Hopping Mad Read online

  Frank pulled out his trusty notebook and pen. The notebook was brown and battered from being carried in Frank’s pocket all the time, but it had records of every crime they’d ever solved.

  “All right, Joe. What do we know?”

  4

  The Six Ws of Crime

  Solving

  Fenton Hardy, Frank and Joe’s dad, was a private investigator who used to work with the local Bayport police force. He’d been a cop in New York City for years. The boys had been watching him solve crimes since they were old enough to crawl after him. Over the years they’d learned more than a few things about figuring out unexplained events.

  And the first was to start with the six Ws of crime solving—What, When, Why, Who, How, and Where. Frank and Joe found a quiet corner of the auditorium to sit down and think. Everyone else had gone out to recess, so they had the room to themselves.

  Frank wrote down in his notebook: What.

  “That part is easy,” said Joe. “A rain of frogs!”

  Frank wrote down frogs in the notebook. Then he kept going.

  “What else are you writing?” asked Joe, curious.

  Frank continued writing for a moment, then looked up and read from the notebook. “‘Frogs. Falling from all around at the Bayport Elementary annual talent show. All specimens looked to be around the same age, size, species.’”

  If there was one thing their father had specifically told them, it was that it paid to be as precise as possible. Solving a crime often rested on the details.

  Frank wrote When next, under What.

  Joe looked at his watch. “It happened about twenty minutes after the talent show started, so around 11:20 a.m.” Frank recorded the time in the notebook. After it he added right at the beginning of Melissa & Todd’s act.

  Joe scratched his head—a sure sign he was thinking about something.

  “That means that the frogs must have gotten into the auditorium earlier today. It couldn’t have been last night, or they probably would have starved. And it couldn’t have been that much earlier than the show itself, or they wouldn’t have escaped at the right time.”

  “So whoever did this did it recently!” said Frank, excited. If the trail was still “warm,” as their dad would say, they had a much better chance of catching the culprit.

  “Okay,” said Frank. “Next up is Why.”

  This one was tougher. In police investigations, this was known as the criminal’s “motive.” The boys took a few minutes to come up with as many reasons as they could as to why someone would want to drop frogs on the talent show.

  “Someone hates frogs,” said Joe.

  “Someone hates Melissa and Todd,” said Frank. He wrote both down. After that the list continued:

  Someone was out to ruin the talent show.

  Someone wanted to make Principal Butler angry.

  It was a prank directed at the school.

  It was an accident.

  They were a new species of frog that lived in the ceilings of public elementary schools. (Frank knew this was unlikely, but he’d always wanted to discover a new species of animal.)

  “This isn’t getting us anywhere,” said Joe. Frank agreed. They had no way of knowing why someone would want to rain frogs down on the talent show. It was time to move on to the next piece of the puzzle: Who.

  Who would want to sabotage the talent show?

  “Well, Adam got pulled off the stage,” said Frank. “And he’s always starting fights and pulling pranks on people. Maybe he was angry at Principal Butler.”

  Adam was a pretty good suspect. They wrote his name down in the book. They thought for a few more seconds.

  “Mina was freaked out about having to perform in front of the whole school,” said Joe. “Maybe she did it so she wouldn’t have to go on?”

  “That’s possible,” said Frank. “But Mina is so nice. It doesn’t seem like her. But like Dad says, you never know.” Frank wrote Mina’s name down too, even though they didn’t think it could be her.

  “I didn’t see Adam or Mina when the frogs were falling, did you?” asked Joe.

  Frank considered it for a second. He’d been pretty distracted. But now that he thought about it, he couldn’t remember seeing either of them anywhere.

  “So either one of them could be our prankster,” said Joe.

  “Or anyone else who wasn’t at the show.” Aside from Melissa, Todd, Cissy, and Principal Butler, it could have been almost anyone. The crowd was so big, no one would have noticed if one person was missing.

