Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys or any of the book characters.
Thanks once again to Wendylouwho10 for reading over this for me!
Rating/Setting: Rating is T. Setting is kinda blue spine and AU. Joe and Iola are 16, Frank and Callie are 17.
Author's Notes: I'm back in town but behind in my writing. Will try to post again Saturday, but won't guarantee it yet. ;-D
Chapter Six
Fifteen minutes later Fenton and Laura went in to see Joe while Frank and Detective Collins waited for their turn. Dr. Snow had been adamant that the Hardys have a chance to see their son before Joe was questioned. Sam had left the hospital to return to the Hardy home to get Joe a change of clothes.
Frank sat in impatiently in the waiting room with the detective. He couldn't help but watch the man who would be in charge of tracking down his brother's abductors. He didn't have much experience with Collins except that the man didn't like the one time that he and Joe had solved a case before he did. Since then, if Collins were working a case, he quickly moved the boys out of the way and didn't give them any information to work with.
Collins looked up from his tablet to see Frank looking at him intently. Flipping the cover over the screen, he stood and moved to take a seat next to Frank. "You know that I'm going to do everything I can to catch the guys who did this."
"Yeah, I know," Frank said looking straight ahead at the clock on the wall. "You know that my dad and I are going to do the same." He turned to look at the detective who now wore a frown on his face. "What would you do if it were your brother?"
"I'd let the police do their job," Collins replied in a clipped tone.
"Really?" Frank asked. "Even though you're a police detective, you'd just let someone else handle everything?" Frank could see the doubt pass over Collins' face. But the man wanted him out of the way.
"Yes. I'd trust them to do their jobs."
"Do your job then and I'll do mine."
"And what job is that?" Collins asked snidely.
"Protecting my brother and bringing his kidnappers to justice."
Collins was getting ready to respond when Laura came out of the ER. Both Frank and Collins stood and moved toward her.
"It's your turn, Frank," she said calmly. When Collins made to follow Frank through the doors, Laura put out a hand. "Not yet, Detective. Give my sons a few minutes."
Frank didn't hear Collins behind him as the automatic doors closed with a slight hum. The man had made a wise decision not to test the patience of Laura Hardy.
Frank carefully pushed open the door to his brother's room in the ER and he was struck by Joe's pallor. Just how much blood had his brother lost? "Hey, kiddo."
Joe opened his eyes to give his brother a wan smile. "Not a kid anymore."
"Guess not," Frank said as he moved to stand next to the rail. "How are you doing?"
"I'm really tired, but I don't hurt much. They gave me the good stuff," he said with a goofy laugh.
Frank raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Sounds like they did." He looked to his father. "Detective Collins will be in in just a few minutes. Mom held him off so I could see Joe first."
"Don't want to talk to him," Joe mumbled with a frown.
"He's coming off the initial drugs they gave him to help with the pain from his stab wound and the surgery." Fenton directed his comments to Frank as an explanation for Joe's rather unusual attitude. "The doctor said he'll be more like himself before we leave."
A knock sounded at the door and Collins came quietly in the room and directed his attention to Fenton. "Your wife told me that he's pretty out of it. If it's all right with you, I'll just ask him a few questions tonight and come by your house tomorrow."
"Thank you," Fenton responded. "I think that will be fine." He turned his attention to Joe. "Joe? Detective Collins is here and wants to ask a few questions."
"Do I have to answer?"Joe's tone sounded more like a five year old than a sixteen year old.
Fenton and Frank chuckled. "Yes, son. You do."
"Kay."
"Joe, did you see what kind of vehicle they switched to?"
"Silver, extended cab truck with tinted windows. I think it was a newer model Ford. I couldn't see much out the window. It was fogged up."
Frank was unsurprised that his brother could rattle off information about the truck. His brother had been looking at all sorts of vehicles since he turned sixteen and had his own license.
Collins made notes on his tablet. "Did you see their faces or see or hear anything to identify them?"
"They never took off the ski masks. Black jacket's eyes were hazel and I think he was left handed."
"The man in the black jacket had hazel eyes and was left-handed?" Collins asked.
"That's what I said isn't it?" Joe's asked with irritation.
"Just clarifying. Can you tell me why you think he was left-handed?"
"Held the gun and his knife with his left hand."
Collins looked over to Fenton. "Matches with the video we have from some of the other robberies. Looks like the same guys." He looked back to Joe. "Officer Riley said that there was a heart drawn on your face. Can you tell me about it?"
Joe was quiet for a moment. "I'm tired and it's a long story. Can I tell you tomorrow?"
Collins hesitated and then relented to obviously wiped out young man in front of him. "Sure, Joe. I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded at Fenton and Frank. "I'll call before coming over."
"That's was pretty decent of him," Frank said as the detective left.
"He's just trying to do his job." Fenton looked back to Joe. "But it won't stop me from investigating this myself. It's personal." He looked over to Frank. "We'll do this together. No going off on your own."
"Promise," Frank said with a slight smile. With his father on board, there was no way this robber/kidnapper was going to get away.
.**********.
