J.M.J.
Author's note: Thanks for continuing to read! Thanks especially to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter: MargaretA66, Candylou, max2013, DusktoDawn21, ErinJordan, angelicalkiss, Bkworm4life4, and BMSH! As for your questions, BMSH, I haven't thought about it as much as I could have. An SUV with a third row of seats would make sense. It's definitely the most comfortable way to transport five adults. On the other hand, I can't quite picture Fenton driving an SUV, so I'm going to go with a four-door sedan and Frank, Joe, and Aunt Gertrude just have to squeeze in the back. In that situation, Frank and Joe are definitely going to get the window seats because, in my experience as a short person, the shortest person always gets stuck with the middle seat. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter XVIII
The Search
Frank rushed to the window of Lisa's room and looked out. "She must have climbed down," he said. "There's a porch roof right under her window."
Dominic Prito nodded grimly. "I was afraid she'd try something like this sooner or later. She's probably gone to meet those people."
"And now that we tipped them off, we have no way of finding out where they are," Joe added. "At least she left that jewel box behind. We can still find out what's in there that she doesn't want the rest of us to see."
"Let me see that." Dominic took the box out of Frank's hands and began pulling at the lid.
"We might want to…" Frank began to warn him, but before he could finish the sentence, Dominic had pulled the flimsy lid off.
Everyone gathered around to try to see what was inside. There was no jewelry, but instead a small notebook. Dominic started to pick it up, but Fenton stopped him.
"That notebook is bound to be a clue to this School of Thought group," he said. "Otherwise, there would be no reason for that man whom the girls saw to have the key in his possession."
"He might not have, exactly," Frank pointed out. "Iola says it fell out of the car. If Lisa has ever gone anywhere with those people, she might have just accidentally left the key in the car."
"Either way, let's do this the right way," Fenton insisted. "Let's dust this notebook for fingerprints before anyone touches it."
Fenton kept a fingerprint kit in his car, so it didn't take long to dust the book for prints. He thought that all the ones he found probably belonged to the same person, probably Lisa herself, which was no big discovery. Even so, he would send the prints to the police for analysis. Then they looked in the notebook.
"It looks like some kind of code or something," Tony said as he peered over Fenton's shoulder.
"It is," Fenton agreed. "It's a codebook. It explains how to decipher several codes as well as what different code words mean. It's not all that unusual for a cult to use codes."
"Can it tell you how to find Lisa?" Maria asked.
"Not directly, but there might be some clues in here," Fenton said. "She can't have gone too far, though. She doesn't have her phone, right? That means she couldn't call anyone, and she probably wouldn't dare to ask one of the neighbors to borrow theirs, so she's most likely on foot. We could probably catch up with her if we spread out."
"You mean we can help, too?" Joe asked eagerly.
"You might as well," Fenton agreed reluctantly. "We need as many eyes as we can get. I'll call the police, too. You kids keep together. If you see Lisa with anyone else, don't try to talk to them. Just keep them in sight and call for help."
"Right!" Frank, Joe, and Tony all agreed at the same time.
"What about Katherine and me?" Maria asked.
"You two should stay here, in case Lisa happens to come back," Fenton instructed the two younger girls. "If she does, call us right away."
The group split up quickly. Fenton went by himself in the Hardys' car, while Dominic and Gertrude went in one of the Pritos' cars and Laura and Teresa went in the other one. The boys set out on foot. Before long, a couple of police cars had already joined in the search and most of the neighbors had been alerted to keep an eye out.
Even so, several hours elapsed and there was no sign of Lisa. It was obvious by now that Lisa had gotten out of the neighborhood, either on foot or by finding a phone and calling someone from School of Thought. Everyone was anxious and dismal when they met again at the Pritos' house.
"We'll get an Amber Alert out on her," Captain Olaf told the Pritos. He was the senior officer who had responded to the call. "Every officer in the city and the surrounding area will be on the lookout for her."
"Thanks," Dominic said. "What are the chances of finding her again?"
"It's hard to say," Olaf replied. "The first twenty-four hours of a missing minor case are critical. If we don't find her in that amount of time, there isn't…"
"We'll keep looking," Fenton interrupted before Olaf could finish giving the dismal fact that few missing children are found more than twenty-four hours after they first go missing. "We'll spread the search perimeter out, right, Olaf?"
"Oh, right," Olaf agreed.
"Dad," Frank spoke up, "what about Oscar Smuff?"
Fenton raised an eyebrow. "What about him?"
"He was following that guy who looks he's part of School of Thought. As unlikely as it sounds, he might know something."
Fenton rubbed his chin. "You could be right. Why don't you boys pay him a call? If he won't tell you anything, then we can send the police."
Joe frowned as his father and the police officer left the house to continue the search. "In other words, Dad just wants to send us off on some non-dangerous mission."
"One that could provide the solution to the whole mystery," Frank pointed out.
