Talent Show Tricks

by Franklin W. Dixon

  Chet nodded. “I finally got her to stop crying, but she’s pretty upset. She’s washing her face.”

  “Poor Iola!” Joe said.

  “She’ll be okay. She’s just embarrassed,” Chet said, “and confused. She has no idea what happened.”

  “Well, we figured out that part, at least,” Frank said. “Someone made a copy of her music that had croaking on it, and her microphone was turned off. It only looked like she was making those sounds.”

  Chet’s eyes went wide. “Oh, man. I’m helping with the music and the microphones. I should have noticed something was wrong!”

  “But . . .” Joe trailed off. He looked at Frank and then back at Chet. “But you didn’t do anything, right?”

  “Of course not!” Chet said, angry. “She’s my sister. I tease her a lot, but I would never try to mess up her act or the show!”

  “We know you wouldn’t,” Frank said. He felt bad for suspecting Chet for even a second. Of course he wasn’t the Phantom! “When Iola comes out, tell her we’re going to find out who did this.”

  “Thanks, guys,” Chet said. “Would you mind helping me with something else?”

  “Sure, Chet,” Frank said.

  “Anything you want,” Joe added.

  “I want to do something nice for Iola,” Chet explained. “Not just because of this, but because of that fight we had yesterday. She drives me crazy sometimes, but she’s a really good sister. I have an idea that might make her feel better.”

  The next morning Frank, Joe, and Chet arrived at school early, long before any other students. Chet’s backpack was full of their supplies, and Frank carried a white posterboard. They spent the rest of the time before school decorating a poster. They taped up sparkly letters that spelled out her name, pictures of her favorite band and baseball players cut from magazines, and little notes that said things like Iola rocks! and We ♥ Iola. They finished decorating the poster just as other students started to arrive. They hid around a corner holding the poster to see Iola’s reaction when she discovered their surprise.

  A couple of minutes later, Frank spotted Iola coming down the hall and elbowed the other boys. They grinned as they jumped out and saw her smile when she saw the decorated board.

  “Surprise!” the boys cried.

  “Oh, guys, this is awesome!” Iola gushed. “I love it!”

  “It was Chet’s idea,” Frank said. “Joe and I just helped.”

  Iola gave Chet a big hug. “You’re the best brother in the whole world.”

  Chet’s cheeks turned pink, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I try.”

  “We’re going to double- and triple-check your music today, Iola,” Frank said. “The Phantom’s not going to get you again. You’re going to be great.”

  “Thanks, you guys,” Iola said.

  “Hey!”

  They all turned their heads in the direction of the shriek that came from the other end of the hall. It was their friend Ellie Freeman. She was pointing at a poster for the talent show that was hung on the wall.

  “Who did this?” Ellie demanded.

  Frank and Joe rushed to check it out. Someone had scribbled all over the poster in a fat red marker.

  Speedy ran up to them with another poster in her hand. It, too, had a note from the Phantom written on it.

  “The Phantom did this to every poster in the whole school!” she said.

  Frank turned to his brother. “We were the first ones in the school today,” he said. “We would have seen someone messing with the posters.”

  Joe nodded. “Whoever it was, they must have done it yesterday after school.”

  “You’re right,” Frank said. “That means the Phantom is definitely someone involved with the talent show.”

  Chapter 8

  A SLIMY SURPRISE

  It was the final dress rehearsal. The talent show was the next night, and everyone was excited and nervous. The Phantom wanted to get the talent show canceled, and this rehearsal was his or her last chance. Everyone was holding their breath to see what the Phantom might do. Diego Mendez was there to see if the Phantom would strike again. The school paper was putting out a special issue on the talent show and the Phantom the next morning.

  Olivia called the entire cast into the auditorium. She handed over her notes to Zoe—things like Remember to smile and Keep your head up—while she went to the restroom. While Zoe was reading, Joe snuck to the back of the auditorium, where Frank was going over his checklists.

  “Hey, bro,” he said. “I’ve been thinking.”

