Frank’s eyes widened in surprise. What’s Zack doing there? he wondered.
Just then the office door swung open. Please don’t let it be Ms. Vaughn, Frank thought. His heart was pounding. He knew that he was supposed to be in the bathroom. If he got caught sneaking around, he would be in big trouble.
6
Tanya’s Chance
As the office door swung open, Frank jumped back. He pushed himself flat against the wall behind the door. Nobody can see me back here, Frank thought with relief. The door hid him.
Frank heard a woman’s voice. He recognized Zack’s voice answering her.
Frank edged a little bit closer so he could hear better.
“This is the second time in two days that you’ve forgotten your lunch,” the woman said.
“I know, Mom,” Zack said. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, sweetie pie,” Zack’s mother said, “I can’t come to school every day to bring you your lunch. I have patients to see.”
Sweetie pie? Frank had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.
“I know, Mommy,” Zack said. “I’ll remember it tomorrow.”
“Okay, honey. ’Bye, now. I’ll see you at home.”
Frank heard Zack’s mother’s shoes tapping across the floor. He waited until the sound faded. Then he peeked out of his hiding place. Zack was nowhere to be seen.
I’d better get back to class, Frank thought. He came out from behind the door and hurried down the hall.
As he walked back to his classroom, Frank thought about what he had just learned. Zack was in the office yesterday morning, too, he told himself. That means he couldn’t have pulled the fire alarm.
Then who did? Frank wondered. There was only one name left on the list of suspects: Tanya.
Frank turned the corner. Mr. Sterling was standing on a ladder in the middle of the hallway.
Mr. Sterling hadn’t been in the hallway when Frank had passed the other way a little while earlier. But he had been there long enough to spread tools all over the floor. Frank saw a hammer, a pair of pliers, paint and a brush, and a lightbulb.
The ladder was set up right near the fire alarm. Mr. Sterling must be finishing his painting, Frank thought.
Just then the classroom door right next to Mr. Sterling opened. Mr. Levy, a fourth-grade teacher, peeked out.
“Can you move that ladder out of the hallway?” Mr. Levy called to Mr. Sterling. “I’ve got to bring my class out, and I don’t want anyone to trip.”
“Sure thing!” Mr. Sterling hurried down the ladder. “Just a sec.” He started to pick up his gear.
“I’ll help,” Frank offered.
“Thanks,” Mr. Sterling said.
Mr. Sterling quickly folded up the ladder. He leaned it against the wall, just to the right of the fire alarm. Frank stacked the tools next to the ladder.
Mr. Sterling tapped rapidly on the classroom door. “Bring ’em out,” he called.
Mr. Levy opened the door and started to lead his class out.
Frank started back toward his own class. Then he noticed something. The very last student out of Mr. Levy’s room was Tanya!
Tanya might be our last suspect, Frank thought as he hurried down the hall. But she may be the only one we need.
7
Tanya’s Mad
You ask her,” Frank said to Joe at lunch.
“No way!” Joe said. “You ask her.”
Frank and Joe looked at each other. Then they turned to Chet. “You ask her,” they said together.
A look of horror passed over Chet’s face. Then he stood up straighter. “Sure,” he said. “I’m not afraid of a girl!”
Chet marched across the lunchroom. He stopped in front of the table where Tanya was sitting with three friends. Frank and Joe hurried after him.
Tanya and her friends looked up at the boys.
“What do you guys want?” Tanya asked with a frown. Joe and Frank knew Tanya hadn’t liked them much ever since they had accused her of stealing a black belt in karate class.
Joe nudged Chet.
Chet cleared his throat. “Um, I . . . I mean, we—”
“Spit it out, Chet,” Tanya said. Joe thought she sounded annoyed.
“Tanya, we want to know what you know about the fire alarm going off yesterday,” Frank said.
“What do you mean—what I know?” Tanya asked.
“Well, you really wanted to see the hot-air balloons yesterday morning,” Frank said.
“So?” Tanya narrowed her eyes.
“So, we were wondering just how much you wanted to see them,” Joe added.
Tanya looked at them. Then her face turned bright red. “You guys think I pulled the alarm!” she yelled.
The boys didn’t answer.
“I can’t believe you!” Tanya said. “Didn’t you learn your lesson last time? I’m an honest person. I told you.”
“Yeah—well, can you prove it?” Frank asked.
One of Tanya’s friends spoke up. “Tanya was in class when the alarm went off.”
Joe frowned. “Why should we take your word for it? You’re Tanya’s friend.”
