Witness to Murder Read online

  "I don't know what you're talking about," she protested. "I've told you ..."

  "You were good friends with Phil Sidler — "

  Annie cut him off. "A while ago. I'm not responsible for what he was involved in now. So bringing me here is a waste of time."

  Frank couldn't tell if Annie was bluffing or not. But he had spent enough time with her that day to know that she was a fairly competent actress. Was she acting now?

  Cutter sat forward, his impatience growing. "So far, I have treated you as my guest, Annie, you and your friends here. I'm a patient man, but I have been known to lose my patience. At which point I have ways of getting the information I need."

  "She told you she knew nothing," said Joe, stepping toward Cutter's desk.

  At Cutter's signal, the three henchmen moved forward to take Annie's, Frank's, and Joe's arms once again. "You impress me as intelligent young people—if a bit reckless. In my experience, young people never have all the money they'd like. I'm in a very lucrative business, and good help is hard to find. I'll tell you what I'm going to do."

  He paused for effect, looking at each of his prisoners. "I can guarantee you each a more - than-generous salary, and a bonus for each job well done. I would, of course, expect Annie to return the items in her possession that belong to me. This would indicate her willingness to join me. I'll give you time to think over my offer." Cutter stood up then and indicated with a turn of his head that Joe, Frank, and Annie were to be escorted from his office.

  The gun between Frank's shoulder blades kept him from protesting or trying to get away. The trio was led down a hall and shoved into another room. The lock clicked behind them.

  The room was a small gym, fitted with weight machines, a stationary bike, a rowing machine, and mirrors.

  Frank looked around. "Nothing like the Y, is it?" he said, making an attempt at humor. "Listen, Annie, whatever you're mixed up in, it's time to level with us. Obviously we're on the same side for the moment." He gave her a searching look. When she didn't answer, he said, "I think you'd better start by explaining why you were carrying a gun."

  "Wouldn't you—if you were me?" Annie exploded angrily. Then she reined in her fury. "I was scared," she said. "When that man attacked me in my own apartment — of course I wanted to defend myself." Her hazel eyes pleaded with Frank to understand. "The gun is my father's," she said. "I took it when I left home. He was — well, he was pretty abusive, and I was afraid he might go crazy and come after me with it when he found out I was gone. I decided to keep it when I got to Bayport—just in case. I was on myi own, after all."

  She glanced at Joe, whose level gaze had never left her. "I never would have used it," she said weakly, trying to smile at him.

  "What about you and Phil?" Frank demanded.

  Annie released a deep breath. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Cutter. I have no idea what Phil Sidler was involved in now. My bad luck was that I cared for him. I met him when I was in high school. I was just a kid."

  It wasn't as if Annie was an old lady now. Frank wasn't sure he believed her, but he had no choice but to let the matter drop.

  "Okay, here's the way I figure it." He leaned back against the saddle of the bicycle. "Cutter's behind all the jewel robberies in the area for the last several months, maybe longer. Obviously he specializes in diamonds. Phil Sidler double crossed him, and because Phil contacted Annie, Cutter now thinks Annie has the diamonds or knows where they are." Frank held up a hand, palm out, to stop Annie from protesting again "He thinks cutting us in is the easiest way to get the diamonds back," added Joe, relieved that Frank wasn't dumping on Annie anymore. "Right now we've got two choices. We can pretend to join them. Or we can try to get out of here."

  Frank looked around. There were no windows

  it looked as if the door they came in was the only way back out.

  , "Would you trust Cutter?" asked Annie. "I - don't think he'd cut us in on his business." "I didn't say we'd trust him. Only pretend to join him." Frank checked each piece of equipment. "Do you think he was the guy in your apartment, Annie?"

  "I don't know. But I think I'd have remembered the way he was dressed."

  "He might wear civvies when he's out of here," Joe said, looking around at the well-appointed gym. Unable to resist, he jabbed at a punching bag hanging from the ceiling in a corner of the room.

  "Annie, I can't blame you for not being able to describe the man in your room," Frank said. "I only got a glimpse of the guy who stunned me at Phil's. But he was tall, and quick. Like he worked out every day. I think it could have been Cutter."

