Chapter 5: Heatwave
"Joe? Honey have you seen my keys?" Vanessa called to her husband as she rifled through the odd and ends of their catch all. The pewter bowl contained coins, screws, paperclips, ink pens and a few errant keys with no identifying fobs. The tall blonde woman had just received the keys to the repaired Mazda the night before when Joe and Biff brought the vehicle home. The collision center had even detailed the interior and it had that wonderful "new car smell."
Weeks had passed since the accident, Vanessa's bruises had begun to fade and the swelling in her nose had gone down considerably. And her aching ribs and back had finally eased. But Bayport, New York was experiencing the Dog Days of summer, and the humidity and heat were draining Vanessa of her energy. But who wouldn't be drained after five consecutive days of sticky, one hundred degrees or better days with no rain in sight?
She was thankful today was going to be easy on her. Vanessa had been assigned to cover the back-to-school fashion show being held at Barmet View Mall for the Gazette's local color insert. She looked forward to the cool air that would be blasting through the central air vents in the mall's events venue more than anything.
"Check my jeans! I may have left them in my pocket last night." Joe called from the shower. Vanessa trudged back into the bedroom. No jeans on the floor. Of course, for once Joe had probably put them in the dirty clothes hamper. She opened the bathroom door and was hit in the face with a wall of heat and steam.
"Gah! Joe, turn the vent on when you shower or we're going to have mold in here!" Well, the jeans had managed to make it to the floor just in front of the hamper. She had to give him at least an "A" for effort.
"Sorry Hon. Just leave the bathroom door open when you leave." His wife rolled her eyes and flipped on the switch for the vent fan.
"That'll trick the thermostat to run the AC too long, remember? It's just this side of the bathroom door. We'll have to take out a loan to pay the utility bill if this heat keeps up." Vanessa tried to say over the hum of the fan running.
"It takes electricity to run the vent too!"
"You'd argue with a sign post, you know that, right?" Vanessa called back as she pulled her keys out of Joe's jeans pocket and placed the soiled pants in the hamper, closing its lid with a loud slam.
She entered the kitchen and fixed a glass of ice water to help her cool off from the flash of heat that now had her perspiring…no…sweating. A few moments later she heard the slap of bare feet on the floor and turned to see Joe standing there, still wet, with a towel around his waist.
"Good, you haven't left yet."
"Joe you're getting the floor…" Her complaint was cut off by Joe kissing her.
"I'm sorry Van." He said finally. "But I didn't want you to leave for work still sore with me."
"I'm sorry too, Joe. I've just been really out of sorts since the wreck."
"And I'm still acting like a spoiled frat boy expecting his mom to pick up after him. I'll get better, I promise." Vanessa smiled skeptically, but kissed her husband back.
"Pick up some Chinese on your way home, will you?"
"Again? That'll be the second time this week." Joe asked his bride.
"It's too hot to heat up the kitchen. And I'm jonesing for some dumplings." She picked up her camera equipment bag and headed for the door.
"Love you!"
"Love you too!"
…..
"You're late!" Joe nearly jumped out of his skin after he switched on the light in his office. He wasn't expecting to see his brother sitting at his desk. He wasn't expecting to see Frank at the office at all today.
"Whoa! You scared the crap out of me bro." Joe plopped his messenger bag into the guest chair in front of his desk. "I didn't see your car."
"Phil dropped me off." Frank said sullenly. "I brought over a bunch of files and papers I had at the house. Most of them are closed cases you and Dad finished, I just finalized the paperwork."
"So, you're going to play Sally Secretary today?" Joe chuckled.
"It beats playing Sally Homemaker."
"Oh come on big brother. Domestic life suits you. Maybe in a few years you can be a stay-at-home dad."
"Asshat. If I didn't know better, I'd think you didn't want me here at the office." Frank stood from his brother's chair, leaning heavily on his cane.
"Bad leg day?"
"Yeah, we must be getting ready to have some rain. It's been throbbing since I woke up this morning."
"Oh, Halleluiah! This heat wave has been killer." Joe took his seat and hit the power button on his computer.
