Trick-or-Trouble Read online

  “Do you want to question her?” Callie asked.

  “Maybe later,” Joe replied. “Right now we need to collect some clues of our own.”

  They moved quickly through the town and across the river to the Book Bank. Chet and Iola were bustling around the store helping out, while Daphne and her mom manned the cash registers and dealt with contest issues.

  “You should have picked up a few clues on the way here,” Chet said.

  “What can we say?” Joe replied, giving Iola a quick hug. “We’re foolishly loyal to our friends.”

  “And we appreciate it!” Daphne called from across the room.

  “Not everyone is so gallant,” Iola noted. “We had customers already lined up for their free clues at midnight. All the stores up and down the street did, too.”

  “Which is just what the Chamber of Commerce wanted,” Ms. Soesbee added as she bustled by with another pile of clue envelopes.

  “Anyone we know among the early birds?” Frank asked Iola.

  “Not here,” Iola said, “but I saw Missy Gates across the street. And Ren Takei stopped in about ten past.”

  “He couldn’t have gotten here that quickly,” Joe said. “Unless he had a head start, that is.”

  Frank nodded. “There was no law against leaving the party a little early, though.”

  “Unless it’s to cause trouble,” Callie added.

  “What trouble?” Iola, Chet, Daphne, and her mom said simultaneously. The bookstore fell silent for a moment.

  “Probably just a bad circuit breaker,” Frank replied. “It shorted out all the lights in the mansion just before midnight.”

  Ms. Soesbee looked worried. “Oh dear,” she said, “I hope it didn’t ruin the kickoff.”

  “Not really,” Callie said. “It just made the whole thing spookier.”

  “Oh, good,” Ms. Soesbee said. “A little publicity about a spooky start couldn’t hurt things too much.”

  Frank rubbed his chin. “That’s one way of looking at it,” he replied. He and Joe exchanged contemplative glances.

  “You better get going if you want some clues from other places,” Daphne said. “All the merchants are committed to shutting their doors promptly at one A.M.”

  Joe, Frank, and Callie got in the short line at the register and collected their clue envelopes. Daphne put their names down in the clue register—to prevent them from being able to come back to the store again that night—and the three friends hit the street once more as they opened their envelopes.

  “My clue and Joe’s are the same!” Callie said, disappointed.

  “The distribution is random,” Frank said, “so that’s not too surprising.”

  “It wouldn’t be a fair contest if you gained too much advantage by teaming up,” Joe said.

  Callie read the clue out loud. “Turn, turn while you burn. Some monsters never learn.” She crinkled her pretty nose. “What do you think that means?”

  “I think it means we need more clues,” Joe said. “What does yours say, Frank?”

  “It says, In olden days, he kept his mummies under wraps. Ask, and you shall receive.”

  “These are confusing!” Callie said.

  “If they weren’t,” Frank replied, “it wouldn’t be much of a contest. The clues are intentionally obtuse, and most of them just lead to other pieces of the bigger puzzle.”

  “The mummy thing could be a reference to the pharaohs,” Joe said. “Didn’t there used to be an Egyptian-style obelisk down at the riverfront park?”

  “Yeah, but they moved it to the Bayport museum,” Frank replied.

  “I dunno, guys,” Callie said. “That seems like a pretty weak lead. I’m with Joe—we need more clues.”

  Frank nodded. “No sense running around on every hunch we’ve got,” he said. “Though I’m sure some people are following that strategy.”

  “Some losers,” Callie said, smiling.

  “Let’s hit some more shops,” Joe suggested.

  They visited a restaurant down the street from the Book Bank and garnered three more clues. One was a repeat of the mummy hint, and two more concerned bats and crocodiles, and didn’t make any more sense than the clues they already had.

  “Daphne and her mom sure did a good job on these puzzles,” Callie said.

  A stop to Pierce’s Hardware yielded an instant winner clue for a free cup of coffee at Java John’s, a repeat of a clue they already had, and a cryptic message about dragons.

  “Just sorting these out from each other is part of the trick,” Frank said. “There’s no obvious hints of which clues may be connected to each other.”