  "If Cutter has all these thugs working for him, Frank, it makes more sense for him to send them to do his dirty work," Joe argued logically.

  "You're right." Frank silently ran through their options. "I don't think we can pretend to go along with Cutter's offer. I think we'd better try to break out. I just don't trust him. I think we'll do better taking action on our own."

  "I agree." Joe looked around. "This should do the job." He lifted the dumbbell from the bench press after removing several weights. "Not that I can't lift that much." Joe grinned at Annie. "But it's unwieldy when it's that heavy. This should be just about right." He tossed the bell slightly.

  Frank was catching on to Joe's plan. "Wonder-how long they'll leave us here? We could get a pretty good workout. I've been short of time lately." He sat down, adjusted the cable beside him, and pushed the hand grips of the weight machine forward, pressing fifty pounds.

  "You admit you're turning into a ninety-eight-pound weakling?" Joe kidded.

  "How can you two mess around at a time like this?" Annie complained. "These guys'll kill us if we don't cooperate." She slumped down on the floor beside the rowing machine.

  "They could," Joe agreed, walking close to the door with the dumbbell.

  "They won't kill you, Annie. They think you have some information they need. But you might wish they would kill you." Frank joined Joe at the door.

  "Leave her alone, Frank," Joe said to his brother. "We need to concentrate on getting out of here. Call them, Annie. I'm tired of waiting."

  Annie went over to the door and leaned her ear against it. Then she knocked. "You win, guys," she said into the crack where the door met the frame. "I'll tell you everything."

  No answer. It seemed as though there was no one outside the door. But a click signaled that someone had been waiting for Annie's reply. The door was swung open slowly, and a gun was thrust into the room.

  "Okay, come on out. It didn't take you long to make up your minds." Cutter grinned, and Frank, right behind Annie, could see her mirrored in his sunglasses.

  Frank then went into action. In a single motion he shoved Annie past Cutter with his left hand, and with his right delivered a single karate chop to the man's gun hand. Joe was right behind him.

  "Here, catch," said Joe, tossing the dumbbell to the second man.

  The thug's automatic reaction was to raise his hands to deflect the weight. As he did so, Joe grabbed his gun arm, twisting it so that he released the Browning as the dumbbell fell to the floor. Before the two knew what had hit them, they had been disarmed and locked into their own prison.

  "At least they'll have something to do," Joe quipped. "I thought they were grossly out of condition, didn't you, Frank?"

  The hall ran both ways, but instinct sent the boys in the direction from which they'd come.

  The carpet muffled their footsteps as they hurried to the elevator. Inside the huge cage, the three stood silently gritting their teeth, their patience stretched thin by the slowness of the descent.

  The door opened into the parking garage, and the trio started to dash out, Joe's hand around Annie's arm.

  They stopped abruptly. Frank knew right then—without a doubt—that the tall man who'd knocked him out at Phil's was not Cutter.

  Because here, blocking the entrance to the elevator, had to be his playmate from the hotel. This man was six-six, at least. As Frank watched, the tall m
an grabbed both Annie and Joe. He raised a revolver and held it steady. It was pointed straight at Annie's head.

  Chapter 9

  "All right, kids," the man said coolly. "It's time for some answers. We'll talk in your van. Move." He pointed the way with his gun, and when they didn't move fast enough, he nudged Joe forward by ramming the barrel into his spine.

  "Ahhh!" Joe's breath rushed out in one burst, and he fell forward from the waist. Frank whirled around, his hands raised, ready to strike. But the tall man was too fast for him and kept his gun level and trained on both Frank and Joe.

  Annie took a step back out of the man's line of sight. Before Joe could say, "Make your move, Annie," she had done so. Pulling her arm back to maximum power, Annie smashed the tall man just behind the ear with the heel of her hand. He was out cold.

  Frank and Joe must have been wearing identical looks of astonishment, because Annie answered their question before it was asked. "I learned karate in junior high. I was a brown belt when I was fifteen."

  "Good work," Frank said, meaning it.

