CHAPTER 12
"Don't touch anything," Frank immediately ordered in a calm voice. He turned to the worker who had spoken earlier. "Call the police," he told the man. Then Frank carefully surveyed the scene before him. He kneeled down and checked the preliminary cause of death. It appeared Jim Owen was stabbed. Frank could see the wound right through the man's heart. He glanced around the scene, hoping to see if there were any clues that would pinpoint the murderer. He definitely wouldn't find the footprints because they were already been disturbed. From Jim's bruised head, his split lips, and the cuts around his eyes told Frank there was a struggle before the man was stabbed.
"Did anyone of you see what happened?" Joe asked.
All of them shook their head.
"Who found him?" he asked again.
"I did," one of the workers said. "My name's Bill. I was about to take my cigarette break here when I found Jim's body."
"When was this?" Frank asked, getting up from the ground.
"About ten minutes before you two came," Bill replied.
"What did you do after you found the body?" Joe asked.
"I told my colleagues, and then John here suggested we informed Shane or someone else. But since Shane and Neil aren't here, we told Jane about it," he answered.
Frank turned to Jane. "And where were you when this happened?" he asked her.
"I was in my room," Jane replied nervously.
"Alone?"
Jane nodded silently.
Frank sighed.
"What's going to happen now?" Jane asked. A worried look etched on her pretty face.
"I think we all need to wait until the police arrived. They might want to question everyone on this island," Joe replied. "I think you can wait in the building."
The workers started to murmur as they reluctantly left the crime scene. Jane, too, followed closely behind, looking more nervous than ever.
"So, what do you think?" Joe asked his brother, when the others were out of earshot.
"Looks like someone didn't bother to conceal the murder," Frank said.
"It has to be Neil," Joe couldn't help saying.
"But it could also be someone else on this island," Frank added. He rubbed his temple to ease his dizziness that suddenly came over.
"You think one of them might did it? Why?" Joe asked in surprise.
"We don't know if Jim had blackmailed the others, too. One of them might have lost his cool and murdered him," Frank suggested grimly.
"But it couldn't have been Jane. We all already knew about her past, and I don't think she could have caused Jim with split lips, and bruised face," Joe pointed out. For some reason, he couldn't help defending her.
Frank frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe," he said vaguely. He suddenly felt weary, and drained. This case was starting to give him a headache. How come something so simple can be complicated at the same time?
The police from Inzell Island arrived about fifteen minutes later. The Hardys were surprised when Shane and Neil arrived with them, too.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were at Matteo's," Joe said to Shane.
"We were," Shane nodded. "We were leaving the dock almost at the same time as the police," he explained.
"Shane, we've got to talk to you privately after this," Joe said quietly, as they entered the building.
Shane looked curiously at Joe before nodded silently.
All of them gathered inside the lobby of the main building. The police started asking questions and taking statements from all of them after securing the crime scene area. One of them, a tall broad-shouldered dark-haired man was wearing a black trench coat despite the warm weather. Underneath the coat, the boys could see he was wearing jeans and polo shirt, which seemed out of place from the other uniformed officers. He even looked quite young for a police detective – possibly in his late twenties.
The Hardys found out he was in charged of the case. When he finally came to the Hardys, he introduced himself as Detective Lucian DiMatteo. "No relation with the Matteos, but you can call me Lucian," he added good-naturedly when he was met by the boys' surprised looks. It was obvious he had received the same reaction from other people before.
"Are you the sons of Fenton Hardy? I've heard of him before," Lucian asked after the brothers introduced themselves. His brown eyes glanced at the brothers curiously.
"Yes, we are," Frank answered.
He smoothed down his unruly dark hair with a thoughtful look, before singling the brothers from the others. "And are you here on a case?" Lucian continued asking, jotting down something inside his notebook.
"Yes," Joe replied. The boys took turns explaining the sabotage case, and how Shane had brought them here to investigate the suspicious events.
"And did you find out anything suspicious?"
"We found out Jim Owen had been doing some blackmailing," Joe stated, and explained further about Jim blackmailing Jane Rosso, and his involvement with Tara Matteo. "But we're still not sure if he was the one who sabotaged the resort now that he's dead," he ended. He decided not to tell the police about Neil, yet. He wanted to confront the man before sending him to the police.