It was around 3:00 a.m. by the time that the Hardys got Joe home and into his bed. He was still mumbling random things about the night's happenings as he moved in and out of sleep.
"I'll be glad when he's coherent," Fenton said to Frank as they left Laura to finish tucking him in.
"At least what he told Collins makes sense," Frank said. Taking a chance, he asked, "Do you want to start working on this tonight?"
Fenton shook his head no. "We need to sleep and we'll do better with fresh eyes tomorrow. I want to get these guys as much as you do, Frank. But we can't let our emotions rule our investigation."
"But I thought you-"
Knowing where his son was going with his statement, Fenton said, "It IS personal. But we have to be in control or we might miss something and that may cost us."
"Okay, dad," Frank said with resignation.
Fenton clapped him on the back. "Tomorrow – " Fenton paused. "Later today we'll get to work on this. Go to bed." With a final clap on his son's shoulder, Fenton headed toward his room. It would be exactly as he told Frank. It was personal and they would find these criminals and they would answer for their crimes.
.**********.
Joe slept until 10:00 a.m. the next morning and when he awoke he was cranky. "Ow," he whined as he tried to push himself up on the bed. Carefully he tried again but with only partial success. He could hear movement on the stairs and called out, "A little help in here?"
The door pushed open and Frank stepped in with a smile. "We were wondering when you'd wake up all the way." Walking toward the bed, he added, "Let me put the pillows behind you and that should help."
"All the way?"
"Yeah, dad helped you to the bathroom early this morning but he said you were really out of it."
Once the pillows were arranged, Joe sighed in relief as he leaned back into them and closed his eyes for a moment. His head and leg were throbbing in tandem and he was praying that there were some painkillers to be had. "Tell me the doctors prescribed some pain meds."
"They did," Frank responded. "Dad went to the pharmacy this morning and picked them up along with an antibiotic." Joe could hear him move to the door. "I'll go get them from mom." He hesitated. "You want something to eat?"
Joe's stomach was feeling less than settled but taking the meds on an empty stomach probably was against the rules. "Crackers and ginger ale should be okay," he said after pausing for a moment. He heard the sounds of Frank's footsteps on the stairs. His mind still felt a little fuzzy but he wasn't sure if it was from the bump on his head or the drugs he had had the previous night. He actually didn't remember much from the hospital once they gave him the pain medication.
"Here you are, sweetie," Laura said as she sat carefully on the edge of the bed.
One eye opened and Joe saw that his mother had two pills in one hand and a glass of ginger ale in the other. Just to the side of the bed Frank stood holding a sleeve of saltine crackers. He couldn't help but smile as he reached out to take the pills and then the soda, which thankfully had a straw. Once the soda was on the night stand, Frank tossed the crackers onto his brother's lap. Joe smiled again as he opened the wrapper and took a cracker out. As he bit into it, crumbs fell to his chest.
"Looks like we'll be changing that bed later," Laura said with a relieved laugh. "Your father and brother will help you downstairs later once your medicine takes effect." She leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on the top of Joe's head. "They also want to talk to you about what happened." Laura paused and added, "If it's too much, take a break because Detective Collins will be here later and I don't want you worn out."
"Okay, mom," Joe said through a mouthful of crackers. He saw the look that she gave his brother and knew that his father and brother would be in big trouble if they tired him out. As Joe took a sip of the soda, his father walked in and sat on the end of the bed.
"Detective Collins doesn't want us questioning you until he arrives, but he should be here soon. I just called him." Fenton said . "But if there's anything you want to talk about we'll listen."
Joe selected another cracker. His head was still hurting. Where to start? The beginning I guess. "Prito's was closing and Mr. Prito headed to the door to lock it. Iola and I were just getting out of the booth when-"
"Why were you at Prito's so late when it was just you and Iola?" Frank interrupted.
Joe looked at his brother like a deer in the headlights. He really hadn't thought that his relationship or whatever it was would be part of this discussion. Thankfully, Fenton spoke before Joe did.
"Frank, let you brother talk for now. We're not interviewing him," Fenton said gently.
"Sorry, dad."
At a nod from his dad, Joe continued with the events up until the part about the man getting out the knife. A soft knock sounded at the door and all three turned to see Laura looking concerned in the doorway.
"Detective Collins is here. Shall I send him up?"
Fenton stood. "Send him up." He turned to Frank, "Go get the desk chair from your room."
"It's okay, mom," Joe said softly seeing her worried look. Obviously she had heard part of his comments. She would hear the whole thing at some point but hearing it right now while he was looking banged up just made it harder.
She gave him a small smile. "I'll send the detective up."
Frank entered with the chair and sat it near the end of the bed as his father met the detective at the door.
Joe was more than a little nervous. He hadn't had time to think how he would word some of the stuff that had happened. It wasn't the really important stuff about the robbers but details related to Iola and the whole darn 'Cupid' thing. Iola's not really my girlfriend. We didn't really figure out what we are or if what we were on was technically a date. Hearing his name, Joe gave a startled glance to the detective. "Um, what?"
Collins looked to Fenton. "Are you sure he's okay to talk?"
