Glimpse of Disaster
“No problem, Joe,” Phil said. “We’ll take my car.”
But Colin interrupted with, “No, Joe! Don’t do it!”
“What did you say?” Joe asked.
Colin swallowed hard. “Nothing. Forget it.”
Joe turned to Phil. “Well, come on, then. We have just enough time to get to the chemical place and back before chemistry class starts.”
When Frank turned back to Colin, Colin had disappeared.
Frank hurried to the end of the hall, but Colin was nowhere in sight. Frank tried the restroom. He found Colin inside, washing his face with cold water.
“Colin! You have to tell me!” Frank said. “What did you mean when you told Joe not to go with Phil?”
“I saw a bad car wreck,” Colin managed to say. “I don’t think Joe and Phil will make it back alive.”
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First Aladdin Paperbacks edition February 2003
Copyright © 2003 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster
Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
The text of this book was set in New Caledonia.
THE HARDY BOYS MYSTERY STORIES is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
THE HARDY BOYS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Library of Congress Control Number 2002107369
ISBN 0-689-85597-4
ISBN 978-1-4391-1436-0 (ebook)
Contents
* * *
Chapter 1: We’re Going to a Séance
Chapter 2: Psychic Detectives
Chapter 3: Attacked!
Chapter 4: I See Things
Chapter 5: Mr. Hardy’s Secret
Chapter 6: Kidnapped
Chapter 7: Colin Is in Danger
Chapter 8: The Deserted Building
Chapter 9: Mr. Johnson’s Wrath
Chapter 10: The Randles Leave Bayport
Chapter 11: A Change of Plans
Chapter 12: The Meeting with Melanie
Chapter 13: Disappearance
Chapter 14: Confession Time
Chapter 15: Hostage!
Chapter 16: Rescue
1 We’re Going to a Séance
* * *
“Frank! Joe!” Callie Shaw’s voice barely carried over the din of students rushing to change classes at Bayport High School. “Wait up!”
Frank Hardy and his brother, Joe, turned to see Callie hurriedly making her way toward them through the crowded hallway.
“You’ll never believe it!” Callie said excitedly. “You’ll just never believe it!”
They had to flatten themselves against the wall so they wouldn’t get crushed.
“Believe what?” Frank said. He looked at his watch. “Whatever it is, Callie, you need to get it out, because I can’t be late to English today.”
“I’m having a few friends over at my house tonight,” Callie whispered, “and we’re going to have a séance.”
“A séance?” Joe exclaimed. “Isn’t that where you try to contact dead people?”
“Yeah, Callie,” Frank said. “What’s gotten into you? Why do you want to have a séance?”
“I think it’ll be fun,” Callie explained. The hallway had cleared some, so they started toward their classrooms. “I thought you’d be excited.”
“I don’t have time to talk to the live people I know,” Joe joked. He grinned at Callie. “I wouldn’t know what to say to a dead person.”
“Don’t be too hard on her, Joe,” Frank said. “If Callie wants to have a séance, then let her.”
They had arrived at Joe’s chemistry classroom.
“But don’t tell anyone, okay, Joe?” Callie said, turning to go down the hall to her math class. “Nella Randles doesn’t want anyone to know.”
Frank shook his head and rolled his eyes. “See you later,” he said to Joe.
“Wait up, Frank!” Joe called to him. “Isn’t Colin Randles in your English class?”
“Yeah,” Frank replied. “Why?”
“See if there’s some way you can find out about this séance over at Callie’s house,” Joe said. “I want to know why Callie doesn’t want to talk about it, if it’s just going to be something they do for fun.”
“That should be easy,” Frank said. “Colin’s my partner for our new project.”
Ms. Long, their English teacher, had assigned each person in her class to be a famous character in history. Partners would interview each other and write up the interview. Frank was Charlemagne and Colin was Geronimo. Ms. Long was only going to give them the first part of the hour for the interview. They had to ask all the pertinent questions during that time. During the second half of the class, they had to write up their interview and turn it in.
“Any questions, class?” Ms. Long asked.
No one had any questions. Everyone was ready to start, because there wasn’t much time.
Frank walked over to the empty desk next to Colin.
“Do you want me to interview you first?” Colin asked. His pen was poised over his notebook.
“No, I’ll start,” Frank said.
He looked around the room to see if anybody was paying attention to them. No one was. They were too engrossed with their interviews. Ms. Long was busy grading papers. For just a second, Frank wondered if he really should say anything to Colin about the séance, but then he remembered that technically it was Joe Callie had asked not to tell. She hadn’t said anything to Frank.
“Why is your sister holding a séance at Callie’s house tonight?” he whispered.
Colin blanched. For a minute, Frank thought he was going to have some kind of an attack. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Colin finally managed to say. “Nella wouldn’t do that. Mom and Dad . . .”
Colin stopped. He looked at his watch. “We’ll never make it, Hardy, if you don’t start asking me Geronimo questions.”
