Jack and Jerry returned to the clearing, bringing a couple of police cars and Chief Collig with them. By then, Frank and Joe had dusted for fingerprints on both wigs, taken a strand of hair from both for analyzing, and took photos of the tags on the inside. Chief Collig was mighty proud of their work, but was a bit upset they didn’t tell him at the Tower Mansion. He did forgive them quickly though as the Tower Mansion did make them forget about it, and hadn’t compared photos of the tire tracks. The Hardys gave them all the evidence they had found so far, and wanted to help look for more.
“I don’t know, boys,” said Collig, “you’ve done a mighty fine job already. I think you’ve found everything you could.”
“But we still don’t know the identity of the thief,” said Joe.
“And we need to confirm that this was the wig worn by the thief when he robbed Mr. Applegate,” said Frank.
“Oh that’s easy enough,” said Collig as he took the plastic bag the wig was in, “I can show them today and ask them myself. I’ll call you with their answers.”
“But shouldn’t we come with you? It is our case, after all,” said Frank.
Collig thought about it for a moment. “That is true. Alright, come on.”
“But what about us?” asked Chet.
“You fellows can go ahead and head home once my officers are finished asking questions,” said Collig. “I’ll take the Hardys home.”
“See you guys later!” said Joe with a wave of his hand before jumping into the police car.
“Please make sure everything is returned to the box!” said Frank before following his brother into the car. Chief Collig pulled out onto the highway and drove towards the Tower Mansion. Frank took a moment and texted his father real quick, telling him where they were going and why.
“So, what are you boys going to do if neither man recognizes this wig?” asked Collig.
Joe shrugged. “Start back at square one, I guess. But I have a hunch this is a vital clue.”
Frank nodded as he put his phone back in his pocket. “I do too.”
“And if this is from the culprit?”
“Well, guess we’re going to have to check out the costume stores as well as the pawn shops,” said Joe with a grin as he glanced at Frank.
“Yup, which means we’re going to have to change up the plan.” He let out a breath. “Man, I didn’t expect to find clues this quickly. Dad often says it could take days before finding a vital clue. These, these almost seem to have landed in our laps.”
Joe’s eyes narrowed as he rubbed his chin. “You have a point there. What if . . .” He paused and gasped as his eyes widened. “What if this is just a ruse? A distraction to keep the police off their tails!”
Collig glanced at him through the rearview mirror questioningly. “What do you mean by that? And keep us from finding out what?”
“Whatever illegal activity is going on at the Pollitt place!” exclaimed Joe.
“But your dad’s on that case,” said Collig, his eyes back on the road. “We’ll drop whatever we’re doing to help him, you know that. Besides, the Coast Guard is still available. If it is a distraction, it’s not a very well-thought out one.”
Frank sighed. “You’re right, Chief.”
Joe snapped his fingers in frustration. “Go figure.”
“Hey, it’s alright, you guys are still learning. It’s like learning how to swim, you’re going to have to start out at the short end before diving into the deep end. You guys still have years to go, anyhow. It took your dad years to get to this level. But I will agree on one thing, finding all of this evidence was too easy.”
“But not easy enough,” said Joe. “I didn’t lift any fingerprints. He may have left us Queen and the wigs, but he didn’t leave us anything else.”
Frank shrugged. “So we’re back to where we started, pawn shops and costume shops.”
“How about you let us handle the pawn shops, the sooner we find that jewelry, the better,” said Collig.
“That would be great, thanks,” said Frank.
“And we’ll handle the costume shops. There’s only, what, four, five in town?” said Joe.
Frank grinned. “Yeah, but we’ve only done business with Mr. French. Guess we’d better take one of the other shops.”
Joe grinned. “That’s fine by me, but I’m sure Mr. French wouldn’t mind if we asked him who he’s sold wigs to recently. It’s not like he would want to be intentionally involved in a crime.”
“Still would be a good idea to check out the other shops for once. Get used to talking to people we don’t know.”
Collig grinned at them through the rearview mirror. “You two really are shaping up to be good detectives. Though I can see more of Joe being in the police force than Frank.”
“Yeah, Frank would be the forensics guy,” said Joe with a wink.
Frank chuckled nervously. “I don’t know, I’m not that into science.”
“Well, what are you more into?”
“More like who?” said Joe with a teasing grin. He yelped when Frank whacked across the back.
“Why do you have to bring this up at the worst times possible? We’re in the middle of a case!”
