The Video Game Bandit Read online

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1 A PARTY FOR CHAMPIONS

  CHAPTER 2 LET THE BIDDING START!

  CHAPTER 3 A SINGLE CLUE

  CHAPTER 4 THE FIVE Ws

  CHAPTER 5 PICTURE PERFECT

  CHAPTER 6 A SECRET IN THE WOODS

  CHAPTER 7 TOO MANY COOKS

  CHAPTER 8 FORGOTTEN EVIDENCE

  CHAPTER 9 THE MYSTERY MAN

  CHAPTER 10 A VERY NAUGHTY PUPPY

  ‘THE MISSING PLAYBOOK’ EXCERPT

  ABOUT FRANKLIN W. DIXON AND MATT DAVID

  Chapter 1

  A PARTY FOR CHAMPIONS

  “This way, over here!” Frank Hardy called out. He waved his arms back and forth, signaling his younger brother, Joe. Joe walked across the backyard with a stack of folding chairs. They were kind of heavy, and his face was beet red after carrying them over to Frank and their friend Ellie Freeman.

  Frank and Joe’s baseball team, the Bayport Bandits, was having a big fund-raiser. They were hoping to go to Florida on a team trip and play a few friendly games with other teams. In between games the team would be at the beach, snorkeling, paddleboarding, and learning how to surf.

  Ellie’s parents had volunteered to host the fund-raiser at their house. They had a big backyard, where they would auction off prizes in honor of the Bayport baseball team. People from all over town had donated things for the auction—a meal at Chez Jean, the fanciest French restaurant in Bayport, sailing lessons, art classes, and a shopping spree at Blair’s Boutique, a cute new store in town.

  “What do you need next?” Joe asked Ellie. He dropped the metal chairs on the ground with a clatter.

  “I think we need to get the tablecloths from my mom,” Ellie said. She was busy unfolding another stack of chairs and setting them up in a straight line. The stage in the backyard was already assembled, and now they were figuring out where the guests would sit during the auction. A big van from Forks and Knives was parked near the side door of Ellie’s house, and the workers were busy shuttling delicious-looking food from the van into the house. “This party is going to be the best in Bayport history,” Frank said, looking at the decorations they’d just hung up. There were lights and streamers strung across the yard. “Do you think we’ll raise enough to go to Florida?”

  “You bet.” Ellie grinned. “The tickets alone will give our fund a huge boost. Then we have the prizes that will be auctioned off and the fashion show—all the boutiques donated clothing just to be part of it.”

  “Sounds like we’ll be in Florida in no time,” Joe laughed. He unfolded a chair and set it down next to one of Ellie’s.

  With twenty-five kids on the team, it would be expensive to fly everyone down and have them stay at a hotel. They’d already had a bake sale and a car wash. With this huge event, everyone was hoping they would raise all the money they needed to bring every member of the team to Florida for free—or at least to pay for everyone’s plane ticket.

  As Frank and Joe helped Ellie set up the rest of the chairs, Mrs. Freeman came out, followed by Phil Cohen, a friend from school. He was carrying a small speaker that he put down by the side of the stage. “You guys remember my friend Biff, right?” Phil asked. He pointed over his shoulder.

  A tall blond boy came out of the house with the other speaker. He was wearing a blue T-shirt with the word TIGERS written across it in orange script. Right behind him was a basset hound puppy with long, floppy ears, who scampered down the stairs, tail wagging.

  “Hey, guys!” Biff called. “Long time no see!”

  Before Frank or Joe could even respond, the puppy jumped up on them. Frank crouched down as the puppy covered his face with wet kisses.

  Biff ran over, grabbing the back of the puppy’s collar. “Come on, Sherlock! Down!” he commanded. “Sorry, he’s still learning,” Biff apologized.

  “That’s okay,” Frank said, rubbing the puppy’s head. “He’s great.”

  “Sherlock?” Ellie asked, kneeling beside them. She kissed the puppy on the nose. “That’s so cute.”

  Phil looked at his friend. “Biff and Sherlock are staying with me for the weekend while Biff’s parents are away. He’s helping me set up the music for the fund-raiser this afternoon,” he said. “I figured we could use an extra hand.”

