Hardy Boys in Humboldt County: The Case of the Missing Belt

Eureka CA

Description

Poor Frank Hardy! He and his brother, Joe Hardy - sons of the famous detective, Fenton Hardy - came up to Humboldt County, looking for their father, after he was hired by Judge Christopher Wilson - a local juvenile court judge - to help locate a missing belt... and mysteriously disappeared, after leaving his motel room to meet with a former employee of the Child Welfare Services at a local bar, called The Shanty. Frank and Joe drove all the way up to Humboldt County, like good lads, to search for their father. On the way, they got two speeding tickets - one at each end of Mendocino County - even though they were driving safely. It was only the beginning of their troubles. Weary from the long drive, Joe suggested pulling over and sleeping. Frank agreed, that was a good idea, so they pulled off the road, pitched a tent, rolled out their sleeping bags, and fell fast asleep. It seemed like only minutes later before they were awoken by intense floodlights and an amplified demand that they exit the tent, one at a time, with their hands empty! County deputies efficiently searched the tent, the captives, and their vehicle, and, finding no heroin or methamphetamine, cited the boys with tickets for camping in public, and then took them into custody, as runaways. The vehicle has been impounded and was sold to a friend of former county coroner and Eureka Mayor Frank Jager, last week, for an excellent price. (Rumors that Frank Jager knows where all the bodies are buried are greatly exaggerated - he only knows where a few of them are buried. But that's another Hardy Boys story.) Frank tried to escape from juvie and was beaten to a pulp by Bruno, the guy on the night shift, with a night stick. He's now in Semper Virens, under heavy sedation, kept in a room by himself, for his own safety, since Semper Virens has no actual facilities for minors. They say he suffered brain damage. He has trouble with vowels. And consonants. Joe was so depressed he tried to slit his wrists and now HE's under sedation, too, at a private hospital, in Stockton. Humboldt County Child Welfare Services, never one to miss an opportunity, has filed papers with Humboldt County Superior Court's Department 7, requesting custody of both Joe AND Frank Hardy. They've charged Fenton and Laura Hardy with child abuse, natch - the papers allege that it was Frank and Laura Hardy's abuse that caused Frank and Joe to run away, Frank to try to escape custody, and Joe to attempt suicide. They are trying to get a lien on the Hardy family home. Fenton Hardy's still missing. His car was found, though, up on Forest Route 1. It had been torched. Laura Hardy's freaking out, as you can imagine, and drinking heavily. How can one !@#$ing county cause so much damage? Where are the authorities? She's afraid to tell anyone, though, for fear that her county's Adult Protective Services will take HER into custody, like it was Stalinist Russia or something. Judge Wilson STILL hasn't found that belt, cited as evidence in JV160250. Odds are good that it never existed. Strange. Some folks have suggested that the belt's disappearance was just a ploy to get Fenton Hardy up to Humboldt County, where he could be eliminated... but that's just plain paranoid. More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hardy_Boys Next: Penny Robinson visits Old Town and gets mugged while reading a Nancy Drew mystery and drinking hot chocolate at the Old Town Coffee & Chocolate!