  “Oh yeah? Did it hurt?” Frank teased.

  Joe smiled and rolled his eyes. “Ha-ha. Anyway, I was thinking I should hang out backstage during the rehearsal today instead of in the greenroom. If the Phantom tries something, I’ll have a better chance of catching them.”

  Frank nodded. “That’s a good idea. I’ll tell Speedy you’ll be back there.”

  Olivia returned, hands stuck in her pockets, just as Zoe finished reading her notes. Zoe tried to hand the notebook back to her, but Olivia shook her head.

  “I want you to write down the notes for me today,” she told Zoe. Then she turned to the cast. “Okay, everyone! Places for the start of the show, please!”

  After performing in the first number with the rest of the cast, Joe took his spot backstage near Speedy while the other kids went to the greenroom. From there he could see what was going on onstage as well as the table full of props that sat in the wings. The balls and fake rubber knives he was going to juggle were there, along with instruments, magic tricks, costume hats, and other items. No one would be able to mess with any of them without Joe seeing it.

  Joe could tell that a lot of the kids were nervous as they went out onstage. As the show continued and there was no sign of the Phantom, everyone started to relax a little. Frank and the rest of the Backstage Buddy crew worked like a well-oiled machine, and even Olivia seemed happy with the way things were going. Joe’s juggling act went perfectly; he didn’t drop a single thing.

  Annie Norland, Desiree Perry, and Lauren Brenner were the next-to-last act of the show. They were doing a dance number together. The three girls walked up to the props table where they kept the bowler hats they wore for most of their dance. The hats were hot and itchy, so they never put them on until the last minute.

  “Break a leg!” Joe whispered as they got ready to go onstage.

  All three girls turned and stared at him.

  “Oops,” he said. “That’s probably not the right thing to say to dancers, is it?”

  Annie grinned. “It’s okay. We know what you meant.”

  Onstage, the lights went down.

  “Okay, ladies,” Speedy said. “Time to go!”

  Annie, Desiree, and Lauren walked out onto the stage and struck a pose. The lights came up on them, their music started to play, and they began to dance. Joe wondered why the Phantom hadn’t struck that day. Maybe whoever it was had given up, or maybe they hadn’t been able to perform their prank because of Joe standing guard over the props table.

  Joe watched the girls dancing. If he had to guess, he’d bet they were going to be the crowd favorite. His favorite part of their act was coming up: the moment when they took off their hats and shook out their hair as the music got really loud and crazy. Joe inched closer to the stage so he’d have a better view.

  The girls took off their hats, and Desiree shook out her long black hair while Lauren whipped her auburn curls around her face. But when Annie spun, instead of her blond hair flying behind her, huge globs of green slime started going everywhere!

  Onstage, Desiree caught a glimpse of Annie’s hair and shrieked. Lauren froze and stared at her friend.

  “Stop!” Olivia shouted over the music. “Stop the show!”

  “What is it?” Annie asked, looking at her dumbstruck friends.

  “Annie, your—your hair!” Desiree stammered, pointing to her friend’s head.

  Annie grabbed a handful of her hair and held i
t up to her eyes. When she saw the electric green color, she screamed.

  “What is that?” she screeched. “Get it out of my hair!”

  Joe rushed onto the stage just as Annie rushed off, followed by her friends. He gathered up the hats the girls had dropped and was already examining them when Frank got there. One of the hats had a layer of thick green slime smeared on the inside of it.

  “Someone put that green goop in the hat,” Joe explained to Frank, showing him what he’d found. “I don’t know how they did it. I was backstage next to the prop table the entire time.”

  “The Phantom must have done it before you started standing there,” Frank said. “Either that, or the person who’s doing this really is a phantom.”

  Olivia appeared on the stage, with Zoe and Diego following her. Diego’s pencil was flying across his notebook. He would sure have an interesting story for tomorrow’s special edition of the paper!

  “Frank, get everyone on the stage, please,” Olivia said. “I need to talk to them.”

