The Case of the Psychic's Vision (13 page)

“You think he had her committed!” Frank exclaimed.

“It wouldn't be the first time a parent did that to a child who wasn't behaving the way the parent wanted the child to behave,” Colin said. “I say we call and find out.”

“Those places won't give out any information over the phone,” Joe said.

“Watch this,” Colin said. He picked up the telephone, looked at the number in the directory, and dialed. Within a few seconds, he was using a feminine voice, punctuated with sobs, to tell the person on the other end that she had lain down for a nap before dinner, had dozed off, and had had a horrible nightmare about her darling daughter, Melanie Johnson, and that she was just calling to make sure Melanie was all right. Could this person please just check on her, so her mother could rest in peace for the rest of the evening?

Frank and Joe looked at each other and shook their heads. It was a performance worthy of an Oscar.

Colin was silent for several minutes, then, using the same voice—but this time a little less hysterical—thanked the person profusely and said he would make sure that the manager of the hospital heard about how kind she had been.

When Colin hung up the phone, he said, “She's there. In fact, I even know what room she's in,
because when the nurse got back, she apologized for how long it took, because, she said, Melanie was in the Newman wing, Room 342.”

“I think we just acquired a partner, Frank,” Joe said.

Colin raised an eyebrow. “A partner?”

“Well, we've talked for years about starting a detective agency when we get out of school,” Frank said. “I'm sure we'll need another partner.”

“Right now, that doesn't sound half bad,” Colin said. “Maybe by the time we're out of school, psychic detectives won't be thought of as freaks.”

“Okay. We need to plan,” Frank said. “What do we do with this news?”

“Well, we definitely don't sit on it,” Colin said. “They may be giving Melanie medicine that will affect her ability to remember the details of the kidnapping.”

“Of course!” Joe said. “Mr. Johnson definitely doesn't want Melanie thinking about this.”

“If he really cared for her, he'd want to know why she, too, thinks she was kidnapped when she was about two,” Colin said.

The Hardy boys and Colin knew they'd have to wait until dark before they could pursue any plan to talk to Melanie at Bayport Reflections. They killed some time catching up on their homework, but it was hard for them to concentrate.

Mr. Hardy was back in New York on another case
and Aunt Gertrude had a headache, so Mrs. Hardy said it was all right if the boys wanted to watch television in the den while they ate their dinner. They decided it might be fun to watch a rerun of a show that had been popular a few years back. It made them laugh and helped pass the time until they decided that it was time to go to Bayport Reflections to talk to Melanie.

At a few minutes before seven, Frank said, “I bet a new shift starts at the hospital at seven. If it's like most places, people stand around and talk for a few minutes before they start their shifts. I think we should get going.”

Frank told Mrs. Hardy that they were going out but that they probably wouldn't be back late.

Bayport Reflections was only four miles from where the Hardys lived. It was surrounded by a dense growth of trees, making it almost invisible from the road. Frank turned in at the main drive and parked at the edge of the visitors' parking lot, in a part of the lot that wasn't well lit.

“We need to find the Newman wing first,” Colin said. “Room 342.”

“I'm sure they have security cameras. Someone could be watching us night now,” Joe said. “I say we skirt the edge of the parking lot.”

“Good idea, Joe,” Frank said. “The security cameras are usually trained on the cars, so whoever is watching can make sure nobody breaks into them.”

Once they reached the building, Joe said, “Let's find a service entrance. They're usually not guarded very well, because the employees are so used to seeing people in and out all the time.”

The service entrance was on the southwest side, at the end of a drive. The boys followed the road inside and stopped.

“What now?” Colin asked.

“We wait,” Joe said.

After a few minutes, a custodian opened the service entrance, propped open the door, disappeared inside, and then came out a few minutes later, smoking a cigarette. He started walking around the building, away from where the boys were standing.

“Where's he going?” Colin asked.

“He's going to circle the building while he smokes a cigarette,” Joe replied. “It suddenly occurred to me that most hospitals don't allow employees to smoke inside the buildings anymore, so you see a lot of the employees milling around outside. This guy probably doesn't have a key to the door, so he props it open while he takes his break.”

The three of them ran to the open service door and made their way through a storage area.

“Now to find the Newman wing,” Joe said.

“I think we're in it,” Frank said. “This part of the building doesn't look all that old.”

They came to a couple of swinging doors with round windows that allowed them to look into the
next section of the building. There didn't seem to be anybody around. Joe noticed a door at the end of the hallway that said
EXIT
.

“There should be some stairs on the other side of that door,” he said. “I say we check it out.”

“Well, we certainly can't wait here,” Frank said. “That's as good a choice as any.”

Slowly, Frank opened the swinging doors, stuck his head through, and looked in both directions. To his right, there was nothing, but to his left, farther down the hall, a couple of men dressed in white shirts and pants were wheeling a gurney—but they were wheeling it in the opposite direction of the boys.

“Looks clear,” Frank whispered.

He held the door open, allowing Joe and Colin to slip through and race for the exit at the end of the hall. He was right behind them.

They made it through the door, stopped to listen for anything that might indicate someone had seen them, and then, when they didn't hear anything, started up the stairs.

“If anybody finds us, we'll just tell them that we're friends of Melanie's,” Joe whispered, “and that we're slipping in to see her, because her father doesn't like us.”

Frank grinned.

They made it to the second floor and started up to the third. When they reached the door to the
main corridor, Frank stuck his head through, then pulled it back quickly.

“This place is pretty busy,” he said.

