Mind racing, Joe accessed the mystery fanfiction site, but there were no new chapters posted of Truth and Consequences. He chewed his lip, considering. Let's see, what else can I try…? Thoughtfully, Joe tried the link to reach the host of the website, and tried to obtain a profile of the web mistress, but there was no information provided.
If only Dad were home, Joe mused, he could probably go through some legal channel and find out. But he's not, and I don't want to involve Vanessa in this; it's too dangerous. Wait a minute - PHIL! He's the best computer hacker in Bayport - if anyone can find her, Phil can!
Joe picked up the phone and dialed Phil Cohen's number. When Phil answered, Joe explained what had been going on, and requested his help.
"Phil, I need a profile on the web mistress - or master, but I'm getting pretty sure it's a woman - and an address, if at all possible. Can do?"
"No promises, Joe, but I'll do the best I can." Phil assured him.
Joe grinned. "Your best is better than anyone else's, pal. Here's the info…."
Joe completed his conversation with Phil, and was just logging off the computer when Frank came in, finished with the yard work.
"Have I really been on here that long?" Joe asked, in fascinated wonder. "It only seemed like a few minutes!" He updated Frank on what he'd tried to find out, and tried out his theory of Mystique being the web mistress.
"Why would the web mistress be doing this?" Frank pondered.
"Maybe to get more online traffic?" Joe hazarded a guess.
"Huh?"
"Ads," Joe clarified. "The more hits a site gets, the more advertisers want on a site."
"Yeah, but the amount of people who go there would depend on the stories, don't you think?" Frank argued.
Joe nodded agreeably, but pursued his line of thought anyway. "But if people thought maybe someone was psychic, and writing a story about us - us, Frank! - that same someone could just as easily write a story about them. So people would read every day, to find out if something was happening that might be true."
"But this person who's writing Truth and Consequences isn't psychic. She's doing this!" Frank's frustration was evident in his voice.
"We know that," Joe tried to soothe his older brother. "but since the chapters are posted before things happen, no one else will."
"How would anyone else know it in the first place?" Frank demanded.
"Looked at a newspaper lately?" Joe asked. He walked over to the bookshelf, where a stack of papers lay - newspapers their mother had been saving, to clip out articles and put them in the scrapbooks she kept for her sons. He shuffled through the stack, and held up two. The front page of one contained an article about the bomb found at the school the previous week, and the front page of the other shouted out about the students injured by a bomb in a locker at Bayport High. Both articles prominently featured the names of Frank and Joe Hardy.
"But how would anyone else know about it?" Frank asked again. "Not everyone gets the Bayport newspapers!"
"Check the message board." Laura said, coming in on their conversation.
Frank clicked the link, and brought up the message board. Sure enough, there were several messages commenting on the fact that the events in Truth and Consequences were paralleling the events at Bayport High School in New York State, and further comments on how the protagonists, Fletcher and Jeremy, resembled real-life Frank and Joe Hardy.
"Must be a lot of readers n Bayport to recognize us," Frank commented.
"Well, with three such fantastic detectives living here, there are probably a lot of people who find what you three do fascinating," Laura said, with an affectionate smile.
"Face it," Joe added. "Even our girlfriends wanted to be detectives," he reminded Frank. "Remember when that hypnotist came to town and got teenagers to act out parts and then used tapes made to insert their images into crime scene videos?"
"I had forgotten," Frank admitted, grinning ruefully at his brother.
"Oh, before I forget," Joe snapped his fingers. "Dad sent an e-mail. He said he's wrapping up the case, and he should be home by Wednesday. And he sends his love," he finished.
"Oh, I'm glad we've heard from him!" Laura's expression was pure relief.
Deciding they could learn nothing more from the computer, the boys both went upstairs and changed; Joe to get ready for his date with Vanessa, and Frank to remove the tickly-grass-filled clothing he'd worn to mow the lawn. When Joe was ready to go, he sat down briefly to review plans with his older brother.
