Water-Ski Wipeout

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1 A CABIN IN THE WOODS

  CHAPTER 2 CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

  CHAPTER 3 GONE WITHOUT A TRACE

  CHAPTER 4 THE FIVE WS

  CHAPTER 5 THEY’RE HIDING SOMETHING

  CHAPTER 6 THE SUSPECT

  CHAPTER 7 MISTAKEN IDENTITY

  CHAPTER 8 THE NEW GIRL

  CHAPTER 9 TWISTS AND TURNS

  CHAPTER 10 A FRIEND IN NEED

  ‘TALENT SHOW TRICKS’ EXCERPT

  ABOUT FRANKLIN W. DIXON AND MATT DAVID

  Chapter 1

  A CABIN IN THE WOODS

  As the tour bus pulled up outside the lodge, Frank and Joe Hardy could see the lake in the distance. Bucks Mountain, the tallest peak near their hometown, Bayport, was right behind it.

  “You think we could hike all the way to the top?” Frank asked, turning to his younger brother.

  “It’s probably too steep,” eight-year-old Joe replied. “Besides, don’t you want to spend all day out on the boat? That’s why I brought the skis.”

  Nine-year-old Frank looked at the luggage rack above them. His brother’s new water skis were tied together on the luggage rack with a bright blue strap. Last summer Joe had started water-skiing at camp. In just a few weeks, he’d gotten really good. He even tried to ski for a few seconds on just one ski—even though he usually ended up in the water! Joe was so excited about waterskiing, this year their parents had bought him his very own set of skis for Christmas. And he was ready to break them in at the third and fourth graders’ school trip to Lake Poketoe. This would be the very first time he used them.

  “You’ll have to teach me,” Frank said. “I doubt I’ll be as good as you.”

  Ellie Freeman’s head popped up over the seat in front of them. She was wearing her Bayport Bandits T-shirt. She was on their baseball team, and she liked wearing the uniform even when she didn’t have to. “You promised to teach me too,” she said, looking at Joe. “I want to learn how to do a flip!”

  Joe laughed. “Like the professionals do? That’s really hard. I don’t think I’m going to be able to do that for a while!”

  Ellie hopped out of her seat and grabbed her duffel bag from the rack above. “I guess I can try. . . . Are you guys going to the barbecue tonight?”

  “You bet,” Joe said. “Mr. Morton promised he’d make his famous smoked ribs.” Mr. Morton, their good friend Chet’s dad, was one of the parents who had come along on the school trip. Suzie Klein’s mother had also come, but as far as Joe knew, she didn’t make ribs as good as Mr. Morton’s.

  Joe reached for the water skis on the rack above, and they came down with a clatter as he tried to take them down.

  “Ow! Watch it, Hardys.”

  Frank and Joe turned around to see Adam Ackerman in the seat behind them. Adam was in Frank’s grade at school. He was sitting with his friend Paul. Adam was on the aisle, and he kept rubbing the side of his head.

  “You hit me with those stupid skis!” Adam complained. He stood up, yanking his bag down from the rack above. “You’re going to pay for that, Hardy.”

  He pushed past them, nearly knocking Joe over. Paul followed close behind. He was a short boy with a large, round face. He always wore his brown baseball cap turned to the side. “Watch your back, Hardy,” he grumbled.

  “Just ignore them,” Frank said. “It’s not worth it.”

  But Joe’s cheeks were hot. He felt like everyone on the bus was staring at him. “Let’s go,” he said, careful not to knock anyone else with the skis.

  Adam was one of the biggest bullies at Bayport Elementary. He was taller than most of the kids and was always saying mean things or pushing people around. Frank and Joe tried to stay away from him, but even they had trouble with him sometimes.

  The Hardys followed Ellie out of the bus, looking at the lake in front of them. A few kids had dropped their bags on the rocky beach. They crowded around Mrs. Jones, one of the parents who had come on the trip. She gave them directions as to which cabins were theirs. Frank and Joe found out they’d be staying in the lodge itself.

