Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys or any of the book characters.
Thank you: Wendylouwho10 who read over the story for me and made content suggestions, helped with the flow, and provided some spelling/grammar corrections. A big help, as always! Typos are mine and I discover them all the time. :-)
Rating/Setting: Rating is T. Setting is AU.
Author's Notes: Next couple of chapters will be more Frank and Vanessa focused as they work to find the mole that set Joe up. As for the technical information in this and other chapters, please forgive any errors. I did my best. And Barb, I just had to laugh at your review... I did forget to add pneumonia in there! Maybe next story! After all, got to leave a few things for future stories. Thanks for the laugh!
Chapter Twenty-Six
Vanessa and Frank stood shoulder to shoulder in Joe's SICU room. At her muffled sob, he put an arm around her. "You don't have to hold it in, Van," he whispered to her as she laid her head against his shoulder.
She sniffed. "It's just that Iola couldn't take this and I don't want him to think that I can't handle it."
"Trust me, mom's eyes were bloodshot when she came out and we consider her a tough cookie." Frank looked at his brother. "It's not crying over the injuries that's a problem. The question is, can you live with the fact that this could happen again?" He looked down at her as she answered.
"I can. None of us want it to happen, but yes. I can live with it."
He squeezed her shoulder. "Then that's all that matters." Frank let his arm fall and then walked to his brother's bedside, an occurrence that had happened with frightening regularity over the last two years. He took in the vivid mark that slashed across Joe's face, barely missing his eye and nose. That would be the blow that chipped his tooth, Frank thought. The clear tubing of the oxygen looped over his ears and under his nose. Frank was indeed thankful that Joe wasn't on a ventilator. That was a sight he could go the rest of his life without seeing again. His eyes drifted down to Joe's shoulders which were also bruised and swollen. Were his shoulders dislocated? He frowned at the thought. I'll have to ask the doctor about that. The bruising and swelling aren't as prevalent on his forearm and wrists… Frank grew angry at the thought that his brother might have been hung up like a piece of meat. Hanging by his wrists would explain the shoulder swelling and the lack of bruising on his forearms. The bandages around Joe's wrists confirmed his thoughts as whatever he was restrained with had cut into his skin as he hung. Frank clenched his fists. He didn't realize his agitation was so obvious until Vanessa spoke.
"Frank? What is it?"
"The SOBs hung him by his wrists. It explains some of his injuries." He went on to point out what he noticed.
Vanessa didn't speak but he could see that she was just as troubled by it as he was. Frank moved back to the foot of the bed and pulled the blanket off of Joe's raised leg. The air cast covered most the bruising and swelling but that wasn't what Frank was looking for. He looked at the bottom of Joe's foot but it was bandaged. Staples, he thought. They loaded my brother with staples. How much pain did you endure, little brother? In a flash of anger, he was glad that one of Joe's abusers was dead. It wasn't a thought he was proud of, but he'd sleep better knowing that man wasn't out torturing anyone else. Frank closed his eyes. This was the second person whose death didn't bother him. The first had been Marilyn Laird and he hadn't changed his mind about her either. Frank covered Joe's leg up gently, smoothed the blanket, and then turned to face his brother.
"You get well, Joe. I'll be back and I hope that I'll be able to tell you that we caught the person that set this up. We won't stop until we find them. Promise." Frank looked at the heart monitor for some sign of cognizance, but there wasn't any. But the promise still held true.
He had forgotten Vanessa was there until he heard her say. "That goes for me too, Joe. We'll both be back. Promise." She turned a watery smile to Frank and said, "Ready to go catch a rat?"
His first genuine smile since the previous night came to his face. "Let's go."
.**********.
After speaking briefly to his parents, Frank borrowed the keys to the SUV and retrieved his tablet and Vanessa's laptop. Returning to the dreaded conference room, they closed the door and got to work.
As Frank sat down beside Vanessa, he asked, "Can you get me a split screen showing the outside station footage of Joe with the pickpocket and the traffic cam showing Jules and Joe at the stoplight."
