With some time, and a lot of effort, Joe managed to get O'Neil outside and into the back of the car. Climbing behind the wheel, he took off down the road. Ten miles later, the dust gave way to pavement only yards before he came to a highway. Joe stopped the car and looked both ways. There were no signs saying which way went where and he had no idea which way would take him to the nearest town. He turned left, praying this was the right direction and hit the gas.
The Toyota spun onto the highway and began picking up speed. Many more miles later he was pushing seventy-five miles an hour in an attempt to reach civilization when a blue light flashed and a siren started up.
"Thank God," Joe murmured, pulling the Toyota to a stop. He got out of the car as the police cruiser pulled to a stop behind him.
"I'm so glad to see you," Joe said, not going any closer to the cruiser than the rear door of the Toyota. He didn't want to spook the officer. "I have an injured person in the back that needs medical treatment now."
"Then why are you headed away from the hospital?" the highway patrolman demanded, staring at Joe suspiciously as he unsnapped the holster housing his gun.
"Because I have no idea where I am," Joe told him, moving a few feet away from the car as the officer motioned for him to do. "My name is Joe Hardy. The man in the backseat kidnapped me," he tried to explain. "I got loose and rigged a trap for him when he went to get rid of the van we had traveled here in but when he fell into my trap he got hurt really bad."
The officer peered into the car. "You did that to him?" he demanded, his face hardening.
"Yes," Joe confessed. "I didn't mean for him to get hurt, only to take him out for a bit so I could escape. He needs to go to the hospital."
The officer called dispatch and requested an ambulance and a tow to impound the car. "Against the car," he ordered Joe when he was done.
"I'm under arrest, right?" Joe asked, doing as he was instructed. He raised his arms and put them against the top of the car and spread his legs in classic mode.
"Done this before?" the officer asked, patting Joe down for weapons.
"Under the circumstances, it is what I would do," Joe said. "And you might as well know, the guy in the car was a cop with the Bayport Police Department."
The officer froze just shy of grabbing Joe's left wrist. "You did this to a cop?" he demanded in disbelief. "You're confessing?"
"He kidnapped me," Joe repeated his earlier declaration, wincing in pain as the officer roughly grabbed his wrist.
"You were his prisoner," the cop snarled, slapping the cuff on tight.
"Yes," Joe acknowledged wearily. "But not in the way you think," he added as the other bracelet encircled his right wrist behind his back.
Two hours later Joe had been processed and was sitting in an interrogation room at the county jail with Arnold Harmon, the chief of police. "Why?" Harmon asked Joe, sitting down in the chair across from him. "Why did you kill him?"
"Kill?" gasped Joe, his eyes widening in horror. "I didn't!" he denied.
"He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital," Harmon informed Joe.
"Oh, no," Joe whispered, stricken. He hadn't meant for this to happen. He had only wanted to escape.
"Talk!" snapped Harmon.
"I told the arresting officer," Joe said softly, still in shock. "O'Neil kidnapped me. I was only trying to get away but he got hurt in the process."
"Right," said the Chief in a smug tone. "You're the victim here."
"Call Ezra Collig," Joe said. "He's the chief of police in Bayport. Or call my dad. He's Fenton Hardy."
"And I'm the Easter Bunny," Harmon replied as the door to the interrogation room opened.
"Had an ear job so you wouldn't be recognized, I take it," commented the newcomer from the doorway.
Joe's eyes flew to the Network man's he knew only as Gray. "What are you doing here?" he inquired.
"Your name came up in a murder," Gray explained, entering the room and handing his identification to Chief Harmon. "Until Hardin is captured, you are on our alert list."
"He's wanted by the Network?" Harmon inquired, referring to Joe.
"He works for the Network," Gray corrected his assumption. "Albeit, freelance. And he has been telling you the truth. O'Neil was a kidnapper."
"O'Neil is dead," Harmon stated, looking a bit bewildered.
"That has already been established," Gray acknowledged. "Have you sent a team to where Joe was being held prisoner to check out his story?"
"Yes," Harmon said, nodding his head affirmatively. "I should be hearing from them soon."
"In the meantime, I suggest you leave the boy alone," Gray stated. He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Joe. "You had better call home," he said.
Harmon snatched the phone. "I will call," he said, still not quite believing the youth was the son of Fenton Hardy. "Number?" he asked.
Joe and Gray spouted the number in unison and Harmon punched it in. He listened as the person answered then handed it to Joe without anymore objections.
"Dad?" Joe said, hearing his father's voice. "I'm okay but O'Neil is dead. I am at the Amarillo county jail in Texas. They have arrested me for murder."