The Mark of the Blue Tattoo Read Online Free Page A

happened?” Joe asked. “How did they respond?”
    â€œI had to tell Sal,” Chet replied. “Sal Vitello, he’s my supervisor. It’s funny. At first he was pretty nice about everything. When I came in late, he said not to worry about it. But then, after he heard my story, he turned cold. Maybe he thought I was making up the whole thing as an excuse.”
    â€œWhat about the other drivers? Have you gotten to know any of them yet?” Frank asked.
    Chet frowned. “I’ve seen most of them and met a few,” he said. “A lot of us are new, you know—not just me. A lot of the Freddy Frost people work just over the summer. Then around September, when the ice-cream season is ending, they have to fill in with new people. There are some familiar faces from school.”
    â€œPeople you know?” Joe asked.
    â€œNot exactly,” Chet said, shaking his head. “But the three guys that Sal seems especially chummy with—I know who they are. And guess what—they’re all Starz members.”
    Frank narrowed his eyes. “You’re sure of that?” he demanded. “That’s a pretty serious allegation.”
    â€œI didn’t ask to see their membership cards,” Chet said. “And I didn’t get close enough to see if they had those blue tattoos on their wrists. But I know them all by sight, and I know who they hang with. It was enough to make me wonder if Sal has some kind of connection to the Starz.”
    â€œBecause three out of, say, twenty Freddy Frost drivers are gang members?” Joe said. “You know how it goes. Somebody gets a job. He knows when there are openings, so he tells his buddies. They apply and get jobs there, too.”
    â€œSure, I know,” Chet replied. “But I still thinkit’s funny that Sal’s favorites all turn out to be Starz guys.”
    Frank tossed a piece of popcorn into his mouth. “I’m with you there, Chet,” he said. “What bothers me is the fact that the guys who hijacked your truck this afternoon apparently had a key to it. They must have some close connection to Freddy Frost. And since they didn’t take anything, the whole point must have been to send you a message.”
    â€œYeah. ’Get lost—and fast,’ ” Chet said. “But why me? Today was my first day. I haven’t had time to get under anybody’s skin.”
    â€œHow’s this?” Joe said. “They want to scare you off. Then, when you quit, there’ll be another opening that one of their friends can fill.”
    Chet opened a can of soda. He finished a gulp, then said, “Listen, Joe. I’m glad to have this job. I think it may even turn out to be fun. But it’s not as if I’m making a fortune. I don’t see people lining up around the block to take my place, never mind staging a kidnapping.”
    â€œThere’s another possibility, Chet,” Frank said. “Everybody at Bayport High knows the three of us are friends. What if the message wasn’t aimed just at you? What if Marlon Masters and his gang wanted to send a warning to all of us not to give them any trouble?”
    Joe smiled grimly. “If that’s the case, they surewent about it the wrong way,” he said. “Because if they start trying to lean on our friends, we’re going to give them plenty of trouble!”
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    The next morning Joe drove the van into the school parking lot and found a space near the tennis courts. He and Frank grabbed their backpacks, locked the van, and started up the walk toward the front door.
    â€œUh-oh,” Frank murmured. “Battle stations.”
    Up ahead, standing between them and the school entrance, half a dozen people were forming a solid line that blocked the whole sidewalk. At one end of the line stood Marlon Masters.
    Gus French, the guy who had tangled with Joe in the lunch