  Carefully Frank wrote Where in the notebook. His hand was starting to get tired. He was glad that they’d be soon done with the writing part of the investigation.

  “The first frog hit Melissa in the face,” said Frank.

  “But where did it come from?” said Joe.

  “If someone was throwing them from the audience, they’d have to be pretty strong,” said Frank. “And have good aim.”

  “Maybe they fell from the ceiling?”

  Both boys looked up. How would frogs have gotten into the ceiling? Frank wrote it down, then crossed it out. That would be impossible.

  “We’ve got two suspects,” said Frank. “Should we start with them?”

  Joe nodded. Frank flipped his notebook shut and the boys headed out to find Adam and Mina. First stop: the playground.

  5

  A Confession!

  Of the two, Adam seemed like the more likely suspect. It was hard to see Mina touching a frog, let alone throwing it at someone’s face—no matter how scared she was to perform. Adam had a history of causing trouble. Frank and Joe had already run up against him once on a case, when they were trying to find the missing money from a video-game competition.

  It wasn’t hard to guess where Adam would be. If it was recess, he was over by the swings. That’s where he and his friends—all the biggest and meanest kids in school—liked to hang out. They didn’t even play on the swings. They just knew other kids wanted to use them, and liked standing next to them so everyone else would stay away.

  The whole school was talking about the frogs. No one had any idea how it could have happened. As they walked across the school yard, Frank and Joe heard all different kinds of theories.

  “I heard it was Principal Butler herself. She, like, went crazy or something. They took her away in a strait jacket!” That was Madison Tillery, the most popular girl in school. She had a whole circle of girls around her, listening wide eyed. They were all texting the story to friends at other schools while they listened to Madison.

  “I’m tellin’ you, it was aliens!” That was Chet Morton. He was a good friend of Frank and Joe’s. He was talking loudly to a group of kindergartners. “I saw a whole TV show about it. They pick up frogs, and then they— Oh! Hey, Frank! Hey, Joe! Are you guys going to figure this mystery out?” Chet knew all about their cases, and had even been inside the tree house where they wrote them all up on a big chalkboard.

  “We’re going to try,” said Frank.

  “Nuh-uh,” corrected Joe. “We’re going to succeed!”

  “Cool,” said Chet. “Here’s a lead for you: aliens!”

  Frank laughed. Chet always thought it was aliens. Frank and Joe continued on their way. Finally, they made it over to the far side of the playground, where the swings were. Sure enough, there was Adam—along with Jeffrey Perkins, Susie Merrell, Joe Stracy, and Ian Williams. The five of them added together would have made ten of Frank or Joe. They towered above all the other kids in the third grade. Adam had his back turned as the boys approached, and was talking loudly to his friends.

  “Did you hear me up there?” Adam was saying. “They loved me! If Principal Butler hadn’t pulled me off the stage, I would have won the talent show, no questions. I was cheated!”

  It sounded like Adam was pretty upset at Principal Butler. That would be reason enough to ruin the show. And if he thought he deserved to win on top of it …

  “What do you want?” Susie asked. She had notic
ed Frank and Joe, listening to Adam. She had a mean look in her eyes. She was probably the smartest of the third-grade bullies. All the other girls went running when she came into the cafeteria.

  Joe swallowed loudly. “We, uh, we wanted to talk to Adam about the frogs.” He was trying not to be afraid. Or to be afraid, but still do the right thing. That was what their dad had taught them.

  “Did I say you could talk?” asked Susie. She pushed the other kids aside and walked up to Joe. She was a good two inches taller.

  “Well, you did ask me—,” Joe began.

  “‘Well, you did ask me. Nah, nah, nah,” Susie copied him. Adam and the other kids laughed.

  “Look, we just want to know if he had anything to do with the frogs that interrupted the talent show,” said Frank.

  “Goody Two-Shoes!” yelled Ian.

  “You think I did that?” asked Adam. He walked over to Frank and Joe. The other kids came with him. Quickly, Frank and Joe were surrounded.

