The Curse of the Ancient Emerald (11 page)

The doors slammed shut, and a small light flickered to life above us.

“Well,” I said. “That could have gone better.”

“I still don't get it,” Frank said to Kruger, all worry and fear suddenly gone from his face. “How were you going to get the jewel? How did you disable the alarms?”

“I told you, I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“Then you're saying you
really
haven't been sending us riddles over the past few days?” Frank pressed.

“No! How many times can I tell you the same thing?”

“You didn't try to steal ancient samurai swords?” I asked.

“The Civil War artifacts?” added Chet.

“No!”

We fell into a confused silence. Kruger seemed like he was telling the truth. And that photograph was the real thing. But how? Was it Trethaway after all? But then where was he?

“I'll tell you one thing,” said Kruger. “You asked about disabling the alarms? If I was going to steal the jewel, I wouldn't need to.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because they're already going off. If I was going to steal anything, I'd have set a few people up as a distraction, sent the police off to a different section of the museum, and I'd be in there right now, calmly plucking the jewel while everyone thinks the crime has been stopped.”

My eyes went wide with amazement. I looked at Frank and saw him working furiously at his cuffs.

“What are you doing?”

Frank smiled and held up his cuffs, now unlocked. Then he held up the keys that Olaf always kept hooked to his belt. “All that stuff with Chief Olaf just now? ‘Please don't arrest us. Don't put us in jail'? I grabbed his keys at the same time.”

Frank unlocked my cuffs, and I passed the keys to Chet. Frank opened the back door of the van and peered out.

“Where are you going?” said Chet. “You're going to get into
more
trouble.”

Frank didn't answer, slipping out of the van instead. I followed him. The police were chatting in a cluster around the front of the museum.

We ran down the street, staying in the shadows, then crossed and doubled back, slipping down the side driveway that led to the back of the building. I thought I heard Chet huffing and puffing behind us, but I couldn't see in the darkness.

Frank and I rounded the corner. If what Kruger had said was true, then the culprit—and it looked like it was Trethaway at this point—would use the back entrance to escape.

We made our way past the crates to the still-open door. As we arrived, a figure was hurrying toward us. Ready to tackle, I pulled up short when I saw it was Amber.

She stopped suddenly when she saw us, her eyes wide. Then she ran forward and hugged me. “Thank goodness you're safe!”

She released me, then ran past us, heading for the driveway that led to the front of the museum.

“Wait!” I called. “You can't go out there. The police!”

“Did you see anyone else inside?” asked Frank.

“No,” she said. “Just me. When the alarm went off, I hid. By the time I caught up to you guys, you'd already gone outside. The police were there, and I—”

“It's fine,” I cut her off. “But you need to find another way out.”

“Hey, Amber,” said a voice from behind. “Wait up! This thing's heavy.”

A second figure ran out of the museum, stumbling to a halt when he saw us.

It was Lance, Kruger's son. And he was holding the Emerald of Astara!

The four of us froze. I looked at Lance, then at Frank, then at Amber, realization slowly dawning.

“You . . . ,” I whispered.

It had never been Kruger
or
Trethaway. The Phantom was Amber. Well, Amber and Kruger's own son!

“You guys are pretty good,” said Lance. “I didn't think you'd get any of the riddles, but Amber said you would. Hey, can you settle something for us? She swore she didn't help you crack them. Is that right?”

“It . . . that's right,” I said distantly. I couldn't believe this. We had been played right from the beginning!

“But why?” demanded Frank. “Why us? Why go to all this trouble?”

“And how do you two even know each other?” I asked.

Amber sighed and exchanged glances with Lance. “I guess after all this, you guys deserve to hear the real story.” She flashed an evil grin. “After all, it won't really matter when you're behind bars for stealing the emerald.”

Frank and I stood, stone-faced. We've been in this business long enough to know when someone's just trying to intimidate us.

“We're brother and sister,” Amber continued. “Except Kruger doesn't know about me. Mom got pregnant with me just before he was caught. She never told him. She wanted a clean break. A new life. Lance was two at the time. They were divorced a year later. She tried to keep the truth hidden from me—from us—but I found out.”

“How?” I asked.

“She kept mementos. Letters. Newspaper clippings. I guess deep down she still cared about him. Or she wanted to remember what he was like. I don't know. When I found out who our dad really was, I told Lance.”

“I got in touch with Dad when he got out of prison,” continued Lance. “Of course, Mom didn't know. I told him I wanted to connect with him. That I just wanted to hear stories. To find out how he did it all. I could tell he didn't want to tell me. But I told him the only time I felt close to him was when he was explaining the past.” Lance shook his head. “He's such a loser.”

