The Fairchild Affair
by:
Lord Dreadnault
Frank scanned the letter a second time. After doing so, he examined the envelope. It was totally blank. No return address, company logo, or watermark. The paper it was printed on was average printing paper. There was no way to trace where it had come from.
Quickly he went into his room and grabbed his fingerprint kit out of his duffel bag. He returned to the desk and quickly dusted the paper and envelope for fingerprints. There were none but his own. The warning was the work of a professional. A normal criminal would have screwed up somehow, or would have just slid the note under the door. This one had broken in and left it on the desk without leaving any signs that anything had happened.
Frank frowned. Perhaps Elayne was in more danger than he had really thought. What he wanted to know was how Fairchild knew that his daughter was in danger. Frank slid the warning and envelope into his pocket and began to quickly pack.
He took one last look at the room to ensure that he left nothing behind, locked the door and left. On his way out he stopped at the front desk to return his key card. The bill was already payed. On a sudden impulse Frank decided to ask the clerk a question. "Excuse me," he began, "did anyone drop by to inquire whether or not my brother or I were in?"
The clerk thought for a moment. "No, no one has inquired about you or your brother Mr. Hardy."
"Thank you." Frank said as he walked out towards the car. The culprit had either seen he and Joe leave the hotel or had known that they had an appointment with Mr. Fairchild that morning.
Frank slid into the backseat of Elayne's convertible after loading all of the luggage in the trunk. "Sorry I took so long, someone left us a note and that took a while," he explained.
Elayne grinned. "No problem, Joe and I were having an interesting conversation, weren't we?"
Joe blushed and Frank rolled his eyes at him. "Where were you planning to go next?" Joe asked Elayne, trying to change the subject.
"I was planning to go pick up a few things at the mall, grab a bite to eat, and then head back to the house. Does that sound okay?" Elayne said.
"You're in charge," Frank answered, "we're just the bodyguards."
Elayne laughed merrily. "Whatever you say." she replied.
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"These packages are too heavy!" Bess complained as she and Bess walked through the crowded shopping mall. They had been shopping all morning. As usual Bess had bought about fifty things and now they were too heavy to carry.
"Then why did you buy it?" Nancy asked.
"It was a good price." Bess retorted.
Nancy rolled her eyes. "Shop until you drop," she muttered under her breath with amusement.
"What was that?" Bess said.
"Nothing," Nancy replied, "nothing at all."
"I'm starving, let's go get something to eat in the food court," Bess suggested.
Nancy smiled. Some things about Bess would always be the same.
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"There was nothing in the job description about lugging packages!" Joe groaned to Frank behind Elayne's back.
"Oh relax," Frank said calmly, "she's the one who's buying lunch for us anyway."
Joe grinned. "Free food!"
Frank rolled his eyes just before Elayne turned around. "That's all I have to pick up. Let's head to the food court."
Frank and Joe nodded their agreement and Elayne led the way to the food court.
The trio soon arrived. "You two find a seat and I'll go order." Elayne directed them.
"Are you sure about that?" Frank asked, he didn't want to leave her unescorted in a crowded place if kidnappers were after her.
"I'll be fine!" Elayne countered before she walked off towards the food counter.
Frank quickly scanned the crowd for any suspicious characters, seeing none he sat down with Joe.
"So what took you so long to pack?" Joe asked.
"This," Frank replied quietly. He took out the warning he had found and slid it across the table to Joe.
Joe picked it up and whistled softly. "These people mean business. At least it confirms Mr. Fairchild's suspicions."
Frank nodded. "What I want to know is how they knew we had been hired already. I also asked at the desk if anyone asked about us. No one did. This means that it is an inside setup."
"What about that secretary guy?" Joe asked eagerly, "What's his name? Hales or something. He was late to work today and Elayne said that he usually isn't late."
"I don't know," Frank said, "don't jump to conclusions. That seems too obvious for me."
"I still think it's worth looking into," Joe persisted.
"Yeah, maybe so." Frank agreed.
Abruptly they pair heard a piercing scream. It was Elayne.
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Nancy dropped her sandwich as a girl shrieked. Someone was in trouble. Nancy jumped up and looked towards the scream came from.