  “Isn’t that nice of him?” Mrs. Freeman said as she darted past. She put a stack of tablecloths on one of the tables. “It’s true, we could use all the help we can get.”

  “I just hope this guy doesn’t cause too much trouble,” Biff said, rubbing Sherlock’s head. He looked down at the dog. “You’re going to be a good boy, aren’t you, Sherlock? Aren’t you?”

  “Let’s hope!” Mrs. Freeman said.

  Sherlock sprinted across the lawn, his ears flying up behind him. He grabbed a branch that had fallen from a nearby tree and started chewing it. As Frank and Joe helped Ellie with the tablecloths, Phil and Biff went to work on the sound system. Frank looked over at Biff, trying to remember the last time he’d seen him. Phil had been friends with him for a long time, but Biff didn’t go to the same school as they did. Frank and Joe usually only hung out with him at Phil’s birthday parties every year.

  Just then Mr. Freeman came around the side of the house. Mr. Fun, the owner of the local arcade, was right behind him. “Look who I found outside!” Mr. Freeman said. “Mr. Fun came to drop off his prizes for the auction.”

  All of them stopped what they were doing when they saw what Mr. Fun had brought. “Is that what I think it is?” Phil Cohen asked excitedly. He studied the box in Mr. Fun’s hand. He was holding a ZCross5000, a video game system that had just come out the month before. Every kid at Bayport Elementary wanted one.

  “The ZCross5000!” Mr. Fun said. “You bet it is! I waited in line at the store for five hours the day it came out. Then I came home, only to find out Mrs. Fun had already gotten me one for my birthday. Figured you guys could use the extra for the auction. Oh . . . and these!” He held up some free passes to Fun World, his arcade.

  Frank and Joe grinned. Mr. Fun had given them a whole stack once, after they’d solved a mystery at the arcade. They were known around Bayport for helping people find missing pets, stolen bikes, or even jewelry. Just a month before, they’d helped figure out who had played a prank on their good friend Chet Morton.

  “This is going to be the highlight of the auction!” Mr. Freeman exclaimed. “I heard every store is sold out of the ZCross5000 now.”

  “They are!” Mr. Fun said. “I hope this helps the team get to Florida.”

  Mrs. Freeman and Ellie had climbed onto the stage. They unrolled a large banner that said THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE BAYPORT BANDITS! The Freemans had put large wooden posts in the ground, and Mrs. Freeman and Ellie hung the banner in between the posts. Ellie took a few steps back, trying to get it in just the right spot. “How does it look?” she finally asked.

  “Perfect,” Joe said. They all stood there, staring at the backyard. All the chairs were set up in rows now. With the decorations they had already put up, the backyard was looking great. Mrs. Freeman had even put floating candles in the pool, which looked pretty fancy.

  “This is going to be so much fun,” Mrs. Freeman said as she taped the banner in place. “And with a little luck, we’ll have enough in the fund to send all of you to Florida for lots of baseball and sunshine!”

  Frank wrapped an arm around his brother. “Soon we’ll be at the beach, catching some waves!”

  “Or snorkeling,” Ellie chimed in.

  “Or playing beach volleyball,” Joe added.

  Frank smiled. “Or—”

  “Let’s not get excited just yet!” Mr. Freeman said. He waved for them to go back inside. “There’s still work to do. We have to set up all
the trays for appetizers. We need to organize the buffet table. And you three need to change into your Bayport Bandits shirts before the guests get here.”

  He pointed to Frank, Joe, and Ellie. They headed inside, Phil, Biff, and Sherlock following behind them.

  Frank leaned toward his brother. “Not get excited?” he whispered. “That’s impossible!”

  Chapter 2

  LET THE BIDDING START!

  “Would you like to try a coconut shrimp?” Joe held the silver tray high in the air. A woman with stiff white hair picked up a shrimp and put it on her plate. Onstage, the fashion show was in full swing. Cissy Zermeño stood in the center and did a twirl. She wore a pink dress with a wide-brimmed white hat.

  “Thank you so much, Cissy!” Mrs. Freeman announced. She stood at the edge of the stage, reading from a stack of note cards. “Again, her outfit was from Lulu’s Corner.”