“We’ll make it, Colin,” Frank assured him. “I just want to know about the séance.”
“Listen, Frank, it’s not something I’m supposed to talk about,” Colin finally whispered, “but you’re my friend, so I’ll talk to you about it after class. I just don’t want to do it now, okay?”
Frank took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m sorry I pushed you.”
They rushed through the Geronimo and Charlemagne questions, then spent the remainder of the time writing up their interviews. True to Frank’s word, they even finished before the hour was up.
When the bell rang, they walked up to Ms. Long’s desk together and handed in their interviews.
“I brought my lunch. I usually find someplace quiet to eat,” Colin said. “I’ll share with you, if you don’t mind tuna fish, and I’ll tell you why I was so upset in class.”
“I can stand tuna fish long enough to hear what you have to say,” Frank said. He usually sat with Joe and some of their friends during lunch, but he wanted to learn more about the séance.
Outside, Frank followed Colin to a secluded part of the high school campus. They sat down on a seldom-used loading dock.
“We have a lot of fun in the cafeteria,” Frank said. “Y
ou should join us sometimes.”
“I like to be by myself,” Colin said. “To think.”
Frank didn’t want this conversation to get too philosophical, so he moved it along. “What about the séance, Colin? Does your sister do this often? I don’t think I’ve ever known anybody who could contact dead people.”
For a minute, Colin didn’t say anything, but then he gave Frank a wan smile. “Do you think you really know everything about all of your friends, Frank? Do you think they always tell you their secrets?”
Frank shrugged. “Well, yeah, I think so. I guess so. We usually tell each other what’s on our minds.” He shrugged again. He had suddenly remembered that he didn’t always tell his parents or Joe or his friends everything that was on his mind. “But this is different, Colin. This is something pretty big.”
Colin took a deep breath. “Do you know why my family moved here?”
Frank shook his head.
“So we could have a normal life, that’s why. My family is psychic,” Colin said. “Mom and Dad used to go around the country, giving psychic readings for people.”
“What do you mean?” Frank asked.
“They’d tell people how to invest their money. They’d tell people whether they should marry or not,” Colin said. “Stuff like that.”
“You mean they’re fortune-tellers?” Frank said.
Colin shook his head. “People usually think of frauds when they hear that term,” he said. “No, my parents are for real, but eventually, they always seemed to have problems wherever we lived. Some people get really upset about this type of thing, so we’d have to move.”
“Are they giving psychic readings here in Bayport?” Frank asked.
Colin shook his head. “No, they’re just trying to find regular jobs, because we want to have a regular life.” He sighed. “My parents are going to be really upset if they find out that Nella is going to hold a séance.”
“I guess I really wasn’t supposed to tell,” Frank said. “It’s just that . . . , well, for some reason I can’t explain, I just had to know more about it.”
Colin opened his mouth, shut it for a second, then opened it again. “Have you ever thought you were . . . psychic, Frank?”
Frank blinked. “No, not me! That’s crazy. I was just . . .”
Colin looked at him but didn’t say anything.
“Don’t tell your parents about Nella,” Frank said. “I don’t want to get her into trouble.”
Colin shrugged. “I guess she agreed to do it because she wants to make friends. We’ve moved around so much these last few years that we never had time to make friends.” He sighed. “I guess it’ll be all right, but I’m going to talk to her myself. She shouldn’t be doing this.”
The bell to end first lunch rang, and Colin and Frank headed back into the building.
Colin had trigonometry, and Frank had physical education, so they started to separate at the first hall.
But Colin stopped. “What if I told you that there was somebody in this school who was kidnapped when he or she was young and doesn’t realize that it happened?” With that, Colin turned and walked away.
Frank could only stare at him as he disappeared around a corner.
Chet Morton, one of the boys’ best friends, and Joe met Frank at the door to the locker room.
“Guess what we’re going to do tonight?” Chet whispered to Frank.
“What?” Frank asked.
“We’re going to a séance,” Joe said.
Frank stopped and looked at Joe. “Callie told you not to tell anyone about this,” he said, remembering that he was guilty of the same thing by talking to Colin.
“I didn’t tell Chet,” Joe explained. “Iola did.”
“Iola is going to Callie’s house. That new girl, Nella what’s-her-name, uh, Randles is going to hold a séance,” Chet said. “We’re going to make sure they contact some dead people.”
Chet Morton was always playing practical jokes on people, but Frank wasn’t sure he wanted to go along with this one.
Frank opened the locker-room door. “I thought we were going to that new movie at the multiplex,” he said.
“Nah,” Chet said. “This will be more fun.”
Joe agreed.
They had made it to the dressing room and were putting on their running shorts.
“Okay,” Frank said. “Count me in.”
He was afraid that if he didn’t agree, Chet would keep talking about it, and Frank didn’t want the rest of the guys in the locker room to know about the séance. If I’m at Callie’s, Frank thought, I can make sure that things don’t get out of hand.