"Did someone say something about rain?" Fenton Hardy stood in the doorway of Joe's office, a briefcase in one hand, an iced coffee in the other.
"Frank's leg is our new weatherman." Joe laughed and Frank shot his brother a withering look.
"See Frank? I told you there was some truth to it. My left shoulder and elbow have been predicting the weather since nineteen seventy-eight." Fenton winked at his son jokingly.
"You two are hilarious." Frank deadpanned. "I'm going to dust off my computer and make some calls." The brunette hobbled over to his own office and flicked on the lights.
He settled into his familiar and comfortable office chair and as his computer went through its start up, Frank sifted through some mail waiting for him on his desk. Obviously, none of it was urgent since his father and Joe hadn't brought it by the house.
"If you're going through your mail, here, I was going to bring this stack by your house this evening." Fenton placed the bundle of recent mail on his son's desk.
"Thanks Dad."
"How long are you staying today?" Fenton sat in the chair across from his son's desk.
"Just until noon, Phil's going to pick me up on his lunch hour." Frank said as he sorted the envelopes into categories; it can wait, urgent, and waste of ink and paper. One thick envelope caught his attention. It was from the National Criminal and Legal Investigations Seminar and Conference.
"Did you and Joe sign up for this conference too?" Frank held the envelope up for his father to see. His father squinted to see the return address and NCLISC logo on the front.
"No, the registration deadline was after the first of the year. Joe and I… we were a little distracted."
"Sorry." Frank put down the envelope. "Do you or Joe want to go in my place?"
"What? Why would you ask that? Don't you want to go?" Fenton genuinely looked surprised at his oldest son.
"Well, yes I'd love to go. I've been dying to check out that new GPS regulations seminar. But you and Joe deserve to go more than I do. I've been out of commission for what? Going on eight months now?"
"So? This would be the perfect thing to get you fired back up. You've taken a backseat long enough. You were planning to come back into the office in a couple of weeks anyway."
"Yeah, well a lot of that is contingent on how well I do when I get back behind the wheel. I can't depend on you, Joe or Phil to chauffer me here and there all the time."
"Thought PT was going better." A concerned look crossed the father's features.
"I still get shooting pains down my leg, especially if my muscles are tensed up like when working the accelerator. And my right leg doesn't seem to react as quickly as I'd like when I hit the brake."
"It's just nerves son. Why don't you do what we did when you were first learning to drive? Get Phil to take you to some empty parking lot on a Sunday morning and tool around and get a feel for it." Frank chuckled at his father's Mr. Fix-It attitude. There was a simple solution to nearly everything.
"I don't think it's that simple, Dad. But we'll give it a try." Frank opened the envelope to read over the conference information inside. "Wow, this thing is in two weeks! When I turned this in last December it seems so far off."
"A lot's changed." Fenton said as he sipped his coffee.
"No kidding." Frank replied quietly.
…..
"No! Absolutely not! I forbid it!"
"You're not my mother, might I remind you."
"Maybe I need to call her and let her know about this."
"Okay for starters, no, you're not going to scare my poor mother to death by introducing yourself. And secondly, my dad knows about the trip, he's even encouraging me to go."
"Maybe I need to open his eyes to …"
"What happened to what you were saying a few weeks ago? Have you talked so some of your friends and associates? Any sign of Eric?"
"No, no sign of Eric since that odd feeling I had in Manhattan. None of my associates have heard from him either." The vampire relented.
"So? Then what's the problem?" Frank was bound and determined to win this argument.
"Are you sure you are well enough for this?" Amy countered, "And have you discussed this with Phil?" she was learning to how to push Frank's buttons, and she was getting good at it. The brunette gripped the phone a little tighter.
"No… I didn't mention it at lunch because I still wasn't sure if I wanted to go. But I've had some time to really think about it, and yes, I'd like to go. I was going to tell him tonight over dinner, but he's working late."
"I tell you what, you tell Phillip about your little plan. And if he agrees, you call me back."