They waited a few more minutes, then Frank stuck his head through the door again.

“It's not as busy now,” he said, when he pulled his head back in. “I think we can make it. At least Melanie's room is in the opposite direction and away from the brighter lights of the nurses' station.”

Quietly, the three of them slipped into the hallway and started toward Room 342.

When they reached it, they found the door partially open. Frank could see Melanie inside. She was asleep.

“Well, here goes,” Frank said.

Together, the three of them entered Melanie's room and walked over to her bed.

Suddenly, the overhead lights went on, momentarily blinding the Hardy boys and Colin.

They wheeled around.

There, blocking the door, was Mr. Johnson.

“Which one of you talked to the nurse on the phone?”

“I did,” Colin said.

Mr. Johnson smiled. “I might have known. She got suspicious and called me,” he said. “She told me about the dream ‘my wife' had.” He laughed.

“This time you won't get away,” he added. “I'm going to make sure of that.”

Colin stepped toward Mr. Johnson.

“I'm ready for you this time, Colin,” Mr. Johnson said. “If you try anything, I'll break your neck.”

“What are you afraid of, Mr. Johnson?” Colin said. He was still moving toward Mr. Johnson, ignoring his threat. “What are you afraid of?”

“How dare you talk to me that way, you scum!” Mr. Johnson shouted at Colin. He almost spit out the words. “I'm not afraid of anything!”

“Oh, I think you are! I think you're very afraid,” Colin continued. “I think you've got something to hide. I think you're—”

Before Colin could finish his sentence, Mr. Johnson lunged at him and grabbed Colin around the throat.

“Daddy!” Melanie screamed. “Stop it!”

Frank and Joe immediately grabbed Mr. Johnson's arms, trying to twist his hands away from Colin's neck. They were astonished at how strong the man was.

Colin's face was beginning to turn purple.

“You can't do this to my family! I won't let you destroy us!” Mr. Johnson was shouting at Colin.

Frank and Joe were surprised to see tears trickling down Mr. Johnson's face.

Just then, Mrs. Johnson, accompanied by an orderly and a nurse, rushed into the room.

The orderly grabbed Mr. Johnson around the waist and started squeezing him. That did the trick. Mr. Johnson turned loose of Colin's neck.

Joe and Frank pulled Colin back over toward the wall, far away from Mr. Johnson's reach, in case he decided to attack Colin again. They checked Colin out to make sure he was all right.

Mr. Johnson had sunk to the floor and was on his knees, sobbing.

The Hardy boys and Colin were stunned by what they were now seeing from a man who just moments before had been one of the biggest bullies in Bayport.

Mrs. Johnson was kneeling on the floor beside her husband. “It's over, Robert! It's over,” she was saying to him softly. “I never thought it would work. We made a terrible mistake, and we'll have to pay for it.”

The Hardy boys and Colin looked at each other. What was Mrs. Johnson talking about?

Mrs. Johnson cradled Mr. Johnson's head on her shoulder and started patting the back of his head. “It's over, Robert. It's over,” she repeated, this time more softly.

“What are you talking about, Mrs. Johnson?” Frank said. “What's over?”

Mrs. Johnson looked up him, blinked, then looked back down at her husband. “I think you need to call your lawyer, Robert,” she said.

After a few moments, Mr. Johnson nodded. The orderly helped him up off the floor. He turned to Melanie, who now was standing beside her bed, pale and shaking. “I'm sorry, baby. I did what I thought was right,” he said, tears streaming down his face. To Colin and the Hardy boys, he said, “Melanie is free to go. I'd appreciate it if you'd take her wherever she wants to stay tonight. If it's a hotel, she's got her credit cards. If she wants to stay at a friend's house, then I'll certainly understand that. But if she wants to come home, it's still her home and always will be. Tomorrow, I'd like to see all of you at my lawyer's office. Melanie knows the address.”

With that, he and Mrs. Johnson followed the orderly and the nurse out of the room.

Melanie stared at them as they left, her eyes now almost swollen from crying. Colin walked over to her and put his arm around her.

“This is not exactly how I thought this night would end,” Joe whispered to Frank.

“Me either,” Frank said. “I'd say we're in for a big surprise tomorrow, except I have a pretty good idea of what to expect.”

Joe nodded.

It took several minutes for Melanie to regain her composure. When she finally did, she told the Hardy boys that she wanted to stay over at her friend Bonnie Blake's. She stayed over there so often that she kept several changes of clothes and toiletries there.

Colin and the Hardy boys waited outside the room while Melanie dressed and repacked her small suitcase. They used the same stairs the boys had come up to leave the hospital. No one said anything to them on their way out.

Once in the van, Colin said, “Are you sure you're going to be all right, Melanie?”

Melanie nodded. “Yes. I'm just tired.”

The rest of the trip was made in silence. When they got to Bonnie's house, Melanie said, “You've given me back part of my life, Colin, but I'll still need your help getting
all
of it back.”

“I'll be there for you, Melanie,” Colin said.

Melanie didn't want anyone to walk her to the door, but the boys waited until she was inside Bonnie's house before they headed home.

The next morning, the Hardys and Colin drove to the offices of Stanley, Stanley, and Stanley, high-powered corporate lawyers whose modern building was in a new development north of downtown Bayport.

Frank parked the van, and he, Joe, and Colin headed into the building, which was five stories of tinted glass. A receptionist greeted them by name with a gleaming smile that would have sold a lot of toothpaste.

“I'll take you to the conference room,” she said. “Everyone else is already there.”