Fellowship & Fairydust

The Hardys rushed home and burst into the house. They startled their aunt who had been reading in the living room. 

“Goodness gracious! Is the circus in town or something?” 

“Where’s Mom?” they blurted. 

“Still in your father’s study,” said Gerturde pointing up the stairs. The boys dashed up the stairs and burst into their father’s study. 

“Oh, hang on Ezra, the boys just got back.” She glanced at them expectantly. 

“Dad’s in the Pollitt place! Snattman has him, and Red Jackley’s working with Snattman!” they blurted at the same time. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! How do you know that?” came Collig’s voice over the line. 

“We saw Red at the Pollitt place!” said Joe. 

“He was talking with another guy named Klein about stealing Chet’s car and the Applegate’s treasure, plus working for Snattman!” 

“OK, but do you have any real proof that your father is even still at the Pollitt place?” asked Collig. 

Frank pulled out the wallet. “We do.” He laid it on the desk. 

Laura snatched it up and gasped. “Ezra, they, they found Fenton’s wallet!” 

“What? How?” 

The boys recounted their story. There was a moment’s silence as Laura’s eyes were wide with shock. She looked like she was about to say something, then thought better of it. Frank seemed to have been right, she didn’t like it, but did see it as the opportunity it was. After a moment of blinking, her eyes were back to normal. 

“So, they know your names, where you live, and what hair color you should have, but they didn’t know exactly what you looked like?” asked Collig incredulously. 

“Yup,” said the boys with a nod of their heads. 

“There is a reason why we try to keep their pictures out of newspapers and off social media, Ezra,” said Laura, though when she said social media, she shot a specific glare at Joe. Joe smiled sheepishly. 

“Oh, I know, but, there should be a picture of them somewhere, or at least a member of the gang should have seen them.” 

“Maybe it was just Snattman who really knows what we look like?” said Frank slowly. 

“And then gave out very general descriptions of you? I’m thinking it might be more likely that they’ve been around town, asking questions about you. Most people wouldn’t give a very detailed description, and they definitely wouldn’t have pictures of you hanging about in their wallets. But I still find it odd that they wouldn’t try to find out more information on Fenton and you.” 

“Well, based on what we’ve been hearing about Snattman, he’s starting to sound what most people would call a gentleman criminal,” said Frank.

Joe shrugged. “Maybe, or maybe Snattman is too busy planning crimes instead of stopping Dad.” 

“And catching him yesterday must have been really lucky for him.” 

Joe thought for a moment. “But, Dad’s smarter than that. He wouldn’t have just up and let them capture him either.” 

“You’re right,” said Laura, “it must have been just a bad coincidence.” The boys nodded. 

“Well, the point is, Fenton’s been caught and we have to get him out of there.” There was a slight pause. “Laura, you alright with the boys doing this?” 

Laura let out a breath. “No, not really, but this seems to be the only way we might have before the medicine gets here.” 

“Oh, speaking of, Chief, do you know of anything that’s happening tonight and tomorrow night that the gang might be interested in?” asked Frank. 

“Not that I can think of, unless they planned on making a big haul over the weekend before getting out of here. I mean, that was part of the reason why I called, I finally got the information on the Marco Polo.” 

“And?” chorused Laura and the boys.

“It’s leaving Monday morning,” replied Collig, “and get this, it’s not the only boat that’s leaving that morning.”

Frank and Joe’s eyes widened. “The boat we saw by the Pollitt place!” 

“That’s what we think. Sure, it’s not the only boat leaving Monday morning, but based on your descriptions, it’s the only one that matches. The rest that are leaving Monday morning are either passenger ships like the Marco Polo or the regular cargo ships.” 

“So while Ali Singh gets the loot out on the Marco Polo,” began Frank. 

“Snattman and the rest of the gang are getting out on the other boat, to their next destination!” said Joe. 

“Almost like pirates!” 

Joe shot Frank a grin. “So, does that mean Snattman is Captain Hook and we’re Peter Pan?”

Frank returned the grin. “Now all we need is our crocodile.” 

Collig let out a groan. “And what, Sam Radley is Tinkerbell?” 

The three Hardys laughed. “Don’t ever tell him that,” said Laura. 

Frank gasped and snapped his fingers. “No, but we do need to check out where that secret tunnel comes out!” 

Joe gasped as his eyes widened. “You’re right! That’s probably where they get the loot out!” 

“Exactly. We’re probably going to need the help of the Coast Guard on this, Chief.”