  Just hearing the birds chirping put Joe in a better mood. The afternoon sun was out and the water looked cool and refreshing. A few yards away, a boat was zipping across the lake. A girl was in an inner tube behind it, screaming as it pulled her along.

  “Frank and Joe Hardy! What a pleasant surprise!” Mrs. Rodriguez called out from the lodge. She’d been Joe’s second-grade teacher, and she was one of the adults who’d come on the other bus. It was funny to see her in plaid shorts and a pink T-shirt. Joe hadn’t ever seen her outside the classroom!

  “This is the best!” Joe called out. “Glad we caught the last few hours of sunshine.”

  “It’s good to have you here, just in case. . . . You never know what might happen!” Mrs. Rodriguez smiled. Just a few months ago Joe and Frank had helped her find a ring that she’d lost. She’d thought someone at school had stolen it, but the boys figured out that wasn’t true. They eventually found it in one of her desk drawers.

  It wasn’t the first case they’d solved, though. Frank and Joe were known around Bayport for solving mysteries. Once it was a lost video game and another time it was a missing playbook. Their father, Fenton Hardy, was a private detective. He’d taught them everything they knew about investigating. He showed them how to interview suspects and search a crime scene for clues.

  Joe dragged his water skis behind him. He was happy the path to the lodge wasn’t that long—the skis were getting heavy! They followed the rest of their group into the lodge. There was a huge living room with couches. A few deer heads were on the wall above the fireplace.

  “Whoa,” Frank whispered. “That’s kind of creepy.”

  “It’s like a real log cabin,” Joe said. He pointed to the ceiling, where you could see all the wood beams. It reminded him of the toys he and Frank played with when they were really little.

  Frank looked out the back windows, toward the lake. There were a few small cabins there, hidden in the trees. He saw Adam and Paul go into one of them with their bags. A sign in the ground near the front said PINECONE CABIN.

  Just then Chet Morton came down the hallway. “Did you guys pick your bunks yet?” he asked. “You should come check out our room! We left you a top and bottom bunk!”

  They followed him down the hall, to a room with two sets of bunk beds. Mr. Morton was sitting on one. He pulled a jar of red stuff from his bag. “My secret rib sauce!” He smiled. “I’ll need this for tonight.”

  Frank and Joe laughed. “I call dibs on the top bunk!” Joe declared. He looked around, realizing there wasn’t a good place to leave his skis. “Where should I put these?” he asked. “They take up the whole room.”

  “There’s a shed out back,” Chet said. “Here, I’ll show you.”

  As Chet ran out the door, his dad called after him. “You can go explore, but make sure you’re back in an hour. Dinner will be served!”

  Chet showed Frank and Joe the storage shed behind the lodge. There were a dozen other cabins around it. Joe put his skis inside, next to a pile of life vests. Then the boys followed Chet down to the dock.

  “Wow, there are kayaks!” Frank said.

  “And we can use that tomorrow morning,” Chet added, pointing to a white speedboat tied to the dock. “Joe, remember, you promised me you’d teach me to water ski!”

  “He promised you . . . and me . . . and Ellie . . . and half the school,” Frank laughed. “It’s going to be a long day.”

  Joe smiled as they walked back to the lodge. A crowd had gathered on the deck. Mr. Morton, Mrs. Rodriguez, and some of the other adults were cooking dinner. Some kids were sitting at the round tables, drinking lemonade. Ellie and a few of her fr
iends were tossing a softball back and forth on the grass below.

  As the sun set, Joe could almost picture what it would be like tomorrow. All his friends would be out on the boat. He’d teach them how to do different tricks on his water skis. Maybe they’d even go tubing afterward.

  “Who’s ready to eat?” Mr. Morton called out. A bunch of kids cheered.

  Joe, Frank, and Chet all cheered along with them. One thing was certain: this was going to be the best school trip yet.

  Chapter 2

  CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

  “Today we’ll have three groups heading out,” Mr. Morton told everyone the next morning when they’d gathered at picnic tables outside the lodge for breakfast. “Mrs. Rodriguez will be taking a group to the other side of the lake, to hike Bucks Mountain. You’ll learn about all the wildlife in this region and collect samples of leaves from trees native to this forest. All of you have to go at some point, either today or tomorrow.”