“Then let’s go ask Mr. Levy,” Tanya suggested. “You’d believe him, wouldn’t you?”
Joe shrugged. “Sure. I guess.”
“I’ll be right back,” Tanya told her friends. She got up and led the boys across the hall to Mr. Levy’s room.
Mr. Levy was sitting at his desk, marking papers.
“Hi, Tanya,” Mr. Levy said. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes,” Tanya said. “These boys think I pulled the fire alarm.”
Mr. Levy looked at Frank, Joe, and Chet. “They do?”
Tanya nodded. “I want you to tell them I was in class when the alarm went off.”
“That’s true,” Mr. Levy said.
Frank glanced toward the hallway. The fire alarm was just outside the door. “It wouldn’t take long to get to the fire alarm from here,” he said.
Tanya folded her arms. “Mr. Levy, tell them I wasn’t out of the room for even a second. Not even half a second.”
“Not even a quarter of a second.” Mr. Levy was starting to smile a little. “In fact, nobody was out of my room when the alarm went off. And I always keep the door closed. So nobody could have pulled the alarm when I wasn’t looking.”
“Sorry to bother you,” Frank told Mr. Levy.
“No problem,” Mr. Levy said calmly. “But I don’t think you should accuse anyone else. It’s not nice. And it makes people angry, as you can see.”
Frank made a face. “I noticed that,” he admitted.
Out in the hallway Tanya was waiting. She still looked angry. “I told you I didn’t do it!” she shouted.
“Sorry, Tanya,” Joe said. “We just thought—”
“Do you know what I think?” Tanya interrupted. “I think you guys should give up trying to solve mysteries. You’re not very good at it!”
• • •
“You guys are terrible detectives,” Tony told Frank and Joe as the boys walked down the hallway together after school.
Chet and Mike were there, too. The boys were all on their way home.
“Don’t say that!” Chet exclaimed.
“Why not?” Tony said. “It’s true. I’ve already spent two lunches in the Time Out room. And you’re not any closer to solving the mystery.”
“Tony’s right,” Frank admitted. “Brad, Tanya, and Zack have all convinced me that they didn’t pull the alarm. We’re out of suspects.”
“How can you have a crime without a culprit?” Mike asked.
“You can’t,” Frank said. “Somebody had to do it.”
“Thanks for trying,” Tony said. “But why don’t you guys give up? Tomorrow is my last lunch in the Time Out room. I don’t think you’re going to solve the mystery before then.”
The boys were walking past Mr. Sterling’s room. The custodian was inside, sitting in a swivel chair and writing in a big notebook.
“
Hi, Mr. Sterling!” Tony called.
Mr. Sterling looked up. “Oh, Tony. Hello! How are you?”
“Fine,” Tony said.
The boys stopped walking. They grouped around Mr. Sterling’s door.
Mr. Sterling smiled at Tony. “How’s your dad?” he asked.
“He’s fine,” Tony said.
“Well, be sure to tell him I said hello,” Mr. Sterling said.
“I will,” Tony promised.
The boys continued down the hall toward the front entrance of the building.
“How does your dad know Mr. Sterling?” Frank asked.
“My dad’s a construction worker,” Tony explained. “Mr. Sterling is an electrician. He used to work on jobs with my dad before he became a custodian last year. Dad really misses him.”
“Mr. Sterling is nice,” Frank said.
Tony nodded. “That’s true. But that’s not why Dad misses him. Dad says Mr. Sterling is the speediest electrician on the planet. The jobs he worked on were always finished way ahead of schedule.”
Frank stared at Tony. “What kinds of jobs did Mr. Sterling do?”
Tony shrugged. “I don’t know. Electrical things. You know, like putting in wiring, connecting lights, and installing doorbells.”
Frank knew Mike was an expert on building things. Over the summer some of Mike’s inventions had helped the Hardys scare Zack and some of his friends.
“What about fire alarms?” Frank asked. “Would an electrician fix those?”
“Sure,” Mike said. “Most fire alarms run on electricity. Why?”
“I don’t believe it!” Frank said, breaking into a grin. “We’re not such bad detectives after all.”
“What makes you think that?” Tony asked.
“I know who set off the fire alarm!” Frank announced.
8
Case Closed!
Come on!” Frank turned around and headed back into the building.
The other boys all looked at one another. Then they ran after him.
“Where are we going?” Tony asked.
“To Ms. Vaughn’s office,” Frank announced.
Tony slowed down. “Why?”
“To get you out of trouble,” Frank said.
“Who did it?” Chet said. “Was it Zack?”
