The Video Game Bandit

by Franklin W. Dixon

  The girl threw up her hands. “I just told Christina, but she didn’t think it meant anything!” She laughed.

  Heather and the man with the bandanna both turned, suddenly interested. “What do you mean?” Joe asked.

  “I saw two kids right before the auction. They came out of the den. They both had something under their shirts. They were practically running out the front door.” The girl put her hands on her hips.

  Joe started writing down everything she said. “What did they look like?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t get a good look, that’s the problem. They were moving too fast. But the one kid . . . whatever he was holding under his shirt . . . it looked like it was alive.”

  “What?” Frank said loudly. “What do you mean?”

  “It was squirming,” the girl said.

  “A boy with a squirming stomach? This is starting to sound like an alien movie.” Joe laughed. He wrote it all down anyway.

  “I think the other kid had the game. There were, like . . . cords and stuff coming out from under his shirt. It wasn’t in the box anymore.” The girl shrugged. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”

  A boy with glasses and braces came in with another tray of dirty dishes. He set them down on the counter. It was obvious that he’d been listening to their conversation. “I saw those kids too!” he cried. Frank noticed that his name tag said KEVIN. “You’re right, Alana. I was taking some dishes out to the van and saw them come out too. I heard them talking about some game, and now I realize they were probably talking about the ZCross. I didn’t even realize they might’ve been the ones who took the ZCross.”

  “This has been a huge help, really,” Frank said. “Do you remember what they were wearing?”

  Alana pulled a stool away from the counter and plopped down. “I think one had a gray T-shirt and the other was wearing a blue one. They both had on jeans.”

  Kevin shook his head. “No, no—you’ve got it all wrong. They were wearing sweatshirts. I’m sure of it.”

  Alana and Kevin started arguing. Joe wasn’t quite sure what to write down, so he wrote down Blue T-shirt & gray T-shirt OR two sweatshirts under the description of the suspects. This happened a lot. Most of the time witnesses couldn’t remember what the suspects looked like, or they remembered different things.

  “What about their hair color or their eye color?” Frank asked.

  Alana let out a sigh. “I think they both had brown hair.”

  Kevin shook his head again. “One was blond, don’t you remember?”

  Frank glanced sideways at his brother. It was clear they weren’t going to get Alana and Kevin to agree on anything. “If you remember anything else, let us know. We’re going to look around the den one last time and see if we missed anything.”

  As they left, Alana and Kevin were still arguing. “Maybe he had red hair,” Alana whispered, more confused than ever. “I just don’t know anymore.”

  Joe and Frank shut the door to the den behind them. “So two boys took the ZCross,” Joe said. “That makes sense. Now we just have to figure out which two boys. Do you think we should go through the photo booth pictures again?”

  “They didn’t give us a good enough description,” Frank said, pacing the room. “Maybe there’s more here . . . there has to be something we missed.”

  The boys started searching the room again, this time checking the cabinet beneath the television set and the small table by the couch. Sometimes when they returned to the scene of a mystery they found smaller clues they’d missed the first time. Frank knelt down and looked under the couch, while Joe examined the crumpled ZCross pamphlet again.

  “Why would someone tear it apart?” Joe asked.

  Frank was leaning over the back of the couch, reaching for something there. “Why would they tear the entire box apart?” he asked.

  Joe thought it was a strange question until he realized what Frank had found. There, behind the couch, was the entire ZCross box. And one whole side of it was shredded. Joe stepped closer to get a better look. But it was empty.

  “It’s like someone ripped it. Do you think they were trying to get it out of the box in a hurry?”

  Frank opened the end, which was kind of slimy. “Ewww . . . it’s wet. Gross.”

  He and Joe stood there, studying the shredded box. “Maybe they were trying to avoid being seen. The game box is smaller than a giant cardboard thing,” Joe said. “Maybe they were hoping no one would notice them leave.”

  “Still,” Frank said, “they didn’t have to rip the box apart. This is so strange. It makes no sense.”