  Frank got on the radio to give the message to the backstage crew, and together they gathered the cast onstage. The last people to arrive were Annie, Desiree, and Lauren. Annie had been trying to wash the slime out of her hair in the girls’ restroom with her friends’ help. Her wet hair was dripping water down the back of her costume, and it still looked pretty green to Joe.

  “This was stuck to the bathroom mirror,” she told everyone. Annie held up a small piece of paper. “It says ‘Cancel the talent show or this won’t be the last you hear from me. Love, the Phantom.’ ”

  Chapter 9

  IN THE SPOTLIGHT

  It was Friday, and almost time for the show to begin. The auditorium was packed with people. Not only was every seat sold out, but there was a row of people standing in the back. The entire school had turned up to see the show because of Diego’s articles about the Phantom.

  Olivia was the happiest Frank had ever seen her. The two of them were overseeing last-minute preparations backstage. Frank was dressed all in black, just like the rest of the Backstage Buddy crew, while Olivia was wearing a sparkly pink dress with elbow-length white gloves. Frank thought it was weird that Olivia was wearing the long gloves, but then again, most of the things Olivia wore seemed weird to Frank!

  “This is extraordinary, Olivia,” Mrs. Castle said. “I’ve never seen so many people in the audience for the talent show!”

  Olivia beamed. “Thank you, Mrs. Castle.”

  Frank felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Speedy standing next to him.

  “We have a problem, boss,” she said. “Olivia should probably come too.”

  Frank grabbed Olivia, and the two of them followed Speedy to the greenroom where the cast, in lots of colorful costumes, was waiting for the show to begin.

  “What’s going on?” Olivia asked.

  “They’re scared,” Speedy said. “They don’t want to do the show.”

  A boy in a tuxedo jacket and top hat said, “What if the Phantom does something?”

  A girl in a silver leotard who had her arm around her friend nodded. “Yeah, what if the Phantom makes something go wrong with my act and everyone out there laughs at me?”

  “We should just cancel the show like the Phantom says,” someone else shouted.

  More and more kids started to chime in, until the room was full of noise. Olivia tried to shush them, but no one could hear her over all the talking. Finally, she stood on a chair, stuck two fingers in her mouth, and let out an ear-piercing whistle that made everyone freeze.

  “Listen up, everybody!” Olivia said. “There’s a saying in show business: ‘The show must go on.’ If we cancel the talent show, the Phantom wins. Does anyone want that?”

  Everyone in the cast shook their heads.

  “You all are too talented and you’ve worked too hard to give up now,” she continued. “The only way we can beat the Phantom is by going ahead with the show and doing the best job we can. Right?”

  The kids looked at one another and started to nod.

  “This auditorium is packed with people who want to see you perform, and I know we can give them an amazing show,” Olivia said. She pointed at the boy in the tuxedo and top hat. “Will, don’t you want your classmates to see how great you are at magic?”

  Will nodded. “Yeah.”

  “And Iola,” Olivia said. “Don’t you want your parents to hear you sing?”

  Iola stood. “You bet I do!”

  “You’re all going to be incredible tonight,” Olivia said, “so let’s get out there and give that audience the best show they’ve ever seen!”

  “Yeah!” the cast cheered.

  “Great!” Olivia said. “Now, get to your places for the opening number, and let’s have a great show!”

  The cast gave each other high fives and pats on the back as they walked to their places. Frank stayed behind to talk to Speedy for a minute, and when he headed toward the auditorium to take his place, he spotted Ezra Moore talking to Olivia. Ezra was one of Joe’s top suspects, so Frank walked extra slowly past the two of them and kept his ears open.

  “Please, Olivia,” Ezra said. “Don’t make me go out there.”

  “You’re going to do this, Ezra,” Olivia said. “I’ve done everything I could to make this the best talent show ever, and you’re not going to ruin it for me.”

  Frank’s attention was so focused on listening to the conversation that he didn’t notice Annie Norland until he bumped right into her.

  “Oops! Sorry, Annie!” he said.

