Read Online A Game Called Chaos by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online Page B

stop me,” she said. As she pulled on the door, something fell out of the pocket of her trench coat. She scooped up the item but not before Frank and Joe saw what it was: a fairly new set of lock picks. McLean glared angrily at the brothers. “This is illegal detainment,” she said.
    â€œOn the contrary,” Joe said, stepping in behind her. “We’re just holding you for the police.” McLean was now trapped between her VW and the car next to it, with the Hardys cutting off her only avenues of escape.
    She tried to yank open the door again, but Frank stopped her. “Let me go, you two!” she cried. “Steven’s life is in danger! I’m the only one who can save him!”
    â€œI doubt that,” Joe said. Then something in the Beetle caught his eye. “Hey, Frank. Take a look inside the car.”
    Frank looked in, being careful not to let McLean slip away. The floor of the vehicle was strewn with papers; some of them had Steven Royal’s letterhead on them, others bore the seal of NCU. “I think,” he said, “we may have foundout who ransacked Royal’s condo and Tochi’s house—it looks like she took a few souvenirs.”
    â€œI didn’t ransack anything,” McLean complained. “Those aren’t souvenirs, they’re clues. You’d have done the same thing.”
    â€œNo, we wouldn’t,” Joe said. “And we’ll let the police decide if those papers are evidence in this case, or evidence that you’re a thief.”
    Frank smiled grimly at McLean. “I think you may have some trouble explaining the lock picks. If you were better at using them, you’d have left fewer clues.”
    â€œI’ll get security,” Chelsea said, heading for the building.
    â€œYou’ve got to listen to me,” McLean said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m only trying to help Steven Royal. He’s in big trouble, I just know it. He’d never disappear like this before the release of a big game. He needs that game.”
    â€œNeeds it how?” Joe asked.
    McLean looked around furtively, then said, “He’s almost broke. He made some bad investments.”
    â€œAnd I suppose you learned that from some of those papers in your car,” Frank said.
    â€œIt doesn’t matter how I know,” McLean said. “I was just trying to protect him, but it didn’t work. Something terrible has happened to him, I just know it. I’m looking out for him. . . .”
    â€œFollowing him, you mean,” Joe interjected.
    â€œHe slipped away from me last Monday,” McLean continued, “and he never came back. Didn’t he know I was just trying to protect him?”
    â€œWas he driving his car when he got away?” asked Frank.
    â€œYes,” McLean said. “He was heading north, but he lost me on an interchange. I think he did it deliberately. I didn’t know anything was wrong until he didn’t come back for a few days. That was when I decided to take things into my own hands.”
    â€œSo, you used those lock picks and looked around in his place, and Tochi’s, just trying to protect Royal,” Joe said.
    â€œYes. I know he’s in trouble. He’s been nervous lately, but I don’t know why. I just want to help.”
    â€œI’m sure you do,” Frank said. McLean had become calmer, and he hoped to get more information out of her before the police arrived. “So, what do you think happened to him?”
    â€œAnne Sakai’s ghost got him,” McLean said matter-of-factly.
    Both Hardys tried not to look shocked. “Sakai’s ghost?” Joe asked skeptically.
    McLean crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s out to get him for driving her out of the country. She decided she couldn’t compete with him, so she ran away. Then she got killed. So herghost blames him for it. Now she’s done something