  Joe looked out the window at the party. Whoever did this had been here, as a guest. But why would they leave evidence behind? And what was the second boy holding, the one with the squirming stomach?

  For the first time ever, the Hardy Boys were seriously stumped.

  Chapter 8

  FORGOTTEN EVIDENCE

  “Let’s see what we know so far,” Joe said, plopping down on the couch next to his brother. He flipped open his notebook. “Who . . .”

  Frank leaned over, looking at the page. Joe had crossed out the description Mr. Fun had given them of the girl with the purple shirt and pink streak in her hair. He’d crossed out the names Kendall and Lisi, too. Underneath he’d written:

  Two boys

  One held game under his shirt

  One had squirming stomach

  Blue T-shirt and gray T-shirt OR two sweatshirts

  Both had brown hair (or maybe red?) or brown hair and blond hair

  Frank shook his head. “We don’t really have much to work with,” he said. “I guess we know that the boys aren’t on the Bayport Bandits—otherwise they would have been wearing the same shirts we are. But besides that, these two kids could be anyone. What other clues do we have?”

  Joe turned the page. “Just the other details about the ripped-up box. We’re sure it’s not Kendall and Lisi, right? Should we go back to them to see if they might have noticed the two boys Kevin and Alana saw?”

  Before Frank could answer, there was a knock on the den door. Kevin opened it and poked his head inside. “Um . . . I remembered one more thing!” he said, slipping in and shutting the door behind him.

  Kevin sat down on a chair and started talking. “As the boys were leaving, I heard them say something about a guy named Mr. Fun. Do you think that was some kind of code?”

  Joe laughed. “No, Mr. Fun is a real person. He’s the owner of Fun World. You know, that arcade downtown?”

  Kevin’s eyes widened. “Ohhhh! Yeah, I used to go there all the time. I was obsessed with the Shooting Hoops game there.”

  Frank leaned in, listening closer. “Do you remember what they said about Mr. Fun?” he asked.

  Kevin shook his head. Joe noticed that the front of his uniform shirt had a white smear on it. It looked like vanilla frosting. “No . . . just something about Mr. Fun. Then the one kid said, ‘We could be back in half an hour.’ They were going somewhere.”

  Joe scribbled down everything Kevin said, hoping it might be another lead. “Did they say where?”

  “No,” Kevin said. “They went into the garage, though. And then I didn’t see them again. I still haven’t seen them. But I’ll tell you—I was right, one of the kids had blond hair, I swear. I don’t know why Alana was arguing with me.”

  “Did they seem excited? Happy?” Frank asked. Maybe if they knew how the kids were acting, they’d be able to figure out why they’d taken the ZCross. It might have been that they really wanted it, just like everyone else. Or they might have had another reason.

  Kevin took his glasses off and wiped them with his shirt. His eyes looked much smaller without them. “Now that you say that,” he said, “they actually seemed kind of scared. Or maybe nervous? I could be wrong, but I remember thinking they didn’t look like thieves.”

  Joe wrote down what Kevin said, including the detail about them looking scared or nervous. It was all just Kevin’s opinion, not fac
t. Still, it was helpful to collect any information they could. “Do you remember anything else?” Joe asked.

  Kevin shook his head. “I think that’s it.”

  “We should check the garage,” Joe said, turning to his brother. As Kevin went back into the kitchen, they headed there. When they got inside, through the side door, they didn’t notice anything unusual. All Mr. Freeman’s tools were on his workbench in the corner. Rakes, shovels, and brooms were hanging from hooks on the back wall. Mr. and Mrs. Freeman’s cars weren’t inside, just a few bikes the family had. Ellie’s bike had a neon-pink stripe on the handlebars.

  Frank looked around the garage, trying to find anything strange. “Whoever the kids were, I don’t think they were interested in selling the ZCross.”