  "We're out of here!" Joe said, and reached out for Annie's arm. It was an unnecessary action, since she was ready to move before he was.

  In the van, with the engine roaring, Joe advised Frank to head for home. "We need someplace to plan our next move and hide Annie."

  "I think it's obvious that a lot of people know who we are. So they probably know where we live. I don't think we should go home. We'll only put Mom and Aunt Gertrude in danger."

  "Do you have a better idea?" Joe snapped. "We've got to find someplace safe for Annie."

  "I don't want to put your family in danger," she said defensively. "Frank thinks I've put them in enough already. If you'll drop me at the bus station in Bayport, I can disappear on my own."

  "No way," Joe said, throwing Frank an annoyed glance. "I can't do that. We'll hide you someplace. Don't worry. If you aren't involved, you'll be free to live anyplace you like."

  Frank noticed that Joe had said "if." Had he done some thinking about Annie? One thing was clear to anyone she had gotten rid of the tall man unbelievably fast and efficiently. Also, she didn't seem to be as frightened as she had been earlier.

  Frank wondered why she had ever felt scared at all with a gun in her purse and a karate chop like the one she used on the tall man.

  Frank changed his mind and headed for home.

  After Frank discussed the case with his father, Fenton Hardy was of two opinions. Yes, he ' thought it was risky business bringing Annie into the Hardy home. But he agreed with Joe that it was more risky to leave her out on the street alone.

  "Even though Joe is only in this mess because of her, Frank," Mr. Hardy said, "we are involved. And she is the key witness to Joe's accident."

  Frank moved on to another subject. "Do you have any ideas about who this mysterious Cutter 'might be?"

  "Just waiting for you to ask." Fenton Hardy got up and went to his file cabinet and flipped through several drawers as he went back half a dozen years. "Here it is."

  "You know him?" Frank asked excitedly.

  "Daniel Cutter was a small-time safecracker until he proved that he could open any safe. His reputation grew. The Cutter, they started to call him. Everyone wanted him to work for them. But he got careless or ran out of luck about ten years ago. A gas tank from an acetylene torch exploded in his face."

  "The glasses ... " Frank mused. "And the gloves. It must be the same guy. But he's working on a new nickname now. He's into jewelry heists, Diamond Dan Cutter would suit him. I estimated he was wearing over a million dollars' worth of stones."

  Fenton Hardy nodded distractedly, his mind obviously moving in new directions. "Maybe he didn't really know who you were even though he knew your names. You were only Annie's companions to him." Fenton Hardy closed the file drawer and wandered back to his desk. "It's impossible to trace diamonds after they've been cut, recut, or reset. Our only hope is if you can take us back to the gang's hideout."

  "Finding the building is a snap, but I don't know the secret to get up to the apartment, I know you don't just get on the elevator."

  "Sorry, Frank, but I don't like it. I'm going to have to turn all this information over to the police. I don't want you to go back there alone Okay?"

  Frank met his father's eyes and slowly nodded "Okay. I agree. I'm going to talk to Joe now.'

  "Tell him the police wants to see him in the morning. The more he cooperates, the better it looks. I don't want him doing anything reckless. You and Annie can go with him. They might ask you some more questions after I speak to them."

  "Sure, Dad." Frank headed for the kitchen, the first place in the Hardy house to look for Joe had helped Annie get settled in the guest room and then gone back to the kitchen to polish off the food they'd picked up at a deli. He sat at the kitchen table, drinking a glass of milk and eating a ham and swiss on rye. "Joe, I've done some thinking." Frank pulled out a pad of paper from behind the kitchen phone. 'Look at this."

  Joe was interested in Frank's time schedule until he found out that all the events involved only Annie.

  "Annie gets the phone call from Phil, which we witnessed," Frank said, beginning his list of facts. "According to her, that was the first time she'd heard from Phil in ages. Right?" "What are you getting at, Frank?" "Hold on. Try to think for a minute, and don't just act on your feelings for Annie." Frank sat down beside Joe. Joe grumbled but kept listening. "The next several hours we all spent at the police station. I took Annie home, but we know she spent that night at Mr. Pizza in the storeroom, right?" "What are you getting at?" Joe asked again.

