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The Divine Right of Kings	By : vinsmouse Category: G through L > Hardy Boys Series Views: 5915 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hardy Boys, not making any money, just cheap thrills.

Chapter List
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Chapter 52

Joe stared at the remains of the cabin, even knowing what Alex had planned; what it would mean hadn’t fully registered until now. He understood that the man hadn’t been a good person but he wasn’t evil either, not the way Joe thought of evil. Alex had wanted to help but he had chosen the wrong way to go about it. Joe wondered what could have been if Alex hadn’t been damaged by his mother’s suicide.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat staring at the wreckage but finally he became aware of a hand on his shoulder. Looking to the side he saw Agent Martin eyeing him with concern. “What?”

“Are you alright? Did Tomlinson hurt you?”

Joe shook his head. There had been a couple of spankings and a few slaps but compared to the day that started it all they were nothing.   “Is my dad here?” he asked though he knew the answer must be no. Had his father been here he would have been by Joe’s side already.

“No, I didn’t tell him about the operation.”

“He won’t like that.”

Jack smirked. “He’ll get over it.” Frankly he didn’t care whether or not Fenton Hardy liked being sidelined. The man was a civilian and the father of their victim; he had no business here at the culmination of the investigation. Besides they hadn’t known what they would find, the possibility of finding the child dead had been a very real one and he would never subject a parent to that scenario if he could avoid it.

Jack looked towards the cabin, or what was left of it, watching his men searching the perimeter. Searching the wreckage itself wouldn’t be possible until it had cooled down. “Joe, was there any way out of the cabin besides the front door?”

“No sir, well the windows but they were nailed shut.”

“Are you absolutely certain there wasn’t any other way out?” The cabin had been surrounded by his team and so Jack knew Tomlinson couldn’t have gotten out through any of the windows without being seen.

“The only thing besides the main cabin was a root cellar but the only entrance was a trapdoor in the floor.”

“How do you know that?”

“Alex had me get food from there.” Joe shivered lightly and a coat was wrapped around his shoulders. He smiled shyly at the agent who had given up his jacket. “I think he wanted me to see there was no way out.”

Jack nodded. “That makes sense. Was there anybody else in the cabin?”

“Just him and me.”

Remembering that the man had already faked his death once Jack needed to be as sure as he could be that any body they found was that of Alex Tomlinson. Glancing at the cabin he mentally corrected himself; make that body parts. “Joe I need you to be completely honest with me…”

“I’m not going to lie,” Joe quickly protested. He might have realized that Alex needed help, might not believe he had been evil, but that didn’t mean he would lie to protect him.

“Alright, calm down,” Jack soothed. “I need to know something and it might be a little upsetting to think about.”

“Okay,” Joe hesitantly agreed to answer whatever questions Agent Martin asked.

“You said he sent you into the root cellar, did you see any other parts of the cabin?”

“The whole thing.” How was that supposed to upsetting Joe wondered.

Jack thought that was a little convenient but decided not to say anything. “So you would know if there had been any bodies hidden in the cabin?”

“Bodies?” Joe shuddered. “Why would there be…that doesn’t make sense.”

“If he wanted to fake his death, that” Jack motioned towards the cabin, “wouldn’t leave much for identification.”

Joe turned to look, shuddering at the thought of Alex being torn apart by the explosion that had destroyed the cabin. “There weren’t any.”

“Are you sure? He could have hidden something in a closet or cabinet,” Jack suggested.

Joe shook his head. “I would have seen it.” He gagged at the thought, “And it would have smelled by now, wouldn’t it?”

That was a good point Jack conceded. “You’re right, I hadn’t thought of that.”

Joe pulled the jacket closer, huddling in on himself. “Can I go home now?”

Jack smiled and stood up. Reaching down he offered the boy a hand. “I think that can be arranged.” His team knew what they were doing; they didn’t need him here to supervise their search. Considering the wisps of smoke rising from the wreckage it would likely be several hours before they could complete the search. He prayed the boy was right and that Tomlinson would have had no means of escaping the destruction of the building.

Joe let himself be pulled to his feet. He looked back once as they walked away from the cabin. The fate of the man who had tried to protect him left him with a deep sadness. He would keep that to himself, he decided, he doubted anybody else would understand. Turning away he followed Agent Martin through the woods to the vehicles parked a few hundred feet away. Climbing into the passenger seat of the indicated sedan, Joe leaned back, letting his head fall against the headrest. As they drove away he closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts on home.

Shortly after nine a.m. Jack Martin pulled to a stop in front of the local hospital. He had considered driving to the Hardy home first but the child should be checked out. No matter that Joe had said he wasn’t hurt he had spent more than a week in the company of a man who had hurt plenty of children, Joe included, and he should be checked by a qualified professional.

“Why are we here?” Joe looked up at Bayport General. “I told you I’m not hurt.”

“It’s procedure Joe,” Jack replied. “Besides I’ve met your mother, do you really think she wouldn’t insist you be checked out?”

Joe chuckled weakly. He knew the FBI agent was right, he only hoped they wouldn’t make him have another one of those exams, he shuddered at the thought.

“Come on, I’ll get you settled in and then call your parents.”

“He didn’t touch me,” Joe whispered.

“What?”

“Alex, he never…will you tell them I don’t need one of those exams?”

