A Skateboard Cat-astrophe Read online

  “It’s a drone!” Frank cried out.

  “And it’s spraying water!” shouted Joe.

  Champ yipped and the brothers yelped as the water-copter drone swooped down to drench them even more!

  “Duck, Frank, duck!” Joe screamed. “We’re under attack!!”

  Chapter 9

  PIZZA PIE SPY

  “What the—hey?” Phil cried as he ran into the room. He caught up with Champ darting around the room with the remote between his teeth.

  Phil held out his hand under Champ’s mouth. “That’s not a Frisbee! Drop it! Drop it!”

  Frank and Joe had run for shelter underneath Phil’s worktable. They peeked out to see the sad-eyed bulldog drop the remote on the floor with a clunk.

  Grabbing the remote, Phil flicked a switch. The copter sputtered in the air before descending gently onto Phil’s desk.

  “What was that thing, Phil?” Frank demanded as the brothers slipped out from underneath the table.

  “My latest invention,” Phil explained. “The copter waters your lawn so you don’t have to. But I didn’t test it yet.”

  “Um . . . I think you just did,” Joe said shaking out his wet hair. “And it works.”

  Puzzled, Phil looked from Joe to Frank. “What were you guys doing in my room, anyway?” he asked.

  “Your mom told us we could wait up here for you,” Frank explained. “But we were also working on a new case.”

  “What case?” Phil asked.

  Joe held up the mechanical mouse. “Someone ran this past Skeeter at the skateboard contest,” he explained. “Frank and I are trying to figure out who did it.”

  “That’s the fake mouse you had at the pizza place last night!” Phil said. “Why do you think it was mine?”

  “We thought maybe you built a mechanical mouse to get Skeeter out of the contest,” Joe admitted. “But now we know you didn’t.”

  Phil rolled his eyes. “Yeah, duh!” he said. “I build gadgets for fun—not to mess with cats!”

  “Sorry, Phil,” Frank admitted. “We didn’t want to suspect you, but we have to follow all our leads.”

  “We’re detectives,” Joe said with a smile. “That’s how we roll.”

  “It’s all good,” Phil said, smiling too. “Champ proved yesterday he’s still the number one pet star in Bayport.”

  Phil walked over to his computer and pointed to Champ’s video. “See?” he said excitedly. “Over ten thousand likes!”

  “Way to go, Champ,” Joe said, giving the bulldog a pat. “And speaking of Frisbees, we found one in the park yesterday.”

  “A red Frisbee with brown polka dots,” added Frank. “Was it Champ’s?”

  “Red with brown polka dots is a weird color for a Frisbee,” Phil said. “And it wasn’t Champ’s. He never chased a Frisbee he didn’t catch.”

  Frank and Joe were happy Phil wasn’t guilty. They were also happy for Champ—still top dog in Bayport!

  “We can help you mop up these puddles, Phil,” Joe said, nodding down at the wet floor.

  “Thanks, but no thanks,” Phil said. “As long as the puddles weren’t made by Champ, I can deal with it.”

  Champ jutted out his lower lip and rolled his eyes as if to say, Very funny.

  After saying good-bye to the Cohens, the brothers left to continue their case. But there wasn’t much case to continue.

  “No more suspects, Frank,” Joe said as he crossed Phil’s name from the suspect list. “What now?”

  “Let’s go back to the park and look for more clues,” Frank decided. “Somebody was behind those bushes where the mouse was launched.”

  “Yeah,” Joe said as he shut his clue book. “Somebody we haven’t figured out yet.”

  The brothers returned to the park and the scene of the crime. As they stood behind the bushes, Frank said, “Okay. What do we know so far?”

  Joe pointed to the ground and said, “We know that’s where we found that funny-looking red Frisbee with brown polka dots.”

  “The one that looks more like a pizza than a Frisbee!” Frank joked.

  Pizza? Joe stared at Frank.

  “The Frisbee looks like a pepperoni pizza!” Joe exclaimed. “Frank, no wonder I had a weird craving for some after we found the Frisbee.”

  “Okay,” Frank said with a shrug. “Now let’s go back to the case—”

  “Frank, Daisy told us Pizza Palace was giving away free Frisbees with every pizza delivery,” Joe cut in excitedly. “So it does have something to do with the case. A lot of something!”

  THE HARDY BOYS—and

  YOU!