  They headed for the north side of the riverfront park, to cross the footbridge into the heart of downtown. As they neared the park, though, Allison Rosenberg shot past them on a bicycle.

  “Where’d she get the bike?” Callie asked.

  “She probably had it parked somewhere when we saw her running around earlier,” Joe said. “Zipping through town on a bike is a good plan.”

  “If she doesn’t get her witch costume caught in the spokes,” Frank said.

  Allison’s Halloween bag full of clues flapped behind her as she wove between two buildings onto Perrin Avenue and toward the bridge. She slowed down as she neared the turn into the park.

  Suddenly, a masked figure dressed in jeans, a dark shirt, black cape, and a devil’s mask darted out of an alley between the buildings—and grabbed Allison’s clue bag.

  4 Race with the Devil

  Allison skidded wildly as her Halloween bag jerked tight across her chest. She and the bike crashed to the street, and the bag’s contents flew into the air. Allison gasped in pain.

  Joe and Frank sprinted after the mugger.

  “Hey you!” Joe called. “Stop!”

  The bandit stopped, but only long enough to scoop up a few of the spilled envelopes. The black-robed devil then turned and ran into the alley across the street.

  “Look after Allison,” Frank called to Callie. “We’ll catch the thief.”

  Callie Shaw ran to where Allison had fallen. “I’m all right,” the girl in the witch costume said, “just a bit shaken up.” She and Callie lifted the bike and began to pick up the spilled clues.

  Frank and Joe charged into the alley after the bandit. “Any idea who we’re chasing?” Joe asked.

  “Between the darkness and the mask, who knows?” Frank replied.

  The devil-masked thief had a good head start, but the Hardys soon began to close the gap between them.

  The thief kept to the alleys, darting pell-mell across the streets in between. Once, a passing car nearly flattened him, but he didn’t even look back. The Hardys bolted across just behind the car, hot on his heels.

  The bandit turned. He smashed two trash cans at the curb into each other and sent them tumbling across the alleyway.

  Frank leaped over the first can, but it rolled into Joe and sent the younger Hardy to the pavement. Frank paused momentarily to make sure his brother was okay. Joe pounded his fist on the ground.

  “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “Catch that guy!”

  The dark-haired Hardy nodded and resumed the chase.

  The diversion had gained the bandit a good fifteen-yard lead. He crossed the next street—but Frank sprinted out after him.

  Headlights flared and a big engine roared as a car barreled straight toward the elder Hardy. The driver of the car leaned hard on the horn and the vehicle’s tires squealed.

  Frank skidded to a halt, slowing down just enough that the car didn’t run him over. He crashed hard into the side of the custom-painted T-bird and the air rushed out of his lungs. Frank fell backward as, across the road, the devil-masked bandit vanished into another alley.

  “Frank! Are you all right?” Joe asked, rushing up to his brother.

  “I’m okay,” Frank said, staggering to his feet. “Just got the wind knocked out of me.”

  “Why don’t you watch where you’re going!” called the car’s dri
ver. Joe and Frank recognized the face of the sandy-haired teen behind the wheel.

  “Harley Bettis,” Joe said, “funny finding you here.”

  “What’s so funny about it?” Bettis said, getting out of the car. “I could have killed you!”

  “But you didn’t,” Frank said, brushing himself off. “Thanks.”

  Bettis fumed. “Don’t thank me,” he said. He stopped to examine the car where Frank had crashed into it. He rubbed the finish on the red and yellow flames emblazoned on the side. “If this paint job is scratched,” he said, “you’re paying for it.”

  “Is this your car?” Joe asked.

  “No,” Bettis said angrily. “My boss is fixing it up. I was taking it for a test drive. This wasn’t my fault, you know.”

  “No one said it was,” Frank replied. “Funny taking a test drive in the middle of the night, though.”

  Bettis’s eyes narrowed. “Everyone’s working late because of the contest,” he said. “Funny running out of an alley in the middle of the night.”

  “We were chasing a purse snatcher,” Joe said. “Thanks to you, he got away.”

  “That ain’t my fault, either.”

  “Yeah, we know,” Joe said. “Where are you working now, Howard?”