“Nope,” Frank said.
“Tanya?” Chet asked.
“Nope.”
“Was it Brad?” Joe asked.
“Definitely not,” Frank said as he marched into the office.
“Hi, boys,” Ms. Vaughn’s secretary greeted them. “What can we do for you?”
“We need to see Ms. Vaughn,” Tony said. “It’s very, very important. If you help us, I might just get to play dodgeball tomorrow at lunch.”
The secretary smiled. “Sounds important.” She picked up the telephone receiver and buzzed Ms. Vaughn on the intercom.
“I have five boys here who are interested in meeting with you,” she said into the receiver.
The secretary paused for a moment, listening to Ms. Vaughn’s reply. “Ms. Vaughn will see you now,” she said. Then she ushered the boys into the principal’s inner office.
“Hello, boys. What’s up?” Ms. Vaughn asked.
Frank pointed to Tony. “You’ve got the wrong man. Tony didn’t pull the fire alarm. And we know who did.”
“So, who did it?” Ms. Vaughn asked with a smile.
“Mr. Sterling!” Frank announced.
“The custodian?” Ms. Vaughn asked. “Why would he pull the alarm?”
“He didn’t pull it,” Frank explained. “He tested it.”
Ms. Vaughn frowned thoughtfully. “We do have a test scheduled, but it’s not until next week.”
“I’ll bet that’s why the lights in the cafeteria went off, too,” Mike interrupted. “Mr. Sterling could have been changing an old fuse or something.”
“Kids, I appreciate all of the thought you put into this,” Ms. Vaughn said. “But I’m sure that if Mr. Sterling had set off the alarm early, he would have told me. Now, let me see. I know there’s a memo here somewhere.”
The boys waited while Ms. Vaughn sorted through a pile of papers on her desk. Finally she pulled out the memo she was looking for.
“Just as I thought,” Ms. Vaughn said. “This memo from Mr. Sterling says the tests are scheduled to begin— Wait a minute! He did tell me he was going to begin testing early. He says it right here in this memo. He wanted to get a head start, in case any repairs were needed.”
Ms. Vaughn looked up at the boys and smiled. “The first thing he planned to test was the fire alarm—on the first day of school.”
She stood up. “You boys sure are good detectives. Let’s go down to Mr. Sterling’s office right now.”
Ms. Vaughn led Joe, Frank, Tony, Chet, and Mike down the hall to the custodian’s office. Mr. Sterling was still seated inside. He was still writing in his notebook.
“Hello,” Mr. Sterling said cheerfully when he saw the principal and the boys standing in his doorway. “What can I do for you?”
Ms. Vaughn cleared her throat. “I wanted to talk to you about the electrical testing,” she said.
“I didn’t find any problems,” Mr. Sterling said. “The system is in great shape.”
“What about the fire alarm?” Joe asked. “Are you sure that’s working?”
“Sure am!” Mr. Sterling quickly flipped through his notebook. “I tested it yesterday. Worked fine. I hope I didn’t cause any confusion by running the test early.”
Everyone laughed. “Not too much,” Ms. Vaughn said.
“Does this mean I don’t have to spend lunch tomorrow in the Time Out room?” Tony asked.
“Definitely not,” Ms. Vaughn said. “Plus, I’m going to send a letter to your parents explaining my mistake. And I’m going to apologize to you tomorrow over the PA system—so that everyone will know you didn’t pull the alarm.”
“Wow.” Tony looked pleased. “Thanks.”
The boys said goodbye to Ms. Vaughn and Mr. Sterling. They hurried out of the building and into the sunshine.
“Thanks, you guys,” Tony said.
“Are you still mad at me for telling on you?” Joe asked.
Tony punched Joe on the arm. “No way,” he said. “You guys solved the case. So—who wants to play dodgeball?” he shouted to the group of boys.
“I do,” Frank and Mike said.
“Nothing like a good game of dodgeball after solving a tough mystery,” Chet said.
Malcolm was just coming out of the building. “I’ll play,” he called.
Joe smiled at his new friends. “Count me in!” he said.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A MINSTREL PAPERBACK Original
A Minstrel Book published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 1997 by Simon & Schuster Inc.
Front cover illustration by Thompson Studio
Produced by Mega-Books, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0-671-00404-2
ISBN 978-1-4814-0202-6 (ebook)
First Minstrel Books printing November 1997
FRANK AND JOE HARDY: THE CLUES BROTHERS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster Inc.
THE HARDY BOYS, A MINSTREL BOOK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.
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