  “It couldn’t have been Adam!” A voice rang out from behind the circle of third-grade bullies. A second later, Mina wormed her way through the wall of kids.

  “What do you mean, it couldn’t have been Adam?” said Frank. He had pulled out his pen and notebook, eager to get another clue on the case. The bullies had already been forgotten.

  “Hey, Mina, be quiet!” Adam looked nervous all of a sudden.

  Mina ignored him. “He was with me!” she said.

  Adam started waving his hands and trying to cut her off. “Don’t listen to her!” he said. Now Frank and Joe were really curious. What was she going to say? All of Adam’s friends were staring at Mina as well.

  “He was—”

  But Mina never got to finish her sentence. Adam put his hand over her mouth. “Fine!” he said. “You caught me! I did it.”

  “What?” said Joe.

  “I did it! I threw the frogs onstage. You can go tell Principal Butler. In fact, let’s go do that right now.”

  Adam still hadn’t removed his hand from Mina’s mouth. She was staring at Frank and Joe, trying to get their attention. As Adam talked, she shook her head. It seemed like Mina didn’t believe Adam. And neither did Frank or Joe. What was he trying to hide?

  But it was too late to try and find out now. Adam was on his way to Principal Butler’s office pushing Mina in front of him! Frank and Joe hurried to follow him. Could this be the end of the mystery after all?

  6

  Guilty?

  Do you think Adam did it?” Frank asked Joe as they ran along behind him.

  “No way!” said Joe. “But he is hiding something.”

  What could be so bad that he would rather get in trouble for something he didn’t do? Only Mina knew—and Adam wouldn’t let her tell!

  By now, the word had spread throughout the school yard, and a crowd of kids were following Adam to Principal Butler’s office.

  “I guess it wasn’t aliens,” Chet said as he fell in step with Frank and Joe.

  “Yeah,” said Frank. “But I don’t think it was Adam, either!”

  Frank sped up. He managed to catch up with Adam right as they got to the door of the school.

  “Adam!” he said. “You don’t have to do this. Joe and I are going to find the person who really ruined the talent show.”

  Frank stood between Adam and the door. Since Adam was still holding Mina, he couldn’t push Frank out of the way.

  “Move!” he yelled. But Frank wouldn’t budge.

  “No way. Not until you tell the truth.”

  The other kids were beginning to whisper. Was Frank right? He and Joe had a reputation for finding out the truth. But why would Adam admit to something he hadn’t done?

  Adam took his hands off of Mina. It looked like he was going to shove Frank out of the way. But as soon as Mina was free, she started yelling again.

  “He didn’t do it!” Mina said. “He—”

  But she didn’t get any further before Adam had his hand over her mouth again. This time he bent down and whispered in her ear. After a minute Mina nodded. Adam let go of her mouth. This time, she didn’t say anything.

  Adam turned back to face Frank. He snapped his fingers and pointed. Ian and Susie each grabbed one of Frank’s arms.

  “Hey! Let me go!”

  Ian and Susie carried Frank out of the way and dropped him down on the grass. Adam entered the school.

  “You okay?” Joe asked Frank.

  “I’m fine. We’ve got to catch up with them!”

  By the time Frank and Joe pushed through the crowd of kids around the school door, it was too late. They just barely caught sight of Adam walking into the principal’s office. They ran down the hall after him.

  “Yes, Principal Butler,” said Adam as Frank and Joe entered Principal Butler’s office. “I did it. I threw the frogs at Melissa.”

  Principal Butler’s mouth tightened into a hard line. She pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

  “Well, Mr. Ackerman,” she said. “I should have known.”

  Adam looked upset by that, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Where did the frogs come from?” Principal Butler asked.

  “Uh … I … well… I caught them?”

  “And how did you get them into the auditorium?”

  “I smuggled them in under my coat.”

  “He’s not even wearing a coat!” yelled Frank.

  “Shut up!” said Adam.

  “He’s lying!” said Joe.