  “Awesome!” Billy Krueger called out. He was in the same class as Frank and always seemed to have a smile on his face. “I want to see a bear! I’m in!”

  Mr. Morton laughed. “Wait one minute—I’m not done yet. Mrs. Pinkelton will be doing nature crafts in the lodge this morning, and I’ll take a group out on the boat. She’ll be doing fish, leaf, and flower prints. I’ll take you tubing and skiing, yes, but then I’ll take you guys past Seaway Island, home to Native American artifacts. After lunch, we’ll switch groups so everyone gets to do two different activities today.”

  Ellie Freeman raised her hand and called out, “Is Joe Hardy going out on the boat this morning?”

  Mr. Morton pointed to Joe, who was sitting at one of the tables, eating breakfast with Frank and Chet. “You’ll have to ask him.” Then he went inside the lodge.

  Joe had a forkful of eggs in his mouth. Before he could even look up, Ellie and four of her friends were around the table. Two of the girls were on the Bayport club soccer team. Joe recognized their blue-and-white T-shirts. “Can we borrow your water skis too?” a girl with blond pigtails asked.

  Joe swallowed his bite. “Sure.”

  “Our friends Jack and Connor want to come out on the boat, but only if they can water-ski too. Is that okay?” a girl with freckles asked.

  Frank smiled. “Everyone can come. Joe will give waterskiing lessons to everyone!”

  Ellie and her friends seemed happy at that answer. Then they turned to go. They stopped at the buffet table and picked up some fruit salad and English muffins on their way. When Frank saw them sit down a few tables away, he leaned over to Chet and Joe. “Looks like everyone’s heard about your waterskiing skills,” he laughed.

  “You’re the most popular kid here this weekend!” Chet said. “You’re going to be on the boat all day today and tomorrow.”

  “That’s okay with me,” Joe said. The truth was, he couldn’t have been more excited. He hadn’t been on a boat since camp last year. All winter he and Frank had talked about this trip, how it would be so cool to be at Lake Poketoe all weekend, with a bunch of their friends. Even though they had to do some school stuff, they were super psyched to go waterskiing and tubing on the lake. And then they could make s’mores around the campfire at night. It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet, but already the day was great. It was almost better than he’d imagined.

  A few kids at the table next to them stood and dropped their paper plates in the garbage. Another group had gone down to the lawn below and were throwing a Frisbee. Some others played tag through the trees. Within a few minutes, Mr. Morton came outside. “Has everyone decided? Who will be going to Bucks Mountain to hike?”

  A dozen kids raised their hands, then left with Mrs. Rodriguez. She was saying something about bears and rattlesnakes as they walked off. Another big group went inside to do arts and crafts, and soon Mr. Morton’s group headed toward the water.

  “This is going to be incredible,” Ellie said. “I’m so excited!”

  “I’ve never been on a boat before,” her redheaded friend, Nina, said.

  “Where did you get your water skis?” a boy named Charlie asked.

  “Our parents got them for him,” Frank said, answering for Joe.

  “Now let’s get those skis and some life vests,” Mr. Morton added.

  Frank and Joe led the way to the shed, moving deeper into the forest. There were log cabins every few yards. Some were just one room, while a few others were two stories high. When they got to the shed, Mr. Morton opened it, then pulled some of the life vests out.

  He handed one to each kid, but when he got to Joe, he said, “You put your water skis in the shed last night, right? Why don’t you go in and get them?”

  Joe peered into the shed. There were only a few life vests there, along with an inner tube and neon-green foam noodles. He pushed inside, moving things around. He knelt down to see if his skis had fallen, but they weren’t on the floor. They weren’t anywhere.

  “What is it?” Frank asked. He stood in the doorway, his brow furrowed.

  “My skis,” Joe yelled. “They’re gone!”

  Chapter 3

  GONE WITHOUT A TRACE

  “They have to be here somewhere,” Mr. Morton said, scratching his head. He knelt down, looking at the same exact spot Joe had looked at just seconds before. He shook his head. Then he stood on his tiptoes and checked the top shelf. “Hmmm,” he muttered.

