"Get in here!" Fenton Hardy roared. He slammed the door closed after Joe and Callie entered his hotel room. He glared at Joe. "I gave you one job, one job, and that was to keep your mother and your aunt safe!"
Callie backed into the corner of the room to avoid the family squabble.
"They're just as safe, probably even safer, with Chief Peterson," Joe tried to explain calmly. "His apartment has controlled entry, private security, and a doorman."
"Why didn't you call before you left?" Fenton yelled. "For all I knew, I had lost both my sons!"
"Because you would have given me some excuse about why I can't help figure out what happened to Frank!" Joe shouted, losing control of his temper. "He was my brother! I was closer to him than anyone else in the world, even you!"
Fenton and Joe stared at each other, panting from the emotional outbursts.
"I'm sending you home," Fenton finally said in a controlled voice.
"I won't go," Joe said defiantly. "I'll investigate on my own."
Fenton nodded. "I suppose the same is true for you?" he asked, looking at Callie. She nodded.
Fenton sighed and sat on the bed, his face in his hands. "There's nothing to suggest a connection between my investigation and the flight."
"My gut says there is," Joe said. "If nothing else, it gets us in the door."
Fenton spent the next several hours catching Joe and Callie up on the investigation.
"Ducroy Airlines believes someone in the company is leaking confidential information to outside investors, allowing them to move before the market and make a killing. First, a day before it was announced that Ducroy had received operating authority in Canada, a hedge fund named Drake Investments bought a large amount of stock."
Callie was taking copious notes as Fenton talked, but Joe simply sat and absorbed the information.
"Second, two days before Ducroy reached a favorable collective bargaining settlement with one of its unions, a different hedge fund named Carlopa Enterprises bought a large amount of stock as well. Finally, one week before Ducroy released an extremely favorable earnings report, another hedge fund named Nestor Holdings-"
"Let me guess," Joe interrupted. "Bought a large amount of stock."
"Exactly."
"Wait," Callie said. "All these hedge funds are different."
"Yes," Fenton said. "But there were commonalities in the hedge funds' tactics that suggest they are linked in some capacity."
"Shouldn't we be looking into the hedge funds?" Joe asked.
Fenton shook his head. "Too difficult at this point. That's a problem for the SEC."
"Not the Big 10?" Joe joked.
"The SEC stands for the Securities and Exchange Commission," Callie said matter-of-factly.
"I know Callie," Joe sighed. "I'm not a complete dumb jock."
"The three matters were all being handled by different departments," Fenton continued. "The only people who would have access to all three pieces of information would have been the executives."
"Or the IT staff," Callie pointed out.
Fenton smiled. "That's a very good insight."
"Or the janitors who found documents in the trash," Joe said, jealous of his father's praise of Callie.
Fenton chuckled. "I suppose that's possible. In any event, we will be meeting tomorrow evening with Andrew Mills, an attorney in the legal department who is the company liaison for my investigation. I was originally also working with the general counsel, the executive in charge of the legal department, but she stepped away to handle matters arising out of the crash."
"Why not tomorrow morning?" Joe asked.
"Because I don't want anyone other than Mills knowing you're working with me," Fenton explained. "We need to give the office time to empty."
The next evening saw Joe, Callie, and Fenton in a conference room with Mills. He was a slim, dark-haired man in his late 20s whose handsome face bore a permanent expression of annoyance.
"Thanks for staying late," Fenton began.
"No problem, working late is my favorite thing to do," Mills grumbled. "I love leaving work after it gets dark."
Fenton tactfully ignored the comment. "These are my assistants, Joe Morton and Callie Webling."
Mills jerked his head in greeting. "I spoke with Fenton earlier about bringing you on. Before I do that, I want to make some things clear. Do you know what your job is here?"
"Find out who's been leaking insider information." Joe answered.
"No," Mills replied. "Your first job is to find out if anyone has been leaking information. If that's the case, then your second job is to?"
"Find out who it is." Joe said, trying to suppress his irritation at being treated like a schoolboy.
"No. Your second job is to find out how they've been leaking information. Do you know why that's more important?"
Joe was baffled.
"Because of the SEC?" Callie suggested.
"That's right. I'm impressed." Mills said, looking surprised. "My job here is to protect the company. The company is only liable if the SEC thinks we didn't have sufficient policies and procedures to detect and prevent insider trading. Anything you find must come to me first. Legally, I can't put that in your contract, but I hope it's understood."
"They understand," Fenton said.
"Good. Fenton tells me he wants you two to not be associated with him. The biggest problem with that is that all potential employees go through several rounds of interviews. It's going to look suspicious if two people show up and no one remembers interviewing them."
"So, what do we do?" Callie asked.
"You're going to be my legal assistant. No other attorneys have a personal one, so I'll have to find some way to explain it. Because you'll only be working for me, people will ask fewer questions about why they didn't interview you."
"And me?" Joe asked.
Mills smirked. "You're the new temp custodian."
Frank and Vanessa were trying to find ways to avoid boredom. Frank began telling Vanessa about some of the cases he and Joe had cracked. She found paper and pencils in a small writing desk next to the bed and began illustrating their adventures like a cartoon. At night, they traded off sleeping in the twin bed and keeping watch from the rocking chair.
"Frank?" Vanessa asked one night. "If Joe were here, what would you be doing differently?"
Frank snickered. "Joe would have stormed out of here yesterday looking for someone to punch."
"And Callie? She's helped you guys out quite a few times."
"She would have stormed out of here earlier today looking for someone to punch."
Vanessa giggled.
"Honestly," Frank said, "it's nice being in a predicament with someone who can remain calm for once." He glanced over at her and smiled.
Vanessa smiled back, the firelight casting dancing shadows on her face.
Frank felt something he had been trying to suppress, attraction. He must have held her gaze too long because she suddenly snapped her head away from him and stared back into the fire.
"I think tomorrow should be fine to set up an SOS marker," Frank said, trying to push past the moment that had just happened. "It's been long enough, and I haven't heard anything suspicious."
Vanessa nodded without looking at him.
Frank cocked his head. Did he just hear something outside? He froze and motioned for Vanessa to be quiet as he listened intently. The wind sweeping around the cabin made it difficult to isolate noises outside.
Frank grabbed the fireplace poker as he heard another noise. It was the sound of a key entering the lock on the door. The deadbolt disengaged, and the door opened.