  Principal Butler paused, considering what the boys had said. It seemed pretty obvious that Adam wasn’t telling the truth. She looked back and forth between Adam and the Hardy brothers. Then she shook her head.

  “Adam has confessed. The talent show will continue. You, Mr. Ackerman, will be seeing me in detention this afternoon. And for the rest of the month. I’ll let your parents know you’ll be home late from now on.”

  Principal Butler picked up the phone and began to dial Adam’s parents. Adam screwed his face up, like he couldn’t decide whether to be happy or upset.

  “That’s not fair, Principal Butler!” said Joe. “He didn’t do it.”

  Principal Butler ignored him and continued dialing the phone. After a few seconds the sound of Mrs. Ackerman’s voice mail could be heard. Principal Butler hung up the phone. She checked her watch.

  “I have a meeting right now. I need all of you to leave my office.” She looked tired.

  Frank opened his mouth to say something.

  “I heard you before, Mr. Hardy. If you don’t think Adam did it, find out who did. He has confessed, and that’s good enough for me. You have thirty minutes before my meeting ends and I call his parents again. Good-bye.”

  Principal Butler pointed to the door. Reluctantly, Frank and Joe left. Adam was right behind them.

  “Not you, Mr. Ackerman. You can stay right here. Your detention starts now.”

  7

  Up, Up, and Away!

  It looked like the entire school was waiting outside Principal Butler’s office when Frank and Joe came out. Everyone wanted to be near the door when it opened.

  “Did Adam do it? Is the talent show back on? Is he going to be expelled?”

  A dozen voices asked the same questions as Frank and Joe walked away, but they just shook their heads. Adam had confessed … but they were sure he was innocent. Nothing was adding up.

  “What do we do now?” asked Joe after they had pushed their way clear of the crowd.

  “I don’t know,” said Frank. “Thirty minutes isn’t a lot of time to figure out this mystery.” Frank looked up at the clock. It wasn’t even thirty minutes anymore. Now it was more like twenty-eight minutes! Time was running out fast.

  “What would Dad say?” asked Joe. He paused for a moment.

  “Start with the evidence,” the boys said at the same time.

  “The frogs are gone,” said Frank. “So the only evidence would be back in the auditorium itself. Maybe we missed something. Let’s go l
ook.”

  Joe didn’t have a better idea, so the boys headed back to the school auditorium. From outside, they heard voices shouting.

  “No! Stop that!”

  What was happening? Could the prankster be causing trouble again? Frank and Joe shoved open the doors and rushed inside.

  On the stage, Melissa was chasing Todd around. She had taken off her yellow-and-black checkered cap, and was trying her best to hit him with it. But Todd had longer legs and was managing to keep just outside her reach.

  “You keep starting the second horus too soon! You’re cutting off my line.” Melissa swung her hat again, and Todd skipped backward.

  Out of the corner of her eyes, Melissa must have caught a glimpse of Frank and Joe. She spun around quickly. She hid the hat behind her back, and a big fake grin lit up her face.

  “Well, hello there!” She beamed. “Our performance has been put off for a little while, but we’ll be on in just a bit! But it’s always good to see our fans.”

  She gave a little bow. She seemed surprised to find Frank and Joe still standing there when she straightened up. The grin left her face.

  “You can leave now,” she said.

  “Actually, we’ve got a few questions for you,” said Frank. He took out his notebook and got ready to record her statement.

  “Oh!” said Melissa. “You want an autograph. Of course.”

  Melissa hopped down off the stage and ran over to Frank. She grabbed the pen and notebook from his hand.

  To my biggest fan! Melissa. She wrote in big curling script, and she dotted her letter i’s with stars. But that wasn’t the information Frank wanted.

  “Thanks, but we wanted to ask you about the frogs. Did you notice anything strange before they started to appear?”

  Melissa put one hand dramatically to her forehead. “I’m still too upset to talk to the press,” she said. “I might faint.”