Much to Amy's chagrin, she was interrupted a few hours later while in the middle of a conversation with Ezekiel. Ezekiel politely walked to the other end of the rooftop to give Amy some privacy while she took the call, but he could still hear her as if she were standing beside him.
"Has he taken leave of his senses as well?" The young vampire's eyes widened in surprise, wondering what on Earth Amy could be fussing about.
"Fine! I'll get Ezekiel to make the rounds tonight. I'll be over there in an hour to talk some sense into the two of you." She ended the call and proceeded to look through her contacts for another number.
"What's going on with Frank and Phil?" Ezekiel was bouncing on his heels in excitement.
"Frank wants to go to a convention out of state…"
"Whee! Road trip! Where are we going?" Ezekiel clapped his hands giddily.
"Hopefully we aren't going anywhere." Amy said before turning her attention back to her cell phone. "Hello, Chester, this is Amy. Love, would you please put Allen on the phone? Thank you dear. Allen! Baywood Drive, one hour."
…..
At ten that evening Biff Hooper found himself banging on the future Hardy-Cohen (or did they say they were going to use Cohen-Hardy?) front door.
"Biff, what are you doing here this late? What's wrong?" Phil asked as he let his friend inside.
"You tell me. Your babysitter called and told me to be here in an hour. Where is she?"
"She's not here yet. Why would she call you?" But Biff just shrugged in exasperation.
"I dunno, Miss High-strung called like it was some sort of emergency and said for me to be here in an hour."
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Frank exclaimed as he hobbled in from the bedroom. "All of this because I want to go to a seminar."
"So? Where is this seminar?" Biff crossed his arms impatiently, getting angrier by the minute that the condescending vampire had called him over for something so petty.
"Out of state." Frank answered in a small voice.
"Out of state? Pfft! What? Connecticut? New Jersey?" Biff scoffed.
"Louisiana. New Orleans to be exact." boomed an all too familiar feminine voice coming from behind Biff. Her cool breath on his neck as she spoke startled the living daylights out of Biff. The muscular man leapt several inches and let out with an embarrassingly girlish scream.
"I got you." Amy said in sing-song manner as she slinked past and sat delicately on the sofa.
Biff recovered from his scare only to become completely flabbergasted by the trio.
"I don't see why you're so up in arms about this, Amy. I'll be fine. What are the chances I could possibly run into Eric all the way down in New Orleans? He probably would never think to look for me there. And you said he can't touch me."
"To clarify, he cannot touch you because he cannot approach you. That does not mean someone or something cannot draw you to him." Amy informed Frank. "Still, I don't like the idea of you going alone."
"He won't be. Phil will go with him, right?" Biff interjected.
"Uh… about that Biff, no I can't. I took off so much time when Frank was in the hospital, I really won't have enough vacation time built up again until almost the end of the year. And I really can't touch that time until closer to the wedding." Phil added apologetically. Biff turned to Amy.
"Well you're going, right?"
"Of course."
"You were going regardless if I went with Frank or not." Phil said.
"True, but the problem we have now is who will be with Frank during the daylight hours."
"I think I'll be fine during the day."
"Amy has a point. If Eric employs a witch, demon or hell, even your average human, you would still have a target on your back."
"I suggest Biff goes as your "plus one" Frank." All the mortals' eyes widened in shock.
"Me?"
"Ezekiel can stay here in Bayport and look after Phil at night. You and I can accompany Frank. You take the day, and naturally I will take the night."
"Alright, can I say something?" Frank piped up, but Phil stopped him.
"I'm sort of liking this idea."
"Phil!" Frank stood, indignant and face coloring with anger. "I'm sick and tired of being handled with kid gloves! I mean, I'm grateful for everyone's concern. I know it's because you all care for me. But I'm still the same Frank I was a year ago!" he held up his cane. "Is it this? Everyone's worried that Poor Frank can't take care of himself, defend himself? I've been living in this bubble for eight months, and the moment I want to step out of it you all fall apart!" He looked at Phil, hurt on both of their faces.
"And you, I thought you wanted me to go back to work, to get out there. You know well the risks that involved!" Frank limped hurriedly out of the room, slamming the bedroom door behind him.