Chapter Six

"Gary Brent? I just can't believe it!"

Later that evening, the Hardy brothers were sitting at a restaurant with the Sweethearts for dinner. They had just told the girl's about Gary's arrest and all the girls seemed to be shocked.

Joe took a sip of his soda. "We were pretty surprised ourselves."

Frank nodded. "But they found his wallet in your hotel room. He was either the guy who ransacked it, or someone planted it there."

"Which seems pretty unlikely..." Joe added. "They also found a couple of his fingerprints on the furniture."

"It just seems so unreal." Ann cradled her head in her hands, her elbows on the table.

"You think you know somebody and then they turn out to be a jerk." Joe looked to Ann, but she wasn't paying attention.

Frank grabbed for a breadstick. "I still think Gary is innocent. I'm sure somebody set him up."

Sammy turned to him, "Why do you say that?"

"Does Gary really seem like the type of guy who would kidnap an innocent girl and wreck her room?"

"If that girl was Charlie. Yes. He adored her!"

"Yeah, but kidnapping's awfully drastic." Frank shook his head. "I think he's innocent."

"Hmm… well I still don't know. I mean Gary was kind of upset when she broke up with him." Sammy looked to Frank.

"I still say he's not our man." Frank said taking another bite of his breadstick.

"Okay then. You're the master detective..." Sammy joked with him.

"That's right. We are" Joe joked back. The group laughed.

"How about Josh?" Dawn spoke up. "Could he be the man? Is he the one that set-up Gary and kidnapped Charlie?"

"It's a possibility, I guess." Agreed Joe. "But what would be his motive?"

"Well, Charlie actually dated Gary for a while, she never gave Josh a chance."

"Gary seems to think differently." Said Frank. "He said they went out. That Charlie fell for Josh 'like a brick.'"

"But they never went out. I'm sure." Said Leslie.

"Yeah," Sammy agreed, "Charlie would have told us if anything was going on between the two of them."

"Don't be so sure." Dawn interjected, "Charlie knew we all didn't approve of Josh. If she decided to go out with him she probably wouldn't tell us."

The other three girls nodded solemnly.

"So she could have gone out with Josh?" Asked Frank.

"Anything's possible." Admitted Sammy, "Sure, all of us are close, but we're not with each other every minute of every day."

Joe looked to his brother. "Maybe we should talk to Josh again?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Frank nodded.

"Do you want any help? I mean I feel kinda useless just sitting around waiting for you guys." Sammy told the brothers.

Frank smiled at her. "Sure. That'd be great."

"We'd all like to help." Said Ann. "After all, Charlie's our friend. We want her back just as much as anybody."

Joe agreed. "The more help the better. Of course," He glanced at his brother, "As soon as things start to get rough, you four may want to just sit back and let us guys handle it."

Sammy rolled her eyes. "We do that and we'll never get Charlie back."

Dawn giggled. "Oh, come on Sammy. Give these guys a break."

Ann looked at the two brothers. "So… when do we start? What do you guys want us to do first?"

Frank looked thoughtful. "I'll tell you what, I want each of you to make a list of events leading up to Charlie's disappearance. I want you to write down everything Charlie did three days prior to the event."

"Um okay. Well what did happen?" Dawn looked to Ann. "You were the last one to talk to her before we went on stage. Did she say anything to you?"

"She just briefed me on the set list again because I had forgotten." Ann replied.

"Anything else?" Frank asked her.

Ann shook her head. "No. Not really."

Joe spoke, "We just need anything, Ann. Even if it didn't seem important. Did she say anything else?"

"That's it, honest." But then she paused and thought for a moment. "Wait… it's not what she said... it's what we heard. It sounded like someone had fallen. We didn't think anything of it at the time."

"Oh yeah…We just thought some clumsy individual was walking around where they didn't belong. You know, some lousy fan." Added Sammy.

"You don't think…?" Ann looked at the brothers.

"It's a possibility. That guy could be our man. Did you see who it was?" Frank asked her.

"No, but we sent a stagehand over to see if he was okay."

"Do you remember who the stagehand was?" Joe stepped toward her.

"I don't know his name but I could point him out for you." Ann nodded.

"Sure, let's go in the morning." Frank suggested, "Around ten tomorrow? Sound okay?"

"Um okay."

"We'll all come." Leslie said and Frank nodded.

"Alright. Let's plan on meeting again tomorrow morning. Till then, I suggest we try to forget the whole thing and enjoy ourselves the rest of the evening."

"Easier said than done." Sammy mumbled and Frank had to agree. Whenever someone disappeared on a case, it was impossible to forget. Especially when that somebody was a friend.

"Brief me again on what you want me to do?"

The next morning the Hardy brothers and buddy Tony Prito were cruising down the street on their way to the girl's Bayport hotel. They had called and arranged the meeting earlier that morning. They were going to return to the Can't be Beat and find the stagehand Ann had mentioned.

