CHAPTER 2
Frank continued watching the news. It was the murder of Robert McGuire, a top software programmer from ElectroSoft. Frank had heard about ElectroSoft. It was the main rival of Datatronics. Unlike Datatronics, ElectroSoft produced software ranging from games to programming and it had been around longer than Datatronics.
It seemed Duncan was the last one to be seen at the dead man's home in Bayport around 2.30 in the afternoon. The police were already putting an APB on the suspect because he was missing from work since this afternoon.
"But we just saw him," Joe protested in disbelief.
"Maybe he didn't want to be found out," Frank pointed out.
"So, why did he talk to us if he is the suspect?" Joe challenged. He didn't like what Frank was implying. "I think we should check this out."
"I don't know, Joe," Frank hedged. "You seem confident that Duncan didn't do it."
"Of course he didn't," Joe insisted. "You don't know him as well as I do."
"But you haven't seen him for years. How did you know that he is still the same person as before?" his brother pointed out.
"I can't believe you, Frank. I thought you like to help people in trouble," Joe said in anger. "You're already assuming that Duncan is guilty."
Frank sighed heavily knowing how hot-tempered Joe could be. "That's not what I meant – Hey! Where are you going?" he asked when he saw Joe grabbing his jacket and headed toward the front door.
"To the crime scene," he replied shortly. "I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you. Are you coming?" He looked at his brother expectantly.
Frank hesitated before going after his brother.
***
After finding the address of McGuire from the phone book, the Hardys arrived at the dead man's home. His home was almost at the outskirt of Bayport in a nice section of residential area.
A few police cars, and an ambulance were parked at the driveway of the house. A police yellow tape was already surrounded the house. A couple of uniformed police officers were controlling the small crowd and the media people that were still forming outside of the restricted zone.
Joe parked the van across the road from McGuire's house. "Looks like Con's on the case," Joe stated nodding his head toward the direction of the house.
Frank climbed out of the van and slammed the door shut. He saw Con Riley talking to a police officer before entering the house.
"Great, we need the details of the case from him," Frank said.
Officer Con Riley was a close friend of the Hardys' from the Bayport PD. Even though he sometimes was reluctant to have the boys in an official investigation, Con Riley never failed to help them.
The Hardys crossed the road and walked toward the crime scene. McGuire's house was a one-story brick-and-wood model. It was modest looking with a nice small garden in front of the porch. Frank wondered if McGuire had a green thumb.
Frank and Joe approached an officer who was guarding the crowd.
"We'd like to talk to Con for a moment," Joe spoke up to the young officer.
"Who are you?" the officer asked with a curious glance.
"I'm Joe Hardy, and this is my brother, Frank," he told him.
"Oh, the famous Hardy brothers. I've heard about you guys and your father, too," the officer said, referring to the boys' internationally famous father, Fenton Hardy. Mr. Hardy used to work in New York City Police Department before he quit the force to pursue work as a private investigator. "Why do you want to see him?" he asked them.
"We might have some information on the murder. So, if you don't mind calling Con for us?" Joe asked, trying to hide his impatience.
"Just go right inside," the officer told them. "Don't touch anything on the crime scene," he reminded them.
"Yeah, yeah, we know the procedure," Joe replied before the boys ducked under the tape and headed toward the house.
They stepped into the interior of the house. There were bookshelves lined against one side of the living room. A TV set was placed on a shelf aside from books that were crammed together on the other shelves. A long cream-colored sofa, and a couple of coffee tables were placed in front of the television. Books and magazines were scattered all over the sofa, tables and even on the floor. Despite the mess, the room still looked very airy and peaceful as the sun beamed through the white lacy curtains that covered the windows.
The place was crowded with police officers. A few forensic experts were still gathering and analyzing clues.
Frank couldn't help noticing most of the books and magazines were about programming and computers. As they walked through a hallway, they passed a room, which looked like a small computer lab. There was a white chalk mark on the blue carpet indicating where the body had been. Frank stopped Joe when he noticed Con in the room, talking with one of the officers and a middle-aged man in gray suit.
Con frowned when he caught sight of the Hardy's walking into the room. "What are you two doing here?" he asked. "Don't tell me that you happened to be here because I don't buy it."
"No, but Duncan happens to be one of my friends," Joe spoke up.
"You mean Mr. Blackwell?" Con prompted, raising his brows in surprise. "We've been unsuccessful trying to locate him."
The middle-aged man who was standing beside Con cleared his throat, interrupting the conversation. He was a nondescript man with graying blond hair and a pair of steely gray eyes. "Just who are these boys, officer?" he asked with a curious look.
"Mr. Hayworth, meet Frank and Joe Hardy," Con told him. "Boys, this is George Hayworth. He is – or was Mr. McGuire's boss."
The man shook hands with the Hardys. Then he frowned thoughtfully. "Say, are you related with Fenton Hardy, the detective?" Mr. Hayworth asked.
"He's our dad," Joe told him.
"So, what can you tell me about the suspect?" Con started asking.
While Joe explained how he bumped into Duncan this afternoon, Frank was quietly surveying the room. It was like having a small computer lab at home. He noticed there were three powerful computers arranged in one row. At the end of the row were an up-to-date copier, scanner, printer, and fax – all rolled into one machine. Next to the machine was a small back-up system. On another side of the wall, was a ceiling-high bookcase. Instead of being filled with books, the shelves were filled with countless of CDs, floppies, printer cartridges, and other computer accessories.