Collig let out a breath. “Certainly sounds like it, I don’t have enough men. I’m going to have to call in the State Police at this rate.” 

“That would be best,” said Laura. “After all, these men have apparently been stealing from all over the state.” 

“At least New York City for sure,” said Frank. 

“That is true, and that leads me to the second part of why I called you. We found Fenton’s car.” 

The three gasped and said in unison, “Where?” 

“Just a few miles north of Willow Grove, they just called it in. Do you have a spare key?” 

“Yes,” said Laura. 

“Good, I’m going to finish up a couple things here and I’ll meet you there.” 

“OK,” was all the Hardys said before Collig ended the call. Laura glanced at the boys as she hung up the phone before the three dashed down the stairs.

“Goodness gracious, the circus is in town! The Elephant Brigade just made their way to the front door!” blurted Trudy when Laura paused to grab her purse. 

“They found Fenton’s car,” was all Laura said before she led the way out the door. 

Trudy stood in shock for a minute before dashing after them. “Wait for me!” Frank waited for her and made sure the door was locked as she dashed to the family car. Once Frank was in, the family was off. There was a tense silence as Laura drove through the town. 

“There’s the Pollitt place,” whispered Joe when they got near it. Frank and Trudy shot a glance at it as they sped past. 

“They had better be taking good care of Fenton, or else,” muttered Trudy. 

“Yeah, nothing says being taken good care of like an all-expenses paid trip to India,” muttered Frank drily. 

“Or else hell hath no fury like a woman’s,” said Joe at the same time. 

“What?” blurted Laura and Trudy. 

“It’s ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’,” said Frank as he swatted at Joe. Joe ducked with a grin, and Frank’s hand sailed over his head. 

Laura chuckled. “What was the point you were trying to make, Joe?” 

“Oh, just that, if those crooks got Aunt Trudy mad enough, we would just have to send her in. They wouldn’t know what hit them!” 

Trudy huffed as she crossed her arms. “Oh no they wouldn’t.” The other three chuckled. Trudy talked the talk, but tried to avoid walking the walk, that is, until she got really mad. 

Laura gasped. “There it is.” They glanced out the left, there were a couple of police cars near an almost secluded sedan. Laura pulled into a spot next to them. Almost as soon as Laura turned off the car, the four were out. They walked to an officer who waved to them. They recognized him as one of Collig’s best men and someone the boys had encountered numerous times.

Conrad Reilly waved again as they stopped. “Hello Mrs. Hardy, Miss Hardy, Frank, Joe, I just got a call from the chief, he said he’ll be here in a couple of minutes and to wait until he gets here.” 

Laura nodded. “I understand.” 

Joe let out a huff. “That’s going to be hard.” 

“You’re telling me,” mumbled Trudy. 

“How did you find my dad’s car?” asked Frank. 

Conrad shrugged as he turned to look at the sedan. “Well, the chief told us that your dad has been investigating the goings-on at the Pollitt place and that he was last heard from when he was on his way back home from New York City. I figured we should check out the parks around Willow Grove first. We went a bit north and thoroughly searched the grounds. We came here, and it actually took us a while before we found it. We were getting ready to leave when Franklin over there noticed something off about one bush and well, there it was. I called in the plates to the front desk to make sure this was in fact registered to Fenton Hardy, and when the report came back in the positive, we called the chief immediately.” He turned back to the family. “And then he called you.” 

“Hooray for Officer Franklin!” cheered Joe. Franklin fidgeted with his glasses and blushed at the praise. 

Laura smiled. “A great many thanks to you both.” 

Conrad tipped his hat. “Our pleasure, ma’am.” 

“Oh good, there’s Ezra,” said Trudy as the police chief’s car pulled into the park. Collig got out of his car and approached the group. 

“Good job Reilly, Franklin.” 

“Thank you sir,” the men chorused with a quick salute. 

“Did you pull any fingerprints off?” 

They shook their heads, though Franklin replied with, “Only ones we found were Mr. Hardy’s, sir.” 

Collig nodded. “Very well, then we won’t need gloves. Laura, if you and the boys want to take a look through the inside and open the trunk.” Laura nodded before leading the way to the car, her keys out. She unlocked it and got into the front seat. While Frank got into the backseat and Joe went around to the passenger side, Laura unlocked the trunk and the three policemen came forward to look through it. She then went looking through the compartment on the side of the door and the one just behind the stick. 

“There’s nothing back here,” said Frank with a sigh. 

“I’ve got nothing too,” said Joe. 