"Sure can, let me just connect to ORT's VPN (virtual private network) and I'll pull it right up." As Vanessa typed, she asked, "So are you going to tell me what you're thinking or do I have to guess?"
Frank was looking at his own tablet and doing searches for 'Alex Fortune.' He didn't look away from his screen as he said, "I won't have to say anything if what I'm thinking is true in regards to the footage. However, right now I'm doing searches on various engines to determine what webpages come up when you search for Alex Fortune. According to the caller, Joe's picture showed up on these pages for at least a day or two."
Vanessa glanced away from her computer as it made its final connections. "And if that's true, we can track the code to see when and where the changes were made. Perfect," she said with a smile. Then her computer beeped and she looked back to her screen. "Okay, I'm pulling up the footage now into a split screen. Where do you want them to start?"
As he sat his tablet down, Frank said, "Both systems are coded to the atomic clock. I'd like to start them both from ten seconds before Joe crosses the street."
A few key strokes later, Vanessa says, "Done," and they both watch the unfolding scene in front of them.
Joe crosses the street toward the station. You can see the pickpocket hovering in the shadows at the far side of the station. As Joe goes up the steps holding his stomach, you see the pickpocket lurch forward like a drunk. As the 'drunk' makes the wallet switch, Frank presses the pause button for both.
"There," he says triumphantly.
"What?" Vanessa asked as she continued to gaze at the screen. "I don't- Oh!" She turned to Frank and then back to the screen. There on one screen was Joe having his wallet switched and frozen on the other was Jules Tipton watching from the other side of the street.
"Can you zoom in on his face?"
"He's close enough that it should be pretty clear," Vanessa said as she typed. Using the cursor she selected Jules face and hit enter. The picture enlarged 4x and a smile could be seen on his face. Vanessa looked to Frank. "He could just be smiling about the meal they had."
Frank didn't respond but requested that she return to normal magnification and continue the playback. As they watched, Jules waited for Joe to enter the station and then turned to walk back the way he had come. Vanessa hit the key to stop the playback.
"How did you know?" Vanessa asked.
"Jules didn't seem to know that Joe was feeling unwell when he went into the station, but I think it looks pretty obvious. He was helpful when I called previously, but now that Joe has been recovered and the word is out that there is mole, he's suddenly ready to come in and work." Frank glanced to Vanessa.
"As an administrator, he can go and alter the logs and no one will think to question him."
"No one but us," Frank responded.
Vanessa nodded and asked, "But why Joe?"
"I thought about that while waiting to see Joe and there's a couple of things that come to mind. Not things that should cause anyone to do what has been done to Joe, but they're the best I can come up with…." Frank's voice trailed off.
Vanessa sat patiently while Frank collected his thoughts.
"Jules had a younger brother that was murdered about five years ago. He and his brother weren't close and he gave the impression that his brother was always in the spotlight that he felt he deserved." Frank shrugged. "He made several comments to me asking about all the attention Joe gets. While it irritated me a little, I didn't think anything of it until tonight." Frank dropped his head into his hands.
"He tried to kill Joe because he was getting too much attention?" Vanessa asked in horror.
"I think that's part of it, but I don't think it's the primary reason."
Vanessa must have noticed his agitation because she continued her questioning. "But you suspect something."
"Yes." He paused. "I think Jules is hoping that I'll replace his younger brother and that he'll replace mine."
Gasping, Vanessa put her hand to her mouth. "That's just sick!"
"I know, but it might not be the case. It's just speculation on my part."
"Well, you've been spot on so far," Vanessa said. "It makes sense in a twisted way." She looked back to her screen. "So who do we tell and when?"
Frank pulled out his phone. "We tell Dad, Johnson, and Williams. Jules is on his way in and we have to make sure he doesn't alter anything."
Vanessa nodded and pulled back up the image of Jules watching Joe at the station. She shook her head and closed her laptop as Frank made the call to Agent Johnson.
.**********.
Frank looked nervously at his watch. Time was ticking away and Agent Johnson hadn't arrived yet. He ran his hand through his hair as he paced the room. "Where is he?" Frank asked rhetorically and was surprised when he received an answer.
