Read Online Kickoff to Danger by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online

“I only want what
you
saw or heard,” he said. “Not what other people told you.”
    â€œYou make it sound like we’ll be testifying in court,” Frank said.
    The assistant principal said nothing. But the uneasy look in his eyes got stronger.
    Finally Sheldrake sighed. “You can go to class.”
    As the boys left the office, Joe turned to Frank. “What was that all about?”
    â€œInformation,” Frank said quietly. “Last night the cops whisked us off to make a statement. Almost everything Sheldrake knows about this mess comes from what he heard on TV.”
    Joe’s face lit with understanding. “And he’s supposed to know everything that’s going on in this school.”
    Frank nodded. “You can bet there’ll be a lot of people worried about their jobs after this.”
    â€œAs if it wouldn’t be hard enough getting to the truth,” Joe growled.
    In English class Mr. Weeks didn’t even try to control the students. “I hope you have as much fun with my replacement,” he said.
    For the first time, the class grew quiet. “Replacement?” Dan Freeman echoed.
    I’ll bet it hurts him to talk, Frank thought. Half of Dan’s mouth was bruised and swollen.
    Weeks nodded. “I am—I was—the moderator for the debate team. That mean’s I’m responsible for not stopping what happened yesterday.”
    The teacher suddenly looked very young. “I don’t see any reason to drag things out, so Ioffered my resignation this morning. As soon as the school board chooses a replacement, I’ll be out of here.”
    â€œBut—but—” Dan sputtered.
    â€œNo more to discuss,” Weeks said grimly. “Let’s move on to a few dusty old sonnets.”
    Frank waited behind after the classroom emptied for lunch. Mr. Weeks was slowly packing up his materials. “Yes, Mr. Hardy?”
    â€œI’ll be sorry to see you go,” Frank said.
    The teacher shook his head. “One thing this school has taught me—I’m no great loss.”
    â€œWhat will you do?”
    â€œGo back to school again, maybe,” Weeks said. “See if I can be a teaching assistant for an older set of students.”
    â€œYou seem to be taking what happened yesterday pretty hard.”
    Weeks stared at the floor. “A student almost died because I froze. I sat there like a lump when those four yahoos came in and stole the debaters’ books. When I finally moved, I couldn’t get the door open. One of them was holding it closed. I lost control of the students—some of the boys went after the bullies.”
    He sighed. “And then I panicked, chasing after them. If I’d gone immediately to Mr. Sheldrake—”
    The young teacher bit his words off. “But Ididn’t. And as a result, young Mr. Hooper is in the hospital.”
    Weeks managed the ghost of a smile. “Mr. Sheldrake considers me totally useless. I didn’t recognize any of the boys who grabbed the books.”
    â€œNone of them were in your classes?” Frank asked. “I thought you might have seen Biff or Wendell Logan. I’m sure you’d remember them, after the stunt they pulled with your car.”
    The teacher shook his head. “No. I didn’t recognize any of the boys I saw. And as you say, I’d have good reason to remember the pair who held up my car.” He shook his head. “That incident alone should have convinced me to look for another line of work.”
    Weeks headed for the door, and Frank followed, deep in thought. A certain amount of planning had gone into the operation of the day before. Grabbing the book bags to lure the nerds to the basement. Using kids who wouldn’t be recognized to carry out the dangerous bits . . .
    Sure. Terry Golden would have been picked out in no time. He was probably the one who’d targeted the debate team. Chet thought he was