“Oh hey! You didn’t deny it!” Joe burst out laughing as Frank’s face turned beet red.
“That’s not the point!”
“Frank’s right, Joe, you need to stay focused on the case. You can tell me about this mystery girl Frank has a huge crush on later.”
“Oh, alright,” said Joe, his eyes twinkling.
“But seriously, this is one mystery I could never figure out. What is it with you and finding any chance you can take to tease me about my crush?”
“What? I want the whole world to know my brother found an awesome girl!”
Frank blinked. “Wait, do you have a crush on her?”
Joe scoffed. “What? Nah, she’s definitely your girl.” He drummed his fingers on his chin. “But I do wonder what her exercise routine is like. She has to stay fit to save you all the time.”
Frank squawked. “She is not going to have to save me all the time!”
Collig laughed. “Frank’s right, Joe. Aren’t you the one who usually runs into situations and need the saving?”
“Hey!” blurted Joe as Frank grinned at Collig with appreciation.
“Well, enough of that for now. It’s time to switch back to detective mode,” said Collig. He was pulling up to Tower Mansion. The boys did switch back into detective mode as Collig turned off the engine. The three got out of the police car and walked quickly to the front door. Collig rang the doorbell. It was opened by Hurd Applegate.
“Oh, hello Chief, found something? Like my treasure, I hope?”
Collig shook his head. “Not the treasure, unfortunately, but the Hardys may have found a clue, and we need you to verify.”
Hurd’s eyebrow raised. “Verify what?”
“May we come in?” asked Collig.
“Oh, right, of course. Come on in.” Hurd opened the door further and let the three in. He led them to the living room where Adelia was working on sewing a quilt.
Joe walked up to her. “Hi Miss Adelia, this quilt looks great!”
Adelia smiled at him. “Why thank you Joe! This is just one of many I hope to have done by the time autumn returns.”
“Who’s it for?” asked Frank as he fingered the fabric. It was really soft.
“I know you two can keep a secret, but I want to keep this under wraps for now.” Adelia winked.
Joe and Frank grinned. “Fair enough.”
“So, what did you find?” asked Hurd.
Collig produced the bag with the wig. “Do you recognise this?”
Hurd’s mouth dropped. “That guy was wearing a wig?”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Collig. He nodded at the boys. “They found it near where their friend’s car was hidden. The thief used it as a getaway car, and simply left it. He probably figured that since Chet’s car is so recognizable, he’d better leave it here so he could get away with the treasure.” The boys nodded. This was good reasoning.
Hurd glanced at the boys. “You fellows found your friend’s car, and this wig was near it?”
The boys nodded. “Yes sir,” said Frank.
“No treasure?”
Joe shook his head. “The wigs and the car were all the thief left. He didn’t even leave any fingerprints. This guy was pretty thorough.”
“But we are going to be checking the pawn shops first thing tomorrow morning,” said Collig. “If we do find anything in our search tomorrow, we’ll be sure to let you know.”
“What about the wig?” asked Hurd.
Collig nodded at the boys. “They and their friends are going to tackle that angle. We figured that the police should get on checking the pawn shops immediately so as to not lose any time.”
Hurd nodded appreciatively. “That’s good to hear.” He glanced at Adelia and let out a breath. “I suppose an apology to Henry is in order.”
Adelia bobbed her head. “That would be a good place to start.”
Hurd held out his hand to the chief and the boys. “I want to thank you for getting this far. I’m sure your teamwork will find my treasure in no time.”
Joe smiled. “We hope so too, Mr. Applegate.”
“It might be a while, though,” said Frank as he shook hands with Mr. Applegate. “It does seem like we are dealing with a professional thief.”
“Well, I’m confident that the best men are on the job.”
“Thank you sir,” chorused Collig and the Hardys.
“Well, I should let you enjoy the rest of your Sunday. We’ll call you if we find anything on our end.”
“Sounds wonderful. Have a wonderful day, Mr. Applegate, Miss Applegate.”
“Goodbye chief, boys! Have a blessed week!” said Adelia as she waved to them.
“Thanks Miss Applegate! The same to you!” chorused the boys as they waved back to her. The three walked out to the chief’s car, climbed in, and took off towards the Hardy residence. The three chatted mostly about plans for the next day and when Chief Collig could contact the boys.
The boys thanked Collig for the ride as he pulled into the Hardy driveway and said goodbye before he drove away. The boys dashed into the house.