  Just then their gym teacher, Mrs. Kingsman, walked across the stage in a green plaid suit. “Mrs. Kingsman is wearing a crisp Weathersby suit from Blair’s Boutique,” Mrs. Freeman announced. “The jacket is cropped at the waist and has tortoiseshell buttons. She’s wearing it with a white ruffled blouse. Perfect for work or a business dinner. Doesn’t she look sharp!”

  The crowd applauded as Mrs. Kingsman strode down the steps and into the house. The fashion show had been going on for about half an hour. Miss Swivel, who worked in the Bayport Elementary School’s cafeteria, modeled a long blue parka. Everyone laughed when their art teacher, Mr. Hendricks, came onstage wearing a bright orange sweater and furry hat.

  “And now for our last model before we start the auction,” Mrs. Freeman said. “Give a round of applause for . . . Principal Green!”

  The crowd cheered as Principal Green stepped onto the stage. Most of the Bayport Bandits were weaving in and out of the audience in their baseball T-shirts, passing out appetizers. Ellie, Joe, and Frank put their trays down on a nearby table to clap for their principal. She was one of the Bayport Bandits’ biggest fans.

  Principal Green spun around in the center of the stage and smiled. Her dark hair was curled like she was going to a fancy ball. “Principal Green is wearing a purple polka-dot skirt with a gray silk blouse from Blair’s Boutique. Doesn’t she look lovely!”

  Principal Green waved to the Bandits before she headed off the stage. As the audience watched the show, Frank and Joe walked through the crowd, picking up crumpled napkins and empty plates. Ellie passed out a tray of tiny hot dogs, giving a few extra to Sherlock. The puppy was wandering around the lawn, a Bandits bandanna tied around his neck. Every now and then he’d stop to beg for food or tear apart one of the paper plates that had fallen on the ground.

  Phil pressed a few buttons on the sound system, and music filled the air. There were a ton of people in Ellie’s backyard. Some were sitting at tables, eating the last of their food. Others sipped their drinks and talked about the fashion show. Everyone seemed excited that they could find the outfits in local stores.

  Ellie found Joe as he was giving away the last of his shrimp. “Can you believe it?” she asked. “The party is a total success so far!”

  “Everyone seems really happy to be here,” Joe agreed.

  “I just heard a group by the pool talking about the auction. One man wants to bid on the ZCross5000 for his grandson. He doesn’t care how much it costs,” Ellie added with a huge smile.

  “Get your paddles ready!” Joe said, pretending he was the announcer. “The bidding starts in five minutes!”

  Ellie and Joe were raising their hands, pretending to bid on different items, when Frank waved to them from across the lawn. “Guys! Over here!” He pointed at the photo booth set up by Ellie’s old swing set. Mr. and Mrs. Freeman had hired someone to take pictures of all the guests.

  Ellie and Joe crammed inside with Frank as the flash went off. It went off again and again. Ellie, Joe, and Frank made funny faces for the camera, wearing some of the props in the booth. There was a crown, a big pair of glasses, and all kinds of unique hats. They were having so much fun, they hardly noticed when the music stopped and Coach Quinn came onstage to start the auction.

  “The first prize up for auction is a cooking lesson with Chef Jolene, of Jolene’s Bistro!” she called out. “The bidding starts at fifty dollars.”

  A woman with red hair raised her paddle, which meant she wanted the lesson. But almost as soon as she did that, another woman raised her paddle. That meant the price would be higher because she wanted the lesson too. The women kept bidding against each other until the red-haired woman won.

  “Going once . . . going twice . . . sold for eighty dollars!” Coach Quinn called out. Cissy—or Speedy, as most people called her—was the pitcher for the Bandits. Everyone called her Speedy because she did everything super-fast, from talking to pitching her famous fastball! She had changed out of her fashion show outfit and was now in charge of bringing out the prizes. When she came onto the stage with a certificate for the cooking class, everyone cheered.

  Frank and Joe sat by the pool as Coach Quinn auctioned off the other prizes. There were sailing lessons, art classes, and a gift certificate for a month’s worth of free ice cream from the new ice cream shop in town, Two Spoons. Mrs. Zermeño, Cissy’s mom, ended up bidding on a spa weekend. Mr. Carson, the woodshop teacher, had donated a hand-carved chair that went for a lot of money.