As he glanced at the computers again, Frank noticed one of the terminals was turned on. Apparently, McGuire was working on the computer before he died. Frank took a step closer to the terminal. He recognized the program on the screen. Phil had showed him once how to program in Pascal language.
"I see Bob had been working with Lady Lovelace," Mr. Hayworth suddenly appeared beside Frank. He was looking at the monitor.
"Huh?" Frank asked in puzzlement.
"Lady Lovelace," Mr. Hayworth pointed to the computer that Frank had been looking at. "Bob liked to give names to his computers," he explained. "This one is Liebniz," he told him, pointing to the next computer. "And the last one is still unnamed because Bob just bought it a couple of days ago."
"Lovelace and Liebniz?" Frank echoed. "Weren't Lady Lovelace and Liebniz had something to do with programming on calculation machines?"
Mr. Hayworth looked impressed by Frank's knowledge. "I see you know the computer history well," he remarked with a smile.
"It's something I learned briefly in my programming classes," Frank replied.
"I guess some people like to name their computers, just like the people who like to give names to their favorite cars," Mr. Hayworth said with a chuckle. "And for McGuire, he was obsessed with anything that has to do with computers."
"You must have known Mr. McGuire very well," Frank pointed out thoughtfully.
"He was a very hard-working person in the company. He always had new ideas to put into a project. It will be a great loss for me and ElectroSoft," Mr. Hayworth looked grim at the thought of Mr. McGuire's death.
"Were you the one who found Mr. McGuire's body?"
"No, his housekeeper found the body when she came this afternoon to start her work," Mr. Hayworth said. "Bob was never a tidy person, so he hired a housekeeper. She comes every week on Wednesday, which happens to be today."
That explains the small garden, Frank thought. "Where is she now?" he asked Mr. Hayworth.
"I think Officer Riley had told her to go back after he had questioning her," he replied. "I came here because I wanted to ask Bob about a demo program he had been working on. He didn't come to work today. I thought I'd check with him in person but when I arrived, the police were already here."
"Do you know why someone wanted to murder Mr. McGuire? Did he have any enemies?" Frank continued asking. He noticed Con Riley heading their way.
"Well, he was well-known for his short fuse, but aside from that he was also well-known for his rivalry with Mr. Blackwell," he told Frank.
"So, I don't think there's anything for you boys to do now," Con said when Frank was about to ask another question to Mr. Hayworth. Joe was walking beside the police officer. "Let the us handle this one."
"I guess so," Joe said, frowning.
Knowing they couldn't find anything more from the police, the Hardys decided to leave the scene.
"And don't forget to call me if you hear anything more from Mr. Blackwell," Con reminded them before they walked away.
"So, did you find out anything from Con?" Frank asked when they were already inside of their van.
"Not much," Joe admitted. "Apparently, Duncan and McGuire's rivalry started a couple of years ago during a computer convention. Both of them had produced a program that has almost the same features."
"I'll bet McGuire didn't like that," Frank commented as he shifted the gears and pulled out of the parking space.
"He didn't," Joe agreed. "He thought Duncan had somehow managed to steal his ideas and produced the program as his own. After all Duncan is still trying to make a name for himself and still green in this business."
"What about the housekeeper? Or the witness who had seen Duncan came to McGuire's home?" Frank prompted.
"The housekeeper came around three when she saw McGuire dead in the computer room on the floor. She almost freaked out before calling the police. And there was no sign of forced entry," his brother replied. "McGuire's neighbor, Mrs. Gordon actually recognized Duncan when he came out of the house almost half an hour before the housekeeper came. Mrs. Gordon was gardening the whole afternoon, that was how she knew."
"How did she recognize Duncan? Has she ever met him before?" Frank asked.
"Now that's the strangest part," Joe agreed, "but get this, Duncan has talked to Mrs. Gordon a few times before when he was visiting McGuire."
"You're right, that is strange. Why did Duncan visit McGuire when both of them were rivals?" Frank wondered out loud.
"I think we should talk to Duncan about his visits to McGuire's house," Joe suggested. "Besides, I still don't think Duncan is the killer. Why would he show his face if he wanted to kill McGuire?"
"I guess so," Frank admitted tactfully. He still wasn't convinced yet about Duncan. He might be Joe's friend, but they still didn't know much about the guy. "Mrs. Gordon didn't see anyone else before or after Duncan went to McGuire's house?"
"Nope, but she did take a few minutes break from her gardening before Duncan came. Maybe that's when the killer came," Joe said. "So, what have you found out from Mr. Hayworth?" he started asking.
"Not much," Frank replied and began telling Joe what he had been talking to Mr. Hayworth.
They were passing through the center of town with expensive little shops lined along the street. The streets were jammed with heavy traffic. When Frank glanced at the digital clock on the dashboard, it was a few minutes after five. That would mean the office hour was over.
"Just great, I hate traffic jams," Joe groaned as if reading his brother's mind.
Bang! The sound suddenly echoed across the busy street. Then it followed by a series of bullets smashing against glasses, the shrill of an alarm bell, and screams of panic.