Read Trouble at the Arcade for Free Online

again and checked it. “For instance, Adam was at the Snack Shack getting a soda at the time.”
    â€œExcept when he came back, he didn’t have a soda,” Joe recalled. “That seems kind of suspicious.”
    Frank tucked his list back in his pocket. “Definitely,” he agreed. “Let’s go check with the people at the Snack Shack and see if he was really there.”
    When the Hardys got to the Snack Shack, they found a college-age girl wiping the counter with a rag. Her name tag read SANDY .
    â€œHi,” Frank said. “Can we ask you something?”
    â€œSure,” Sandy replied. “As long as it’s not for free food. You need tickets to buy.”
    â€œIt’s not that,” said Joe. “We were just wondering if you saw a kid earlier. He’s wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with a wide stripe on it and black high-tops.”
    Sandy stopped wiping and looked at him in surprise. “You know, I don’t usually pay much attention to you younger kids,” she said. “You all look alike to me. But I do remember him. I had to chase him away, like, three times to stop him from stealing all the napkins.”
    Frank glanced over at his brother. Stealing napkins? That sounded weird even for Adam. But it did mean that he’d been over at the snack bar just as he claimed.
    â€œI guess Adam does have an alibi, after all,”Joe said as Sandy hurried around behind the counter to wait on someone. “Let’s go question Darryl again. Or maybe that Callie girl—I still think it’s weird that she ran away earlier. Although I don’t know if even Mimi would call her a prince. . . .”
    Frank was staring at the napkin dispensers. There were two of them sitting at one end of the counter. They were big and made of shiny metal, with napkins sticking out the front through a large slot.
    â€œStealing napkins?” he mumbled. “Why would Adam do something like that? Unless . . .”
    He raced over to the nearest dispenser and started pulling out the napkins. There were tons of them in there.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Joe said, sounding surprised.
    â€œI have an idea.” Frank kept yanking at thenapkins. Soon they were all out. He peered inside the dispenser. Nothing.
    He stepped over to the second dispenser. By now Sandy had looked over and noticed what he was doing.
    â€œHey!” she yelled. “What’s wrong with you twerps today? Stop messing with the napkins!”
    Frank hesitated. He usually obeyed adults when they told him to do something—or
not
to do something. Besides, what if his theory was wrong? He would probably get in big trouble for wasting napkins.
    But Joe had finally figured out what he was doing. “I’ll check the other one!” he cried. He raced over and dumped the dispenser over. The napkins all came fluttering out.
    So did a huge wad of cash!

10
Secret File #1: Solved!
    Thanks for the ride, Mom,” Joe said as he and Frank climbed out of their mother’s car. “Where’s Dad? We want to tell him about the video game tournament.”
    That wasn’t all they wanted to tell him about. During the whole ride home, Frank and Joe had kept quiet about the mystery they’d solved at Fun World that day. They wanted to tell their dad about it first.
    Mrs. Hardy smiled. “I’m afraid that will have to wait. Your dad went to the home improvementstore to pick up some more flooring for the spare room.”
    â€œOh,” Joe said. He and Frank traded a look. In all the excitement at Fun World, they’d almost forgotten about their secret bet. “Um, guess we’ll go out and play in the woods, then.”
    â€œAll right,” his mother said. “But make sure you’re back in time for dinner. Your dad is planning to grill some burgers tonight.” She hurried toward the front door.
    â€œI guess neither of us gets dibs on the spare room,”