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That made Phil smile. “Yeah . . . how’d you know?”

  Frank didn’t respond. Instead, he just laughed. “Well, maybe we can auction off the ZCross without the box. Do you still have it? Where is it?”

  “Yeah,” Phil said, waving for the boys to come with him. “I think Biff was going to try to fix the old box. Come with me.”

  Frank and Joe followed Phil inside the house. Sure enough, when they got to the den, Biff was already there. His face was bright red, and he looked like he might cry. He had the ZCross in the package, but the box was still disgusting.

  “It’s no use!” he cried when he saw Phil. “It’s totally messed up. We’re going to get into so much—”

  Before he could finish, he looked behind Phil and saw Frank and Joe there. “It’s okay,” Frank said. “Phil told us what happened. We’re here to help. Let’s talk to Coach Quinn. We might be able to auction off the ZCross even though it doesn’t have the box. It’s worth a try.”

  “We’re so sorry we didn’t tell anyone what happened,” Phil said. “Really.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Joe said, following Biff outside to the hall closet. He opened it. There, sitting behind some towels, was the chewed, soggy gaming system. Joe pulled it out, finally holding it in his hands. “Let’s go—there’s still time.”

  Ten minutes later Coach Quinn was back onstage. “Thank you for all your patience,” she said. “We’re very happy to say the ZCross5000 has been found, and it’s ready for a new home! As some of you may have heard, we don’t have a box for it. But I assure you it’s in mint condition. The bidding starts at one hundred dollars.”

  Before she could even finish the sentence, three paddles in the audience went up. “Do I hear one hundred and twenty? One hundred and forty?” Coach Quinn asked. She kept raising the price, but even more paddles shot up. Everyone wanted the ZCross5000. It didn’t matter whether it was in a box or not.

  “This is unbelievable!” Joe exclaimed as the bidding reached three hundred dollars.

  The boys watched as a woman with gray hair and an old man with glasses battled it out. Every time the woman raised her bidding paddle, the old man would raise his. After a few minutes the bidding war ended.

  “Sold to the woman with the gray hair!” Coach Quinn said. Almost as soon as those words came out of her mouth, she froze. “I—I mean, sold to the woman in the blue scarf!” she stammered as everyone, including the woman, laughed. Coach Quinn laughed too. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just so excited. That six hundred dollars will really help the Bayport Bandits get to their goal and to Florida. Thank you, everyone, and have a good night!”

  The crowd clapped as the woman went up to get her prize, which Mrs. Freeman had put in a big, fancy silver gift bag. Frank put his arm around his brother, happy with how everything had turned out. They’d found the ZCross5000 and auctioned it off, and hopefully, the whole team would be going to Florida.

  “We did it,” Frank said, smiling. “Another case solved!”

  Don’t miss the next

  HARDY BOYS

  Clue Book:

  #2 THE MISSING PLAYBOOK

  As soon as their father pulled up to Cissy “Speedy” Zermeño’s house, Joe Hardy threw open the car door and ran up to the house. Frank smiled and rolled his eyes at his eight-year-old younger brother. On the inside, though, Frank was just as excited as Joe was about the party at Speedy’s. The annual Bandit Barbecue dinner meant the beginning of baseball season, his favorite time of year.

  Frank grabbed the plate of brownies his mother had made, and his parents followed him up the walkway to the Zermeños’ front door. Joe had already disappeared somewhere inside, and Speedy was waiting at the door to greet them. Speedy’s real name was Cissy, but she got her nickname from how quickly she did everything, from the speed of her legendary fastball to how quickly she talked.

  “Hi-Mr.-and-Mrs.-Hardy-hey-Frank-come-on-in!” she said. “I’m-so-excited-you’re-here-wow-those-brownies-look-delicious!”

  “Hi, Speedy,” Frank said. “How’s the wrist?”

  “Great!” Speedy held up her right hand. The last time Frank had seen her, a couple of days ago in school, she’d been wearing a brace. But now it was gone. “The-doctor-said-the-sprain—”

  “Whoa, whoa!” Frank interrupted. “Slow down!”

  Speedy laughed and took a deep breath before she spoke again, more slowly this time. “The doctor said my sprain is almost completely healed. He says I’ll be able to pitch in our first game next week!”

  “That’s awesome!” Frank exclaimed. Speedy, along with the rest of the team, had been worried when she’d hurt her wrist in gym class a couple of weeks ago. She was their star pitcher, and without her, they didn’t stand a chance against their rivals the Jupiters.