Joe scoffed. "The day Oscar Smuff solves a mystery will be the day I join the Mob."
"Come on, guys," Tony said. "Let's stop wasting time. At least your dad's letting us do something."
"There is that," Joe admitted.
It didn't take long for the boys to reach Oscar Smuff's apartment in one of the more rundown parts of town. It was on the second floor and the stairs creaked as the boys climbed up them. One of the numbers had fallen off Smuff's door so it misidentified his apartment as "3" instead of "23".
"I guess being a wannabe detective doesn't pay very well," Joe commented as he knocked on the door.
"Doesn't say a lot for us," Frank pointed out.
Joe was about to retort when Smuff opened the door and eyed the three boys.
"What do you kids want?" he asked.
"We have some questions," Frank replied. "You remember that guy you were tailing yesterday?"
"Of course, I do," Smuff said. "I wouldn't have lost him if it hadn't been for those girls."
Joe rolled his eyes and even Frank and Tony couldn't help thinking that Smuff was severely overestimating his own abilities. But none of them commented on this.
"Yeah, well, anyway," Frank said, "we think he is connected to a missing girl. We'd really like any information you have about him."
Smuff straightened himself up and puffed out his chest. "Well, well, the Hardy boys coming for my help on a mystery. I'm glad you've finally seen the light. Sure, I can tell you all about that guy. Come on in."
He opened the door wider, and the three boys stepped inside. It was a mess. There were piles of dirty clothes and junk on the floor, and food wrappers and dirty dishes on the couch. There was also an armchair that was free of junk, but there were several uninviting stains on it.
"Sit down and make yourselves at home," Smuff invited them.
"Uh, I don't think we can stay that long," Tony said, eying all the junk. "It's my sister who's missing and we need to find her as soon as possible. What can you tell us about that guy?"
"Suit yourselves." Smuff shrugged. "Well, that guy. Where to begin? For starters, he's definitely up to something shady."
"And?" Joe asked.
"I saw him in the parking lot of Harper's Restaurant about a week ago," Smuff went on.
"Harper's?" Tony repeated, glancing at each of the Hardys. They all immediately made the connection to the keychain that Lisa's jewel box key had been on.
"Yeah," Smuff confirmed. "He was just standing around. Then he got in his car and drove off. I thought it looked fishy, so I followed him. He went to the Bayside Hotel and stayed there all night. I've been following him ever since, at least, until those girls burned me. He's been staying at the Bayside."
"That's helpful," Frank said. "What else have you learned about him?"
"Well, since Tuesday, he's been spending a lot of time in the afternoons and early mornings hanging around the neighborhood where those girls were yesterday. Otherwise, he just sort of drives around town or stays at his hotel."
"Do you know anything else about him? His name, maybe? Anyone he's met with?" Frank insisted.
"I'm still working on those details," Smuff said
Joe groaned. "I was afraid this would be a waste of time, even if I was the one who suggested it in the first place."
Smuff glared at him. "There's no need to take that attitude about it. I learned more about this guy than you could have."
"You might have a point," Joe conceded. "We might not have realized he was tailing Sally if you hadn't been tailing him and managed to get yourself spotted."
"Cool it, Joe," Frank warned him. "You're sure that's all you know about this guy? At least, the Bayside Hotel is a good clue."
"Hold on," Smuff said. "There is one more thing I just remembered. He went to Harper's another time. I think it was Friday. Yeah, the day before yesterday. He went inside that time and met with someone. It was a young woman. I only saw her from the back, but she had dark hair and a cane."
"A cane?" Tony repeated. "That's a good clue. There couldn't be too many young women around with canes."
"Did you hear what they were talking about?" Frank asked.
"Well, not exactly," Smuff admitted.
"I guess this wasn't a waste of time after all," Joe said. "I'll bet I know who that woman was and what they were talking about."
"I'm thinking the same thing," Frank agreed. "We'd better tell Dad. Thanks, Mr. Smuff. You've been a big help."
"Any time," Smuff replied, although from the bewildered look on his face, it was evident that he had no idea what the boys were talking about.
Tony didn't either. As soon as they were outside, he asked them, "How do you know who that woman was?"
"I guess we don't know," Joe replied, "but I believe it's Evangeline Moretti, a.k.a. Eva Moriare. We know she's young and has dark hair, and she's blind, so it would make sense that she'd be carrying a cane."
"Right," Frank agreed. "And Friday was the day before somebody took a shot at you, Sam, and Mario. What if Evangeline is in town and she's done like her father did and hired some Black Rose goons to help her eliminate some enemies?"
"But we know that guy couldn't have been the one who shot at Joe and the others," Tony pointed out. "He was following Sally at the exact same time. Besides, what does any of that have to do with Lisa?"