  “As if you care,” Bettis replied. “I’m at Magnum American Motors, just down the street. Check with my boss if you don’t believe me.”

  “Magnum Motors is giving away one of the big prizes, aren’t they?” Frank asked.

  “The Geronimo motorcycle,” Bettis said. “I’d be trying to win it myself if I weren’t disqualified for working there.” He stopped fussing over the car’s paint job. “Well, there don’t seem to be any damage—my boss’ll be calling you if there is, though. I gotta get back to work.

  “Oh—and keep out of my way. Next time, I might not stop when one of you runs in front of my car—specially if you call me ‘Howard’ again.” Bettis got back into the fiery T-bird and drove away.

  “I don’t trust that guy,” Joe said as the car’s taillights disappeared into the darkness. “It’s awfully convenient, him showing up just when he did—especially with his friends Missy Gates and Jay Stone prowling around the contest. This kind of scam is right up their alley.”

  “Harley’s been keeping a pretty low profile since he got in trouble with the juvenile authorities last year, though,” Frank said. “And Magnum Motors isn’t too far from here.”

  “Just because he’s got a reasonable explanation for being here doesn’t mean he wasn’t in on this,” Joe said. “Snatch-and-grab criminals often have one person to do the crime and another to distract the victims.”

  Frank nodded. “You could be right. But, speaking of victims, we better see how Allison and Callie are doing.”

  In a few minutes the brothers retraced their steps to where they’d left the girls.

  Callie had called the police on her cell phone while the boys were gone, and one of the downtown cops—Officer Sullivan—had already arrived on the scene.

  “Frank, Joe,” Callie said, “did you catch him?”

  Frank shook his head. “Nope. A car cut us off and we lost him.”

  “A car driven by Howard ‘Harley’ Bettis,” Joe said.

  “Honestly,” Allison said to the officer, “there’s no need to make a big fuss. It was probably just a prank. Can I get going, please?”

  “It’s your own business if you don’t want to file charges,” Officer Sullivan replied, “but I’d advise you to put in a report.”

  “Over a couple of slips of paper?” Allison said.

  “You might have been hurt,” Callie said. “And it’s too late to do any more prize hunting tonight, anyway.”

  Allison checked her watch and frowned. “Well, okay,” she said. “But I have to get back home soon. We have school tomorrow, you know.”

  “I won’t keep you long,” Officer Sullivan replied. “You Hardy boys should come along and fill out witness statements.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Frank said.

  They put Allison’s battered bike into the rear of the patrol car and went to the police station.

  When they arrived at their homes, just after two A.M., all of them were too tired to worry about either the contest or the devil-masked bandit.

  The next day, Bayport High buzzed with talk about the contest. Vice Principal Fazzio patrolled the halls, keeping disruption of classes to a minimum. Enthusiasm spilled over, though, into the study halls, the lunchroom, and classrooms.

  “…He kept his mummies under wraps…” Joe said, wondering about one of the clues they’d found last night. He stabbed absentmindedly at his chicken tetrazzini and glanced at Frank and Callie. “I don’t get it.” Iola, Chet, and Daphne, who were eating across the table from him, merely smiled and kept quiet.

  Carrying her empty tray back toward the kitchen, Allison Rosenberg paused a moment. “Are you guys still chasing that mummy clue?” she asked.

  “Without much luck, I’m afraid,” Frank said.

  “Late nights, contest puzzles, and school don’t mix too well,” Callie added, rubbing her blond head wearily.

  Allison smiled and shrugged. “I went to Pierce’s Hardware and collected the mummy prize already. I solved the riddle last night, a half hour before I…ran into you.”

  Joe looked puzzled. “So, what did it mean?”

  “Jack Pierce was the man who did the makeup for the original Universal mummy movies,” Allison said. “He kept them under wraps—get it? ‘Ask and you shall receive’…So I went to Pierce’s Hardware, showed the clue, and asked for the loot.”

  “Was it a good prize?” Joe asked.

  “An MP3 player,” Allison replied.

  “Ren Takei will be jealous,” Frank said.