  Joe checked the rakes and brooms on the wall. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because all of Mr. Freeman’s tools are sitting right here. Power drills, electric saws . . . If they wanted to make money by selling things, wouldn’t they have taken these, too?”

  “Good point,” Joe said, moving over to the bikes. “Bingo.”

  Frank turned around. “What is it? What did you find?”

  Joe leaned over two of the bikes. They looked like they had just been taken out for a ride. They weren’t leaning on the wall like the other two. Instead, they were in the middle of the garage and the kickstands were down. “Look right here,” he said, pointing to one of the baskets.

  Frank picked up the evidence to examine it. Inside a clear plastic bag were four tiny hot dogs. They were the same ones he and Joe had served the guests just a few hours before. “Do you think they took these as a snack?” Frank asked. He peered through the plastic bag at Joe.

  “I don’t know . . . maybe,” Joe said. In the same basket was a black wallet. Joe opened it, hoping there would be clues inside. There were a few worn baseball cards from some team called the Tigers. There was a smushed piece of bubble gum and three dollars. Joe flipped through the other compartments, hoping to find anything with a name on it, but there was nothing.

  “There’s not even a library card,” Joe said, passing the wallet to Frank. “Nothing to tell us who it belongs to.”

  “Well, whoever took it, they’ll come back for it,” Frank said. “I doubt they’d just leave their wallet behind.”

  “What do you think about Mr. Fun?” Joe asked.

  “I always liked Mr. Fun,” Frank said, turning the wallet upside down. Two pennies fell out.

  “Why would they mention him?” Joe asked. “Do you think it’s just because he was the one who donated the prize?”

  “Maybe,” Frank said. “One thing’s for certain, though. Whoever these boys are, they’ll be back to get this wallet. We should be here when they do.”

  Joe scanned the garage. “A stakeout. That’s a great idea. We’ll need a place to hide, then.”

  The boys went to work, looking for the best spot they could find. They’d sit quietly, hidden somewhere close by, and watch. They’d wait as long as they had to. And when their two suspects returned, they’d be ready.

  Chapter 9

  THE MYSTERY MAN

  Joe pushed back against the workbench, trying to get comfortable. He was wedged behind a stool, his knees against his chest. Whenever he tried to move, he got stuck. “I’m squished,” he said.

  Frank sat beside him, his arms wrapped around his knees. “Me too. Hopefully, it won’t be much longer.”

  They’d been sitting under the workbench for a while. They’d pulled two stools in front of them so they’d be harder to see. Ten minutes in, Joe got hot. They had to open one of the giant garage doors to let some fresh air in.

  At one point Mr. Freeman had come looking for them, and Frank and Joe had let him in on the plan. The dessert table was almost empty. People were still asking about what had happened, and Mr. Freeman worried that everyone would leave before they found the ZCross. The fund-raiser was almost over.

  “Come on,” Joe said, tapping his toe nervously. “Where are they?”

  “They’ll come,” Frank said. “Just wait. We’re so close, I can feel it.”

  Joe watched the garage door, hoping one of the boys would appear outside. He leaned his head on Frank’s shoulder. He was very sleepy. They’d spent the whole day getting ready for the party. With all the excitement of the case, Joe was ready for a nap. He tried to fight it, but he could feel himself falling asleep.

  Suddenly Frank poked him in his side. “Pssssst!” he whispered. “Joe, wake up! Look!”

  Joe rubbed his eyes. A boy was hovering by the garage door. He had a blue baseball cap on, and the brim was pulled down so it was hard to see his eyes. Joe squinted, trying to make out his face, but the garage was dark and it was hard to see.

  Sure enough, the boy went over to the bike. He took the wallet from the basket and slipped it into his back pocket. Then he took the plastic bag with hot dogs and threw it in the trash by the workbench.

  When he turned back around, Frank and Joe saw their chance. They pushed out from under the workbench. “We need to talk to you,” Frank said. “We have good reason to think you took the missing ZCross5000.”