“Mr. Applegate recognized the wig! Mr. Robinson is clear!” said Joe with a whoop.
“So we’re on the track of just one thief!” said Frank. They paused. Everyone was looking at them somberly, though they did seem excited by the news.
“Well, that’s good to hear,” said Laura.
Fenton rose from the chair he was sitting in and walked towards the stairs. “Frank, Joe, a word in my office, please.”
“Um, now?” asked Joe.
“Yes, now.” Fenton led the boys up the stairs and into the study. “Close the door please.” Frank closed the door. The two boys sat in chairs opposite of the desk while Fenton sat behind it. “So, you went back to the Pollitt place . . .”
“But dad, we had to!” blurted Joe.
Fenton gave him a look that silenced him. “You went back to the Pollitt place without my permission, and after I specifically told you not to work any further on my case until after yours was solved.” Frank raised his hand. Fenton sighed. “Yes, Frank?”
“We really did have to. You know we have to make sure our cases aren’t connected. Besides, the culprit could have been staying there, Willow Grove is close enough to the Pollitt place. We did find evidence that someone’s there. The floor in the attic was all swept!”
“But you knew it was tied specifically to my case. Did you find any evidence that your thief might have been there?”
“Um, no, but . . .”
Fenton raised his hand. “Until you can prove without a doubt that your thief was there, I don’t want you anywhere near the Pollitt place again, are we clear?”
“Yes sir,” chorused the boys.
“Thank you. Consider this your first warning, we get to warning number three, I’m taking you off the Tower Mansion case as well.” The boys glanced at their father in surprise, but were wise enough to hold their tongues. They mutely nodded. “Good, I’m glad we understand each other. Now, go visit with your friends. They’re going to have to leave immediately after supper.”
“Yes sir.” The boys rose from their chairs and walked out of the study. But instead of heading downstairs, Joe grabbed Frank’s arm and practically dragged him into their room.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“Keep it down!” hissed Joe.
Frank groaned. “Joe, Dad, has a point. We weren’t supposed to go back, you know that.”
Joe threw up his hands. “Great, you’re taking his side now!”
“Joe, that’s not what I meant. You’re just not thinking this through.”
“Oh yeah? Well tell me what I missed.”
“If the smugglers’ attention is on Dad, we can surprise them by coming in the back side with tackling our thief.”
Joe raised his eyebrow and rubbed his chin.
“Think about it. Finding the thief of Tower Mansion might be the back door Dad needs to put a stop to these smugglers. If the cases are connected, that is. If they’re not, well, Dad wouldn’t want to get our hopes up.”
“And if they’re not, then we’d have at least a little more experience and can help Dad better.”
“Exactly.”
Joe let out a sigh. “Well, you have a point. Alright, fine, I’m not mad anymore. And we’ll focus on catching that thief.” He grinned. “You know me too well.”
Frank chuckled. “Yeah, well, there are days I wish I didn’t know you so well.”
“Hey!” Joe picked up a shirt and tossed at Frank, who was grinning widely.
A knock came at the door. Frank, being the closest, opened it. Their friends peered into the room with concerned faces.
“What did your dad want to talk about?” asked Chet.
Frank waved in their friends, and once everyone was situated in the room, the boys told the entire story.
Biff winced. “Oh man, sorry guys, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Frank shook his head. “You’re fine, Biff, we knew better, and we still went ahead and looked at the place again.”
“I shouldn’t have even suggested it,” said Joe.
“Hey, what’s done is done,” said Tony.
“Besides, Frank and Tony did find that secret passage,” pointed out Jerry.
“Tony did, but, yeah. Oh, we didn’t tell Dad!”
“I think we should let him cool down before we do,” said Joe.
Frank nodded. “I think you’re right.”
“So, since the police are going to check out the pawn shops instead of us, and we’re checking out just the costume shops instead, well, how are we going to split that up?” asked Jack.
“Oh, speaking of, I’d better text Slim and Pete about the change in plans,” said Frank as he pulled out his phone.
“I’ll get started on looking up the addresses for the costume shops,” said Joe. They spent the rest of the time until supper formulating a game plan for the next day. After helping clean up the kitchen after supper, Frank and Joe helped their friends load their luggage and said goodbye. They watched their friends leave before heading up into their little lab and studied what few clues they had under the microscope. Frank finally convinced Joe to call it a night around ten. The two crawled into bed, but they stayed up for a while, their minds refusing to shut down and going over every clue they had found so far. They finally fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.