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you. What’s this all about?”
    Con motioned for the other officers to relax. “There must be some mistake,” he said to everyone. “Cut the lights. I’ll take care of this.”
    At that moment Joe burst from the bank, followed closely by Alex Stendahl.
    â€œDid you catch the thief?” Stendahl asked breathlessly. “Is that him?”
    Con held up his hand. “No, Mr. Stendahl. Just a false alarm. Go on back inside, now.”
    Stendahl stared hard at Frank for a few seconds before reluctantly going back in. The bank guard followed him, while the remaining Bayport officers got in one of the cruisers and drove off. Con stood with the Hardys next to the open door of the van.
    â€œSorry about that, Frank.” Con said.
    Frank rubbed his wrists where the cuffs had gone on. “It’s okay. But how’d I get on Bayport’s Most Wanted list?”
    â€œYour van,” Con said. “We looked at the surveillance video from First City Bank last night after the false alarm. There was a van just like yours at the scene.”
    â€œOh, man,” Joe said. “So when the bank guard saw our van sitting here he figured another robbery was about to go down?”
    â€œExactly,” Con said. “Like I said, we made a mistake. I’m sorry we gave you a scare, Frank.”
    Frank decided to come clean about their adventure of the night before. “You didn’t make a mistake,” he said. “That was our van.”
    Con crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Okay, fellas, out with it. I want the whole story.”
    Frank let Joe recount the story of the chase with the black sedan, including the miniaturization of their mother’s car at Ron’s Salvage.
    Con looked at both Hardys angrily. “You should’ve called us about this last night,” he said.
    Joe looked at his shoes. “We wanted hard evidence first,” Frank said.
    â€œHard evidence? This changes everything,” Con said. “We thought the same guy set off the First City alarm and then robbed Bayport Savings. Now we’ve got two guys in a black car, an ex-con, and some junkyard owner named Ron Quick. It looks like we’ve either got a whole gang of criminals or just one big wild coincidence.” He sucked in a deep breath, then took off his cap and scratched his head. “Are you sure it was Bart Meredith you saw at the scrap yard?”
    â€œPositive,” Joe said. “He might be this van Loveren woman’s accomplice,”
    â€œDid Stendahl tell you about her?” Con asked.
    â€œHe seems pretty sure she set things up,” Joe replied.
    â€œWell, I’m not as sure as Stendahl,” Con said. “We questioned her last night but didn’t get anything.”
    Frank saw that Con had cooled down. “We were hoping we could get a look at the Bayport Savings tape so we could see for sure if Meredith’s the bank robber,” he said.
    â€œIt doesn’t show much,” Con replied. “But I’ll make you a deal. Come by the station. Bring that video of your chase and I’ll see if I can get you a quick look at the surveillance tape.”
    â€œDeal,” Joe said.
    Con turned and strode back to his cruiser.“Thanks for the Meredith tip,” he said as he got in. “We’ll check it out. And let me know if you come across anything else, okay?”
    The Hardys didn’t waste any time getting back into the van. “Let’s get out of here before someone else decides I’d look good in a mug shot,” Frank said. “Ready to get the tape from Phil? I want to see what he found before we give it to Con.”
    â€œI’m with you there,” Joe said. He checked his watch. “It’s only ten. Let’s give Phil more time while we follow up the van Loveren lead.”
    Joe told his brother all the details of his interview with Alex Stendahl.
    â€œSounds like there’s a