  “Oh-I-know! I can’t wait to pitch the first game!” Speedy said.

  Frank and Mr. and Mrs. Hardy followed Speedy outside to the backyard, where the barbecue was in full swing. Mr. and Mrs. Hardy stopped to talk to the other parents while Frank and Speedy went looking for Joe. They found him at the backyard swing set with the Mortons. Frank and Joe’s best friend, Chet, was taking turns pushing his two younger sisters—Iola, who played for the Bandits, and Mimi, who went everywhere Iola did—on the swings. A camera was hanging from a strap around Chet’s neck.

  “Hi, Chet,” Frank said. He nodded at the camera. “You taking pictures of the party?”

  “Yup!” Chet said. He gave Iola a push and then grabbed his camera, holding it up for Frank to see. “There are so many cool things you can do with this camera!” He began to explain to Frank how all the different buttons worked.

  “Chet!” Mimi wailed. Her swing had come to a stop because Chet, distracted by his camera, had forgotten to push her. When Chet had a new hobby, he forgot about everything else.

  “Oh, sorry,” he said. He gave her a big push that sent her flying up into the air.

  “What’s that on your back, Mimi?” Joe asked.

  “My new backpack!” Mimi said, kicking her feet to keep the swing going. “Isn’t it cool? It’s got butterflies on it!”

  “She’s starting preschool in the fall,” Iola explained. “She’s barely taken that backpack off since Mom bought it for her.”

  “Because it’s cool !” Mimi said.

  “Well, I’m starved,” Iola said, hopping off her swing. “Who wants to get a hamburger?”

  Everyone else said they were hungry too, except for Chet.

  “But I’ll come with you guys,” he said. “I want to take some pictures of the food. Coach Quinn said I could be the team’s official photographer.”

  They all got into the line next to the grill. Speedy’s dad was hard at work cooking up hamburgers and hot dogs, moving almost as fast as Speedy did. Standing in front of them in line was Tommy Dawson, who was an outfielder and relief pitcher for the Bandits, and Ezra Moore, who was new to the team.

  “It’s so unfair,” Tommy complained to Ezra, loud enough that Frank could hear him. “I thought I was finally going to get to pitch.”

  “Sorry, dude,” Ezra said, “but Speedy’s the starting pitcher. You knew Coach Quinn was going to let her pitch as soon as her wrist was healed.”

  “She shouldn’t be the starter anyway,” Tommy said. “I’m ten times better than she is. Coach Quinn’s just got it in for me. I’m not going to let her get away with this.”

  “Tommy, calm down,” Ezra said.

  “No way. Forget this stupid team!” Tommy snapped. He stalked off, ignoring Ezra’s attempts to stop him.

  Ezra noticed Frank listening in on their conversation.

  “He’ll cool off,” Ezra said. “He’s just disappointed.”

  Frank nodded. He was just glad Speedy hadn’t heard what Tommy was saying.

  The kids loaded up their plates with food and sat in the grass with some of the other Bandits to eat. When they were done, someone found a baseball and they started a game of catch. All the younger brothers and si
sters of the Bandits players were sitting around Mimi, whose backpack was jammed full of coloring books, stuffed animals, and other toys that she was handing out. They played while the older kids tossed the ball and the parents watched, chatting as they sipped their cups of punch.

  Soon it began to grow dark, and the party moved inside. The parents gathered in the kitchen while the little kids sat in front of the television in the living room to watch a movie. Mimi was among them, her empty backpack slung over her shoulders. While they watched the movie, most of the kids played with one of the toys or coloring books that Mimi had given them.

  Meanwhile, Coach Quinn gathered all the Bandits together for a team meeting.

  “Thanks for coming, everyone,” she said when the team was sitting before her. “It’s going to be the start of an awesome season, right?”

  “Right!” they all replied. Joe’s voice was the loudest of all, Frank noticed.

  Coach Quinn’s eyes twinkled. “That’s what I thought. Now, let me show you our new secret weapon.”

  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.

  ALADDIN

  Simon & Schuster, New York

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

  #2 The Missing Playbook

  Coming Soon

  #3 Water-Ski Wipeout

  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.

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  This Aladdin hardcover edition April 2016

  Text copyright © 2016 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Matt David

  Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.

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

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  Book designed by Karina Granda

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

  Library of Congress Control Number 2015933127

  ISBN 978-1-4814-5053-9 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-5052-2 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-5054-6 (eBook)