When Frank finally finished changing, he joined the rest of the group as it headed out to the track. Just outside the door of the dressing room, he felt something brush against the back of his neck. It sent chills up his spine.
Frank turned around to see who had touched him. But there was nobody there.
2 Psychic Detectives
* * *
“Do you really think we can make it to State Championships, Frank?” Joe asked as Frank drove the van toward their house.
They were later than usual, because Coach Bradley, the new track and field coach, had asked them if they could stay for a few minutes after practice. He had some pointers to give Frank on how to throw the javelin, and he wanted to discuss standing broad-jump techniques with Joe.
“Coach sure seems to think so,” Frank said as he turned onto High Street and headed the two blocks to Elm.
“Well, he may be right,” Joe mused. “Chet’s got the shot put down. Tony Prito can beat anybody in the one-hundred meters. Phil Cohen never misses a hurdle. And Biff Hooper keeps breaking his own pole vault records.”
“Good!” Frank said, as they turned into their driveway. “Dad’s home.”
“Weren’t you listening to me, Frank?” Joe complained. “This is very important, you know.”
“Yes, Joe, I was listening, and I know winning States in track and field is important,” Frank said as he parked the van behind their mother’s car, “but I can’t get that séance out of my mind. I have some things I want to ask Dad about it.” Fenton Hardy was a well-known and very successful private investigator in Bayport.
“Hey! The séance! I almost forgot!” Joe said as he jumped out of the van. “We’re going to play that joke on the girls tonight.”
Frank didn’t say anything. But something about Chet’s plan was making him uneasy.
Inside the house, the boys quickly headed to the dining room. Mr. and Mrs. Hardy and Aunt Gertrude had already started eating.
“Sorry we’re late,” Frank said.
“Our new track and field coach thinks we’re headed to States,” Joe added. “He was just fine-tuning our techniques, and we lost track of the time.”
“No problem. We thought it was probably something like that,” Mrs. Hardy said. “Wash up and sit down before dinner gets cold.”
“You two have cell phones, don’t you?” Aunt Gertrude said. “Since you’re paying good money for the service, you might think about using them to let people know if you’re going to be late.”
Joe looked at Frank, grinned, and rolled his eyes. They both loved their Aunt Gertrude, but she never minced words. You always knew exactly how she felt about everything.
“They were in our lockers inside the dressing room, Aunt Gertrude,” Frank explained. “We were outside on the track.”
“Yeah! The coach doesn’t like us talking on cell phones during the middle of a practice, Aunt Gertrude,” Joe explained, then shrugged. “What could we do?”
Aunt Gertrude narrowed her eyes at him.
Fenton Hardy gave both the boys a look that said, “Let’s drop this subject and eat.”
Since the boys had already showered and changed clothes at school, all they had to do was wash their hands, which they did at the kitchen sink, and sit down at the table.
“I’m starved,” Joe said. “Standing broad jumps really make you wor
k up an appetite.”
Frank helped himself to some mashed potatoes and said, “Dad, what do you think about psychic detection?”
Aunt Gertrude had been taking a drink of water and almost choked.
“Gertrude! Are you all right?” Mrs. Hardy had come over to where Aunt Gertrude was sitting and was patting her sister-in-law on the back.
Finally, Aunt Gertrude managed to say, “Laura! You’re beating me to death! Stop that! Please! I’m okay!”
“Sorry, Gertrude, but you scared me,” Mrs. Hardy said, and sat back down. “You were starting to turn purple.”
“Well, I’m okay now,” Aunt Gertrude said. She took a slow sip of water and looked at Frank but didn’t say anything.
“Psychic detection,” Fenton Hardy repeated. “It’s interesting that you mention that just now, Frank.”
“Why, Dad?” Joe asked.
“Well, a lot of police departments around the country, including the one right here in Bayport, will call in psychic detectives from time to time,” Mr. Hardy explained, “but they don’t like to talk about it.”
“Why not?” Frank asked.
“There are lots of reasons,” Mr. Hardy said. “I think the main one is pride. Police departments like to think they can solve crimes on their own, using accepted police procedures.”
“What can psychic detectives do that the police can’t?” Joe asked.
“From what I understand, and I’m really no authority on it,” Fenton Hardy began, “psychics will experience clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, and clairolfactance all at the same time.”
Mrs. Hardy stood up. “This conversation is getting too spooky for me. Shall we, Gertrude?” she added.
“Not just yet, Laura,” Aunt Gertrude said. “I want to hear the rest of this.”
Frank looked at his aunt. That’s interesting, he thought. Usually, Aunt Gertrude dismisses things like this.
“Clairvoyance is when a psychic sees things. Clairaudience is when a psychic hears things,” Mr. Hardy continued. “Clairsentience is when a psychic can gather certain information just by touching an object. This is more commonly known as psychometry. And clairolfactance is when the psychic gets information through smell.”
The Case of the Psychic's Vision Page 1