Laura sat back down in the driver’s seat and thought for a moment. “Oh!” She reached up and pulled open a little flap on the visor. Frank and Joe gasped when she pulled out a notepad and a pencil. “Joe, there’s one on your side too, see if your father left anything in there.” Joe quickly went to work while Frank peered over their mother’s shoulder as she opened the notebook. The majority of it were notes on Snattman and the Pollitt place, the majority of which Frank realized had been info he and Joe had been able to get for him. 

“Aha!” said Joe. He handed a folded piece of paper to his mother. The two watched as she opened it. It was a message from their father! It looked like he was telling Laura that he would hand the case over, but the boys knew that wasn’t true. It was just a ruse in case anyone found it before he sent it. The symbols they had come to associate with his signature were all over the message along with a series of numbers. 

“What do those mean?” asked Frank, pointing at the numbers. 

Laura smiled at them. “What do you think? Put those detective brains to work.” 

Frank and Joe looked at the paper for a little bit before gasping. “That’s the code! The number correlates to a word!” 

Laura smiled. “Only a part of it, though. Here, pick out those words using just those numbers.” 

They did, and blinked in confusion. “Heading the too way . . . what?” 

“That, that makes no sense,” said Joe. 

“That’s the point. Now, think about the symbols, where are they placed?” 

“That too, and police, and it . . .” said Joe slowly. Frank rubbed his chin, thinking hard. What was their father telling them, what was their mother seeing? 

“That’s to suggest it’s either a part of a word, or the word’s a part of the longer word.” 

“So, to, pol, and it?” said Joe. 

“Wait, what were those last too?” said Frank. 

“Pol, it . . .” Joe paused and the two glanced at each other wide-eyed. “Pollitt!” 

Laura clapped her hands. “Good job! You’re getting it!” 

“Oh mom, why can’t you just come out and tell us!” 

Laura chuckled. “Oh, alright, since you got most of it figured out.” She pointed to each of the words as she read the hidden message. “Heading to Pollitt place. Clue in secret spot.” 

“Secret spot? What secret spot?” 

Laura pointed to the back seat. “Frank, there’s a hidden compartment under the seat. You’re going to have to open the flap and then open the board.” 

Joe looked at her in shock. “What?” Frank followed her directions, and a rather large gap appeared under the back seat. Joe’s mouth dropped and let out a soft squawk as Frank reached in and pulled out a box. He handed it to his mother who opened it. Inside were Fenton’s work cell, personal cell, a picture of the family, an extra wallet, a camera with a thumb drive attached to it, a couple of ziplock bags, a couple pairs of gloves, a foldable magnifying glass, a miniature fingerprint kit, and a pair of tweezers. Laura took out the camera and handed it to Joe before going back to rummaging through the ziploc bags. She held up two, one had a fine powder in it, the other had a few fingerprints. She placed those on the seat and handed the box back to Frank. 

“Put that back in and close it up, I think we have what we need.” 

“The camera?” said Joe as Frank quickly put the box back. Laura took it from him and went through the pictures. Joe looked over her shoulder as she went through them, and gasped. “Whoa!” Frank was back looking over the seat, and his own eyes widened. 

“Whoa is right! Those are pictures of Snattman at the Pollitt place!” 

“Get Ezra, we need to show him this. And we’re going to need to run these fingerprints.” Frank quickly jumped out of the car to find the chief. Joe picked up the bag with the fingerprints. 

“Mom, this is more than one clue. Which one was Dad telling you and Jack about?” 

“Probably the pictures, and he went back twice to get more evidence.” 

“And they caught him the second time,” said Joe softly. 

Laura nodded, then pulled him in for a hug. “And we’re going to finish this case for him because, according to this note he left, he was going to hand it over to the police. Of all the nerve.” Joe chuckled. “Though, if I find out your father got captured because he had his nose to the ground and wasn’t watching where he was going, he’s going to be grounded.” Joe burst out laughing at that one, right as Collig and Frank came to the front. They glanced at the two, wondering what was going on, but Laura turned their attention to the clues Fenton had left for them. Collig and his men left with them, letting the family take the car home. Laura drove Fenton’s car with the boys as her passengers, while Trudy got behind the wheel of the family car. Joe told Frank about Laura’s quip about grounding Fenton, and the three laughed on the way home. But as soon as they got into the house, a new wave of anxiety hit them. They were getting close, they could feel it. Plus, catching the gang and saving Fenton all on Sunday night was going to be cutting it close. But until then, all they could do was wait.

 

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