  CAN YOU SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE SKATEBOARD SABOTEUR?

  Try thinking like Frank and Joe or turn the page to find out!

  1. Frank and Joe ruled out Aunt Trudy, Adam, and Phil. Can you think of other suspects? Write them down on a piece of paper.

  2. What happened at the Leaning Tower of Pizza that could make the pepperoni Frisbee a clue? Write down your ideas on a piece of paper.

  3. The Hardys’ friend Phil likes to invent gadgets. What gadgets might he invent to help Frank and Joe solve mysteries? Write your ideas on a piece of paper.

  Chapter 10

  DOUBLE TROUBLE

  Frank narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “Come to think of it,” he said, “the pizza place is where the mouse went crazy last night.”

  “Someone at the pizza place had the remote for the mouse,” Joe explained. “Someone who could have worked there!”

  “You mean Daisy Zamora?” Frank asked.

  The sound of a snapping twig made the brothers jump. They turned to see Matty and Scotty Zamora on the other side of the bushes. They seemed to be standing on their toes, staring over the hedge straight at Frank and Joe.

  “What are you doing here?” Joe asked.

  “We came to look for our Frisbee,” Matty answered. “Instead we found you.”

  Frank and Joe exchanged glances. The Frisbee had belonged to the twins. And they’d been in the pizza place last night!

  “We did find a Frisbee,” Joe said. “We also found this.” He pulled the fake mouse from his pocket. “Anybody know where we can find the remote that goes with it?”

  Matty and Scotty didn’t answer. Instead they turned and took off.

  “Come on, Frank!” Joe said. “Let’s get those twins!”

  Frank and Joe jumped over the bushes.

  “They’re running into the playground!” Frank shouted as they chased the twins.

  “Then we’re running in there too!” Joe shouted back.

  Matty and Scotty ran past the swings and seesaws to the challenge course. The colorful course was filled with ropes, tunnels, planks, and hoops.

  In a flash, Matty and Scotty charged through the course. So did Frank and Joe. They chased the twins across a high plank, crawled after them through a tunnel—even stepped in and out of tires in hot pursuit.

  “I didn’t know pizza was energy food!” Joe shouted to Frank as the twins took the lead.

  Matty and Scotty had climbed a rope ladder leading to a long, winding tunnel slide. Joe was about to climb after them when Frank said, “Let’s surprise them down here.”

  Their arms folded, Frank and Joe waited by the mouth of the tunnel.

  A loud “Wheeeeeee” echoed inside the tunnel. Then out popped Matty, feet first.

  Matty gulped when he saw Frank and Joe.

  “Okay, Scotty,” Joe yelled up the tunnel. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

  Instead of Scotty, out slid a silver gadget with buttons!

  “A remote!” Frank exclaimed.

  “It must have fallen out of Scotty’s pocket,” Joe said excitedly. “Are we lucky or what?”

  Joe grabbed the remote just as Scotty burst through the tunnel, headfirst. When Scotty saw the remote in Joe’s hand, he mumbled, “Oops.”

  Frank and Joe tested the remote with the mechanical mouse. The mouse began spinning around, and they high-fived!

  “Yo
u had to slide upside down,” Matty complained to Scotty. “Show-off!”

  Frank clicked the remote to stop the mouse. “So you guys moved the mouse last night in the pizza place, right?” he asked the twins.

  “Yes, but we didn’t mean to!” Matty insisted.

  “Our dad told us our cartoon was too loud,” Scotty explained. “So we used the remote to make it not so loud.”

  “Except Scotty used the wrong remote,” Matty sighed. “He used the one for the fake mouse.”

  “It was on the table,” Scotty said, his eyes cast downward. “I took it out of my pocket before, when I was looking for my gum.”

  “It’s the same mouse that Skeeter chased at the skateboarding contest,” Joe said with a frown. “Why did you want to ruin Skeeter’s big chance?”

  Matty shook his head. “We didn’t want to ruin Skeeter!” he insisted. “We wanted to ruin Easy Cheesy!”

  “Easy Cheesy?” Joe asked, wrinkling his nose.

  “The macaroni-and-cheese truck?” Frank asked. “What do you have against them?”

  Scotty dug his sneaker toe into the dirt as he explained, “Daisy said if more people ate macaroni and cheese than pizza, then Pizza Prince would close down.”

  “But if people saw a mouse running by the tables,” Scotty said, “they wouldn’t want to eat there ever again!”

