“I bet those guys never come back to Bayport again,” Joe said.

  Frank was still focused on the whiteboard. “What—stealing the money from the KwikSnak,” he murmured as he wrote. “When—this past Thursday. Where—the KwikSnak. Why—because they’re greedy. How—by hiding the money in a tree trunk.”

  He finished writing and stepped back. The board looked much better with everything filled in.

  Joe wasn’t paying much attention. He was trying to decide what to buy with his reward money.

  “I might get that new video game Phil was telling us about the other day,” he mused, slurping on his lollipop. “Then again, maybe I’ll wait. I might need the money to decorate my new room over the garage.”

  Frank rolled his eyes. “I keep telling you… ,” he began.

  But he broke off as he heard his mother’s voice in the distance. She was calling their names, and she sounded kind of anxious.

  Frank looked at his watch. “Uh-oh,” he said. “It’s later than I thought. We’re late to meet Aunt Gertrude!”

  Joe groaned.

  Frank poked him in the shoulder. “Hurry up!”

  He normally wouldn’t mind Aunt Gertrude’s visit at all. She was always nice to him. But today he couldn’t help feeling a little impatient. He and Joe hadn’t had a chance to tell their father about solving the mystery yet, since Mr. Hardy had been off picking up Aunt Gertrude at the train station by the time they got home. And now they’d have to wait even longer.

  “We probably shouldn’t say anything about the treasure and stuff while Aunt Gertrude is here,” Frank told Joe as they climbed down the rope ladder.

  “Yeah,” Joe mumbled around his lollipop. “She probably wouldn’t like to hear that we’re following Dad into the detective biz.”

  When they got inside, their parents were standing in the front hall with Aunt Gertrude. There was a big stack of boxes and suitcases piled just inside the door. Joe was so surprised that he almost spit out his lollipop.

  “What’s all that stuff?” he blurted out.

  “Hello, Frank,” Aunt Gertrude said in her crisp, no-nonsense voice. “You’re looking well. Joe, what’s that you’re sucking on?”

  She reached out and plucked the lollipop right out of his mouth. Joe was too startled to protest. Besides, he knew it wouldn’t do any good.

  “Surprise!” Mr. Hardy sang out, beaming at them and waving a hand at the luggage. “Aunt Gertrude is coming to live with us!”

  “What?” Frank said.

  Joe was too astounded to say anything.

  Mrs. Hardy looked amused. “I told you they’d be surprised, Gertrude.”

  The adults went on to explain that Aunt Gertrude was getting tired of city life. Mr. and Mrs. Hardy had invited her to come live with them in Bayport. At first she’d refused, saying she didn’t want to be a burden. But Mr. Hardy had started fixing up the spare room just in case she changed her mind. And finally she’d agreed to give it a try.

  “But only under the condition that I make myself useful around the house,” she told the boys.

  Mrs. Hardy smiled at that. Joe could guess why. His mother was probably hoping that this weekend’s cleaning spree had been her last!

  Joe shot Frank a look. So now they knew what all the secrecy was about. He couldn’t help feeling disappointed. It sounded as if he and Frank were stuck sharing their old room after all.

  “So what do you think?” Mrs. Hardy asked the boys cheerfully. “It will be fun having your aunt around full-time, won’t it?”

  “Sure,” Frank said with a smile.

  Aunt Gertrude patted him on the shoulder. “I’m looking forward to helping you with all the interesting school projects you’re always telling me about, Frank,” she said. Then she glanced at Joe. “As for you, young man, one of my duties will be making sure you do much better in science class this year.” She held up the half-eaten lollipop she was holding and frowned at it. “And that you stop eating so much candy.”

  Joe smiled weakly.

  As the whole family trooped into the dining room, Frank leaned closer to Joe. “Guess we’re not such great detectives as we thought,” he whispered. “We never saw this one coming.”

  Joe nodded. “Not only am I not getting my own cool new room over the garage,” he whispered back, “but I’m also going to have to move out to the tree house full-time to get away from Aunt Gertrude’s boot camp!”

  Frank shrugged and smiled. “It won’t be so bad.”

  Joe didn’t answer. He just slumped into his seat at the dining table.

  Aunt Gertrude was sitting across from him. “Elbows off the table, young man,” she warned.

  Joe snapped to attention. “Nope, definitely boot camp,” he muttered to Frank, who was sitting beside him. “Case closed!”

 

 

  Franklin W. Dixon, Mystery Map

 

 

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