  "Either she got the gun out of storage after she was attacked, as she said, or she could have had it in her purse all along—before Phil called her on the phone." Frank stared at his brother, but Joe only looked at the last of his sandwich. Frank continued.

  "I think that Annie already had the gun, Joe, that she'd seen Phil or heard from him before that phone call. We know he checked in at the hotel two days earlier. Now, she was scared of someone—even after Phil was dead. That was why she spent the night at Mr. Pizza." He took a deep breath. "I think that someone was Cutter and his men. She knew he'd be looking for her."

  "I don't want to hear any more of these crazy ideas, Frank." Joe stood up.

  "I'm afraid my 'crazy ideas' are right on target this time. Or if not, you tell me why both Cutter and the tall man think Annie has the diamonds. Doesn't that strike you as strange, Joe? Face it, Annie isn't telling us the whole story. She's not only a girl dealing with a jealous boyfriend, she's a stranger with a gun and a mean karate chop — "

  "If you're trying to convince me Annie's a jewel thief, forget it. I admit that everything doesn't fall into place, but Annie Shea is not a crook."

  "You're not thinking, Joe."

  "Yes. I am. And what's more, I've decided that Annie isn't staying in Bayport a minute longer. I'm going to take her someplace safe."

  "Where? Dad wants us all to go down to the Bayport police station tomorrow, to tell them about everything that's happened. They specifically want to see you at ten o'clock. And then we'll probably have to talk to New York cops— since we were taken by Cutter and his goons there."

  "I'm taking Annie upstate, Frank. That's it. Once I get her safely hidden away, I can work on the case and talk to the police."

  "Joe, not being available to the police tomorrow morning is like admitting you're guilty. They'll think you skipped out on your bail. Dad could get in big trouble, too."

  "Hold on, Frank." Joe started to move to the kitchen door. "I'll be back before they know I'm gone."

  "I'm not going to let you go, Joe." Frank stepped in front of his brother.

  Joe laughed. "You're not going to let me go? Out of my way, Frank. Please, get out of my way."

  Frank faced him and realized what he knew all along — it would be impossible to stop his brother once he made up his mind to go.

  "If you screw up, Joe, don't expect me to cover for y
ou," Frank said to his back.

  "I won't, Frank. I promise. And I will be back on time." Joe patted his brother on the shoulder and took off.

  Frank banged his fist on the counter in frustration as Joe Hardy disappeared up the stairs.

  Chapter 10

  Joe knocked at Annie's door. "Annie, you asleep?"

  "No, Joe. Come on in. What's wrong?" Annie sat on the side of her bed, still dressed, her suitcases unopened. "I've been trying to figure out what to do. I've already caused too much trouble."

  "I have a plan, Annie. I'm glad you haven't unpacked anything. We're leaving here."

  "Where are we going?" Annie stood up and slipped on her shoes.

  "I have a friend who has a cabin upstate. There are a couple of small motels in the area. I'm going to take you up there and hide you out in a motel until this mess gets worked out. Then I'll come back for you."

  Annie stared at Joe. "Joe, I told you I'll just leave town, disappear."

  "No, Annie. Trust me. If you lay low for a few days, I can crack this case. But I can't if I'm worrying about you."

  "I can take care of myself," said Annie.

  "I did notice that," Joe said with admiration in his voice. "But something might come up that even you can't handle."

  Annie's eyes held his for a moment and she said nothing. "This is Frank's idea, isn't it?" she said finally. "To get me away from you."

  "Frank wants you to stay," Joe insisted. "He's — he's concerned about you."

  Annie laughed bitterly. "He's never liked me," she said. "Maybe it's because I'm not like Callie. I don't have parents who take care of me and have money and — "

  "Annie," Joe interrupted, taking her hand. "Who cares what Frank thinks? I like you — a lot. And I want you to be safe."

  At his words, Annie's troubled face cleared, and she smiled gratefully at Joe. "I guess that's why you're the Hardy I decided on," she teased, and gave him a happy kiss on the cheek.

  It was around eleven when Joe and Annie climbed into the van and pulled away from the house.