"Joe?" Fenton asked with concern.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. I'm just still processing everything." Joe crinkled the plastic wrapper from the crackers in his hand. At least if he needed a moment, he could always shove a cracker in his mouth. That would give him a few moments to think.
Collins sat down and pulled out his tablet and a recording device. "Let's start with what was going on right before the robbers came to the door."
Joe nodded and told him the same thing that he had told his family. When he got to the point where he was talking about Fenton being a PI, he stopped Joe to ask, "He didn't recognize your father's name?"
Joe shook his head. "No. He didn't seem to have any idea."
Collins typed a few things into his tablet and said, "Continue."
Joe continued with his story until he got to the part where the robber held the knife to his abdomen. His hand went to his stomach where he could feel the light bandage that was there. "I wasn't sure if he was going to stick me or not. He really didn't seem to have a problem with it and that's where he started talking more about dad."
"What about your dad?"
"He said I was playing things really cool and wanted to know if I was following in my dad's footsteps."
"But he still didn't seem to recognize Fenton's name?"
"No, but that's when he talked about liking the excitement and maybe having a PI after him would add to the excitement." Joe could see his father's jaw clenching as he relayed that bit of info. It seemed that the black jacket burglar would be getting his wish. In a way, he wished he didn't have to tell the next part because it would just hurt his father. "And he thought hurting me would give dad motivation to come after him."
"Son of a…" Fenton pushed angrily off the wall where he had been standing. He ran a hand absentmindedly through his hair.
Joe could tell that he wanted to say more but Fenton was working hard to maintain his control. "He said he wasn't ready to kill anyone yet."
"Yet?" Collins asked.
"That's what he said. He definitely made it sound like he'd consider it in the future but he didn't come right out and say it." Joe paused and continued when Collins didn't ask anything else. "That's when brown jacket knocked on the window and motioned to go. I was taking in the details of the truck they were getting in and that's when he stabbed me with the knife." Joe reached his right hand down to his thigh. "I screamed and he pulled it back out. I was seeing stars but he said something about not hitting an artery or something like that."
"Thank goodness he was right about that," Collins said. "We found the truck by the way. Wiped clean. The footage from the parking garage showed they still had on their gloves and masks as they left. Can you tell me anything about the knife?"
Joe frowned as he thought. "Yeah, I think it was Premium brand KA-BAR and had some kind of fancy two toned handle. I don't know if that is a standard handle or not."
"We'll check it out. If it's something that was special ordered, then we might have something to go on. What happened next?"
Joe squirmed a little as this was one of the parts he would have problems with. "After he pulled the knife out, I think I may have said a few rash things-" Frank snorted and Joe glared at him.
"Continue please."
Joe looked back to Collins. "He said Valentine's is next month and maybe if I didn't die from the wound or cold that I'd get some points with my girlfriend." Joe couldn't help the blush that suffused his face or miss seeing the penetrating look that Frank was giving him.
"And Miss Morton is your girlfriend, correct?" Collins asked as he typed some.
"Um, not really. It's what I told the guy at the restaurant," Joe said slowly making sure not to look in Frank's direction.
"I understand. It would give the robbers motivation to take you instead of her. I have no problem with that." Collins typed a moment more and then asked. "Is this when he drew the heart on your face?"
"Yeah, he held the knife to my throat while he did it." Joe said hoarsely. "Told me to call him Cupid."
"What happened next?"
"He clocked me and put zip ties around my ankles. Then he patted my face and said to tell my dad that he looked forward to meeting him." Joe's eyes went to his father's. "I told him that when he saw my father he'd be going to jail. He just laughed and left the car. That's the last I saw of him."
"So he said he wanted to meet your dad?"
"Something to that effect," Joe said with a shrug.
Collins looked over to Fenton. "Looks like he wants you to try and find him."
"Well, that's one wish he's going to regret," Fenton said as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Joe.
"Is there anything else about the robbers themselves that you remember?"
Joe shook his head. "Not really."
Collins stood. "You know the drill. If you remember anything…"
"I'll call," Joe said with a smile which went away quickly as he saw Frank staring at him.
"I'll walk you out detective," Fenton said.
As the two older men left, Joe quickly shoved two crackers in his mouth.
Frank sat down in the chair that Collins had vacated and leaned forward with his forearms on his knees. "Don't you think I know how that works?" he said with a smile. "I'll wait for you to swallow it and even for you to take a nice long sip of ginger ale." Frank leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest and continued to smile.
Joe chewed slowly and closed his eyes as he heard steps on the stairs.
Frank leaned forward. "Oh no you don't-" he began but got no further.
"Frank!" Laura said in an irritated whisper. "Your brother is obviously worn out." She moved into the room and Joe felt the crackers taken from his hand as he kept his eyes closed. "Anything you need to talk about can wait until he's awake and feeling better."
"Of course, mom. I'm fine waiting for Joe to wake up. He and I can have a nice long conversation then."
Joe knew that Frank wouldn't push that battle with their mother but his parting words let Joe know that his brother wouldn't forget. When Joe heard the door close quietly, he carefully opened his eyes. He was indeed alone. But it was only a reprieve. Frank would be back and he'd want answers. Answers that he didn't have.