  Behind him, the rest of the group had started whispering to one another. Charlie leaned over to the girl next to him and said something about the skis being stolen. The girl nodded.

  “But who would steal them?” Chet asked, overhearing their conversation. He walked around the back of the shed, checking to see if the skis had been put somewhere else. Joe followed behind, but there was just an old shovel and two rakes.

  “Now, now,” Mr. Morton said. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. Are you sure this is where you put them?”

  Joe glanced sideways at his brother. Frank nodded. The sun had been going down when they dropped the skis off, but they were certain it was here. There weren’t any other sheds in this part of the woods. There were only lots of cabins and lots of trees.

  “I’m very sure,” Joe insisted. “Frank and Chet walked me here last night, and I put them inside. I closed the door behind me. They were right there. They were right next to the life vests.” He pointed to the spot where he’d left them.

  “What are we going to do?” Ellie asked.

  “I guess we can’t go out on the boat now,” Charlie said. A few of the other kids groaned.

  “We can still go out . . . you’ll just have to go tubing,” Mr. Morton said. “Maybe you’ll find the skis tonight and you can water-ski tomorrow.”

  Joe looked at his brother and frowned. The school trip was only three days long, and now they were losing one whole day. “I can’t believe this is happening,” Joe said sadly. “I’ve been excited about this trip for months.”

  “We’ll find them,” Frank said. He hadn’t seen Joe this upset since the Bandits lost their championship game. He patted his brother on the shoulder, trying to make him feel better.

  “Someone must’ve stolen them,” Joe declared. “They didn’t just disappear.”

  Chet looked around at the woods. “But who would do that?” he asked.

  “I think I know who,” Joe said, his voice sad.

  Frank looked at the crowd of kids standing around them. Some had towels slung over their shoulders. A few others had already put on their life vests. “Why don’t you take the rest of the group out?” Frank said to Mr. Morton. “Hopefully, by the time you get back, we will have found the skis.”

  Mr. Morton looked back at the lodge, as if he were considering it. “Okay. . . . If you need anything, Mrs. Pinkelton is right there in the lodge. She’ll be there if you need any help.”

  Ellie frowned as she walked down toward the dock. “Good luck,” she said. “We’ll miss you out there.”

  A few of her friends turned to wave too.
Some boys moaned about how weird it was that the skis were missing, and a few others wondered who had taken them. Charlie kept saying he couldn’t believe it.

  “You don’t have to stay behind,” Frank said, turning to Chet.

  Chet smiled. “It’s the least I can do. I can’t believe this either.”

  Frank glanced at his brother, who had slumped down against the side of the shed. He looked miserable. “We’ll find them,” he promised.

  “Right,” Joe mumbled. “But how?”

  Chapter 4

  THE FIVE WS

  Frank walked over to his brother and held out his hand. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get to work.”

  Joe grabbed a notebook and pencil from the back pocket of his shorts. He always kept them on him just in case. Sometimes he used them to write down things he remembered about other cases, or funny things he’d seen. Other times he needed them for an investigation like this one.

  “The five Ws,” Joe said. “Who, What, When, Where, and Why.”

  He scribbled the words down the side of the page. Their dad had taught them that this list was a good way to start investigating a case. Sometimes you knew what was taken, but not where it was taken from. Other times you knew when, but not why.

  “Who . . . ,” Joe said, annoyed. He wrote down Adam Ackerman and underlined it. “That’s easy. Case solved.”

  He turned the notebook around and showed Frank and Chet his answer. Frank just sighed. “Come on,” he said. “You know it’s never that simple.”

  Chet furrowed his brow. “Why are you so sure it was Adam?”

  Joe crossed his arms over his chest. “When we were getting off the bus, I knocked him in the head with the skis. He said, ‘You’re going to pay for that, Hardy.’ What better way to punish me than to take the skis?”

  “You can write down ‘maybe’ next to his name,” Frank said. “But this doesn’t seem like something Adam would do. It would be too obvious. He’d know we’d all suspect him.”