Eye on Crime

  Contents

  * * *

  1 Somebody Gets Chosen

  2 Iola and Callie Tell the Truth

  3 Girls in Trouble

  4 Clueless at the Police Station

  5 Answering Some Questions

  6 Putting the Pieces Together

  7 The Blind Eye

  8 Wanted Men

  9 Video Magic

  10 Flimsy Evidence

  11 Over the Edge

  12 Caught in the Act

  13 The Disappearing Hardys

  14 Frank and Joe Go to Jail

  15 Evasive Maneuvers

  16 Break In, Break Out

  1 Somebody Gets Chosen

  * * *

  “So then Callie and I said, ‘Sure, we’ll go out with you guys. It’s not like our boyfriends ever pay any attention to us.’ ”

  Joe Hardy nodded his head and grunted, but he never took his eyes off the newspaper his older brother, Frank, was holding to look at his girlfriend, Iola Morton. The four teenagers were sitting together in the audience at WBAY, Bayport’s local television studio. They had come to the studio after school to watch the Thursday afternoon taping of Monty Mania, a comedy variety show that was fast becoming one of the hottest programs on syndicated television.

  “It’s useless,” Iola said to Callie Shaw. “Something more important than us has the dynamic duo’s attention.” Iola gently pushed on Joe’s shoulder.

  “Huh, uh, hey,” Joe said, looking up from the newspaper. Joe rubbed his shoulder even though the punch hadn’t hurt at all.

  “Hey, Joe,” Frank said. “It says here—” But before Frank could finish his sentence, Callie had grabbed the newspaper from his hands.

  “It says here,” Callie said, “that it’s pretty rude to be out with a couple of friends and have your head buried in the Bayport Times.”

  Frank looked at Callie. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. He gently nudged his brother with his elbow.

  “Yeah,” Joe said. “I’m sorry.”

  “It was wrong of us to ignore you like that,” Frank said. “It’s just that we got caught up reading today’s front-page news while we were waiting for you two to get here.”

  “And this excuses your poor behavior now?” Iola asked.

  The four friends sat in silence for a moment. Frank and Joe both eyed the newspaper, which was still clasped in Callie’s hand.

  “Ummm,” Joe groaned sheepishly.

  “Oh, all right,” Callie said with a shrug of her shoulders. She handed the newspaper back to Frank. The blond-haired Hardy quickly unfolded the Bayport Times and straightened out the front page.

  “What’s so important in today’s news, anyway?” Callie leaned over to get a better look at the headline.

  “You had to ask,” Iola said, rolling her eyes. Then she, too, leaned in to read over Joe’s shoulder.

  “Something major involving some guys from Shoreham High School,” Frank said.

  “Who?” Iola asked.

  “Roberto Rojas and Pepper Wingfoot,” Joe responded.

  “Whoa,” Callie said. “Those names sound familiar.”

  “Sure do,” Frank answered. “They both play on Shoreham’s baseball team.”

  “So what did they do?” Callie asked.

  “Allegedly do,” Frank responded. “They were arrested for robbing the Bayport Jewelry Exchange last night.”

  “That’s a felony!” Iola exclaimed.

  “Yeah,” Joe replied. Then he added, “What do you mean by ‘allegedly,’ Frank? They were caught on video by the store’s security system. They’re nailed.”

  “Not necessarily, Joe,” Frank replied. “Rojas and Wingfoot claim that they’re innocent.”

  “Doesn’t every criminal?” Joe asked snidely.

  “Well, in this country you are innocent until proven guilty,” Callie said.

  “So how much did they get away with?” Iola asked.

  “Allegedly got away with,” Frank said. “It says here nearly one million dollars’ worth of jewels, which have yet to be recovered.”

  “Uh-oh,” Callie said. “I don’t like that tone in your voice.”

  “Yeah,” Iola continued for her friend. “You’re using words like ‘allegedly’ and ‘yet to be recovered.’ Are you two planning to get involved?”