  The boy’s back was facing Frank and Joe. He straightened up when he heard Frank’s voice. Then, without saying a word, he ran out of the garage and down the street.

  “Get him!” Joe cried. He took off after the boy, Frank following close behind. They ran as fast as they could. Up ahead, the boy was running even faster. He turned the corner and sprinted up the block.

  Joe tried to keep up. He cut through a neighbor’s yard and watched as the boy disappeared into the woods behind Ellie’s house. When Frank finally caught up to Joe, Joe stopped, his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

  “Where did he go?” Frank asked, looking into the trees. “Did we lose him?”

  “I think so,” Joe said. He could hear the boy running somewhere ahead of them, but he couldn’t see him anymore. He wasn’t even sure which direction he’d gone. He might have been headed back to Ellie’s house, but he could have cut through the woods to the pond on the other side.

  Just then Joe spotted something a few yards away. He ran over to it, picking up the cap the boy had left behind. He turned it over in his hands and looked inside. The tag had a name written on it. He brought it close to his face so he could read it.

  “Of course,” Joe finally said. “I should have realized it was him. The clues were there all along.”

  “What, what is it?” Frank asked. “What did you find?”

  THE HARDY BOYS–and

  YOU!

  CAN YOU SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE VIDEO GAME BANDIT?

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

  1. Frank and Joe came up with a list of suspects. Can you think of more? List your suspects.

  2. Write down the way you think the prized ZCross5000 disappeared.

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

  Chapter 10

  A VERY NAUGHTY PUPPY

  “It was Biff,” Joe finally said. “But why?”

  Joe handed his brother the blue cap. The tag inside read BIFF. Joe still had his name written on all his clothes from camp last summer. They made you do that so they could find them in the laundry.

  “We should go find Phil,” Frank said. “Come on, we can get back to the house through the woods. We just have to follow the music.”

  The boys took off through the trees. From somewhere up ahead, they could hear the music from the party. The noise got louder and louder as they reached the back fence. They passed the tree house where they’d found Kendall. When they reached the edge of the woods, the party was just ending. A bunch of guests were grabbing their things and starting to leave.

  “Thank you all for coming today,” Coach Quinn said. “We’ve raised a lot of money for the Bayport Bandits, and we’re nearly at our goal for the baseball trip fund.”

  Frank and Joe ran
up to Phil, who was stationed by the sound system. They didn’t want to accuse him of anything, but they knew that if Biff was the one who’d taken the ZCross, Phil had likely helped him. Kevin and Alana had agreed there were two boys coming out of the den, not one.

  “Phil, we need to talk to you,” Frank said. “We know Biff took the ZCross. We just need to know why. Does he still have it? What happened?”

  Phil’s cheeks turned pale. “Uh—oh no,” he stuttered.

  “It’s okay, Phil,” Joe said. “We just want to find it. We were hoping to have it auctioned off before everyone leaves. There’s not much time.”

  Phil sighed. “I can explain, I swear,” he said. “It was all a big misunderstanding. Right after the auction started, Biff and I went inside to check on Sherlock. And when we went into the den, we saw him with the ZCross5000. He had chewed half the box, and he was about to chew the remote, too!”

  “We found the box,” Frank said. “So I guess that was drool all over it? Yuck!”

  Phil let out a small laugh. “Yeah, and when we saw it, we kind of freaked out. We knew it was the biggest prize of the auction, and Sherlock had destroyed the box. That’s when we remembered that Mr. Fun had gotten one for his birthday. We figured he might have the extra box at his house. We went there looking for it, but his son said they’d already thrown the box away.”

  “You could have told us,” Joe said. “We would have understood.”

  “Well, we wanted to, but by the time we got back, everyone had already decided it was stolen. We panicked—we didn’t know what to do.” Phil put his face in his hands. “We should’ve said something . . . I realize that now.”

  “So the boy with the squirming stomach?” Frank said, looking at Joe. “Let me guess, did you or Biff put Sherlock under your shirt when you snuck out of the den?”