"As for the time discrepancy," Joe replied, "it could have just been another guy shooting at us. Black Rose probably has plenty of gunmen to choose from. The one Smuff was following could just be Evangeline's contact person. As for Lisa, it doesn't have anything to do with her, exactly, but I think Dad and Callie pretty well figured out what's going on there. They're using the whole cult thing to recruit kids into their organization."
"Oh, great," Tony groaned. "It was bad enough when my sister was just joining a weird cult. Now she's teaming up with a gang of hired assassins."
"We'll get her out, somehow," Frank promised.
The boys headed back to the Hardy house, which was closer than the Pritos'. They intended to call Fenton after they reached home to reduce the possibility of eavesdroppers. When they reached the Hardys' house, they saw a familiar yellow jalopy parked in the driveway. Chet and Iola were sitting on the porch, but they came hurrying to meet the others as soon as they saw them.
"We heard about what happened with Lisa," Chet explained. He was already out of breath from the short dash across the lawn.
"How did you hear about it?" Tony asked.
"Your mom called our mom to ask her to keep an eye out," Iola explained. "We hurried right over. Is there anything we can do?"
"Maybe," Frank replied. "Joe, you and Tony update them while I call Dad. If he doesn't have anything particular he wants us to do, we can work on some strategies of our own."
This didn't take long, and it was only a few minutes later that Frank was reporting what his dad had told him to the others.
"The police are going to search the Bayside and Harper's Restaurant, so Dad wants us to keep away from there. He says we can keep looking around town if we want, as long as we all stick together and we bring Mario with us. I don't think Dad wants him here alone any longer."
"We can take the Queen," Chet offered, referring to his rundown car.
"Uh, no offence, Chet, but Lisa will hear the Queen coming from a mile off and know it's us," Joe pointed out. "I think we'd better take a quieter car."
"I think so, too," Frank agreed. "We'll take our parents' other car. Dad said that was fine. It'll be too crowded for all of us, though."
"I can ride behind on my motorcycle," Joe suggested.
"So much for being quiet," Chet grumbled.
"Yeah, but my motorcycle doesn't have quite as distinctive a sound as the Queen," Joe insisted.
"Let's just go," Tony urged them as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other in impatience.
Mario was in his room, and he readily agreed to come along on the search. Joe won out on the motorcycle idea and he rode behind while the others squeezed into the car. They went to one of the neighborhoods in the northern part of town and parked.
"Let's do some walking and ask if anyone's seen Lisa around," Frank said. "I think we can split up a little for this. Just everyone keep in sight of the others."
With six people working, it didn't take long to ring all the doorbells on the block and ask the occupants of the houses if they had seen Lisa in the area. They all replied that they hadn't or that they weren't sure, which didn't prove anything. The group continued working their way down the street.
Finally, Chet had some luck asking a little boy playing in his front lawn if he had seen Lisa. The boy replied that he didn't know Lisa, but he had seen a girl matching her description get picked up in a car that headed out of town on the Shore Road. Chet quickly gathered up the others and they headed out of town in that direction.
Joe got ahead of the others now, but he stopped when he reached the first crossroads. Frank stopped the car right behind him.
"What's wrong?" Frank asked.
"There're a lot of roads that intersect the Shore Road," Joe pointed out. "They could have turned off anywhere. We could cover more ground if we split up."
"Dad specifically said not to," Frank reminded him. "Let's keep going on the main road. If we don't find anything in the next seven or eight miles, we'll turn back and try some of the crossroads."
They continued on, everyone keeping a close eye on either side of the road for anything that seemed at all out of place. They all realized that it was unlikely that they would spot anything, but it was worth trying.
Suddenly, Iola shouted, "Stop! Look at that!"
Frank abruptly hit the brakes, and everyone climbed out of the car. Joe also stopped to see what was happening.
Iola pointed at some tire marks on the side of the road. "Someone pulled off here. Maybe it was Lisa and whoever she was with."
"Maybe," Frank said doubtfully. "A lot of people travel this road."
"It could be," Tony insisted. He was really hoping to find something. "We might as well look around a little."
"Okay," Frank agreed, although he was doubtful that they would learn anything useful here.
They spent several minutes looking around at the ground to see if anything had been dropped or if there were any footprints or anything else that could tell them whether it had been Lisa who had been in the car.
They were interrupted by Iola's cell phone ringing. She answered it, but the other person did most of the talking. After a couple of minutes, she said, "Okay, just…just hold on a second. I'll tell the others." She looked up at the rest of the group who were all looking at her. "It's my mom. She said that she's not sure, but a couple of minutes ago, she thought she heard someone calling for help near our farm."
"What are the chances?" Mario asked.
"The Shore Road is the fastest way toward the Mortons' farm from the northern part of town," Joe pointed out. "If they turned on Webb Road, they would have gone right past it."
"And Lisa might have suddenly realized she was making a mistake and tried to escape," Tony added.
"Even if it's not Lisa, it sounds like someone out there needs help," Frank pointed out. "Let's go try to help them."