The Hardy Boys

Previously on Hardy Boys...

Your wife was investigating something,

and my nephew Rupert was her source.

Do you remember any stories that your mother was working on?

I mean, did you even know that she was writing again?

Uh, no. We made a copy of the report.

We gotta take this to Dad's partner, Sam.

JB Cox. This is the guy from the beach.

Take this envelope. Go to Stoney Creek Park.

Find a bench. You put it under it.

I'm just telling them where to meet me.

Oh, you're home!

He hid this in the vent in my room.

I think that's what the tall man was looking for.

I had it with me during the carnival, and I didn't lose a single game.

Whoa!

The tall guy killed all the people on the Astghik.

Probably for the idol.

Him and the guy from the beach.

They're after the same thing.

Have the doctors got any idea on when he might come out of the coma?

Could be weeks. Months. Years.

Thanks.

Smells better than the mud your dad makes.

It's all Trudy. Mm.

Did you find out anything?

I did.

But first you gotta tell me why you wanted me to look into JB Cox.

Um...

Joe ran into this guy at the beach.

He offered him a couple bucks to fix his radio.

The guy turned out to be Cox.

Joe's hanging out with JB Cox?

Yeah.

Of course he is.

He told the local police, right?

Yeah. Joe told them everything.

So they went down to the beach. They found his camp,

told us to call them if we saw him again.

But they wouldn't tell us anything about him, so I called you.

And that's the extent of your trouble with this guy?

Yeah. Joe's a bit freaked out, so...

I needed to know who he was.

And it feels like you don't want your Aunt Trudy to hear this.

Just don't want her to be more worried than she has to be, you know?

JB Cox is a thief for hire.

A good one.

He's only been caught once, and even then,

he escaped so quickly it looks like he let himself get caught

just so he could bust himself out.

So he likes being dramatic.

Yeah. Likes the high risk jobs for anonymous clients.

If you see him again, you gotta tell the police.

Is Cox connected to Kanika Imani Khan?

Who's that?

Sam, it's okay. Dad told us everything.

Said that she hired him to find her nephew Rupert.

Well...

No connection to Khan, as far as I can tell.

He probably came here, did what he had to do, and is long gone.

Sam!

Hey, Trudy.

Hi.

Fenton have you checking up on us?

Mm, you got me.

I just wanted to see if you'd heard from Fenton, but, uh...

Frank says you haven't.

No. Not for a few days.

You want to give me a minute with your aunt?

Yeah.

- Stay out of trouble, kid. - I will.

This isn't the first time Fenton's gone dark on a case.

That was before.

Things are different now. He should know better.

So when should I start to worry?

It's up to you.

Are you worried?

Not yet.

Call me if you need anything.

- Let you know if I hear from Fenton. - All right.

It's good to see you, Sam.

Yeah. You, too, Trudy.

What'd Sam say?

He said that JB Cox was a thief for hire

working for an anonymous buyer, and that we should stay away from him.

Like that's gonna happen.

How's it going?

If I'm right, today's the day JB's gonna meet his buyer.

I think this message spells out where,

but I've been staring at this thing for ages, and all I have is a headache.

JB really doesn't like to make things easy.

'Course he doesn't like to make things easy.

He doesn't want people showing up uninvited.

Like we're trying to do right now.

Do you think JB knew that thing was inside the idol?

You mean my lucky charm?

I'm not calling it that, but sure.

No. I don't think he knew.

The tall man, or whoever hired him knew.

What if Mom knew, too?

What if she figured out the secret?

If we find out who was after this thing...

Then we find out who killed Mom.

We need to break this code.

Magnolia. Iberis.

Carnation. Begonia. Hibiscus. They're all flowers, Joe.

Aunt Trudy!

Joe, we're in the same house!

Sorry.

Is there any place in town named "five flowers," or something like that?

That's why you're yelling?

Yeah.

No. Nothing like five flowers.

All right, so flowers wasn't the pattern.

Mic‐buh.

Yeah. It's not the first letter of every word, either.

What's this little arrow?

JOE Start on the "M," and follow the line.

The arrow's a guide.

M.B.R.O.S.?

M Brothers.

What about M Brothers?

I swear to God, Joe.

M Bro‐‐ Like, a name that starts with "M."

Yeah, I get it. Uh...

The Mentzer brothers have a towing company.

No. Towing company would be too busy.

Trucks coming and going.

And the old Matthew Brothers brick factory,

but that closed years ago. So stop yelling!

Okay! Sorry.

An old factory would work for a hand‐off, right?

So, if that's the where, then...

what's the when?

Eight‐thirty?

There you go, smart guy. Good thing we woke up early. Let's go.

Here you go.

The first waffles of the last week of the summer.

Wilt. Really? You just had to throw that in there?

Sorry, guys. I couldn't resist.

Well, just one more year to go in this boring town, huh?

You think you can handle it?

I'll try.

But I have to get accepted to Rosegrave first.

So you'll get accepted to Rosegrave first.

Enjoy it.

Thanks, Wilt.

You know he's right, though.

You'll get in.

Even if I do get in, it's way too expensive.

Okay, so what happened to Mrs. Estabrook sponsoring you?

You know my dad. I don't think he's gonna be okay with that.

He'll get over it.

Callie, you gotta follow your dreams, no matter where they take you.

Yeah, same goes for you.

Yeah, and even if I don't make the bigs,

it's looking good for that agricultural scholarship.

And I'd rather stay closer to home, anyways.

Uh...

So, where does this leave us?

Leaves us in front of a plate full of waffles,

and they're getting cold now.

So, we should dig in.

Chet, we have to talk about this at some point.

Yeah, at some point, but I can't hear you right now,

'cause I'm eating waffles.

Okay. Well, I guess I'll join you.

Um, need that syrup on it, too.

This doesn't look like the kind of place where people go missing, at all.

We'll be fine if we're careful.

How many dead mountain climbers do you think have said that?

You sure you're up for this?

Yeah. I'm just lightening the mood by being hilarious.

Okay. Just tell me if you want to leave.

Thanks.

This place is huge.

Where were they gonna meet?

I don't know. There was nothing specific in the message.

I think we get to pick.

This looks good.

All right. And now, we wait.

Maybe we should go hide.

- Yeah, yeah. Hide. - This way.

Trudy?

Oh, hi.

Gloria.

What brings you to the wrong side of town?

Well, that's interesting. You have a hobby.

It's not a hobby. I sell them.

Do you?

How many have you sold?

Enough to earn a living.

You ever made one of those?

Trudy.

Do we have to do this?

Okay.

How can I help you, Gloria?

You are the aunt of two young boys.

And you've been asked by your brother, and by fate,

to be their surrogate mother.