Jack looked into frightened blue eyes, suddenly understanding what the boy was asking. “If he did you shouldn’t try to hide it. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“It’s not that,” Joe blushed. “He really didn’t do anything…they,” Joe swallowed past the lump in his throat. “After that day, in June, they made me have one of those exams. It was humiliating and scary; I don’t want to go through that again. Please can’t you tell them I don’t need one?”

As a federal agent Jack had been taught to keep a certain distance from crime victims, often it was the only way a man could do his job. Looking into the soulful eyes of a boy who had already been hurt as much by the system as by anybody else any semblance of professional detachment flew out the window. “I’ll tell them Joe,” he promised.

The car had barely stopped when Laura and Frank threw open their doors. Fenton didn’t bother to admonish them, it wouldn’t have done any good and if he were honest he would have done the same if he could have.   In the few seconds it took to bring the car to a full stop, turn off the ignition and climb from the vehicle his wife was half-way to the entrance with Frank only a few steps behind her. Fenton pushed the door shut, keyed the remote and hurried to catch up to them.

“Mrs. Hardy,” Jack called as he saw the woman rush through the emergency room doors.

Laura spun on her heel, “Where’s my son?”

“Back there,” Jack gestured towards the exam rooms. “Where’s…” the question died in his throat as the rest of the family came through the doors.

“How badly is he hurt?” Fenton asked the one question on all their minds.

“Not bad at all,” Jack quickly assured the worried family. “The doctor has already examined him and cleared him to go home. Joe only has a few welts and bruises, but nothing serious.”

“And Tomlinson didn’t…” Laura couldn’t complete the question, just the thought made her sick.

“No ma’am, absolutely not,” Jack had taken Joe at his word on that and with the suspect likely dead he was able to convince the doctor to skip the sexual assault exam. He knew he’d catch hell for that decision if Tomlinson turned up alive but it was a risk he was willing to take if it would save the boy one more trauma.

Laura leaned into Fenton’s embrace, “Thank God,” she whispered.

“Can we see him?” Frank impatiently interrupted. He didn’t guess the agent would lie to them but he needed to see for himself that Joe was alright.

“Just a minute.” Jack walked away, returning in less than a minute with a nurse by his side.

Fenton stood back, letting Laura and Frank leave with the nurse. He had one more question for Agent Martin. “What happened to Tomlinson?”

“He’s dead.”

Fenton wanted to feel relieved but they had thought that before. “And if he isn’t?”

“He is Mr. Hardy.” Jack went on to explain everything that had happened, including Joe’s assertion that there had been nobody else in the cabin with him and Tomlinson, dead or alive. “There was no way the man could have gotten out of the cabin without being seen and nobody could have survived that explosion.”

“So it’s really over?”

“It’s over Mr. Hardy,” Jack clapped him on the shoulder. “Go see your son Fenton, there’s nothing more for you to do.”

Fenton nodded and walked through the doors. Finding Joe wasn’t difficult, he had only to follow the sound their voices as Laura and Frank assured themselves that Joe was in fact safe. Stepping into the room he smiled at the sight of his family together and whole.

Epilogue:

Joe had, in the immediate aftermath, backslid a bit. His therapist had assured the teen it was to be expected and shouldn’t be a cause for concern. Joe wasn’t sure he believed her but she had helped him before and he knew he could trust her to do so again. Some of the kids at school had said things but most of them had been sympathetic. Those few who had attempted to tease and bully him had been quickly and effectively silenced by whoever was nearby. It seemed the student body of Bayport High had grown up some too; none of them would ever be quite as innocent as they had once been.    The one student who had surprised him the most was Bradley Cooper himself.

Joe had spent the first two weeks following Alex’s death at home. Physically he could have attended classes with no trouble but both Diane and his parents felt he would benefit from a little breathing space. Joe couldn’t argue with them. The thought of facing the other kids had terrified him. When he finally returned the first person to approach him, after Chet and Biff, was Brad Cooper.

Biff and Chet stepped in front of Joe, forming a protective barrier between him and the boy who had bullied him in the past.

Brad held up his hands in a universal gesture of peace, “You got nothing to worry about guys. I just want to talk to Joe.”

The two teens turned to Joe who hesitantly nodded. Moving aside they allowed Brad to approach, though each stood flanking their friend, ready to defend him if necessary.

Joe smiled at them, appreciating the support. “What do you want Cooper?”

Brad sighed; he couldn’t blame Joe for his anger. “I just wanted to apologize. The things we said, it wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair. You didn’t ask for what happened to you, nobody would and we shouldn’t have given you a hard time. I don’t expect us to ever be friends, but I hope someday you can forgive me and them for the way we treated you.”

Joe held out his hand, clearly surprising the other boy. “I think everybody has suffered enough, don’t you?”

With a grateful smile Brad took the offered hand, shaking it warmly.

The months following his return to school hadn’t always been easy; he hadn’t expected them to be. Now, though, at the end of the year Joe felt like he could call himself recovered. Well as recovered as he ever would be. Diane had warned him that while he had healed from the ordeal it had changed him; never again would he be the boy he had been before that horrible day in June. Still he left school that day, at the beginning of another summer, confident in his ability to focus on the future in spite of the horror that would always be a part of him.

The End.

Thanks for all the reviews, hope you've enjoyed the ending as much as the rest of the story.
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The Divine Right of Kings