"Right here," Johnson said as he walked in with Fenton right behind him.
Fenton closed the door behind them.
"These are serious allegations you're making, Frank," Agent Johnson said as he took a seat.
"He's not the only one making them," Vanessa added. "Based on what we've found, I believe him."
"Show me the video," Johnson replied. He watched the video and then said, "The station isn't that close to the road. He might not have seen the actual switch, but it is suspicious."
"He also said that Joe was feeling fine, but everything on the video points to Joe not feeling fine," Frank said.
"Perhaps Joe hid it well." Johnson raised his hand to forestall any objections. "I need proof. Legitimate proof that we can show the judge. Not maybes and feelings about younger brothers."
Frank frowned, "But-"
"Evidence, Frank. I need hard evidence. What can you show me?"
"Nothing right now," Vanessa responded as she watched Frank's jaw twitch. "But to get the evidence we need, we need to be able to record everything Jules does on his ORT computer."
Johnson laughed, "You really think after all he's done to hide his tracks that he'll use his work computer now?"
"If he's desperate he will. He also won't want to do anything on a personal computer that can be traced to him," Frank responded.
Fenton, who had been quiet to this point said, "Frank believes that he can get Jules to tip his hand."
"How?"
"After we get the keylogger on his computer it will record all his keystrokes. Then I'll tell him exactly what we were told about the mole and then I'll tell him what Vanessa and I have already figured out," Frank responded.
"But anything he does then will just look like he's trying to find the mole himself. How will that tip us off to anything," Johnson said with a frown.
"That won't but when we say that we're going to look for deleted files to find the pickpocket-" Frank started.
"Jules will go in to do a complete erasure of the files that he deleted," Vanessa finished.
"Won't he see that you've already recovered the files?"
"Frank and Vanessa plan to go in with their upgraded access and remove the signs of their search. Hopefully, he won't be looking at access logs as he'll think they haven't found them yet," Fenton answered. "From what I've been told, only a few agents know the pickpocket's real name and are doing a search for him."
Johnson nodded. "That's correct. We felt that it wasn't in the best interest of the search to have it broadcast that we have a mole. We're hoping that the pickpocket can give us some clues to the mole's identity." He paused. "Your idea might work."
"Let us try," Frank pleaded as he put both hands on the table and leaned forward. "He knows that once we start looking we'll find it. He won't have time to go anywhere else, he'll have to do it from his computer."
Johnson sat quietly for a few seconds. "Put the program on his computer, Ms. Bender. I'm sure that you've already hacked in that far." He saw her blush and continued, "He'll be arriving at work soon and it needs to upload before he gets there." He stood. "I hope you're wrong."
"I wish was, but I'm not," Frank stated carefully. "Vanessa and I will head in to ORT but Vanessa will stay in the parking garage with the vehicle and will monitor the keylogger from there. She can alert us if he goes into the databases to erase his tracks."
"I'll wait for your call," Johnson said and then turned to Fenton, "What will be your part?"
"I'm going to stay here with my wife and son." Fenton gave a proud, but grim smile in Frank's direction, "I think this investigation is in good hands." He gave a glance to Vanessa who nodded back. "I'll join the search for Kincaid when I feel comfortable leaving Joe and Laura here."
"You're concerned about his safety?" Johnson asked and before Fenton could respond, he answered his own question. "Of course you are. Joe may have information about who set him up."
Fenton nodded.
"Would you like for me to send in some agents to assist?"
"Since we aren't 100% sure that Jules is the mole, the answer is no. I plan on being here most of the time with Laura, but if I leave…." Fenton responded.
"Call and it'll be handled by my top agents," Johnson said as he moved to the door.
"Thank you." Fenton watched the ORT agent leave and then turned to his son and Vanessa. "Call me if you have news."
"Of course, dad." Frank moved around the table to give his dad a hug. "And you call me if you have any news."
"I will, son," Fenton said with emotion and then broke from the embrace to leave the room.
Frank looked at the door his father had left open.
"Are you ready?" Vanessa asked softly.
"Let's go find our mole," Frank said and walked out the door of the conference room; his stride much like that of his father.