Hardy Boys -2: Secret of the Old Mill

Alleviating Fears

The boys stared at him, stunned and completely unsure of what to say. This was a first for sure! But Ken Blake knew exactly what to say.

He turned to Tony. "You lied to me! You told me it was the Masons!"

"So you could tell your boss, or whoever got you scared of them, that it wasn't them!" retorted Tony. He crossed his arms. "Speaking of, aren't you overreacting? Especially if they're a couple of troublemakers?"

"Oh, easy for you to say! You've got all your friends ready to gang up on me!" Ken wrapped his arms around him. "I have no one."

Frank stepped closer to the table. "We're not going to gang up on you," he said softly. "You're free to leave, in fact. You don't have to stay." He let out a sigh. "We just wanted to know what you know about what's going on at that mill."

"I'm just an errand boy, I don't know anything! I swear!"

"What do you do for the errands?" asked Joe.

"I just do whatever they tell me to do, mainly Mr. Markel, the guard." He pursed his lips as his eyes began to widen. "I might have said too much."

Frank shook his head. "Unless telling us the name of a the guard, something we could have fond out by talking to him, was too much."

"I-I . . . just can't do this . . . I'm not supposed to . . ."

"Well, how about we just have a good time and you tell us about yourself?" suggested Frank as she sat down next to him. "I believe that you know nothing, and I'm sure you would go to the police if you saw something suspicious."

"That is," said Joe, "unless your life is as top-secret as whatever the government has Elekton working on." He paused, blinked and tilted his head at Ken. "But if it is, does that mean you're alien, a science experiment, or something?" Phil just happened to be drinking some water, and he spat it out . . . on Joe. "Dude! These are my favorite pants! And why did you have to turn your head? Frank's a prime target!"

"Because my mom taught me to not spit on the people across from me, thank you very much," said Phil.

"Oh yeah, uh-huh, maybe she should have taught you how to swallow while laughing while she was at it." Biff, Jerry, Pete, Slim, and Jack could be heard guffawing from the next booth. "Oh shut up!" Frank heardsoft snickering next to him. He turned his head and noticed with delight that Ken was laughing. He stopped when he noticed that Frank was looking at him.

Frank merely smiled. "So, what do you say? Do you want to hang around and have a good time, or would you like to leave?"

Ken glanced around at the group at their booth, everyone unable to stop smiling after laughing so hard. "Um, I, I don't know . . ."

"I know, we can tell you everything these two have done for us!" exclaimed Phil.

"You call this thanks?" asked Joe, indicating his wet pants.

Phil waved his hand. "Oh that's on you, man, you shouldn't have tried to make a lame joke."

"But you laughed at it!"

"You took me off guard!"

Biff's head appeared around the corner. "It was pretty lame."

"Who asked you?" retorted Joe as he grabbed a couple of napkins and tried to pat his jeans dry.

"Dude, it's jeans, it's going to dry," siad Biff, completely unphased by Joe's retort.

"Yeah, sure, you sit in wet jeans and tell me you don't want them to dry faster."