, or you'll get us all in trouble!" she warned. "This isn't Bayport, remember."

They helped Frank to his feet. He winced at the change in position, and swayed, but steadied after a moment. His hand sought out the knot rising on the back of his head, touching it gingerly.

"Let's take a look at that…" Joe's fingers were gentle on the swelling. "Do you want to go back to the hotel and lie down?" he asked.

"No!" Frank denied firmly. "I'm fine; it's just a bump! But—" he paused, reflecting. "—but maybe riding bikes isn't such a hot idea right now. I'm sorry, baby…tomorrow, maybe?" he turned to Megan, his eyes asking forgiveness.

"Tomorrow would be fine," she assured him, and Joe and Vanessa concurred. Riding bikes wasn't a good idea if Frank's head was hurting. They'd find something else to do, instead.

"How would you feel about fishing?" Vanessa inquired, gesturing towards the lake. "There are places where you can rent tackle and bait – ever fished, Meggie?" she asked her friend.

"Nooooo…" Megan sounded a little dubious, but she was willing to try anything once. "Sure, that would be fine. Frank, what do you think?"

He smiled. "I think my head would feel much better if I went fishing."

Joe made a quick run back to Caesars, to leave a message telling of their altered plans for Laura and Fenton, while Frank found a shady spot to sit and recover a bit more; then the teens made their way to one of the nearby fishing docks. While Joe and Vanessa arranged for the renting of poles and such, Frank and Megan surveyed the neighboring jet-ski rental outfit.

"That looks like a lot of fun," Frank observed.

"I remember you said you'd like to do it, yesterday," Megan said, just as Joe and Vanessa arrived. Joe saw where they were looking, and his face lit up.

"We have to try that out, it would be a blast!" he exclaimed.

Vanessa broke into peals of laughter. "Joe, we have so many different things we want to do, we'll have to stay ten extra days, just to get them all done!"

He grinned exuberantly at her. "Sounds okay to me!"

They found spots on the fishing dock, and began the process of baiting their hooks and actually preparing to fish. Megan didn't mind the worms, as such, but squeezed her eyes shut when Frank demonstrated putting it on the hook.

"You can't tell me it doesn't hurt it!" she protested, but once the worm was impaled and cast into the water, she was too busy concentrating on putting it where she wanted it, to worry much about the worm's sensibilities.

Vanessa and Joe were racing to see who could get a rod baited fastest, and Joe wasn't above cheating to win. "Van-esssssssaaaaaa…." Joe seized an extra worm, and held it out, tantalizingly. "Nice, squirmy, slippery wormy…how would it feel, slithering down your shirt…hmmm?" he teased, taking a step or two towards his girlfriend, who responded with strident shrieks and a fairly-hard slap at his hand, which caused Joe to drop the worm.

'Kiss-and-make-up' took some time, and indeed, for a while it looked as if Joe and Vanessa were more interested in making up than fishing. But eventually they returned to the business at hand.

Mid-morning of a sunny day wasn't the best time to catch fish, but it made for a pleasant, relaxing time for all four of them. After a bit, Frank set down his fishing rod, and put an arm about Megan, ostensibly guiding her endeavors, but in actuality, merely enjoying having his arms around her. She put her head against his shoulder and felt him drop a kiss on her hair.

"Mmmm….nice," she murmured. Then, suddenly, "Hey! What…?"

"You've got a bite!" Frank exclaimed, and tightened his hands over hers on the rod. "You've got a fish on, Megan!"

At almost the same time, Joe yelped with excitement; he, too had one on the line. With Frank aiding Megan and Vanessa encouraging Joe, both couples landed their fish successfully…and very nice-sized they were, too.

"Now what?" Megan demanded, as the fish flapped and flopped on the ends of the lines. "What do we DO with them?"

"Well, if we're going to eat them, we have to gut and clean them—" Joe began, teasingly holding his fish close to Megan, so that water droplets spattered her, and she was smacked with its tail.

"Ack, get it away from me!" she sputtered. "Gut and clean them? No, thank you very much."

"My mama didn't raise no fish-cleaners," Vanessa drawled. "I vote for catch-and-release, guys."

"We don't have any place to cook them anyhow," Frank admitted regretfully. "But at least we caught them!" He was grinning with delight, his headache miraculously gone.

With the fish duly returned to the water, the teens turned in their fishing tackle and decided to head for the hotel, to get cleaned up before meeting Laura and Fenton for lunch.

"Do some more filming, Frank!" Joe called, and swung into a handstand on the dock. Frank obligingly turned on the camcorder and filmed Joe's attempts to walk on his hands, flinching a bit when he teetered perilously close to the edge of the wharf.

"Frank, let me film you," Megan requested, holding out her hands. Embarrassed but acquiescent, he handed her the camera and dropped into a karate stance. He performed a few katas, finishing up by making ferocious faces at the camera lens, to the accompaniment of Megan's giggles. Then he walked closer and closer, slowly, until he reached his girlfriend, and bent down to kiss her. Megan attempted to film the sequence, but eventually was forced to 'fade to black.'

When she finally came up for air, she refused to relinquish the camera, this time turning it on Joe and Vanessa, who had taken the opportunity for an up-close-and-personal moment of their own. Silently, the little redhead let the camcorder run, preserving the tender scene: Joe with his arms tightly encircling Vanessa, her head tilted to rest against his, and his lips touching her forehead.

As she turned away from Joe and Vanessa, Megan's eyes lighted up, for she spotted a jet-ski rapidly approaching the dock. She focused the camcorder on the incoming vehicle, and filmed its noisy arrival, starting to step back as a wave of water splashed up.

Before any of them could move, the man aboard the jet ski reached out, grabbed Megan's foot, and pulled hard, yanking her off balance. She screamed involuntarily, as she went flying backwards, her body arcing out over the water.