Hardy Boys -1. The Tower Treasure

A Clue or Two

Frank nodded. "Same here. But I want to take a look in the attic, so I'll go to the second floor with someone."

"I'll take the main floor with Phil," said Chet.

"I'll go with you, Frank," said Tony.

Jack and Jerry glanced at each other before groaning. "We're stuck with the cellar, aren't we?"

Joe shrugged. "Hey, someone has to do it."

Jerry sighed. "Yeah, might as well be us."

Jack glanced at Chet and Phil. "You'd better not let us get locked up."

Phil grinned sheepishly. "Oh don't worry. I wouldn't want that for anyone."

"Provided that Joe and Biff don't let anyone into the house," quipped Chet.

"Oh, thanks you guys," said Joe.

"Hey, you were the one who volunteered to take care of the perimeter," said Chet with a slight grin.

Frank chuckled. "He is right, you know."

Joe rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. "Fine, whatever."

The others laughed.

Chet glanced at his watch. "Alright, next question, how long should we be at the Pollitt place?"

"Ten minutes should do," said Frank, "unless we find something. But we'll make those changes when we get to that point. The major focus today is Queen's whereabouts."

Chet nodded vigorously. "Yes."

Phil spoke up. "Shouldn't we have some sort of signal to warn us of danger or to let the others know we've found something?"

"Usually shouting at the top of our lungs, 'WE'VE FOUND SOMETHING!' usually works," said Joe.

Biff winced as he pulled his fingers out of his ears. "But you didn't have to shout that loud now."

Joe shrugged. "Hey, needed to get some practice in."

Frank scoffed. "With those lungs of yours, I don't think you need any practice." Joe grinned. Frank turned to Phil. "But you do bring up a good point. What signals could we use?"

"How about an owl's hoot?" asked Chet before hooting like an owl.

"That could work as one signal, we need another."

"How about a regular whistle?" asked Biff before putting his fingers into his mouth and releasing a sharp whistle.

Joe rubbed his ears. "Now who's the one being too loud?" Biff shot him a grin.

"OK then, you whistle if there's someone outside, or danger's on the way, and an owl hoot to mean we've found something. How's that?" The others agreed.

"Good, because we're here," announced Tony.

The van pulled into the driveway of the Pollitt place. The boys piled out and split up into their groups, each heading to their assignment. Frank and Tony found the attic fairly quickly, and noticed with alarm that the place had been swept.

"Someone's been in here very recently," whispered Frank as he quickly pulled out his phone and snapped a few pictures.

Tony chuckled nervously. "Guess they figured nothing told the police there was someone up here like covering one's tracks with a good sweeping of the place."

Frank chuckled nervously. "Right? It certainly keeps us from getting the footprints."

"Right? So, um, what now?"