Sorry for the late update, everyone. It took us a little while to get this chapter right as we had to rewrite it a few times.
Chapter 13:
"No, the hospitals don't have him," said Fenton Hardy, as they sat in the living room a few hours later. He had been calling all the hospitals in Bayport with a description of Frank, but none of the hospital staff seemed to have seen him. At the sofa, Laura Hardy looked at her husband in despair. Joe took his mother's hand and rubbed it comfortingly.
Earlier that day, they had traced the route as Biff suggested, and had found the wreckage of Laura's car at the farmyard, with the green car abandoned nearby, but there was no sign of Frank or Katie anywhere. They had combed the entire area in search of them, but to no avail.
"I've just been talking to Ezra Collig," Mr. Hardy told his wife, as he placed down the phone again. "The police have found some scrapes of blue and green on your car. They have posted a lookout for cars that match those shades. Hopefully, that will turn out something." He sighed. "Now if you excuse me, I need to go to the station and see Ezra."
Laura Hardy looked a little surprised. "Chief Collig? Frank just disappeared a few hours ago. You mean the police are looking into this already? I thought the police wait twenty-four hours or something," she frowned.
Her detective husband fell silent. This is grave, Chief Collig had told Fenton Hardy over the phone. "Well, I suppose we need to break it to the Ryans that their daughter is missing." He wasn't lying, though he personally suspected there was more to it. As soon as Chief Collig had heard that Katie was with Frank, he had said exactly that, and requested for Fenton to go over to the station at once.
"Do the police you know who took him yet?" she pressed on. Fenton Hardy shook his head.
"We're still trying to find out. That's also why Ezra wants to see me."
Joe buried his face in his hands and let out a soft groan. In all his worry about Frank, the younger Hardy had forgotten about Katie. "I should have never sent Frank to go alone," he said dismally. "I should have waited for him. We should have gone together." His mother went over and pulled him close, and kissed him lightly on the head.
"It's not your fault, honey," she said gently, running her hand through her son's blond hair. "I am just guilty about it as you are. I… I agreed to that idea too, and I even encouraged him to take my car." It was true. She had been a little thrilled that morning when Joe told her that he and Vanessa were setting Frank up. She had always felt that Frank was brooding a little too much over Callie, and thought that this might be a good thing for him. She never thought it would end up like this.
Mr. Hardy took a seat next to his son. "Don't blame yourselves too much," he told them, laying a hand on Joe's shoulder. "Maybe it's a good thing that he went in the car. At least, we can still hope that he is not that badly injured. I shudder to think what might have happened if you two are run down on your bikes." He reached over to his wife and squeezed her hand, hoping that what he said was true. "We'll find him soon, Laura."
"No, that's not it, Dad," Joe admitted dismally. "Frank – he…" He took a deep breath to compose himself. "Frank was checking up on Katie on the computer yesterday evening. I think he suspected something about her. Or her dad, rather."
His mother looked at him at once. "What? Why?" she asked.
"I don't know," admitted Joe. "I wasn't paying much attention. I was too busy teasing him to listen." He dropped his face into his hands. "Dad, do you think that's why they got him? 'Cause he was getting too close at something? Something about the Ryans, maybe?"
Mr. Hardy looked thoughtful. He had not known this. "Try to find out what has Frank been surfing on yesterday. Check the history and the cache on his computer," he instructed.
Mrs. Hardy's voice grew hushed. "You mean, the Ryans are involved in this?" she said bitterly. "And to think we sent him out with that girl…"
Her husband shook his head. "We don't know that yet for sure. It's just a guess, but it might be helpful to see what Frank was checking on. But I'll find out soon. I'm meeting Dr. Ryan and Ezra at the station."
"Be careful." His wife was looking at him, almost pleading.
"I will," he promised, taking her hand and planting her a kiss before heading for the door.
-xx-
Frank furrowed his brow, his eyes still half shut. He had just woken up to a throbbing headache. "Ugh," he moaned groggily, trying to lift up his hand to rub his temples. To his surprise, he could not move. Peering through the lids of his eyes, he realized that he was bound at his wrists and ankles. He closed his eyes again, willing the fuzziness to go away, and tried to remember where he was. He wondered how long he had been unconscious.
The car… the lurch… the crash... moments of the accident earlier replayed in his mind. He suddenly snapped his eyes open. Katie! Whatever had happened to her? Painfully, he struggled to push himself up to a sitting position. As he tried to get up, he felt a strong hand push him down back again. He felt a needle prick his arm and he swam back into a deep sleep.