  “We told Daisy we were going to play Frisbee,” Matty explained. “Instead we hid behind the bushes and aimed the mouse straight for the tables. Except it didn’t go straight.”

  “It hit a rock and spun around,” Scotty went on, his eyes wide. “Then the fake mouse zoomed toward Skeeter!”

  “We didn’t know Skeeter would chase the mouse,” Matty sighed. “But our plan still worked.”

  “Everybody saw the mouse,” Scotty continued. “And now business at Pizza Prince is booming.”

  “Ka-booming,” Matty added, looking unhappy.

  Frank and Joe noticed the twins’ sad faces. What was up with that?

  “If your plan worked,” Frank said slowly, “why do you look so sad?”

  “Ever since our pizza place got so busy,” Scotty explained, “so did our mom and dad.”

  “All they’ve been doing since then is work, work, work!” Matty complained. He held out his hand and said, “Can we have our mouse back?”

  Joe handed back the mouse and the remote. Matty and Scotty mumbled, “Thanks,” then walked away.

  “I kind of feel bad for the twins,” Frank admitted. “But glad that we found out who tricked Skeeter.”

  “Now we can tell Carlos the fake mouse was nothing personal,” Joe said.

  “It was personal for Lou,” Frank said, nodding toward the Easy Cheesy Mac and Cheese truck. “Thanks to that mouse, he lost half his customers.”

  “I wish there was a way to bring customers back to Easy Cheesy,” Joe said, gazing at the almost-empty café tables. “But what?”

  Suddenly—“Arrrrrk!”

  Joe gasped as a huge red-and-green parrot flew out of nowhere to land on his shoulder.

  “Where did he come from?” Frank asked.

  “I wonder if he talks,” Joe said.

  The parrot squawked, rolled his head, and began to sing: “I’ve got spuuuuurs that jingle jangle jiiiingle!”

  “He doesn’t just talk,” Joe laughed, “he sings!”

  “You found my parrot!”

  The brothers turned to see Jason Wang from school hurrying over. He held out his wrist for the parrot to hop on.

  “Does your parrot always sing?” Joe asked.

  “He knows seven tunes!” Jason said proudly. “Who needs to download music when you have Crackers!”

  “You should be daaaaancing!” Crackers squawked. “Arrrk!”

  “Wow, Joe,” Frank said as Jason carried Crackers away. “Bayport has some crazy-talented pets.”

  Talented? Pets? Joe’s eyes lit up.

  “Frank, that’s it!” he exclaimed. “That’s how we can bring customers back to Easy Cheesy.”

  “How?” Frank asked.

  “With a talent show just for pets!” Joe exclaimed. “It can be held in the park right by the Easy Cheesy Mac and Cheese truck.”

  Joe watched as his brother thought it over. “What do you think, Frank?” he asked.

  “I think as long as those pets aren’t mice,” Frank teased, “a cool show like that could solve Lou’s problem.”

  “We solved something too, Frank,” Joe said with a smile as he wrote Case Closed in his clue book. “Another mystery!”

  About the Author

  Franklin W. Dixon is the author of the ever-popular Hardy Boys series of books.

  Matt David is a part-time illustrator and full-time clue finder, and lives and works in San Francisco. He solves mysteries with his trusty pencil and the help of his wife, son, and clever cat.

  DON’T MISS THE NEXT HARDY BOYS CLUE BOOK:

  The Pirate Ghost

  ALADDIN

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  VISIT US AT

  SIMONANDSCHUSTER.COM/KIDS

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Franklin-W-Dixon

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Matt-David

  Don’t miss any of the cases in the Hardy Boys Clue Book series!

  #1: The Video Game Bandit

  #2: The Missing Playbook

  #3: Water-Ski Wipeout

  #4: Talent Show Tricks

  #5: Scavenger Hunt Heist

  Coming Soon

  #7: The Pirate Ghost

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin paperback edition November 2017

  Text copyright © 2017 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Matt David

  Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  THE HARDY BOYS and colophons are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  HARDY BOYS CLUE BOOK and colophons are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.

  For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Series designed by Karina Granda

  Cover designed by Nina Simoneaux

  Jacket illustrations copyright © 2017 by Matt David

  The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond Pro.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2016949156

  ISBN 978-1-4814-8870-9 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-8869-3 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-8871-6 (eBook)