  “Involved!” Callie fixed Frank with a glare. “The last time you guys got involved in a case, Iola and I didn’t see you for weeks.”

  “Are you getting jealous?” Joe asked. He chuckled. “Do you miss us that much?”

  Iola snickered. “Don’t get too full of yourself, Joe. We just get tired of being left behind while you go off hunting down criminals or foiling robberies.”

  “Or stopping kidnappings,” Callie added, “or rescuing lost puppies, or—”

  Frank interrupted. “You do sound jealous,” he said. “Maybe you two would like to do some crime solving. You know, get in on the action.”

  “Our lives have plenty of action,” Callie said.

  “That’s right,” Iola said. “You two are the supersleuths, not us.”

  “Methinks the ladies doth protest too much,” Frank said, flamboyantly gesturing with his arms. He looked at his brother and cocked an eyebrow.

  “Methinks you doth be right,” Joe said. “ ’Tis certainly jealousy.” The two young men grinned.

  Callie and Iola sneered at the brothers, putting on their grimmest we-don’t-find-you-funny looks.

  “We said—” Iola began. But just then the stage lights came on, signaling that the show was about to begin. With the stage illuminated, the audience could see that a four-piece band had set up their equipment on the far left of the set. When the lights came up, the band began to play some funky jazz.

  “Good afternoon, folks,” a man said as he walked out from behind a curtain and onto the stage. He wore a pullover shirt and slacks, and his blond hair was flattened by an audio headset.

  “I’m Josh Symkins, assistant producer here at Monty Mania. Most shows get a comedian to come out to warm up the crowd, but you folks just get me. And trust me, even my own mother doesn’t think I’m funny.”

  The audience laughed politely and clapped. The band’s drummer gave several quick taps on his snare drum.

  “Thanks,” Symkins said. “Anyway, I’m out here to tell you some of the rules and to ask some favors.”

  “Rules?” Joe mumbled under his breath.

  “First of all,” Symkins said, “if any person here has a heart condition, high blood pressure, or an ingrown toenail, be sure not to laugh too hard. My mother wanted a doctor, but she got me instead.”

  The audience gave a genuine laugh to the assistant producer this time.

  “Seriously, though, we here at Monty Mania need a favor. We can’t afford to hire any other performers except for Monty and the wonderful Billy Thompson Band to entertain you.” Symkins pointed over to the band, which acknowledged him with a short fanfare.

  “So,” the assistant producer continued, “we need you to help entertain yourselves. During the taping, Monty will ask for volunteers from the audience to come down to the stage to take part in the show. So again, heart patients; stressed-out, overworked grumps; and those with painful boo-boos need not apply. Monty likes to put his performers through their paces, and sometimes that means some hard work for anybody brave enough to be on television. So, are any of you brave enough?”

  The audience filled the sound stage with hoots, whoops, and enthusiastic applause.

  “Oh, one more thing you potential volunteers should know,” Symkins added. “Odds are, if you come down here, you will get hypnotized. After all, before he broke into television, Monty was a hypnotist of no repute. Now that he’s famous, he wants to make you famous, too. So, i
f you have any secrets you don’t want revealed to the rest of the world, stay in your seats. If you come down here, Monty may just catch you with your pants down.”

  The audience laughed once more. Symkins raised his hands to stop the applause.

  “One more ‘one more thing,’ ” he added. “Those who do participate in the show will not be returning to their seats. After you star up here, you have to meet with the studio’s lawyers back there.” Symkins pointed offstage.

  “You’ll be required to sign some legal mumbo jumbo releasing the studio and its officials from any harm or liability that may result from your appearance here. But for your troubles, you’ll get to meet Monty after the show for autographs and pictures, and we’ll send you on your way with a complimentary videotape of your performance.”

  Josh Symkins began to walk back behind the curtain. “So,” he said over his shoulder, “anyone still brave enough?”

  “Wow!” Iola exclaimed as Symkins left the stage. “We should all volunteer to be on the show!”

  “That’s a great idea,” Callie said.

