A Monster of a Mystery (6 page)

Sidetracked

J
oe groaned. “Are you serious?” he asked Chet. “This really isn't a good time for Mimi to pull one of her goofy stunts.”

Frank knew how his brother felt. He really wanted to keep searching for the Spork. But he knew they'd better help find Mimi and her friend first.

“So nobody has seen them since they ran away?” he asked Chet.

“Nobody we've talked to so far.” Chet glanced
around anxiously. “I'm going to go check the girly section again. Maybe they're sitting under a table reading Giggle Girlzies comics or something.”

As he hurried off Frank glanced at Joe. “Come on,” he said. “Let's go talk to that guy at the front door.”

“What guy?” Joe asked.

“He looked like a guard or something. I noticed him watching when you were arguing with Adam a little while ago.”

Frank headed toward the front door with Joe right behind him. When they got there, the same big guy was standing just inside the door.

Just then a pair of teenage girls hurried toward the exit. Both of them were carrying shopping bags.

“Pardon me, young ladies,” the guard said. “I'll need to check your bags.”

“Why?” one of the girls asked. “All that's in there are our new Morpho comics.”

“Yeah,” the other girl said. “We paid for them.”

The guard shrugged. “I'm supposed to check everyone's bags for that missing movie prop,” he explained.

“Oh, okay.” The first girl held up her bag. “It's not in here.”

The guard looked in both girls' bags, then waved them through. When he was finished, Frank stepped up to him.

“Excuse me,” he said politely. “We're looking for two little girls.”

The guard waved his hand at the door. “You mean those two who just left?”

“No,” Joe said. “Way younger than that. These girls are about four years old. Did you notice if they left the store this way?”

The guard raised one eyebrow. “Four-year-old girls?” he said. “Nope, haven't seen any of those leave. And I definitely would have noticed. This isn't exactly that kind of crowd!”

He chuckled and glanced into the store. Frank looked too. He saw what the guard meant. Most of the people in the store were their age or older. And only a few of them were girls.

“So you're sure no little girls have left?” he asked.

“I'm positive,” the guard said. “Good luck finding them.”

Just then a teenage boy came along wanting to leave. The guard turned to check his bags, and Frank and Joe wandered back into the store.

“Okay, so we know Mimi and her friend are still in here somewhere,” Joe said.

“Not necessarily,” Frank pointed out. “The last time anyone saw them, they were running into that back room. There's probably a door back there, too.”

“Oh, right!” Joe said. “Come on, let's go look.”

Soon they were walking through the Employees Only door. “This feels weird,” Frank said. “We're not employees.”

Joe didn't pay any attention. He was already in the hallway on the other side of the door.

Frank shrugged and followed. He looked up and down the hallway. To the left was the bathroom. To the right were two doors. One was closed and said Storage on it. The other was partway open and said Lounge. Frank could hear voices coming from behind that door. He guessed it was where the Morpho people were waiting.

“Look,” Joe whispered, pointing to a third door. It was bigger and said Exit on it.

When they pushed it open, they saw a narrow alley. Across the way were the back doors of the stores on the next block. There was a Dumpster behind each door. A large bird was pecking at something on the ground near one of the
Dumpsters. Other than that, Frank saw no signs of life.

“Mimi wouldn't hang around out here for long,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “It smells kind of gross.”

Joe nodded. “Still, she might have left this way and then wandered off down the alley looking for ice cream or something.”

Frank peered down the alley. At the end he could see the street. “Maybe,” he said. “Let's go inside and see if Chet found anything.”

He started to turn around. But Joe was staring at something.

“Do you see that?” he said, sounding excited.

“What? The bird?” Frank glanced that way.

“No!” Joe rushed out into the alley, heading for one of the Dumpsters on the other side.

Frank sighed. Joe was always getting distracted. But they didn't have time for that now. “Come back!” he called. “We need to keep looking for Mimi.”

Joe ignored him. He was already stepping up onto a box to reach the top of the Dumpster. When he looked inside the Dumpster, he let out a shout. Then he grabbed something out of it and started waving it around.

“Check it out!” he yelled. “I just found Morpho's Spork!”

Mask Attack

J
oe jumped down from the Dumpster, feeling excited. He couldn't believe he'd just found the Spork! He raced over to the door, waving the Spork over his head.

“Come on!” he said to a surprised-looking Frank. “Let's go give this back!”

They ran inside. The door to the lounge was still half open. Joe pushed through it. Dave and Jack were inside, along with their assistant. Mr. Roberts wasn't there.

“Hey, you guys!” Joe exclaimed. “Look what we found!”

Dave gasped. “The Spork! Is it all right?”

He grabbed the Spork from Joe and started examining it. Meanwhile, Jack stared at both Hardys.

“Where did you find this, boys?” he asked sternly.

“It was in the Dumpster in the alley out back,” Frank explained.

Joe nodded. “We were looking out there for someone, and I saw it sticking out.”

“Oh, really?” Now the actor sounded suspicious. “You just happened to be looking for someone in the alley?”

Dave looked up. “I think we'd better go talk to Mr. Roberts about this.”

Joe gasped as he realized what was happening. The Morpho people thought he and Frank had stolen the Spork themselves!

“No!” he blurted out. “It wasn't us, we swear!”

Dave handed the Spork to the assistant. “Don't let this out of your sight,” he warned. Then he glared at the boys. “You two had better come with us.”

Dave and Jack hurried out of the room. Joe traded a helpless glance with Frank.

“They think we're the thieves!” he whispered.

“I know.” Frank looked worried. “Come on, we need to talk to them.”

By the time they caught up, the two men were out in the main part of the store. “Please!” Joe said. “You have to believe us. We aren't the ones who took the Spork.”

“Hmm,” Dave said. “If you didn't take the Spork, who did?”

Before Joe could answer, he noticed Adam standing nearby. Adam had just overheard what they'd said.

“I knew it!” Adam spoke up loudly, pointing to Frank and Joe. “Those two are the town troublemakers!”

“What?” Joe squawked.

But Dave seemed to believe Adam. “Is that right, son?” he asked. “I'm glad you let us know.” He glanced at Jack. “Stay with them,” he told the actor. “I'll find Roberts and tell him to call the police—and these guys' parents.” Then he hurried off into the crowded store.

Joe couldn't believe this was happening. How dare Adam accuse them of being troublemakers?

“You shouldn't listen to him!” he told Jack, pointing at Adam. “
He's
the only troublemaker around here! Ask anyone!”

Adam smirked and wandered away. Joe looked around for someone to vouch for them. But there was no sign of Chet, Iola, Phil, Biff, or anyone else they knew.

“Where is everyone?” Frank said, sounding nervous.

“They're probably all still looking for Mimi,” Joe replied. “I wonder where she is, anyway?”

“What if
she's
the one who took the Spork?” Frank said. “She's really scared of Morpho. Maybe Mimi thought throwing away his Spork would mean he couldn't eat her brains.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her,” Joe said.

Jack was listening, looking skeptical. “Look, it won't do you any good to blame someone else,” he said. “I'm sure the police can get to the bottom of things.”

Just then Mr. Roberts came rushing over. Dave was right behind him.

“There they are,” Dave said, pointing to the Hardys.

Mr. Roberts looked surprised. “
These
are the boys you were talking about?” he exclaimed. “I
think there's been some mistake. Frank and Joe Hardy are good kids.”

Jack and Dave traded a look. They still seemed doubtful.

“I've known these boys for years,” Mr. Roberts went on. “Their father, too—he's a top-notch private investigator, and these two are pretty good little detectives themselves. You should see the write-up they got in the newspaper when they solved a shoplifting case at a store down the block.”