"It's simple, Tony." Joe said from his place in the front seat. "We want you to help us keep an eye on the rest of the Sweethearts. Since Charlie disappeared, Frank and I don't want to take any chances. Especially after the ransack of their hotel room yesterday."

Tony nodded.

Frank smiled. He was glad he had friends like Tony to help them out. Chet had told the Hardy's he would be along later with Biff, but Callie was assisting at her Mom's Tupperware party and couldn't make it. Frank didn't mind though. He was sure that with one guy per Sweetheart, not one girl would be lost.

The pulled up into the hotel lot at around ten. The girls were already waiting for them, standing outside the front door.

"Hey." Sammy greeted the Hardys and their friend as they approached.

"Hey." Frank walk over to the group followed by his brother and friend. "But the way, girls? This is our friend Tony Prito. He took the day off work today to help us."

"Hey." Sammy and Leslie greeted him.

Ann only smiled shyly and Dawn looked star-struck.

"Hey." Tony replied.

"So, we have space for everyone in the van, if that's cool." Frank continued.

"Sammy wanted to take the rental." Leslie said.

"Rental?"

"Yeah, MK got it for us. Really cute 4-door convertible."

Joe's eyes widened. He loved cars.

"Alright then." Frank nodded. "So I guess we'll meet you girls down at the Can't Be Beat?"

"We'll follow you." Said Sammy.

"Okay see you then." Frank got in the van and they were off.

"What are you lot doing here?" Greg asked when the teens walked into the club a half hour later.

"Turns out we may have a witness after all." Joe informed him.

"Oh?" He turned to look at the girls.

"Yeah. Ann remember hearing someone fall and her and Charlie asked a stagehand to go check on the person before they went on stage." Sammy told Greg.

"Oh. Well feel free to talk to anyone you need." Greg showed them backstage and called all the stagehands over to them. "Here are all my stagehands." He turned to Ann, "Any of these guys the one you sent?"

"I think so." Ann looked at the dozen of so teenagers that stood before her.

"I'm their man." A dark-haired guy stepped forward and walked over to the Sweethearts. "You had me go look for someone that sounded like he fell right?" He looked down at Ann.

"Yes!" Ann nodded.

"Name's Danny Black. How can I help you?"

Frank spoke. "We were wondering if we may ask you a few questions?"

Danny shrugged. "Sure."

Greg stepped forward. "Why don't you kids go find a table and sit down? That way the rest of us can get back to work." He looked to Danny. "Thirty minutes."

"Yes, sir."

The eight teens made their way over to a table and sat down. The club was empty except for a few customers, so finding the space was easy.

"So…" Frank said as he and the rest settled into their chairs. He looked to Danny. "Could you tell us what that guy looked like, that fell backstage?"

Danny leaned back in his chair and a waitress came by to take orders. Everyone asked for a glass of ice water. The stagehand waited until she returned with the beverages before speaking. "You know, I don't really remember much."

"What do you mean?" Sammy looked at him, "You helped the guy up didn't you?"

"Not really…"

"Huh?"

"No one was there when I arrived."

The rest of the teens exchanged worried glances.

"I'm sure I heard someone fall." Said Ann.

Joe put a hand on her shoulder, "No one's doubting you."

"I just didn't see anyone. I went to look, but no one was there."

Frank thought for a moment. "Did you find anything backstage that didn't belong? A coat or something like that?"

Danny thought for a moment. "Well… Hudson found someone's earring in the backstage area, after the show. We didn't think anything of it and left it with Cheryl at the front desk. That's where we keep our lost and found box."

"Think it's still there?" Frank asked.

"We can check." Danny stood. "This way."

"We'll stay here." Sammy said. Frank and Joe nodded and followed Danny to the front of the club.

"Hey, Cheryl." Danny greeted the blonde girl up front. "Could we take a look in the lost in found."

"These fellas lose something?" Asked the girl, pulling a good-sized box onto the counter.

"Yeah…" Said Joe.

Danny began digging around in the box. "Should be easy to find." He said, thinking aloud, "Hudson put it in an envelope so it wouldn't get lost further." He dug around in the box some more but came up empty handed. "I can't find it!"

Frank and Joe exchanged worried glances.

"What are you guys looking for?" Asked Cheryl.

"The earring Hudson found Friday night." Danny explained, "He put it in an envelope and placed it in here."

"That thing belonged to you fellas?" Cheryl looked at the two Hardy's worriedly.

"Not exactly." Admitted Frank. "Why?"

"Well, that envelope just walked out the door a few minutes ago. The owner came by with the match."

"Do you remember what this girl looked like?" Asked Joe anxiously.

"Sure did. Real beauty. Blonde hair, blue eyes…"

As the description went on, Frank and Joe turned to look at one another in shock. The owner of the earring looked just like Charlie Ashford!