  “Except,” Joe said, “we’re all supposed to meet Chet and Tony right after the show. The AP made it sound like whoever volunteers would have to stick around for a while.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Callie said, a little disappointed.

  “Chet’s my brother,” Iola said. “He won’t mind if we’re late.”

  “How about this,” Frank said. “We came in two cars. If you girls want to volunteer for the show and actually get on, then Joe and I can go ahead and meet Chet and Tony and you can join us later. That way they won’t be sitting around wondering where we all are.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Iola said.

  Just then the Billy Thompson Band drowned out the crowd’s chatter with a rousing bass beat. As the music built, a booming voice introduced Monty Andrews. The flamboyant comedian’s straight blond hair flapped against the collar of his red sports coat as he jogged from behind the curtain onto the stage. Monty held up his hands to acknowledge the audience’s enthusiasm for his appearance.

  “Okay, folks,” Monty said as the applause diminished. “I see we have a lot of kids in the audience. That gives me an idea. How about an all-teenagers Monty Mania?” The audience burst out with hoots and clapping.

  “All right then,” Monty said. He grabbed a microphone from its stand and made his way into the audience.

  “What’s your name?” he asked, leaning over to put the mike in front of a teenage boy.

  “Uh.” The boy hesitated.

  “Ehhhh. Wrong!” Monty shouted. He pulled the mike away from the embarrassed teenager and scanned the seats. His eyes locked on the enthusiastic smiles and waves of Callie and Iola.

  “Whoa!” Monty said as he bounded across the aisle and up the steps to where Callie and Iola sat with Frank and Joe.

  “And what are your names?” he asked, putting the microphone in front of the girls.

  “Callie Shaw!”

  “And Iola Morton!”

  “You two want to make some television?”

  “You bet!” the girls shouted in unison.

  Monty pointed at Frank and Joe. “Are these your boyfriends?”

  “Most of the time,” Iola said.

  “What are your names?”

  “Frank and Joe Hardy,” Joe answered.

  “Well, Frank and Joe Hardy, mind if I steal your girlfriends?”

  “Seems to be the theme of the day,” Frank answered.

  Monty and the audience laughed. “Well, then, Callie and Iola, you are mine!”

  Monty began to run down the stairs back to the stage. He motioned the two girls to follow him.

  When the three had gathered on the stage, Monty explained what he wanted to do.

  “I haven’t hypnotized anybody since I talked a traffic cop out of a speeding ticket this morning. So, let’s start with that.”

  Monty quickly went through his hypnotism routine, putting both girls into a deep trance.

  “Under hypnosis,” Monty explained to the audience, “you can get people to do things they normally would never do in public. However, you can never get somebody to go against their true nature, so we won’t be able to get these two to do anything that isn’t already hidden deep inside of them. Let’s see if they’re really under.”

  Monty pointed out into the audience.

  “Frank and Joe Hardy, what would you like your girlfriends to do? Within reason, of course.”

  Frank and Joe looked at each other. “Oh, I know,” Joe said. “Ask them what their favorite animals are and then have them become those animals.”

  “A standard request,” Monty answered, “but always good for a laugh.”

  The hypnotist asked Callie and Iola what their favorite animals were, and soon Callie was purring like a kitten, romping around the stage after an imaginary ball of string, while Iola galloped around like a horse romping through the woods.

  When Monty corralled the two girls, he had them stop being animals.

  “Now, as if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, let’s see what sort of dark secrets you may be hiding.”

  2 Iola and Callie Tell the Truth

  * * *

  “Okay, Callie and Iola,” Monty Andrews continued. “We know what sort of animals you like to be, but what about humans? What people out there would you really want to be like for a short while?”

  As soon as Monty asked the question, the studio fell silent. Callie and Iola both stared straight into the audience. Then, in unison, they pointed to where their boyfriends were sitting.

  “The people we’d want to be like are Frank and Joe Hardy,” the girls said, as if they spoke with one voice.

  Frank and Joe stared in amazement at their girlfriends for a second, then looked at each other in shock. The audience burst out with laughter.