The police detective looked thoughtful for a moment. "Uh-huh," he muttered as he added something in his notebook.
"What about the time of death?" Frank asked Lucian.
"The time of death would be between half an hour to an hour ago," he told them simply. "But I'll be speaking to you if something comes up later," he told the Hardys before turning to Shane and Neil.
The Hardys heard him asking the same questions. They found out Shane had a meeting with Tara Matteo to discuss about the island, but Shane still couldn't make an agreement with Ms. Matteo to discontinue her so-called threats. She even had denied knowing Jim Owen when Shane had confronted her.
"So, you and Matteo were at Inzell when the murder happens," Lucian concluded. "What about you, Mr. Sterling?" he asked turning to the big man. The detective didn't seem intimidated by the size of the man, or his unfriendly face that kept glaring at the detective.
"With Shane," Neil said shortly and crisply.
The detective turned to Shane for an acknowledgment.
"He was with me and Ms. Matteo," Shane replied and nodded.
"The whole time?" the detective prompted.
"Well, he did leave about half an hour to get some of my papers that I left on the boat," Shane answered.
Frank wondered if that was enough time to ride a boat to Verin, and kill Jim and go back to Inzell. But how could have Neil known Jim would be on Verin Island? The last time he was seen, Jim was running away from Verin Island.
Lucian's face was a mask as he listened to Shane's answer. Instead of asking further, he turned to the last person in the room, Jane. The Hardys had to strain their ears to listen to Jane's nervous answers. Lucian didn't look irritated by her short abrupt sentences – instead he was listening patiently and calmly to every word she was saying.
"So, if I understood this correctly, you went straight to your room after your trip at Inzell?" the Hardys heard Lucian said to Jane. The handsome detective smiled at her, showing off his dimples. He was trying not to make her more nervous than she already was.
"Yes." Jane nodded, blushing.
"And what happened after that?" Lucian continued asking.
"I – I took a nap for a couple of hours before one of the workers knocked on my room and reported about the body," she answered, looking calmer now.
"So, you have no alibi," Lucian concluded as he took some notes.
At the mention of this, Jane looked panicked as if he had assumed she was the murderer.
"Don't look so upset, Ms. Rosso. I was just stating a fact," Lucian assured her when he noticed the look on her face. "Just because you have no alibi, that doesn't mean you're a killer," he added gently. Again, he smiled at her.
Jane returned the smile shyly.
"Boy, I could have sworn Lucian got a hit. Look at the way both of them look at each other," Joe stated quietly to Frank as he glanced at Lucian and Jane.
"Jealous, Joe?" Frank teased his brother.
"Nah, a woman like Jane makes me nervous," Joe replied with a grin. Then his tone grew serious. "We've got to solve this case fast. Everyone looks like they are on the edge."
Frank didn't manage to reply when a crime-scene expert came over to Lucian, and handed him a clear plastic bag that contained a bloodied knife.
"Where did you find this, Morris?" Lucian asked curiously as he studied the knife. To Frank, it looked like an ordinary knife, like the one his mother always used in the kitchen.
"In one of the drawers in the office," the man answered, pointing toward the personnel area.
Lucian turned to Shane. "I think we need to investigate the office area," he told the owner of the resort.
"If it'll help you solve the case, then I don't mind," Shane replied calmly.
Lucian nodded to the expert. "Then I need you, and you two to follow me," he told Shane, and the Hardys.
When Morris took them to the personnel area, Joe was surprised when he pointed to Jane's desk. Another female crime-scene expert was dusting off for fingerprints on the middle drawer. She had a laptop and a small scanner next to her for scanning the prints. Joe knew his fingerprints would be all over the drawers, since he had been the one looking through them this afternoon. Oh, man, this doesn't look good.
"Any prints on the knife?" Lucian asked Morris.
"No, but we found some prints on the drawer where the knife was," the man replied solemnly.
Lucian turned to Shane. "Whose desk is this?"
"It's Jane's, but she doesn't work today," Shane answered with a frown.
