Hello everyone! Getting really close to the end of this story! The overwhelming amount of love and support you have given means so much. I hope you continue to enjoy this chapter!
Would people be interested in a series of short stories (kinda in the style of Brothers Before) about Joe beginning to settle in to his new life with the Hardys and Frank, Fenton and Laura learning how to embrace him?
They had ten minutes like that: sitting on the floor, watching a film on Frank's phone. The police reached the store in three minutes but they didn't disturb the boys until they had to. Frank was thankful for that. Even the ten minutes they had was nowhere near enough to make up for ten years of separation. And they had been separated again from that point on. They'd been talked to by separate police officers, loaded in separate police cars, taken to separate parts of the station.
Frank guessed Fenton had pulled strings. Every single officer who had interacted with Joe had been polite, respectful and kind. There had been no mention of handcuffs.
Frank had been more than a little surprised his father had not shown up at the crime scene himself but one of the police officers, a woman with red hair who had gotten him and Joe some biscuits, told him that it had been decided it would be easier for Joe if he only had to face one thing at a time and that there would be plenty of time for the teenager to meet Fenton Hardy after things had settled down.
Fenton had been waiting for Frank at the station, pulling his son into a tight hug the moment he saw him. He listened as Frank spoke, asked if he could be allowed to see Joe, was told the boy was being seen to by social workers. Frank got the feeling none of them had any clue what to do with the boy. To say the situation was a complicated one was an understatement. Even if they could separate all the logistics, assume there were systems in place that could handle such a situation… Emotionally, Joe had been torn every which way by very powerful and skilled manipulators.
Fenton had been allowed to talk to Marsden. It wasn't much of a consolation prize but Fenton would take what he got. And Frank got the feeling his father had a lot of very angry words for Marsden. Frank had been told to stay close by. He got himself a drink of water and pleaded with the receptionist to know where Joe had been taken… Eventually, he had decided he could at least watch his father interrogate Marsden. Frank hoped his father would give Marsden the sort of time he deserved, one where he was left squirming.
Frank navigated the yellow-grey walls to find the right door and slipped inside. No one spoke to him. He didn't think anyone knew what to say. The room stank of stale coffee, the stench rising from a cluster of long-abandoned mugs on a central table like a cloud. There was a small filing unit against one long wall, opposite the one-way mirror. At the far end, opposite the door, was a table pushed against the wall like it was some sort of desk. Someone was sitting on it, knees curled up to his chest, head resting against the sticky grey wall.
Joe.
"Hey," Frank said.
Joe jumped, legs unfurling sharply. He looked toward Frank and his features softened. Frank smiled, slipping fully inside and shutting the door. He checked no one could see through the frosted glass and, satisfied, he turned back to Joe. There were a few chairs in the door – all comfortable metal office chairs, the sparse upholstery torn and patched with clumps of silver tape. Frank dragged one towards Joe and sat before him.
"I'm hiding from social workers," Joe admitted.
He didn't look at Frank. His blue eyes were fixed on the scene on the other side of the one-way mirror. Frank was sure if he turned, he would see his father helping the police interrogate Marsden. But he had no intention of turning.
He told Joe he understood.
"My parents… The Bramptons… They… They admitted that Marsden sold me to them. That they paid him money to give me to them. And that they knew I had been taken. Don't know if that counts as handling stolen goods or… And apparently leaving your kid home alone while you go on business trips isn't legal either. So there's that…"
Joe clicked his tongue and tipped his head back until it rested against the back wall. He dug his teeth into his lip and shut his eyes tight, nails digging into his legs. He took shuddering breaths through his nose and swallowed hard.
"They're going to put me in care," Joe concluded.
The promise that Joe could come and live with him wanted to tear out of Frank. Every instinct, every atom, every fibre, told him that Joe was his brother.
"Why?" Frank asked. "You've got a family."
Joe said nothing, didn't seem keen to react. Frank told himself that he shouldn't comment. It had to be Joe's decision and if he didn't want to come to Bayport and be a Hardy, Frank couldn't force him.
He turned his attention to the one-way mirror and the interrogation room beyond.
Marsden's handcuffs fixed his hands to a metal bar on the firm table. Still, he smirked like he held all the cards. Fenton had his back to the boys standing up, one hand on the table. From the line of his shoulders, the way his hands kept bunching into fists and then relaxing, Frank could tell his father was furious and barely able to keep his emotions in check.