  “Sold to the man in the gray hat!” Coach Quinn called out. Cissy moved the wooden chair to the right of the stage and put a red tag on it that said SOLD. Then she disappeared inside, looking for the next prize.

  Coach Quinn smiled at the audience. “Thank you so much for your support today. You’ve all been so generous with this auction. Now I’d like to announce the last prize up for bidding. Everyone in town has been talking about the ZCross5000, the new gaming system from MegaKidz. But not many people have been playing it—the gaming system has been sold out for over a month, and it’s hard to find. Today we’re putting one up for auction, thanks to Mr. Fun from Fun World.”

  The crowd clapped. A few boys in the front row stuck their fingers in their mouths and whistled loudly. “Yeah! The ZCross5000 rocks!” one yelled.

  Coach Quinn looked toward the house, waiting for Cissy to come out with the prize. A minute passed, then another. She made a few jokes to keep the audience’s attention, but that only worked for so long.

  “Cissy?” Coach Quinn said into the microphone. “Are you there? Will you bring out our next prize? The ZCross5000?”

  Just then Cissy appeared at the back door. Her cheeks were bright red, and she looked like she might cry. Mrs. Freeman ran to her, trying to figure out what was going on. “Cissy, what is it?” Mrs. Freeman asked. “What’s wrong?”

  Cissy crossed her arms over her chest. “The ZCross5000 . . . Someone took it. It’s gone!”

  Chapter 3

  A SINGLE CLUE

  “This has to be a mistake,” Mrs. Freeman exclaimed. “Who would steal something from us? Who would do that?”

  She looked back at the crowd, noticing that everyone was still watching Cissy and her. A few women in the front row were whispering to one another. An older man with white hair looked shocked.

  Coach Quinn grabbed the microphone. “If you could excuse us, we’ll need to put the auction on hold while we figure this out. In the meantime, please enjoy the dessert table!” She pointed to the other side of the patio, where a table with cookies and cakes was set up. Slowly everyone got out of their seats. Some people were still looking at Cissy and wondering what had happened.

  “Do you really think someone took it?” Joe said, turning to his brother.

  “I don’t know,” Frank replied. “Let’s go see.”

  Cissy and Mrs. Freeman had already disappeared inside the house. Frank and Joe found them in the den. Mr. Fun was there too, along with Mr. Freeman.

  “It was right here,” Cissy repeated. She pointed to a spot on the floor. “I left it with some of the other prizes.”

 
; Frank and Joe scanned the den. There was a long couch, a coffee table, and a television set. In one corner was Ellie’s piano, and in another was a polka-dot beanbag chair. A few family photos were on display, but other than that, the walls were bare.

  “Oh, good.” Mr. Fun turned around, noticing for the first time that Frank and Joe had come inside. “You’re here! What do the two best detectives in Bayport think?”

  Joe was about to respond, but then he noticed Frank. His brother was on the other side of the coffee table. He knelt down and picked up a few sheets of paper. “Instructions for the ZCross5000,” he whispered.

  Joe walked over to get a better look. The paper booklet was ripped down the center. It looked crumpled around the edges, too. “Maybe whoever took the ZCross dropped this on their way out,” Joe said.

  “They were probably in a hurry,” Frank added. “They definitely opened the box.”

  “There aren’t any other signs of it, though,” Joe pointed out.

  “Could this be a mistake?” Mrs. Freeman asked. She kept rubbing her temples with her fingers. “Maybe someone accidentally took it.”

  “I don’t think so. It had a sign on it that said ‘For the Auction.’ ” Cissy shook her head. “I saw it about half an hour ago. A few of the bigger prizes were in here, but most of the other stuff was in the dining room. I don’t know what happened.”

  “I can’t believe this,” Mr. Fun said. “Whoever is responsible must be caught. They can’t just walk away with it! It’s maddening!”

  “We’ll figure out who did this,” Frank promised. He scanned the room again, checking to see if there was anything they might have missed.

  “I hope so,” Mrs. Freeman said. She glanced out the window, where the party was still going on. “The auction was supposed to be over around five o’clock, but I don’t know how long people will stay if we can’t even find the biggest auction prize.”

  Joe pulled his notebook from his back pocket and flipped to a clean page. “There’s no time to waste, then,” he said. “Let’s get started.”