He frowned and took a step forward. “And why go through all this trouble?” He shook his head, his eyes angry. “To make you pay. Your dad tore our family apart. Do you know what it did to my mother? It
ruined
her! We wanted to make
your
family feel the same kind of pain. The two of you and Dad are going to take the fall for this.” He held up the jewel. “Of course, this won't ever be found. And the police will be pretty irritated that you won't tell them where you stashed it. But, you know, that's life.”

“You set your own father up?” I asked in disbelief.

“So? What's he ever done for me?” Lance snarled. “For us?”

“He learned his lesson,” said Frank. “He wanted to start fresh.”

“Tough.” Lance tried to push past me, but I stood my ground. He was big, though—a lot bigger than me.

“Get out of my way!”

“No.” I stood firm.

“Joe,” said Amber quietly. “Do as he says.”

“No. You're both coming with us to Chief Olaf. We're going to tell him the truth.”

Lance burst out laughing. “Oh, is that what we're going to do? And you think he'll believe you?”

“Maybe not,” said a voice behind us.

I turned to see Chet appear around the corner. He was sweating, his face red. He bent down to pick something up.

“But he'll believe this,” he continued, holding up his camera.

“Everyone up against the wall,” shouted Chief Olaf, appearing around the corner. He was followed by the other officers. Lance tried to make a run for it, but he was tackled to the ground, screaming and shouting at the officer who pinned him.

In the confusion, Amber tried to slip inside the museum.

“Uh-uh, Amber,” I said, grabbing her arm.

“Come on, Joe,” she whispered. “Just let me go. For old times' sake? You always were my favorite.”

“Yeah, somehow I don't believe that. Chief Olaf!” I called. “This girl and her brother are responsible for burning that painting. They also tried to steal the Emerald of Astara.”

“Actually,” said Frank, picking something up off the ground, “they didn't
try
to steal it. They did.”

He handed the emerald to the chief. Olaf looked at it in amazement, then stared at Frank and me.

“You're still coming to the station. Until this is sorted out, everyone's under arrest. Heck, the way things are standing right now, maybe I should arrest myself and my officers, too.”

Chet handed over the video camera. “I think this will explain everything,” he said.

“It sure better.”

•  •  •

The next three hours were spent sitting in the Bayport Police Department interview room, telling our story over and over while Chief Olaf wrote everything down in the police report. He made Frank, Chet, and me explain how exactly we'd cracked the riddles—right down to our thought processes at the time. Honestly, I think he was a little impressed we'd actually solved the puzzles.

“Not bad,” he grudgingly said once it was all done. “Some solid detective work there.”

“Thanks, Chief,” I said, shocked. That might have been the first time Chief Olaf had actually complimented us.

“Of course, I would have solved the case more quickly if you'd just come to me like you promised you would.”

“We're sorry about that,” said Frank. “But the threat against our family . . . we couldn't risk it. You understand, don't you?”

The chief grunted. I wasn't sure if that was a yes or a no, but then he told one of his men to give us a lift back to the museum so we could pick up our cars, so it seemed it was a yes after all.

“I'm glad that's over,” said Chet as we watched the police car drive away. “I haven't had a decent night's sleep in three days.”

“And you won't sleep tonight either. Remember, we have school tomorrow.”

Chet groaned. “Thanks for reminding me. I'll see you around.”

He waved and headed back to his car. I turned and stared up at the museum.

“You okay?” asked Frank.

“Yeah, I guess. I just feel like an idiot, that's all.”

“You and me both.”

“What do you think will happen to Lance and Amber?”

Frank sighed. “They've had a tough life, by the sounds of it. I'm sure that will be taken into consideration. Amber is too young for real prison, though. Juvenile detention for her.”

“Guess they really did follow in their father's footsteps. Poor guy. All he wanted was to start again. Can you imagine how he must be feeling right now?” I shook my head.

“He made his choices,” said Frank. “I feel bad for him, sure, but no one forced him into crime.”

“I suppose. Hey, Dad's coming back tomorrow. I wonder if we can convince him to take us out for deep-dish pizza. We can bribe him with the story of our case.”

Frank laughed. “Maybe he can use it in one of his books.”

“How cool would that be?
The Hardy Boys: Chip Off the Old Block
.”

“Not exactly a catchy title, is it?” Frank unlocked the car door. “You coming?”

“Sure.” I climbed into the car. “At least one good thing came out of tonight.”

“What's that?” Frank asked, starting the engine.

“It wasn't Trethaway
or
Kruger. So neither of us lost the bet.”

Frank laughed. “Always looking on the bright side,” he said, and we headed home.

READ ALL THE MYSTERIES IN THE

HARDY BOYS ADVENTURES:

#1
 
Secret of the Red Arrow

#2
 
Mystery of the Phantom Heist

#3
 
The Vanishing Game

#4
 
Into Thin Air

#5
 
Peril at Granite Peak

#6
 
The Battle of Bayport