"You know, on that first day I had him, I considered dumping him. I mean, what was I gonna do with a kid? I thought I'd leave him at some hospital. Then I thought, I'd better just put the brat out of his misery and smother him. I was deciding what to do when I heard the news break. The kid I had passed out on my back seat was Fenton Hardy's little brat. I couldn't let him go then. I mean, I could get one over on Fenton Hardy. The Fenton Hardy!"
Fenton was fuming. Frank could tell just from the tensing of his shoulders. He silently prayed that Fenton kept that temper in check. He didn't want Joe getting the wrong impression, thinking he would be in danger of angering the detective with every mistake.
"It sucks that you were the one person in the room who wasn't willing to kill me," Joe said after a moment.
Frank frowned sharply. He studied his younger brother, trying to work out what on Earth Joe had meant by that. Joe smirked darkly to himself, proud he had managed to confuse Frank even a little.
"He should have… I thought Marsden would not cross that line. I know he hurts people but I thought that I was the exception. That I was his kid."
Joe's smirk fell away. He held Frank's gaze, suddenly looking very small and childlike.
"The social workers were saying maybe they would talk to your parents about… Once there is DNA proving who I am... About maybe me…"
"Coming to live with us?" Frank finished.
"Visiting," Joe said. "I wouldn't want to… Get in the way."
Frank paused. He turned back, watching as Fenton continued to interrogate Marsden.
"He's only in there because they wouldn't let him see you," Frank told Joe. "You are never going to be in the way. You're our family."
Before Joe could respond, the door was pushed open. Frank turned sharply. He had hoped it would be his father, finished with Marsden, looking for him or Joe.
But it was Walker. He glowered at Joe.
"They told me they had brought you in," the officer snarled.
Frank got to his feet, moving to intercept. He refused to let that man near Joe again. He had already hurt him once.
"Joe isn't under arrest. He's here because Marsden abducted him because he is my brother."
Frank let his hands curl into fists, hoping it sent a clear warning. Walker regarded him only for a second before his gaze was back on Joe. He chuckled to himself for a long moment.
"He knows," Joe said, voice tight. "He's here because of what I know."
"And what do you know?" Frank asked.
"Walker takes bribes," Joe said.
Frank wanted to say he was shocked. But when Joe said it, he felt nothing. The police officer before him disgusted him. Frank certainly wasn't shocked he could add taking bribes to his list of offences.
"From who?" Frank found himself asking.
"Whoever is willing to pay," Joe replied.
Walker gave a dark chuckle and nodded. He admitted he had made quite a good amount from accepting bribes, helping some people avoid arrests, getting charges brought against people who might not have been guilty.
"His parents… His fake parents paid me to get him out of a thievery conviction."
"He arrests people, tells them they can buy their freedom or face the charges. He had me handcuffed in the back of his cruiser, hit me until I gave him my parents' number."
Frank boiled with rage at the police officer.
"Marsden heard I was on the force being tasked with looking for you," Walker recounted. "He said he would pay me good money to ensure no one found you until he had decided what to do. And it was good money. Very good money to pit me against Fenton Hardy. But I kept him thoroughly distracted."
Frank's stomach twisted.
"When we arrested Rancid and his men, you were so determined to arrest Joe… You were going to take him to Marsden, weren't you?"
Walker chuckled.
"Hold him somewhere until Marsden paid me. But yeah, he would have been given to Marsden."
"And now we're both loose ends," Joe said. "Because we know about you accepting bribes."
Walker sighed and nodded.
"I really would have let you go, Frank. But I couldn't trust Joe would have kept it a secret from you."
Joe was moving, getting ready for action. He caught Frank's eye, trying to see what move he was planning to make. Frank could see Walker's gun at his side. Frank hoped Walker would have the sense not to use it but he was a desperate man and Frank didn't think he could put anything past him.
"What are you going to do?" Frank asked, trying to keep his voice calm and steady.
He caught Joe's arm to stop him from rushing forward.
"I figure no matter what happens, they're going to find out what I did eventually. Either Joey tells them and they come after me immediately or I ensure neither of you talk," Walker said.
"Killing us is just going to get you in more trouble," Joe told him. "And we're in a police station."
"Which," Walker said, settling his hand upon his weapon, "is exactly why me and you boys are going for a nice walk. You be good and I'll only hold keep you two until I reach a country without an extradition order. You'll be my hostages for when the truth is revealed and they come after me."
He gestured for Frank and Joe to walk toward him.
"Remember boys, if I don't get out of here with you two, we all know I'm going to prison. And the only thing that might make being in prison bearable is knowing I killed you two brats."
Hope you enjoyed that! Please consider leaving a review and do tell me how you would feel about that fic of short stories.