  Allison smiled. “He was. I showed it to him just before second class. Thanks for helping me out last night, by the way. Don’t think I’ll cut you any slack in the contest, though.”

  “We wouldn’t want any unfair advantage,” Joe replied. “Just ask Iola, Chet, and Daphne.”

  “Our lips are sealed,” Chet said, “even though Iola and I don’t know anything about the riddles.” Daphne merely smiled.

  The clue-gathering didn’t start again until after dark that evening, which gave the teens plenty of time to finish their homework and other after-school activities.

  Iola and Callie worked on their parade float, in the old warehouse down by the docks. Then they met Chet, Daphne, and the Hardys for that evening’s hunt.

  “Bicycles tonight?” Callie asked.

  Joe shook his head. “We’ll stick with the van. It’d be easier to get separated on bikes.”

  “And, given yesterday’s events,” Frank said, “I think we want to stick together.”

  They parked the van near the riverfront, in a central location amid the participating stores, then hiked up to the Book Bank to pick up their first clues of the day. Tonight, none of them wore costumes.

  On their way into the store, they ran into Ren Takei, who was on his way out. They greeted him, but Ren merely nodded and kept going.

  “Think he’s ticked about Allison getting that prize?” Joe asked.

  “Could be,” Frank replied. “Or he could just be concentrating on the contest.”

  “He’s always seemed a little aloof to me,” Callie added.

  Callie, Frank, and Joe picked up three new clues from Ms. Soesbee, said good-bye to Iola, Chet, and Daphne, then headed down the street to visit more businesses.

  “Another duplicate,” Joe said, examining the envelopes, “and another crocodile riddle.”

  “And a free soda at the Town Spa Pizzeria,” Callie added.

  “We can redeem that when we go downtown later,” Frank said.

  They stopped at the CD Crate and Lewton Video, picking up two more small food prizes, an instant CD winner, and three duplicates of clues they already had.

  “Clearly, the distribution is heavy on the basic clues and small prizes,” Frank said.
r />   “They’d go broke if it weren’t,” Joe replied. “And, besides, I think they want us to use our brains on these puzzles as much as our legs in collecting them.”

  “Well, at least we won’t go hungry tonight. Kool Kone is nearby. Let’s redeem one of those food prizes and pick up some more clues there.”

  The contest’s expanded hours—between dark and midnight—left them a lot of time to collect clues. But with the bustle of people downtown, which seemed to have increased from the previous night, it was slow-going.

  “You know,” Joe said as he munched a clam roll, “I’ve been thinking about the dragon clue we got last night: Dragons wild may run amok, but near the wall they bring good luck. I think it’s a reference to China. Dragons are lucky there.”

  “Good thinking, Joe,” Frank said. “Isn’t there a diorama of the Great Wall in Sui Wing’s Chinese restaurant?”

  “You’re right!” Callie said. “Let’s go check it out.”

  They hiked back over the river, to Sui Wing’s restaurant. They greeted the owner, a longtime friend of the Hardys’ parents, and then walked over to the Great Wall diorama.

  Looking carefully, they spotted a tiny soldier standing under a gate in one of the walls. The banner he held was decorated with a smiling jack-o’-lantern. Callie brought Sui Wing over, and showed him their clue. Mr. Wing reached into the pocket of his chef’s apron and produced a piece of paper tied with a green ribbon. “Good luck,” he said.

  The teens thanked him and then went outside to examine their new clue.

  Joe read it aloud. “Where Boris met his first demise, he found a blade that cut the skies.”

  Callie crinkled her nose. “I hope these get easier soon,” she said.

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” Frank replied. “I’ve been thinking about the clue Allison solved earlier, though. It would make sense that most of these puzzles would have a Halloween or horror movie theme. That could help us put the clues together.”

  “Too bad Chet can’t join us,” Callie said. “He’s a real horror movie buff.”

  “We’ll just have to make do,” Joe said. “Do you think you’ve got something, Frank?”

  “Yeah,” the elder Hardy replied. “These two clues—Turn, turn while you burn. Some monsters never learn, and Where Boris met his first demise, he found a blade that cut the skies—could both refer to the original Frankenstein movie, with Boris Karloff?”