"We're going to be at the 2:20 showing of the Ninja Frogs movie," Joe stated. "I'll delay a little, to give you time to get in before us, so if anyone is following us, they won't see you."
"I hope I'm not the one being followed!" Frank exclaimed. "Fletcher was, in the story…but since I don't have a date, and little bits and pieces of the story are different, maybe that part will be, too." He wrinkled his nose expressively. "Did you guys have to pick that Ninja Frogs flick?"
Half an hour later, Joe ushered Vanessa into the theater lobby, and they moved toward the refreshment stands to get popcorn and drinks. Joe's appetite had finally started to return, and he asked for the largest container of buttered popcorn available - but he hedged his bets, and requested 7-Up to drink, just in case his stomach decided to get queasy again. Vanessa ordered root beer, and the teens went in and found seats.
Frank was already there, lounging in a row near the back of the room. Joe glanced his way once, then ignored him. He'd briefed Vanessa that Frank was going to be watching them, looking out for a tail, so she paid no attention to the elder Hardy boy.
As they waited for the lights to dim, Frank noticed a young man enter who fit the description of the intruder at Ms. Westerman's house, and he watched him sharply. The man walked past Joe and Vanessa and took a seat, but a few minutes after the movie started, he rose to his feet and walked back out to the lobby. When he returned, the man chose a seat a few rows behind Joe and Vanessa, and from what Frank could see, he seemed to be paying more attention to them than he was to the Ninja Frogs on the screen! Frank watched him closely throughout the film.
When the credits ended and the lights came up, Vanessa and Joe got up to leave, taking their places in the line of movie-goers straggling up the ramped aisle. The stranger Frank was eyeing followed them - not too close, not yet, but still, he was staying near. Frank stood up and moved towards the exit in their wake.
Outside, Joe and Vanessa walked down the sidewalk toward the parked van, laughing and talking about the movie, oblivious of the man who was quietly following them, steadily drawing nearer. Joe opened the passenger door of the van, and Vanessa got in. As Joe shut the door, the stranger suddenly moved in close, and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, spinning him around.
Startled, Joe jumped in surprise. Immediately, he looked past the man, seeking Frank - but Frank was nowhere to be seen!
Joe picked up the phone and dialed Phil Cohen's number. When Phil answered, Joe explained what had been going on, and requested his help.
"Phil, I need a profile on the web mistress - or master, but I'm getting pretty sure it's a woman - and an address, if at all possible. Can do?"
"No promises, Joe, but I'll do the best I can." Phil assured him.
Joe grinned. "Your best is better than anyone else's, pal. Here's the info…."
Joe completed his conversation with Phil, and was just logging off the computer when Frank came in, finished with the yard work.
"Have I really been on here that long?" Joe asked, in fascinated wonder. "It only seemed like a few minutes!" He updated Frank on what he'd tried to find out, and tried out his theory of Mystique being the web mistress.
"Why would the web mistress be doing this?" Frank pondered.
"Maybe to get more online traffic?" Joe hazarded a guess.
"Huh?"
"Ads," Joe clarified. "The more hits a site gets, the more advertisers want on a site."
"Yeah, but the amount of people who go there would depend on the stories, don't you think?" Frank argued.
Joe nodded agreeably, but pursued his line of thought anyway. "But if people thought maybe someone was psychic, and writing a story about us - us, Frank! - that same someone could just as easily write a story about them. So people would read every day, to find out if something was happening that might be true."
"But this person who's writing Truth and Consequences isn't psychic. She's doing this!" Frank's frustration was evident in his voice.
"We know that," Joe tried to soothe his older brother. "but since the chapters are posted before things happen, no one else will."
"How would anyone else know it in the first place?" Frank demanded.
