Hardy Boys -2: Secret of the Old Mill

A Close Call

The boys didn't have to wait for too long, Chet and the girls arrived within a matter of minutes. Ellen Osbourne, who sat next to Chet, was a lovely, plump girl with mousy brown, wavy hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and hazel eyes. She was wearing her favorite summer dress, a pale green with gold and silver stars. She was a very caring person, nicknamed lovingly by her schoolmates as "Mother Hen" and voted the friendliest and most likely to be married by the time she was 21. Callie Shaw, who was sitting next to her, was slender with golden blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes and was voted as the prettiest girl in all of Bayport. She could have picked any guy to go out with, but she picked Frank, most likely because Adam Mason wouldn't leave her alone otherwise. Chet's sister Iola was sitting in the back seat. She had dark auburn hair and grey-green eyes. She had been voted most likely to become a politician. She was intelligent and determined to do some good in the world. She and Callie were both wearing T-shirts and jeans.

Iola batted her eyelashes at Joe. "You boys starting the summer off with a mystery and you've decided to invite little ole us along?"

Joe shrugged and grinned as he got into the back next to her. "Hey, why not, the more the merrier, right?"

Frank chuckled as he got into the back behind Callie. "It certainly helps having extra eyes and ears in a case, you never know what you might overlook that someone else will notice."

Callie turned in her seat and smiled at him. "So, can you tell us why we have to go on this little picnic? Chet was saying something about a case."

Frank nodded as Chet started the Queen and pulled out of the driveway. "Joe and I are working on finding out who's handing out counterfeits and Tony got us an important clue. The counterfeits they were handed this morning was given to them by an employee of Elekton." He and Joe figured it was best that they not divulge the information their father had given them, or that this was actually part of his instructions to them.

Iola gasped. "You think Elekton hired someone untrustworthy?"

Joe shrugged. "That's what we hope to find out. Though I'm betting they didn't know that the guy they hired was going to hand out counterfeits."

Frank nodded. "We've checked into newspapers articles in cities where Elekton has labs, this seems to be an isolated case."

"But why here?" asked Chet. "Don't they know that the famous detective and his equally as smart family live here?"

Frank and Joe laughed. "If anything, they were probably figuring on making this a quick setup before bailing out of town," said Joe.

"That, and they were probably trying to keep this under the radar so Dad wouldn't get called in on the case. He mainly deals with higher end cases, I guess you could call them, and they figured they can pull one over the local police."

"But we've got the best police this side of the Atlantic," said Joe with a grin. "They haven't been working with Dad for nothing."

"But the Chief called in you two to solve this," said Ellen. "Why's that?"

Frank shrugged. "I guess you could say that two teens are less likely to arouse their suspicion."

"They might even think we're not going to be taken seriously either."

Frank nodded. "There's that too."

Chet chuckled. "If that is the case, hoo boy, are they in for a surprise!"

"Plus, I think that since they jibbed you, Chet, and Prito's Lumber Yard, we'd definitely want to catch this guy. No one steals from our friends!" Joe's outburst brought a cheer.