CHAPTER 4
Bayport PD was an old-fashioned four-story cinderblock building. Built in the early 1920s, the building had been through a lot of restorations to preserve its authentic look. It also had been renovated a lot of times to accommodate the growing number of offices, and police officers.
But the Hardys didn't have time to appreciate its look as they dashed up the steps in front of the main entrance. They were too preoccupied by the sudden development of the case.
Fortunately, Con was in when the boys reached his desk.
"What can I do for you boys?" Con asked as he looked up from his computer that he was working on.
"We heard the news," Frank began, "You found the murder weapon in Duncan's home?" he prompted curiously.
"That's right," he replied, "And I think we can consider the case closed as soon as we find Mr. Blackwell and arrest him."
"But – " Joe was about to protest when Frank nudged him by the side to silence him. His brother gave him a warning glance.
"How did you manage to find the murder weapon?" Frank asked calmly.
"We have an anonymous tip," Con told them simply.
"An anonymous tip?" Joe asked incredulously.
"Was it a man or a woman?" Frank asked at the same time.
"I'm not sure about the gender – the voice was muffled," Con explained, "but this person gave us the exact location of the weapon."
"In Duncan's house," Frank answered.
"Right, in his desk drawer," Con acknowledged. "We've done the ballistic tests on it and they matched with the bullet on McGuire. We've also found Mr. Blackwell's fingerprint on it, too. That's hard evidence for me."
"Someone's setting him up!" Joe exploded.
Con looked sharply at Joe. "And what do you mean by that?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Never mind about him, Con," Frank told the police officer. "Can you show us the evidence?" he asked.
Con hesitated before he grudgingly agreed. He left his desk and walked across the room to a gray metal file cabinet and pulled out a drawer. He came back with a clear plastic bag that was filled with the gun. He tossed it on top of his desk.
Frank picked it up. It was a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol.
"You find nothing else but the fingerprints there. The identification mark has been erased," Con told them as Frank carefully studied the weapon.
"And you found the prints here?" Frank pointed to the handle of the pistol.
"Right, just there," Con frowned. "What are you implying?"
"Don't you think it's strange?" Frank asked. "If Duncan never bothered to clean his prints on the murder weapon, his prints should be all over the gun – even on the trigger," he pointed out slowly.
"Maybe he's forgotten to wipe it out," Con said, with a slight hint of uncertainty.
"A sloppy job I should say," Frank commented thoughtfully. "I still think we need to investigate more."
"Easy for you to say, I've still got the robbery case to solve, yet," Con grumbled.
"Don't worry, we'll cover the McGuire case for you," Joe spoke up calmly, trying not to sound too eager.
"Maybe unofficially," Con retorted. "You'd better tell me all the info that you might have found," he reminded them sternly.
The boys tried not to show their relief. "All right, for start, we want to know Bradley and Hayworth's whereabouts during the murder," Frank began asking.
"I'll make it easier for you," Con said, reaching for the drawer, "I'll show you the report on the case," he pulled out a manila folder and gave it to Frank. "You may make a copy of it," he added.
"Thanks, Con," Frank said before the boys went to make a copy of the contents of the folder.
The boys headed back to their van after getting the file copied. Joe sat behind the wheel while Frank went through the papers.
"It looks like both Bradley and Hayworth have alibis during the murder," Frank reported, as Joe started the van. "Bradley was having a meeting with his employees, and Hayworth had an appointment with Mr. Lee of Lee & Bauer, Inc."
"Lee & Bauer? Who are they?" Joe asked as he maneuvered the steering wheel toward the street.
"It's a big business company in New York, but they have their main office here in Bayport," Frank told him. "Now that I think of it, I've read somewhere that ElectroSoft is losing money. They are thinking about selling some of their shares to Lee & Bauer."
"So, both of them had alibis, who else is the suspect besides Duncan?" Joe asked.
"None that I see here," Frank reported as he leafed through the reports quickly. "There's an autopsy report on McGuire. He was shot by the same gun that Con had found. There are also the backgrounds of Bradley, McGuire, Hayworth, and Duncan. Except for Duncan, the rest of them have no police records."
"We have to find out that anonymous person. He or she must have known something about this," Joe told his brother.
"Let's take a visit to Lee & Bauer. It's a long shot, but maybe we can learn something about Hayworth's meeting with Mr. Lee," he suggested, tossing the papers into the glove compartment.
"You know if Duncan is accused for the murder, this would make Datatronics looks bad," Joe remarked thoughtfully.
"And ElectroSoft will have an advantage over this," Frank finished.
But the trip to Lee & Bauer proved to be unfruitful. Mr. Lee, a middle-aged Asian man, had told them nothing more than they had already known.
"Mr. Hayworth wanted to make a joint venture with our company," Mr. Lee had been saying, "But we're not really too hopeful about this."
"Because of ElectroSoft's financial status?" prompted Frank.
"Yes, and because we're already thinking about having Datatronics instead."