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Vanessa Bender saw Laura fall into the chair and moved quickly to pick up the phone. "Who is this," she demanded, refusing to let any fear enter her voice.
"I suggest you ask Laura," said the man's voice, which Callie recognized as the same one that had called her hours before.
"Thomas!" said Laura. "Leave my sons out of this. Your quarrel is with me"
"Oh no," said Thomas. I'm afraid not. It's also with the husband of yours. Fenton, the man who took you away from me. And those two sons of yours that should have been mine."
"Fenton will find them," said Laura firmly, her faith and confidence renewed. "He will find them no matter what. Frank and Joe will never know about me. Whatever you are going to ask me to do, I won't have to do it."
The laughter the followed chilled Callie to the bone. It wasn't the maniacal laughter that you would expect. Rather, Thomas sounded genuinely amused.
"And where is Fenton now?" he inquired once he had gotten control of himself. "Maybe you'll notice that he hasn't come home?"
"Fenton went to a –" Laura stopped. "You didn't…" she whispered. "If you've hurt him…".
"Mr. Hardy is in good health for time being. I can sense that Miss Shaw and Miss Bender are skeptical. You will find proof of my statements in your mailbox."
Laura covered the phone, turned off the speaker and nodded at Vanessa. Vanessa went out to the mailbox and quickly returned with a piece of paper which she laid on the table. Frank, Joe and Fenton's faces stared up at them. They all looked to be either sleeping peacefully or drugged.
After closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and opening her eyes again, Laura clicked the speaker back on and uncovered the phone. "What do you want?" she said again? Her voice was even calmer than before. But, it had a dangerous undercurrent to it that the two younger women had never previously heard from Laura Hardy.
"Ah now! That is the voice of Laura Basden. She's coming back! She really tried to keep herself hidden by staying out of her husband and son's lives and cleaning suits and sipping tea. " He chuckled and then his voice hardened and he continued "It's what you want. You want your kids and your husband back. That's going to be all that matters to you. As for me, I want you to suffer – especially after the way you helped Hardy bring down me and my father. You had no right to do that."
"Right!" Laura yelled so loudly that Vanessa and Callie both winced. "What right did you have to try to make me into your possession? If this entire phone call is so you can gloat and try to make me feel guilty, I'm afraid you are wasting your time."
"I just enjoy listening to your voice again. To business: Do you remember our last plan? The plan that you and Hardy foiled? The job that we thought was our last job ever? I want you to do it. Do it, and your sons will be returned to you. Refuse to do it, and they will either be forced to work for me or suffer and die."
"A—and Fenton?" Laura said quietly, the energy drained out of her. Callie put her hand over Laura's and gave it a comforting squeeze.
"That will depend on both him and you. If he's willing to give you up, I may be willing to let both of you live. The last job. I want it done by tomorrow night at 11 P.M."
"You know I need more time," said Laura urgently. "I don't exactly have a basement full of that equipment anymore. Give me three days."
"Very well, Laura. But don't think of calling the cops. If you do that, they will know that the wife of the great Fenton Hardy is a criminal. The reputation of your husband would never survive. I"ll call you -"
"Now you listen here," said Vanessa. "I don't care who you are and how you know Mrs. Hardy. But, I do care about Joe. If anything happens to him, you will have me to deal with. Do I make myself clear?"
"I doubt your martial arts skills are a match for my best men, Miss Bender. But, yes you make yourself perfectly clear. I'll call you in three days at 10 PM to make the arrangements." The line disconnected with a click.
"I'm calling the police. I don't care what he says," said Vanessa as she began to dial the phone.
"No," said Laura swiftly unplugging the phone. "If you do that, we will never see any of them again. I know that's the generic threat, but Thomas means it. The police will investigate my past as well when I need to do everything to find Fenton, Frank and Joe."
Getting up from the chair Laura faced the girls and said:
"That's it. You two need to leave. I will handle this myself."
"Absolutely not," said Callie with her eyes blazing. "We love Frank and Joe, we are not letting them get kidnapped because of who you were or what you did 20-something years ago. You've always said we were like your daughters. If that is true, you can't shut us out. We deserve an explanation of what is going on and what this has to do with you. And besides, you heard him. All three of them will be dead unless we do something."
"What do you mean?"
"He hates you. I could hear it in his voice. He wants to see all of us destroyed and will kill them regardless of if we go to the police or if we do what he wants. You've said that we are almost your daughters in-law. Let us help, and at least tell us why we can't go to the police."
"Thomas Camarazzi was my boyfriend," said Laura quietly. "I was a member of the Camarazzi syndicate. We specialized in blackmail and money laundering before moving on to art objects."
Disregarding Callie and Vanessa's open mouths, Laura continued, "Fenton was called in to investigate. He solved the case and we ended up falling in love. However, the crimes were never solved. I thought Thomas was dead, but apparently he isn't. If I call the police now, I may be arrested and Frank, Joe and Fenton will never be found. This isn't about me. If I had to give myself up for the police to find them, I would do it instantly -"
Seeing Callie about to protest she held up a hand. "But I know Thomas. I used to work with him. The police would not find him. Blending in is his specialty. He could be living right down the street from you and you would never know."
"Being in love with a Hardy means taking some risks," said Vanessa quietly. "That didn't include finding out that their mother is actually a criminal."
"I'm the same person you knew yesterday," said Laura. "My name is Laura Hardy. Laura Basden no longer exists. I know how we can get the men we love back, but I can't do it myself. You may not be very happy with me right now, but you need to trust me."
"Fine," said Callie after she and Vanessa had exchanged a very long look. "For the moment. But if I feel the need, I will call the police. If it means that you go to jail, then you go to jail." The two women stared at each other for a long moment, neither of them breaking eye contact until Laura smiled. "If I were you, I would do the exact same thing for Fenton."
Callie returned the smile as Laura turned around. "Fenton has made his study impossible to bug. We will talk in there."
"So, what exactly are we doing to get them back?" asked Vanessa once they were seated in the study.
"Find Thomas and his base of operations, see if we can convince the bank manager to give us what's in a safe deposit box at the Bayport Memorial savings without stealing it, steal it if we have to, find Frank, Fenton and Joe and rescue them, and then call the police."
"And then what will we do after dinner?" inquired Callie, and then she clapped a hand over her mouth. All three women laughed so hard that Vanessa had tears in her eyes, Callie couldn't breathe and Laura spit out the water she had just drunk.