A Monster of a Mystery Read Online Free Page A

he shrugged. “He could’ve hidden it somewhere so he could come back and get it later,” he pointed out. “That’s what he did with the money that time at the arcade.”
    â€œI guess,” Frank said. “But then why would he leave the store?”
    Joe shrugged. He looked kind of stubborn.Frank could see that his brother was convinced that Adam was the thief. But was he really the culprit?
    Just then Adam pushed past them, heading back into the main part of the store. “I changed my mind,” he said. “I’m not going to let a bunch of creeps chase me away. I’m here to see Morpho.”
    â€œNobody’s going to see Morpho again if that Spork doesn’t turn up,” Joe said.
    But Adam was already too far away to hear him. Joe sighed.
    â€œDon’t worry,” Frank told him. “If Adam did it, we’ll figure it out.”
    Iola came over just in time to hear him. “Yeah,” she said. “You two always solve the case!”
    Joe smiled. “That’s true.”
    Frank stared around the store. There were pictures of the Spork everywhere. Where could the real one be? Who would be mean enough to steal it?
    â€œI wish I had a way to take notes,” he said. He hadforgotten his trusty reporter’s notebook at home. That was where he always wrote up their cases.
    Joe rolled his eyes. “You always want to take notes,” he said. “But there’s no time for stuff like that. Let’s just start interviewing people. Somebody must have seen something suspicious.”
    Frank hesitated. He thought they should begin at the beginning—by talking about the six W s. But maybe Joe was right. The store was really crowded. It seemed impossible that someone had stolen the Spork without anyone seeing them do it.
    â€œOkay,” he said. “I guess we could talk to a few people and see what we find out.”
    Joe looked at Iola. “Want to help?”
    â€œSure,” she said, sounding a little distracted. “But I’d better go find Chet first. I want to see if he knows where Mimi is.”
    Frank nodded. He hadn’t seen Mimi since she’d run out through the back door. Come to think ofit, he hadn’t seen Chet in even longer than that.
    â€œOkay,” he said. “We’ll meet up with you later.”
    Iola disappeared into the crowd. Frank and Joe wandered around, looking for someone to interview. First they talked to a bored-looking girl with purple hair. She said she thought it was all a publicity stunt and that the Morpho people knew exactly where the Spork was right now.
    Frank didn’t think that was very likely, so he and Joe moved on. They asked a couple of teenage boys if they’d noticed anyone suspicious hanging around. The teenagers said they’d seen a shady-looking guy dressed in black sneaking into the back room. Frank started to get excited, but then he realized they were just teasing them.

    â€œThis isn’t going very well,” Joe said as the teenagers wandered away snorting with laughter.
    Before Frank could answer, he spotted Biff and his cousin Colin hurrying toward them. Colin looked more hyper than ever.
    â€œCan you believe this?” Colin exclaimed when he reached them, waving both hands in the air. “I can’t believe the Spork is gone!”
    â€œMe neither,” Biff agreed. “Who do you think took it?”
    â€œWe’re not sure yet,” Joe began. “We think—”
    â€œIt’s extra serious because this is, like, the Spork!” Colin interrupted. “It’s the very first one they made—the one Morpho was holding in the movie when he got captured by the commandos.That makes it a superspecial and one-of-a-kind collector’s item.”
    â€œReally?” Joe said. “No wonder those Morpho guys looked so upset.”
    Before Frank could say anything, they all heard Mr. Roberts calling for attention