"Looked at a newspaper lately?" Joe asked. He walked over to the bookshelf, where a stack of papers lay - newspapers their mother had been saving, to clip out articles and put them in the scrapbooks she kept for her sons. He shuffled through the stack, and held up two. The front page of one contained an article about the bomb found at the school the previous week, and the front page of the other shouted out about the students injured by a bomb in a locker at Bayport High. Both articles prominently featured the names of Frank and Joe Hardy.
"But how would anyone else know about it?" Frank asked again. "Not everyone gets the Bayport newspapers!"
"Check the message board." Laura said, coming in on their conversation.
Frank clicked the link, and brought up the message board. Sure enough, there were several messages commenting on the fact that the events in Truth and Consequences were paralleling the events at Bayport High School in New York State, and further comments on how the protagonists, Fletcher and Jeremy, resembled real-life Frank and Joe Hardy.
"Must be a lot of readers n Bayport to recognize us," Frank commented.
"Well, with three such fantastic detectives living here, there are probably a lot of people who find what you three do fascinating," Laura said, with an affectionate smile.
"Face it," Joe added. "Even our girlfriends wanted to be detectives," he reminded Frank. "Remember when that hypnotist came to town and got teenagers to act out parts and then used tapes made to insert their images into crime scene videos?"
"I had forgotten," Frank admitted, grinning ruefully at his brother.
"Oh, before I forget," Joe snapped his fingers. "Dad sent an e-mail. He said he's wrapping up the case, and he should be home by Wednesday. And he sends his love," he finished.
"Oh, I'm glad we've heard from him!" Laura's expression was pure relief.
Deciding they could learn nothing more from the computer, the boys both went upstairs and changed; Joe to get ready for his date with Vanessa, and Frank to remove the tickly-grass-filled clothing he'd worn to mow the lawn. When Joe was ready to go, he sat down briefly to review plans with his older brother.
"We're going to be at the 2:20 showing of the Ninja Frogs movie," Joe stated. "I'll delay a little, to give you time to get in before us, so if anyone is following us, they won't see you."
"I hope I'm not the one being followed!" Frank exclaimed. "Fletcher was, in the story…but since I don't have a date, and little bits and pieces of the story are different, maybe that part will be, too." He wrinkled his nose expressively. "Did you guys have to pick that Ninja Frogs flick?"
Half an hour later, Joe ushered Vanessa into the theater lobby, and they moved toward the refreshment stands to get popcorn and drinks. Joe's appetite had finally started to return, and he asked for the largest container of buttered popcorn available - but he hedged his bets, and requested 7-Up to drink, just in case his stomach decided to get queasy again. Vanessa ordered root beer, and the teens went in and found seats.
Frank was already there, lounging in a row near the back of the room. Joe glanced his way once, then ignored him. He'd briefed Vanessa that Frank was going to be watching them, looking out for a tail, so she paid no attention to the elder Hardy boy.
As they waited for the lights to dim, Frank noticed a young man enter who fit the description of the intruder at Ms. Westerman's house, and he watched him sharply. The man walked past Joe and Vanessa and took a seat, but a few minutes after the movie started, he rose to his feet and walked back out to the lobby. When he returned, the man chose a seat a few rows behind Joe and Vanessa, and from what Frank could see, he seemed to be paying more attention to them than he was to the Ninja Frogs on the screen! Frank watched him closely throughout the film.
When the credits ended and the lights came up, Vanessa and Joe got up to leave, taking their places in the line of movie-goers straggling up the ramped aisle. The stranger Frank was eyeing followed them - not too close, not yet, but still, he was staying near. Frank stood up and moved towards the exit in their wake.
Outside, Joe and Vanessa walked down the sidewalk toward the parked van, laughing and talking about the movie, oblivious of the man who was quietly following them, steadily drawing nearer. Joe opened the passenger door of the van, and Vanessa got in. As Joe shut the door, the stranger suddenly moved in close, and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, spinning him around.
Startled, Joe jumped in surprise. Immediately, he looked past the man, seeking Frank - but Frank was nowhere to be seen!