  “That’s okay,” she said. “No harm done.”

  “Hey,” he added, looking at the long blond hair falling over her shoulders. “It looks like all the green came out of your hair!”

  She laughed. “Yeah, I only had to wash it seven times. Look at this, though.” She bent down to show him the top of her head. The skin beneath her hair was still pretty green. “It came out of my hair, but I guess the color in that slime takes longer to wash off skin.”

  “Well, at least no one can see it,” Frank said. “Make sure you check your hat before you put it on tonight, okay?”

  She smiled. “You bet I will. Have a good show, Frank.”

  “You too,” Frank said.

  He made his way to the small desk that Mrs. Castle had set up for him in the back of the auditorium. It had a tiny reading light that he could use to read his checklists and his notebook, where he’d written down all the instructions for the show. Frank’s heart was beating fast in his chest from excitement and a little bit of nervousness. He wasn’t thinking about the Phantom anymore, just the job in front of him.

  Frank got on the radio and checked in with the crew. Speedy told him that everyone was in place backstage and ready to go. Chet and Eli both assured him that they were ready with the right music and lights. Soon after, Olivia came to check in with him.

  “Are we ready?” she asked. “It’s almost time.”

  “We’re ready when you are,” he said.

  “I want to thank you, Frank. You’ve been an excellent BBB stage manager.” She gave him her gloved hand to shake. “I’m sure you’re going to do a great job tonight.”

  “Thanks, Olivia,” he said. He found himself staring at those odd elbow-length gloves Olivia was wearing as he shook her hand.

  “Okay, Frank,” she said. “Start the show.”

  Frank nodded and got on the radio. “Here we go, everybody!”

  The lights went down in the auditorium, and the sold-out audience began to clap and cheer as the curtain rose and the music swelled. Kids spilled onto the stage. The show had started. Olivia clapped her gloved hands in excitement next to Frank.

  All of a sudden, it hit Frank like a bolt of lightning.

  He knew who the Phantom was!

  Do you?

  THE HARDY BOYS—and

  YOU!

  CAN YOU SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE TALENT SHOW TRICKS?

  Grab a piece of paper and write your answers do
wn. Or just turn the page to find out!

  1. Frank and Joe came up with a list of suspects. Can you think of more? Who do you think is playing the tricks on the talent show acts?

  2. Which clues helped you to solve this mystery? Write them down.

  Chapter 10

  THE GRAND FINALE

  Joe and the rest of the cast ran off the stage with giant grins on their faces. The show had just ended, and it had gone perfectly. All their hard work in rehearsals had paid off, and they’d gotten a huge standing ovation from the sold-out audience. Even better than that, there’d been no sign of the Phantom.

  Everyone hugged and gave each other high fives back in the greenroom. Joe stood up on a chair and shouted above the noise. “Hey, everybody! You were all awesome tonight! We pulled it off!”

  The entire cast cheered, and the kids standing next to Ezra patted him on the back. A smile slowly spread across his face, and soon he was beaming more than anyone else. He had made it through the show!

  Joe climbed down from the chair and went up to him. “You were great, Ezra. There’s no way anyone’s going to make fun of you after that.”

  Ezra nodded. “Thanks, Joe.”

  Joe went to where he’d left his backpack against the wall and started to put away his juggling props. He was zipping the bag closed when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and found Frank standing there.

  “Hey!” he said. “Good job tonight!”

  “Thanks! You were great too. You didn’t drop a single ball. I’m impressed,” Frank joked.

  “And you managed to keep the lights on for the whole show,” Joe teased back.

  “Listen.” Frank stepped close to him and dropped his voice low. “I think I know who the Phantom is.”

  “Really?” Joe said.

  “Yeah. I was talking to Annie and—”

  “Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen!” Olivia said as she and Mrs. Castle entered the greenroom together. “You were magnificent!”

  “Yes, excellent job, everyone,” Mrs. Castle said. “As a reward for all your hard work, we have a little surprise for you. Pizza party in the music room!”