"What was that?" Bess asked as she jumped up and looked around.
"I don't know." Nancy answered distractedly.
Finally Nancy saw where the scream had come from. Two punks wearing ski masks and holding guns were trying to wrestle a teenage girl away. Abruptly two other men jumped into the fray. It was Frank and Joe Hardy! Of all people she should have suspected.
"Come on Bess! It's Frank and Joe, we need to go help." Without waiting for Bess Nancy ran towards the fight. In no time at all she was in the middle of it. Frank and Joe were throwing punches at the thugs. Nancy place a few judo kicks and in a minute the would-be attackers were down.
"Fancy meeting you two here." Nancy said, out of breath.
Frank looked at her and grinned. "I didn't expect you either, Drew." Frank turned his attention away from Nancy and looked down at the girl that had been attacked. "Are you okay Elayne?"
The girl named Elayne looked up at Frank. "Yeah, I'm fine, just let me catch my breath."
Frank nodded. "Should I call your father?"
The girl shook her head. "No, I'll do that, thanks."
How did Frank know her name, let alone her father's phone number? Nancy shot Frank a questioning glance. Frank gestured letting Nancy know that he'd explain later.
Just then a pair of policemen huffed up and pushed their way through the crowd of onlookers. "What happened here?" the taller one asked.
"These bums here just tried to kidnap Elayne." Joe explained.
"So I understand," the cop replied taking a notebook out of his pocket, "my name is Bill Kimball by the way. I'm afraid that you'll all need to come down to the station to make statements."
Frank nodded knowing about the long and boring procedures that police put people through.
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Frank, Nancy, and Joe were all sitting in the reception room waiting for Elayne and Mr. Fairchild to finish making their statements. Mr. Fairchild had arrived at the police station at the same time as the rest of the party had. Elayne had called him from the mall. Bess had gone back to her and Nancy's hotel. The four men who had tried to kidnap her were being booked.
"So you were supposed to keep her from being kidnapped?" Nancy asked after Frank explained the whole morning.
"Yes, that was our job, and we didn't do so well, did we?" Frank said ruefully.
"You kept her from being kidnapped didn't you?" Nancy pointed out.
"Sheer luck." Joe mumbled.
They were interrupted when Elayne and her father came into the reception room. Frank, Joe, and Nancy stood up. "I guess that's the end of our job isn't it?" Frank said uncomfortably.
Mr. Fairchild shook his head no. "I'm afraid that it's not that easy Frank. Those would be kidnappers were merely hired street thugs. The person who hired them is still at large. Your protection is needed now more than ever."
"We'll do better this time," Joe mumbled.
"Better is always good," Fairchild responded, "though I feel that you did a fine job as it is."
"I though we botched it up, if it hadn't been for Nancy here they would have gotten away." Joe said.
"That's why I've decided to ask Miss Drew here to assist you," Fairchild said, "that is, if she'll accept the offer under the same terms you're being employed."
Nancy nodded eagerly. "I'd love too!"
"Good," Fairchild said, "you can start immediately, Frank and Joe will brief you, if they already haven't."
The three detectives smiled.
Mr. Fairchild nodded, "I thought so. I have to get back to my office now, you can take Elayne. I think it best that you should go straight to our home. She's had a terrible shock and probably needs rest.
Frank glanced at Elayne. She seemed fine, most likely, she would resist being taken home. "No problem sir." Frank said to Mr. Fairchild.
"Good," Mr. Fairchild said. He walked out the door leaving the four teens alone.
"So where is home?" Joe asked Elayne.
Elayne groaned. "Let's go get something to eat first, I'm starving!"
"But your father said. . ." Nancy objected.
"Don't worry about that," Elayne said regaining her cheerfulness, "just something quick on the way. Right after that, we'll go home and I'll introduce you to everyone."
"Sounds good to me," Frank commented.
Nancy nodded. "I'll follow you guys in my car, we'll need to stop at my hotel so I can pick up my stuff first."
"Sounds good to me," Elayne said.
To Be Continued. . .
A/N: Sorry that there isn't a cliffhanger and all that. . . . :)