  “Well, it seems like a lot of people in our studio know who Frank and Joe Hardy are!” Monty said. “Nice to be popular, huh, boys?”

  Then Monty turned to Callie and Iola. “So, you want to be just like your pals up there. That has to be the best answer of the year!”

  The audience laughed and applauded. When the noise simmered down a bit, Monty continued his questioning.

  “Why do you want to be like Frank and Joe Hardy?”

  “Because,” Iola said staring straight ahead, still under the effects of hypnosis, “they’re detectives.”

  “Detectives?”

  “Yes,” Callie responded, “detectives.”

  “Must be an echo in here,” Monty said. “What’s so cool about teenage boy detectives?”

  “They get to do exciting, sometimes dangerous things,” Iola replied.

  “They’re always wrapped up in some interesting case,” Callie said.

  “I wonder if they’re really hypnotized,” Joe murmured to his brother.

  “Yeah,” Frank whispered. “Maybe they aren’t hypnotized. They could be trying to embarrass us.”

  “Dangerous cases?” Monty asked. His expression was very animated with his obvious interest.

  “Sometimes it’s dangerous,” Iola said.

  “What sort of dangerous cases?”

  “Robbery, kidnapping,” Iola said.

  “Daring rescues, sleuthing,” Callie added.

  Monty turned to look offstage. “Phil,” he called, “could we get some sort of props out here for our guests? Something with a robbery motif.”

  “So, girls,” Monty said turning back to his guests, “after our commercial break, I want you to show us how you would do things if you were your idols, the detective brothers named Frank and Joe Hardy.”

  The red light atop each camera went off, signaling that taping had ceased for the moment. The audience murmured quietly as stagehands began wheeling out props for the next part of the show. Frank and Joe looked at their girlfriends, who stood like blank-faced statues on the stage.

  “Wow, that’s a mindblower,” Joe said to his brother.

  “I’ll say.
Who would have thought Iola would make such a convincing horse?” Frank slapped his brother gently on the leg.

  “You know what I mean,” Joe replied.

  “Yeah, well, let’s make a pact never to hold this against them. Iola and Callie would never forgive us if we reminded them that they pretended to be us.”

  “Can’t we rub it in just a little?”

  “Not if you don’t want to look for a new girlfriend,” Frank answered.

  Onstage, the crew set up a stanchion from which hung a door. They also wheeled out a long counter with several glass-top cases, the kind that would be found in any retail store. A second counter with a cash register was also wheeled onto the stage. Another set of stanchions was set up, this one with a window unit in it. Finally one of the stagehands handed Iola a flashlight and a screwdriver and gave Callie some rope, a roll of electrician’s tape, and a flashlight.

  After everything was in position, Monty got the ready sign from Josh Symkins. The red taping lights on the cameras popped back on, and Monty continued his act.

  “Callie and Iola, let me set the scene,” Monty said. “It’s late at night, long after the rest of the world has gone to sleep, except for the Hardy Girls. Instead of being snuggled up warm in your beds, you’re out working on a case. The local video store has been selling illegal copies of the latest blockbuster movie—starring me, of course. So you go to the store to look for some clues. Show us how you’d operate.”

  Iola and Callie immediately dropped to the floor. Staying very low to the ground, the two girls crawled over to where the fake door was placed. Very silently, they stood up next to the door as if they were trying to blend into the shadows. Iola took the screwdriver and jimmied the lock on the door.

  “We would have used lock picks,” Joe murmured.

  “And we never crawl,” Frank added.

  Meanwhile, onstage, Callie and Iola crept silently into the video store. Both girls flicked on their flashlights and scanned a narrow beam around the room. Iola pointed to a spot on what could have been the store’s wall. Callie nodded. She slunk across the room, stopped at the spot that Iola had indicated, and ripped a piece of electrician’s tape off her roll. Callie stood on her toes and reached above her head. She took the piece of tape and spread it across something that only she and Iola could see in their hypnotized state.