Lucian just nodded. Joe couldn't help wondering what Lucian was thinking. There didn't seem to be any form of reaction from the police detective, but he could sense the man's brain was working furiously. For some unknown reason, the man reminded him of Frank.
"We've got something on the prints," the woman told them as she glanced at her laptop. "One of them belongs to Jane Rosso, and the other two – Shane Unterhauser, and Joe Hardy."
"So, we have three suspects, possibly four," Lucian concluded.
"And who might be the fourth one?" Frank asked curiously.
"Someone who might not leave his or her prints behind, just like the knife," the detective answered. "Now, from what I gather, Joe seemed to be the last one who had seen Jim, and his prints are coincidentally on the drawer."
"Are you going to arrest Joe?" Frank asked, shooting a warning look toward Joe to calm down.
"No, what we have here is just circumstantial evidence," Lucian told him calmly. "I was just stating some facts from the case."
Frank nodded silently. He knew the detective was right. Lucian began working around the scene meticulously for a quite a while, that Frank couldn't help admiring his approach.
"I think we're done for now," Lucian announced when he had finished his task. He turned to the Hardys before leaving. "Call me if you've found out anything else," the detective reminded the boys with a serious look on his face. "I want to close this case as soon as possible."
"We will," Frank promised. He didn't add that he also would like to close this case soon – for his own sake.
Joe noticed Neil walked out of the building after the police had left. Shane, however, was making a short meeting with his workers in his office. Joe glanced at Frank, and saw that he, too, was watching Neil.
"Shall we see what he's up to?" Joe asked his brother with a knowing look.
Frank nodded and walked to the entrance. There was no sign of Neil when both of them were outside.
"Where do you think did he go? We didn't give him a head start more than a minute," Joe said in frustration.
"Let's check at the construction site," Frank suggested. He shook his head for a moment trying to get rid the sudden feeling of blackness.
"Are you all right?" Joe asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, let's go," Frank urged.
But they were disappointed when they couldn't find any sign of Neil at the site. Then they decided to search the whole island for him. At one time, they'd thought they saw Neil in the woods, but when they ran and got closer, nobody was there.
"Man, who's this guy anyway? A magician?" Joe remarked half an hour later when they still couldn't find the man. He was huffing and puffing as he shook his head in disgust.
"Either that, or he knows this island like the back of his hand," Frank murmured thoughtfully. He, too, was breathing hard after the run. Maybe I should avoid heavy activities in this condition, he thought grimly, feeling his vision swimming around him. "Joe, let's go back to our room!" he gasped suddenly, before he collapsed into unconsciousness.
***
Joe walked to the crime scene the next morning. But this morning, the silence was deafening as he passed the construction area. Obviously, Shane had told the workers to take a few days off until the investigation was completed. Joe didn't see Neil, or Jane this morning. Shane was in his office, grumbling all the time about his misfortunes. Joe wanted to confront Neil, but the man always had a knack to disappear whenever he was needed for questioning. It was as if he had a 'Hardy Radar' – so that he could run away if the radar picked up a signal from any one of the Hardys hovering nearby. Joe chuckled silently at the thought.
Joe sobered immediately when he thought about his brother. Frank was hit again by the symptoms last night before going to bed. From the looks of it, it was getting worse. Joe took all that he had not to wake his brother this morning. He had left his brother some breakfast before he went out. He knew Frank would be angry with him again, but Joe couldn't stand to see his brother suffer while they were investigating.
He reached the crime scene. This time, the area was already surrounded by the yellow tape, which the police had erected last night. A white outline of the dead body was at the center of the area. He wanted to scour the area again since he didn't have the chance to examine it properly last night.
Joe started to examine every inch of the area. After a few minutes, he couldn't find any clues that might prove useful. He let out his breath in frustration. Instead of leaving, he walked a few feet away from the crime scene. Something glinting on the ground caught his eyes. He bent down for a closer look. Halfway hidden beneath the sand was a small piece of jewelry. Where have I seen this before?
Joe reached out his hand to pick it up. His fingers barely touched it when a sudden noise behind him stopped him. He whipped around. As soon as he did that, something sharp hit him squarely at the back of his head. He fell to the ground as blackness enveloped him.